Page 130 of Mortis

Teddy blinked, then huffed. “I haven’t even told you what it is yet.”

“The last people I made a deal with spent more than a century being profoundly irritating.” Mammon turned away. “I’m taking a break.”

Black smoke began curling around his feet, then my hooves. My stomach dropped, because I knew what it meant. He was taking me back to Hell. Away from Teddy and away from Arlo. Away from the life I had only just discovered I wanted. I looked desperately towards Teddy. Wide blue eyes stared back at me. The smoke reached my knees, while more climbed Mammon’s thighs.

“What if I could guarantee you a regular supply of souls?”

The smoke vanished. Mammon stopped, and slowly, he turned. His golden eyes narrowed on Teddy with renewed interest.

Clever little mortal, the Beast purred.

“Explain,” Mammon ordered.

And so Teddy did.

He told Mammon about Adler & Sons. How the deceased were brought into his care with their souls still intact. How I had already been consuming those souls and delivering them directly to Mammon.

“Nobody has to be sacrificed,” Teddy finished. “Nobody has to die who isn’t already dead. You get a regular supply of souls for your weird little competition with Lucifer, and Kael gets to stay.”

Mammon stared at him. “How many?”

Teddy blinked. “Huh?”

“Bodies.” Mammon waved impatiently. “Annually.”

“Oh.” Teddy chewed his lower lip. “About a hundred and fifty, give or take.”

Mammon rubbed his chin, apparently calculating whether one hundred and fifty souls was sufficient payment for my freedom. “Hm.”

We stood in silence, barely breathing.

What in Hell did hm mean?

Teddy, however, seemed remarkably confident. He straightened to his full height, which admittedly wasn’t particularly impressive, and held Mammon’s stare. A five-foot-seven mortician in a shredded shirt, covered in blood, negotiating with the Prince of Greed for the eternal freedom of a demon.

And somehow, I knew exactly who I was betting on.

“That could work.” Mammon pointed at me, then Teddy. “But what about your different lifespans? He’s an immortal demon. You’ll be dead in fifty years.”

Teddy spluttered. “Hopefully longer than that?”

Mammon shrugged. “Sixty, then.”

Teddy looked down at me, and the reality of our relationship, our love, finally came crashing down around us. The future we’d been hoping to build had an expiration date, and one day, I would lose him.

But Mammon could change that.

And judging by Teddy’s expression, he’d come to the same realisation.

“I . . .” he began, but trailed off.

His gaze moved between me and Arlo, lingering on his best friend for half a second longer.

I understood right away.

Teddy’s entire profession was built around the acceptance of death. He understood better than most that every mortal life eventually ended. But immortality was different. He would watch his grandad grow older. He would watch Arlo age beside him, while Teddy remained exactly as he was now. And for someone who had spent his entire life surrounded by death, I wondered if he’d ever considered what it would mean to be the one who never followed.

“Teddy,” I murmured.