Contract Marriage with the Devil

Chapter 2

Elena POV

I pulled the giant Mickey Mouse head off and dropped it on the sidewalk. The costume was soaked through from the afternoon rain and smelled like cheap plastic and sweat. My arms ached from waving at kids all day. I sat hard on the wet bench, legs shaking, and opened my purse.

Twenty-three dollars and some change. That was everything after the bus and the sandwich I forced down. I stared at the bills and sighed.

Just a little more. Then I can move out.

The thought came with my mother’s voice, sharp and final.

“I already made a deal with Vince. You will marry him and he will let Tyler off the hook.”

I had shouted back at her in the kitchen that night. “Are you insane? Vince is a loan shark. He’s twice my age. You don’t get to sell me off to that old bastard.”

The slap came fast. My cheek burned and I hit the floor. She stood over me, eyes cold.

“The day your father died this house became mine. You will accept it.”

My brother had watched from the doorway, arms crossed. He pointed at me like I was already paid for.

“You have to accept it, Elena. The only thing you’re good for is paying our debt.”

I blinked the memory away and started to zip the purse. A hand shot in from the side, ripped the whole bag from my fingers, and took off running.

I jumped up and chased him.

“Stop! Give me back my wallet!”

People on the sidewalk stepped aside like I was the problem. No one grabbed him. No one even looked twice. My wet sneakers slapped the pavement. The Mickey costume dragged at my legs and slowed me down. He turned into a quieter street, then another, until the lights got thin and the buildings leaned close.

He stopped under a broken streetlamp and spun around. The gun was already in his hand.

“Still chasing?” he said, breathing hard. “Let’s see what’s faster. Your legs or my bullet.”

The shot cracked. I saw the flash. The bullet came straight for my leg.

Everything froze.

I could still hear the rain, but the bullet hung in the air like it had forgotten how to move. Slow footsteps came from behind me. A tall man in a black suit walked into the street. Black hair, sharp face, black umbrella open over his head even though the rain had slowed. He reached out with two fingers and touched the bullet.

It turned into a red-and-white striped candy and dropped to the wet concrete with a soft click.

I stared.

“A candy?”

The thief’s mouth opened and closed. A huge black hand made of shadow rose from the ground, wrapped around his throat and chest, and slammed him against the brick wall hard enough to crack it.

The man in the suit spoke without raising his voice.

“You pointed a gun at her. Did you choose how you wanted to die?”

The thief choked. “What are you?”

Black wings unfolded from the man’s back, wide and dark, cutting the street light into pieces.

“Humans like you always end up in hell,” he said. He dropped my purse at my feet. “But today I’m not in the mood to welcome guests. Run.”

The shadow hand let go. The thief hit the ground, scrambled up, and ran screaming.

“A demon! He’s a demon!”

I could not look away from the wings. They folded back in and vanished like they had never been there. The man turned to me. His eyes were dark, almost black, and the ring on his finger glowed a dull red.

“Did you just turn a bullet into a candy?” I asked. My voice came out smaller than I wanted.

The ring pulsed brighter.

He looked at me the way people look at something that should not exist.

“Who are you?”

“You saved me and now you’re asking who I am?”

He took one step closer. “Impossible.”

“What’s impossible?”

The ring on his hand flared blue. A sudden dizziness hit me. My knees buckled. He moved fast and caught my wrist before I fell.

The second our skin touched, light flashed between us like lightning without sound. Heat shot up my arm. I felt the ring leave his finger and slide onto mine like it had always belonged there. It settled against my skin, warm and heavy.

He stared at my hand, face gone still.

“What is this? Why is it on my hand?” I asked.

He reached for it. Something invisible shoved him back two steps. His shoes scraped on the wet street.

“Are you hurt?” I said.

He looked at the empty place on his own finger, then at the ring now locked on mine. When he spoke again his voice was lower, almost careful.

“If that ring stays away from me, I die. So from now on, you will not leave my sight.”

I pulled my hand close to my chest. The blue light under the stone was already fading, but I could still feel it beating in time with my pulse.

“Why?”

He met my eyes.

“Because my life is on your finger now.”

I stared at the ring on my finger. It was still warm, still black, and it would not come off no matter how hard I pulled. Kael stood a few steps away, watching me the way a man watches a fuse that has already been lit.

“Are you threatening me by saying you will die?” I asked.

He almost smiled. It did not reach his eyes. He took a plain black piece of paper from his pocket, folded it once, and closed his fist around it. When he opened his hand again a silver coin sat in his palm, bright and solid.

I blinked.

“I don’t need to threaten humans,” he said. He turned the coin between his fingers. “I only need to tell them the truth.”

My phone rang before I could answer. The screen showed my mother’s name. I almost let it go to voicemail, but the look on Kael’s face made me answer.

“Where the hell are you?” she snapped. “Vince is already here. Get home and marry him now.”

“I told you I’m not marrying him.”

There was a short, ugly silence on the other end.

“Not marrying him?” she repeated, voice going soft the way it always did when she was about to cut deepest. “Then you can say goodbye to your father’s ashes. If you don’t come home I will dump them in the toilet and flush them.”

My free hand curled into a fist so tight the new ring dug into my skin.

“Touch them,” I said, “and I swear I will never forgive you.”

“Then come home and look pretty. Vince is waiting for you.”

She hung up.

I lowered the phone and stared at the dark street. The rain had slowed to a thin mist. Somewhere far off a car horn sounded and then died. I could still feel the phantom weight of the Mickey costume on my shoulders, the sting of the slap from weeks ago, the sound of my brother’s voice telling me I was only good for paying debts.

I looked back at Kael.

“You need the ring, right?”

“It’s always been mine.”

“I can stay with you until you get it back.”

He tilted his head. “Your condition?”

“Marry me.”

For the first time since he had appeared, something like surprise crossed his face.

“You just found out I’m a demon.”

“I also found out humans can be worse.” I held up my hand so the ring caught what little light remained. “A fake marriage. If you protect me, I’ll keep the ring safe. Once you find a way to get it back, we walk away. Clean.”

He studied me for a long moment. The black wings were gone, but I could still feel the shape of them in the air around him.

“You’re not afraid of the price of marrying a demon?”

“My father already sold me to a thug,” I said. “What else do I have left to be afraid of?”

Kael closed his hand around the silver coin and it vanished. “I’ll consider it.”

I turned and started walking. My legs still felt unsteady from the chase and the gun and the impossible things I had just seen, but I forced them to move. Behind me his voice came low and clear.

“Where are you going?”

I did not answer. A soft rush of air passed over my head. Something dark and sharp-winged settled on a fire escape above the street and watched me with eyes that glowed the same dull red the ring had once held.

I stopped and looked up.

“What is that?”

“Insurance,” Kael said.

“I don’t need anything spying on me.”

“That’s not spying. It’s a warning. Anyone who tries to hurt you will learn the difference.”

I kept walking. The black hawk followed at a distance, silent as smoke. I did not look back again, but I could feel Kael still standing in the empty street, watching me leave with his life locked on my finger.

I did not see the black cracks that had begun to spread across the backs of his hands like thin veins of ink. I did not hear the words he spoke to the rain once I was far enough away that the sound of my footsteps had faded.

“Ninety-nine days left.” Kael said,