Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

9

“Good morning.” Asmodeus leaned back in one of the sleek black dining chairs. Dark, wet hair clumped on his forehead, and his soft heather grey t-shirt clung to his sculpted pecs. I slowed to a stop and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

My god.

Suddenly, I was very conscious of my mussed hair and wrinkled sweatpants. Why did he always manage to catch sight of me when I looked my worst? Not that it mattered. I didn’t care about impressing this guy.

He’s a demon.

“Morning.” I trailed over to the table and plopped down into a chair. “You look very alert and cheerful for someone who was up at the butt crack of dawn.”

I’d heard him rustling around at six. I, on the other hand, had slept until noon.

“I have a couple of things for you.” Winking, he leaned forward and lifted a gleaming sconce off a massive stack of pancakes. My stomach grumbled at the sight of the fluffy circles. “You also have a visitor out on the balcony.”

Frowning, I glanced over to the open sliding doors. A black-and-white pigeon perched on the back of one of the wrought-iron chairs. I sucked in a whistling breath and stood.

“Don’t tell me that’s Hendrix.”

“The one and only.”

My mouth dropped open as I plucked a chunk of pancake from the stack and padded over to the balcony. There was a single black spot above Hendrix’s left eye. It was him alright. With a grin, I threw him a pancake. He caught it in midair and swallowed it whole.

“How?” I asked, turning back to Asmodeus who leaned back in his chair with a smug smile. “Surely he couldn’t find me.”

“Pigeons are smarter than people give them credit for.”

This had to be some sort of demon thing. He’d called Hendrix here. With his mind. Or something. Whatever he’d done, I didn’t really care. It was an oddly touching gift. Grudgingly, I gave him a smile.

“Well, I don’t know how you got him here, but it’s good to see a familiar face.”

“You’re welcome.” He motioned to the stack of pancakes. “Don’t forget to eat. We have a big day ahead of us. Tonight, we’ll attend a party together. It will be our first official outing as a couple.”

My stomach dropped. Right. That explained the pancakes and the pigeon. He was trying to soften me up before dropping the news about our impending date.

I eased back into the apartment, trying not to rush toward the pancakes like the greedy squirrel I was. “That’s soon.”

“It hasn’t taken long for news to travel. People are already talking about you.” He folded his arms. “It will be good to put in an appearance while we’re fresh on their minds.”

“So strategic.” Throwing all caution to the wind, I dropped into the chair and pulled the plate close. To hell with it. I wanted these damn pancakes.

“I got to where I am today by being strategic,” he said. “It’s the only way I know to be.”

“Doesn’t that get lonely?” I asked as I jammed a forkful of pancake into my mouth. It practically melted against my tongue.

“I have plenty of people close to me.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The bouncers you met last night, for one.”

The Legion. That’s what the angels had called them. Were they all demons? Caim and Phenex and the other three guys? It explained a few things if they were. They’d been just as intense and unnerving as Asmodeus was, and Valac had made me feel like knives were being dragged across my mind.

“And what about you?” he asked, leaning forward with an intent expression on his face. “Where are your friends?”

“You’re looking at one.” I pointed at Hendrix, who had flown into the penthouse to join us. Strangely, Asmodeus didn’t seem to mind a pigeon on his dining table.

“And the others?”

I swallowed down a lump of pancake. Suddenly, I was no longer hungry, even though my stomach still growled. “I don’t really have any, other than Serena. I’m pretty much all I’ve got.”

I braced myself for his next question. I knew what it would be. It was inevitable. Everyone always asked. What about your family? I didn’t know how to answer him if he brought it up. Rarely could I discuss my parents, my sister, without tears forming in my eyes and blurring the world away. And I had zero desire to cry in front of a fucking demon who’d made a deal for my soul.

“Well,” he said, leaning back into his chair.

“Well,” I repeated.

“Maybe it’s time you changed that.” His chair scraped against the floor as he pushed it away from the table. “You have one wild, precious, and very short life, Mia, made better by the people you surround yourself with. Make the best of it.” With a sigh, he turned toward the door leading into his bedroom. “I have some business to take care of for most of the day, so I’ll be out until tonight. Make yourself at home. We’ll leave for our date at eight.”

Asmodeus vanished into his bedroom, leaving me with a mouthful of pancake and a hell of a lot of questions. Stunned, I replayed his words in my mind. Had he really just said I had one wild and precious life? And not to waste it? That wasn’t a very demony thing to say. Were the angels wrong?

No, I thought. Deep down in my gut, I had sensed something about him the moment we’d met. A strange energy seemed to pulse off his skin, and he could do things that weren’t normal. At the time, I hadn’t understood it, but I did now. He wasn’t human.

And we had our first date tonight.

* * *

The angels’ business card burned a hole in my pocket as I paced from one end of the penthouse to the next. They’d asked me to spy on Asmodeus. Truth be told, I didn’t really want to, but my curiosity made every hair on my arms stand at attention.

Asmodeus would be gone for hours. I was here in his penthouse alone. What if there was something here? Like…incriminating evidence that he was the bad sort of demon. And if there wasn’t, maybe that would soothe my jangling nerves. I had to make it through the next month, or I’d lose my soul. Confirming that he wasn’t hiding something big—bigger than being a demon—would go a long way.

