Page 95 of A Dangerous Bargain

“They can’t come here,” Niccolo pants.

“Why not?” I wheeze out.

A deep chuckle answers from behind.

“Because this dock belongs to me.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

I scramble to my feet, heart thundering.

The demon’s shadow engulfs me. An elongated head swivels toward us, a pond-weed tangle of hair covering most of the grayed face except for a pair of lambent, pupilless eyes.

“Wh-who are you?” I stammer.

The mouth parts, revealing rows and rows of jagged, broken teeth. From behind the rotting fangs emerges a voice, deep and throaty, like something pulled from the bottom of a swamp. “A name is a precious thing. You won’t be getting mine.”

The voice rattles through me—a storm in the trees, a gale against a window. I have the sudden certainty that this being could end my life as easily as blowing out a candle.

Niccolo mouths, Demon! and falls into a flawless bow. “Could we borrow your boat, signore? We need to go deeper into hell.”

I bow as well, a half second late. Being respectful has only occasionally gotten me in trouble, while being disrespectful has caused me trouble more times than I can count. “Thank you for sheltering us from our enemies.”

“They want to devour you.” From between the demon’s horrible rows of teeth, a long, forked tongue appears. I gasp and wrench backward, but some unseen force holds me fast, anchors my feet to the dock. My chest heaves as the tongue gets closer, caresses my cheek. A coldness like I’ve never felt before slithers through me. With a moan, I sink to my knees, exhausted.

The tongue snakes back into that awful month. “I want to taste you too.” A deep verdant light pulses behind those grayed-out eyes. “The devil used to feed us, but now he keeps all the tastiest morsels for himself. We’re starving.” A chorus of yowling screams agrees from the shore. “Will you feed us?”

My soul screams when those fathomless eyes lock onto mine. I let out a long, slow breath and try not to let it overwhelm me. “Will you let us take your boat if I do?”

Niccolo gasps, his golden light flaring. “You can’t.”

I don’t know if what I’m asking for is possible. Dante went to hell. Aeneas went to the Roman underworld. But these were just poems—stories I very much assumed weren’t real.

The demon licks its lipless mouth. “Such fear.” A reptilian tail slashes in the water below, swirling it to a froth. “Such life.” It inches closer, slitted nostrils quivering.

If we don’t act soon, the demon will. There’s nothing we can do to stop it if it decides to devour us. Nothing except for—

“Bargain with me.”

My head whips toward Niccolo. “No!”

My brother ignores me. The demon has gone stone-still, the ancient words stopping its creep. “My soul for your boat. Then”—his throat bobs—“then you can eat me when I bring it back.”

I force myself up on shaky legs, grinding out another no. My brother can’t do this. I won’t let him. This is my journey, my task.

I’m the one who’s supposed to save him.

Niccolo cups my face. His heat shocks me, sends strength ricocheting through me. Not the warmth of a body, but the warmth of a soul, his love blazing like a shooting star through the cold. “I couldn’t help you before. Let me help now. I can’t die here, remember? Only the devil can unmake a soul.”

I can’t hold back a whimper. “It could eat you forever.”

His mouth tips into a smile. “Like I said, they get bored. Eventually.”

The demon shudders with want. A pleased hiss pushes through its teeth. “To feast on you? Yes, yes, I accept.” Before we can move, its tail riots from the water. The pointed end spears into Niccolo’s side. He doubles over, coughing blood. The demon yanks out the barbed tip and laps my brother’s blood from it as I scream.

“I’m fine,” Niccolo says through gritted teeth. “See?”

Where the mortal wound was, there’s nothing, not even a rip in his clothes.