Page 14 of Midnight with the Devil

“Leave me alone,” she hissed under her breath.

“You’re mine, remember? Or do I need to show up in person and remind you just what is at stake if you break the contract.”

“Diana, let’s go for walk,” her father said. His hopeful expression was too much to ignore. Getting outside would do her some good. Get her mind off deals with the devil.

“Sure, sounds fun. Mom?” Diana reached for her light jacket.

Her mother smiled and nodded at the door to her . “You guys go on. I have some catching up to do. The laundry won’t fold itself, and I’ve got a million emails from the office to answer.”

Diana knew her mother had taken a lot of time off work recently when it became clear that her father wasn’t going to get better.

Her father put on his coat, and Diana followed him outside.

“Can you believe this? Wonderful sunshine, light breeze, fresh air.” Hal’s joy was infectious, and Diana couldn’t resist basking in the glow of his happy mood. He looked like he was two seconds away from skipping down the sidewalk like a little kid, and she couldn’t help but grin. Was this really happening? She and Hal walked to the park, just like they used to do on the weekends before he’d fallen ill. Yet part of her feared this was all an illusion. She’d heard that some people with cancer suddenly got better before relapsing and dying shortly after. Maybe the treatments the doctors had been trying worked and…

She shook the thought off. She knew the truth deep down. But it didn’t mean she had to face it—or the devil—today. Today was about her father coming home.

Thinking about her bargain with Lucien was something she could put off for another day. Yet she found her thoughts straying back to him—and the increasingly erotic dreams she had—over and over. In her dreams, he would do things to her, dirty things that made her cry out with pleasure, and she’d wake up trembling, her panties soaked with her arousal. She was going to have to meet him,sleepwith him in just two days. She was so not ready for that. No one could be ready to have sex with the devil, right?

“You seem preoccupied,” her dad said when they reached the end of the street.

Diana glanced at the cute row of houses, some with the proverbial white picket fences, others with gardens and big trees. She’d always loved his neighborhood. It was the place she’d grown up, the place she called home and felt safe.

“I guess I am a little.” She wished she could talk to him about everything on in her mind, but she couldn’t. You didn’t ever tell your father that you’d sold yourself to the devil to save him.

“I know you and your mother are worried about this cure being temporary, but even the doctor said he couldn’t find any evidence of the tumors.”

“I know,” she admitted. She never really kept secrets from her parents, not big ones, but a bargain with the devil was as big as it could get, and she couldn’t tell her father about her deal. Guilt ate away at her, but this was one thing she had to keep a secret, even if it hurt her to lie.

“Talk to me, Di.” Her father’s gentle but focused gaze dug the knife deeper in her heart. “You never were afraid to talk to me before.”

They crossed the street and headed to the small park. A few children ran about the sand pit and climbed on brightly colored equipment. She and her father stopped at the edge of the sand pit and watched the kids play for a minute.

“Dad, have you ever agreed to do something you didn’t want to in order to make sure something else, something good happened?”

“Hmm…that depends. Is what you’re doing going to hurt someone else?”

“No! No, of course not…except maybe me.”

Hal sat down on the park bench, and she joined him. He looked away, a frown curving his lips down.

“What kind of hurt are you talking about? Because few things in life are worth getting hurt over.”

“Maybehurtisn’t the right word.” A little girl climbed up the ladder and then went down the slide, giggling. The innocence of the child and her joy soothed Diana. “I think it’s more that what I do might be wrong.”

“Unethical? Illegal or immoral?”

“Maybe immoral,” she said. “But it only affects me. No one else.” Her father’s face morphed before her eyes, the curiosity ebbing away as his eyes narrowed and his lips turned down at the corners. Guilt gnawed at her insides for worrying him, and she nearly took her question back, but then he spoke in his thoughtful way.

“I guess you have to ask yourself if the price of betraying yourself is worth whatever good comes out of it.” He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “I know you think you have to protect yourself and keep secrets sometimes, but let me help. I can offer sage advice—that’s the benefit of being a parent.” He winked at her, and she smiled.

“I know. I know how supportive you and Mom are.” They were the kind of parents most kids would die to have. But the bargain she’d made wasn’t something they would ever understand.This is something I must do alone.“But I promise everything is fine, okay? If I had a real problem, I promise I’d come to you for help.”

Hal sighed and closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and breathed deeply. The lines of worry were gone, and he looked years younger. It was strange to see him looking so good and healthy again after everything. The grief that had weighed her down was fading the more she looked at him.

“You’re really feeling better?” she asked.

He nodded. “It’s like I had a black cloud all over me, choking me, pressing me down. Every bone hurt, every muscle was so inflamed that I could barely think past the pain. But now? It’s like I’m twenty years old again. I feel strong, I feel…” He fisted his hands. “I feel like me again.”

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