Page 16 of Spit

“Now, two other demons have gone missing from the Red City. They are not part of my flock, but they are demons nonetheless. Their existence is important to the Red City's ecosystem— without them, the Stewards will struggle to maintain control. I need you to go to the Red City and find the missing demons. Mr. Legion has assured me they are still alive, though time is of the essence. You have ten days to find them alive, or we will lose the Red City.”

Aside from being ethically, morally, demonically, and legally bound to do whatever Mr. Bub told me, the job felt way beyond my pay scale.

My stomach sank. “I need a phone call. I need to make some arrangements.” My stomach sank as I realized what a visit to the Red City meant. I would be letting Kailee down. I wouldn’t be able to do the Elementals tour. Our professional reputation would take a hit.

I had been trying to live my own life when my fate was tied to a demon. A foot in each circle—I was coming to the sickening realization that I couldn’t live like that. Something had to give, and that something was my life in the human realities.

“I have given you some freedoms.” Mr. Bub’s voice was patient and a facsimile of kindness. “What is one day of a moon cycle? One day a month, at my beck and call, in exchange for your shadow.”

I rolled my eyes. “Power beyond measure, my ass. I should have summoned Lucifer. It would have been better than dealing withyou.”

Mr. Bub threw his head back and let out a boisterous cackle. “The Devil is long gone, Alexis Boudaire.” He wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye. “But thanks for a laugh.”

My throat burned as bile coated my mouth. “You’ll remove my curse if I do this.”

Mr. Bub smiled brightly. “Of course.”

Lying asshole. I would have called him out, but I didn’t have any other options.

“I need to make a call,” I said.

He waved his hand toward the phone on the desk; it had a rotary dial. I didn’t bother checking my cell. I knew there would be no signal in the fold between realities.

I stepped forward and dialed the Dare Security office number from memory. It rang once before Kailee answered with a professional greeting.

“I need to do a job for Mr. Bub in the Red City,” I told her.

“Lexi?”

“Mr. Bub found me. Can you look after Rogue and make sure she only eats twice a day? And I’m really sorry about the Elementals tour.”

“Lexi, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “But I’ll be gone for a while. I’m so sorry.”

I hung up before she could say another word. Kailee wouldn’t be angry, but she would worry about me. I had let her down.

I hadn’t made any promises I couldn’t keep when we went into business together, but small time was easier to control than a band tour across the US. I should have shut it down before I had agreed to the gig with Antonio Bandana.

Fuck. I was a mess.

My shadow reached out to pat my shoulder, but I couldn’t feel the touch.

I never could.

Chapter Three

Ididn’t remember leaving the office or falling asleep, but I woke up in a rattling cage. The floor was metal and appeared to be moving. I was slow on the uptake, but it didn’t take long to realize that I’d been knocked out demon-style and put in the back of a truck.

I wished I could say that being knocked out was unusual, but it wasn’t. Though I had panicked the first time Mr. Bub had knocked me out when I was still a teenager, it had become an irritation instead of a strange and fearsome thing.

The first errand I had ever done was in Japan. I’d been sent across the world to Tokyo with a note written in Japanese because the demon king of Gluttony wanted to try Fuju.

I reached forward and gripped the wire that made up the cage walls—it looked flimsy, but even my best kick didn’t do squat. I growled in frustration as I closed my eyes and focused on my shadow. It recoiled away from the bars. There were runes burned into the framework, and the metal repelled my null abilities.

“Why the cage?” I cursed. “I already agreed to go to the damn Red City.”

I had agreed to do the job for Beelzebub, but I hadn’t signed up to be treated like a stray on the way to the pound.

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