Chapter 16 #2
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Sam tried hard not to let irritation creep into her tone, succeeding by maybe ninety-eight percent. The two percent couldn’t be helped; she’d thought they were past omissions and bush beating.
Daphne went incredibly still. “What makes you think that?”
The weight sitting on her chest grew heavier. She sat up. “Maybe the fact that you won’t give me a straight answer.”
Daphne laughed, obviously forced, the sound discordant, like someone had dropped a set of wind chimes on the floor. “When have I ever given you a straight answer? They’re not really my thing.”
“Don’t do that.” Sam’s voice was strained, irritation, frustration creeping in. “You’re using humor as a shield again.”
“Are you going to psychoanalyze me some more, Samantha?”
She gritted her teeth. “No, I am trying to have a conversation with you, one you seem hell-bent on not having for some reason.”
“You want to talk about it? Fine. We’ll talk about it.” Daphne shifted, sitting back stiffly against the headboard, hands resting on her thighs. She stared steadily at Sam, expression stony, jaw set. “Demons, we’re beholden to one contract at a time.”
Sam frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means that until a contract is fulfilled or voided, I can’t broker another deal.”
“Fulfilled, meaning—”
“All wishes used, soul TBC. To be collected.”
Her heart thundered inside her chest. “And voided?”
Daphne rolled her lips together and knotted the sheets between her fingers, balling her hands into fists.
“Rendered null . An extension of executory consideration. It’s what happens when the damned becomes the decedent before fulfillment of the contract.
Until either of those conditions is met, I cannot enter into any new contractual agreements.
It’s like a … like a noncompete clause.”
Sam’s head spun. She took a tremulous breath in through her nose, held it for a moment, and let it out slowly, trying to quell the sudden queasiness in her stomach. “So, you’re saying that until I—”
“ Yes , Sam. Okay?” Her chin dropped and she drew in a ragged breath. “Until you … until you move on, I can’t.”
Sam reared back and blinked.
“Okay. So … you’ll keep being a demon until I kick the bucket.” Sam nodded to herself. “I’m sorry.”
Daphne frowned sharply. “You’re sorry ?”
She shrugged. “You’ve spent the last two thousand years collecting souls.
You were so close to fulfilling your end of the bargain, you could taste it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem … well, burned out.
Pun not intended.” Though, come to think of it, Daphne did redefine the term millennial burnout .
“Now you’re going to have to wait another …
I don’t know. Average life expectancy is what?
Eighty? Granted, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow—”
“ Sam. ” Daphne scowled. “If we could refrain from discussing the possibility of your accidental, imminent demise, I would appreciate it.”
Reaching out, she tugged on the sheet until Daphne relaxed her grip enough to let Sam take her hand and slot their fingers together. “You seemed excited to be free, is all I’m saying.”
“I am .” Her pale brows knitted together. “I was , I …” With a wince, Daphne trailed off. “It’s complicated, Sam.”
Complicated. Maybe Dad was onto something, because she was starting to hate that word. “Could you un complicate it for me?”
“I’m a demon , Sam. You’re not.”
Okay, and? “Is that frowned upon? Forbidden or something?”
“Or something.” Daphne stared down at their hands, biting her lip. “Sam, I’m immortal. I’m not … I’m not going to age.”
“Oh.” Sam felt a pinch near her heart. “And I will.”
If Sam was lucky enough to live long enough, she was going to get wrinkles and go gray, and one day, probably sooner than she thought, all the time spent on her feet in the kitchen would catch up with her joints.
It wouldn’t matter that Daphne had two thousand years on her; Sam would look old enough to be her mother. Her grand mother.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Daphne said, all but strangling Sam’s fingers, her grip was so fierce, “stop it. Over two thousand years I have walked this earth. The allure of a pretty face alone wore off for me ages ago. Do I think you’re beautiful?
