“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.”

2

Georgia

Both her mother and Mike were asleep when the demon entered Larry’s hospital room, sometime in the early hours of the morning. They sat by his bed, in the hospital's uncomfortable chairs, heads twisted uncomfortably to the side and their features drawn in troubled lines even after exhaustion had claimed them.

The night gave no respite when the person she loved the most in the world was drawing his last breaths.

Georgia forced her gaze from Larry’s pale face as the door cracked open, revealing the demon. His black eyes immediately flicked to her brother, hunger evident in their depths.

“Don’t even think about it,” Georgia hissed, getting up and out of the chair as quietly as she could. They’d all earned their rest—and she didn’t particularly want anyone to see whatever was about to happen.

The demon sighed impatiently, rolling his eyes as he dragged them from Larry to her. “Fine. Guess you’ll have to do. Tastes so much better from the sick, though.”

She grimaced, not willing to think too hard on the implications of what he’d said. “Be quiet—I don’t want them waking up. Let’s go into the hall.”