Page 163 of Devil Inside

There it is.Found you, motherfucker.In his eyes. A flash, there and gone.

“We’ve met before,” he says, dripping in smarm. “We go way back.”

Yeah, sure, all the way to hell.

They’re going to keep following me wherever I go. They want to drag me back. Drag me down. No matter what I do, they’re always going to be hounding me. Wanting in.

They can’t have me.

Only Lilith.

Here comes another effigy. This time I see it coming, this wicker woman, straw blond locks sticking out from the sides of her head. Freel does a running toss, hurtling her into the air. She’s up high, then gravity grabs hold and drags her back down into the pyre.

The flames grab her. Embrace her. Lick every inch of her body. I’m watching, losing myself. I take a step closer. Too close. Why can’t I burn along with her?

“Easy.” Jenn takes my arm, pulling me back from the blaze. “Don’t get too close.”

I’m ready to follow her into the fire. Leap straight into the flames and burn the fuck out, raze what’s left of me, until there’s nothing but ash and charred bones. Burnt offerings.

All these people. Bodies dancing around the fire. Their faces are melting, skin dripping off their skulls. They won’t stop spinning, spinning, spiraling about the blaze, an ouroboros of bodies blurring into an endless ring of glowing skin.

“I’m going in,” I say, nodding back to the house. The windowpanes rattle with reverb. The pounding bass pulses through the very foundations.

“It’s good to see you,” Jenn says. I catch a wistful note in her voice. “Be well.”

Be well.Sounds an awful lot like goodbye.

I know what I need to do now. It’s time to call Lilith back.

Summon her.

can i cut in?

Lilith & Jordan

The dance floor closes in. All the bodies.Get away from me. Get away.This pressing flesh. I’m sick and tired of it. I want out of here. Out of this body. Out of this world.

This itch only grows. We’re burning.Burning.

Before Jordan, I was in control. I consumed these bodies to fulfill my desires, never taking into account our hosts’ needs or wants. They were nothing to us, meant nothing.

Then we met Jordan and everything changed. His darkness lured us in, yes. A new sweet in the candy store, surrounded by so many familiar flavors. We knew we had to try. Taste him.

Possession has always been about dominance. About control.

I was always in control. My grip, my strength.

Your body.

But what if I’ve been going about it all wrong? What if possession is about communion? Communication? Can I relent? Share? Your body intertwined with my essence?

Perhaps possession is giving oneself to another. Completing them.

I give myself to you. I fill in the cracks. Complete you.

Jordan made us feel like a wildfire. A white-hot heat thatspread. But rather than burn out, he kindled the flames. Kept us blazing. He gave us a space to eternally burn.

He sustains our flame. We’ll never stop burning. Not inside him.