How doesBalthazarknow Emily and Marcellious wed and what they did last night?
I stood, terrified, no shreds of my former bluster and guts to be found. Balthazar was a demon, a monster without mercy. There was nothing to stop him from slaughtering Emily.
“Please,” I stammered. “Spare her. She means the world to me. Please don’t kill her.”
“Give me one good reason why not? Wait—you’ve already given agreatreason for me to snap her head from her neck.” He stared at me with his soulless eyes.
“Why did you kill John James?” I countered, trying to draw his thoughts away from Emily. “He means nothing to you.”
“No, but he must have meant something to you because I saw you trekking down from his cabin, a stupid smile on your face.” Balthazar ran his tongue across his teeth and then spit on the ground. “What did he tell you that made you so happy?”
I squirmed where I stood. There was no way I would tell him about Eyan Malik. “You know I’m looking for the journal. I heard John James had knowledge of its whereabouts.”
His eyelids turned to slits, and he pressed the knife into Emily’s throat. “You’re lying, bitch.”
Emily yelped.
Marcellious jerked, the pistol still gripped in his hand. He was no doubt as desperate as me to save Emily’s life.
“Why don’t you put that puny gun back where it belongs, hmm?” Balthazar said to Marcellious.
Marcellious stood still, clutching the gun.
“I said, put the gun away,” Balthazar bellowed, his voice making the air tremble and vibrate.
Slowly, Marcellious lowered the gun, holstering it. He rested his hand on the handle of his hunting knife.
Oh, don’t do anything stupid, Marcellious. Balthazar can destroy us all with a flick of his fingers.
“The journal…it’s in the mountains,” I told Balthazar. “We’re going to find it and give it to you. Then, you’ll have what you want, and you can leave us alone.”
A glimmer of greedy lust shone in his eyes. But the spark of light quickly extinguished. “You know more than you’re letting on.”
He started to draw the knife edge across Emily’s skin.
She whimpered as a few drops of blood rolled down her neck.
“Stop!” I cried. “Let her go! I’m telling you the truth. That’s all John James said to me. He told me where to look to find the journal. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Why don’t you just let us go so we can find it and return it to you?”
For a long, tense moment, Balthazar stared at me, pinning me with his despicable gaze. Then, his nostrils flared, and the arm gripping Emily’s collarbones began to tremble.
Smoke coiled from Emily’s deerskin dress, and she screamed.
“If you don’t tell me everything James told you, I willburnEmily alive.” Balthazar bared his teeth like an angry hyena.
“I told you everything,” I said, wringing my hands around and around.“Everything! You’ve got to believe me!”
“You’ve only told me—” Balthazar started.
Marcellious cut him off, flinging his hunting knife at the demon’s belly. It lodged in his gut and vibrated.
Balthazar bellowed in rage, sending a shock wave of sound through the air.
I covered my ears as Balthazar flung Emily to the ground.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said with a snarl at Marcellious. He blurred from sight and reappeared behind Marcellious with the hunting knife in his hand.
Marcellious released a strangled exclamation of surprise as Balthazar grabbed his neck, searing the skin beneath his palm. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled my nose as Marcellious yelled in pain.
