Page 19 of The Devil and His Sparrow

I sneered. “I’d love to. Nothing would give me greater joy than seeing the life leave your pretty little eyes right now, but the bond prevents us from killing the human we’re bound to. Otherwise, it would be too fucking easy to get out of it. All about balance, ya see? That being said, if I don’t eat, I die. And if I die, the bond kills you along with me.”

I glanced at a large ceramic statue in the corner, close to where she was crouched on the ground. A new idea popped into my head, and I smirked. “However, if you die, I don’t. One of the only good features of the contract, in my personal opinion.”

“But you just said you can’t kill me,” she said quickly as her hand tightened on the blanket around her.

“I can’t, no.” My smile widened. “Doesn’t mean an accident can’t happen.”

I zeroed in on the statue, and with a quick jerk of my chin and summoning of my powers, it tipped sideways, heading right for Iyla. She gasped and quickly scrambled out of the way, barely missing being crushed. The stone shattered in a cloud of white dust and debris. Iyla shot to her feet and inched away as I stalked toward her with evil intentions radiating off me.

She must’ve finally realized the predicament she was in—standing face to face with a murderous demon. She looked over her shoulders as she backed up, almost like she was looking for something to save her. Too little, too late, she realized that she’d backed herself right into the balcony doorway.

Perfect.

A fall from over the ledge onto the cement below should do the trick and handle this new little inconvenience for me.

Though, dealing with the potential aftermath of a human dying while partying with us would be a huge ordeal to clean up. Sinners Do It Better was my fucking career and life in the human world. I didn’t want to ruin the life I’d built just because I got tied to a human again. Thinking about that now had me slowing my steps. Just a hair.

“Wait,” she pleaded as she glanced over her shoulder again.

I didn’t stop moving forward, corralling her backward.

“Wait, wait!” She dropped to her knees right on the threshold of the door. Her teary eyes met mine as she held a hand up. As if that feeble gesture could keep me back. “What if I give you what you want? If I let you eat, you’ll spare me, right?”

I stopped and stared down at her. As much as I hated being bonded, now that it was done, it would be easier to fuck her until she either died of natural causes or until a legitamate and less sketchy “accident” occurred. Because that was the only time the contract was broken—when she died or the both of us did.

Her death was the only way to get my freedom back.

Sensing my hesitation, she scooted forward on the wings of hope to see another day. “We can sleep together. I’ll feed you all you want without issue.” She paused and seemed to be thinking hard before something akin to resolve flashed across her eyes. “But I want something in exchange.”

I blew out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh? Ready to make a deal with the devil now?”

She swallowed hard and wrung her hands in the blanket. “Can … Can you heal people?”

I tilted my head and looked her over with a bland stare. “You sick or something?”

Maybe I won’t be stuck with her for too long, afterall.

She shook her head. “Not me. It’s my sister. She’s eleven, and she’s been sick for a while now. Nothing the doctors do has helped.”

Damn. So close, I thought with a sigh.

My openness to a potential truce between us cracked. I furrowed my brow and held up two black-clawed fingers. “Two problems with that. One, I can only do a major change that affects someone’s life like that when I’m in a contract with them. For an Incubus, we form contracts by sleeping with people. Therein lies problem two. I can only have sex with you now, and even if that wasn’t the case, minors aren’t my thing. I may be a demon, but I have standards.”

Her face looked crestfallen. “So you can’t heal her? There’s no way you can do something?”

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. I was humoring her idea of going along with this accidental bond because it seemed easier than constantly trying to cause accidents that would kill her, but this was already becoming a headache. Still, I considered her question.

“There might be something, but I can’t promise it will heal her,” I finally answered.

The hint of hope lit up her face, and she scooted even closer. “What is it?”

“My blood,” I answered, swiping my hand over my forehead. This was so fucking annoying. “I don’t have to be under contract for her to take my blood. If she drinks small portions of it, it should slowly heal her. Too much at once would probably kill her, but giving her a little at a time should infuse my demonic essence into her, allowing her to heal.” I paused then shrugged. “Or it could kill her faster. Not sure. I’ve never personally done it. Only heard of others doing it.”

She pressed her lips together and stared at the space between us. I could practically feel her mind trying to decide what to do.

From the sound of it, her sister was bad off. Human life was such a fickle, fleeting thing. Here one minute and gone the next. Her sister would die eventually anyway, but if I knew anything about humans after centuries of living amongst them, I knew they were greedy for life. Giving it and taking it. So if there was a chance to keep a loved one alive, they’d usually always take it. Even if it was risky.

Iyla finally raised her eyes back to mine. “If there’s a chance I can save her, I have to try.”

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