“Cary, don’t…” Levi’s words faded, and a haze blurred his mind. He forgot himself, confused and unsure where he started and ended. The reality of his possession flooded back along with his vision. Unable to move his body, he watched helplessly as the filthy demon poured from his mouth, the sensation slimy and wet, leaving behind smudged feelings of self-loathing.

Fuck that. Fuck the demon. Fuck it all.

Cary was next to him, her face pale and shadows flickering across her downturned features. Softness and tenderness filled her eyes. No hatred or anger, just love. She was sacrificing herself for his worthless ass. His insides shattered. What had he done? He never should have let her participate in the spell, and now he’d lose her.

“I’m sorry for everything, Levi.” Her soft words strangled him.

Blackness slinked down his outstretched arm and formed into a great ball on his hand—its edges splattering and gurgling like the surface of the sun.

His voice pressed against his throat, eager to burst free and release the truth about how sorry he was for not embracing Cary’s differences. How she owed him nothing, and how he could never live with himself if she died.

Terrorizing fear had dictated his decisions, preventing him from seeing the truth and admitting how he truly felt about Cary. She would never harm a soul. He was the dangerous one.

His heart rammed against his ribcage like it was a wild beast. He wrestled against the invisible restraints holding him down, his muscles taut, eyes pleading with Cary to run for her life. The demon was his debt for killing Marcos. Not Cary’s.

She met his stare, her hands clenched tight by her side.

Don’t do it, Cary. Please. I can’t lose you.

Her lower lip trembled as she lifted an arm toward the hellish ball. Her gaze never left his, and a tear streamed down her cheek.

Please, don’t...

The miasma on his hand stretched outward into the form of a serpent and bridged over to Cary.

She didn’t make a sound.

Memory after memory gushed to the front of his mind: identifying his parents’ bodies after the accident, Marcos lying in a pool of blood, Cary in his arms, the time they ate too many tacos, her hypnotic laughter that always made him smile. But he prodded his mind further, searching for a specific item—information he’d plucked from the demon while sharing a body. The answer lingered on the tip of his tongue, refusing to come forward. Unlike the rush of filthy memories from the nightclub demon that inundated his mind. So many dead people, children, whole families. This fucker had gloated at the number of lives it destroyed. It sickened Levi to relive the events, but he pushed through to gain an upper hand on the demon.

Right then, feeling to his body returned. His knees wobbled and his legs gave out from under him. He fell, landing like a sack on his side. His vision danced for a few moments, breaths stinging his lungs. But he had mobility back, even if his limbs twitched from the pain lancing through him, reminding him of the time Blinkie slept on his legs and he’d lost all sensation in them.

Pushing himself to his feet, he took a few hesitant steps.

Cary stood a few paces away, shock locked onto her expression as the black demon curled around both arms and her neck. Behind her lay the Hellhole, and despite the lack of fire, the heat radiating off the portal could roast him in a minute flat if he got too close.

“Cary.” His heart pinched with guilt.

He stumbled forward as if an invisible hand shoved him from behind. His head spinning, he gripped the black serpent around her neck, but flinched back from the agonizing burn, his palms blistering and smoking. Except, the bubbling of his skin healed itself before his eyes, leaving his flesh red raw. What was going on?

“Levi. Go. Now.” Cary’s shaky words tore his insides to shreds as she spun away from him.

“I’m not going anywhere.” The moment the words left his mouth, several more memories pushed forward, including the vital piece he’d been searching for earlier.

Levi squared his shoulders and raised his voice. “Gremesom. I command you to stop.”

An arctic chill settled over the room, the kind where his teeth chattered and the hairs rose on his arms.

Cary turned in his direction, tears glistening in her eyes. The serpent’s head reared up from around Cary’s arm, pointy fangs exposed.

“Yeah, I know your name, fucker.”

Gremesom’s mouth gaped open to reveal rows of teeth.

Yep, seen it all before. “Release Cary.”

Her body convulsed ferociously, her eyes rolling up into the back of her head. The serpent tightened its hold around her, and her face turned blue. It couldn’t possess her, so it was killing her.

“Stop. Obey me!” Levi roared.

She shook violently, and Levi’s heart melted. His fingers tingled with the desperate urge to take her into his arms and free her from the deadly torture. He lunged forward and seized Cary’s waist, his hands clasped tight around her stomach, gritting his teeth against the scorching heat spreading across his chest from where he touched the demon. He shuffled with her backward.

