Page 4 of Prince of Demons
Don’t.
When she’d listened, she had avoided their attention.
But this time, she couldn’t obey the voice. Even if she knew the creature staring at her as if she were lunch had undoubtedly planned even worse things for her than what he’d admitted to.
Georgia shot a last, lingering look at Larry’s pale, still figure before she scribbled her signature across the dotted line, finalizing the contract.
Lewin smiled slow and wide when she handed the piece of paper back to him. Before she could pull her hand back, he snatched her by the wrist and pulled her arm up, closing his lips around her wounded finger. His mouth was hot and dry, and her finger stung when he swiped his tongue over the pen-prick with a visible shudder of pleasure.
“My, you taste delicious, my dear,” he rumbled when she managed to yank her finger from his mouth.
“Yeah, well, you don’t get to taste before you uphold your end of the deal, remember?” she hissed, cradling her hand against her chest. Shivers of revulsion still prickled across her skin from the feel of his tongue.
“Sure,” he said, giving her a nasty smile before he turned to the bed. “One cancer-free brother, coming right up. And then… then you and I are going to enjoy ourselves, little girl.”
The dark fog from before gathered around his hands, sweeping over Larry’s still figure. Nothing but the demon’s panting breath and the slow beeping of the machines her brother was hooked up to disturbed the quiet of the hospital room for several minutes.
Finally, Lewin sagged against the bed with a curse, the dark fog vanishing. “Shit.” He rubbed a hand against his forehead and turned to look at her. “It’s too strong.”
“No!” Georgia hissed, tears blurring her vision as impotent anger fizzled in her veins. “No! I signed your stupid contract! You heal him! Now!”
She didn’t realize she’d gotten to her feet, nor that she’d charged at the monster, until his hand connected with her chest and he shoved her to the floor by the side of the bed.
“You really have a death wish, don’t you?” he snarled, and though it wasn’t the fog from before, something dark and sinister gathered around him, emphasizing the shadows under his eyes and the otherworldliness of his horns. “You know what? Fine. I was going to let you out of the contract, but if you insist…”
She frowned, unease creeping along her spine at the threatening tone. “You’ll… you can save him after all?”
Lewin’s thin lips turned up in a nasty smirk. “For you, I’ll find a way.”
3
Georgia
“Where are you taking me?”
She’d managed to keep her mounting fear under control as the sleazy demon drove her out of the city’s center, all the way into the depths of the industrial quarter. But when he pulled the car to a stop deep in the midst of stacked shipping containers, by the side of a large, run-down warehouse with a broken neon-sign spelling out ‘HELL’, Georgia’s bravery started to fade.
“What’s eating your brother from the inside, we need more power than I’ve got,” Lewin said, flicking two fingers at her to follow him as he got out of the car and began walking to a door on the side of the warehouse. “Jimmy will be able to source that. For a price.”
Georgia bit her lip, every instinct in her body telling her not to trust the demon—but if Larry’s salvation lay beyond the dingy metal walls of that warehouse… well, that’s where she was going.
Lewin led her to the door and yanked it open, clamping a hand around her shoulder when a broken sob from within met them.
Georgia hesitated, frowning at the dimly lit room inside. It wasn’t more than a small space walled off by flimsy plasterboards, but another demon sat behind a reception desk. He was about as sleazy-looking as her companion, with small horns poking out through the greasy strands barely covering his scalp.
Lewin shoved her through the door and slammed it shut behind them, never releasing his grip on her shoulder.
“You again?” the receptionist said, his lips flattening into a disapproving line. “You know Jimmy doesn’t wanna see you here before you pay him back for the merchandise you damaged.”
“Oh, he’s gonna want to see me this time.” Lewin flicked his eyes to Georgia for a brief moment before he lifted his chin at the other demon. “I’m here to pay my debt. In kind.”
The receptionist turned his gaze to Georgia, acknowledging her presence for the first time with a quirk of his eyebrows. “Got a contract on her?”
“Yup. Ironclad.”
The new demon sighed. “Fine. Go on through.”
“Come along, darling,” Lewin purred, but the sense of foreboding in Georgia’s stomach tightened to the point of pain.