Yes, obviously , and if you have to question that for even a second, I may flay my flesh as penance for ever giving you reason to doubt my affection. ”
Her throat ached and she had to swallow twice before she could speak. “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?”
“It’s not.” Daphne brought their joined hands to her lips and laid the tenderest of kisses on the back of Sam’s knuckles.
“But, Sam, understand that even the most breathtaking of blooms pales in the face of a comet in the sky. The once-in-several-lifetimes explosion of a supernova.” Daphne clutched her hand so tight her bones creaked.
Sam reveled in the ache. “If you think your looks are what make you beautiful, you’re wrong.
You could have no arms and no legs and slither about blindly on your belly like an eel and I would still find myself utterly and completely enchanted by you.
You, Samantha Cooper, are a phenomenon. The passage of time?
Matters little to me. But it will matter to you. ”
“No.” She shook her head, vehement. “It won’t. I don’t care if—”
“Shh,” Daphne hushed her gently, clutching their clasped hands to her chest. “You will care. Maybe not today, but you will. You want a life, to share it with someone. And you deserve that. You do. But the best I can give you, the best I’ll ever be able to give you is a pale imitation.
One day, you’ll grow to resent me, and I can’t—” Her voice broke, and she shook her head.
“One day, you might even try to do something stupid. That wish you have left? Ten years from now, thirty, fifty, it might start to look worth it, but it won’t be.
It won’t ever be, okay? So don’t—don’t get any ideas. Not about any of it.”
Her chest throbbed, her heart pounding out a rhythm of wait, no, stop . “Why does this feel like you’re saying goodbye?”
“One day, hopefully soon, you’re going to find somebody who deserves you.
” Daphne’s voice cracked, splinters finding a home in Sam’s chest making it hard to breathe.
“Somebody who won’t ask you to change. Who won’t ever ask you to shrink yourself because they’re intimidated by you.
Because they refuse to grow. You will find a girl who loves you for exactly who you are, Samantha Cooper, and it will be everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more. All right?”
Sam clenched her eyes shut and several hot tears slipped out, wetting her cheeks. “No, I don’t want—”
“You’ll forget about me,” Daphne whispered, but the words hit their mark, snatching the breath from Sam’s lungs, leaving her winded.
“All of this will feel like a fever dream. A mid-October’s nightmare.
But, Sam. Sweetheart. ” She exhaled sharply, breath hot against the back of Sam’s hand, cradling her fingers like they were something precious, lips brushing Sam’s knuckles like she could impress her words upon Sam’s skin.
Leave a mark. “You can’t forget … you can’t forget that you are one in a million.
” She laughed and the sound pierced Sam in the gut.
“Nine hundred and ninety-nine as the case may be.”
Sam sniffed hard and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “No. That’s—that’s bullshit . There’s got to be a way that—”
“ Sam. ” Daphne smiled at her, eyes wet. “ Baby ,” she said, and Sam’s heart broke. “Don’t you think I’ve tried everything?”
“Sure, but … I … um.” Her head felt heavy, her limbs, her eyelids, too. Like she’d had too much to drink. “I don’t—I don’t want to forget.”
Not Daphne, not how she’d made her feel. Not any of this.
Daphne stroked her fingers through Sam’s hair. “I know,” she said soothingly, and she sounded sad. So sad. And Sam … she didn’t want her to be sad. Not ever. But she felt like … Jell-O. Like she was swimming in it. Sweet, sweet cherry Jell-O.
Sam sighed. “I love Jell-O.”
“Yeah?” Daphne asked, voice cracking like she was on the verge of tears. Which didn’t make much sense. “Tell me what you like about it.”
Sam snuggled close. “It’s warm and—”
She yawned.
Daphne wrapped her arm around Sam’s waist, drawing her closer, rearranging them until she was spooned behind Sam. Her lips brushed against the back of Sam’s neck. “Sleep now, Sam. We’ll talk about it in the morning, okay?”
Everything was syrupy sweet, and Sam was so, so sleepy.