Siren's Mark

Chapter 71

"Oh Ava," Asmodeus says with a sigh. "Usually, I would appreciate that kind of foolishly brazen move from someone so weak. But you've ruined a rather delightful plan, haven't you?"

"Fuck you," I snap.

Was that a smart thing to say to an all-powerful demon?

No.

But I just said it.

"I'm not bloody kidding, Asmodeus," Zane says in a rough, low voice. "Let her go. You've got me, you can have your fun. She never wronged you."

"Ahh, but you forget one thing," Asmodeus says. "Why hurt one of you, when I could hurt both of you?"

An unbearable pain shoots through my leg as a grotesque crack echos through the air. I scream and collapse to the ground and watch as Zane does the same.

Tears flood my eyes in an instant as my heart thrashes against my ribcage, trying to wrap my head around what has happened. I grasp my calf with my hand. The bone is unmistakably snapped in two. The thought alone has my stomach reeling.

Asmodeus stalks over to Zane until he is hovering above him. Zane lies on the floor, the thinning smoke revealing his battered and bruised frame.

Asmodeus laughs and kicks Zane in the stomach as he lays on the floor.

This is it. We're going to lose.

I glance over to Kami. Her eyelids are fluttering as she struggles to maintain consciousness. As our eyes meet, she mouths the word "go" and looks out to the balcony.

Our building has a fire escape. Is that what she means?

And then what? Leave Zane and her and Kieran here to be tortured by Asmodeus?

She can't possibly think I'd be okay with that.

I drag myself closer to her. The couch has now collected a pool of her blood and she's tightly gripping her abdomen. Kieran is still unconscious in the office chair next to her.

"What do I do?" I whisper.

"Run," she wheezes. Some of her words are obscured by her weakened voice, but I manage to make out bits and pieces. "You're... human... you're the... get out... You are not a threat."

"I can't," I say. "I won't leave you. Any of you."

Being the weak one isn't usually a positive, but in this moment I know what she means. Asmodeus has spent most of the night ignoring me, when he wasn't using me as a prop. If anyone could slip through the cracks, it would be me. I'm human, a particularly weak one at that, and now I have a broken leg. I couldn't be less dangerous to someone like Asmodeus if I tried.

But maybe that's the point.

I'm the only one who can slip through the cracks, because I'm the only one he doesn't think he has to pay attention to.

Zane attempts to fend off Asmodeus, but seems to be weakening by the second.

"Why are you so hung up on Ilen, anyway?" Zane asks. "You were nothing but a pathetic fucking stalker to her!"

Asmodeus growls and pounces onto Zane, striking him again and again.

Zane is goading him. He knows we've lost and he's making sure I have a chance to get away.

Screw that.

He wouldn't leave and neither will I.

I tug myself up onto the couch and over to Kieran, who is still slumped in the office chair with a knife duct-taped to his hands.