to be well over a hundred years old and then some. Tufts of snow-white hair framed a dark-skinned face. She was close enough for me to see how creased and wrinkled her cheeks and forehead were. Her pale pink shirt read WORLD’S BEST GRANDMA and matched a pair of pink linen cropped pants that draped her frail body. The white thick-soled sneakers completed the AARP and then some package. She was flanked by a man and a woman I recognized as Rowena, the hostess. I had no idea how she was standing on her own and not resting eight feet under, but those eyes were as sharp as a blade and her voice as strong as any of ours.
“The Crone,” Roth explained in a murmur, his entire body gone taut beside mine. “This will either go very badly or somewhat less badly.”
Great.
That sounded just great.
“Look at what they’ve done!” Faye shrieked, struggling against my hold, but I didn’t let her go. “Look at what they’ve done to the coven.”
“What they’ve done?” the Crone responded, and white caterpillar-like brows rose. “Was it not you who led them here? Was it not you who brokered a deal with a demon in the first place?”
“Wh-What?” Faye stammered, confusion flashing across her face, and I was right there with her.
The Crone stepped forward on thin legs. “When you offered the elixir in exchange for Lilith’s daughter’s life, you did so outside the bounds of this coven. I warned you then that every act, every word designed to benefit one comes back threefold.”
I peeked at Roth. He was watching the Crone with amber-hued eyes. It was becoming clearer by the second that Faye and some of the coven had gone behind the Crone’s back.
“But it was Lilith’s daughter and—”
“And you wanted a familiar, a powerful one you did not work for nor earn on your own merit.” The Crone cut her off. “We do not interfere with nature, and if nature demanded Lilith’s child’s life, then so be it.”
Roth wisely and a bit surprisingly kept his mouth shut.
“But you were greedy, and that greed led to another deal with another demon, and now you’ve brought something far worse to our coven’s door.”
Underneath me, Faye stopped fighting again.
“You think I did not know about the human enchantment? The bargain you made?” The Crone’s cackle raised the tiny hairs on my body. “It looks like you got what you wanted, but not in the way you expected.”
She knew.
The Crone knew what I was.
“And it looks like those who followed you also received their blessing threefold.” The crone turned her head just the slightest. “I knew I would see you again, young prince.”
Roth bowed his head. “Honored once more.”
She chuckled as if amused. “You always bring such...interesting creations with you. Never thought I’d see a Crown Prince or Lilith’s daughter, but I did because of you and now the child of an angel is before me.” She smiled, revealing dull yellowed teeth. “What odd company you keep.”
“It makes life interesting,” he replied, lifting his chin, and then he slowly rose.
I stayed where I was.
“I’m sure it does.” The Crone’s steely gaze found mine, and silence stretched out. A shiver danced along my skin. She stared at me like she could see inside me. “You are not like them. You do not see in black-and-white. You see gray and all that exists in between, and I know not if that is a strength or a weakness.”
Having no idea how to respond to any of that, I decided to stay quiet.
“Release the familiar, Faye.” The Crone’s voice hardened to steel. “Now.”
Faye closed her eyes, the fight gone. There was no begging. No bartering. “I end this deal bartered by the demon Cayman and release this familiar.”
Air warped behind Faye’s head, and for a moment I thought it was my funky vision, but then Cayman stood there.
His long dark hair was pulled back from his handsome face. No romper today. Instead, he was wearing a purple velour jumpsuit that looked vintage. In his right hand he held what appeared to be a...contract.
Cayman grinned down at the witch. “The bargain brokered is voided.” Flames licked over the thick sheet of paper, leaving nothing but ash. “Blessed be, bitch.”
The demon broker gave Roth and I two thumbs-up and then disappeared in a ripple of air.
And then it happened.
A shadow peeled off Faye’s arm, rapidly expanding and thickening until I could see thousands of little beads. They swirled like a mini tornado and dropped