Page 277 of Sigils & Spells

“Urrgh.” A deep voice from behind me made a gruesome noise, rattling my senses.

I turned.

There stood a ten-foot demon. Sometimes, I don’t like it when the universe answers my questions.

CHAPTER12

I gazedup at the blazing red eyes of the beast and did my best not to flinch. It’s never wise to flinch in the face of a demon.

“You called in the devil’s squad?” I said to Norm.

He chuckled. “It’s part of my business plan. Selling a piece of my soul for demonic backup is worth the cost,” he hissed.

“Norm, you’re an idiot. There is no such thing as sellinga pieceof your soul. There are no subdivisions on divine light. Once the devil gets a foothold, he takes it all. And as a mortal, you have no way to get it back.”

“I. Don’t. Care. I’m buying a yacht and I will sail the seven seas.”

Of course, he didn’t care. I exhaled slowly. My less than admirable witch powers could not take on a demon. I could hope that my latent fae magic might kick in, but that was like making a wish upon a star in a galaxy far, far away. I had to think fast.

The beast gurgled. There are many different kinds of demons, the gurgling ones were never my favorite. They had small brains and obeyed their masters without hesitation. Reasoning with him was out of the question. My only option was to reason with the janitor.

“Norm, stop this nonsense, now. You can’t get away with killing me. My family will hunt you down.”

“Hmph. I took Onyx with no trouble.” A slow smile spread across his craggy face. “Do you think you’re more powerful than him?”

So, he nabbed Onyx! I swallowed. I wasn’t more powerful than him. Hex it!

The quiet of the dead vampires’ lair chilled me to the bone. This couldn’t be happening. We were all going to be victims of one greedy, norm! I swallowed. “Wait, what did you do with Onyx?”

“Nothing yet. You like him, don’t you?”

“Like? No. He’s, my assistant.”

“Mm hmm. I’ve seen how you look at each other, like lions without food. It’s quite nauseating, you know.”

I did not. He did not. We did not look like hungry lions. “So, you’re holding Onyx somewhere nearby?”

“I told my demon to imprison him in one of the caverns in the tunnels. Before you start thinking you can play hero, let me tell you, Onyx cannot be freed. He can’t escape the demonic spell cast upon him.”

A demonic spell! “What are you up to?”

Norm’s chest puffed out. “Onyx is worth cold cash. I’ve set up an auction on the dark web. So far, the highest bid is three million in untraceable diamonds. I know if I released his name, I could get more, but I don’t want that kind of attention. I’m a shrewd businessman. I learned all that I needed to on the internet.” He stretched his back. “I’ll give it a week and take the highest bid.”

“That’s so … cold,” I said. “Selling another person, that’s even worse than selling a fang.”

“It’s my escape money.” His eyes had never looked so calculating. Who knew the janitor with fun stories had such schemes?

“Well,” I said. “You do seem to have thought of everything.”

“Gurgle.”

A chill crawled up my spine as the demon mumbled something unintelligible.

Norm scratched his paunch. “I suppose I could auction you off as well. But I’m not sure who would be interested in a scrawny book nerd of a witch. Hmm … What can you offer me in return for saving your life?”

Revulsion flooded me, twisting the knot in my stomach tighter. “What do you want from me?”

Spirrr. Whiz. Sprirr. Whiz.

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