Chapter 7

 

 

“I said no.”

I turned off the engine and gave Jame my stern-but-fair cop look. “You have blood on your clothes and need your pain meds, which you left at home. We’re now at your home. I don’t care if you don’t like it. We’re getting changed, medicated and maybe even fed. Let’s go.”

I got out of the Jeep and he followed. I didn’t care how much swagger or scowl he threw my way. He was hurting and exhausted and it showed in every line of his body.

He unlocked the door and stepped into the house he shared with Ben.

I’d last been here for their housewarming, a gathering that seemed to have pulled half of Ordinary through this modern two-story that overlooked the waves.

They’d lucked out on lot placement and how the house was built. The curve of the bank it stood on gave the illusion of a lot more privacy than there actually was from the houses on either side of their property.

The interior was not what I expected out of a couple of guys who fought fires for a living. I expected bare brick, leather furniture, and mismatched art.

Instead it was cozy. Welcoming. Soft, without feeling overdone. It was like walking into a warm cabin retreat with thick blankets and pillows stacked on the couch, recliners positioned for a view of the sky and the TV that took up one wall, and throw rugs positioned to soak up the echoes of the wood floors.

There were a few hanging plants, a scatter of mail on an end table and something that looked like a half-finished carving project on the coffee table. A ridiculously comfortable-looking rocking chair with a bright green lap quilt draped over the back was set into a nook that was lined with shelves filled with a selection of books, carefully wrapped comics, scrolls, and little trinkets, some that looked like they were gathered from all over the world.

Everything about the house spoke to comfort, rest, ease.

It was Jame’s den, Ben’s sanctuary.

It was the home they had made with each other, for each other.

Jame didn’t bother turning on other lights as he stalked into the house, crossing the living room before going down a hall toward their room.

I supposed being a werewolf meant you didn’t need light to navigate, and having a vampire for a boyfriend pretty much meant the same thing.

I was not a werewolf or vampire (no matter what Jame thought) so I flicked on a couple lights as I walked into the main room.

“Delaney?”

I froze, my skin cold. The air had dropped to freezing. I could see my breath.

Ghost. There was a ghost here. And not just any ghost.

“Dad?”

The word came out in a puff, and I wrapped my arms around myself to hold heat to my body.

I heard the shower turn on down the hall where Jame had gone. If he was in the shower, he couldn’t hear me unless I yelled.

Okay, let’s hope I wouldn’t have to yell. I wasn’t afraid of my dad, not as a man, a parent, or a disembodied spirit. But I was worried for him.

My hand cupped the worry stone in my pocket and I rubbed my thumb across the smooth warmth of the rose quartz. The motion and sensation calmed and centered me.

This was just my dad. Just his ghost. Just him.

“Are you okay, Dad?” Nothing. “Are you here to talk to me?” More nothing. “I felt you at the lighthouse. Saw you there. I’m worried about you. Can you show me where you are? Can you tell me you’re okay?”

A thump of something heavy hitting the floor made me jump. “Shit. I mean, shoot. I mean, cool. Good. So, over by the mantle?” It was still cold in the room, but I wasn’t going to cower away from my father.

“I don’t know why you had to knock something off their mantle, Dad. If you broke one of Ben’s antique knickknacks, you know he’s going to be upset.”

No sign of him. No sound of him. The room was still cold, but other than that, and the overwhelming feeling of knowing that had been his voice, his presence, there was nothing to prove that there was a haunting going down.

“Why Jame’s place anyway?” I scanned the floor beneath the mantle. Spotted a fist-sized green stone lying near the table. It was big enough to have made the loud thud when it fell. I didn’t know Ben collected rocks. Or maybe that was Jame’s hobby.

 “What was the lighthouse all about? I understand you checking in on me, or Myra or Jean. But these other places?”

I bent. “Well, at least it’s not breakable.” I had never seen a stone like that before. It was pale green and almost translucent with shots of black and red jagging through it, sparking deep fire that I was more used to seeing in opals.

“So let’s put it back where it belongs.” I picked it up and straightened.

“No.” A soft sound. A plea. My father’s voice. Too late.

The stone in my hand blazed hot, too hot to hold. My fingers clenched around it and I could not let it go.

The heat rolled into a vibration, a thrumming of music that poured over me, too loud, too strong, plucking me like a string against a sounding board.

It wasn’t god power. I knew those songs, knew the dizzying sensation of god power loose and wild and fierce. Knew how to hold it, how to carry it across my nerves and muscles and skin, knew how to direct it to a place of holding, away from the god’s body, but never far from their reach.

But this song, this roar was bone-deep and tore into me with teeth and fang. I’d never felt this power before.

