Free Bitter Demons by Sarra Cannon Page A

room to tell him it wasn’t me, but something about the way he cocked his head stopped me. He studied her, then shook his head and smiled. He turned and scanned the crowd. When our eyes finally met, he lifted his head in a nod of recognition.
    My heart thumped hard, and I opened my mouth to get a deeper breath. I lifted my hands up and shrugged. He raised one eyebrow and shook his head again. He said something to the fake Harper, then slowly crossed the room to me.
    “Caroline, is it?” he said, bowing slightly.
    I held my hand out to him. “Nice to meet you,” I said.
    He put his hand high up on the door frame and leaned in so close to me, I could feel his breath in my hair.
    “I like your other look better.”

Get Away From It All
     
    I spent exactly one minute talking to Jackson at the party before I felt razor-sharp nails dig into my arm.
    Meredith yanked me away so hard I nearly spilled my drink all over the nice white carpet.
    “What are you doing talking to Wrath?” she hissed.
    I looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “That’s Jackson Hunt. Who’s Wrath?”
    She shot a harsh look over toward Jackson. “That guy, Jackson, is Wrath. You know that,” she said. “He’s a demon, Caroline. I don’t want him anywhere near you. I can’t believe they’d even let him in this party in the first place. He should have been killed for what he did.”
    Anger rose up inside of me like hot lava, threatening to burst forth. I bit my tongue. I had to remember that to her, I was Caroline, not me. Then, her words hit me full force. Killed for what he did . My breath came fast.
    “What did he do?” I braced myself for her to tell me about the night he came through the demon gate.
    Meredith sighed. “Like you really have to ask me that,” she said. “I want you to stay away from him, you hear me?”
    I nodded and pulled my arm away. I rubbed the spot where her nails had dug in. Across the room, the real Caroline caught my eye and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”
    Drake appeared then and it was my turn to tell her I was sorry. I waited for her to follow my instructions to stay away from the jerk, but instead, she smiled up at him in a way that made me want to gag. Maybe this switcheroo wasn’t such a great idea after all. The fun had been sucked out of it, and I was ready to change back.
    I made my way through the crowd toward her and made it just in time from the looks of it. Drake had his arm draped around her shoulders - my shoulders - looking way to comfy.
    “Hey Harper,” I said, my voice much higher pitched than I intended.
    “Oh, hi,” she said. She sounded giggly and flirty. She leaned in slightly to Drake’s embrace.
    I quickly grabbed her hand. “Would you mind if I steal Harper for just a minute?” I said, pulling her away from his claws. “I have someone she really needs to meet.”
    “Bring her back to me,” he said. “We’ve got some time to make up for.”
    I wanted to stick my finger down my throat. Gross! After the way I’d treated him lately, did he really think I would fall back into his arms so easily? He was completely delusional. I pulled Caroline away, but she looked back at Drake with a dreamy wave.
    “He’s gorgeous,” she said. “You didn’t tell me there were so many cute boys at your school.”
    “Remember how I told you stay away from Drake Ashworth?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That was Drake Ashworth.”
    She opened her mouth in shock. “Why on earth would you want to stay away from him? He’s so cute.”
    “He’s also abusive and selfish and egotistical,” I said. “Please tell me you didn’t agree to go out with him or anything.”
    “I didn’t,” she said. “We were just making small talk, you know about the game and stuff, and he put his arm around me. I kind of liked it.”
    “Trust me, he’s not as nice as he seems.”
    “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter,” she said. “He thought I was you anyway.”
    “And by the way, your sister is a real