For a moment, all I could do was stare at the angels, my blood roaring in my ears. They both watched me with expectant expressions carved into their chiseled faces, and a strange hum of power rippled from their towering forms. A humid breeze rustled the hair around my shoulders, bringing with it the stench of a nearby dumpster. The street was silent and empty except for us. It all felt eerie and wrong.

“You’re asking me to spy on a demon.”

They shared a quick glance, and then Gabriel shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“You realize how crazy that sounds, right?” I asked, taking a step away from them. “If he’s as dangerous as you think he is, then I don’t want to work for him anymore, let alone spy for you.”

“I’m not sure you have much of a choice,” Gabriel said. “Didn’t you sign a contract?”

“Yeah, but I mean—”

“You made a deal with a demon, Mia,” Suriel said, his voice softening just a bit. “There’s no way you can get out of it until you fulfill your end of the bargain. Not unless you’re willing to lose your soul.”

“Lose my…” Fear and anger ripped through me like a tornado. Sucking in a sharp breath, I fisted my hands, which started shaking by my sides. “Wait a minute. What are you saying?”

Gabe sighed and ran a hand along his buzzed hair. “When you make a deal with a demon, you lose your soul if you break the contract.”

My heart lurched into my throat, and dizziness slammed into my skull. I reached out for something to hold onto but quickly realized there was nothing but the grime-infested building to my right and the towering angels before me. Shaking my head, I stumbled back.

“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that Asmodeus made a deal for my soul, and he didn’t even tell me about it.”

Suriel pressed his lips together. “Yes, Mia. We are. So, you see why he needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Only an evil being would do something like that.”

All the blood drained from my face as my mind spun through the implications. I’d signed a deal with a demon. One who may or may not be totally, completely evil. And I had to live with him. If I tried to get out of it, my soul would…what, exactly? Go to hell?

I really needed to sit down.

“We think the club is a cover for something else,” Gabriel added, his boots thunking against the sidewalk as he stepped closer.

Suriel nodded. “Something nefarious. Perchance he is the one behind the recent murders.”

I raised my brows as his words snapped me out of my shock. “Perchance? Um, what century are you from?”

Suriel exchanged a glance with Gabriel. “Well, we are very old.”