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

out the portal. A pair of white eyes shimmered into green, and his mouth spread into a grin that revealed rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth.

It was him.

“Ah,” the Balan said, towering over me, “we meet again, Scarlett Ravenwood.”

20

The Balan grinned down at me, triumphant and full of his own self-importance.

I was forced upright, my neck throbbing where I’d been hit. Kneeling before the greater demon, I scowled. There I went, rushing headfirst into danger yet again. It seemed I hadn’t learned anything. I’d rushed in the night I’d first met Wilder, confronting a man I believed was a murderer instead of calling the cops. Staring at the Balan’s feet, I wished I’d stayed in my box and waited for Aldrich.

Wilder was forced to his knees by a drooling lesser demon, its fingers digging into his shoulders. He landed with an oomph, his hair falling into his eyes. He was covered in dirt and soot, and blood trickled from his nose.

His eyes went to Greer, who was lying on the floor, the cold iron dagger protruding from her chest. He looked to her before he turned his attention on me, and I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy from twisting my stupid heart. So not the time.

“Scarlett Ravenwood,” the Balan declared with a smirk.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

“You’ve grown into such a lovely young woman,” he went on, “ripe and ready to—”

“Puke,” I declared. “I like my men with one set of teeth and only a slight murderous intent, thank you very much.”

The Balan glanced at Wilder.

Wilder gritted his teeth. “Just get it over with.”

“I’m not here for you, Natural,” the Balan declared. “But you will make a perfect host.”

Wilder tensed and attempted to rise, but the lesser demon forced him back down again.

“Watch him,” the Balan commanded, turning his focus back on me. “I have work to do.”

The lesser demons circled us as the Balan grasped me around the neck and lifted me like I weighed nothing at all. I felt the fight bleed from my limbs as his touch overwhelmed my senses. I just… There was nothing I could do to stop him as he bore into my mind.

“Scarlett!” I heard Wilder’s voice, but it sounded so far away.

The lid of the box opened, and I cowered in the corner as the Balan appeared. He stood over me, a fake smile on his lips.

“Get out of my head!” I shouted.

“Here she is,” he crooned. “C’mon, sweetheart.” He reached out and grasped me under my arms, then plucked me from my hiding place.

As I was lifted out of the box, I saw my parents lying on the ground. It was exactly as I remembered it. They were covered in blood, their eyes unseeing. Dead meant forever.

The Balan’s hands dug painfully into my sides as he shook me. “Where is Arondight?”

I screamed in terror and thrashed, trying to break free. He was manipulating my mind, using my worst memories to torture answers out of me. Too bad I didn’t know squat.

“Tell me!” he roared. “Don’t make me hurt them, Scarlett. You love him. Do you want me to kill him like I killed your parents?”

“Eat shit, arsehole! You’re all talk, you know that?”

“What do you know of Human Convergence?”

I gasped as hot pincers buried into my brain. “Nothing.”

“Lies.”

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” I cried. “How about you tell me what it is? Then we can compare notes.”

The Balan roared and buried its hooks deeper. “Human Convergence. Tell me.”

“Your Infernal buddy mutated my best friend.” I kicked, and I felt my heel smashing against a pair of rotten demon balls. “Converge that, arsehole!” That’s for Jackson.

The Balan cried out in anger, then lifted his fist. As his knuckles collided with my face, I was pushed to the ground. I landed on my side, stars exploding through my vision.

This isn’t real, Scarlett, I told myself. He’s in your head. Fight back!

“I was there,” the Balan murmured into my ear. “I know what happened to them. Your parents died at my feet. Do you want to know why?”

I tensed as he pushed another vision into my mind. My parents lying on the ground, covered in blood, their eyes open and unblinking. Shut up, you little shit.

“I can tell you everything you want to know,” the Balan crooned. “All you have to do is give me Arondight.”

“I don’t know where Arondight is.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve seen it, Scarlett. You’ve been touched by its flame.”

“I don’t remember,” I muttered, tears welling in my eyes. “I don’t…”

“That’s okay. You will. I can help you.” The Balan towered over me, his hand outstretched. “Just reach out and take my hand, Scarlett. That’s all you have to do. Then you’ll be at peace.”

I stared at his fingers, almost expecting them to have clawed tips, but he was normal enough if he didn’t open his mouth.

He knew what happened to them. He knew why they died. He knew all the answers I longed for. Everything I’d ever wanted was within my grasp, all I had to do was reach out and take the Balan’s offer.

But…

If I didn’t fight back, the Sanctum would fall and the Codex would be corrupted. Greer, Romy, Wilder, and the others would be possessed and mutated into super soldiers, enslaved to the very enemy they’d pledged to destroy.

But…

Let go of your past. Embrace your future…

“No,” I said. “The price is too high.”

The Balan roared and I was lifted into the air, his fingers tightening around my neck, choking the life from me. The price was too high…

I was wrenched to the side, my consciousness tearing away from the vision. The world splintered and the ruined library materialised.

I gasped as I focused on an arondight blade protruding through the Balan’s chest. The demon let me go and my knees hit the ground, my flesh tearing on the rubble underfoot. The creature wailed, its jaws opening wide with a picture of fury and pain.

My arondight blade was lying within reach and