She offered to drive me home, but I waved away the offer with a smile of thanks. That was covered.
Kevin was coming to pick me up.
His messages had been firm, and when I'd finally replied, we'd managed some discussion that ended with him offering to come collect me and not taking no for an answer.
While I waited, I dressed in my freshly laundered clothes and borrowed a hairbrush from Anna. Which scandalised her, the fact that I didn't have one in my purse. Which, I guessed I would from now on.
It was while I sat on her bed, brushing my hair, that Orryn appeared.
His image filled the full-length mirror beside her wardrobe, some ancient antique, beautifully carved stained wood frame. I gasped and glared.
"Stop doing that!" I snapped.
He wore the same suit as always, immaculate, not a crease in sight, and a slight smile sat upon his lips that hinted at secrets hidden and amusement with everything he saw. His eyes, black as night, and fixed on me in a way that made me uncomfortable.
"You did well, Danny."
"Yeah, cheers." I ran the brush through my hair once more, grimacing as I caught a tangle. "What did you want her for, anyway?"
He ignored that.
"Elizabeth Mitchell," he said. "A cancer nurse at St James Hospital."
"What about her?"
"Brian Wynn. Surgeon there."
My eyes narrowed as I looked at him and I tilted my head, lips pursed. "Demons?
"Kill them."
"Why?"
Orryn's perfectly smooth brow furrowed as he frowned and I almost smiled. It was one of the few times I'd seen him annoyed.
"Because I command it."
"Our bargain-"
"Will compel you," he snapped, voice touched with anger. "Do not test me."
It was risky, I knew, but at the end of the day what did I have to lose? He was going to do what he wanted regardless. I was on borrowed time anyway.
"You returned me to life and in return I was to maintain the façade of being Chloe," I snapped, a touch of my own anger shining through. "Then the deal for the blade. A favour to be owed. Two dead demons and a third captured is not a small favour."
Orryn shifted as though hopping from foot to foot and his smile widened. "Can't get anything past you, can I, Danny?"
He was mocking me. I was sure of that, but I didn't know why.
"You should have listened the first time when I spoke of needing to be specific."
I gaped at him, as understanding hit. "You never asked me to do you a favour."
"Indeed."
He'd lied. All this time. My first bargain was paid for with every single day I spent being Chloe. I owed him nothing for that. As for the blade, the things I'd done at his request had been because they'd helped me protect my sister and me.
I was defending myself against Mark, defending Amy against the demon the other night. Even Morag was located by my desire to protect my sister and that meant ridding the area of the demons. When he'd told me to send Morag to the ghost realm, it wasn't a favour, just a command that I'd blindly followed.
Like the fool I was.
"Then do it now. Ask me for a favour and I will do it, then be done with you."
"No."
"What the hell do you mean, no!"
"I'm not done with you, Danny. While you owe me, you are useful."
"Not if I refuse to help you."
I gasped at the sudden chill that filled the room, and my breath misted the air before me as ice crystals formed around the edges of the mirror. The ait bit like frost in my lungs and made my teeth ache. It was an unnatural cold that stole my breath and was intended as a punishment.
"Do. Not. Test. Me."
I rose to my feet, and let my arms dangle, refusing to allow him to see me shiver. I looked him straight in the eye and simply said, "Fuck you."
Then walked out the door.
The sharp crack of the mirror shattering caused me to wince, and I looked back through the door in time to see the first shard of mirror fall from the frame. Then another, and another, until the rest came crashing down.
Anna hurried from the living room, alarm on her face. As she reached me, she gave me a quick once over before glancing in her room and seeing the mirror.
"What happened?"
"Orryn," I said, shrugging. "Sorry about the mirror."
"You broke it?"
"He did."
She shook her head firmly. "That's not possible. He can't affect our world like that."
There wasn't much I could say to that. He just had.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the living room where I was seated and told to recount everything that just happened. I did, leaving nothing out, and when I was done, she settled back, expression thoughtful.
"I really am dumb," I muttered, shaking my head. "Doing what he said without thought. Never occurred to me that I might not have to."
"Why would it?" she said, absently. "He's a deceiver by nature. He wouldn't ever volunteer the truth if he could obfuscate around it."
That fit.
But my defiance had pissed him off. He'd dragged me out of Chloe's body before, and back to the ghost realm. I figured it was only a matter of time before he did it again.
Then I'd be in for a pretty bad time.
"The demons," Anna said. "Two, in a hospital."
"Yeah, that's what he told me."
"Makes sense. They can find people desperate and dying and make them an offer. Their natural energy would infect the people around them the longer they were there and erode hope."
Take away those people's strength to fight their illness. Take away their will to live.
"It's not right."
"No."
I heaved a sigh. "We're gonna have to stop them, aren't we?"
"Sorry, hon."
It irked me, giving in and doing what Orryn wanted. But the hospital was on the very edge of Harehills, but still part of it. More corruption spreading through my community. More demons that would be a risk to Amy.
"Can't you get your witch buddies to do it?"
She grimaced and spread her hands. "Not what we do. We locate them and then arrange for others to do the… well… you know."
"What others?"
"Doesn't matter, there's none available. Just us."
Another sigh. I'd been doing that a lot lately. My exasperation with everything just about reaching its limit.
I was tired.
No, beyond tired. I'd thought the deal with Orryn would have me back in my body and living my life. Instead, I was in someone else's body and barely managing to keep the charade going that I was her.
I couldn't tell, Amy, it would all be okay. Couldn't stop Mick from beating up mum whenever he got drunk.
