Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

12

When I reached the hallway, Az was nowhere to be seen. I huffed and strode forward, my boots clicking against the floor. A few partygoers stumbled past me. Some wore horns. Others had fur sprouting on their cheeks. Every single time they caught a glance of my face, they stared.

Were they staring because they knew I was the girlfriend of a Prince of Hell? Or did it have something to do with my humanity? Serena had warned me about this world. Some of these supernaturals were dangerous, but which ones?

I didn’t want to wait around and find out.

When I reached the end of the hall, I strode out onto the rooftop. All the tables and sofas were packed. Frowning, I scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar head of dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Where would Az have gone? He didn’t mention leaving the party, but I couldn’t spot him anywhere.

Surelyhe hadn’t just left me here. Right?

It certainly seemed like he had.

My heart pounded. Asmodeus, the Prince of Hell, had left me at a supernatural party alone. And if I ran now, I’d lose my soul. Fuck!

I took in several deep breaths, hoping no one noticed my panic. This would be fine. It was totally okay. No. Big. Deal. All I had to do was find Serena. I’d stick by her side until Az showed up, and she wouldn’t let a hungry vampire drain my blood.

A scream ripped through the party. My entire body tensed as the bar fell into brutal silence. Another scream followed, and the distant pounding of rushing footsteps sounded like war drums in the night. My heart cantered, and then galloped right out of my chest. What the hell was happening now?

Several of the rooftop partiers jumped to their feet. They glanced around, as if searching for someone. One of the men, an older guy with salt and pepper hair, strode into the center of the patio and addressed the crowd.

“Everyone just needs to remain calm. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for—”

Serena rushed onto the rooftop like a tornado. Her gaze latched onto mine, and she visibly sighed. “Thank god. You’re okay.”

“What’s going on, Serena?” I asked, keenly aware of the silence. Everyone was watching us.

“There’s been another murder.” Her voice shook with raw emotion. “A werewolf. A girl who dances at Az’s club.”

“What?” My blood rushed from my face and formed a lump of coal in my gut. “Who? What was her name?”

“Willow.”

Fevered whispers rippled through the crowd on the roof. Someone sobbed. My heart squeezed tight as I remembered the girl. We’d barely had a chance to speak last night, but she’d been kind and welcoming, vibrant and alive. Now, she was dead.

My hands fisted. “Who is doing this?”

“I don’t know, but it has to be the same guy as before,” she whispered back, our voices now drowned out by the roaring buzz of conversation that filled the night air. “The, um, body was in the same position. And her throat was cut like the others.” Suddenly, she seemed to notice I stood alone. “Where the hell is your demon?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “He got an alert on his watch and vanished just before…”

Serena’s eyes narrowed. “Just before the murder? Mia.”

I pressed my lips together. “It looks really bad, but I don’t think it was him.”

“Why not? It makes sense.”

“I don’t know. It’s just…a feeling I have. I can’t explain it. Trust me, I’ve had my doubts and my questions. But every time I wonder if it’s him, it just doesn’t fit right. It’s like a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit the gap.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know it doesn’t, but I don’t know how else to explain it.” I glanced around. Half of the roof had emptied now. No one wanted to stick around at a party where people got murdered.

The distant sound of sirens blared through the night air. They were drawing closer. My stomach dropped, and I latched onto Serena’s arm. “The cops are coming.”

She nodded. “Someone must have called them.”

“Don’t you have, like, supernatural cops or something?” My voice was rising as the panic clawed at my gut. I couldn’t help myself. Rational thought rarely stuck around when my old fears rose up from the ash.

“Not really,” she admitted. “We should. They’re going to want to speak to everyone at this party, and there are things they aren’t going to understand.”

“I can’t be here, Serena,” I breathed. “If I talk to them, they’ll look me up, and they’ll find a way to blame this on me. A girl, our age, dead, at a party? The media will get ahold of it. It will be my senior year of college all over again!”

“Okay, calm down.” Serena glanced over her shoulder at the crowded hallway that led to the elevators. Everyone else heard the sirens and had similar thoughts. I tried not to think about what that meant. I wasn’t the only one here running from the cops. “We’ll get you out of here before they arrive. Dammit, Asmodeus, where the hell did you go?”

