Chapter 340. The Cost I

Chapter 340: 340. The Cost I

Maisie

"No!" I screamed, hearing my voice harsh with terror when he came at me. Jerking back, I swung my fist, but he vanished and materialised behind me. All the warning I got was his hand wrenching back my head before he smacked my head into the side of the shelf.

My vision doubled and I tasted copper, but I was used to pain. I twisted, ignoring the rip of my hair from my scalp, and my claws met his skin, ready to slash out his right eye.

But I looked at his face, and he was Gruer again, the man who had saved my life and had sat with me during the darkest moments of my life.

I couldn’t do it.

His face twisted into a slash of a dead smile and shock reverberated through me when he slapped me across the face.

I hit the wall with a gasp, feeling a sticky wetness roll down my temporarily deafened ear. I blinked back the darkness in my vision as I heard him approach, and I stood on shaky feet, holding a hand out in front of me. "I don’t..." I panted raggedly. "I don’t want to hurt you, Gruer. Please."

A low clawing laughter dragged over the walls. "Oh, darling. You should worry about yourself first."

He lunged for me again, and I felt the steady hum of power crackle in my veins, begging to be let out. Fear slid into me as I considered giving in to it. What if I killed him and killed Gruer in the process? What if I opened the rift and killed myself?

As if reading my thoughts, he moved for me, and I cried as he bent my outstretched arm backwards, snapping it from its socket. "I don’t think so, itchy bitch," he laughed. "The last time I met one of you, she opened a rift in my flesh. I haven’t had a real body since that particular encounter. You think I wouldn’t have learned from that--"

He howled when I swung my foot up, kicking him square in the groin. His hold loosened and I hurtled for the entrance, blood and heart in my mouth.I’d never fought a demon in my life. How did one fight a demon? Especially without the intention of killing them?

A hand clamped around my ankle and I screamed as I went down. My head slammed into the stony steps leading up to the main library, and pain splintered across my skull.

Ignoring it, I kicked ineffectively at him. I jammed my foot again into his knee with enough force to crack it backward, but his body was harder than it should be, like he was made entirely of stone.

I was severely outclassed.

I twisted to find an irritated curl to his lip.

And then he flung me back into the shelf.

My head and spine cracked the wood and for a moment, all I saw was white and splotches of black. I hit the ground with a pained cry, and my vision tripled as I tried to focus.

He was instantly in front of me, hunched into a crouch, as unblinking white eyes tracked my expression. "No, no, no. You can’t be out this quickly," he hissed. "We’ve only just met. You were supposed to be interesting enough to make my trip worth it."

Wheezing, I dragged myself off the floor, stomach tightening with fear at his excitement to find that I hadn’t passed out.

The pain was almost too much to bear as I pressed back against the shelves, panting. If I stalled for long enough, my mates would find me.

Blood trickled down the front of my face, dribbling onto my bottom lip. "I know you’re in there, Gruer--"

"Gruer? Is that what he calls himself now?" He smiled was one of absolute deviltry. "Ah. Phillip Matthias Gruer. An unassuming name for a thousand year fleeing slave, hiding in the body of a dead half-breed bairn." He peered down at himself, patting down his arms and muscles. "He’s done good, tinkering this body effectively. They’ve merged so deeply, they’re one and the same. Hmm. Fitting. I shall like to keep this hide."

Slave?

Forgive me. I can’t... won’t go back there.

Cold washed over me. There. As in... the otherworld? "Y-you aren’t from around here," I stammered faintly, and his grin deepened.

"No," he agreed, almost warmly. "And if I take you across, that little chip in your body and whatever pretty link your mates have to you won’t matter at all."

I froze, fear filling me up like liquid ash. I whispered, "What do you want with me?"

He quirked a brow like he knew I was buying time and pulling yanking more desperately on the bond while I did, but he humoured me. "You are far too much trouble to keep as a pet, and oh-so-much mess to drag through my boudoir. She told me I could do whatever I wanted with you. So I thought... why not the auction block? A Keeper? Oh, the lords will tear each other apart for the privilege of breaking you. You will buy me empires, little bird. You see, I am something of a slave-trader."

I felt sick to my stomach.

"Who sent you?" I wheezed, head a bit clearer.

"I could give you that information, if you sold me your soul," he grinned, though, I already had an idea. "Oooh, but someone already beat you to that."

It had to be Lysandra.

Soren thought she was laying low, but she’d somehow gotten a demon to Ashbourne for a quick snag and sell. I should’ve known, should’ve expected her next move to be something as asinine as she was.

"You can’t take me," I said when he started to rise. I didn’t want to hurt him. I knew Gruer was still in there. But I would have to, to save my life. "I don’t have the ruby. And even if I did, I would rather die than let you drag me across."

His eyes crinkled into a dark smile. "Oh, but you don’t need the ruby anymore to access the rift, especially for a teeny-weeny tear, one trip for just us two. You’ve already been bound to it. It’d nearly kill you, of course, but I’ll pull your soul out of your body before the debt can be fully paid. Then I’ll put it right back when we arrive. A little bit of trickery for the trickster Goddess would be satire, yes? It would be rather expensive, but...." He mumbled the last words to himself, thinking deeply.

I didn’t have a single idea what he was rambling about, eyes flicking towards the entrance, noticing he didn’t want me getting across the threshold.

This had been an old temple, hadn’t it? Weakened boundaries. Perhaps, his hold on Gruer was stronger in here? I had to get out.

He caught me eyeing the entrance and he smiled again, white eyes wide, and I shivered, thinking if they had colour, they would be bright with excitement.

"You’ll open it for me. Either because you choose to... or because I keep breaking pieces of you until your body does it to save itself. I’m very patient. This is what I do for a living. Stealing people. Beating them into shape. Selling them." He leaned forward, and I smelled Gruer’s lemon-y aftershave. "Now now, shall we begin?"

"What did she promise you in exchange for me?" I screamed when he reached for me. "I could give you more than that! I could... I could find a way to help you stay here. Like Gruer. You really want to go back to your dying world? Sell me off? You’ll never get a chance to leave again if you do."