Cherie Colyer - Hold Tight

“Now? Are you serious?” I asked.

Isaac’s fingers laced through mine, sending a reassuring trickle of power through me that let me know he’d be happy to tell Caden to get lost.

“Contracts are tricky things,” Caden replied. “I can’t collect early, and if I collect too late, other demons will think I’ve gone weak. They’ll try to take over my territory.”

I held Isaac’s hand as if he were an anchor. “Caden, I didn’t spend an afternoon doing my hair and makeup to go on demon-duty.”

“I don’t think twelve more hours is going to hurt your reputation as an evil dick,” Isaac said to him.

“Says the do-gooder witch,” Caden shot back. He looked at me. “You’ll barely be gone thirty minutes.” When I didn’t move, he added, “The deal was no questions asked.”

“Well, I didn’t think you’d pick the most inconvenient time to collect,” I grumbled and turned to face Isaac. “I have to go.” Rising to my tiptoes, I kissed him, letting my lips remain on his longer than I normally did when I knew we were being watched. “I promise I’ll hurry.”

I followed Caden, checking over my shoulder before exiting the gym. Josh and Kaylee had joined Isaac at the edge of the dance floor.

I’ll be right back , I mouthed.

Caden led me to the parking lot. I wrapped my arms around my body in an attempt to block the frigid breeze, but it was no use.

“We’re driving?” I asked. I had expected him to snap his fingers or blink and we’d be transported to wherever it was we were going.

“It’s not far from here.” He shrugged out of his coat and held it up for me to put on. Too cold to argue, I slipped my arms through the sleeves. It smelled like a bonfire, but this time I didn’t ask why. Now that I knew what he was, I suspected he’d tell me he’d just come from hell.

He opened the passenger door for me.

“This trip better not ruin my dress,” I said as I slid into the seat.

It took me a couple minutes to work up the nerve to ask him what he expected me to do.

“Nothing that will taint your soul.” He turned right onto the main road.

We wove through a posh neighborhood and pulled into the driveway of a sprawling, dark brick two-story house. We got out, and I followed Caden through the back gates onto a large stone patio. We peered through a bay window into a gourmet kitchen. A woman in her early thirties sat at the table with two young children. From the looks of it, she was helping the girl with homework while the toddler alternated between coloring on a large sheet of paper and pushing his toy truck around the table. I glanced around. Past the patio furniture were an in-ground pool and a stainless steel outdoor kitchen.

“What? Did the husband sell his soul to be able to afford this place?”

“No. The father and daughter were in a bad car accident. The back passenger door took the brunt of the impact.” He looked at me. “The girl was in critical condition. The mother made the deal.”

My heart lodged in my throat. “Oh no!” I held a hand up. “I am not helping you take that woman away from her family.” I turned on my heels. “You’re on your own.”

“If you walk away, you’ll void your contract.”

I kept my eyes locked on the gate. It wasn’t fair that he asked this of me.

“Your brother will die, and the woman in that house will still pay her debt.” He stood behind me now and continued in a low voice. “She came to me, Madison. She knew the price.”

Turning to meet his gaze, I said, “You want me to help you take the soul of a woman who made the same deal I tried to make?”

“And had you been able to make it, I would have come for your soul when your years were up.”

I glanced back at the house. “How many did she get?”

“Five.”

“How old is her little girl?”

“Nine.” He moved a ringlet of hair from in front of my eyes. “You can think me a monster, but I don’t seek out souls. They come to me, and because of the deal she made, her daughter will grow up to be an adult.”

I stared at the family, biting my bottom lip. The little girl set her pencil down, a proud grin stamped across her face. The mom smiled back and pointed to the paper. I guessed she was telling her to do the next problem.

“Need I remind you, you promised your date you wouldn’t be long? Promised,” he said again, stressing the word. “Your brother doesn’t have to die, but that woman’s time is up if you keep our deal or not. Eventually, she will leave the house, and I will be there. If she resists too long, hell will sick the hounds on her. You’re sparing her that torment.”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m a hero.” I closed my eyes and rubbed my hands over my hips. “What do I have to do?”

Caden was beside me. I hoped he felt winter’s nip through his dress shirt. “She had a witch cast a spell on the house.”

Smart woman, but not smart enough.

“Sorry,” I said flippantly, “I didn’t squeeze my pocket-sized book on wards into this dress.”

He handed me a slip of paper. “I need you to cancel the protection keeping me out and to get rid of the devil’s shoestring above the patio doors and in those pots. It’s the plant with the wide leaves.” He pointed to the large terracotta planters flanking the entrance.

“It’s dead.”

“Doesn’t matter. It still keeps out evil, and as charming as I know you find me, I’m a demon and therefore in the evil category.”

I bit back my sarcastic comment.

“Need I remind you again what happens if you break our deal?”

I shook my head and swiped at a tear that rolled down my cheek. “You’re not going to stroll in there in front of her kids, are you?”

“No. I’ll drive you back to the dance, which—” he glanced at the time on his cell phone “—if you hurry, will be within thirty minutes, and then I’ll come back. She’ll tuck the little ones in bed. Her family will think she passed in her sleep.”

I glanced at the paper. “This sucks.”

“What were you expecting I’d need your help with?”

“I don’t know.” I had been trying not to think about it. “You have a crappy job.”

He shrugged. “Hell has worse.”

I watched the mother with her children a moment longer. My heart broke knowing the boy and girl would be growing up with only a dad and that this family would never know just how far the woman had gone to give her daughter a second chance.

“You still suck,” I said.

With the exception of the Latin words that Caden had to pronounce first, the counterspell was simple enough. Casting it put the bitter taste of copper in my mouth, but I couldn’t find any positive emotions to help me fuel my powers. With the protection ward removed, the devil’s shoestring was the last obstacle standing between Caden and the woman.

I held a trembling hand out, hating myself at that moment and sorry I had learned how to summon things. Had I still been working on mastering the spell, the mom inside the house would have had at least one more day with her children. I glanced at Caden. He gave a nod.

With a heavy heart, I said, “Devil’s shoestring.”

When the cold, dried plant touched my skin, I torched it in blue flames.

I couldn’t stand to look at the woman a moment longer. “Can we go now?” I turned away from the family inside the house.

We drove in silence back to school.

Before stepping out of his car, I said, “Make sure the father is there before you…you know. The kids are too young to be home alone.” I handed him back his coat.

“I will.”

I jogged up the walk, the soft click click click of my heels lost in the noise coming from the gym as soon as I opened the doors. Isaac spotted me first and hurried over. Kaylee and Josh joined us and huddled close.