Page 47 of Deal with the Devil

Before they could speak, the answer to her question came in the form of Gael, back bent painfully and head snapped her way. Like a broken piece of wood, creaking and shifting under a torrential storm, Gael’s body snapped back and forth. Fingers turning to long knives, fangs turning to throat ripping daggers, eyes hollowed and wide, face jaunt, the sweet Gael from before was now a ghoul. Legs stretched like taffy, arms broad sticks as she clambered up from the couch.

“Run, Amelia.” Knox’s words stuck in the air like they were caught in a cloud. Floating, bobbing, evading Amelia’s ears as she stared in horror at the creature clambering over the coffee table. Gael screamed like a banshee and lunged.

Amelia Armstrong wasn’t afraid of anything. Or, at least, she had the audacity to lie to herself. Growing up, she never backed down from a fight. She faced every bully, every brute, everypunch head on. Amelia never hesitated. She calculated their fight pattern and attacked. A vicious cobra.

Except, she’d never had to face a fledgling vampire with a grudge as she wiped the floor with Knox’s face. Amelia caught her, fist for fist. At a slight disadvantage, her wedges were not the best footwear for planting her feet and staying that way. The vampire slid her across the floor and into the door. Her open maw snapped at Amelia. Drool dribbled from her jaw.

Amelia glanced down from the face to the girl’s chest. Despite her monstrous strength…Gael was still a preteen girl. Her body wasn’t tough, it was still soft and small. Even now, she was stretched thin and vulnerable.

Dropping out of Gael’s grip, Amelia lunged forward, shoulder first. Catching Gael by the elongated gut, she hoisted the girl, off center, onto her back. Gael screamed, rattling the walls as she was slammed against the floor. Amelia didn’t stop, rolling her onto her stomach, wrenching her arms painfully behind her back and sitting on her tailbone. Gael thrashed but she was no competition for Amelia who’d used her own sturdiness against the girl.

Hellen scrambled across the floor, getting Gael in the neck with a needle. As the vampire’s snapping slowed to a weak, pitiful chomp, Amelia stood up from the girl. The stretched horror before her transformed back to an unconscious Gael.

“She’s a bait trap, huh. Sent in to get inside and then rip stuff up from the inside?” Amelia cocked a brow at Knox.

He swiped his busted lip, spitting the blood onto the ground. “Precisely. Our vampire is intent on ruining me from the inside out. Paying to put rats in my organization, poisoning this girl, using her like a puppet, all doing this from a safe distance.”

Amelia stared down at the teenager flopped against the floor beneath her.

Well…that’s not good.

Chapter nineteen:

Knox

TW: Extreme rotten food, Emesis/Violent throwing up in this chapter, Poisoning, bugs

They retired to hisoffice. Hellen fixed his busted lip and left Amelia to tend to his bruised ego. Now that Gael was subdued, Hellen returned to put the girl to bed. Knox sank into his office chair, tossing back a glass of champagne before raking his fingers through his hair. Amelia sat on the edge of his desk, staring into her champagne flute.

“What’s hitting you the worst?” he murmured.

“She’s so young,” Amelia breathed.

“She was on her way back from a concert when her friends ditched her.” Knox found sand filling his mouth as retelling the story.

Flashes from his youth returned with a vengeance. Not only had he spoken to Amelia about the witch…but about Declan. Hedidn’t say much, but the sting didn’t ease up. Declan’s fingers wrapped around his throat, pinning his tiny frame to a wall. The horrid scent of rot and decay on his teeth as he descended into madness.

Then he was ripped through a portal. Long fingers, spindly and gnarled with age, claws like talons wrapped around him and wrenched him out of Declan’s grasp. The screams that filled Knox’s ears were muffled till they were gone. Instead, the sound was replaced with a gurgling cauldron and crackling fireplace. The scent of hot cast iron, freshly dried herbs and spices, dusty laundry, and something musky he couldn’t quite place filled his nostrils. Knox twisted and turned, finding himself in a bundle of fabrics and pillows inside a massive, wooden cabin. It swayed as if it were on the sea before settling. The wood groaned as the door pulled open and an old crone stepped inside.

Hello little one…into the pot you go.

Knox blinked away the memory, instead focusing on the woman perched on his desk. She took a small sip, eyes pinned to the crystal panes showing the illusion of central park.

“The Lord Commander visited me a few weeks ago, asking about Rick. Said someone reported him missing, his employer…but Rick wasn’t employed. So…now that makes more sense. His vampire friend probably reported him missing.”

Knox put a hand to her knee and squeezed. She warmed, glancing down at him sweetly. Knox slipped to his feet cupping a hand to her cheek. “It’s not much, but if you’d like, we can go do something else. There’s a whole casino I have access to, or, if you’d like something different, there is a job I was asked to do.”

“A job? You?” She snorted.

“I work,” he scoffed.

“Yeah, my nerves,” Amelia chuckled, rolling her eyes. Knox grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. She smirked, setting her champagne flute down.

“I would bevery carefulmisbehaving, pet,” he warned, watching the mischief flit across her gaze. She was thinking about it. Thinking about speaking against him, about getting her just desserts. However, just as she opened her naughty lips to get her ass in trouble, the door opened. Knox smirked to himself, knowing she swallowed something rather brattish and turned a blistered tomato red as she twisted. Buttons sauntered inside with a silver platter.

“Ah, thank you!” Amelia beamed, pushing herself off the desk. The raccoon decorated waitress placed the platter down on the desk and bowed to them. She didn’t ask any other questions, instead, striding out of the office as fast as she entered.

Knox scooped the lid off the platter and revealed raspberry and chocolate tarts. Amelia grabbed one and bit into one instantly. Watching her enjoy the tart and round his desk, Knox immediately glanced to the shelf across from him. Her books were on display. Amelia stopped before them and plucked one of them up. There was a sweet smile curling on her lips as she opened it up to see her signature. Their gazes locked as she peeked up at him from the shelf.

---