Torn(Demon Kissed Series)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Effonating sucks. Before I completely lost my mind and willingly elected to stay with Eric, I left. When he wouldn’t read the page to me, I left it on his desk and wrote on top of it. The message was stupid, embarrassing really. I scrawled, I still believe in you. As if I had any reason to. Deranged and homicidal weren’t two of my favorite characteristics in a friend, but apparently, it was growing easier to overlook terrible shortcomings.


When I appeared back at St. Bart’s, several days had passed. I fell on the kitchen floor, screaming, with more skin spliced off my body than last time. Al found me first, with Collin right on her heels. I was quickly doused in the mixture to ease the pain. After the skin regrew, I felt weak, but had enough strength to talk. I told them some things, and intentionally left out other things…like my new Eric addiction.

When I awoke, I realized that strange dreams didn’t plague me. Slowly, my eyes opened and I noticed that Collin held me in his arms. He pushed back a stray curl and said, “You seemed restless. I held you for a while, and chased off the dreams that usually plague you.” His fingers brushed the hair away from my face as he looked at me. “It’s kinda weird to be in bed with a hot girl in a church with a nun who doesn’t seem to mind.” He smiled at me.

I laughed and sat up, feeling awkward—and guilty for kissing Eric. I don’t know if I was truly attracted to Eric, or if was because of his blood. Looking at Collin, I felt sad.

He lounged on his side, on my bed, and looked up at me. A black tee shirt clung to his chest, revealing perfectly sculpted arms. Dark hair fell into his eyes as he leaned toward me, asking softly, “What happened?”

I told him most of the story, leaving some things out. Collin hated Eric when he was a Martis, but now that he was a Valefar, his dislike turned to seething hatred. As I was talking about Eric, the bond was in turmoil. Collin was trying to hide his feelings, but the more I spoke about Eric, the worse it got. I left out the kisses, not wanting to cause him anymore pain. But I wondered if that counted as cheating on him. I was afraid that if I had to ask that question, then it was.

“So, he read the page?” Collin asked, shocked. “How? How did he remember it?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. But he won’t tell me what it says without the rest of the book.”

“Of course not,” Collin mumbled. “No doubt he’s going to steal the book and go after Satan’s Stone himself.”

I straightened, “I don’t think so. It’s hard to get a read on Eric, but he seemed like he couldn’t be bothered with this stuff. It sounded more like a favor, for me.” I looked up at Collin and realized that was the worst thing I could have said.

He asked me, “Did he do anything to you? You may not have noticed before, but that guy has always wanted you.”

I smiled, not believing Eric wanted me at all before, and took his hands between mine. “I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me. But I need this. Please, Collin? Please let me bring him the rest of the book. We can copy the pages so we have them too—in case he does something stupid.” I looked up into his eyes, pleading with him.

He looked away from me. “Whenever Eric is around, bad things happen to you. I don’t want you involved this time. Let me or Al do it, all right?” I agreed. It was the best I could get. I just hoped Eric would behave and do what he said he would do.