It was darkness.

It was heat.

It was desire.

I couldn’t force my hand to drop the stone, couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink. My body was not my own.

Cue the fear.

The room around me fogged out, going green at the edges. There was someone yelling, there were hands on me, but I sensed that at a distance.

All I could hear were the churning tones, all I could feel was the heat tearing through me.

And then everything went cold.

My father stood in front of me, solid and tangible and breathing, every detail clear. He was wearing his uniform, and look a little rumpled, his hair sticking up at the crown like it did when he rubbed his palm over the back of it or when he pulled all-nighters at the station.

I could smell the spice of his cologne, the slight hint of tobacco and coffee that was so familiar, so him.

But his eyes, oh, how I’d missed them. Not the color, which was a soft blue that tended toward gray, but the kindness, the intelligence, the light of the man who had known me and loved me and protected me for my entire life. Right there. Right there in front of me close enough to touch.

When I’d never thought I’d see him again.

“Dad?”

“Delaney, you need to step back. Drop the stone. Run.”

I tried. Really I did. I struggled to open my fingers, turn my hand over, lift my feet.

Didn’t get anywhere.

“I. Can’t.” Even my words were strangled, locked down. Impossible to push through my lips.

“Well, well. Delaney Reed. All tied up with a bow. I like what I see.”

I couldn’t turn my head to see who was talking but I had never heard that voice before. It was smooth, low, like honey and whiskey.

A man walked into my line of vision, coming out of the green foggy edges to stand beside my father.

Dad’s eyes went hard, his jaw set. Whoever, or really knowing my life, whatever that was, Dad didn’t like him.

“Demon,” Dad said.

Oh.

Oh, shit.

The man—demon—was taller than my dad and wide enough in the shoulder, it made the rest of his body look lean, even though he appeared muscled under the lightweight button-down shirt and business slacks he wore. His tie was loosened at the neck, and matched his eyes, which were a stunning green, almost as light as the green fog around us.

And when he smiled, it was like the sun had finally decided to shine down on something so beautiful and wicked, it was impossible to cast light anywhere else.

I hated the hitch of attraction in my gut. But this demon had that level of once-in-a-lifetime Hollywood leading-man gorgeous that could turn anyone’s knees to jelly.

Demon.

Handsome, conniving, amoral, selfish, cruel.

Even knowing that didn’t take the thrall off his beauty.

So, whatever. I was attracted to a gorgeous image. Most humans were. It didn’t mean I was going to act on it. Or rather, not in the way he probably wanted me to, if that smirk and wink he gave me meant anything.

“Why is he here?” I asked Dad. “Is he keeping you here, trapping you against your will?”

Every word came out steady, like I was bored with this whole thing already and willing to throw my authority around to get my way. I was good at this. I’d been taught by a master.

The corner of Dad’s mouth quirked. I saw the pride in his eyes, the love.

Damn right, Dad. You and I can totally take this joker down.

“Not against my will.”

That surprised me.

The demon chuckled. Yes, it sent happy shivers over my skin.

I turned my “ignore” up to eleven.

“I don’t understand.”

I wanted to touch Dad. To hug him, feel him solid and real again. But he was holding still in a very careful way, as if a line had been drawn between us. A line he couldn’t cross.

“Your father gave himself to me,” the demon said. “Willingly.” The demon’s eyes flashed red for a second, then faded to watery green.

“I’m sure there’s quite a story behind that. Do I have to figure it out in three questions or are you going to fill me in?”

He paused, his lips parted as he considered me, then his smile came back in full force.

The handsome. It burned.

“I like the idea of making you work for it, Delaney Reed, but as time is sliding away, and I have needs to be fulfilled, we’ll make this quick. Your father traded his soul to protect you.”

“You did what?” I nearly shouted at the same time Dad said, “It wasn’t just you, honey.”

I glared at the demon. “You, shut up.”

The demon opened his mouth, that same surprised look crossing his features before he smiled and pointedly pressed his lips together.

I glared at Dad. “You, talk.”

“I was driving back from picking up a package from the casino. The package, a small padded envelope was addressed to me, just my name written across the front. I thought that was odd, but it wasn’t the first time it had happened.”

If I could shiver, I would. That had happened to me too. I’d picked up an envelope addressed to me, and it had warned me about Heimdall’s murder.

“I opened the envelope and a stone fell out. A green stone with cracks of black and red.”

“The one I’m holding.”

“Yes. I didn’t know who it was from or what it was, so I put it back in the envelope. I was going to put it in lock up. Make sure it was warded. The car…I lost control of the car.” He frowned. “I don’t remember it very well. The moment, the reason.

