Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

32

The week passed in a blur. Az and I never had a moment alone. He’d moved himself out of his bedroom and into the spare, and he’d insisted Serena and I take his. Meanwhile, the living room had been transformed into a frat house for demons. A constant stream of them came and went all throughout the day and meetings lasted well into the night.

Open pizza boxes hunkered on top of the dining table. Crumpled papers spilled out of an overflowing trash can. Cans of beer formed a pyramid on the kitchen counter. Az seemed to grow more agitated by the day. His pristine palace had been overrun.

The door flew open and Phenex stomped inside wearing a wicked smile that would make most girls melt. I felt shockingly immune to it though. In the past, a guy like Phenex might have caught my attention. A dangerous bad boy with tattoos, a crooked past, and a fondness for knives. But he was nothing compared to Az.

“It’s done,” he announced as he tossed a white apron into the corner. “Got in and out easy. No one expected a goddamn thing. Idiots.”

Az had decided the only way he’d go through with our plan was if we guaranteed my safety. He’d even put the whole plot at risk to give me a way out of the ball. Phenex had posed as a caterer to get inside the building before the party. Once inside, he’d found the bathroom window and made sure it was unlocked.

“Where is it?” I asked from my perch on the edge of the dining table. Hendrix sat on my knee, cooing happily.

Phenex traipsed over to a wall that had been transformed into a massive whiteboard. He yanked off the top of a pen with his teeth and then scribbled a drawing of the building’s interior. The blue ink showed a maze of corridors. Wherever we were going, it wasn’t a little apartment in Hell’s Kitchen.

“Here.” He stabbed a hole he’d left at the bottom edge of the drawing. “This is the door. You go down this hall, hang a left, and go all the way down here. Bathroom’s inside this door. There are four stalls. Wait until it’s empty, and then climb out the window here. A fire escape’s just outside it. Easy way out. No one will even know you’re gone.”

I swallowed hard and ignored the tension pounding against my skull. “Yep, no problem at all.”

Az frowned. “What if someone sees her going into the bathroom?”

Phenex shrugged. “Humans go to the bathroom all the time. No one will notice.”

My brows arched. “Humans go to the bathroom all the time? As opposed to supernaturals…?”

From the kitchen, Caim barked out a laugh. “Depends on the supernatural.”

Okay, this was weird. And potentially TMI. I didn’t really want to think about the bathroom habits of demons. Still, my gaze drifted to where Serena lounged on the sofa with a new book in hand. She’d moved on from brutal stabbings in the dark and was now onto a faerie romance.

She shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’m not a demon.”

So, werewolves were a yes. Demons…no? What about vampires? Probably also a no. They were the undead after all. Weird.

“Can we please stop talking about toilet habits and get back to the task at hand?” Bael drawled as he stepped up to the whiteboard. He tossed a soccer ball in his hands as he stared at the messily-drawn map.

Phenex nodded. “Mia, are you happy with where the bathroom is? You okay with climbing out onto the fire escape?”

“Probably?” I said, my voice more of a question-mark than a statement. “How many stories up is it? Four? Twelve?”

“Forty-seven,” Phenex said evenly.

My mouth dropped open. “Forty-seven?”

Shit, oh shit, oh shit. I wasn’t afraid of heights per se, but climbing out of a window forty-seven stories high was pure insanity. Fire escapes were wobbly, rusted things. And I’d have to climb down forty-seven ladders to reach the ground.

I needed to sit.

“She looks pale,” Valac said from where he perched on a chair in the back corner. He was hidden in the shadows. Pretty typical for him. “Humans do that when they’re scared.”

“Very pale,” Stolas muttered as he strode across the floor to take my elbow and usher me into a seat. “Don’t worry, Mia. We’ll be right up on the roof waiting for you. As soon as you step inside, we’ll fly you to safety.”

Fly?

“I don’t think that’s any better.”

“You wanted to do this, Mia,” Az said, folding his arms. “This is what it entails. If you want to back out, now’s your last chance.”

I met his gaze. He wanted me to quit because he didn’t think I could handle it. “No, I’ll do it.”

His jaw hardened. “Fine. You better get ready then. We have two hours before we have to leave.”

* * *

The glittering lobby yawned before us like a monster’s massive jaws. Or maybe I was just being dramatic. Az walked by my side, and I had my hand tucked into his arm. The soft material of his fitted black suit slid like silk against my fingers, and the scent of his musky cologne peppered the air.

We followed several other guests to a bank of elevators along the back wall. Men in crisp suits with glamorous women on their arms, a pair of suited women with their hands clasped, and a very obvious vampire who stood alone. His red eyes caught mine, and the hint of a sharp canine flickered out from his top lip. I swallowed hard and glanced away.

Other than that weirdo, it was impossible to tell who was who. Each couple would have a human and a supernatural between them, but none of the supernaturals were being obvious about what they were. None of these humans knew their dates were supernatural Lucifer fans who planned to sacrifice their souls. Only me.

Each couple took a separate elevator until finally it was our turn to join the party. We rode in silence, tension bouncing between us. As the floors rolled by, I couldn’t help but wonder if this moment would be the last one we shared. My bags were packed. Az had found me an apartment and a job, and Phenex was assigned to take me to my new home as soon as I was done here.

