Satan's Vessel

15.

She screamed and screamed.

The room was a blur. The light from her lamp suddenly reminded her so fiercely of Satan's fireplace that, for a moment, she thought she was back in his big black bed, cuffed and spellbound.

She screamed again.

'Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn!'

He knew her name. She'd told him her name.

A warm, strong hand gripped her shoulder and she jerked back, slapping it away.

'Kaitlyn! Stop.' A pair of bright green eyes gazed at her and behind them were more pairs of colourful eyes, big masculine bodies, beautiful faces, worried looks ...

It almost broke her heart to see them all.

'I almost told him,' she cried, gripping Jacob's forearm. 'I almost told him!'

Jacob knelt on the mattress as she cringed against the wall. 'Almost told him what, Kaitlyn?'

Kaitlyn winced. 'Don't say my name. I hate my name. What a stupid name. Pure. I'm anything but pure!'

'Kaitlyn, look at me,' he said in a firm but gentle voice. Though every bone in her body told her to look away, to hide the extent of her secrets, his gaze seemed to draw hers to his like a magnet. 'Did you tell him anything?'

She sucked in a choking sob. 'My name. I told him my name.'

'Just your name? Anything else?'

'We need to get out of here, Jacob,' Samuel warned. 'They'll be upon us.'

'Quiet,' Jacob said. 'Kaitlyn, answer me.'

His emerald eyes—why did they have to be so beautiful? Why did Satan's have to be so Goddamn beautiful? It wasn't fair! How was she supposed to resist? She was a human—and full of faults. The maker of Original Sin.

'I told him we were in the country and that we drove for a long time.'

Samuel shook his head. 'We must go, Jacob. We can't trust that she'll tell the truth.'

Jacob ignored him. 'Was there anything else?'

She thought hard for several moments, then shook her head.

Silence filled the room. Kaitlyn could sense the tension. She could sense the doubt. Jacob reached over to take her chin. 'Look at me. Look into my eyes.'

Again, she couldn't refuse, something in his voice compelling her to obey. For several long moments he gazed at her as she gazed back. Her breathing slowed. She stopped crying.

He released her. 'There is no lie in her eyes.'

'How can you be sure?' Samuel said.

'I am sure.'

'Jacob.' Kaitlyn grabbed his wrist. 'I almost told him. It was right there on the tip of my tongue.' She closed her eyes. The compulsion to say it was so utterly overwhelming. It nagged at he back of her head. It tickled her throat. It itched behind her eyes. Say it. Say it. Say it! 'Magnolia, Magnolia, Magnolia!'

Opening her eyes again, she gazed back at Jacob, breathless and hot.

'Leave,' he told his companions. 'Let us be.'

They did. Jacob didn't move until they could no longer hear their footsteps.

'I'm sorry.'

'Kaitlyn, it's all right.'

'No! It's not all right. I almost gave us away.'

'Tell me about your dream.'

She winced and shook her head. 'I can't.' She took a breath. 'I won't-I won't tell you the details, only that I remember it. I couldn't remember them before but I can now. Why? Why are they so real now?'