“I remember falling. Falling over the side of the cliff.” He paused and tucked his hand in his front pocket, shoulders tilting sideways. Such a familiar gesture, my heart hitched.

“I knew, this was it. The end. My end. I’d hoped I’d get more years with you, Delaney. With all of you girls. Wanted to see you all build your lives, fall in love. Maybe have a chance to be a grandpa.”

He shook his head, and his smile was sad. “But I knew. I was done.”

Everything in me hurt. For him. For me. For our family. I didn’t know what to say.

“So, you traded your soul?” Okay, it wasn’t what I wanted to say, but I needed to know.

“I died.”

We just let that truth pull on the ties between us, knotting our sorrow, our loss together so tightly, it was an aching bond we shared.

I exhaled and it was shaky. “I miss you. We all miss you, Dad. I love you so much and so do Myra and Jean. Nothing is the same without you. But we’re trying. We’re all working at the station, the town voted me in as chief. I still expect you to come through the door when people call me that.”

He smiled, and it was soft and a little pleased. The kind of smile he always wore when we talked about his job being the bridge for the god powers in Ordinary. The job I’d inherited that made me the one and only person who could tell a god that he or she could or couldn’t set down their power and stay awhile.

“I love you, Delaney and I love your sisters too. I never wanted to leave so soon.”

“This is oh, so touching,” Beauty McJerkface said. “I’m on a schedule, so I’ll bring us to the punchline. I was trapped here. In this stone. Not of my own choosing, but because of a rather unfortunate dealing with a creature you’d rather not hear about. When the chance to change my fate fell in my lap, I took it.”

“Dad’s soul?”

“That, he offered. As I’ve said before. My chance, Delaney, is you.”

If I could sit down, shake my head, press cool fingers against the back of my neck to clear my brain, I’d do any one of those things. But since I was still stuck in a thrall of some sort, all I could do was blink and wait for that to make sense.

“No.” Dad turned to square off against the demon. “She isn’t any part of our agreement.”

“You have no say in our agreement now, Robert Reed. Those bones have been cast, cards turned. There is only the future at hand and all the ink upon it has dried.”

“She is not a pawn in your game, Bathin. Let her go.”

The demon held my father’s gaze, his face utterly impassive. Nothing Dad said made any difference to him.

“That is true,” Bathin said. “She is not a pawn. She is my rook. And I will use her as I please.”

“My soul—”

“Your soul,” the demon shouted over my father’s words. “Is mine. As such, you have no say over what is or isn’t done with it.”

Dad’s jaw locked. His fists closed. I was pretty sure he was going to punch the demon in the face.

“Please.” That one word, from my father’s mouth almost sent me to my knees.

The demon’s expression didn’t change. “Better,” he said, as if my dad were a dog that had remembered to heel.

Now I wanted to punch him in the face.

“This has been fated. When you agreed that your soul could be used to keep Ordinary safe. To keep me trapped here, in this stone. You knew giving me your soul meant I had full control of it.”

Dad didn’t say anything. And that scared the pants off of me.

“But I am a reasonable man.” The demon turned to me, and I knew he was neither reasonable nor a man.

“You will come to understand that I always have my best interest in mind. Always, Delaney Reed. Therefore, you now find yourself in the unique position of my services. In exchange, of course, for your services.”

“For my soul.” I didn’t have to ask. Hello, this was a demon I was dealing with. Souls were the only thing they traded in. The only thing they wanted.

“Yes. For your soul.”

“No,” Dad said again.

“Let her decide. If she refuses to give me her soul then I will do nothing more to take it from her. I am self-centered. I’m not unfair.”

“Don’t do this, Delaney,” Dad said. “He wants more than his kind are allowed.”

That—the ‘his kind’ comment—struck hard enough that Bathin’s mild expression slipped into a scowl.

“I want what is owed to me. Nothing more,” he snapped. “This: your father gave his soul to me. In exchange, I agreed not to enter into Ordinary, nor to allow any of my kind to enter. Have I not lived up to the agreement?”

When neither of us spoke, he raised the volume. “I have lived up to every syllable of our agreement. And more. Because this, this is what I’m offering you, Robert Reed. I am offering you one more chance to trade your soul in a way that will bring good to your town. To your daughter, whom I can see you must love.”

“Out of the kindness of your heart,” I said.

“Out of my own best interests. We both know I have no heart. I took your father’s soul and promised to keep it in exchange for an absence of demons in Ordinary. And now, as part of the trade with you, I will set his soul free.”

Dad exhaled, a small sound that somehow carried both desire and sorrow.

“His soul for my soul,” I repeated.

“No,” Dad said again.

