I’m not supposed to care about Diamond, or those other demon girls. I’ve known them for less than a day. I barely even know their names. Actually, I know none. Smack me sideways if Diamond is her actual name.
But she reminds me of Kylie, despite her demon side. I’ve accepted that I can’t judge, not with demon blood running through my veins as well. Not all of them are bad… right?
Diamond’s probably just a nice girl, and I’m the mean, judgmental one.
She’s sitting on a couch next to Jared, giggling at every lame joke he makes. I’m right next to them. The music of the club continues to pound, seeping backstage as a muffled bass. A lesser demon is zipping around us, but nobody pays much mind to it. It’s a little distracting, however, because this one’s crazy and keeps hitting its head against the wall.
“You should leave,” I tell Diamond. I turn to Jared. “You, with her. Don’t go back to Cali. They might be able to track you there. Start a new life. It sucks, but at least it’ll be safe.”
“I’ve said it before,” Jared says. “I’m not leaving you behind with those three. They promised they’d rip you apart.”
“I don’t matter.”
“That is so dark you might as well be chocolate. Of course you do! Who’s going to wash my socks if they kill you?”
“Really? That’s what you’ll miss about me?”
“And I’ll have to find a job.”
“Glad to hear that you love me so much.”
Jared shrugs. “I’m not leaving, Val. Diamond… Diamond can go, but I’m staying with you.”
Diamond shakes her head. “I can’t.”
I frown at her. “Why not? Slip out the back door. It wasn’t guarded last I checked.”
I wonder if Xeres can hear me. He’s sitting across the room, legs crossed. He’s reading a book—a horror novel. His face shows pure boredom, but every so often, his gaze flicks to me, and the intensity swirling in there makes my gut churn.
Diamond turns around. She pulls her auburn hair up, showing me a tattoo. It’s a rose, with thorns curling around it. I can tell it’s a deep red, but the lighting in the club makes it a purplish blue.
“This thing,” Diamond says. “It’s a marking by one of Bella’s higher demons. One of her gifts. She can track any of the girls, regardless of where they go.”
“That’s… terrible,” I say. Slavery—that’s what this is. Their bodies are not their own—only on loan from Bella until she needs them.
“Is there a way to get rid of it?” I ask.
Xeres has put his book aside. He leans over and watches us with a glint in his eye. Now I know for sure he’s hearing every word I say. He’s entertained by this conversation. It’s probably like watching a headless chicken fumbling around, trying to run from their inescapable fate.
Diamond shakes her head. “We’ve never tried.”
“Never?” I say.
“Bella takes care of us. We’re supposed to be like family. At least, that’s what she says.”
“A family doesn’t sell their daughters off as whores.”
“It’s… We have to pay her back somehow.”
“And you do that.”
“It’s not enough, I don’t think. She’s been trying to get me to… give in for a while. Says it’s part of our demon nature.”
How weak Diamond sounds grates on me. It’s not that I despise her for not having the spirit; it’s because of how hopeless she sounds, like her resolve was torn from her long ago.
“My mom,” Diamond says. “My real family. She was sure to die of cancer. Bella solved that. She’s staying in a proper retirement home now, completely healed.”
“Bella used that as a bargaining chip,” I say. “She used your mother as way to win your favor. It wasn’t charity.”
“Perhaps. I did sign a contract with her. I promised I’d be hers in the clan if she healed my mother.” She points to her neck. “This is the contract.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Of course it was! My mother now breathes because of it.”
“But you’re chained now.”
“It’s okay. I love my mother. She’s fine.”
Jared scratches his chin. “Not sure what kind of family makes contracts with each other. The kind with pretty bad relationships, I guess.”
A contract. I massage my right thumb over my left hand, thinking.
I turn to Xeres, my thoughts wandering to him, Vickal, and Sylver. That’s one thing I can use to bargain with…
My body for the rest of the girls in this club. It sounds like a good trade. Would they be open to it?
It’s a trade I might enjoy.
I hate the way my toes curl when I recall what they did to me. Control—they’re masters at it. They tempt and make me lose myself in the waves they sweep me up in.
Xeres grins. He’s appraising me with his smoke-colored eyes. He lifts his angled jaw up in a challenge.
My skin tingles as his gaze skims over me.
I steel myself and curl my fingers into a fist. I slap my hands on the sides of my legs, as if that’ll give me courage, before standing to stride toward him.
He sets both his feet on the ground and straightens. “Ready to accept my contract?” Desire burns in his eyes. He licks his lower lip. The temperature of the club drops, becoming frosty against my flesh, icy in my heart.
I nod. “If you let them go.”
He leans back and hooks his arm over the top of the sofa. “Their safety, in exchange for your freedom. Sounds like a bargain. For you, I mean. You are only one girl. Bella wants them all. How is that a fair exchange?”
I shut my eyes. It hurts to see his face and the smug grin splitting it. “It’s all I can offer. Please.” If he refuses, I’ll have to think of another way to free them. A contract with Bella instead? But what can I give her? I’m a half-demon who barely has control of her powers. “I will do everything you say. Be at your every whim. As long as you let them go.”
