Page 36 of Fiends and Familiars
Lucien began to pace. I’d never seen him face off against my sister like this. He’d always seemed absolutely whipped, but maybe in private he actually stood up to her occasionally.
Nah.
Cassie flipped through the first two pages, then rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know, Addy, this looks pretty solid. Can’t you just give the guy back? He got way more than he’d bargained for in this contract from what I can see. It’s time for him to pay the piper.”
“Keep reading,” I insisted. There had to be something I could do. There was no way I could look that squirrel in the eyes and send him off to hell for eternal torture.
“Addy, please,” Ty pleaded. “His soul was legally bartered to us, and he’s been evading his end of the bargain for far too long. There is no reason for you to give him sanctuary.”
“Don’t call me Addy, you asshole. Rather than come knock on my door when you realized I had Faust, you invade my dreams and have sex with me, then stalk me, ask me out on a date, and have sex with me again. Then once you’re in my house and we’re naked, you grab my squirrel and choke him.”
“Wait…what?” Cassie pushed aside the stack of papers and stood. Fire crackled along her fingers as she glared at Ty.
“Dude, seriously?” Lucien shook his head at Ty, then eyed Cassie nervously. “You actually thought screwing a witch was a good way to grab a soul she was safeguarding?”
“She enchanted me, seduced me,” Ty complained. “All I was trying to do was find a way to get inside her wards.”
“More like find a way inside something else,” I snapped.
“Oh, like I could help it. I can’t resist you. The moment I’m with you I completely forget about my job, my hounds, the soul I’ve been trying to hunt down for centuries. If that damned squirrel hadn’t come into the living room and broken your spell, I would have spent the night with you in absolute bliss.”
Somehow that was equally flattering and maddening. “There is no spell, you moron. I haven’t enchanted you. It’syouwho seducedme, who took advantage of me to get Faust.”
“You slept with my sister?” Cassie’s voice rose into a shriek. “Three times?”
Ty squirmed. “Twice was in her dreams, so that doesn’t really count.”
“Like hell it doesn’t buster.” I walked over and poked my finger into his chest.
“I don’t like the idea of your demons screwing around with my family,” Cassie snarled at Lucien.
“Well, it’s a little late for that since four of your seven sisters are shacked up with various denizens of hell, not including you,” Lucien snarled back.
“There’s a difference between honest attraction and someone not being truthful about who he is and why he’s seducing my sister in her dreams.” Cassie jammed her hands on her hips.
I did the same. “Yeah. I didn’t know you were the demon from my dreams when I met you at Pistol Pete’s. I didn’t suspect it until you sprouted horns as you were trying to strangle my squirrel. I didn’t even realize you were a demon—I thought maybe you were fae.”
“Fae!” Ty nearly spat as he said the word. “How could you ever think I was fae? How?”
Lucien stepped between us. “None of this matters. Whatdoesmatter is that there is a soul we need to collect—a soul that legally belongs to us. Right, Cassie?”
My sister grumbled something about how someone was definitely not getting any sex tonight, then sat back down at her desk to finish reading the contract. I tried to glare at Ty through Lucien, and I was pretty sure he was doing the same back to me. After fifteen very long minutes, Cassie pushed the stack of papers aside and sighed.
“Faust’s soul belongs to Satan as soon as he dies. He milked that for as long as possible, living a few centuries past what his normal lifespan should have been. But the moment he died, his soul became forfeit.”
“See? I told you so.”
That was the absolute wrong thing for Lucien to say. Cassie gave him a glance that should have made him spontaneously combust, then looked at Ty who wisely took a step backward.
“Yes, you did tell me so, but there is one small fact you’re overlooking. Darling.”
I shivered when Cassie called Lucien “darling.” I noticed he did as well.
“Faust is not dead,” she continued. “Therefore his soul does not currently belong to Satan.”
“He died!” Ty shouted. “He died and we collected. His current state of aliveness doesn’t matter because his soul was forfeit at his death.”
“Unfortunately the contract was poorly worded.” Cassie made a tic-tic noise and shook her head. “You might want to take that up with this particular crossroads demon, or someone in your legal department that puts together the boilerplate contracts. The wording does not specify his soul transfers to youupon dying, to continue in your possession after that act regardless of his current state. No, it says the soul belongs to Satan whenthe living being isdead. Mr. Faustwasdead, and during that time his soul was legally yours. Now he isnotdead, and his soul no longer belongs to you. According to this contract, his soul is Satan’sonlywhen he is dead.”
