A man passed on the opposite side of the street, top hat low on his head to cast his face in shadow, calf-length cloak flapping in an invisible breeze. I caught a flash of red where his eyes should be.
“Don’t make eye contact,” Nox warned. “The people who live here can’t be trusted. They live on the periphery of outlier law, and unless you have a contract with them, there is no guarantee they won’t harm you. I assume we don’t have permission to be here?”
I shook my head.
“No worries. Azazel is the outlier liaison. If we come across any issues, we can use his name as leverage.”
The sun had fully set by the time we stopped outside a set of rusty gates. They were partially open. I peered through the rails at the overgrown lawn and caught sight of the top half of a swing set. The actual swing part was hidden by grass and weeds. The house itself was a detached building with a rickety-looking porch and boarded-up lower-floor windows.
“Would you like me to come with you?” Nox asked.
What, and see Azazel in a compromising position? “No!”
He blinked at me, taken aback by my abrupt tone.
I smiled. “I mean, no, thank you.”
“I’ll wait here then.” He gave me a wary look.
I wanted to send him off, but what if Azazel was incapacitated? What if he was hurt and unable to fly? In that case, I’d need Nox, and he’d have to draw his own conclusions about the whole affair.
I nodded. “Thanks. I’ll message you if I don’t need you to take me back.”
“I’ll be here.”
Okay, so he was looking at me suspiciously now. I needed to stop acting so spooked, but I was about to walk into a witch’s house. A witch who did blood magic. I took a deep breath, pushed open the gate, and strode up the path. She had Azazel for fucksake, and there was no way she was keeping him.
The porch creaked beneath my weight. Rotten, no doubt. Do not fall through, Fee. The front door was slightly open, taunting me to simply walk in.
If this were a horror movie, I’d be yelling at the heroine to get the fuck out of there. But this was no movie. Azazel was in there somewhere.
I pushed the door open and entered a foyer, which in its day might have been grand, but now was wreathed in shadows and cobwebs. Fucking hell, did this witch not clean? A staircase was dead ahead, curving up and out of view, and to my left was a huge arch and a lounge. The furniture was covered in dust sheets and the hearth was a dead husk.
Distant, lilting music drifted to my ears. It was coming from upstairs. The whiff of jasmine and something else, something heavy and cloying, teased my senses. I cleared my throat and strode forward.
“Hello? Annabeth, Azazel?” I was halfway up the stairs when the room below me flared to light.
The hearth was lit with a cheery fire now. What the hell?
I took a couple of steps down. “Hello?”
A shadow detached itself from the wall beside the boarded-up window and drifted into the middle of the room. It slowly took form. A male, pale and wistful with huge dark eyes and dark hair that curled under his ears, wavered in front of me.
“You’ve come for him, haven’t you?” he said in a cultured voice.
“Azazel? You saw him. Where is he?”
The specter looked up at the ceiling.
I made to turn away.
“She won’t let you have him.”
I paused. “She won’t have a fucking choice.”
His smile was pitying. “You must know very little of our world to come here with the will to make demands.”
My thumbs pricked in warning. He was right. I didn’t know nearly enough. “Who are you?”
“No one. No name. Nothing. I gave it all to my mistress, and she claimed it. Illiteracy was my downfall.”
Illiteracy? “You have a contract with her?”
He nodded. “And so does the demon. Signed in blood. Sealed in sex, bound in pain.”
He glanced up again.
My heart pounded hard in my chest. “He would have read it. He wouldn’t just sign it.”
“He read it. He accepted the price. But he only read the first layer. They only ever read the first layer.” He made a sad, pitying face. “They never look beneath. Sometimes the beneath is in her favor. Sometimes it’s in theirs.” He drifted closer, a sly look crossing his features. “But I can help you