Should I let him kill you instead?”

The Prince of Hell disappeared and materialized behind Jon as he blew a breath behind Jon’s neck.

His breath was as dark as his soul. “I will let you off the hook, for now, little girl. If you had summoned me again, whether it’s intentional or accidental, then you’re a dead, dead girl with no second chances. I will take your severed head as a trophy.”

Luna tried not to shudder at the thought of her severed head as she heard his mirthless laugh once again.

He de-materialized out of thin air just before his floating lights winked out.

Jon paused and stared into nothing for a whole breathless minute.

Luna’s heart was beating loudly in her ears as she waited for Jon’s reaction.

Did the demon control him now?

“Who are you talking to?” Jon’s eyes turned silver and were laser-focused on her.

He abruptly moved to kick her, and it caught her off guard.

He kicked so hard and landed so many blows that it made it difficult to defend herself and recover.

He did it again and again.

As she curled up and turned her back on him to avoid his attacks, Jon stomped her instead.

She brought her leg up to protect her side, but that only made him attack her more that she felt her forearm snap.

Luna had given up and didn’t bother dodging his blows anymore, letting him kick her to death.

He backed off and tied her with the rope like a lifeless doll.

Luna rolled around on the ground, struggling to find a position that would make it possible for her to breathe with several broken ribs and her hands tied behind her back.

Wheezing and writhing, she finally kneeled and bent forward with her forehead resting against the icy ground. “Stop it, Jon. You are not yourself. You are supposed to keep me safe.”

“Tell me who he is.”

“No one,” Luna whispered as she spat out blood on his leather shoes. “I was hallucinating.”

“I shouldn’t have kicked your middle so much because now you can’t yell for help, and that’s what we need to expose this dangerous spirit. So silly of me.” Jon knelt next to her folded form, ran his finger through her hair, and grabbed a few tresses.

He will pull her scalp out at any given moment, Luna told herself.

“You are exceedingly quiet,” Jon sighed as he began to play with the chosen lock, and the exposed skin of her nape crawled. “That is a problem. How will this saviour of yours listen to your call if you don’t holler and yell like you’re supposed to do earlier?”

“OH, SOMEONE SAVE ME.” Jon momentarily changed his voice into a higher pitch before immediately switching back to his normal voice. “Just like that. Go on. Try it.”

Luna shook her head.

Jon leaned over her, putting his lips right up against the cringing skin of her neck.

She breathed his seductive breath across her scalp and the backs of her ears.

Even in the scouring cold of the cave, Luna knew Jon was not acting normal.

He was as extreme as the demon that controlled him.

Jon acted more insane and sadistic as the seconds go by.

First, he wanted her to shut the fuck up, and now he wanted her to yell?

If Luna gets killed in this underground cave, he didn’t have to deal with any of these in the future.

It must be so easy for him to say that he tried his best to help the High Priestess to succeed, but, alas, she has a doomed fate and got eaten up by the Nagini or Myrmidons instead of telling the King he is beating her up like an asshole until she can’t move.

“Yell,” Gritting his teeth, he said quietly.

He sounded sane, and to Luna, that made was even terrifying than before. “Call out to them. If you don’t, I will kill you.”

Luna had no intention of summoning that dark and twisted Prince of Hell back.

Who knows what he would do to her again?

Them?

Luna said between panting breaths. “I won’t fall for it.”

“You’re trying my patience,” Jon said. His punches and kicks had probably caused internal bleeding, but she didn’t feel the strength of a demon behind those blows.

Luna looked at the knuckles on his left hand that had stricken her and saw that vampire blood oozed out from the deep scrapes on his fist as it slowly healed.

It made her smile.

Even if she was beaten up and having a hard time breathing, Jon had most likely broken his hand in the process.

Luna hoped they were fucking permanent.

“Call out to them,” Jon pleaded, like all of this was for her good.

“Your salvation is so close.” Jon twisted his fingers to tighten his grip and ripped the lock of hair out of her head, tearing off an inch wide of her scalp with it.

Luna couldn’t stop a high-pitched screech from escaping the back of her throat.

Jon grasped another lock of her hair—one that was lower and attached to even more sensitive skin.

Luna saw blood from the back of her head streaming to her neck and staining the ground below her face.

Jon sounded like he was tired of her not following what he asked her to do. “Call out to these spirits now and save what’s left of your skin.”

The angry bursts of power wrapped around her were blissfully fiery as she focused on her wish with will and determination.

Finally, Luna had a grasp of something steel-hard and cold in her hand.

She finally summoned the scythe of her dreams.