Page 4 of Demons and Debts
‘No,’ she says quietly, and her shaking hand begins to unzip her oversized jacket.
Fuck.
I’m standing here with bated breath, hoping for a glimpse of what’s underneath like a teenage boy. I swallow hard and turn away, pretending to ignore her while I play my turn. Yellow to corner pocket.
I miss, but everyone’s eyes are on her anyway.
‘Your body’s the payment?’ Korban asks as he slides closer, and I shoot him a warning look.
Feed from her before she’s signed an agreement, and the supe authorities WILL find out. Unlike some, those are the rules we have to live by, and, in return, the cops mostly leave us alone. Besides, we have three girls living at the house already. We don’t need another.
But she looks baffled for a second at his words, not afraid. And then she lets out an incredulous laugh.
‘No.’
She pulls out an amulet and all of us look just a tiny bit disappointed. How does this girl have us all practically salivating over her? It’s not usual, not even when we’re hungry and that realization is enough to make me want to flip the kill switch on whatever this is. She looks, smells, feels like a normal human, but something isn’t right.
She draws the necklace over her head and holds it up.
‘We don’t deal in jewel—’ I begin, getting ready to shut her down and get Paris to boot her out the door.
And then I get a good look at the blue, iridescent stone set in a cage of silver hanging from an iron chain.
Even Dreyson, one of the human prospects, takes a step forward. ‘Is that a—?’
An orc stone.
‘So what happened?’ I interrupt. ‘You go to the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong outfit or something?’
I sound bored, but I’m looking at this girl with new eyes.
Does this little human have any idea how much that bauble in her hand is worth in our world?
I’m guessing not and I hide the gleam in my eye. We’re about to get the payday of the year and all I need to do is send one of the prospects to take out the trash.
‘Something like that,’ she says. ‘Doesn’t matter where I go. They find me. They do …’ Her eyes get a faraway look in them. ‘Bad things.’
Her head gives a little shake. ‘I work over at Gail’s. My friend Sharlene said you might be able to help me. Can you?’
I hold out my hand and she lets the dull, cerulean gem fall into my palm. I feel the hum of power as it touches my skin and I know I’m right. How the fuck did she get an orc stone?
‘We don’t usually do this sort of thing,’ I begin and see Theo rolling his eyes in the booth, ‘but we’ll take care of your little problem for you.’
Her hand clenches the thick chain hard as I curl my fingers around the pendant. Her eyes are suddenly boring into mine.
‘You’ll keep me safe, get rid of the group who wants to hurt me to the best of your ability. In return, you can have this necklace, and only this necklace, as payment. The terms are final.’ She says the words clearly. ‘Who will bear witness?’
I give her a slow smile and watch a blush climb up her throat to her face. She’s not unaffected by me even though I’m not using my power, and she’s not stupid for a human either. She’ll make this official through all the right magickal channels.
Unfortunately for her, those ancient laws were written by the fae. They’re sly as fuck and, holy shit, are there some fun loopholes. As I look at her, it strikes me as weird that she seems to know some basic rules about our world, but not others. I frown. Is she a cop? They’ve tried to infiltrate us before with human prospects, but not in ages. But I’m not going to stop the deal. That orc stone is worth calling in some old favors if we get any trouble from Johnny Law.
‘I’ll witness,’ Paris says from behind her. He’s left the bar unattended, and I give him a look, but there’s no one here to serve anyway.
She jumps a little as he clasps her wrist and mine in his hands and he looks at her oddly for a second before he closes his eyes and says the binding words that make the deal unbreakable … for her anyway.
‘It’s done,’ I say. ‘Dreyson, go with her and see to her little problem.’
I’ll let the others know my suspicions about our new client on the DL later. Until then, Dreyson won’t do or say anything in front of an outsider anyway.
