Page 73 of Death Deals

“She’s right. They’re running back into the shadows.”

Andre helped me stand. I winced, grabbing my stomach again as the sharpness pierced through me, but waved off his second offer. I just needed to be patched up and maybe throw back some painkillers. I’d be fine.

As the others assessed the damage, I slowly walked across the roof. Halflings rarely gave up, so my fear was that a second wave was coming and this was just the calm before the storm. When I passed one of the roof’s large HVAC units, someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind it. Its fan spun loudly, drowning out any other sound.

Of course, my first reaction was to lash out. Adrenaline still whipped through my veins from the fight, but when I saw it was only Cole hiding behind the unit with me, I eased. Holding a finger to his lips to tell me to stay quiet, he peeked around the structure to make sure we were hidden from the others. Sweat clung to his forehead and his pants ripped at the knees from his part in the brawl, but besides that, he appeared untouched. Unlike me.

“What is it?” I panted, wondering why he was hiding back here, purposefully away from the others, in the first place. “What’s wrong?”

He yanked me closer to him, his head swiveling to capture my mouth for a kiss. Shocked, I gasped, and he used my surprise to force his tongue past my lips. With his arms firmly around my back, his touches became harsh, hurtful, his kiss sloppy, and not in a good way. When I placed my palms against him and shoved, he took my bottom lip between his teeth and nipped me hard enough to draw blood.

Recoiling, I used all my strength to push against him and put space between us. Touching my mouth, my fingers came back red with blood.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted then rubbed my lips together, tasting copper from the split he’d caused.

“What?” he drawled, his gaze darting over me with an amused smile. “I thought you liked it rough.” Just then, his eyes flashed a brilliant red, and the familiar elf-like demon face flickered over Cole’s.

I gasped.

Monnie. Greed incarnate. And he had possessed Cole.

I stepped back.

“What’s wrong, Jade?” Monnie purred, Cole’s voice melding into his. A shiver raced down my spine at the unnerving sound of it. “I thought you would prefer this skin more than my other. With all his anger and demon blood, he was so easy to take over. Almost too easy. He didn’t even put up a fight.”

Fury whipped through me just at the idea of that slimeball inside Cole. “Get out of him,” I said through a tense jaw. “Now.”

“Oh, I can’t do that, you see,” he began. “I knew you weren’t going to come willingly, so I needed security, and what better way than your Halfling boy-toy?” He leaned forward and lowered his voice like he was telling me some deep, dark secret. “He’s so close to the edge, you know. So close to becoming a creature, like the rest of them. And he knows it—he can feel it. He’s losing his fight, and he’s terrified.”

My stomach flipped. How could he possibly know all that?

“He’s still in here with me,” Monnie went on, answering my thoughts. “He’s here, but he can’t overpower me. He’s too weak. But I can get a good look into his head, and trust me when I tell you, it’s a complete and utter mess.” His lips split in an eerie smile. “He has quite the attachment to you, too. Did you know that?”

To be out of control of your own body, your thoughts, your memories, while you could do nothing but sit back and watch—it was disgusting. Violating.

Cole was more than likely squirming under Monnie’s hostile takeover. It was a nightmare come to life for him.

“Get out of him, or I’ll make you.” I summoned my power to my fist, but with my head still throbbing from my last use of it, the light flickered, unable to take hold. Panicked, I shook my hand and called to it again, but like a dying candle’s flame, it wavered before extinguishing completely.

Monnie laughed. “What’s a matter, Jade, dear? All tapped out?”

This was bad.

“Besides, you use your power, and your boyfriend goes up in smoke with me,” he said. “He is a half-demon after all.”

Oh yeah. Really bad.

“Like I said, security.”

He was pretty damn proud of himself for that one, too.

Monnie started backing up toward the roof’s edge, his arms spread wide. “I could always pitch myself off the roof, kill him for the hell of it. What are we? Like fifteen stories up? It’d be fun but a big mess for the street sweepers to clean up after.”

My heart plummeting, I rushed for him and grabbed him by the jacket just before he could take the final backward step off the ledge. I wrenched him back onto the roof with me.

His grin spread wider. “The choice is yours. Come with me, fulfill the deal, and I’ll leave the Halfling alone to his miserable existence.”

I could barely think at the moment. Cole was trapped inside his own body, and I’d almost witnessed him pitch himself off the building. With the fear of losing him pelting me like rapid fire from all angles, my tongue tied.

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