Chapter 30 #3
“Ah, a woman who knows how to negotiate. You wouldn’t believe how often people take me up on the first offer. They give their soul away like a fire sale. It’s boring, honestly.”
“This isn’t a game, devil.”
“No. It’s a mission. You and I are on the same side, after all.”
“And what side do you think that is?” I let all my offense color the question. Surely he wasn’t implying I was evil?
“We who have been abandoned by God. And yet we persevere. Humans, vampires, devils, we’re all the same at our core. However long we live, the same wound festers inside us all.”
I’d met a devil, a creature I never would have believed existed, and I’d already grown quite tired of him. I suspected he was trying to spin my head in circles and wear me out so I’d give him whatever he was after. My soul.
“I don’t want anything from you. You can leave now.” I folded my arms like my mother used to do, desperate to convey just how serious I was.
“You were willing to take power from them. But not me, even when we’re not so different? Have you given up on the fight, then?”
“Of course not.” Not so different? Well, a devil might think so. Or might say so just to get his way.
“That’s my girl. Now listen, I know you’re singularly focused on Lazaro, and he on you.
It’s quite romantic, and I wouldn’t disrupt the potential for tragedy if it weren’t mutually beneficial for all of us.
However, Lazaro is, at his core, weak. His father, on the other hand?
” He grinned conspiratorially, like this was lunch gossip about an acquaintance.
“If I gave you the power to take him out, would you?”
“And I’m sure you’re here offering this power out of the goodness of your heart with no cost to me and my humanity?”
He laughed. “You’re too clever for all that. I have no intentions of tricking you, Fallon. As I said, it would benefit me as well.”
“How?” I cut in before he could continue wafting his sweet words.
“You should speak to Lazaro about that. Santos isn’t well, and I only foresee him getting worse.
I don’t enjoy taking risks on those who act unpredictably.
Smarter to put my efforts behind someone like you.
A vampire hunter through and through, under even the worst of circumstances.
So no, I would not ask for anything so precious as your soul in exchange for this power.
Think of it as an investment on my part.
You would have the power to take down even 400-year-old vampires.
And when that happens, I think you’ll want to set your sights even higher.
And the only creature higher than Santos Reyes is the first vampire.
” He had the smile of a fisherman reeling in a massive catch.
Mary the Mother, help me, for I was considering an offer from a devil. My lips parted, but I couldn’t produce a single word. It was like I’d been hypnotized. The first vampire? Was there such a thing? A devil would know. But a devil might also lie.
Nemesh put a hand over where his heart would be, though I had no idea if he had one or not. “That’s the look I love. You have such hunger, such desire. You’re terribly interesting for a human. I know it’s crude of me to offer you pieces of bait. I just so badly want you to accept.”
“I can’t.” The fantasy of more power died and formed a lump in my throat. “I can’t accept. I can’t trust you.”
He let out an exaggerated groan, but his mood wasn’t dampened in the least. “I knew you’d say that. Maybe we’ll get another chance at this. At least I had the pleasure of speaking to you. You more than met my expectations.”
“You surpassed mine, as well,” I said, because it didn’t hurt to be on Nemesh’s good side. I wasn’t fool enough to believe any of his words, of course, but I wouldn’t break the fantasy of our good terms.
“I’ll be watching,” Nemesh said, taking my hand in both of his. He was warm like vinyl car seats on a summer’s day. “I know I shouldn’t play favorites, but he’ll be back again tonight. I just know it.”
Fuck. As much as I didn’t want to believe it, I suspected Nemesh could be right. Something had shifted between Lazaro and me, and the truce we’d upheld, spoken or unspoken, not to kill one another, was nearly broken.
“Come on, just a taste of that power to give you the edge?” he asked with a cheeky smile, and oddly, that was nearly more convincing than all the rest of it. I wasn’t sure if I could survive another fight with Lazaro.
“Let’s see if I make it through the night first.” It didn’t feel like a likely outcome, even after being fully healed. By a devil’s magic.
“I’m a gambler, and I like the odds.” Mischief clouded his eyes, and he stepped closer. “However, above all else, I’m a devil, you see, so I like the scales tipped in my favor.”
His hand clapped my shoulder, and my body bolted stiff and upright.
A sound like a hiccup zipped out of my throat as my soul clicked inside me, smaller than before — or perhaps I’d grown larger around it.
The flash of white cleared from my vision, though the taste of it lingered in my mouth, like static but not unpleasant. I whipped a glare at Nemesh.
“Relax, Fallon, it’s just a loan. You’ll lose this beautiful gift at dawn, and then we’ll talk again.” I was more dazed than relaxed, which allowed Nemesh to take my cheeks in his burning hands. “What a creation you are. My best yet.”
He leaned in and stamped a soft kiss to my forehead, and the heat of it made my eyes squeeze shut. My entire head was feverish. I ripped myself away and took several steps back, but Nemesh was gone by the time I opened my eyes.