“Not just a soul for a soul. In what way would that profit me?” Bathin asked. He took a breath and for the slightest moment, something else seemed to shift in his eyes. I’d say it was curiosity and maybe need mixed with an urgent hope, but that would be too weird. This was a demon we were talking about here. No heart.

And I knew enough Demon 101 to never, in no uncertain terms trust one.

“I will free your father’s soul, and I will grant unto you a single favor for your living soul, Delaney Reed.”

“Don’t do this, Delaney.”

“What are his powers?” I asked Dad. “Myra would know, but I don’t. What can Bathin do?”

“Nothing,” Dad said.

Bathin sucked air through his teeth. “Falsehood, my dear man? I thought that beneath you?”

“Nothing is beneath me when my family’s threatened. You of all things should know that.”

“Yes, yes. How desperately you made your agreement with me. How terribly you wanted to ease the burden your daughters bear in your absence. So humanly thoughtful and earnest and….” He stuck one finger in his open mouth as if he were going to gag.

Ass.

“What is his scope of powers?” I asked again, wishing I could reach my TASER and dial it to disintegrate.

Dad’s eyebrows shot downward as he tried to recall his demonology. I could only imagine it was harder now that he had been dead for over a year and didn’t exactly have reference material handy.

“Stones,” Bathin said. “I know stones, and herbs, ways in which they can be used. I can move people in both physical and astral forms.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

He widened his eyes before narrowing them again. “That is so much more than you can imagine and all that I will tell you.”

Bathin obviously knew how to keep demons out of Ordinary. Or maybe he didn’t. It might simply be a coincidence that there were no demons in the town. A coincidence he took credit for.

Never trust a demon.

“You’ll set my dad’s soul free for my soul and a favor?”

“Yes.”

My heart was thrumming a heavy beat. I didn’t know where, exactly, we were physically right now. I mean, I remembered coming to Jame’s house, but the green fog around me made anything more than a few feet away hazy enough I couldn’t make it out.

This was either some kind of spell I’d triggered when I’d picked up the stone, or I’d fallen into some kind of between space. Time did weird things when it collided with supernatural happenings. The world around me might be running either really fast, or really slow, or not at all.

None of those possibilities made me happy.

The only thing that made me happy was seeing Dad. Even though he was scowling, angry at the demon and maybe a little angry at me too, for considering the demon’s offer.

But then, he’d done more than just consider the demon’s offer. He’d taken him up on it.

I suppose the one big difference was that Dad had been dying.

And in his dying moments, he hadn’t used a deal with a demon to save his own life. He’d given up his soul to save Ordinary. To keep us safe. The people and the place he loved.

I understood why he didn’t want me to make a deal. I would forbid Myra, Jean, and anyone else I loved from making any deal with any demon.

But right here I had a choice. I could set my father free or leave him trapped. Tied to this demon for all time.

The bite on the side of my neck burned cold, shivering down deeper beneath my skin.

“Delaney,” Dad said, “you will not do this. Please. Your life. Your heart. You can’t do this, baby.”

“He won’t have my heart. Just my soul. Is that right?”

The demon inclined his head. “It is what I said.”

What was worth the price of my soul? My family’s safety? The safety of my town?

Ryder.

I could ask him to break the tie between Ryder and the god, Mithra who had claimed him. I could ask him to bring my father back to life, although I thought that was probably outside his scope.

“Can you bring the dead back to life?”

“Can I?” He opened his hands. “I could make it happen. It would be…messy.”

“No,” Dad said firmer now. “That I absolutely forbid. I’ve made peace with my decisions, Delaney, and I will not have you throwing away your soul for my life.”

That hurt, the ache turning in my chest. The need to bring him back to life was the need of a child who didn’t want to face the hard decisions alone anymore. Still, it was very, very tempting.

“Ask,” the demon whispered. “You know what you want. You know I can give you your desires.”

Wow. When he turned on the charm, it was sort of stunning.

“He won’t,” Dad argued. “That kind of resurrection, this long after my death would take the agreement and direct involvement of gods and demons. Of Death, at the very least. And convincing him that I should be breathing again…. He won’t do it, baby. Not for me. The favors between us are too great.”

But would he do it for me?

For a fleeting, wild moment, I thought yes. Thanatos seemed to be, if not fond of me, at least amused by me. I might be able to talk him around to seeing my side of this, to maybe even team up with a demon to save my dad.

“How messy?” I asked Bathin.

“Gods and demons….” He grinned, full-blast charm. “Oil and water. There is no good way to mix us without a lot of agitation, and even then the mix is temporary. Imperfect.”

 So that was off the table. I exhaled, shaky. Fatigue was setting in, though it shouldn’t make me tired to just stand there with a stone in my hand.

