Deals with the Devil (PA #1)

Chapter 10

Willow, Age Fourteen

Eli is off her rocker, that's the only explanation.

She's spent the better part of ten minutes describing, in detail, how she's going to mutilate her so-called arch-nemesis. The same guy who used to be her best friend and who she's secretly in love with. Her plan to replace feelings of love for Killian with hate is taking a decidedly weird turn.

Not sure how long she plans to go on, I interrupt her. "That's dark, Eli. And not physically possible."

"First of all, what do you expect, Will? I was named after a literal serial killer who bathed in the blood of her victims to maintain a youthful complexion. Gotta live up to that somehow. Second, don't underestimate me. I've been thinking a lot about this."

She isn't wrong about her namesake. Countess Elizabeth Báthory was on another level of fuck—I mean messed—up. "Fair points. Carry on."

"Well, now I've lost my train of thought." She taps her index finger on her bottom lip in concentration. "Where was I? Oh, right, the penis flattening."

Not even the weirdest thing she's said in the past ten minutes, I barely react to the macabre suggestion. "I still don't see how you'd be able to actually do that."

Eli doesn't hesitate. "A really big hammer and a lot of pent-up aggression."

Nodding along with her crazy, I take it a step further. "Yeah, that could work. Would you drug him first, though? I doubt you could get away with it if he was awake. His hellhound would probably attack you."

"Damn, you're right. I really wanted him to see and feel his most precious appendage become a useless piece of flesh, but I also don't want to deal with an enraged shifter. Where can we get some poison?"

I don't even need to think about it. "I'm sure that Aristotle has what we need in that secret lab of his. We could ask him for some."

"Why don't we just steal it? That's more your speed, anyway."

I scoff. "I don't steal from people. I just like to watch them without their knowledge so that I can gain valuable information."

"I'm no pillar of morality, but I don't think that that's any better."

"Yeah, probably not. I'd still rather ask Ari than steal from him, though. He would definitely notice if we took something and I don't want to deal with whatever he'd do in retaliation."

"He can't exactly sleep us to death, but okay. We'll do it your way, Will."

She pats me on the back in an entirely condescending manner, as if she's deferring to the whims of a child. I narrow my eyes at her, but she keeps an annoying half-smile in place.

Rolling my eyes, I lead the way out of my bedroom. Located next to Romeo and across from Elizabeth, the room is in the same shade of baby blue that it's been since I first moved in. Usually, I only spend time in the room when I'm sleeping, so I never put much effort in decorating.

In the past year, I've felt grateful for the fact that my walls are bare. Surely, any hung photos would fall down from the force of Rome's bed repeatedly slamming into our shared wall. Lust finally manifested in him and he's a wholly different person.

While he still hangs out with us between classes during the day, his nights now revolve around finding the next willing partner to have sex with. It makes my heart hurt too much when I think about it, so I usually focus my attention on other things, like the latest drama between Eli and Killian.

Which brings me back to the task at hand. "Ari's lab is in the basement behind a hidden door. It's kind of Frankenstein-esque, but it works for him. He's in the middle of a project, so that's where he should be right now."