Chapter 1

Chapter1

Briar

Three days ago, I didn’t believe demons existed.

Now, I’m signing a contract with one.

Life comes at you fast.

My body is one large, throbbing bruise as I try to focus on the words swimming before my eyes. “I don’t want to do this.”

“I’m aware. People don’t make deals with me unless they’re desperate.” The demon doesn’t look much like a demon. Then again, what do I know? Maybe all demons are handsome, dark-haired white guys whose shadows don’t quite line up with their bodies.

I press a hand to my head. My brain feels like it’s sloshing around inside my skull. “How did you even find me?”

He shrugs. “Desperation has a certain flavor. One of my people happened upon you last week and brought you to my attention.”

Last week I was doing my best to covertly arrange an escape route that my husband Ethan wouldn’t know about until it was too late. The plan had been to flee while he was at work and disappear without a trace. I thought I’d had every factor accounted for, but I was so damn scared.

I’m still scared.

“I thought I was getting out.” It feels very naive to say it now. Three days ago, I’d laughed in this stranger’s face, had been determined not to put myself under the control of another man—human or no. Who comes knocking on someone’s door in the middle of the day, offering a demon deal? Apparently Azazel does. It was all so normal and yet strange, but how could I worry about this alleged demon when my personal monster was so much closer to home and more dangerous?

I was getting out. Or so I thought. That was before Ethan managed to figure out what hotel I was staying at. Before he came here and… I shake my head, which only makes the nausea worse. “It’s very likely that I’m concussed. This kind of deal won’t be binding in court.”

Azazel’s dark gaze tracks to the right side of my face. I’ve seen what I look like. Bruises on top of bruises, which doesn’t make sense because Ethan only hit me once before one of the other hotel guests came running down the hall and stopped him. A good Samaritan who probably saved my life.

Next time, I won’t be so lucky.

I close my eyes and take several slow breaths. It doesn’t help, but I’m not sure anything can help right now. I’m out of options. Desperate, as the demon says. Maybe if I had family to run to, things would be different, but even if I did, I’d just be endangering them as well. I could go buy a gun, but I’ve no faith that I’m capable of murder, let alone that the justice system would land on my side. All their grace seems to be saved for the predators themselves.

“Would you like me to read it to you?” I don’t think this demon is capable of sounding soft, but he’s gone quiet in a way that makes the small hair at the nape of my neck stand on end.

I open my eyes to find him still staring at my face. Even as I tell myself not to, I lift a hand to press against the swollen skin around my eye. “I’m sure that would be convenient for you. You can leave out whatever you want.”

He sighs, an almost imperceptible sound. “Deals are sacred, Briar Rose. I’m willing to play dirty leading up to them, but there are no tricks in the fine print. It’s in everyone’s best interest that my…clients…go into things with their eyes wide open.”

The horrible feeling of there not being enough air in this dingy hotel room gets worse. “Did you tell him how to find me?”

Azazel narrows his eyes. “I didn’t have to. He knew about your secret credit card. After you left, he tracked the charge to this place and sweet talked the front desk girl into giving him your room number. He told her he wanted to surprise you for your anniversary.”

I don’t ask how he knows that. He seems to know a lot of things he shouldn’t. I stare down at my fingers, nails bitten down to the quick. A horrible habit of mine, one that’s only gotten worse in the last few days. “Rookie mistake.”

“Fear makes fools of us all.”

He’s not exactly being nice, but he’s not being particularly pushy, either. I slump back in my chair and motion at the contract. “Go ahead, then.” It’s not like I have much choice. I’m going to say yes, and we both know it. In this moment, I’m barely holding it together, my strength so brittle that if he pushed, I’d fold in an instant.

Azazel plucks the contract from the desk and moves to perch on the edge of the worn-looking bed. He glances at me and then begins to read. It’s nothing more than I expected; he’d already laid out the details three days ago.

Seven years of service to be paid up front before he does what I need. A bargain entered into willingly, in which I won’t be forced to do anything I don’t want to do. I laugh at that clause. There are a lot of ways to ensure someone’s obedience without “forcing.” It’s the reason I’m in this mess to begin with.

“Wait, say that again.”

Azazel pauses. “If you become pregnant, the child will not return with you to this realm upon the completion of your contract.”

I stare. “You left that out when you went over the offer last time.”

“I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

The wrong idea. Right. Nothing about this deal seemed too good to be true, but there was an element of wondering when the other shoe would drop. Now it’s dropping hard enough to make my head spin. “So that’s what this is. A breeding program.”

“I am merely covering all bases.”

I don’t believe him for a moment. Obviously, I was aware sex may be part of the deal. Azazel looks human enough, even if I get the feeling it’s a convenient form to hold and not necessarily his real one. The thought almost makes me laugh. Amazing how quickly the human brain can adapt when there are no other routes left. “And if I don’t want to have sex with anyone?”

Again, that unreadable look flicks in my direction. “As I said, you will not be required to do anything you don’t want to do. You will, however, give the person of my choosing the opportunity to seduce you.”

So many layers to that sentence. I have absolutely no reason to trust him, but I’m also out of options. Still, I can’t help stalling. Just a little. “Why seven years?”