“What about vampires?”

“Explain.”

“Do demons and vampires mix?”

He pulled his head back and the grin was gone. He considered me with those pale green eyes, as if trying to read the text inside my brain.

“Demons care not for vampires across the long dance of eternity we’ve shared.”

“Can you kill one?”

“Most.”

“Lavius?”

His eyes shot to the bite on my neck. From the heat in his gaze, and the dark expression, it seemed he was acquainted with the evil in question.

“With consequences, yes.”

“Consequences?”

“If I killed him, you would die, and I want you living, Delaney.”

“Why?”

“It would be so much more pleasant for me, and I am all about my own pleasure. I told you that.”

“Terrific. Look, can you break the tie between me and Lavius, then kill him?”

“That would be two favors, Delaney Reed. I have only offered one.”

“Delaney, say no. Don’t bargain with this being. You know he’s darkness. An end, not a beginning. Not even a weapon you should use.”

I gave dad a soft smile. “He’s the only weapon I have.”

Bathin made a happy little humming sound. “I live to serve.”

“Bullshit,” Dad said.

If he couldn’t bring Dad back to life, or kill Lavius, then there was only one other thing that I wanted, needed that badly.

“Can you find Ben Rossi and bring him back to Ordinary alive before midnight?”

Bathin’s nostrils widened, as did his pupils. “This. This you desire. You are in pain. I can taste it, oh. I can taste it.” He swallowed as if he’d suddenly shoved something succulent in his mouth. “Why have you misplaced that particular vampire?”

“My reasons are my own. If you can free my father’s soul and find Ben Rossi, and return him to us, alive, breathing, whole–every finger, toe, and scrap of flesh he currently possesses, including his soul and sanity before midnight tonight, I will give you my soul.”

“Delaney.” My name left Dad’s mouth in a hush that sounded like something heavy had struck his chest.

It made tears push at the back of my eyes.

Yes, I was frightened. Yes, I knew I was selling my soul to a thing of darkness. A thing that as Dad had said was an end, not a beginning.

I knew how stupid this was. How risky.

But I knew other things too. How much Jame loved Ben. How much Rossi loved Ben. How much it was my job, my responsibility to keep the people of my town safe. And that if I hadn’t been the one to directly cause Ben to be taken, that I was absolutely the one who could right now, right here, directly bring him back.

Safe.

Whole.

And I knew this wasn’t my end. I was bargaining my soul, but I was betting on the people who loved me. There would be a way to break this, a way to change it, to get my soul back. There were too many gods and creatures who had my back. There were too many mystics, and books of magic, and indomitable, clever sisters to think that my soul being in a demon’s hands was going to be anything but temporary.

I could do this. Take this hit and save Ben.

It was no different than taking a bullet in the line of duty.

This was my choice. Maybe even the choice the seer and witch had known I’d have to make. And I was making it.

“Oh, Delaney, how you spin and twist. So very prettily.”

I was back to wishing for my TASER again.

 Bathin folded his hands in front of him, thick fingers slotting neatly in place. “You don’t have to work so hard to convince yourself. You made your decision the moment I brought you here. See?” he said to Dad. “I told you she’d come around to see things my way. You underestimated her.”

“I have never underestimated any of my daughters.” Dad raised a hand and rubbed at the back of his neck, then shook his head. “Give us a moment, Bath, you owe me.”

To my utter astonishment, Bathin nodded, gave me a wink, and then moved out of the range of my vision.

He might be standing right there listening to us and I’d never know since I couldn’t move my head to look around. But Dad’s gaze followed him, somewhere off behind my right shoulder, and he seemed satisfied with where the demon had taken himself off to.

“He owes you something?” I asked.

Dad shrugged. “We’ve been together for over a year. All we’ve had to do to pass the time is talk. He’s…he’s not quite like most of the demons I’ve met. That doesn’t in any way mean I trust him. But he is unusual among his kind.”

“Would you let him into Ordinary if he asked?”

“And have to clean up after the messes he’d continually make?” He chuckled, a dry sound I had forgotten and missed. “I’m not a masochist.”

“So, here’s what I can tell you: don’t trust him. Always question his good will. He’s not a trickster, not like Crow, or Odin, or the others. Not defined by his power like a god, not bound to his nature like a creature. All demons can be bound and controlled. All demons can be used by those who wield dark magic, blood magic, shadow rituals. Demons and gods do not suffer one another’s company, he is right about that. Many other creatures won’t suffer the company of a demon either.

“I can’t tell you what losing your soul will feel like, honey. I don’t know what it will do to you. I was dying when I gave him mine, so it was painless, a relief. And in all the time we’ve been locked here together, he hasn’t caused me pain I couldn’t bear.

