My Soul to Keep Read Online Free Page B

smiled. At least her face did. But Sorcha now knew it was really a demon smiling at her—Maree’s mouth stretching over teeth the color of bone. “Well, well, you do know something then. Maybe you
are
the clever mongrel the Dark Prince warned me of, after all. The Master predicted you would bring me down if I didn’t stop you. Looking at you, listening to you … it’s almost laughable to consider.”
    â€œTresa,” she whispered. “She still lives.”
    The demon nodded. “As long as I exist, she lives. When she cursed Etienne Marshan long ago, she signed away her soul. To me.”
    Sorcha pressed her fingers to her temples, struggling to take it all in. “You killed Gervaise …”
    â€œWell, Tresa did it, but at my behest.” The demon leaned in, his lips moving slowly around the words. “Take it as a warning to stay out of my way.”
    Sorcha stared in bleak fury. “I was living my life. I didn’t give a damn about you …”
Until now.
“You’ve made a serious mistake.” Heat erupted at her core, zipping along every nerve ending, pushing at her tightening flesh.
    â€œWhat are you going to do about it, mongrel?” The demon sneered. “I’ve lived over two thousand years. Think you can stop me?”
    In a flash, Sorcha turned. Could not stop herself.Her bones pulled, snapped into place in a burning instant. Her voice spat past her lips, thick and gurgling. “Why don’t you stop hiding inside Maree and come out so we can fight this properly?”
    â€œOh, I would love that. Tell you what, find Tresa. Destroy her. Then you and I can finish this. And I’ll show the Master that no pathetic mongrel has the power to kill me.”
    Sorcha lurched from her chair, sending it clattering to the floor, forgetting at that moment that the demon wasn’t really there. She grabbed the witch by the shoulder, her fingers digging, eager to hurt, hungry for vengeance … until Maree cried out sharply. Sorcha pulled her hand back as if stung and stared hard at the witch’s face.
    The black liquid pools of her eyes blurred, shrank and faded away. The startling blue flashed back into place. The witch sagged in her chair, blinking in confusion.
    And Sorcha knew. The demon was gone.
    Glancing wildly around the room, convinced the demon could still hear her even if he no longer possessed Maree, Sorcha shouted, “I’ll find Tresa! I’ll destroy her and then we’ll finish this!”
    For Gervaise. For the misery Tresa’s curse had caused across ages.
I’ll finish it.
    Nothing would stop her.

T WO
    Jonah woke to a heavy pounding on his door, wrenched from his usual nightmares. He sat up in bed, sheets tangled around his legs, his heart sinking back down into his throat.
    The nightmares were always the same. Even all these years later. Always fire. Fire clawing up his body, eating at him, melting his flesh until it fell away in liquid sheets, until his bones burst into char and ash. Always he fought the flames, plunging into the mawing heat, screaming for Sorcha, desperate to save the only thing innocent and good in his life.
    Useless.
    With a curse and a shake of his head, he slid from the bed, the nightmare slipping away like smoke until its later return. As the scalding burn faded from his nose, he fought off the thought that always followed his dreams, plaguing him still, all these years later.
I should have been there. If I had only been there, Sorcha would be alive.
    The pounding at his door grew more savage and he snatched his sword from where it rested beside the bed. Before he even reached the door, he heard Darby’s shouts from the other side.
    â€œJonah! Jonah, let me in!”
    As soon as he flung the door open, the witch barreled past him into his condo. She slammed the door shut behind her and drove the bolt home. Her body shuddered with angry breaths, her red hair a flaming halo