Read Online Damned If You Do by Marie Sexton - Free Book Online Page A

heard you, but…” He shook his head, taking another step backward. “This is all wrong. You shouldn’t be here. You—”
    â€œI told you I’d find you.”
    â€œDid you follow us?”
    â€œNot exactly.”
    â€œThen how—”
    â€œI don’t travel the same way you do. Your soul—”
    â€œOh my gosh!”
    â€œIt’s like a beacon to me, Seth. It’s brighter than any lighthouse. It took me a couple of days to spot it, but once I did, I only had to follow its light here.”
    â€œOh holy smoke!” Seth backed up again and ran into a tree, his strange not-quite sight in the woods failing him for the first time in Abaddon’s presence. “Are you— Oh man, is this a joke, Abaddon? I want the truth now! Stop playing with me!”
    â€œI told you the truth the first time I met you. I’m a devil.”
    â€œYou can’t be.”
    â€œBut I am. Think about it. You knew I was here, didn’t you? And how else could I have found you?”
    â€œNo.” Seth shook his head again. Then, louder, “No! You’re lying to me!”
    â€œI’m not lying.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œâ€˜And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?’”
    Seth took a deep breath, then another, finding strength in what he knew and understood. “‘Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the Earth, and from walking up and down in it.’”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œOh, holy cow.” Seth bent over, his hands on his knees, as if he might be sick. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
    â€œI never lied to you about what I was.”
    â€œI figured it was a joke. Or maybe a metaphor. I don’t know. Like you were warning me that you had unholy intentions.”
    Abaddon almost laughed. “‘Unholy intentions’? What the hell does that mean?”
    The tips of Seth’s ears turned pink. “Nothing.” He ran his fingers through his hair and stood straight. “What do you want from me? Are you here to kill me?”
    â€œNo. Nothing like that.”
    â€œAre you here to steal my soul?”
    Abaddon hesitated, hating the twinge of guilt he felt. “Yes.”
    â€œI won’t ever give it to you. Especially not now.”
    Abaddon feared that might be true. Part of him still hoped to change Seth’s mind, but part of him rejoiced in the thought that Seth’s soul might be out of reach. But how could he explain that to Seth when he barely even understood it himself? “Maybe I just wanted to see you.”
    â€œBut if you’re a devil, you’re probably lying to me. ‘Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.’”
    Oh, how right he was. And yet how wrong, at the same time. “I was once a man like you, you know.”
    Seth’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “You were?”
    â€œI made a deal with the devil, just like you did the first time we met. The difference is, I lost.”
    â€œWhat did you bargain for? What did you want that was worth your soul?”
    â€œI wish I knew.” Abaddon tilted his head back, seeking the sky as if it could offer an explanation, but it was mostly lost in the dense trees. “I don’t remember it. They take that all away when you cross over. But I know that’s what happened.”
    â€œSo you came for my soul originally, but you’ve decided now you don’t want it?”
    He sounded almost amused. Abaddon felt that twinge of guilt again, along with the weight of his unreached quota. How could he explain that he longed for Seth’s soul the way a starving man craved food, and yet for the first time ever, he had the strength to deny his own need? “I don’t want to hurt you.”
    One corner of Seth’s mouth curved upward in a skeptical grin. “But you’re a devil, right? I can’t