“It didn’t talk to either of us,” Miles announced. Surprised, I pushed away from the wall as Craig and Francis came out the door.
“It only spoke to two of you,” Francis announced. “I hate to say this, but we’re going to need one of you in that room at all times.”
“We want it to talk, so you’re going to have to talk to it,” Craig explained. “The more it talks, the bigger chance it has of making a slip. Also, the more you distract him the less time he’s wearing down Isaac.” Francis came to stand next to me and Ethan.
“It will want to keep the power in the conversation. It wants control so it can hurt everyone around Isaac,” Francis warned. “Be prepared for it to play games with you. You cannot react emotionally. Otherwise, you give the demon exactly what it wants, and it has no reason to talk.” He looked at both of us. “Do you understand?” Ethan and I both nodded. A small flame sparked in my heart.
“I’ll go in and set up the recording equipment,” Craig told us before going back into the room.
I checked the time. It was almost midnight “I’ll take the first shift,” I announced.
“Beautiful…” Ethan looked at me. “No.”
I met Ethan’s eyes. “Ethan. I got this. You take a shift during the day, I’ll take at night.”
“We’re going to have to split up,” Miles announced. “One of us with them at all times.” Miles turned to Asher and Zeke. “We need to make sure they eat, sleep, and take care of themselves. Right?”
“Right. I’ll take Ethan,” Asher said.
“I’ll take Lexie,” Miles agreed.
“I’ll run between both and take care of Hades,” Zeke stated.
“Tomorrow we’ll change it up so everyone gets enough rest,” Miles told them. They nodded.
Ethan was still looking into my eyes. “Lexie…”
“It’ll get tired by the time you come in. It probably won’t be great, but it should be better,” I explained.
“He’s my brother,” Ethan reminded me.
I stepped closer and put my hand on his chest. “That’s why I’m going first.” His hand came up and held mine against him. “This is what we’re doing.”
Ethan took a shaky breath. “Okay.”
I pulled away and looked up at Asher. “Take care of him.”
Asher nodded, his face somber.
“Be careful, Lexie,” Miles warned.
“Promise,” I replied. I turned and headed for the door. As I started to walk past Zeke, his arm shot out, stopping me. I looked up and met struggling blue eyes. Poor Tough Guy. Ethan and I were going to walk in there to get torn apart and all he could do was wait. Zeke was going to be in his own hell.
I gave him a smirk and winked. He let out the breath he was holding then dropped his arm. I gave his arm a squeeze as I walked by.
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. Okay. I’m going to go get a demon to talk. It liked games, it wanted to hurt me. A wicked idea slipped through my mind. I grinned. Oh, this should be interesting.
“Lexie? Are you ready?” Craig asked as he sat at a laptop on a small desk.
“Yeah.”
He got to his feet and held up the small microphone again. “This is how I’ll hear you,” he explained as he pinned it to the inside of my neckline. “I’ll be the only one listening.”
I nodded, my mind still running over my idea. Once he got the microphone clipped on he handed me the battery pack. I slipped that into my pocket.
Craig eyed me. “It’s not going to be easy.”
I snorted. “Nothing in life worth doing ever is.” I didn’t bother to wait around for him to answer. I opened the door and walked through.
The head of Isaac’s bed was raised so he was almost sitting up. His red eyes were on me, his smile growing with every step I took toward him. Hades was still sitting directly in front of him, his face only inches from the demon. What was he doing? I strolled to the folding chair that sat to the left of the bed and sat down. Making a point, I stretched my legs out, crossed my ankles and then crossed my arms over my chest. Once I got comfy, I met those crimson eyes. Then I said nothing. Because what is the worst thing you can do to a demon who wants to tear into you and control the conversation? Ignore it and not say a word.
I sat there, relaxed, as the minutes ticked by. Its smile went away. I still said nothing.
It locked its jaw, its eyes becoming sharp. Still I said nothing. In fact, I was counting seconds in my head.
At fourteen minutes, it broke.
“So, tell me. How was kissing Isaac? And Asher? And Zeke?” Here we go.
Chapter 14
Early Friday Morning
Zeke
I sat on the floor outside in the hall and watched the door. Stupid fucking moron. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the stone wall. Miles and the priest had lied. They had lied for me. The demon had talked to me. Somehow it knew my worst memories and tried to taunt me with them. Francis, Craig and the other Templars had been amazed at how vehemently it went after me. Shit, they had yanked me out of the room after three sentences from the thing.
“We can’t allow someone with this much trauma to spend so much time with a demon,” Francis had told us. “The damage it can cause… the records show thousands of people with traumatic pasts have killed themselves after putting themselves in this situation.”
I opened my eyes and looked at the door again. Lexie was in there, right now, being torn apart. I gritted my teeth and slammed my head against the stone. And I’m sitting out here…
This was beyond fucked up.
I checked the time. Four thirty in the morning. She’d been in there for four hours. Trying to distract myself, I looked down the empty hallway. Asher had taken Ethan off to eat hours ago. Each of us had a room to sleep in, though Asher was crashing on the floor in Ethan’s tonight. One of the Templars had driven Miles to a store to buy everyone a few days worth of clothes. It wasn’t as if we came prepared.
I checked the time again. Four thirty-five. Fuck. Needing to see that she was okay, I moved to my feet and walked into the small, dim observation room. Isaac’s mouth was talking, but I couldn’t hear anything. Hades was still, watching the demon intently.
I turned to the Templars. Craig was at a desk with a laptop and had headphones on. He looked up in surprise.
Walking over I asked, “How’s she holding up?”
Craig sighed, took off one earbud and looked up at me. “So far? That girl is solid as a rock.”
“What’s it saying?” I demanded.
“Same thing it did to you. It’s bringing up her bad memories, taunting her with them.” Craig shook his head. “She’s damn good at this.”
“What?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
He pointed at Lexie through the window. “That thing is fishing for a reaction and she’s giving him nothing. She’s not playing his game, she has all the control right now. She’s a natural.”
“That’s my girl,” I muttered under my breath as I watched her. If anyone could annoy the fuck out of a demon, it was Lexie.
“Though, we didn’t realize how much trauma she’s experienced,” Craig stated. “If she hadn’t had therapy then we’d be yanking her out.”
“How the fuck do you know that?” I growled.
Craig looked up at me and tapped his earbud. “Like I said, it’s fishing, casting a wide net trying to find what hurts.” He turned back to the laptop. “As it is, I’m going to have to station a Templar in her room when she goes to sleep.”
My temper snapped. “The fuck you will.”
Craig met my eyes. “I don’t have a choice,” he told me. “If I don’t and she hurts herself, I have to live with that.”
I shook my head. Lexie would never be able to sleep with some asshole she didn’t know in her room. “One of us will stay with her.”
“Is she going to go for that?” he asked, typing something into the computer.
“She’ll be fine,” I stated simply before turning and walking out of the room. Craig was listening to every dark secret of hers, every traumatic memory. I didn’t know how she was dealing with that. I sat back down in the hallway and checked the time. Four forty. It was going to be a long night.
Lexie