“I like the way that sounds,” Xeres says. “You know your place when you need to.”
“I’m glad you do.” Because I hate hearing myself begging.
“But no.”
“No?” My eyes narrow.
“You don’t understand, kitty cat. This here is a matter of life and death. In most other circumstances, I’d accept your offer, but we can’t afford to piss off Bella. Not right now. We need her help.”
“This is wrong!” I’m enraged. My whitefyre prickles at my fingertips. “It’s rape, Xeres. It’s deplorable.”
“And yet it’s what we have to do.”
“They are not your bargaining chips! They have families. Some have signed themselves up for something they’re not ready for. You’ll break them.”
“That is the point.” He leans back into his seat. “We’re breaking them for Bella.”
“Diamond…” Her name sounds silly because it’s not real, but she is very much a real person with vulnerabilities and shouldn’t be used as an object. “She’s here because of her mother.”
“I heard you.”
“But you’re still going through with it.”
He nods. “Yes.”
“Have you never felt that before? The need to protect someone, so much that you’d do anything for him or her? That’s what she went through. That’s why she’s here. Don’t punish her for loving.”
His jaw tightens. For a second, empathy flickers through him, and he doesn’t look like the same cold, heartless Xeres. “I’ve experienced many things. It’s a side effect of being immortal. I’ve seen and done all sorts of terrible deeds, little one. It numbs you to people’s pain. I’ve lived through war upon war. Plagues, massacres, genocides. A few broken girls in a pitiful club is nothing to me.”
I grab the sleeve of his shirt and attempt to pull him up to look menacing. He’s too heavy to budge, so I end up dipping to bare my teeth at him instead. It’s ridiculous, but he gets the message. I’m pissed. “It is something to me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re a cold-hearted bastard.”
“I wish I could say otherwise.” There’s sadness in his expression, but I don’t want to believe that a man capable of doing what he does can be sad.
I let him go. “Burn in Hell.”
“I already have.” He runs a hand through his dark fringe. He’s delectably sinful when he does that, and it only fuels my anger. I’m not going to just let him do what they’re planning.
I’m going to talk to Bella.
I probably don’t stand a chance against her, but I can’t just let the girls be raped while I sit back and do absolutely nothing. I have to at least try.
“Val,” Jared says, grabbing my wrist.
I look back. “What?”
His eyes flick to Xeres. “Not here.”
Xeres lifts a brow. He narrows his eyes at Jared, but I don’t care that he’s curious, and flip him off as Jared tugs me away.
I let Jared drag me along. Curiosity rises in me as I follow. We go past some lavish corridors, until we reach a room with Diamond on its door. It’s close to the outer rims of the maximum distance Xeres set for me, so an ache hits the left side of my head, but I ignore it. Jared knocks on the door.
“Come in!” I recognize Diamond’s voice.
“Why are you two acting strangely?” I ask.
Jared pushes the door open. I’m hit with a perfume’s sweetness the moment it swings open.
Diamond waits for us inside, which has a warm, purplish interior. She’s grinning from ear to ear, looking like an excited child who just made a new discovery. She turns around so her back is facing me and lifts her hair. Her neck is bare and silky and smooth.
The rose marking’s gone.
I step closer as my eyes widen. “How?”
“Jared managed to remove it,” Diamond replies. “We were experimenting… He wondered if he could burn it off. We thought it might hurt, but I could bear it. Then instead of summoning fire, he did something else.”
“What?” I look at my brother. I’m a little dumbfounded.
He leans over. “Magic.” He grins. “I guess I don’t know my own powers.”
“You really don’t,” I say.
Because he’s my silly brother, he leans on a shaky lamp instead of something solid. The lamp topples over and crashes on the ground. He winces. “Oops.”
I’m beaming, too. There’s a lot of smiling around here. “Problem solved, then. You think you can do this again?” We don’t need the three demons to get out of this. They can go fuck in Hell.
“I don’t see why not.” He shrugs. “It came naturally to me.”
“Good,” I say. I snap my fingers. “Then let’s strip this strip club of its strippers.”
Jared’s laughter hitches in his throat. “Was that supposed to sound badass? Because it was a little bit ridiculous.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever. I’m not the best at one-liners, all right?”
“Points for trying?”
Playfully, I nudge him. He shoves me back and lunges at me. We almost slip into one of our roughhousing moments, but I stop him because there’s no time.
“Are we going to get to work or not?” I ask. I think I sound a little like a giggling schoolgirl, but it’s easy to slip into those moments with my brother.
Diamond’s fiddling with her thumbs beside us, acting all awkward. She’s clearly not close enough to us to feel comfortable with our messing around. I turn to her and grab her hand.
“Let’s go,” I say.
She nods and smiles. “Okay.”
We make haste to clear the girls of their markings. My heart thumps in my chest as we do, and I’m constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure no one walks in on us. We zip through Club Belladonna to free as many girls as we can. We have to get them out before Xeres and his gang notice, and they’re awfully perceptive creatures.