Page 7 of Kisses at the Crossroads

“Well, just you and me for a little while.” I rub Frankie’s head and plop on my couch.

I never joined Van in his sexcapades. While I have a high sex drive, I don’t have this primal need. Van is on a whole other level of need. He gets desperate and finds as many partners as he can in a night sometimes. Though if I think about it, something always happens with Poe, the king of crossroads demons, and that’s what sets Van off. I don’t judge my best friend.

Bookshelves line my walls, but nothing sounds good, so I stare into nothingness as I pet Frankie.

Trick said he’s been Drake’s prisoner for a decade. I can’t imagine being sucked away from everyone you know without a way back. While my existence is lonely compared to other crossroads demons, I otherwise enjoy my life in the demon realm. I have Frankie and Van. Van doesn’t treat me differently because my one and only crossroads deal came with a soul. The first soul for a demon of any type in over two centuries. Poe basically told me I can retire in a way. Of course, I still have my crossroads. That won’t change unless someone destroys it and takes away my curse. But I don’t have a quota of deals to meet every month. I don’t get punished for not drawing people to my crossroads. I’m practically crossroads royalty. Which means everyone hates me in the demon realm. Everyone but Van, his brother Warwick, Frankie, and I guess Poe.

“Why so glum, sugarplum?” Van’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Just thinking.”

“That’s dangerous, you know.” He pats Frankie’s bottom to get her to move, then plops on the side opposite of me.

Where I have tanned skin with red that gets progressively darker, like from my forearms to my fingertips, Van is blue. His horns are shiny black, like his eyes. He glamors away his wings. Sometimes I’m jealous he has wings, but then I realize how much of a pain they must be. His tail has a barb on the end, meaning he can’t have fun times with it like I can, but it doesn’t seem to stop him from getting freaky with it, anyway.

“Want to come to a strip club with me?” I ask.

“What kind of strip club? You know I’m not into tits.” He crosses his arms and leans back. His grin tells me he’s already interested.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I wipe my hand down my face, still haven’t told him about Trick. “I got summoned the other day.”

Van sits up and Frankie’s ears perk at the same time.

“I didn’t want to say anything yet.”

“What was the deal for?” Van practically drools, waiting for my answer.

“There wasn’t one.”

Frankie tips her head at the same time Van scrunches his face.

“What do you mean there wasn’t any deal? What the?—”

I raise a hand. “When I teleported into the circle, there was a Fae. He wanted me to take him back home to the Fae realm, but he has a soul tether. Besides, he wanted to exchange his virginity for a ride home. I couldn’t.”

Van pushes to his feet and paces in front of me. “Why the fuck not? You could have fucked him, sent him home, and not worried about the consequences because you’d done exactly as he’d bargained.”

“Fae don’t hold value in virginity. It would have been empty.”

“You can afford empty bargains. You have a soul.” Van’s black eyes flick over me. “You really didn’t just take the job?”

“Seems my morals are a little different from yours.” I lean back and Frankie puts her head in my lap. “I told him I’d find him and help him break the soul tether, then send him home. That we’d negotiate a proper sacrifice later.”

“You are a fool, Pike. This little Fae is going to trick you into something. Don’t trust him.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think he has it in him for tricks.” A little smile pulls at my lips. “He said to call him Trick.”

“See! He’s already told you that you can’t trust him. His name is Trick, of all things!”

“I don’t think that’s his real name. He’s Fae.”

Van rolls his eyes. “I guess this Trick is at the strip club?”

“Yeah, that’s where he’s held captive. Drake?—”

“Oh, fuck. He’s with Drake Speller? That’s bad news. Bad bad news.”

“I haven’t heard.”

---