She pursed her lips.“No, I can’t bring the dead back.”
“Is he here?In Hell?”Remi asked.He glanced at the window where flames from a hellfire pit crested into view.
Skye shook her head.“It’s a myth that when humans die their souls go to Heaven or Hell.The Devil doesn’t have dominion over the afterlife.Neither does the Goddess.”
Remi poked his tongue to the inner corner of his mouth, playing with his lip ring.“So where is he?Where’s Emerson?”
Skye couldn’t stop her eye roll.“I don’t know.I’m not your priest.”He was derailing the plan.He’d been so compliant in his dreams—when she had finally been able to get into them—and with the flyer, she’d been sure that she’d burrowed deep enough into his psyche that he would trust her, give in to her, but he was proving far more resistant than she expected.
Remi crossed his arms.“If you can’t bring my brother back, then there is nothing you could offer me that I’d trade my soul for.”
Hellfire blazed in her veins as her indignation rose.Never in her twenty-five years had she met a human so infuriating.Certainly not after spending this long nurturing the lead.
Skye gritted her teeth and rubbed her thumb over the back of her right wrist, along the birthmark, which connected her to the Devil’s magic so she could complete soul bargains for him.It was the Devil’s mark that kept her under his control.
Blowing out a breath through her nose, she plastered on her most seductive smile and reached out to Remi, skating her hands under his denim jacket, holding his hips as she pulled him toward her.His skin was warm under her fingertips.The rippling muscle along his back made an urge to dig her nails into his skin almost override the logic of her seduction.She couldn’t force.Couldn’t hurt him.She needed to coax him with slow movements.
His face hardened, but his legs moved as she bid.
That was more like it.
She patted the spot beside her on the bed.He hesitated for a second, but then complied and sat down.
His blue eyes didn’t leave hers.The sharp angles of his face and his high cheekbones made him so pretty.The long swoop of his black hair hung over one side.Skye had never enjoyed the gathering intel phase of a soul bargain, but she hadn’t minded staring at Remi from afar.He was even more beautiful up close.Seeing him through the haze of his dreams was nothing like the flesh and blood version of him.It was a fight against her instincts just to keep her hands to herself.
They sat shoulder-to-shoulder.She couldn’t help but press into his lean body.She moved her wings so they weren’t against him, but her tail curled around his hips.
It was all part of the seduction, of course.
She needed to stoke his baser instincts.His lust broke down his defenses.His desire to be adored by millions of fans.His need to protect his bandmates.
Skye grabbed the crystal ball off her nightstand and held it in front of them.She waved a hand over it to direct the magic.Flames burst, and as they dissipated, they left in their place a future she was sure Remi would salivate over.
A dark stage.A stadium full of fans screaming as smoke rolls in.Four figures walk out, and the crowd erupts.Tension breaks as the lights shine down on Remi, West, Ollie, and Liam.Liam pounds out the beat.West and Ollie strum the first chords.Remi grabs the microphone and opens his mouth—
Skye burned the image to ash.“I could give you that,” she whispered.“And I could give you so much more.”
Remi’s eyes began to lose their veil of distrust.He rubbed a hand over his mouth, thinking.
“The path you’re on right now is not the one you want,” she said, fluttering her hand over the crystal ball.Flames burned through the time-space continuum and brought a glimpse of his current future within the glass orb.
Remi and Liam sitting on a beat-up couch, passing a bong between them.Disappointment and years of unfulfilled dreams aged their faces.Their bodies heavy with resentment and shame.
Another wave of her hand changed the image.
West stands in a padded room of a psych ward, his fingers in his hair, ripping at the base of his skull, screaming and talking to the walls.
A flicker of her fingers, and the ball showed the last band member.
Ollie sits in a cubicle, his fingers flying over the number pad on a keyboard.
“Huh,” Remi said.“Ollie did say he had a degree in accounting, but I didn’t actually believe him.”
Skye squinted at Remi.“Seriously?That’s what you have to say after what I just showed you?You’re miserable.Your bandmates are miserable.One of them is in a mental institution.That’s what will happen if you don’t make a bargain with me.”
Remi smiled indulgently.He leaned back on his hands.“None of that was my future.You’re messing with me to make me give in, but it’s not going to work.”
Skye pursed her lips and untangled her tail from around him.She walked her crystal ball back to its resting place on the bookcase, trying to settle the sting of acid in her chest that this deal wouldn’t get done today.