“But this I can tell you. He can’t be killed, not easily or without a price. He can be bound and contained, again there is a price. A sacrifice. There are rites. Talk to Rossi. He knows. He has books, ancient things, spells that will lash a demon down and hold them for eternity. But you must retrieve your soul before you bind him, Delaney. Living without it, living with your soul at the whim of a darkness like him will also come at a price you will pay every second of every day.”

I expected to see Bathin again. Expected him to want to stop my dad from telling me all the things he knew about demons. Specifically how to take him down. But he didn’t show up.

“There are rumors of how to steal a soul away from a demon. I’ve never put my hand on any of those things, but the books, the old books would give you a place to start. I know you can find a way. If not you, then Myra. She’s always had a head for these kinds of puzzles.”

“She loves you,” I said. “She misses you. She loves the books you left to her. It makes her proud to know you believed she should have them.”

He smiled and I could almost feel the warmth of his love on my skin. “Good. That’s good. And Jean?”

“Misses you like crazy. She loves you too. She’s dating a baker.”

His smile turned into a grin. “She’s always had a thing for men who work with their hands. Is she happy?”

“She loves the job so much. You know how she’s always sort of rolled with whatever has come her way. The dating thing…I’ve never seen her so mixed up over someone. Mixed up in a good way. And he’s a great guy. I know he cares for her.”

“Tell her I love her and I approve of whatever makes her heart happy. Tell them both that. Myra and Jean.”

“I will.”

“And you? Are you happy?”

I felt the blush rush to my cheeks. “Ryder and I are dating.”

“Ryder Bailey? It’s about time you two came around.” He nodded. “I approve. I’ve always liked that boy. Always thought you two made a good team.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I exhaled, feeling a sort of loose happiness from hearing that. I knew he had liked Ryder, but there was something comforting hearing it directly from him.”

“I like the work too, both policing and bridging, but filling your shoes has been…hard. I’ve made some dumb decisions. Bad mistakes.”

“I’ve made my share.”

“Not like this.”

“Is Ordinary still standing?”

“Yes. But people have died on my watch. People who I should have kept safe.”

“People died on my watch too, Delaney. There is a limit to what you can do, what any of us can do,” he said gently.

“You are the law and the bridge for power, but you aren’t a god who can bend the world to your desires. You aren’t a creature who has influence over a man’s thoughts, or the flow of time. You’re human, Delaney. Maybe a bit more than, but human just the same. There are events beyond your control. A whole wide universe of them.”

“I know.” And I did. I didn’t like it, but I understood my limitations compared to so many who stayed here in my sleepy little beach town.

“Are you sure I can’t talk you out of this?” he asked. “You are giving away your soul.”

“Ben was beaten. Kidnapped. Lavius broke his bond to Jame and nearly killed Jame. Before that, he murdered another vampire, and we’re pretty sure he killed four vampire hunters who had rolled through town. He…” This part wasn’t going to be pretty. “He sent a zombie vampire to run Jean over with a car.”

“What?” Dad yelled. And that I could feel. His fury hot and stinging as if it were my own deep in my gut. “Who the hell is Lavius? How does he know our town? What does he want?”

“He’s a vampire as old as Rossi. Turned at the same time. He wants something Rossi has. Look, Dad. Jean’s fine. She broke her arm and twisted her ankle. Bed rest and a cast, and she’s going to be okay. But I can’t….”

My voice gave out on me, caught up on a mix of grief and anger that clogged all sound.

“You’re not going to try to kill him, are you Delaney? A vampire that old isn’t something you are equipped to deal with. Promise me you’re not going to try to kill him.”

I wasn’t going to make promises I couldn’t keep. “Rossi is first in the kill-him line. I’ve never seen him so angry. Lavius hurt Ben, and you know Ben is…”

“…his son. Yes. Yes, of course.” He was silent a moment. “I’ve seen Rossi kill. Have you?”

“No.”

“It will change what you think of him.”

I huffed out a choked laugh. “That’s been happening an awful lot lately. I think I can take it.”

“I wish….” His eyes clouded and sorrow settled into the shadows of his face. “If I could have stayed with you, with all of you, you know I would have.”

“I know, Dad. We know.”

“I didn’t…it wasn’t suicide. I don’t know how I lost control, but believe me when I say I was trying to come home, honey. I never meant to leave you all so soon.”

“We know. We know.”

“Isn’t this sweet?” Bathin was back, standing beside Dad even though I hadn’t seen him approach.

I hated that smug smile on his face. I wanted to smack it off of him.