“Gremeson.” His voice boomed. “Leave this world. Be gone by the command of Jesus.”

Cary met his gaze, their faces inches apart. Tears rolled down her face, her voice an empty, breathless echo, and her skin color shifted to red. Each inhale grew shallow and strained.

Levi released his hold and gripped the demon’s neck, his fingers digging into the squishy, burning lava. He didn’t care if the searing heat burned his skin off.

“Son of a bitch. Cary’s mine.” He broke into a prayer.

A blur whizzed out of the Hellhole, charging right for him and slammed into Levi. His fingers slipped from the demon, and he stumbled backward. “Fuckin’ shit.”

Invisible strikes collided into his torso and face, driving him farther from Cary. He spat blood on the floor and raised his curled hands, ready to fight to the death. Punch after punch, he lashed out and hit empty air in a crazed attack. But the fucker found him with each slug, bite, and kick. Blood filled his mouth, but the energy in his swinging arms never faltered. If anything, his body was healing itself quicker than it should.

Ahead, Cary was waist-deep in the pit, and his stomach filled with cement.

“Don’t stop fighting, Cary.” He recoiled from a blow to his shoulder. His breaths labored. He threw himself into a forward roll, only to notice a blurry object leap free of the Hellhole, shoving Cary aside and bolting toward Levi.

Snarls ripped through the room.

Levi blinked hard, but it was real. A demonic dog with cuts on its face, half an ear, and part of the front paw invisible. The mutt shook its head as if it held something in its mouth.

“Blinkie! Fuckin’ best sight in the world!” But why was he seeing the dog now?

Blinkie hurled himself at Cary, his fangs ripping into the serpent.

Levi jumped up, punching the air, but the hits no longer came for him. Had Blinkie eaten whatever spirit attacked him seconds earlier?

Another figure was emerging from the Hellhole, seemingly walking up steps until it stood in the room.

Who the fuck? Levi wasn’t sure how many more fights he had in him. The newcomer vaguely resembled a human; tall, male, strong build, a handlebar mustache, and at least fifty years old with peppered hair. A long, pink tail dragged behind him and pointy, bronze horns protruded from his temples.

Was this… Satan?

Levi seized Noose from the ground and snapped it open.

The newcomer approached Cary, reaching for the demon clinging to her, but his hand flinched when he touched it. Just as Levi’s had.

Cary made gurgling sounds now, but with her back to him, Levi couldn’t see her face.

Fuck this. He rushed forward. But the moment he approached Cary, the other demon stepped into his path.

“Get out of my way,” Levi said, his voice distressed.

“She has to do it herself, but we’ll help.”

Levi glared at the stranger, trying to decipher the lies. Green eyes stared back at him… just like Cary’s. Levi suddenly knew.

“You’re her dad.”

Cary’s father nodded, and a swirl of smoke spiraled from his mouth as if he’d just inhaled from a cigarette. “Grab the spirit board and start your Lord’s Prayer, boy. Whatever happens, don’t stop.” Cary’s father returned to her side while Blinkie tore chunks out of the demon. “Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

Levi lunged for the board, the prayer on his tongue. He repeated it over and over again, louder and clearer. He approached the trio.

“Legs, you have to fight it,” her father said. “It can’t control you. It’s a trick, an illusion.”

Her eyes were rolling back, her mouth frothing at the corners. “Daddy.”

Cary’s whimpering voice clawed at his heart. Despite every one of her tough words and actions, a vulnerable girl lay inside, seeking the care and love of her family.

Her father placed a hand on either side of Cary’s head, despite the shivers snaking along his arms. “Listen to my voice, follow it.”

Her eyes were completely white now, and her skin was just as pale. She wheezed in an attempt to breathe.

Levi’s voice was parched, but he didn’t dare stop the chant. He shuddered and his insides became a knotted jungle at seeing the woman who had his heart so close to death. He should have told her how he felt… Now he’d never get the chance.

“Fight it,” her father continued.

Part of the demon unfurled itself from around her, loosening, and Blinkie was on it. He lunged and bit into the beast, tugging it backward, his claws scratching the floorboards in his struggle.

Cary sucked in a loud inhale. Levi hurried closer, but her father waved him away as he faced his daughter.

“You’ve got it inside you. Drive it out,” he continued. “Use your strength from your demon side. Embrace who you are.”

Cary’s body trembled. The ink-black serpent held onto Cary tightly, despite Blinkie’s attack.

