The Demon's Bargain (A Deal With a Demon #4)(4)

Lenora paces in front of me, her energy disturbing the room. It makes the space flicker and fade in my mind’s eye, but it’s fine. I mapped this room the moment I arrived. We’re in a basement of some sort. Concrete is a great dampener of magic, unless it’s mixed specially to work in a different way, so it makes sense that she’d come here to summon me.

“Stop tracking my movement. You’re distracting me.”

I’m staring right where her energy flares. I get a glimpse of large eyes, full lips, and hair that flicks around her in a wind neither of us can feel. She’s damn powerful. It’s what drew me to her in the first place. That and her desperation. It’s like a beacon for my people. If she hadn’t summoned me, then I would have approached her within a week. “You’re distracted by little old me? I’m flattered.”

Lenora presses her full lips together and shakes her head. “No. I’m not flirting with you, and I’m not taking you with me to the Shadow Market.” I can tell she’s trying to say it firmly, but there’s an edge to her voice.

I might have been the one caught looking, but she’s looking right back.

I lean down until our faces are nearly even. Every time her energy flares, I get a flash of her features, her magic licking across her skin. Pretty thing, isn’t she? At least as far as humans are concerned. Like most of my people, I have varied tastes when it comes to bedroom partners. Humans, bargainer demons, the rare paranormal person from the human realm. Even a succubus or incubus on the occasion I feel like pulling Rusalka’s tail by fucking one of her people.

It’s generally taboo to fuck a human in the midst of making a bargain. After? Well, that’s a different story, depending on the demon and human involved. But Azazel is a stickler for the rules, and bargains must be entered into without any kind of coercion.

Our fearless leader is a stick-in-the-mud, but he’s fucking terrifying when he’s crossed. As a result, I only do it occasionally to keep him on his toes. I’m perverse by nature, and I can’t help that I enjoy poking at the people around me.

Lenora is pretty enough to be worth weathering Azazel’s wrath.

This is a careful balance. She seems the type to dig in her heels out of principle if I push too hard. Cutting off her nose to spite her face and all that. Unfortunately for her, I’m just as stubborn.

And I have an ace up my sleeve. “Suit yourself, little witch. Be sure to tell me how the next dinner with your fathers goes when they realize you’ve lost the family heirloom.”

Her magic shivers, shifting from purple and red to a horror-struck light gray. “Fuck you.”

“Only if you ask nicely.”

She sputters, but the colors shift again, anger once more taking hold. “Fine, demon. You can come with me to the Shadow Market—but only so I can make you someone else’s problem. I’m not giving you seven years. I’ll take care of Kristoff myself.”

She’ll try.

She’s powerful enough that if he were anyone else, she’d likely manage it. Kristoff Nilsen is on another level entirely. The Nilsen family has been reproducing with a very specific blend of paranormal for generations. I can’t divine out all the threads, but there’s vampire, shifter, and even the tiniest thread of seraphim from back when they were still present in the human realm.

It’s no wonder Lenora hasn’t managed to pull off reclaiming her trinket. His home is triple warded, and he travels with more protection than some world leaders. I know. I checked.

“But let’s get one thing straight, Ramanu.” She reaches out and trails a single finger down the center of my chest. My body tightens in response, and I can’t help leaning forward. Just a little.

I like the way she says my name.

Lenora’s other hand snaps out and wraps around one of my horns, jerking my head down until our noses nearly touch. Her magic washes over me, the red of anger edging into a nearly neon pink of lust. Oh yes, my little witch isn’t unaffected at all. She yanks on my horn again, wrenching my head sideways. “If you fuck with me, I will kill you.”

“You’ll try. It will be fun.”

“You—”

I move before she has a chance to finish her sentence, straightening until I nearly take her off her feet by grabbing her around the waist. “Let me make myself perfectly clear, Lenora.” She snarls, but I ignore it, walking us to the table and setting her on it. “If you touch me again, I’m going to take it as an invitation.”

“I just attacked you.”

“Baby, that’s practically foreplay.”

The pink in her magic flares brighter, eating away at the edges of the red. “I’m not going to fuck you.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” It might be taboo to mix sex with bargaining before a contract is signed, but afterward it’s fair game if both parties are consenting. She just ensured that I’m not leaving the human realm without her at my side.

I mean to have Lenora, body and soul.





Chapter 3





Lenora





I know better than to fuck a demon.

Truly, I do.

I’m just having a hard time remembering why I shouldn’t do exactly that as I stare up at Ramanu’s gorgeous face. Their horns really accentuate the lines of their face and spotlight their high cheekbones. They’re pretty.