Page 2 of Deal with the Devil

Amelia held her twin back against the wall, her body a concrete barrier as she stared the fiend down. He raised a perfectly sculpted brow up at her. Amelia cocked her head to the side. “Hey Rick, what cha doin? Who are your new friends?”

“Ricky, baby, what did you do?” Penny croaked.

Rick was ripped from the floor by his scalp. The boss had a fist full of Rick’s roots, making him face the two women backed into a corner. “Yeah, Rick, what did you do?”

The lanky motherfucker that Amelia’s sister married stumbled forward after being shoved carelessly in their direction. Amelia kept her full focus on the man in charge. Her arm hair stood on end. The first two goons had their identities blurred by magic. However, the rest of them didn’t wear a single enchantment.They weren’t getting out of this alive.Her blood ran cold as she swallowed a lump in her throat.

“Babe, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying—”

Penny slapped him the second he stood close enough to her. “I told you to pay off that debt! I told you we would be done if you didn’t stop the gambling. What did you do?”

“Rick here owes me 300 gold and a priceless crystal vase.” the fiend in charge called out, quieting the whole forest.

Amelia’s hackles rose. “We don’t have that kind of money. Penny certainly doesn’t. Rick can pay off his own debts.”

300 gold? She could buy a house with 300 gold! She could buy three cars and a vacation in another realm with 300 gold. How did he get that much to lose?

“Rick?” Penny gasped for air. “How?”

“I didn’t know what to do. Kyle said I owed him interest. So, I bet the 20 silver and I won big. Ten gold. So, I tried to pay off Kyle but then…I started betting it, just so I could bring home some, you know? I bet some, then I bet some, then I bet some.”

Penny sobbed as Amelia felt unbridled rage fuel her insides. “Rick, where did you get the rest of the collateral.”

“I… Uh…”

Amelia twisted to look as he reached toward Penny. Something in her snapped as she realized all too well what was going on.No!Not her sister. Not Penny. Without a second thought, she lunged for Rick before he could grab Penny. They were fucked either way. Amelia got him in the shoulder, wrestling him to the ground. She came out on top and didn’t hesitate to sink the blade into the side of his neck. Rick thrashed, hands clawing at his throat as Amelia wrenched the blade out of his jugular.

Blood coated her hands, her knees…her everything. She scrambled back across the warped wood, her sister helping pull her by the armpits.

The fiend stared at the pair with wide, impressed eyes.

Amelia held the blade in front of her. “You leave her out of this. He’s a fool for gambling and you’re a bigger one for letting him owe you money!”

Slick haired, cane in hand, looming over the room even though he wasn’t more than an inch taller than her, the fiend stepped over Rick’s body. Hands broke through the wall behind her. Penny yelped but before Amelia could rip around and stab who was snatching Penny through the wall, their new friend had her pinned to a different chunk of the wood. His cane pressed against her wrist, keeping her knife stretched out to her side. He grabbed her by the chin.

“Well, now I can’t even remotely get my money back from him, now can I?” He leaned in close, breathing in her face. “You must have really wanted Rick dead, to have stabbed him in the neck like that. Looked personal.”

Amelia grunted, struggling to throw him off. His trench coat and suit obscured most of his body from her, but he didn’t lookbig.He wasn’t a brick wall or tall or built. He looked lean from the cinch of his belt around his waist and the slope of hisshoulders. And yet, he was able to keep her easily pinned to the wood. She spat over his shoulder at Rick. “How much is she worth?”

“What?” He blinked once, his face wiped clear of its previous sneer.

“Did he sell my sister to pay off his debts? How much?” Amelia had maybe ten silver to her name. Her next paycheck was directly tied to the hopeful royalties of a series that not many people knew about. But she’d give blood to save her sister.

“No, he sold what she can do for me. I don’t deal in people, pet.” He trapped her lower lip with a press of his thumb. He let it go with a long drag of his leather glove against her skin before pinching her chin and pulling her face even closer. Their noses touched ever so slightly. “What kind of man do you take me for?”

“A fool who let Rick play with his money.” She tugged on her arm and found he held her even tighter. Baring her teeth, she shifted her legs. He snapped a knee out and pinned her by the shin against the wall too.

“You’ve got fight, pet, I’ll give you that, but I saw what you did with that knife to Rick…and I’m not looking for a new neck tattoo. No matter how pretty the knife.”

She huffed, trying again only to be held precisely where he wanted her. Panic filled the cavity of her chest. “Please, just let her go. She can’t do anything for you.”

“She’s a manager at King’s Falls First. She can do plenty for me,” he purred.

“Please—” Her voice cracked as the reality of the situation set in. The sound of Penny being dragged despite her thrashing and shrieking filled the air behind her.No, no, no, no, no!Think, Amelia, think!She could taste her heart beating up in her throat as she nearly shouted the words in his face. “Take me instead.”

He sat back, face pulling away from her. “And what can you do for me?”

Amelia Armstrong did not have 300 gold worth of skills or a job that could get him the gold. She was a struggling author with a day job at the local bookstore. Amelia was the strange aunt who lived on her sister’s couch and ate cereal with her nephew on Saturday mornings.

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