Red.

Red.

The nickname echoes in my head.

TJ doesn't call me Red. Kieran calls me Red.

'Not everything is what it looks like, Red.'

The man I'm looking at isn't TJ, it's Kieran. Which means the man they killed... wasn't Kieran.

"Get Rose!" he says in a hushed command. "Sam, go now! I'll keep you clear."

My heart pounds and I leap to my feet. I don't have time to think, just run. I sprint over to Rose, who is sobbing on the floor.

"Come with me!" I say. "We have to go, now!"

She reluctantly nods and rises to her feet. A few demons seem to notice us and start to head our way, but they're launched back by TJ—er, Kieran—with a flick of his wrist.

"That way!" he says, pointing to the closest door to our left. He's launching demons in all directions and pelting them with fire. The sounds echo through the warehouse, bouncing off every metal surface in a way that pierces my eardrums. Rose yelps in panic as I tug her through and out of the building. The heavy metal door slams behind us and I nearly run into a large man.

Without thinking, I panic and hold up my hand to push him away. He flies backward and skids along the gravel.

"Bloody hell, love!" he curses, rising to his feet and dusting off his jeans. "You pack a hell of a punch."

Oh shit—it's Zane.

A car pulls up beside us and I recognize the driver as Finn.

"We're the getaway car," Finn says, leaning out the window. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm okay," I say, looking at Rose. "This is Rose."

"Hello, Rose. We're here to take you home."

She looks at them with fear, like she's not sure who to trust. I don't blame her. She has no idea who we are.

Zane reaches out an open palm and she reluctantly puts her hand in his.

"You're safe now," he says. "You can trust us, we're your friends."

His words seem to have an instant effect. She stops shaking and lets out a ragged breath, nodding. Zane opens the back door for her and she gets in.

"That... wasn't Kieran, was it?" I ask.

"He and TJ swapped."

Something hits the metal door with a loud clang and I jump.

"We've gotta go," Zane says, closing Rose's door and circling the car toward the passenger seat.

"I... I can't," I say, before I even realize that I've made the decision.

I can't leave Kieran here to fight them all on his own.

Zane reaches into the car and reappears with a large iron club in his hands.

"We know. Catch." He throws it over the car to me and I catch it with both hands. It's so heavy it nearly pulls me down.

He hops in the car and closes his door.

"Kieran said you'd want to stay and fight," Finn says. "Good luck in there, love. Bring our boy home, eh?"

I nod and turn around with the club in hand, taking a deep breath before heading back inside. I hear the engine sounds fade away in the distance.

Here goes nothing.

I swing the door open and take in the chaos before me. Dozens of bodies are littered around the room, most of them bloodied and seemingly unconscious. Kieran—still with TJ's face—is at one edge of the space, with several men attacking him from every angle. Someone launches at me from the side and I hit them square in the temple with the club. If they were human, that definitely would have killed them, but it's clear that they're not because they pull themself up onto their knees, looking just slightly rattled.

Shit.

Maybe time for Plan B. I focus my energy on the demon as they rise to their feet with a growl. Suddenly, their leg snaps and bends in a grotesque way, which elicits a horrified shriek.

"Oh god!" I yelp, as they cry in pain and writhe on the floor. "I'm sorry, I was trying to light you on fire!"

I'm not sure that makes it better, but I feel bad. That looked awful.

Arms wrap around me from behind and I jab my elbow back into their gut.

"It's me, Sam," Vic says in my ear.

He still doesn't understand why that wouldn't be comforting to me.

I'm so fucking tired of Vic thinking he's my savior.

His arms pull back in an instant and he howls in pain. I turn to see him and realize his sleeves are on fire. He rips off his jacket and throws it on the floor with a hiss.

"You bitch!" he curses, his nostrils flaring and his fists balled at his side.

"I don't need you to save me, Victor. I don't want you to save me."