“Magic is a strange creature.” He shrugs. “Certain things amplify it and allow for the impossible. Numbers have meaning. Seven, in particular, is powerful in all the realms. So we bargain for seven years.”

That doesn’t really make sense to me, but nothing makes sense to me. In the end, it doesn’t matter. I don’t have any other options. “Give it here.”

Azazel passes over the contract and produces a pen from somewhere, likely his perfectly tailored black jacket. The paper is thicker than I expected, almost a vellum. I can’t quite stop myself from rubbing my fingers against it. “Only the best for demon deals, I guess.”

I don’t give myself time to think, to let my mind run through the maze filled with my anxieties. I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I have no money, no family, nowhere to run where Ethan can’t find me. He’s made it damn clear that the next time he gets his hands on me, I won’t survive the experience.

Signing my name on this contract might be opening myself up for an even worse outcome. I’m not naive enough to think there’s nothing worse than death, but it’s still preferable. Maybe Azazel will keep his word. Maybe he won’t.

At least Ethan won’t live to hurt me or anyone else again.

In seven years…How many people will he hurt in the meantime?

“What about…” I don’t have family. All my true friends drifted off within the first year of my relationship with Ethan. I hardly call being forced to be cordial with his friends’ wives being actual friends. We don’t speak outside those uncomfortable dinners. Still. I swallow hard. “Disappearing for seven years will raise some questions.”

“You won’t be gone for seven years.” At my confusion, he exhales slowly. “Time moves differently in the various realms. It’s not entirely consistent, and we bargainer demons can be a little selective with manipulating things, but seven years in the demon realm is anywhere from an hour to a few months here, depending on a few factors.”

I blink. “So I’ll appear back here in an hour or a few months, but seven years older.” What a way to waste a life.

“No.” A sharp shake of his head. “The aging process is…” Azazel makes a frustrated motion with his hand. “It has to do with the magic steeped in every atom in my realm, but even humans who reside there live longer than they do here. You won’t be immortal, but if you were to spend the rest of your life there, you’d likely live a hundred and fifty years at least. You will age over these seven years, but not at the rate you would in the human realm.”

It all seems too convenient, but it’s not as if I have any choice. If Ethan is tracking my secret credit card, he’ll find me quickly no matter where I go. I have to take this deal.

I swallow my fear and sign with a shaking hand. The moment the pen tip leaves the paper, something foreign sizzles through me. I gasp and press my hand to my chest.

“The magic of a binding contract.” Azazel rises and waves his hand at the desk. Shadows surge from the edges of the room, and the paper disappears. He adjusts his jacket. “Under normal circumstances, the payment comes first before I fulfill the terms of the contract. However, I’m inclined to make an exception this time.”

“What?” Surely he’s not saying what I think he’s saying?

His gaze narrows on my face. “Don’t get any noble ideas. You’re merchandise now, Briar, and that means your husband has damaged what’s mine. Beyond that, you don’t seem the type to be unfaithful, and I’d rather not leave any loose ends to damage my end goal.”

Before I can ask him what the hell that means, he vanishes in another surge of shadows. My skin prickles with sheer terror, but my body is too tired to do anything about it but shake. Maybe I’m in shock. It wouldn’t be surprising, considering everything that’s happened today.

I slump back in the chair, and a hysterical giggle slips free. “The demon didn’t even want my soul. How disappointing.”

Seven years of service.

Such a long time, and yet no time at all. I spend fifteen seconds considering what I might do when my sentence is served and I’m free of both Azazel and Ethan. My mind shies away from thinking about it too hard, almost as if allowing myself to dream will jinx it.

I stumble to my feet and cross to the bag filled with all my worldly goods. I don’t know how long Azazel is going to take, and I’m practically weaving on my feet at this point, but I don’t dare shower or sleep. He hasn’t done anything to harm me, but that doesn’t mean I trust him.

In the end, I only have enough time to take some ibuprofen before the shadows gather at the corner of the room and peel away to reveal the demon. He looks…different. I blink, wondering if my head injury is the reason it seems like he has horns for a moment. I blink again, and the feeling passes.

“Time to go.” He wipes at his hands with a handkerchief, but it’s not quite doing a good job of cleaning away the red stains there. He catches me looking and shrugs. “Sometimes I feel like getting my hands dirty. I’m sure you understand.”

The sickeningly swimming feeling comes back, even more pronounced this time. “Is that…” I have to stop to catch my breath. “Is that Ethan’s blood?”

“Of course it is. I hardly go around committing murder for the fun of it.” He tucks the handkerchief into the inner pocket of his jacket. “Though all you humans are rather breakable, so sometimes accidents happen.”

I don’t know how to process that any more than the fact I can still see the bloodstains on his hands. Hands that seem to…flicker…the longer I watch them. Pale skin and then deep red and then pale again. I press my hand to my temple, but this conversation has been one shock too many. “I think I’m going to pass out,” I say faintly.

The room gives a sickening spin, and then I’m falling.

Azazel was all the way across the room from me, but he still catches me before I hit the floor, scooping me up into arms that feel far larger than they appear. “Can’t have you killing yourself with another blow to the head.”

I try to speak, I think. Maybe to protest. Maybe to thank him for doing what I’d never be able to do on my own. In the end, it doesn’t matter. A deep blackness surges up and swallows me whole.