Jasmine
When my eyes open next, I know I’m still sleeping. I don’t have time to process what’s happening when Marisole comes running toward me, barreling her arms around my torso.
“You’re an idiot.” She chuckles into my hair. “If I could miss you, I would.”
Marisole, being a full demon, doesn’t experience emotions as I do, or like Jake does, but she still understands enough of the concept that she’ll pretend to feel them for me. I’m likely the only person she does that for.
She’s a brute, tells you like it is, and never hides her opinions. She makes the worst enemy but having her in my corner is the opposite. She’s the only good thing about home and the reason I survived as long as I did.
“I was worried you didn’t get my message,” I say, pulling away from her. She’s still shorter than me, with long black hair to match her obsidian eyes.
Marisole squeezes my shoulder before dropping her arms. Before my eyes, a couch appears in front of us, a nice little trick she can do, and Marisole plops down.
“Exhausted, are we?” I ask.
“Your message was intercepted, Jaz.” Marisole doesn’t bother to hide her anger now that the pleasantries are out of the way. “I had to…” She pauses and shudders, then shakes her head as if she’s dispelling a memory. “Let’s just say that after you called, I had to wait until Father was occupied.”
I sit next to Marisole. “Is it bad?”
“Is it bad? Of course it’s bad. Our bargain is due. Why are you still in Fernhollow?”
“I…” I trail off, averting my gaze to the floor as Jake’s portrait comes to mind.
“Fuck, Jasmine, no. A guy? Now? Ditch him and run.”
Ditch him? Run? I could never. That possibility never entered my mind. I always knew there was no other place to go where I’d be safe, even if Jake wasn’t in the picture. Fernhollow is my safe haven.
I steal a glance at Marisole, wondering why I thought I wouldn’t be able to recognize her when she’s the spitting image of her younger self. It’s not the way she looks that needs to be materialized anyhow, but simply her aura and the way she treats me. I’d recognize her heart anywhere.
“Jasmine—”
“He’s my mate, Mar. I can’t leave him. I won’t.”
More silence sits between us, but I don’t know what to say.
Marisole can’t understand how I feel for him because, even though she claims she loves me, she doesn’t truly know what that feels like.
To her, love is just an obligation, a heavy weight to tie you in one place, to chain you to a life that’s no longer your own.
Love, to her, is accepting that you’ll never have freedom again, and that you’ll always have what-if questions in the back of your mind for the entirety of your life.
No matter how many times I tried to explain love to her, I never got anywhere.
So, it surprised me when she wanted part of my soul as part of our bargain.
For our entire life, I thought she was content with how we were different.
Sure, not having feelings is a big difference, but she’d never shown an interest in wanting them.
In fact, it’s quite possible she’s talked herself out of wanting that for herself. “Have you changed your mind about what you want from your side of the bargain?”
She shakes her head. “I’m more than ready for a new life that’s not in the Underworld.”
“Well, if I die, that won’t happen.”
Marisole shrugs. “I could always steal your soul and travel somewhere when you do.”
“Not funny. I thought you loved me,” I say, a playful tone still in my voice, my brows furrowed.
“You know I’m only kidding.”
“Mm,” I hum, then tilt my head so my gaze is on her. “You know, Mar, it’s good to see you. I can’t wait to talk to you more often.”
“You don’t have any friends in your precious realm?”
“If you still want half of my soul, this will soon also be your precious realm, you know. There’s no way Dad will let you remain in the Underworld.”
“I could hide it. But then again, you didn’t hide your emotions very well. You were always crying. Will I be like that? Maybe I don’t want—”
I shove her shoulder, forcing her to quit yapping.
“Tell me your plan, Jaz.” Marisole laughs, sitting back up.
There’s little I’ve planned, but I do my best to communicate what I want to happen when I see my father next. I fill her in on the idea of the bargain, how I want Jake to remain in the dark as much as possible, and then how, if all goes well, I’ll fulfill my end of my bargain with her.
When I finish telling her the bones of my plan, the last thing I expect is for her to laugh at me.
“You’re going to die if you try to bargain with Dad.”
I shrug. “What other choice do I have, Mar? I can’t just be like, ‘Hey, Dad, can you please leave me alone?’ He doesn’t care for any of his children, let alone me.”
Marisole doesn’t argue with that fact, but I knew she wouldn’t. She’s experienced plenty of our father’s wrath.
“You don’t have the upper hand. What could you offer a god? He already has everything, and what he doesn’t have, he can take by force.”
I sigh and lean back into the couch, trying to think of what he could want. He doesn’t need the usual money, jewels, or power. She’s right. I don’t have any mysterious magic that he wants. There’s little, if anything, I have to offer him.
Except…there might be one thing.
“I’ve been reading—”
“Oh, joy,” Marisole interrupts.
I glare at her. “I’ve been reading about witchcraft, our world’s history, species differences, and Mar…What if we could find a way for demons to enter this realm without a fight?”
“Why would Dad care about that? It’s not like he has trespassers in the Underworld.”
“No,” I say, sitting back up. I can tell this is the beginning of a fleshed-out plan.
“But we could find a way for him to have safe passage—regular passage—to collect souls. He wouldn’t have to worry about the Underworld collapsing because we couldn’t hit the number of souls needed to maintain the realm.
There could be rules and regulations about claiming souls from others, but it’d have to be supervised, and the person would have to understand what they’re giving up in exchange for the Underworld getting their soul. ”
“If you can figure that out, then I think you might have the one thing he would want.”
“You think?”
Marisole shrugs. “If not, he’ll just kill you on the spot.”
“Which he wants to do anyway right now.”
She smiles. “Exactly! So, you have nothing to lose.”
A minute later, her smile falls, and the frame of her body blinks in and out as she curses under her breath.
“I’m being woken up. Shit. I think it’s one of his scouts coming to check on me.”
“Thank you,” I say. “It’s okay. I’ll hopefully see you soon.”
Marisole nods. “They’re coming. It’s way more than before. Be prepared. You might want to consider telling Jake why these demons are here. You can’t expect him to defend you if he doesn’t know what to expect and why they’re coming.”
I nod and whisper, “I know.”
Everything fades to black a minute later, and I know the next time my eyes open, Marisole will be gone and I’ll have to deal with the horde of demons coming my way.