Page 132 of Devil Inside

“You’re trying to possess me!” The air leaves the room. It’s so suffocating in here now. Even we can feel it, the coagulated atmosphere. It makes us choke.

“Quit being so virtuous,” we say. “Stop trying to be something you’re not.”

“Then stop trying to fit me into some fucking mold. You’re so hell-bent on making me into something I’m not. I’m just another piece of meat to you. You’re so fucking possessive.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Sometimes, yeah.”

“Then open up to us,” we say. “Let me in. We’ll show you what we really are.”

Jordan takes a sharp breath, trying to calm himself down. Choose his words carefully. “There’s always a third person in the middle of us and they’re not a part of... this. There’s always this barrier between us. Somebody else. You can’t keep moving around. The moment, the fucking second, things get uncomfortable, you bail. Just hop on to some other body like it’s no fucking big deal. It’s easier for you to drift because you’re too afraid to stay.”

“Do you know what it does to us? The toll it takes? How much it hurts?”

“How am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?”

“Because you won’tlisten,” we shout. “You’re always more focused on who we are on theoutside, that we can’t tell you what’s happening to us on theinside...”

“That’s just an excuse. You’re the one who’s afraid of commitment.”

“Afraid?”

“Yes! You’re afraid to show me who you are. I’m trying to findyou. Seeyou.”

“But it is me,” Jenn—

Lilith, it’s Lilith

—says. I hear the need, the desire, even if it’s Jenn’s voice. She reaches her hand out to me, her fingers grazing my face. “Can’t you feel me? See me? What do you see?”

It’s Jenn. Her body, her face. I’ve stared into those eyes I don’t know how many times—and these aren’t hers. A stranger’s face now. The features are the same, but unfamiliar.

Those aren’t her eyes. I’m looking at someone I don’t recognize anymore.

It’s not her, not her at all.

I reel my head back and step away. “Get out of her. Now.”

Whatever hurt expression Jenn wears curdles.“Excuse me?”

“She didn’t ask for this.”

“Do you know much you hurt her? How you broke her heart? We do. We know all—”

“Stop.”

Jenn—

Lilith

—takes another step toward us, pushing me further back, until my shoulders butt up against the wall. She doesn’t stop, drawing herself in until there’s no space.

“Does this feel wrong?” She leans in, challenging me. Threatening me.

“Stop.”

“What if I like this skin? Maybe I’ll stay.”