The heat from the fires of Hell were burning my feet. I needed to close the portal, but I needed to get up to the other side before I did.
And then there was a warmth—not like the burning heat from Hell—but something else—something soothing—and I knew what I had to do.
I had to get rid of the tie.
I couldn’t cut it—I’d tried that so many times—but I could shove it away. I could lessen its effects. I’d even burned it out once.
If it worked before, it could work now.
I blocked everything out except for the feeling of the tie that bound me to my father. It was always there—a leash of fire that wrapped around my body, my soul—thicker than any other tie I’d seen before on a living person. But it wasn’t just a demon-mortal tie. It was a father-daughter tie.
The tie connecting us grew hotter, burning, and I focused everything I had on burning it out.
I let my outrage fuel me. The outrage of how this monster—my father—had hunted me my whole life, tortured my mother, dragged me to Hell, and made it impossible for me to have any kind of innocent childhood.
He’d robbed me over and over of everything good.
Not this time. He wouldn’t win this time.
He laughed. He actually laughed at me. “I gave you life. I gave you your powers. Just as I give, I can take it all away.”
No. I didn’t believe that.
And I wasn’t quitting. I wasn’t listening to him.
Screw him.
I pulled again, but it didn’t work. He started to say something about how I was a failure, but screw him. Screw failing. Screw everything but sending him back to Hell.
But my mouth was dry and I wanted to throw up and my body was starting to feel weaker and my arms started to shake.
An evil, deep rumbling noise had fear skittering along my skin.
I was getting too tired, too quickly.
And then it clicked.
He wasn’t just controlling me. He was draining my strength through our tie.
Fast.
I had to be faster.
Quickly, as quick as I could, I pictured the tie knotting and pulling tight, cutting off my father’s influence. I pictured it again—forcing my will on the tie.
Knotted and pulled tight.
Knotted and pulled tight.
Slowly, with every knot, I felt my father’s control lessening. Just enough so that I could think and—
Where was Eli?
That one thought broke through.
It was a tiny crack, but it was enough.
“Eli!” I screamed along the spiritual realm as loud and with as much force as I could. I tried to pull myself up, but my arms were too tired.
The demons below me started screaming and moving faster. They knew who I’d called, and they knew what he could do to them.
Something hit my feet.
I jerked my leg away, and my hands slipped and—
Phoenix’s face suddenly above mine.
He was now hanging halfway through the portal. The only thing keeping me from dropping was his grip on my wrists. “Samantha. Please! Can you hear me?” His voice was deep and calm as it washed over me.
“I can now. Thank you.”
“Pull me up. Now. Hurry.”
“On the count of three. Okay?” He smiled. Even while all this insanity was happening—he smiled and it calmed me again and gave me confidence.
Why? I couldn’t say. But it did.
“One…Two…Three.” He pulled a little, and then all of a sudden, jerked me up, and I was lying on top of him.
“Thanks.” I gasped out the word and let my body relax against his for a second.
“You’re welcome.”
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