“Yes.” In part. And I was well aware that Avari’s anger would not improve my treatment at his hands. But there was nothing I could do about that, so I tried not to think about it. “Let’s talk terms.”

“You surrender. Your father goes home. Those are my terms.” Avari was more furious than I’d ever seen him. More furious than I could ever have imagined. Ice grew beneath his feet, spreading slowly down the steps and over the sidewalk toward us, and he didn’t even seem to see it.

“That’s the general idea, but it does me no good to free my father from you if you’re just going to go after him or someone else I love later.” And he’d do it, after my deal with Ira expired. “With that in mind, I have two demands. If you turn down either one of them, I will walk away from this deal.” He didn’t look like he believed me. I didn’t give a damn. “First, we both agree that in exchange for my immortal soul, you will free my father. Immediately.”

“Agreed.” If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear Avari was rolling featureless eyes at me. “In fact, that is the offer I presented to you.”

Yes. But I needed his offer to me to stand separately—officially—from my real demand.

“Good. Second, I want your word that once I’ve surrendered, you will never again attempt to contact or hurt any member of my family or any of my established friends, in any way, shape, or form, personally or through any other agency acting on your behalf.”

Ira had helped me with the phrasing. Based on Avari’s still-escalating expression of fury—he was nearly speechless—the wrath demon didn’t regret offering me that little bit of assistance at no additional charge.

Avari growled through clenched teeth, and the familiar—and very human—demonstration of his anger almost pleased me. “For what duration?”

What part of “never again” did he not understand?

I propped both hands on my hips, pretending to think it over. “How long do you plan to keep my soul?”

“As long as I like. The blink of a hellion’s eye stretches well beyond a mortal’s understanding of the passage of time, and I intend to enjoy the torment of your soul for much longer than that.”

“So, forever, at least from a ‘mortal’s understanding’?” I said. “Is that a reasonable assumption?”

“Depending on your definition of ‘reasonable,’ yes.” He looked hesitant to admit that. Suspicious.

“Well then, I think ‘forever’ is reasonable in this instance as well. You will have nothing to do with my friends and family, forever, beginning the moment I surrender to you.”

“No.” Avari seemed to take a perverse pleasure in that one word.

“No deal, then.” He started to object, and I spoke over him. “Why should I give myselfto you to save my father if you’re just going to go after my friends and family later? That’s not me saving my father—that’s me delaying his torture and inevitably painful death. I’m not going to sell my own soul for anything less than the absolute freedom—from you—of everyone I love.” My heart thundered within my chest. My pulse was the fevered race of fear through my veins as I turned to Ira to say the words that would either pull Avari into our trap or trigger the collapse of everything I’d lied, stolen, and negotiated for. “Let’s go.”

He nodded triumphantly, virtually glutted on Avari’s rage, and we started to turn.

“Wait!” Avari roared at my back, and the sound rolled over me like an arctic gust, raising chill bumps the length of my body even as it threw me forward. I stumbled to keep from falling, grinning the whole time. I could practically feel his greed, at just the thought that some other hellion might make off with the prize he’d been chasing for months—which obviously didn’t feel like a “blink of the eye” at the moment. “Fine. I agree,” he said, and the words sounded like icicles shattering on concrete. “Once I take possession of your soul, I will have no further contact with your friends or family members, directly or indirectly. From now, until the end of my own existence, should that day ever arrive.”

I glanced up at Ira. “Does that about cover it?”

“I believe it does.” His black orb eyes shined. “And that means this is goodbye, little fury.”

My pulse raced out of control, flushing my system with fear and dread. Panic tripped in my chest, and my heart skipped one beat, then another. My hands tingled, and I could no longer feel my feet. “Don’t forget what you promised....”

“Like it or not, I am a hellion of my word. We all are.” He shot an amused look at Avari, who seemed to hate the hellion of wrath with an all-new passion. “One more kiss for the road?”

I nodded, and Ira leaned down to kiss me one more time, in front of three other hellions and assorted creepy-crawlies that had gathered to watch, no doubt waiting for the chance to grab a scrap of flesh or a chip of bone should one be tossed their way.

But that kiss wasn’t just a goodbye between me and Ira, who was only playing the part of my friend because I was paying him. That kiss was a vital part of my deal with the hellion of wrath.

This time when his lips met mine, he inhaled and warmth seemed to flow from my body, pulled through my throat, then from my mouth into his. A bitter cold remained in its absence, and suddenly I couldn’t remember...something.

There was something I’d known a moment earlier, but couldn’t...quite...recall. Whatever it was, it was important. So important it had to be removed before Avari could find it in my head, when he took me apart.