Demons could cry in the sense their eyes would produce tears if there was something in them, so Skye started pretending to feel emotion.She got so good at it that sometimes she could convince the child she targeted thatshewas actually the victim.She liked the power that gave her, and it served her especially well as an adult.Humans were more likely to make soul bargains with her when she faked emotions.
That was what made her one of the Devil’s best soul collectors.
Other demons asked her how she did it, but only Zara and Laurie knew that she pretended to have human emotions.They were the only ones who pretended too.The other demons might accuse them of actuallyhavinghuman emotions if they knew, which would lead to the only true consequence she feared—the loss of her wings and her magic, just like her mother.
Zara snapped her fingers in front of Skye’s face.“Maybe we could skip the back-and-forth where you try to convince me you aren’t obsessed with him, and we get to the part where you fuck him in the dressing room?”
Skye rolled her eyes.“You know I don’t fuck the soulless.”
Zara sighed dramatically.“Yes.”She leaned in, putting her hand on Skye’s forearm, her voice becoming serious.“But, honey, having a little fun isn’t going to make what happened to your mom happen to you.”
“I know that,” she snapped.Her mom was mentally ill.That was the only reason things got as bad as they did.“And Iamgoing to have fun.”
She found the strutting rock star on stage again, his eyes turning murderous as they met her gaze.Smirking, she said, “Fuckingwiththe soulless can be even more fun than fucking them.”
Zara laughed wickedly and raised her martini glass.“Cheers to that.”
“We need to talk,” Skye said to Remi after their gig.She’d gone backstage after the show and hauled him into the dressing room, her fingernails digging into his arm.
“I can’t believe you manipulated them into letting you be our manager,” Remi said.“You realize that they’ll hate you when I tell them what you did.”
Skye pushed him onto a chair.“You aren’t going to tell them anything about our little agreement, or else you’d have already done it.Now, if you’ll give me a minute, I can explain how this is going to work between us.”
Remi crossed his arms over his chest, his studded leather jacket pulling taut.Defiance radiated from him, but he kept his mouth shut.Gray eyeshadow made his blue eyes pop, and the heavy metal chains wrapped around his neck only accented the black snake tattooed along the side of his throat.
“I know you’re upset about the way the bargain shook out, but none of this is my fault,” she said.
“Right.”
“Really, if anyone should be mad, it’s me.The Devil is pissed because your soul is defective, which means I have to do twice as much work to keep him from clipping my wings.”
“Defective?”Remi asked, brows furrowing as his arms slowly uncrossed.
“Our bargain is falling apart,” she said.“I need to stick around until the magic can take hold.Think of it like wet cement.You’re stepping through it and mucking everything up.That’s why you’re having so much bad luck.If I’m around, then the magic between us can harden and set into place.A few days and I’ll be gone and your band won’t run into all these”—she waved her hand around—“hiccups.”
“Days?”
Skye shrugged.“Maybe weeks.”
“Weeks?”
Skye sighed.“I don’t know, okay?This has never happened to me before.It’s not my fault you’ve got a black shadow soul.”
Remi’s eyebrows shot to his hairline.“My soul is black?”
Skye nodded and fingered the gem on her choker necklace.She didn’t want to tell Remi she was wearing his soul.“It was blue when we did the deal, but it started turning black.The Devil said the bargain needs more time to solidify, so you’re stuck with me until it does.”
“Huh,” Remi said and leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful expression.
Skye rubbed her thumb back and forth over the shadows.
“I’ve got a black soul…” A smirk grew on his face.“That’s pretty fucking rock ’n’ roll.”
Skye’s eyes rolled to the ceiling, and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.“Jesus Christ.”
“You know him?”
She rubbed her eyes.“I’m the same age as you, Remi.Demons aren’t immortal.”
