Free Dancing With the Devil by Misty Evans

you don’t…” He brushed
his fingers across my throat; let his gaze roam over my face. His voice lowered
so only I could hear. “I’ll be forced to take Liddy’s soul. And Keisha’s. Maybe
your sisters’ souls as well. What would you do, Broker, to stop from losing
Mikayla and Emilia? The only family you have left.”
    Mikayla wasn’t my sister, but that was a technicality.
Liddy, Keisha and Mikayla were all like sisters to me, and while Emilia and I
had our differences, she was my big sister and I loved her. After her
ordeal with Gabriel, we’d formed a new bond. She’d once again become a big
sister I could look up to.
    And I didn’t take kindly to someone, human or not, threatening
those I loved. Ever.
    Placing my face in front of Zayfeer’s, I gave him my best
badass witch look. “Let me make this clear, Z. You so much as look in any of
their directions and I’ll send you back to purgatory faster than you can say,
‘oh, hell.’”
    He gave me that Cheshire grin. His face was so close to
mine, I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. “And break your vow of no magic?”
    There was something hopeful in his eyes now. In the tone of
his voice, too. He was manipulating me, but I couldn’t fathom why. Or maybe I
could. “You cut a deal with someone on high to redeem yourself, didn’t you? And
it involves getting me to use magic again.”
    “It involves getting Lucifer to do his damn job.” He ground
his teeth, making the muscles in his jaw contract. “You’ve turned the Devil
into a freaking pansy. His job is to temp mortals into sinning. Your job is to
broker deals for their souls. Neither of you is living up to your potential.”
    Behind us, the group at the table grew restless. Over
Zayfeer’s shoulder, I saw Liddy frowning at me. “God should be happy about
that.”
    Zayfeer snorted. “Don’t you get it? In the new millennium,
God is in, thanks to you and lover boy. The two of you working together caused
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, the downfall of governments and Oprah’s
retirement. The more evil there is, the more people turn to God. With you and
Lucifer on hiatus, there’s no need for God.”
    “For the record, I had nothing to do with Oprah retiring
from daytime television. I was just as bummed as everyone else. And secondly, sin
didn’t disappear because Lucifer and I broke up. If God wants Luc and I working
together again, all He has to do is deep six the Mark on my forehead.”
    Once more Zayfeer’s jaw tightened and his eyes glowed. His
nose nearly touched mine as he spoke. “The Mark is nonnegotiable. Take the
souls at the table to Lucifer or I’ll use my Friends and Family Plan to take Liddy
and the others to purgatory. Where they’ll spend eternity with me ,” he
added.
    The magic in my chest reared, ready to strike him down. The
beginnings of a spell sparked in my brain.
    I clamped down on both. No magic here. Whatever
bizarre game he was playing, I wasn’t about to give Zayfeer the satisfaction of
goading me into using it here. “I used magic in my purgatory. Why didn’t that
do the trick to redeem you?”
    The corner of his mouth made a disappointed noise. “You’re
not as quick as I thought.”
    I wanted to smack that smugness off his face. “Just tell me
why.”
    “You answered your own question. You were in purgatory ,
not on Earth. Your magic affected no one but yourself.”
    The rules of Heaven, Hell and purgatory were far too
convoluted for me. I needed an expert. One who wasn’t intent on making me screw
up.
    But Luc wasn’t here and Gabriel had his own scheme going. The
souls of people I cared about were on the line. I couldn’t afford to be
reckless or stupid. There was only one person on hand who could help me sort
out this mess.
    “All right, I’ll do the deed, but I need five minutes to
prepare.”
    Z’s brows shot up and he made a rough noise in the back of
his throat. “Prepare yourself? You’ve done this hundreds of times. What do