Dark Descent: The Arondight Codex - Book One by R Nicole (best books to read all time TXT) 📗

purple, huh?” he mused, glancing up and down the street. “Aren’t you a rainbow.”

I moaned and slid down the wall until I was crouching. I’d forgotten to take my tablets at dinnertime, which is why I was having a mini-breakdown. Wilder said this was real, but what if he was still screwing with me?

“Shite,” he cursed, looking at me like I was a problem he didn’t want to deal with. “We’re getting a taxi.”

“Why do you care?” I asked, shoving my head between my knees, knowing I was exhausted, starving, and having a panic attack that was honestly overdue. “Just leave me alone. I can get back by myself.”

“There you go wanting to put your head in the sand again. It’s so human of you.” He sighed sharply and knelt in front of me. “I can’t leave you out here like this.”

“Yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t,” he snapped. “You’re in this now, Scarlett. As much as I don’t need the drama, I’m oath bound. I have to get you home at least.”

I glanced up. He called me Scarlett.

“C’mon.” He offered me his hand.

I stared at him.

“If you hadn’t killed that demon…” He grimaced. “Well, let’s just say I need to repay the favour.”

“You won’t…” I glanced at his boot, where I knew he’d stashed his murder knife.

“No,” he said, “I won’t hurt you. That knife is reserved for actual demons, not she-devils.”

I snorted and reluctantly curled my fingers around his, knowing I didn’t have anything to fear from the guy. Not when I now knew there were worse things out there.

5

I was exhausted by the time the cab dropped us off in front of my flat.

“This is your house?” Wilder asked, staring up at the terraced house that looked like all the other terraced houses on the street—bland and unremarkable.

“It’s the top flat,” I said with a grimace.

“You don’t even have the whole thing?”

“No, and it’s Jackson’s flat. I just live there.”

Wilder snorted.

I sighed and fished in my pocket for my keys.

“You’ve got a little…” He waved his hand at me.

Looking down, I realised the front of my jumper was splattered with something dark. Demon blood. Or the tears of my internal frustration leaking out of every pore on my body.

“I’ve had enough,” I whispered, holding out the front of my jumper so I could inspect the damage.

“You’ll have to speak up, I might be a Natural, but I don’t have super hearing.”

“I said, I’ve had enough!” I shouted at him. Somewhere in the distance, a dog started to bark.

Wilder snorted. “Evidently, so has that dog.”

“I’ve had my memory wiped, I’ve been attacked my demons, I stabbed a human-spider-hybrid thing through the heart with a magical sword, I was led on a wild goose chase by a troll doll…” I sucked in breath after breath, oxygen hissing through my teeth.

“Don’t go frothing at the mouth, Purples.”

“And I’ve had to put up with your awful personality for far longer than any sane human could tolerate!”

“Didn’t you mention something about meds?” Wilder asked, tilting his head to the side.

“You’re such a piece of—”

“We better get you inside, Purples,” he interrupted. “Once you’re in, you’ll be rid of me.”

I clenched my fist around my key. “Will you do that alteration thing on me again?”

“Up to you, though it’s probably a waste of time. You’d be better off finding that pill bottle of yours.”

I was far too exhausted to argue with the guy, so I stalked up the front steps and unlocked the door. Inside, it was dark and stank of mould. The house was so old, it seemed like it was rotting away most days. The owner of the flat downstairs was far too cheap to do anything about the dampness of the house, even though Jackson had been asking for years.

“It smells like a wet cat in here,” Wilder said, wrinkling his nose. “Which flat is yours?”

“Upstairs.” I climbed upward, completely agreeing with his assessment. When I reached the landing, I stopped dead in my tracks, a shiver racing over my body like something cold had rushed past me. Placing my foot on the first step of the next flight, I saw the front door to the flat was open.

“Usually people lock their front doors,” Wilder said, stating the obvious.

“Duh.”

“Wait here,” he said with an authoritative grunt.

Ignoring him, I ran up the last dozen stairs and pushed into the hallway beyond.

“Jackson?” I called out to the dark apartment. “Jackson?”

A thump from within drew my gaze to his bedroom door and I rushed forward, passing my room before reaching his. The air temperature fell the farther I went, causing my breath to vaporise. It wasn’t that cold outside and the radiator should be on.

Nudging open Jackson’s bedroom door, I saw a writhing mass on his bed and yelped. I flipped on the light and a rush of brightness filled the space and my yelp turned into a cry.

“Holy shite!”

Jackson was lying on his bed, fully clothed, twisting and turning, his sheets a tangled mess beneath him. He gritted his teeth and turned his head, muttering under his breath. When his gaze met mine, his eyes were completely white.

An arm wrapped around my waist and yanked me backwards. I slammed into a hard chest and began to wriggle.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Wilder murmured against my ear.

“Let go of me!” I exclaimed, desperate to get to Jackson. He was overdosing or having a fit or something. I didn’t want to acknowledge the bit where another person had blank eyes just like that earlier in the evening.

“Your friend has been possessed.”

I broke free of Wilder’s grasp and turned to glare at him. “Possessed?”

He flipped his knife in his hands and pointed the tip towards my best friend. “That’s what that is, just so you know.”

“But…”

Wilder raised an eyebrow, unimpressed over the whole scene, which only made me want to slap him. Hard.

“His head isn’t going to turn around is it?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder.

Wilder shrugged, picking paint off