Page 51 of Death Deals

“I have to kill him. But I have until tomorrow before he comes to collect.”

His eyes widened. “On New Year’s? Damn.”

“Yeah, this demon likes the dramatic.”

“And the vamps are going to help you kill him,” he said.

“Yeah, this demon is stronger than the other one I faced, so I’ll need the help.”

“The other one…?” He blew out a breath. “Geez, Jade. You sure know how to keep busy. Even when dead.”

Tell me about it. “You know that saying? I’ll sleep when I’m dead? Doesn’t apply here.”

“I can see that.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Well, if you need my help to take the bastard down, I’m here for you.”

A sweet offer but he really didn’t know what he would be getting into. And as his friend, I wouldn’t let him.

“I think I have it handled,” I said with a smile, “but thank you.”

After throwing his water inside his gym bag, he picked it up and walked over to me. His voice turned grave. Serious. “Jade, listen to me. I know we can joke around until the world ends, but in all seriousness, you need to be careful. And you need to think about yourself every once in a while. You’re not disposable. You never were, even before you were an angel or whatever.”

He lightly punched my shoulder, and even though it was a simple, playful gesture, there was so much more behind it. He’d been wanting another chance to tell me all this, and now that he had it, he wasn’t going to let me go without hearing it.

I knew exactly where his words were coming from, too. In life, I’d allowed myself to become Ed’s punching bag to keep that away from my sister. And I’d died in the end because of it.

“I should probably get to the store before Dad fires me. For real this time.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and strode past me toward the door. Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder and said, “Thanks for coming back and saving me from myself.”

“Same…” My chest ached, but I watched him walk out of the gym and down the hall until he disappeared from view.

“What did the Halfling want?” Andre asked when he returned to the suite during the early morning hours. He found his busted phone on the table. “Went well, I see.”

I stretched out on the couch, legs up and my head resting on a pillow as more nonsense played on the television—this time an antique restoration show.

“Sorry about the phone,” I said sheepishly. “I have butter fingers sometimes.”

He didn’t appear too broken up about it. I guessed when you had oodles of money, an expense like a new phone wasn’t a big deal.

“Did he upset you?” he pressed.

“No. Actually, he didn’t get to say much at all. I dropped the phone right after you left. He couldn’t hear me after that.”

To my surprise, Andre laughed. “Probably better off that way.”

I was thinking the same thing.

“Honestly, I have no idea how he even knew I was with you or why he wanted to talk to me in the first place. I haven’t seen him since—” I thought about it. The last time I’d seen Cole was during my last Trial, the truest heart’s desire. The one that’d torn me and Eli apart. But that hadn’t been real.

Officially, the last time would be in Sean’s trailer, when he’d been spying on us through Sean’s camera system. That was months ago.

He was the last person I had expected to be on the other end of that phone. And I was still having a hard time figuring out why he’d bothered to call at all.

“Cassandra may have told him you were with me, if he stopped into Red,” he said as he made his way over to me.

“And he called you… why?”

“He doesn’t trust me with you?” he suggested with a short laugh.

“I don’t think he cares enough about me to do that. Unless he needs me for something involving the demon cure, then maybe.”

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