Page 9 of Hopelessly Teavoted
“I’ll be quick, pet,” he murmured, turning to her, and raising his eyebrows, as though reading her unease. Hopefully not her mind. Devils couldn’t read minds, she reassured herself.
“The cocky ones so often are,” she said, crossing her arms.
“My, my. We’re skipping right to claws, I see. I’m game, though we do have a bit of business to square away first.” He stepped closer to her. A wicked smile cracked wide across his face, slightly crooked. She was absolutely certain that stronger people than her must have fallen for it in the past.
And yet she wasn’t unseasoned. She didn’t have to trust a devil.
“What do you want?”
“It’s not what I want, but what I need, dearest one.”
Vickie rolled her eyes at that.
“Fine, what do youneed?”
“There’s the small matter of your parents’ debt. There’s no way to put this delicately, but now that they have disowned you, you’ll need, of course, to pay the remaining balance. In exchange for your gift.”
Hot or not, she was going to strangle him, to wrap her hands around his lean neck and pull him closer. No. Her nerves were too frayed in the wake of her breakup with Robbie, and, if she was honest, with the agony of knowing she might eventually run into Azrael again.
The mere thought of that threatened to open an old, unyielding wound.
Better to push it aside and focus on the anger.
“Excuse me, but I did not make a deal with a devil. I was a child.”
“Of course not. I would never collect on a child, which is why their repayment plan did not begin until your twenty-first birthday. Standard child labor law.”
“Standard child labor law in a deal with the devil?” Vickie pursed her lips, exhaling through her nose in frustration.
“Perhaps you had better sit while I explain.”
“I don’t care how arrogant and good-looking you are, and how used to getting your way you might be. This is my shop and I’ll sit if I want to.”
The devil’s torturously pretty eyes lit up. “You think I’m handsome, do you, pet?” His voice was a purr. A trap.
“That was your takeaway?” Vickie gestured up and down. “I think you’re using an entire arsenal of charms to distract from delivering terrible news.”
Lex frowned and slid into a seat.
Vickie crossed her arms. Her legs were tired, but she absolutely could not cede the verbal battle now, not when it was so clear that he had an advantage.
He gestured, and a shimmering parchment appeared in the air, unfurling gracefully. She could make out teeny-tiny text—no one took the wordsfine printmore seriously than devils—andher parents’ signatures at the end of the paper, which stretched almost as tall as she was.
At the bottom, under the signatures, was an addendum. He pointed, and the text at the bottom magnified as he read.
“Pursuant to the severing of all ties, mortal and otherworldly, of one Victoria Elaine Starnberger from her parents…” He skimmed over their names when she tensed, pausing.
“Don’t stop on my account,” she ground out. She might have to reestablish contact with her parents for the sole purpose of cutting them off again, the absolute bastards.
“The aforementioned owes payment in full of the remaining balance of souls, to be collected by the next thinning of the veil. Should the debtor fail to repay, the interest would be compounded, calculated at a rate of 100 percent, and ten souls, two per year, with the possibility of early collection rolling over to the following year, to be paid in full over the course of ten years.”
“You’re saying…” Her nails were digging into her palms now, the pain tethering her enough to stop from screaming or throwing something in rage. “You’re saying that I owe you ten souls by, what, Halloween? Or I’m in your debt for another decade?”
Lex put his hand to his chest, as though offended. “Why not at all, sweetness, that would be quite cruel. You only owe me the remaining balance, and your parents did collect seven as promised. But ah, yes, the bit about the next thinning of the veil, on Halloween, is correct. As is the consequence. Can’t be helped.”
“You’re saying I owe you threesouls?”
“Don’t worry, pet. They’re absolutely dreadful souls. And most definitely already dead, so you won’t be killing anyone, just reaping.” He must have seen the look on her face, because he continued, too brightly, “And just think, your powers will be paid in full, and you’ll be free to pursue whatever little fortune-telling grift you have set up here.”
