Page 1 of Prince of Demons (Demon’s Mark #2)

Georgia

“ Y our brother is dying.”

Those were the words that ended Georgia’s world.

She stared at her mom’s drawn face, the pale skin taut on her too-prominent features.

She'd hardly slept, hardly eaten in the month since Larry’s hospitalization.

Georgia had done her best to care for her mom while she coped with the news of Larry’s aggressive cancer, but there was only so much she could do to ease her mother’s life while her youngest child went through chemo with a less than five percent chance of survival.

And now, even that small ray of light had been extinguished.

Georgia clutched her hands in her lap as her mother sank down on the waiting-room chair next to her and buried her face in her palms. She didn’t cry—she hadn’t since the diagnosis—but Georgia knew she was quietly breaking apart from the inside.

She knew, because she was, too.

He was only nineteen years old. Nineteen, and so full of life and light. How could something so horrible as cancer take away the kindest, brightest person in a hundred mile radius?

How was that fair? How was that right?

“How long?” she asked, voice soft despite the urge to scream until she blacked out.

“They think maybe two weeks, if we’re lucky,” her mom said, voice muffled by her hands. “I need to call Mike. I just…”

“I’ll do it,” Georgia said, mostly because if she didn’t do something, she would give in to the rage and grief, and her mom didn’t need that.

Her mother's voice was a hoarse whisper of exhaustion. "Thank you."

The sunset was cruelly beautiful. It lit up the autumn sky in a tapestry of golden orange, reds and purples while Georgia walked back and forth across the small strip of grass outside the hospital’s western wing, listening to Larry’s dad go through all the stages of grief on the other end of her cellphone.

“Larry asked us not to tell you, Mike,” she said as gently as she could as he cussed and roared.

“He didn’t want you to worry. He was sure he would beat it.

” Her brother, an optimist until the end.

Even when the doctors had given him his diagnosis and the grim chances for survival, he’d smiled at her and told her he’d beat the odds and not to worry.

“Fuck!” Mike groaned on the other end. “This is my fault. He didn’t think he could reach out to me because I’ve been so busy with Jeanette and the twins…”

“It’s no one’s fault,” she said, because despite Mike’s shortcomings as a father, he loved her brother. And right now, loving Larry hurt something fierce. “You know how he is—always expects the best outcome of everything.”

Mike coughed a broken sob. “Fuck. This can’t be happening, Georgia.”

“I know,” she whispered. “But it is, and I think you should come see him.”

“Of course. I… I’ll be there within two hours.”

The silence after he hung up echoed through the hollow place inside of her, the one that’d been empty since Larry’s first diagnosis. She’d known, from that first day, despite her brother’s complete belief he’d be all right… she’d known he wouldn’t.

Numb, Georgia stared into the sun, stung by it’s final flare as it sank below the horizon. The golden reflections on the city’s skyscrapers dimmed and vanished, as if sucked away, leaving her alone in the creeping twilight.

“Got a light?”

Georgia jolted at the unexpected voice—she’d been too lost in her own misery to hear anyone approach. When she turned toward the speaker, another shock jerked through her chest, and she automatically took a half-step back before she caught herself.

“Sorry. Don’t smoke,” she muttered, trying to keep her eyes from the horns growing out of the stranger’s pimply forehead.

“S’ok,” he said, turning back toward the hospital. “Nasty habit anyway.”

Georgia stared blindly at his tail swaying as he walked back toward the large building lit up brightly against the darkening sky.

He was wearing scrubs, and she numbly wondered if he had to cut a hole in the pants for the tail to fit through.

They didn’t all have tails. She knew because it wasn’t uncommon to find demons in places like hospitals or care homes.

Any place with vulnerable people, really.

They’d always scared her . She’d called them trolls as a little girl as she’d screamed and pointed, but that’d only made them take notice of her.

They’d stared at her, and even though she’d been young, she’d never forget that greedy look in their eyes as they watched her sob.

As if her tears, her fear, excited them.

It hadn’t taken long before she learned to pretend she didn’t see their horns or scales or claws.

She’d been in her late teens before she’d learned the adult word for what they were. And what they did.

“Hey!” the shout was out of her throat and past her lips before she could think to stop herself.

The demon turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“I…” Her mouth was dry as she stared at him. Never in a million years had she thought she’d do this. But Larry was sick now, and in her gut she knew there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to try to stop her family from crumbling apart.

If he died, there wouldn’t be anything left to live for anyway.

“I want to make a deal with you.”

The horned man arched an eyebrow, slowly turning all the way back around to face her. His fully black eyes crept over her face. “A deal?”

Georgia quickly bobbed her head in a nod, before she could change her mind. Every instinct in her screamed to run at the calculating look in his slightly narrowed gaze. “That’s what your kind does, isn’t it? Make deals?”

A small smile with no warmth tugged on his lip. He crossed his arms over his chest and walked back toward her, every step slow and measured. “I suppose that depends. What kind am I?”

“Demon,” she croaked, her throat tight as he stopped in front of her. “You’re a demon. And I want to make a deal with you.”

His eyes turned laser sharp then, head tilted back as he took her in from head to toe. “Well, well. And what do you have to trade?”

“My… my soul?” she whispered. “Isn’t that your price?”

He cracked a grin then, wide and unpleasant, but thoroughly amused. “Not exactly the kind of business I’m in, darling.”

“Oh.” Georgia frowned, taken aback by this twist in the conversation.

It wasn’t that she was an expert on the subject, but all the religious scripture she’d found said demons fed on mortal souls.

“I thought—isn’t that why you hang around the hospital?

To trade the souls of grieving relatives in exchange for their loved ones’ lives? ”

The demon snorted. “Nope. That’s a few steps above my pay grade, I’m afraid.”

“Then why do you work here?” she asked, confusion winning out over fear.

“Easy access to organs,” he said with a shrug. “And juices. Eyeballs. That sorta thing. Plus, the benefits aren’t bad.”

Georgia blinked, every small hair on her body standing on end as horror crept back through the confusion. “O-oh. Okay. Nevermind.” She made to push past him, but he brought a hand up to her arm, stopping her before she could.

“Don’t flee, little mouse. Just because I don’t want your soul doesn’t mean we can’t find another bargain.”

She suppressed a shudder at his touch and forced herself to look up into his eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well,” he drawled, letting his gaze rest on her throat for a beat. “I like blood. And bile.”

“You work in a hospital,” she said. “Surely there’s plenty of supply?”

“You’d think,” he said with a grimace, finally letting go of her arm. She immediately took a step back, putting a foot’s distance between them. “But as lax as they are with checking everyone gets buried with their liver, getting to the blood bank’s a right nightmare. Every ounce is accounted for.”

“Oh… right,” she said, somewhat off kilter by his relaxed mention of harvesting organs from corpses. “So you want… to bite me?”

“I could,” he said, flashing her that disturbing smile again. “But if I do, you ain’t getting back up again, and that would put an end to my blood supply, now wouldn’t it?”

“Uh…?”

The demon tossed his head in the direction of the hospital for her to follow, then began walking back toward the building again. “From what you were saying before, it sounds like someone you love is sick, and you want a bit of magic to make them all better, hmm?”

Georgia stumbled after him, her legs taking a millisecond to obey. “Yes. My brother.”

“Well, darling, that sort of power doesn’t come easy.

Or cheap.” He shot her a meaningful look as they passed through the sliding doors, and the noises from the busy hospital intruded on the surreal conversation, surrounding them in an obscene cocoon of normality.

“Tell me what room your brother is in and I’ll bring a contract with me after my shift tonight.

But a fair warning—once you sign it, there’s no going back. ”