We’d signed two contracts. One to make Lucifer happy and one meant only for our eyes. Az had insisted, as a way to keep me safe. The deal was this: if I ever showed my face at Infernal without an invitation, I’d lose my soul.

“You look very striking tonight, Mia,” Az finally said as we rushed past floor twenty-nine. “I wanted to tell you before we go inside.”

I cast a glance at my gown. It was a long, flowing number in a deep silky green. The color was the perfect contrast to my flaming red hair that I’d decided to wear in loose waves. Priyanka had come around to help with my makeup, and she’d given me a very distinct swoosh of eyeliner that made my eyes pop. I’d never made this much of an effort for a normal date, let alone a fake one.

“Thanks.” I bit my lip and tried not to stare in his direction. He looked as dangerously lethal as he normally did. Shadows curled across his jaw, and his pupils looked like pools of darkness. A sudden zing shot through my gut. That stupid thing again. It was starting to piss me off.

He turned to me and took my hand in his. “Mia, I just want you to know that—”

The elevator doors whirred open. His hand tightened around mine, and he pulled me close. Whatever he’d been about to say was lost to the sudden buzz of activity in the loft. Hand in hand, we strode into the ball.

Brilliantly-lit goblets drifted through the air on invisible strings. Intricate designs had been carved into the golden-edged walls, and butlers pranced by with elaborate silver plates topped in miniature food. The sound of harps drifted through the loft, but the thing that caught my eye the most was the far wall.

It was entirely gone.

The room faced the Uptown buildings, and a warm breeze rustled the hair around my shoulders. There wasn’t a single pane of glass. Not even a railing. Where the floor ended, it just…dropped off.

My nerves jangled in my belly as I glanced up at Az. His gaze was locked on the pane-less windows, his jaw clenched. “I believe it’s time for you to make your exit now, Mia.”

I gave a nod, my gut twisting. This was goodbye. The end to me and Az, not that there’d ever been anything more than strained lust between us. I tried to tell myself that my life would be better off without demons in it, but my heart didn’t believe a word of it.

With a deep breath, I turned to go—just as a glittering Eisheth stepped in front of me. Her gown matched her lip color. Deep red fabric that stretched across her curvy frame. She flashed me a painted smile and reached out with long, perfectly-manicured fingernails. They sliced through my hair, tangling in my curled strands.

“Don’t you look cute?” she asked in a patronizing tone of voice that made me want to punch her right in her pixie nose. “Here, have a drink.”

Eisheth grabbed three champagne flutes from a passing butler, handed one to me, and then gave another to Az. He took it begrudgingly and gave me a nod to do the same. I needed to play long until we could get rid of her, or she’d realize something was up.

As I took a sip, Eisheth latched her fingers on my arm. “I’d love to show you something, darling Mia.”

I opened my mouth to argue and shot a panicked glance toward Az. This wasn’t part of our plan. The Legion were waiting for me on the roof, and I needed to get out before things went down. Az would never stop the sacrifice with me here. All these humans—whichever ones they were—would lose their souls if we didn’t pull this off.

Still, there was little I could do as Eisheth dragged me over to a painted symbol on the floor. Drawn in bright red paint, it looked a lot like Az’s seal, just…different. The circles inside the swirling lines curled left more than right. And the pointed tail was nowhere to be seen. My heart pounded as I stared down at it. Another demon seal. That had to be it. Lucifer’s.

I took a step back as fear transformed my knees into jelly.

“What do you think?” Eisheth asked in a sickly-sweet voice.

“I…” With trembling hands, I down the rest of my champagne and shoved the glass toward Az. He watched me with pinched brows and flat lips. He couldn’t say anything, not without giving us away. I had to do this all on my own.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I blurted out.

Eisheth opened her mouth, but I didn’t stick around long enough to hear what she planned to say. With a determination I didn’t know I had, I hightailed it out of the room and soared down the quiet hallway. Following Phenex’s instructions, I hung a left and practically ran to the end door. I flung it open and stumbled inside, lungs aching, heart racing. The door slammed shut behind me and I slumped against the cold, biting metal.

“Thank god,” I whispered, wiping the sweat off my forehead. I may have seemed a little frantic, but at least I got out of there. Now, Az could save those souls.

After I caught my breath, I pushed away from the door and reached for the window. It was shut. Frowning, I tugged at the bottom, wondering how that had happened. Phenex had said he’d left it open so that I could get out as quickly as possible.

The window didn’t budge an inch.

Heart racing, I curled my fingers tightly around the wood and pushed with all my might. Nothing happened. The window wouldn’t move. It was almost like…it had been nailed shut. With a gasp, I pushed up onto my toes and saw the nails. Six in a row. Ensuring this window would never open again.

I stumbled back just as a wave of nausea rolled through my head. Catching myself on the sink, I tried to think. Someone had nailed the window shut. After Phenex had been here.

Someone must have found out.

Another wave of nausea tore through me. I stumbled to the side and tried to blink the dark spots out of my eyes.

Maybe I could break the window and climb out that way.

Pain flared through my skull. My body buckled beneath me.

The world tipped sideways, and then shadows filled my mind.