Her father’s body fizzled at the edges; he was losing his hold in this world.

Levi approached, grabbing a blade from his boot. Maybe he could save both Cary and her father.

“Legs,” her father said. “I’ve always loved you, and I’m sorry I left you. I should have stayed by your side. Don’t let my mistake kill you. Toss the demon out.”

The idea of Cary rejecting herself had never crossed Levi’s mind. And this whole time he’d been furious about her lies—but of course, she had reasons. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

A great scream exploded from Cary’s mouth, the sound thundering through the room. The hairs on Levi’s arms stood on end and a new kind of horror trickled through his body that Cary might not survive the possession. An electric charge sizzled off Cary, and she emitted a faint silvery glow. Except, he realized he had no reason to fear her, now—or ever. That was him being gutless.

“Don’t stop the prayer,” her father said, his body fading faster now.

Levi jumped back into the recitation.

The demon uncurled itself from around Cary’s arms, slinking down her body and toward the black Hellhole like a worm wriggling to the safety of its burrow.

Cary grabbed its tail. She hauled it toward Levi, and at that moment he would have sworn he saw horns on the edge of her temples, just like her father had.

But Levi didn’t back away. Not this time. He raised his voice with the prayer and gripped the spirit board as Cary shoved the end of the demon’s tail into the board. Blinkie helped, dragging the long beast closer.

Behind her, the black head morphed into a three-headed black dragon; each head had a mouth with its lips peeled back from their fangs, snarling in unison.

Cary’s father was withering away, retreating toward the pit. She hadn’t noticed him and kept tugging on the demon, pushing it into the spirit board. Levi struggled to hold the board as it shook and vibrated in his hands. God, he swore it weighed a ton. Every muscle in his body ached.

She didn’t meet his gaze, and if anything, she was a shadow of herself. Her expression was stoic, miles away, and she seemed not to recognize him. It killed him to see her this way. He prayed it was only temporary.

The three hissing heads rose higher behind her. Even Blinkie whimpered and recoiled from their teeth.

“Remember who you are,” her father murmured, and then he vanished, his body blending into the shadows.

Blinkie lunged in after him.

“You can control them.” Cary’s father’s voice echoed from far away, just before the once-dark corner sealed up with a giant slurping sound.

Cary’s eyes glazed over, and she spun to face the enormous leech that half hung out of the spirit board. “Gremeson, you are now mine.” Her voice was deep, authoritative, and terrifying. Would his Cary return to him? Would she be changed? The idea of losing her forever scared him more than any leech from Hell.

The serpent’s heads froze.

“Gremeson,” Cary said again, “I command you to remove your mark.”

Levi didn’t dare stop reciting his prayer.

“Now!” Cary’s voice boomed.

In a snap, the three heads regurgitated black goo, vomiting it all over Cary and Levi.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Levi muttered. The sticky sap stung his flesh and seeped through his hair and into his shirt. If this didn’t kill him…

In an instant, the serpent recoiled into the board, disappearing. Using his knife, Levi sawed through the board, turning it into tiny chunks. He’d bury it in holy ground as soon as they got out of the basement.

For a few moments, he expected a surprise demonic attack, but nothing came. Only silence and a newfound calmness settled across the room. Was this really it?

Cary collapsed onto the ground, knocked out cold in a puddle of gross demon vomit.

“Cary?”

She wasn’t moving. He dropped to his knees alongside her and took her pulse. Faint, but present.

Cary still wore a silvery aura, the same kind he only saw on possessed people. Why hadn’t his eye surgery let him see it before? Perhaps his possession opened something up in him to the spirit world; it explained why he had seen Blinkie, too. He’d heard of such things before.

Exhaustion washed through him, every muscle trembling. He crashed alongside Cary staring up at the wooden ceiling, panting for air, his adrenaline draining away, his blazing arteries cooling, and every part of him aching.

He reached over and held Cary’s hand, fiery hot against his touch. He glanced over at her pale face, eyes shut as if she were fast asleep. Her reddish hair swathed the floorboards around her head in a fiery halo. Beautiful.

Sure, he had to go through Hell and back, but no way would he lose Cary now.

“I’m ready to start over…” Levi said softly. “If you’ll have me.”

She snored slightly. Definitely asleep, he realized.

He’d have to tell her how he felt after she woke up. But first, he’d lay there on the floor a bit longer until his limbs decided to work again.