“You’ve had your private time,” he continued. “Now we seal our deals. Delaney Reed, I swear to release your father, Robert Reed’s soul unto the afterlife he has chosen, and grant you one wish in exchange for your soul. Is that acceptable?”

 “Yes.”

Something thrummed, like a great bass string being strummed somewhere in the universe, rolling out one note, deep and long and eternal.

“Name the favor.”

“You will find Ben Rossi and return him to Ordinary, alone and alive, in as complete health physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually as he is found before midnight tonight. You’ll bring him to Jame Wolfe and give him to him freely into his open arms with no deals or bindings, contracts, or debts outstanding.”

His pupils, which had been wide before were now so dark, they swallowed up all of the green of his eyes except for the faintest halo ring. He licked his bottom lip once, catching it in his teeth, then nodded. “Yes.”

A second note plucked and joined the first in strange harmony that seemed wrong at first and then slid into something not pleasant, but intriguing.

“Say goodbye to your father, Delaney.”

I turned my gaze to Dad.

He stepped forward, arms out, and I wanted to hug him, to feel him so much, a small sob escaped me.

Bathin tsked, and suddenly I was free. I could move.

Dad’s eyebrows rose and he smiled. I launched myself at him, and he wrapped his strong arms around me, his left hand shifting up so he could press his wide palm against the back of my head and press my face to his chest, holding me tight, familiar and right.

“I love you so much,” he said. “I’m proud of you. Of all of you. I always will be. Remember at every end is a beginning. Remember that. Ends are only the beginning.”

“I love you too,” I said. It seemed to be the only thing I could say. Over and over again as my heart soared and broke, caught between joy and sorrow, loss and love.

I squeezed him as tight as I could, memorizing his presence, the dimensions of him, the scents of something deep like cedar, coffee, and tobacco.

I never wanted to let him go. Never wanted to leave the warmth and protection of his arms.

“That’s all,” Bathin said quietly as if he were in a library and didn’t want to disturb anyone. “That’s all I can do, Robert. I’m sorry.”

“You promised me,” he said to Bathin. “Our deal.”

“I have never broken my word. I will not break it now.”

Something about that seemed to put a brief, wild hope in Dad’s eyes.

“Delaney. I love—”

He was gone, the air in front of me empty and cold, without even a lingering hint of his scent, of his presence.

I pressed my hands against my face to wipe at my tears, and tried to pull it together. My heart felt like it was made of rice paper that was being squeezed tighter and tighter into a painful crumpled ball.

Bathin strolled over to stand next to me, so close, our shoulders brushed. “I can take that pain away, Delaney Reed. It is a small solace, but one you will know.”

He pivoted so that he stood in front of me, dark eyes inches from my own, breath close enough I could feel it on my cheek, could smell the slight cinnamon of his words.

“His soul has gone on to the afterlife of his choosing. As we agreed. And now yours is mine. As we agreed.”

He didn’t touch me. Not a finger. He simply held my gaze. I thought I could look away, turn away from him.

“Yes, you could.” He waited.

There would be a price to pay if I backed out on our deal.

“Yes, there would.” He was apparently reading my mind.

Jerk.

His eyes glittered with something like delight and I hated him for it. Before I could stop myself, before I could even register what I was going to do, I wound my fist back and punched him in the face.

His head jerked back and he grunted.

I knew how to throw a punch.

He stumbled back two steps, his hand over his nose. And then he laughed. Laughed. It was loud and deep and full of dark joy.

“You punched me! You punched me in the face! Oh, you Reeds. Always so surprising!” He was still laughing, squeezing the words out between bouts of glee.

“You took my father’s soul, you dick. You used it as some kind of a bullshit bargain for over a year. I should do more than punch you.”

He pulled his hand away and glanced at his palm, looking for blood or whatever passed as blood for demons. He nodded as he dabbed at his nose one more time. “I took his soul, true. But the deal we agreed upon was very real. There have been no demons in Ordinary in the time since his death.”

“There have never been any demons in Ordinary!” Yes, I was yelling.

He narrowed his eyes. “That is not…true. And not what I meant, exactly. You do know that the vampire who has penetrated your borders isn’t doing it on his own, isn’t getting his own hands dirty.”

My fingers automatically flickered up to the bite on my neck. He watched, and nodded.

“Yes, he attacked you–outside of Ordinary. But the other attacks, inside? How do you think he has been facilitating that?”

I’d assumed he was using vampires, or humans, or some kind of blood magic. But I knew, then, that moment, what Bathin was getting at.

“Demons?”

“We come in every shape, every size. We are very difficult to detect. We possess bodies of humans, of creatures, animals, inanimate objects. We are, in every way, an invisible army. Infinitely mobile, undetected and destructive. Who can say how many of your friends, family, have been possessed? Who can say how many mortals filling the stores, the streets, the beaches are possessed?”

