Page 12 of The Bone Man

I don’t miss the way that Darius avoids reminding me of the time he took off in Marc’s body, but I let it go. We’re trying to move past the mistakes we’ve made and find a new balance.

“Ga’Vine didn’t tell you?” Darius asks.

I gaze up at him. “Sharpe knows?”

Darius glances off to the side. “There were cameras I didn’t account for when I destroyed the bear’s body.”

Since the bear was in Spooky Storage, Sharpe would have been alerted. Did he cover it up to protect Marc?

Darius waves his hand. “Regardless, Nickodemus’s flock is full once more, so he should be in a moderately benevolent mood for negotiations. I think he will be delighted that the Clearhelm police wish to bring in humans for his people to terrify. He may even set up a haunted house.”

“You’re being far too cavalier about this whole thing.” I wrench open the car door and drop inside. “Don’t you care at all about the bigger issue here?”

“Humans make others suffer, they are forced to change or die, and the cycle starts over. You’ve seen this yourself,” he points out. “They’ll get their way with the Bone Yard, demons will be unhappy, heads will roll, and we will start anew. It is the way of things.”

“You won’t be so blasé when it’s your head that rolls,” I grumble.

Darius’s hot hand settles on my thigh. “Has Flanagan added my summoning stone to his little hoard?”

Warmth spreads from his palm up my leg, and I reach down to move it to his own lap. “You’ll have to ask Flint about that.”

“He probably chucked it into the river.” Darius stares out the windshield. “But, no matter, I will always find my way back to you, Merri.”

Even without his hand on me, he still warms me with his words.

His head turns toward me. “Did you fall for me just now?”

I snort. “You sure know how to ruin a mood.”

He smiles and faces forward once more. “You fell for me.”

Blood creeps into my cheeks. “Think what you want.”

“You fell for mehard,” he says with a note of delight in his tone.

I laugh and reach out to smack him. “Stop it.”

“Never.” He reaches out to catch my hand and lace our fingers together. “Even when youdofall, I will continue, so that you fall for me over and over again for eternity.”

“Yeah, keep dreaming.” But I don’t pull my hand away.

* * *

I flash the picture of Jimmy Lewis at the demon who runs the meat cart on the street. “This isn’t, by chance, today’s special, is it? Or any day’s special this week?”

“Could be. They all look the same to me.” The demon squints at the pic. “Naw, too blond. My customers prefer the brunettes.”

I grimace and tuck the picture away. “Have you seen someone like him asking around? He was trying to sell angel feathers?”

The demon spits out a greasy laugh. “If I did, you won’t find him here no more.”

I lower my voice. “Know anyone selling feathers?”

His front two eyes sweep over me, while the ones on the side of his head swivel toward the carts on either side of him. “How about you buy some meat?”

I glance down at his offering. “How much for a leg bone?”

“Half a silver, or fifty human papers.”

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