Accidentally Married To A Demon - Mila Young Page 0,55

me wonder who the third room is for. Or was for. Not really important. I never knew where he spent his nights. I guess demons don't need a lot of sleep."

"I guess not," I whispered, trying to make out what I was looking at. "Are... are you real? Because I'm still pretty sure that the last time I saw you, it was a trap to get me to this fucking place for some reason."

"I would have thought you knew the reason by now." Moira sat on the bed, patting it to get me to join her.

I wasn't quite there yet. "Nope, completely in the dark. I still have no idea what you were up to around here."

"This place has a way of growing on you. I started out studying the nature of the demon that inhabited the vineyard, but I found myself... just realizing that there was a lot more to this little town than just a demon. Sure, the vampires suck—"

"Pun intended?"

"Very much so," she laughed. "But in the end, the rest of them are... dear to me. I never thought that you would have to deal with the hellhounds, of course, but the vampires took a very quick interest in you."

"They kept calling me a demon witch or some shit like that," I said, joining Moira on the bed.

"Huh. I guess I'll have to look into that."

"How? They got libraries in the afterlife?"

"I'm still around here," she said, waving her arm around, and I assumed that mean she was a ghost. "I've found that I have nothing but time on my hands. But in the end, when they demanded that I pay their price, I couldn't go through with it, and... well, you saw the kind of pull they have."

"Those hellhounds looked a lot like werewolves," I commented.

"Really? I didn't see much of them. They came for me at night."

I tried to shake that thought off. They were terrifying enough in the daylight.

"But these people... need someone to look out for them. Bring them together, otherwise they'll just bicker and keep tending to old grudges, leaving them divided, which allows the monsters to keep them in check. Having someone like you... well, you saw what they can do when they work together."

"Vamps aren't likely just going to let that slide."

"You've seen them. Decrepit things that have no interest in the world aside from their tiny domain, and even then, only what it can provide them in their preferred form of food. They won't pick a fight with you."

"I doubt that'll be the end of it, though."

Moira nodded. "They might summon more hellhounds, but until then, they won't bother with dealing with you themselves."

"What did they ask of you?" I suddenly interjected, leaning forward.

"What?"

"You said that they had a price for you. What did they want you to do? And what did you want from them in return?"

She sighed. "I wanted to share my magic with the fae in the village. They wanted some of it for themselves, and I couldn't bring myself to allow them any more power."

I nodded, looking down at the sheets. "Yeah, I can see that."

"But that's why you have to remain here," Moira insisted, taking my hand in hers, even if I couldn't so much as feel her touch. "Take over where I stopped, keep helping the fae."

I couldn't say no to that. Even if it hadn't been my favorite aunt asking me, I had grown more than a little attached to these people, for all their dangerous dispositions and quirks. Besides, Dracul would never understand why I suddenly stopped visiting.

"Fine," I whispered. "I'll stay."

"Perfect."

I looked down at my hand, suddenly feeling something there. A prick into my finger.

"Ow! What the hell was that?"

A paper came up from the desk, and I could see Moira signing her name into it with my blood.

"That's precisely what I needed," she said, a devious smile coming across her lips. "With blood freely given, I can now return, but my life is bound to yours."

"What?"

Before she could answer, Moira faded into the air, leaving the contract floating to the ground.

I reached out to snap it into my hands before it could fall, looking over the terms this time.

The binding of my life to hers was in there, along with more terms, binding me to the town again.

And more.

"Goddamn it!" I shouted. "I'm not marrying him! Why would you even include that in the contract anyways?"

I looked around the room, waiting and hoping for some kind of answer, but