Demonically Tempted (Frostbite 2)

“You can’t hurt me,” I told it.

Thank you, Gretchen. She hadn’t steered me wrong. The medallion might have kept me safe from the demon entering my body, but the cream kept him from even coming close to me.

But my relief lasted a mere second, as a snarl sounded from its mouth, causing me to shake in my boots. He paced in front of me, never taking his focus off me, and Lord he scared me. “Seems that you’ve used further protection against me, but I smell the fear you’re trying to hide. That means you’re not as skilled, or as talented as the protection you have around you.”

I demanded the fear to fade. I didn’t want it feeding him. “I might not be exactly skilled, but I know enough to make you go away.” I pulled the wand from my pocket, unwrapped it from the silk and drew a circle.

The demon cackled. “A circle will do nothing to send me away.”

“So says the demon.”

I finished the circle and repeated the lines to enter it. When my memory didn't fail me and the words I needed to say came quick and clear, I was thrilled. Maybe panic made my brain sharper? Whatever it was, I was glad for it. Then, I stepped into the circle and looked at the demon, who appeared at complete ease.

“I can give you what you want,” he said in what might be taken as an alluring tone.

“There’s nothing you can give me, I assure you.”

A slow grin rose to his face and even those darks eyes seemed amused. “Ah, but you’re missing someone, are you not?” My stomach dropped, breath was lost to me, and I didn’t move an inch. “I can help you.”

Gretchen said this would happen. That he’d offer me something to get me to agree to him. Not that I would. But I was curious nonetheless. “Oh, really, and just how can you do that?”

“I’m a demon,” he said in a proud tone. “My power is endless.”

“Sorry to break it to you, demon,” I retorted. “But I don’t need your help.”

“That ghost of yours is trapped there.” A slow smile spread across his face. “Did you know that? He’s stuck and in turmoil wanting to return to you, but can’t.”

My heart clenched. How did he know about Kipp? I forced my voice out of my tight throat. “You have no way of knowing that.”

“But I do,” he countered. “I know at this moment your ghost is being tortured and is fighting to survive as lost souls devour him.”

I fought against the urge to scream at the horror that might be true, but even I couldn’t stop tears from welling. The images playing in my mind almost crippled me.

Gretchen said not to believe it, but then why did I? Why did the thought of Kipp being stuck seem possible? It’d explain why he hadn’t come back, and that theory almost sat better, as strange as that was. It meant he loved me, and his staying away wasn’t his choice. But believing that meant I had to believe a demon.

The worst part was, I wanted to.

Chapter Twenty

The demon continued to pace in front of me. “I’m growing tired of this game, witch.” He never got too close to the invisible shield around me. “You merely have to decide not to do this and I’ll bring him to you.” There was that grin again. “He would want that.”

I blinked as the trance the demon had woven over me faded. Hadn’t he given me a scenario that appealed to me? Didn’t I want so bad to believe that? To wish that Kipp hadn’t made the choice he did.

And hadn’t I totally fallen for it?

If I stood face-to-face with a demon who could take innocent lives, Kipp would be yelling at me to end this. Not save him. Because one thing was true about Kipp McGowen—he lived and breathed his role as a cop. Nothing would ever change that.

As much as I missed Kipp, I couldn’t go about it this way, even if what the demon said had a shred of truth. I stared at the demon and saw the lie written there in their evil depths of his eyes.

Kipp might be in the Netherworld, but this demon didn’t hold the power to bring him back. And that I believed.

How close had he come to bringing me into his trap? Too damn close. But the demon had made two mistakes. “Sorry about your luck, but I’m not a witch. I’m just a woman that has a seriously fucked up ability. And today isn’t the day that I’m going to believe you.”

The second I shut my mouth, a wave of energy surrounded me, raising every hair on my neck, and made my stomach heave. The man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped to the ground.

In his place, stood a dark shadow—a downright scary as hell shadow.

It moved so quick I couldn’t even see it and I took that as it was trying to find a way to hurt me. It wasn’t so much as anything said, as it was a sensation that overtook me. I wasted no time.