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

“It might?” I shrieked. “Get it out of him!”

“Wait, a moment ago you were telling me all the things that were wrong with me, and now you think it’s a completely sane thing to go around asking strangers to perform exorcisms. Where was the part where you accepted all of this, because I think I might’ve missed it.”

“Can you get it out of him or not?”

“Would it be such a bad thing to leave it where it is?”

“Yes!”

“I mean, look at him.” Wilder gestured to the bed where my best friend was writhing and foaming at the mouth. “He has a Call of Duty poster on his wall. How old is he again?”

“He’s a professional gamer,” I said, clucking my tongue. “Wilder, please.”

“Well, that’s all you had to say,” he declared, pushing off the wall and pocketing his knife.

“Wait… What?” I stared after him incredulously as he stood at the foot of the bed, looking rather intimidating in his leather biker jacket.

“Manners get you a long way in life,” he drawled. “They can charm you right into an exorcism if you’re lucky.” He clicked his fingers. “Now, hand me that limited edition Witcher sword.”

“Huh?” I picked up the sword leaning against the wall. “You’re not going to…”

“Pfft,” he said rolling his eyes. “I couldn’t even cut through butter with that thing.”

“What do you need it for then?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to see the look on your face.”

“You’re such an arsehole.”

“I’ve been called worse, sweetheart. You’ll have to try better next time.”

“Hunter,” the demon said, its voice hollow. He spat at Wilder, who just stepped to the side. The saliva missed him and he cracked his knuckles. “You think you can win? This body is mine.”

“Yours you say?” he replied with a laugh. “You can’t even get up.”

The demon cackled, licked its lips, and went for its crotch. I gasped and covered my mouth as it pulled out Jackson’s—

“Don’t look at him, Scarlett,” Wilder said. “Demons are all about violent masturbation in front of the possessed’s loved ones. It thinks it’s shocking, but I guarantee your friend is already intimately acquainted with jacking off.”

“I don’t want to know. Just get that thing out of him!” I exclaimed.

“Put the penis away, Infernal,” Wilder said, holding out his hands. “And leave this human before things get messy.”

“Never!” it shouted, its eyes flashing silver as it bared its teeth.

“They always say never,” Wilder muttered before he began to chant something in a strange language. Was that Latin?

I edged out into the hall as Jackson began to thrash, throwing his head from side to side. Wilder clenched his fists and the demon’s back arched away from the mattress, its arms and hands twisting as its mouth gaped open. The bed shuddered, scraping across the floor a few inches to the left, then back to the right.

I glanced at Wilder, but he hadn’t moved. His hands were still raised and coiled into tight fists, and his gaze was locked on the demon.

Jackson let out a wail as he was pushed back onto the bed by an invisible force, then his mouth opened and a plume of black smoke rushed out.

The smoke hit the ceiling, then pooled in the corner, writhing and emitting sparks of electricity. It sent out long inky tendrils, looking for a crack to escape through.

“Kill it!” I cried.

Wilder pulled out his crazy sword and I flinched as it sprang into life, showering the room with white sparks. Luckily for us, nothing caught fire, but the demon began to pulsate, emitting a dull rumbling that sounded a lot like an angry growl.

He edged towards the cloud as it snaked across the wall, holding the sword at the ready. It was searching for the window, wrapping itself around the curtains.

Wilder thrust, the demon roared, and the window shattered. The demon shrieked, then flew out into the night, tumbling and turning until it dissipated.

“You let it get away,” I said with a humph.

“At least it’s gone,” Wilder shot back, “and out of your geeky boyfriend.”

“Jackson is not my boyfriend.”

“He’s not, huh?”

A thump banged against the floor as I tried to catch my scattered wits.

“Shut the hell up!” the neighbour boomed, his voice carrying through the floorboards. “People are trying to sleep down here!”

I glanced at Wilder.

“Sorry about the window,” he said with a shrug. “Have you got insurance?”

Shaking my head, I climbed onto the bed and smoothed Jackson’s hair from his brow. He was burning up and sweat prickled his skin. He was unconscious to the point of being in a coma, and no amount of shaking brought him around.

“That’s not going to help,” Wilder drawled.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“There’s no question about it now,” he declared. “You’ll have to come with me.”

“I think we’ve had just about enough quality time together,” I said, checking Jackson’s pulse. Thready.

Wilder snorted. “You and your lanky friend.”

I shook my head. I was so done with this bad acid trip. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”

“He was possessed,” he stated. “The demon likely fed on his soul at least a little. That’s why he won’t wake up.”

“It fed on his soul?” I shrieked, almost falling off the bed.

“Calm down, Purples. We can fix it. Don’t get your knickers all twisted in a bunch.”

I fisted my hands into my hair and resisted the urge to burst into tears. “Did it follow us here? Was it waiting for me?”

“After all the shit we’ve been through tonight?” Wilder glanced away. “Probably.”

“Why? What did I ever do to it?” I sniffed, my throat burning. “Where do they even come from?”

“There’s a world that exists alongside yours,” Wilder said. “A secret world that threatens to plunge yours into eternal darkness.”

“How cliché.”

“It may be a cliché, but it’s also very real. Those demons you saw? Those are only the tip of the iceberg.”

I stiffened at his analogy, unpleasantness tingling down my spine. Memories were like icebergs…

“I’m beginning to suspect that demon wasn’t at that pub yesterday by chance,” he went on,