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The Deal With The Devil 19
Stefan"Look at me, Veronica."She did, and her pale eyes searched mine. Inside them I saw humiliation. I saw sadness. Uncertainty. I saw vulnerability, and I saw a loneliness, a longing, a hope, that I recognized. One I couldn't ignore. One that threatened to resurrect a part of me I'd buried long ago.One I intended on keeping buried.I knew only one way to shut it down, and I needed to shut it the fuck down. Now.Anger boiled inside me. Rage at my own weakness. My weakness around her."I own you," I said, gripping her jaw harder than I needed to and bringing her face to me."Stop!""When I want to fucking kiss you, I'll fucking kiss you." To prove my point, I mashed my lips over hers. This time, they didn't open. They didn't yield like they had just a few moments ago.Good. That was good. That was the point.I released her, and she tried to scramble away, scraping her thigh on the edge of the pool as she tried to slip out of my grasp but ending up on her back instead, with me on top
The Deal With The Devil 20
StefanTake care when fighting the monsters you don't become one.My mom used to tell me that. All the time. It was her favorite fucking quote from Nietzsche.I fought for her too. I fought him. I always lost. I always knew I'd lose, but I did it anyway, and I took the penalties, endured the consequences.I guess I didn't realize when the transformation had happened. When the monster had beaten me. Had taken me over and made me like him. Like my father.I staggered to my feet like a drunken man and went into the house, up to my room, unable to even look at her closed door. I didn't bother to shower. I just pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, got into my car, and drove, not sure where I was even going until I pulled up to the seminary gates. I'd never been here before. It was while I was in prison that Stephen had told me his plans. We hadn't really talked much before that. Stephen and I, we were as opposite as could be. I guess, though, in a way, we were both surviving.My father
The Deal With The Devil 21
VeronicaIt wasn't hard to avoid Stefan after the incident at the pool. He seemed to be avoiding me too. He seemed to have always eaten before I did, and I kept to my room when I didn't have to go downstairs to take care of Charlie. I didn't know where Stefan was most of the time, and I didn't want to care. But I did.He had two sides to him, and he flipped with deadly precision on a dime. His demons were so dark and so deep that when they reared their heads, when they overtook him, he was the scariest beast of all. A man filled with hate and vengeance. But wasn't it those very things that had broken him?But that fissure, it only made him more dangerous because that hurt, it could swallow me up too. It could destroy me like it was him.I could still feel him on my lips, his mouth on mine, his tongue inside my own when I'd opened to him. Like some fool, I'd yielded and so fucking easily. He hadn't even had to make me. If he made me, it would be easier. If he made me, I could hate him.
The Deal With The Devil 22
VeronicaI gasped, but he swallowed the sound, his hand at the back of my skull holding me in place as his lips moved over mine, slow and soft, tasting me. When his tongue probed, I opened, and he slid inside. I tilted my head, and he pressed against me. When he did, I felt him, his hardness, at my belly.I would have stopped the kiss.I did.But he held me and reclaimed my mouth, and this time, urgency replaced the gentler exploration of moments ago. His kiss was hungry, ravenous almost, and his desire only seemed to wake the same inside me. I raised my hand and laid it against his arm, liking the feel of hard muscle there. Feeling somehow safe for it. My body eased, relaxing into him, and my eyelids fluttered closed.But then he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine.His breath came heavy. His hands moved to my hips, holding me."I'm fucked up right now," he said. "You need to go upstairs."I raised my head to look at his face, into his eyes. They told so much he didn'
The Deal With The Devil 23
StefanI sat in my study with the door locked, reading for the hundredth time the amendment to the contract that her grandfather had made. As much as I hated him for it, part of me wanted it, rejoiced in it.That was the sick part. The part I tried to warn her about. The part she felt sure didn't exist.I shook my head, my thoughts wandering again to last night. I should put a lock on that cellar door. I couldn't have her go down there again. I couldn't have her see what lay beneath those sheets. Hell, I should seal that door. Maybe then I could forget the things that had happened in that room.Last night was the first time I'd been there in more than six years. It was raining, and I had needed to go to the chapel. To the cemetery behind it. I hadn't shown Veronica that part when I'd shown her the small church. It seemed too personal, too private. My excuse to use the tunnel had been the rain, although it was flimsy. I didn't care about getting wet, and if I did, I could have driven.
The Deal With The Devil 24
VeronicaI didn't see Stefan for three days after what happened in the cellar. Maria just said he'd gone out on business. I don't know how I'd missed him leaving the bed that morning. I wondered what time he had left. I hadn't even felt him move when he'd climbed out of bed. All I knew was I'd slept like a rock in the warmth and safety of his arms. This man who would steal me away—he was the one who made me feel safer than I'd felt in years. Ever since my parents had died.I'd been so young, but with Robyn being younger, I'd become her protector, in a way. It wasn't even a conscious thing. It felt good to finally let go. So good, it made me realize how I'd been holding on for so long.But what about Robyn now? What would happen to her, now that I was gone? Who would protect her?This idiocy about feeling safe in Stefan's arms, what was that? Shouldn't I feel the most afraid there?But the image of him that night in the cellar, of his eyes, I couldn't get it out of my head.Stefan Arma
The Deal With The Devil 25
VeronicaThe door slamming against the wall startled us both. I jumped, gasping, and we both turned to look behind us. Stefan stood at the entrance of the chapel, one hand flat against the door he'd just smashed into the wall, the other fisted at his side, his face hard.Stephen stood. "Brother.""Cozy in here," Stefan said, his gaze shifting from his brother to me, the accusation in his eyes chilling. "I was looking for you.""You weren't home," I said, feeling guilty but not sure why."You shouldn't come out here on your own. It'll be dark soon.""You just disappear and expect me to sit around and wait for you?"Stefan ignored my comment but didn't deny it. He turned his attention to Stephen and cocked his head to the side. "What were you telling her?""He wasn't telling me anything," I folded my arms across my chest. "You disappeared," I repeated.Again, he didn't look at me. This was between the brothers."I always come to the chapel, you know that. I just happened to run into Ver
The Deal With The Devil 26
Veronica"This is Civitella in Val di Chiana.""It looks abandoned." It was so dark."It's not. Not completely. There are a few festivals during the summer, then again in September at the harvest, but apart from that, it's quiet."I followed him up through the crumbling stone gate, looking around, reading the signs of the shops—a baker, a butcher, several little cafés. When I stumbled, he caught me and held my hand the rest of the way until we were at the top of the village in an open area, which must have once been part of the house that now lay in ruins. Grass had long covered the ground, and at the very center of the now small field, he stopped and looked up. I followed his gaze and stared in awe at the black sky dotted with diamond stars."No light pollution," he said and sat down.I sat beside him."It's amazing.""My mom used to bring me out here." He lay back. "On the bad nights."I followed, and we both watched the sky."Take care when fighting monsters you don't become one,"
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