Page 19 of Hell-Bound

“How can they be alive and dead?”

“They sold their souls, didn’t they? Then broke their contracts.” He shook his head pityingly. “No hope for ‘em now.”

Broke their contracts?

Renata’s mouth suddenly became unbearably dry. She didn’t have hers. For all she knew, she had violated hers without even knowing. Turning into a sleeper suddenly seemed a lot worse than waking up without memories.

You’re playing with fire.

He turned and walked toward the bar area and dug around underneath, producing a dusty green bottle.

“I try not to drink alone, hard to stop. But ye’re here now.Care for a nip?”

“Absolutely,” she responded hastily, tongue feeling like sandpaper.

Fred grabbed three glasses, all with chips, and poured two fingers each.

“Spirits for the spirits, ye know,” he said without a hint of irony, a small head tilt towards the third glass.

Renata lifted hers and smelled the liquor. It smelled sweet and woody. It could be poison, but honestly, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Leo says ye’re here on something and some sort. Wouldn’t tell me. And I don’t want to know. That’s why I have the muting magic up.” He wiggled his fingers as if casting a spell. “The less ye can say, the less I get in trouble. But the least I can do for Leo is set ye up a room.”

He took a long sip of his drink and continued.

“But if yer gonna stay at me place, ye gotta follow me rules.” He pointed a dirty nail at her. “No bringing in any guests. I don’t care if it’s just a succubus or an imp. Go get your pleasures somewheres else.”

Renata almost choked on her drink.

“Oh no. I don’t—have an...no, I’m good.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Girl, ye’re in Hell. Temptation is the name of the game here.” He raised his glass to his lips, finishing it off. “Ye’ll give in to something, all right. We all do.”

He looked down at the empty glass as if to will the liquor back.

“Justdon’tdo it here,” he emphasized, gesturing to his bar.

She lifted her hands in surrender.

“And stay away from the sleepers. Ye can’t help ‘em, don’t try.”

“How did you—”

“Don’t try! They made their deals. Then they reneged! Let ‘em do their job and have some semblance of peace.”

Suddenly curious, she said, “They have jobs?”

“They work the mines. Digging out all those gems you see everywhere.”

“What do they do with it?”

“Well, they give it to their lords, don’t they? Paying off the debts they still have.”

Renata shivered. She couldn’t think of anything worse than becoming some unseeing zombie wandering around andstillbeing in total servitude.

“Leo said ye’s would be going to The Forked Tongue tonight?”