Free A Different Kind of Deadly by Nicole Martinsen Page B

day even worse -something I wasn't sure was
possible.
    So instead of thirty days to become a proper
necromancer, I now had three before a killing machine would come
after me, and in the (likely) event I died before reversing Diana's
Doll Contract, my soul belonged to a literal demon. And in the
off-chance I do turn Diana back into a human, there's no guarantee
Will won't kill me off anyway.
    I KNEW there was a reason I avoided going
out.
    "Ah, but I'm not unsympathetic to your
plight." Koronos pressed a hand to his chest, a comical gesture in
his bestial form. He produced a sack, roughly the size of a grown
man's head, from a hidden compartment in his seat. "The only reason
you came to the Harpy Den was for funds, am I correct? Take this,
with my blessing."
    I eyed the burlap bag mistrustfully. "It's not
cursed, is it?"
    "My good little necromancer," he chuckled.
"Are you suggesting you're not cursed enough as it
stands?"
    Leo took the sack without prompting. He held
it protectively, and Tully sat atop the bag as though also trying
to guard the parcel. That money was probably the only handicap we
were going to get in any of this.
    Koronos looked pleased as he turned to
Diana.
    "I expected more of a reaction from you than
that initial outburst, my dear. Or are you overwhelmed by
nostalgia?"
    She didn't even look at the demon, walking up
to me before jerking my arm so hard I thought it would pop right
out of its socket.
    "We're getting Uhh out once he's done with his
match. After that, we have some errands to run."
    "Okay," I said, recognizing I was too deep in
shit to argue. We left the viewing box, and Koronos behind us.
Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.
"I'm sor-"
    "Don't you dare apologize!" she
screamed, stopping me dead in my tracks. Diana whirled on me and I
saw the expression of someone ready to burst into tears of
frustration. Only she couldn't, so her eyes just shined in their
pale, pale, pink. "This isn't something a simple sorry can
fix!"
    My mouth drooped.
    "Look," said Leo, cutting in between us.
"What's done is done. And either you can sit here bitching at
Marvin for a bone-head move, or you can both focus on outsmarting
that horny bastard."
    I grimaced at his choice of words,
but couldn't argue with Leo's logic.
    By the irritated look on Diana's face, neither
could she.
    Leo looked between us, at Tully, and nodded to
the air.
    "Now how about you," he said
to Diana, "tell us what you know instead of keeping everything a
damn secret. And you ," he said to me, "listen to her so you can avoid running
into malicious Dolls and demon contracts, got
it?"
    "Got it," I squeaked, looking at the
floor.
    "Alright," Diana sighed, calm enough to speak
without yelling, "I'll tell you more, but first we get supplies. We
now need armor on top of fire retardants, an enchanter, and weapons
for the two of you."
    " Weapons?! " Leo balked. "But we're
necromancers! Undead fight for us!"
    "Your undead will have their hands full," she
muttered dangerously. "Either you put weapons in your hands and use
them, or you'll lose them and whatever other limbs you hold of
value. That Doll back there is not a joke. Had he been serious, he
could have killed me in that pit without batting an
eyelash."
    I recalled Diana's first match
against the minotaur, and suddenly my veins ran thick with
ice.
    She dispatched that giant monster
while practically dancing through the air.
    True, her brief fight with Will was less
flashy, but I didn't think for a second that she wouldn't
win.
    By her own admission, this was as shocking as
it got.
    "A Doll you can't beat?" I asked. "But you're
a living legend!"
    For the first time since we came to
Krisenburg, Diana cracked a smile.
    "Dolls have components; we can
only be as advanced as the general technology of any given era in
the region we were made. Will, if I'm not mistaken, was forged in a
place much different from Nethermount. He's as strong as a devil.
At best, I can hold him off,