Page 26 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

XAVIER

I arrived at the house on Cassland Road, east London, with the faded pink flamingo in an overgrown garden, too many windchimes hanging from the dormant apple tree. The windows were as dirty as always, the net curtains a urine shade of yellow.

A residential street free of any toxic river scars or damage from The Rift, a place I vowed I would never return to.

Waiting at the blue door, knuckles braced to knock, I contemplated the price Una would set.

You need her…

I rapped my knuckles on the peeling paint. Shuffling immediately began behind the door, the porchlight clicking on to spotlight me. I recoiled slightly, scanning the silent street for any silver flashes.

“Well, well, well.” A raspy voice drifted from a tiny speaker in the corner of the porch. “Look who it is.”

I waved at the speaker, not sure where the fairy’s camera was fixed to it.

“What do you want?”

“Can you open the door?” I asked.

“I tend to refuse visitors after sunset.”

“The sun’s not quite set,” I rebutted.

“My parameters are wide, especially for the likes of you.”

“You have no right to be mad at me. I fulfilled my end of the bargain.”

I stole something for her, she tried to gouge my eyes out because it wasn’t quite right. Hence why I did not want to be here.

“That you did,” she answered. “Flaws and all.”

“It wasn’t my fault the diamond was flawed. I merely carried out your request.”

“That you did,” she repeated.

There was no time for this nonsense. “The past is the past. Can we talk?”

She sniffed deeply, her intake of air that of a hay fever sufferer. “No more bargains, Xavier. I’m tired of them.”

A melody to my ears. “Then how about a standard payment?”

“For what?”

“Let me in and we can discuss it.”

“You look nervous, demon.”

“I am,” I admitted.

“Afraid of me?”

“Yes.”

“I’m afraid of you.”

“Please, Una. I will not harm you, nor do I wish to. Unless you try hurting me. You have my word.”

A few seconds passed. “We have a deal.”

With Una, a deal made by word was binding. The moment one of us reneged on it, a terrible consequence would fall on our heads. Usually some leaking bodily fluid.

The door opened, hinges squealing.

I entered the warm hallway of high ceilings and dust, floral lampshades on the two tall lamps casting light across scuffed wooden floors.

The air reeked of stale sweat and fried food.

Una stood at the foot of her stairs in tatty blue sweatpants, a brown woolen sweater swallowing her upper half, her shoulders hunched forward.

The last time I saw her, her posture was perfect, her hair a flaming orange, not this matted gray.

And her dark brown complexion certainly hadn’t been covered in nasty boils.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

Her wings were bent and broken. “A deal gone bad.” Stagnant breath wafted from her cracked lips.

She extended a gnarled hand. “Hello, Xavier.”

“Hello, Una.”

We shook hands, her skin ice-cold against my heat.

She gasped. “I forgot how hot you are.”

“Can this be fixed?” I asked.

“Do not concern yourself with such things, Xavier.” She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, dabbing at her nose. “They are none of your business.”

Fairy. Powerful creature, sneaky, not to be trusted. An essential part of my plan to confront Tanith.

Ismael…

“Coffee?” she asked.

“No, thank you.”

“Good. Follow me.”

Una shuffled on her slippers through a door to my left.

The living room looked the same as last time, curtains drawn, two more lamps highlighting the many piles of books, the packed bookshelves, the cracks in the yellow-stained ceiling.

A mirror hung over a fireplace, the flames crackling, a pile of chopped wood and balls of paper close by.

Her sofa was buried under books, only one chair positioned by the fire, complete with a red footstool.

Una lowered herself into the seat, grunting as she settled, resting a foot on the stool.

I stood, facing her, not expecting a chair.

“Speak, demon,” she said, her watery green eyes blinking up at me.

I got straight to business. “I need some charms from you. The pink and the blue variety to be exact.”

Pink fairy charms provided powerful protection. The blue charms were deadly explosives.

“I have jewels I can pay you with,” I added.

Three blinks, a stroke of her boil-speckled chin. “Why does a demon like you require fairy charms?”

“As you said, it is none of your business.”

She grinned, revealing broken teeth. “Is that so?”

“Yes.” I would not give her the slightest morsel of detail.

“Interesting.”

“Well?”

“Let me think,” she said.

“I don’t have much time.”

“Then you should have planned better.”

Irritatingly correct. If I had acted on this thought earlier, rather than kidnapping Roman, I could be back at his flat with the charms in hand.

Did Roman despise me, regardless of his apparent forgiveness? Had I gone too far with him? And why did I care? Once tonight was over, I would leave him and this wretched city behind me for good.

I could still smell him beyond the stench of this house.

“Show me the jewels,” she demanded.

On my way here, I’d made a stop at my bank, withdrawing jewels from my safe deposit box.

I knew Una’s tastes. I knew she couldn’t resist them.

I tipped eight jewels from their green velvet pouch into the palm of my hand. Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald—replicas of my spider eyes. She coveted them, offered to pay me so she could add them to her collection.

Before she came at me with a dagger to dig them out herself.

“Your eyes…” she breathed, licking her lips.

“No.”

“They look like them.” I watched greed fill her face. “Are they real?”

“They are real stones, yes.” My eyes were not actual gems.

“Expensive.”

“Yes.”

She tore her eyes away from the sparkling stones, her lust shifting to repulsion. “I hate that you have come here.”

“I hate myself more.”

She grunted. “Why do demons whine so much? You have what you want now—no more walls. At least you have a realm to flit between.”

Her home, the Fairy Wilds, were dying.

“Whine, whine, whine,” she said.

I refused to be drawn into any other discussions. “Do we have a deal?”

“You haven’t named your price for such pretties.” Her eyes were on the stones again.

Of course. “Two pink charms, two blue.”

“Already I feel out of pocket.”

“This is more than enough.”

“Says who?”

“Should I go to another fairy?”

She bared her teeth, hissing at me. “They will not appreciate the beauty of such things. How about one of your lovely eyes to sweeten the pot?”

Una licked her lips, attention on the jewels at my wrists.

“Forget it,” I replied.

“How many eyes do you need?”

“Exactly what I have,” I said. “If you don’t want this deal, I’ll leave.” I took a step toward the door.

“Stop being pathetic.”

Would driving your face into that fire be considered pathetic? “Fine.”

I expected more resistance, darker offers.

“First the charms,” I said, “then these.” I rolled them in my hand.

“Why do you get to make the rules?”

“Because I do.”

“I should throw a blue charm at your feet for such impertinence,” she snapped.

I offered silence.

She bared her teeth again, looking away. “Very well.”

“How long do you need?”

“The time it takes for me to get my box. Help me up.”

Back on her feet, she shuffled away, barking an order to wait.

I remained where I stood, knowing better than to rummage through a fairy’s things. Certain tomes were traps, devious weapons to waste more of my time.

Una returned with a red leather box, taking her time to sit again.

“Are you dying?” I asked her.

“Keep your demon nose out of my business.” She popped the lid, revealing glass flowers within, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Two pink, two blue.

“Satisfied?” she asked.

“Thank you.”

The fairy closed the lid, handing me the box. I took it with one hand, dropping the jewels into her expectant palm. Her fingers curled around them like squid tentacles snaring prey.

“Good luck, Xavier,” Una said. “In whatever endeavor you are tangled in.” She laughed, opening her hand to inspect her acquisition. “Tangled. An appropriate word for a demon like you.”

Ignoring her silliness, I replied with a thank you and a goodbye.

“Never a next time,” she answered.

“I’ll make sure of it,” I said, leaving her house for the final time.

Hopefully.

I hailed a cab on the main road at the end of the street, the night drawing in.