On the other hand, if I did find something, I could call the angels and tell them everything. They’d arrest him, or whatever it was angels and demons did to keep the peace. Hopefully, they’d be able to get me out of my contract.

There. I nodded to myself. I’d convinced myself to peek into Asmodeus’s things.

My stomach flipped as I scurried across the floor. I was going to snoop through a demon’s bedroom! Deep down, I knew I was far more excited about this than I had any right to be. But this was the perfect opportunity to find the answers to my burning questions. I might not get the chance again.

Did he have anything to do with those murders? Were there trophies hidden in his drawers? Would he have a list of everyone he’d targeted or an elaborate diagram plotting out his nefarious deeds? Did he wear a different type of boxer shorts? You know, for his tail. Not the other thing.

Adrenaline surging through my veins, I twisted the door handle and pushed. The door held firm against my attack. It wouldn’t budge. Frowning, I released my grip and stepped back. He’d locked his door.

Now, that was weird. And not a great sign. Why would he have locked his bedroom if he had nothing to hide? What did he have in there that he didn’t want me to see?

There was no other reason he would have locked it. No one else was here. He’d locked it to keep me out.

* * *

“You ready to go?” Asmodeus called through the door, and then gave it a light knock. I stood before the floor-length mirror, staring at myself with wide eyes. I hadn’t seen Asmodeus all day, so I’d had a lot of time stuck alone with my thoughts.

I was going on a date with a demon who was hiding something.

To keep myself occupied, I’d dressed up for the occasion. Instead of my standard uniform of jeans and crop top, I’d chosen the only dress I’d packed. One I’d borrowed from Serena and hadn’t returned yet.

She was a little smaller than me, so the dress hugged my curves. It was a little black number with a scooped neck edged in delicate lace. The bottom hem hit mid-thigh, the perfect length to pair with my boots. The outfit was a combination of class and edginess, and it gave me the boost of confidence I needed to get through this night.

I topped it all off with a pair of dangly earrings my sister had given me for my eighteenth birthday, a reminder of where I’d come from and why I was here. Her face flashed in my mind. Even after everything that had happened, I wouldn’t go back and make a different decision. At least, not about saving her.

“Yep, I’m ready,” I called out as I turned from the mirror. Now was not the time to think about my sister. If I did, an avalanche of competing emotions would crash around me, burying me beneath the weight of it all.

I pulled open the door. Asmodeus sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back, his gaze sweeping across me. His eyes sparked as an appreciative smile lifted the corners of his lips. “You look incredible.”

“Oh.” I flushed, pressing my lips together. He didn’t look so bad himself. A dark suit hugged his muscular frame in a way that should be criminal. The color matched his dark hair and the light stubble that stretched along his cutting jawline.

“No one will question why I’m dating you, that’s a certainty,” he said with a wicked smile.

My flush deepened. I cleared my throat. I’d never had anyone compliment me like this. Did he mean it? Or was it just for show, like everything else we were doing tonight?

“You don’t have to start the fake dating just yet,” I said with a strained laugh. “It can wait until we get to the party.”

Tension bounced between us as his eyes darkened. “Right. I thought it would be a good idea to practice.”

“No need. You’ve got it down, it seems. I’m guessing you probably date a lot.” Rolling my eyes at myself, I stepped into the hallway and pulled the bedroom door shut. Why had I brought up his dating life? I didn’t need to hear about that. He might think I was interested for other reasons, and I very much wasn’t.

I did wonder though…how much did demons date?

“Well, there you’d be wrong,” he said as he led me to the penthouse door. “I don’t date. It’s one of the reasons I made this deal with you. I have no desire for an entanglement.”

An entanglement. His word choice reminded me of the angels who had asked me to spy on him. They were centuries old. Did that mean Asmodeus was, too? Obviously, he had to be. Even his name was evidence of that. So…how old were we talking about here?

I was desperate to ask him, and I hated that I couldn’t. I’d have to admit I knew what he was. And then he’d want to know how I knew. I obviously couldn’t tell him that either. Not unless I wanted to face an angry demon.

And if he really was as dangerous as they thought he was, there was no telling what he was capable of.

“Listen.” He paused at the door, bracing his hand on the wall behind my head. I swallowed hard as he leaned close and the scent of a bonfire wafted into my nose. I’d smelled that once before around him, and now I understood what it was. He was from Hell. I was smelling literal flames. “At the party, you should call me Az. Everyone close to me does. They’ll find it odd if you refer to me as Asmodeus.”

“Sure.” I stared up into his sharp blue eyes, and my stomach churned. It was almost impossible for me to even remember my own name when I looked into them. “Az it is.”

“Good.” He lifted a finger to my neck and dragged it along my skin. Sparks stormed through my belly, and my chest went hot. I trembled as I leaned back against the wall, my body betraying me. His lips curled. “Also, good. Keep that up. We want everyone to think you want me.”

I didn’t tell him that my reaction had not been fake. Because it sure as hell didn’t mean that I wanted him. It was just my body being weird. He was an asshole. An asshole demon.

Why was I doing this again?