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. It made sense in a way few things had lately. Ryder’s boss Frank, was he possessed? The vampire hunters? Sven? The hit-and-run zombie vampire?

“I thought you just said there were no demons in Ordinary.”

“No demons in their own form. No demons under full power. No demons who were not beneath their own control. No demons who were beneath anyone’s control. I will admit there were some…issues in my guarantee.”

“Issues?” I was back to yelling. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit.

“The vampire? Lavius is very old. And….” He scowled. “He has powers I was not aware of. Once I had taken your father’s soul, he insisted we remain trapped here. His idea, not mine. It limited my ability to follow through on every level of my commitment. That vampire.”

A flicker of hatred so hot it left a burning impression behind my eyelids flashed over his face, as if for a moment, he had been nothing but fire and pain and anger. “That vampire nearly caused me to break my word. I find it…unacceptable.”

He didn’t like Lavius. He might even hate him. I wanted to take comfort in that, to hope that if he had to be the possessor of my soul that he would at least be the enemy of my enemy and all that.

 “Now, you have given me your word. I will have your soul. As we agreed. I will not be denied.”

This time it wasn’t a burning flash of hatred filling his eyes. It was fire, hot and hypnotic, rising from his entire body, shaping him, changing him as he strode the few steps toward me again.

When he stopped he was three times as large as he had just been, his legs bent at the knees and powerfully thick, his chest bare and brutally muscled, his neck thick enough to support his head and the massive ebony horns that curled like a ram’s downward along the sides of his face to either side of his shoulders.

Fire licked over every inch of his skin, rattled and hissed like electric snakes dripping down his blackened horns and lit his eyes to a bloody red.

The demon’s true form.

“Very dramatic,” I said.

He paused, half a step closer to me. “Dramatic?”

I waved a finger. “Do you think that shape frightens me? Do you think seeing a creature in a natural state is something that would make me swoon?”

“I…it is imposing. I am imposing.”

“Not sure I agree. You’re the first demon I’ve ever met, so I have nothing to compare you to. But trust me, buddy.” And here I dropped my eyes to between his legs, where he wore a carefully twisted loincloth of some kind. I shook my head. “I’ve seen better.”

His chuckle was low and slow and licked somewhere deep down inside me. I didn’t like it. Didn’t like that he could touch me in those deep places. In the places where no one else could touch, where no one else could find me.

In my soul.

“I see,” he said. “I knew I was trading up. Your father is a complex and interesting man. You must know that. His soul at my disposal, even though he was dead…that was an exquisite thing.” He took a step closer to me, and another.

I could move. I thought I could move. I just didn’t seem to have the energy to do anything more than stare at him as he advanced on me with hunger and need so clearly evident in every movement, in the glint of darkness in his eyes.

It wasn’t the physical beauty of his body that held me so still. It was the beauty of his power.

Demons were from the underworld, yes. Demons were not to be trusted, and like he’d taken the time to explain to me, they were easily used, natural to betrayal, selfish, cruel.

They were chaos. But just like the gods who walked our beaches, just like the creatures—many who had reputations of being bloodthirsty monsters, boogiemen, evil—demons could not be painted with one brush.

Rossi didn’t let all the vampires in the world live in Ordinary for a reason. A lot of them were horrible people. Same thing applied to demons.

While I would never trust a demon, I knew they were not, could not all be horrifying evil.

There was no denying I was drawn to Bathin. No denying that my father’s soul had seemed whole, unharmed, though that could have been some sort of trickery.

And there was no denying my father and the demon seemed to have come to some sort of understanding between them, that was not jailor and jailed, and not friends. It was, if I had to put a name to it, more like they respected each other’s nature and reason for the contract they had entered into.

That last thing Dad had said to him, that Bathin had a promise to keep, floated to the front of my brain. I wondered what that was all about.

“Delaney.”

All thoughts froze and fell away like brittle snow on the wind.

He wanted me, he wanted my soul in a way that made me tremble, that made me want to turn and scream and run. Or made me want to step into him, into that fire to know what it would taste like on my tongue.

As if.

I wanted my gun, a rocket launcher, a bomb. Anything that would kill him, stop him, make him, and the nightmare promise of his smile, go away.

“Breathe.”

I breathed.

“You’ll want to hold very still now.” His hand extended, fire swaying at the tip of the three fingers he extended. It was warm, that fire.

A fire that did not burn.

“Why?” I shivered, suddenly too cold.

Three fingers stroked down, slashing from my left shoulder to my sternum. There was pain–out there at a distance. A scream.

And then the world exploded.