“I don’t think we have time to find him,” I whispered, my stomach twisting into knots. “I can’t stay here, Serena. I won’t go through all that again. I can’t.”

“I know.” Serena pressed her forehead against mine, and a sense of calm settled over me. A feeling only she’d ever been able to give me when I got like this. “The hallway is packed. You’ll never even reach the elevator in time. We’ll have to go another way.”

Together, we pushed through the lingering crowd. Serena led me down the hallway in the opposite direction of the elevators. When we reached another door, she flung it open and strode inside. It was a small, cluttered office, likely for the manager of the bar. There was a single window overlooking a courtyard below. Sirens drifted through the cracked panes.

“You’ll have to go down the fire escape,” she said quietly. “Do you think you can manage it by yourself?”

My stomach dropped. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I can’t. I have clients here, and some of them might need me when the cops start to ask questions. If I leave now, my firm will not be pleased.” She pressed her lips together. “But I don’t like the idea of you running through the streets by yourself. As soon as you reach the bottom of the fire escape, head to the next block over. There are a few bars there, and they’ll be open. If you can’t find a taxi, call for one and wait inside one of the bars. Don’t stand around in the street. And for the love of god, Mia. Don’t walk home.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not an idiot.”

“I know you’re not an idiot, but I also know how scared you are right now. Sometimes you don’t think straight when it comes to the media and the cops.”

“Gee. I wonder why.” Dread filled my heart. “This is going to turn out just like Nashville.”

“This is not Nashville all over again. You had nothing to do with Willow’s death, and the cops will quickly realize this matches up with the serial killer. There’s no reason for them to think it’s you. Alright?”

“I had nothing to do with it then either.”

She sighed. “I know.”

Shouts exploded down the hallway. Heart pounding, I threw my legs over the side of the window and jumped out onto a rusted fire escape. The metal groaned beneath me. I grasped the handrail that flaked against my skin. Gritting my teeth, I tiptoed down the first flight of stairs while Serena vanished back into the dying party.

I made my way down the fire escape as quickly as I could, scaling the final ladder until my boots hit the ground. Following Serena’s advice, I turned the corner of the next block over. And came face to face with a line of police cars.

“Fuck,” I swore beneath my breath and ducked back into the alley. Had I gone the wrong way? Steeling myself, I peeked around the red brick again. There were the bars Serena had mentioned. I glanced back in the direction I’d come, frowning.

Twolots of police cars? That couldn’t be good.

Had the killer come here, too?

Chills swept down my bare arms. I glanced down, grateful for my boots. I might have to run, after all.

No, that was stupid. Serena was right. The killer was out here, somewhere. If he’d hit two places, there was no telling if he’d hit a third. A lone girl walking home in the middle of the night would become another likely target.

I pulled my head away from the corner and pressed my back against the rough wall. Time for a plan. One that made sense. If I wandered out from this alley, the cops would see me. Not a big deal if I didn’t have anything to hide. Would they want to question me? Would they realize I’d fled the party?

That would look really, really bad.

Maybe I would just stay here, hiding in the alley, until the cops went away.

No, that wasn’t any better. They’d search the streets for the guy, hoping they could catch him before he got away. I was a sitting duck. I couldn’t stay.

I had only two options. Walk out of here and surrender myself to the cops. They’d question me. They might even suspect me. And my name would be plastered all over the internet again. The hounding reporters. The death threats. The chaos of it all.

Or I could sneak away through the alleys and risk stumbling into the path of a killer.

I’d told Serena that I wouldn’t let fear control me, but it had controlled me for the past two years. Every decision I made. Every disappointment I encountered. Every pessimistic thought that swirled through my head. It all stemmed from my fear. I was scared that my past would never release its grip on me. It would shadow my steps for the rest of my days, no matter how far I ran.

It would always catch up to me. And it had found me yet again.

With a deep breath, I turned away from the flashing lights and the shouting cops. I wound my way through the dark, solemn alleys, fisting Az’s apartment keys in my hand. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference if someone attacked me, but it put a bounce in my step, a determination in my bones.

Az’s building was only a few blocks away. The maze of alleyways would end, and I could curl up in the safety of a Prince of Hell’s penthouse.

A gap in the buildings led to the sidewalk, one free of flashing red-and-blue lights. I picked up my pace. As I did, I heard the unmistakable clatter of footsteps behind me.