Evie stirred from her sleep and checked the time.
"Shit!"
She bolted upright, her heart pounding as her blurry vision focused on the clock beside her bed. 11 a.m.? She had never slept this late before—especially not on a day she needed to open the bookstore. A surge of panic shot through her, but beneath it, something else lingered. A strange heaviness. A sense of something being... off.
She shook it off, swung her legs over the bed, and rushed into the bathroom. The cold water from the shower did little to shock her system fully awake. The remnants of her dream still clung to her, shadowing the edges of her thoughts. That book. The demon. The voice.
Evie exhaled sharply, running a hand through her damp hair. Focus. She needed to focus.
Throwing on her usual attire—worn jeans and a cozy bottle-neck sweater—she left her unruly dark hair down, the way her mother always wore hers. Ever since her mother had passed five years ago, she had refused to cut it. It was one of the few tangible things left to remind her of her, a silent tribute that only she understood.
Unfortunately, her father's features had also made their mark—mossy green eyes that stared back at her every time she looked in a mirror. A painful reminder that he existed. That he was the greatest disappointment of her life.
She bit her lip, forcing her thoughts away from him. There was no time to get lost in old wounds. She grabbed her bag, locked up her apartment, and called an Uber.
Yet, no matter how much she tried to shove it aside, the dream kept creeping back. That voice. That strange, otherworldly presence that had felt so real. She could still hear it in the back of her mind, deep and demanding.
By the time the Uber pulled up to the bookstore, she was so lost in thought that the driver had to call her name twice.
"Ma'am?"
She jolted.
"Oh! Sorry! I—yeah. Thanks."
Blushing, she fumbled with her bag, paid quickly, and practically fled from the car.
The moment she stepped into the bookstore, everything looked... normal. The familiar scent of old books and vanilla candles greeted her, the wooden shelves stood exactly as she had left them, and the register was untouched. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
Of course, nothing was weird. It had just been a dream.
Still, her feet carried her to the basement. She hesitated at the top of the stairs, fingers gripping the wooden railing as unease curled in her gut. The dream had felt too real. Too vivid. But this was reality. And in reality, there was no such thing as demons stepping out of books.
Right?
Swallowing, she stepped down, each creak of the old wood echoing in the stillness.
When she reached the bottom, she peered inside.
Nothing.
Just the discarded books she had left yesterday.
A relieved laugh bubbled out of her, shaky but genuine.
"Of course, there's nothing here," she muttered under her breath, stepping inside.
She bent down to pick up the books, brushing dust off the covers. But then—
Footsteps.
Soft. Slow.
Her heart stopped.
The air around her turned thick, charged like the moment before a storm.
Evie couldn't look up. She couldn't breathe. The footsteps stopped right in front of her.
And then—
"Look at me."
That voice.
The same voice from yesterday.
Her hands trembled. Seconds stretched into eternity as she slowly dragged her gaze upward, from bare toes to strong calves, then—
Oh.
Her breath hitched.
He was—naked.
Very naked.
And very... endowed.
She forced her gaze higher, past sculpted abs and a broad chest, until she met his eyes.
Dark. Brooding.
Cold.
Empty.
Her throat tightened.
This wasn't happening.
This wasn't real.
Yet here he was, standing before her, flesh and blood.
A shiver crawled down her spine.
"Say your name," he commanded, voice edged with impatience. "Complete the bond."
Bond?
Evie swallowed, her mind scrambling to make sense of the words.
"You summoned me," he said again, his tone darkening. "You must complete the bond. I need to know your name."
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
Evie couldn't move past the fact that, despite his perfect features—the dark hair that fell just past his shoulders, the full lips, the height, the broad shoulders—his eyes held nothing. No warmth. No humanity.
Just a void.
"Wh—what are you?" she managed to whisper.
"I'm here because you summoned me," he repeated, his frustration deepening. "I chose this form because it is what would please you the most."
Her pulse raced.
He had shaped himself into the ideal man—the kind she secretly dreamed about, down to the very last detail.
But those eyes…
"You need to go," she forced out, standing slowly, even as her legs wobbled beneath her. "I don't know what kind of sick joke this is, but I don't want you here."
The thing narrowed his eyes. "What game are you playing, human?"
"I'm not playing anything." Evie replied.
"You opened the book. You called my name. You summoned me here. The bond has already begun." It said.
Evie took a shaky step back, shaking her head in denial. "No. No bond. No anything. Go back to wherever you came from."
His expression twisted into something almost... amused.
"You don't understand," he said softly. "You don't have a choice."
And then—
Agony.
A sharp, searing pain shot through her stomach, white-hot and unbearable. It knocked the breath from her lungs, sent her collapsing to the ground.
Her vision blurred. Her fingers clawed at the cold floor.
"The pain you feel is from the broken bond," the demon's voice cut through the haze. "If you do not complete it, it will kill you."
Her body convulsed, heat spreading through every nerve, every bone.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to fight.
But the pain doubled. Then tripled.
Her heartbeat slowed. Her limbs grew heavy.
No.
This couldn't be happening.
Fury burned through the pain.
Fuck this demon and his bond.
She wouldn't—
The darkness dragged at her.
She could barely breathe.
With the last ounce of strength she had, she whispered through clenched teeth—
"Evie..."
And then—
Nothing.
Blackness swallowed her whole.