Page 49 of The Devil's Dilemma
He stepped away, and I knelt next to Austin. How did I tell his grandpa? And now I’d never find out about the angel mark.
Unless? The angel mark. What had happened the last time I’d touched it?
He’d passed out, but it had shocked him too. I could tell from his face.
Not wanting to delay further, I pressed my fingers to the mark. Austin gasped, his eyes flying open. Relief washed over me.
“Thank fuck for that.” Conrad moved closer.
“Don’t touch him.” I held out my hand, keeping him at bay.
Austin needed to come around on his own.
“Get the fuck away from me.” His eyes flashed with anger. “You killed me.”
He rubbed his neck marred with red marks. I winced.
“I brought you back.”
“Why? Just why?”
“I had to test the theory. I needed to know.”
“I fucking hope you figured it out.” His voice was hoarse, and his shirt was wet with spilt coffee.
I grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to him.
He snatched it from my grasp, cowering into the corner of the sofa.
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Again. You won’t hurt me again. I think that’s what you meant to say. Not sure I believe you.”
His hands trembled as he struggled to open the bottle. I took it and did it for him.
“How do I know you haven’t poisoned it?”
“You just saw me open the bottle.”
He snorted, then coughed and held his throat.
“The chip. It wasn’t protection or assurance for the job. I think it was from me. When Conrad left the room with it, I had an overwhelming compulsion to kill you.”
“Which you did successfully.”
“You’re alive.”
“No thanks to you.”
“It proves my thought that you and I are intrinsically linked somehow, and it’s something to do with the angel mark. I don’t know why or how yet, but it’s something much deeper than you or I know.”
“So, you’re saying The Magic Shop owner knew I’d meet you and needed protection from you? That makes no sense. Why didn’t you kill me before?”
“The angel mark protected you at first. I knew there was something different about you, so although you thought the chip was protecting you, it wasn’t. Not yet anyway. Once the angel mark was broken, so was your protection, so my instinct was to kill you. Then the chip protected you, and when Conrad left with it, so did the safety it offered you. The moment he came back in, the compulsion had gone.”
“I’m so fucking confused.”
“Okay, let me try again. The angel mark protected you from me until it was broken. The chip then took over, and when it disappeared, the urge to kill you hit me.”