Page 56 of Her Soul for Revenge

He was staring out across the lake, his bright eyes softened in the sunlight. “I don’t believe in fate or a higher purpose. I believe we take these rare, unusual, nonsensical lives of ours and do whatever the hell we want. Don’t waste your life punishing yourself.” He looked over at me, a mischievous smirk on his face. “You’ve got eternity, at the end of all this. Your mortal life will end, but Hell awaits. You’ll outlive the Hadleighs, the Libiri. Despite all the pain they caused you, you’ll see more than they ever will. Maybe that frightens you. Don’t let it. I’d like to see what becomes of you, Juniper Kynes. A human like you, in Hell, can be a powerful thing.”

I smiled before I could catch myself. “Ugh, God, I still have to put up with you in Hell, don’t I?”

“Oh yeah.” He laughed. “You’re stuck with me. I get to keep bothering you for eternity.”

Seconds passed, with only the sound of the lake beneath us and the birds in the trees. I needed to change my bandage and re-do a few stitches, but I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to leave his side.

I felt comfortable there. I felt calm.

I hadn’t felt calm in a long time.

“So...you’re old as shit, huh?” I finally said, breaking the easy silence. He laughed.

“In the eyes of other demons, I’ve barely hit thirty,” he said. “But my kind tend to stay mentally young and obnoxious forever.”

“You said you’ve made deals with kings?”

“Oh, yes. Kings, emperors, monks, priests, chiefs. I never take a dull bargain.”

“Tell me about one. Tell me about the most unbelievable, wild bargain you’ve ever taken.”

“Shit, have I got a story for you. It was Japan, 1467…”

I laid down, stretching out my back on the deck. It felt nice to lay there. I was finally breathing easy as I closed my eyes.

24

It was the middle of the night, and Leon was in the woods.

I smelled him as soon as he got close to the house. Juniper was asleep, stretched out under a blanket on the couch with the TV playing low, so I went out to meet him. The last thing I wanted was for him to creep inside the house and catch her by surprise. What a fucking mess that would be.

I found him by the water.

“Out for a stroll?” I called, grinning as I came up beside him. “Need a light?”

He nodded, and I lit the joint at his lips. He took a few long drags, his foot tapping impatiently, his eyes flickering out across the water.

“He dismissed me, Zane. I’m free.”

I thought I must have hallucinated his words. “You...hewhat?”

“Kent Hadleigh dismissed me.” He grinned, and it was the kind of grin I hadn’t seen on his face for a long time. A killer’s smile. The smile that had made my heart beat faster the first time I’d seen it. “I told him I’d crush precious Jeremiah’s skull if he didn’t. So he made the right choice. Dismissed me.”

“Holy shit.” I took the joint when he offered it. “A goddamn century later, and finally…You can go home. Fucking hell.”

“You should have seen Jeremiah’s face,” he said. “Pathetic little rat nearly pissed himself.” Then, his face sobered. “There’s a problem though. The grimoire. My name. Kent lost it.”

The only way Kent managed to keep Leon under control was because of that old book. It had given him the knowledge to summon and control a demon like Leon — control him through pain, through torture. The fact that he no longer had it made him vulnerable.

It made Leon vulnerable too. His name was out there again, and if it fell into the wrong hands, he’d end up back under the control of another magician.

“Do you remember the woman from the bar?” Leon said, his voice low. “Raelynn?”

“Your little obsession? Of course I remember.”

I expected him to protest theobsessionbit. He didn’t. “Kent wants to sacrifice her.”

“She’s one of the three.” I nodded slowly. “Of course. No wonder the Hadleigh brats were clinging to her.”