Page 64 of Spit

Mr. Bellgrady glanced at the case. “There’s no harm in looking.” He told me. “I know that Mr. Trey told you he would buy you something, but I wanted to issue a warning if you don’t think it to brazen for an old man to meddle in your affairs.”

“A warning?” I echoed.

Mr. Bellgrady continued as if he hadn’t heard me, sniffing back the phlegm in his nose and lifting his arm to wipe his face on his sleeve. “Human lives are the blink of an eye to a demon. We are passing amusements, like a dog in a pet shop window. Mr. Trey might shower you with gifts for now because he feels that generosity is the easiest way to buy your compliance, but you must remember he is a demon.”

I raised a brow. “It would be hard to forget that Trey is a demon.”

Mr. Bellgrady nodded. “Even now, he’s run off somewhere and left you alone in the Red City.”

“I can take care of myself.” I pushed a lock of my pink hair away from my face.

Mr. Bellgrady watched the movement with an expression I didn’t like. “Are you sure I can’t show you the blade? There are all manner of treasures that I could show you.” He stepped closer, sending a chill down my spine when my mind finally connected the dots. Mr. Bellgrady was either trying to flirt badly or cornering me.

Mr. Bellgrady continued, oblivious to my discomfort. “You know, a woman such as yourself would likely never be able to hold a weapon as old or expensive as this in her lifetime.”

“Is that right?”

“Hmm.” He smiled, and I hated how my skin crawled, and my heart sped up like a rabbit at the sight of a fox.

“What the plan?” I asked delicately as if I was barely interested in the answer. “To get me alone and holding one of the artifacts. Maybe you’d knock into me, and it would break—and you could kindly offer a repayment plan. The kind that’s paid off on my knees?”

Mr. Bellgrady’s ruddy face turned an even deeper shade of puce. “Excuse me?” He spluttered, reaching forwards and gripping my arm.

I jerked back my shoulder, but he held on. “Let go of me.” My voice was dangerously low.

“How dare you?!” He snarled, his spit flying. He was close enough that my heart began to race, and I felt my vision turning black around the edges. “You pink-hairedslut.”

It wouldn’t take much for the heaving, wheezing man to stick his tongue in my month, and if he did, it would be over for me. I’d have to kill him.

Before I could lift a knee to strike him in the balls, my shadow leaped on his black. It began ripping and tearing at Mr. Bellgrady like a juicy steak. I felt my stomach bloat with phantom energy like I was a car being filled with gas. My head swam as I stepped back. Mr. Bellgrady slumped onto the floor, foaming at the mouth.

My shadow licked his fingers.

“I would tell you off, but you keep saving my noggin,” I muttered.

My shadow preened.

“Who are you talking to?” Trey stepped into the room, his eyes going straight over Mr. Bellgrady on the floor. The demon stepped over the man to get to me—and I realized that most of what Mr. Bellgrady had said about how demons viewed humans was correct.

“I told you that I would get you a blade.” Trey continued, ignoring his own question and not waiting for an answer. “Astaroth’s tooth.” He said proudly. “My bid won.”

I looked down at the man on the floor. “We’ll have to get someone else to open the glass case.” I sighed.

We didn’t bother hiding the body.

No one stopped us as we gathered Astaroth’s tooth and left the auction house to continue our itinerary.

I’d honestly thought that Trey hadn’t even noticed Mr. Bellgrady’s body until we were in the car and driving through the Pride sector towards the Gluttony district—to the bar where Mars and Quinn had disappeared.

“I heard what Mr. Bellgrady said to you.” Trey’s voice was quiet as if he took great care to make it that way.

I glanced at the long-haired demon, but his gaze was fixed on the tinted window as the world raced by the limo. The Red City might have looked like a metropolis, but I had never seen streets so devoid of life. No one seemed to use the sidewalks; if they did, they were markedly human. The difference between night and day was startling.

“You heard that?” I echoed.

Trey exhaled deeply. “He was wrong, you know. About the way that demons interact with humans.”

“You don’t think human lives are just a blink to demons?” It took a moment to conjure up Mr. Bellgrady’s words.

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