“Pffft!” Beezle snorted. “A mere technicality! He’s set for retirement any century now, and you’ll be the one and only Satan!”

My chest did that odd, stumbling thing it had been doing more frequently of late. I rubbed at the spot, finally tearing my eyes away from where I’d last seen the girl.

Well … woman. She was a young woman. I had to remind myself that age worked differently in this realm. And the young woman had a name. Jemma Bliss.

A shiver ran down my spine, and my fingers slid into my pocket, caressing the precious Soul Token inside.

“Why is she always here?” I wondered aloud to my companions. “She does not wear the strange pyjama uniform of the healers.” I rounded on Beezle and Bub. “Does she smell of sickness to you? Her appearance does not indicate she is unwell.” Quite the opposite, in fact. Her cheeks had a healthy glow, her eyes were bright and twinkled even through those enormous glasses of hers. Her body … well, the curves of her suggested that she ate well and frequently.

These thoughts made me feel like my skin couldn’t quite contain my innards.

“Well?” I demanded gruffly, glowering down at the two Hell Hounds. That weird feeling crawling along my skin made me grumpy. Well, grumpier.

Their wide, glowing eyes flicked between me and each other. I folded my arms over my chest, waiting. The urge to twitch my tail was an itch I couldn’t scratch—I didn’t have one in the human form I donned to walk in this realm.

“She smells like the poison they use on many of the sick here …” Beezle began tentatively. My brows drew together.

“But she does not smell like the sickness itself!” Bub yipped, sidling up and rubbing himself against my shins.

“I do not understand why she comes here so often, then. If she is not ill, and she is not a healer, why does she frequent a place that reeks of sickness and misery?”

“Maybe she’s drawn to the place, the same way you are?” Bub suggested.

I shook my head. “That is not why she comes.”

“Does it really matter why?” Beezle asked. “As long as we know where to find her, when the time comes …”

“Hmm,” I mumbled, leaning against the building. “I am not sure we are quite ready to put my plan⁠—”

“Our plan, Boss!” Bub snapped, baring his yellow teeth. “You wouldn’t even know of the strange custom of ‘buy now, pay later’ if we hadn’t been watching the picture box through the window in that waiting area last week!”

I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. My two hounds had fallen about, guffawing about odd mortal rituals afterwards. That was the extent of their involvement in this plan.