Instead, I got to slowly lose who I was while I fought against feelings, I shouldn't have for a guy who loved the person I was pretending to be. Which made everything a mess, and to top it all off, I had bloody demons to kill.
"How are we going to do it?"
I wasn't particularly a fan of the idea of creating a mess in another hospital. Pretty sure even the Leeds police would start to think that was suspicious.
"They have to sleep, right?" Anna said. "We could just google them and see if we can find where they live."
It couldn't be that easy, but then I didn't suppose they expected anyone to know they were demons. I wouldn't know if Orryn hadn't told me and I could only imagine those names came from Morag.
I tried not to think of what he was doing to her to get those names and gave a little shiver anyway at the thought.
"Orryn," I said, and Anna's eyes went wide as she looked up from her phone.
"What're you doing?"
"Setting some rules." I glanced around the living room, scanning all the reflective surfaces with little joy. "I know you're watching, just answer me!"
"You are not my sole focus, Daniel."
"So formal." My lips twitched. He was peeved with me and showing it by being petty and standoffish. That was almost human of him. "We need to talk."
"Then talk."
I caught Anna's eye, and I did smile then. "Bit rude not to include everyone."
There was a moment of silence that stretched and then an exasperated, "Oh, very well."
Anna yelped, eyes going wider than I'd ever seen and she stared in horror at the fireplace. There, sitting amongst the burning wood, was Orryn. Almost a foot high, those smoke haze wings folding around him as he swept a hand through his shoulder length hair and held out a hand.
"Ta-da. Does this please you, Danny? Am I suitably displayed for you?" Anna seemed frozen in place, staring at the fallen angel who tilted his head to her and grinned. "The witch is panicked."
"Be nice," I snapped, and he held up his hands.
"Apologies, Danny." He gave a mock bow of his head towards Anna. "A pleasure, as always, to meet one of nature's guardians."
I had no idea what that meant, but Anna did from the way the flush crept up her cheeks. She licked her lips anxiously and her panicked eyes flicked to me before she inclined her head to Orryn.
"The pleasure is all mine."
"Naturally." Orryn preened, before turning his attention back to me. "Now, speak. Give me your apologies for your vile treatment of me, and all shall be forgiven."
"No." I said, wagging a finger at him. "You're an ass, and you deserved that."
"Chloe!" Anna hissed, but I ignored her warning tone.
"This conversation is about setting out some boundaries."
Orryn didn't immediately reply, though a slight narrowing of his eyes and the absence of that superior smirk told me he wasn't happy. "I could send you screaming to hell."
"No, I don't think you can," I said. "A demon might be able to, but you're no demon, are you?"
"Was it the witch that told you?" he snarled, tiny hands closing into fists.
"Shouldn't you know that?"
In an instant, his anger was gone, and his usual suave self re-emerged, a smile lighting up his face and he winked at me. "My dear, girl. I don't watch you all the time. That would be positively indecent." His snicker said he was anything but that. "Besides, I do have other projects."
"Fine. Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Look, the long and short of it is, I know what you are and I know I owe you."
He inclined his head in agreement.
"I'll kill those demons because it will help the people of Harehills," I said, and he chortled.
"How very decent of you, Danny. Not like you at all."
I clenched my jaw and ignored that jab. "You're an ass." Though obviously not very well.
"Guilty. Set out your demands."
"You are owed one favour, right?"
A tiny sigh escaped him, sounding much like the whistle of a kettle as it boiled. "Agreed."
"Then I don't need to do anything for you unless you ask me to as payment for the Soulblade?"
"Yes, yes. Get on with it."
There was no hiding that testiness from his tone and I smiled, knowing I was right. He couldn't do anything to me. Not really. He wasn't a demon. He didn't collect souls, which is why he bargained for favours instead.
"Was I even going to hell or was that a trick?"
Anna's brows snapped together as she turned to me, tearing her gaze away from the fiery apparition.
"Yes."
"Why?"
He didn't reply, just shook his head.
"Do you even know."
"Yes."
But he wouldn't tell me. Not without a bargain, no doubt.
"Then what is your favour? What do you want from me so that I can be done with owing you?"
The silence stretched taut, the only sound the soft crackle of the fire as the wood burned beneath the dancing and flickering flames.
Finally, Orryn spoke.
"The demon."
Big-daddy-boss-demon, then. My shoulders slumped. "How do I find it?"
"Kill the two. He will find you."
"Chloe," Anna said, warningly. "I don't like this. It's too much."
I waved her away, chewing my lip as I stared at the apparition of Orryn. He couldn't lie but he had no reason to be direct. He was a deceiver and there was something he wasn't telling me. I knew, though, that I had no way to compel him.
One more question, then, and I was done. It wasn't going to be an easy answer to take, and I braced myself for it.
"How long do I need to live, Chloe's life?"
Anna's eyes grew round, and she opened her mouth to speak, but it was Orryn who answered first.
"My bargain is complete. They have their daughter back." He smirked. "They never specified for how long."
I nodded and brushed at my eyes. It was as I'd thought, which would make my decision all the easier.
"You put me in this body. I want out."
"A bargain could be made-"
"No," I snapped, not looking at my friend who was staring at me aghast. "When I've finished my last favour for you, then you take me out."
Back to the ghost realm. Back to where I should have been all this time.
A place where I couldn't hurt the people who loved her.
"Can you do that?"
Orryn didn't immediately reply, his black eyes studying me as he contemplated his next step. Then, with an almost sorrowful sigh, he said, "Yes."
"Then it's a deal," I whispered.