BOOK 2 of the Running With Devils Series
It's been three weeks since Coralynn Bennet was dragged down to Hell and it was nothing like how she imagined it. It was a kingdom of skyscrapers but no sky. Demons ran amok, but limited their bloodthirsty te...
AN: ok. We're about to start heading into the final throws of this one. Buckle up... fair warning.
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TheShadow
What the fuck was happening to me?
What in the actual fuck was I doing and how the fuck did I make it stop?
One second I was listening to Coralynn's pleas to come back from my place behind the door. One second was all it took before I felt the threat in his reach. It was like a rubber band snapping. All those instincts I had built from my childhood to read body language surged back into my core muscle memory.
One second and I didn't see Levi. One second and it was my father there ready to beat the living shit out of me and my mother.
It was obviously an overreaction. Obviously, I knew Levi wouldn't actually intend to hurt Coralynn. But my chest had felt that all too familiar tug of horror. It remembered the feeling of a fast approaching storm.
"Mal," Coralynn said cautiously. "What's wrong?"
I forced myself to tear my eyes away from the spot Levi had been standing. I found her looking at me with worried curiosity.
"I— uh... nothing," I said finally, brows knitting together as I swallowed. "I'm just a little on edge. Nothing crazy."
She snorted. "Nothing crazy? You were about to turn into a ball of flame."
"No," I laughed awkwardly, a shrug lifting my shoulders nonchalantly. "No you definitely just imagined that."
"Malachi," she groaned. "Stop gaslighting me. You're being ridiculous."
"No. What was ridiculous was his audacity to try and grab you after you had told him to leave," I said quickly. "That won't happen again."
"He'd never hurt me, Mal," Coralynn said firmly.
"All it takes is one time."
She stilled. Her eyes became saddened.
"I see," was all she said.
I inhaled deeply, slowly releasing the breath and all the pent up adrenaline that had instantly coursed through my body.
"I'll be better about suppressing that immediate instinct," I said, letting out another breath. "I know what you're capable of and I know you can handle it yourself. I just... don't want you to have to. I saw what that did to my mother and..."
"You've done that before," she said softly. "The night you... left. Your father looked like he was going to hit me, but you stepped in front of him before he could reach me."
All I wanted to do was forget that night had ever happened, but the fact that she had picked up on that made me feel very exposed.
"I paid for that later," I said, trying to lighten the mood with a smooth laugh.
