Page 42 of The Devil's Dilemma

“I don’t recall.”

This was fucking annoying, to say the least. Grandpa wouldn’t be happy if I’d stayed out for the night and not told him.

“Grandpa. I have to see him. He’ll be worried.” My heart raced.

“Thank fuck you remember something.”

“Where is he?”

“At home, being looked after.”

That was a relief, and as I sat there, small parts of my memory returned, yet I still couldn’t remember the man sitting next to me.

“Are those real?” I pointed at his off-white horns.

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, they’re fucking real.”

“Why do you have horns?”

“We’ve been over this. Devil? Remember?”

Surely, I’d remember something like that.

I barked out a laugh. “You’re not the devil. There’s no such thing.”

He glared at me. “I can assure you I’m very real.”

I prodded him in his hard chest, and he rocked backwards. “You feel real to me.”

“Concentrate, Austin. I need to know what’s going on.”

“How the fuck should I know? I only know my name because you called it me.”

“Don’t you remember anything at all?”

I leant back against the pillows. How had I got here? Something to do with money. A casino.

Yes. A casino. Playing blackjack and roulette, tucking chips into my pockets. Lots and lots of chips.

Then stairs going down. A grey room with three chairs, then just two remaining.

What had happened to the other one?

A gunshot, a slumped body in a chair. I inhaled sharply. The face of my friend, now lifeless.

“You remember.”

“It was you. You did it. He did nothing to you, and you killed him.” I clenched my jaw, the anger I’d felt previously returning with a vengeance.

“We already went over this. I’m more concerned about what happened today.”

“When you touched the mark.” What the fuck did that matter?

All my memories flooded back, ending with me collapsing on the floor.

“You carried me here?”

“I couldn’t leave you lying there. But what do you know of the mark?”