"You fucking deserve each other, you know that?" He grabs his knife off his belt and lunges at me, but freezes with the blade a few inches away from my stomach.

I'm doing it again. I'm controlling him, holding him in place.

"You were going to kill me..." I say, trying to wrap my head around it.

He was really about to kill me.

My ex-boyfriend, someone who I used to love—who claimed to love me—was really going to kill me. It feels surreal and devastating.

I drop the club and pry the dagger from his frozen hands and grip it tight in my palm.

"Samantha, you just... you provoked me. I wouldn't really hurt you."

Another demon, lit aflame, launches across the warehouse. I turn and watch as he crashes into a rack of packed boxes and falls to the ground with a loud thunk.

Movement in my periphery draws my attention back to Vic, who has clearly broken free from my hold. He grabs my neck and I drive his dagger into his stomach. He seems relatively unfazed and pins me against the wall with one hand while ripping out the dagger with the other.

I claw at his hands, trying to break free. Out of nowhere, a fireball hits his side and he releases me, falling to the ground with a growl. I look back in the direction that it came from and I see Kieran, still looking like TJ, standing alone, breathing hard, and surrounded by dozens of bodies.

Thank fuck he's okay.

I run up to him and wrap my arms around his shoulders and his hands find my waist. My instinct is to kiss him, but I stop when I realize I'm looking at TJ's face.

"It's really you, right?" I ask, pointing at his face. "'Cause this is... a little weird."

"Ahh, that," he says with a smirk.

Before my eyes, he morphs back to his usual self. He's a bit tousled and covered in sweat and dirt, but he's Kieran—he's here, and he's alive.

He focuses on something over my shoulder, and I turn to follow his eye line to an angry Victor rising to his feet. His shirt is charred and large sections of it have burned away.

"This is exactly what he wants, Samantha," he says, slowly walking toward us. "He wants to control you."

Kieran pushes me behind him and straightens his shoulders, readying for a fight.

"That's close enough," Kieran says.

Vic stops about ten steps away, clutching the wound on his abdomen with one hand. Kieran holds out a hand and Vic falls to his knees with a groan.

"I know you won't let him kill me, Sam. You love me and I love you." Vic looks at me with such confidence, but that's always been his problem—he's delusional. He can't imagine a world in which I actually choose Kieran over him, or one in which Kieran would choose me.

"Sam?" Kieran asks. "What do you want to do?"

I step out from behind Kieran and look Victor in the eyes. Looking at him brings up every emotion for me—memories of love and joy, sadness over the loss of what was, anger and fear over how he plagued my nightmares for so long. Everything is bubbling at the surface, waiting to overflow.

"You don't love me, Victor," I spit.

"Yes I-" he starts to speak, but I don't let him finish.

"No, you don't. You want to own me. You want to control me. You think that you know what's best for me and you're willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen, because you know best. Fuck what I want. That's not love." I take another step toward him and find myself shaking with anger.

"You don't know what you want!" he hisses.

"No. You don't know what I want. How could you? You never fucking listen. You're so sure you know everything that you don't even need to ask. Victor knows best. You think being powerful and smart makes you entitled to everything—makes you entitled to run everyone's lives. You don't deserve your power. You just use it to harm people."

A thick white mist starts to seep from his skin with a sizzling sound, like liquid is boiling at its surface. He grimaces and roars in pain.

"Are you doing that?" I ask, turning to Kieran for answers.

He shakes his head, his brows raised and his eyes wide.

"Pretty sure that was you," he says.

Vic folds over, his hand over his wound, which now seems to be gushing blood.

"What did you do?" He curses, collapsing to the side and his blood pools on the floor. "What the fuck is happening?!"

"He's bleeding..." Kieran says.

"Wasn't he already bleeding?" I ask.

"Not like that. Not like... a human."

I knew the Demon King was the one who gave Incubi their powers. I didn't realize until now that he—and now I—had the power to take them away.

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