Epilogue
Excited anticipation hummed through the tiny bar in New Orleans where it all started. Mike’s was packed to the brim with people. People who’d always known Tilted Haze would be huge. People who would tell their grandchildren they were there when the band was starting out.
Skye sat in the middle of it all, sipping her whiskey neat at a high-top table.
As she put her drink down, she stared at the pale spot on her inner wrist that no longer bore the Devil’s mark.
Remi’s bargain for her freedom remained unbroken; his shadows and soul hung in the Devil’s throne room in Hell.
For now.
Skye ran her thumb over her necklace, the shadows within vibrating in recognition at her attention.
Fate had magnetized Remi’s soul to Skye, and it’d escaped its containment twice now—the second time, releasing the souls that hung on the Devil’s walls in the process—just like his music freed the damned, the outcasts, the broken, who walked Earth.
And Skye vowed to herself, when the time was right, she’d break the bargain, whisper to the shadows that dwelled within her to unleash their brethren and save Remi’s soul from its eternal spot at the Devil’s side, just like Remi had saved her.
But that wouldn’t need to happen anytime soon. Skye planned on living out the rest of her life beside Remi. And souls and bargains and their ultimate demise were faraway thoughts.
For tonight, she was only thinking about hearing some good music.
The crowd cheered as the lights darkened. Four dark figures climbed onto the stage as smoke billowed out from the corners. Liam, West, Ollie, and Remi took their positions and rolled into the first song without an introduction.
They didn’t need one. Everyone knew exactly who they were seeing tonight.
The boom of the bass pounded through the speakers, the thumping vibrating the stage and the walls around them. Tilted Haze’s fans screamed as anticipation reached a fever pitch.
The spotlight burst down, shining on each of them. Liam tossed his drumsticks into the air while keeping the beat. West’s fingers danced up the neck of his guitar. Ollie strummed the rhythm and nodded along.
Remi grabbed the microphone. He scanned the crowd until he found what he was looking for.
He smiled, the same mischievous smile that had sparked Skye’s demon instincts the first time she’d seen him on that stage.
His ice-blue eyes twinkled under the lights.
His presence robbed her of breath each and every time.
Remi held her gaze. His deep voice pulsated through her, singing straight to her soul—if demons had such a thing.
It was pointless to resist
I’d do anything for just one more kiss
Sold my soul the second I laid eyes on her
Couldn’t say I’d had any faith
The path to Hell paved in glittering gold
But it’s your fire that set me ablaze
The Devil don’t know the deal he made
Don’t know that it’s your love running through my veins
That together we’ll fight,
together we’ll win,
together we’ll be,
again and again.
THE END