“If…”

Addison heard the woman begin to speak behind her. She had taken a few steps away, heading toward the bar across the way. They wouldn’t serve her; she looked too young and was too young, but it would be a warm place to sit.

It would have enough people that she could find someone to talk to eventually. Maybe salvage the night.

When she heard the word, however, she stopped.

“If I only have one child…” the woman started, ending short again.

Addison turned around, holding a soft smile on her face, she kept her eyebrows low and kept her teeth hidden. She let her arms hang at her sides, and tried to make eye contact with the nervous client. “We never leave you childless.”

That was a lie, and Addison knew it. The whole thing she was throwing at the woman's face wasn’t entirely true. The demons would make the deal, and they would make sure the woman got a child. They would also make sure they got one too, and if that means she had to wait, well.

Addison was sure they would shrug their shoulders.

It sat heavy in her gut, and she wondered if the power and freedom were worth twisting up other humans this way. Twisting up other women. Twisting up the future of some child that would someday become like her. For a moment she wished Rikas was there instead of her, or maybe just with her. He could see the inside and out of all these deals.

He knew what would happen, and he was a much better liar.

“If I make the deal, I will get pregnant?” the woman asked. Her eyes were watery and it seemed as if she didn’t know where to put her hands. Her demeanor was different than it had been. Disbelief had to turn to nervous hope; it was a hard look on anyone.

“You look like you could use a drink,” Addison said. She wasn’t sure where the words came from, considering she had just given up the plan of walking into the bar, and that was after thinking they wouldn’t serve her. But her statement was true despite all that.

The woman looked like there was a horrible war going on inside her head that she didn’t know how to weather start to finish.

“The deal?” the woman asked, raising an eyebrow up halfway.

“What about it?”

“Doesn’t it have to be…”

Addison laughed as she realized the question. “No. The deal doesn’t have to be on top of the summon.” And even if it did, they could always walk back out later and spit on each hand over the middle of the crossroads.

People had such funny notions when they didn’t have inside access to a thing.

The woman looked over Addison's shoulder toward the building. Her eyes glazed over for just a moment before her lips parted, opening her mouth once more to speak.

“There's details. Let's go sit and we can talk,” Addison offered, gesturing one arm out behind her.

It took longer for the woman to agree and begin to move than it did for the walk over to the front door. The nose drifted out more often when they were up close, and Addison wondered if this was where they really wanted to be. There had been more silence between them at this point than words, and now they would be surrounded by people.

The shift in dynamic was strange, and Addison had no idea what it would be like inside, or how the night would end. All those desperate people, so easy to manipulate, and the most important deal had been someone with a conscious. It couldn’t be helped. Standing outside the door was going to be worse than standing over in the middle of the two dirt roads.

Addison placed her hand on the cool metal plate that sat on the edge of the door and pushed. It was heavier than she had expected it to be and had to lean her full weight before it would open all the way. By the time the door was at the wall, her entire body was inside the bar as well, making room for the woman to walk through. The door slid closed behind them when they moved out of the way.

It took several moments to work out the protocol, and find themselves a table. They got lucky and found one in a further corner, which gave them some space to talk but let them order a cup of water and a Cosmo.

A Cosmo seemed exactly the type of drink a woman like that would drink, Addison thought when the purplish glass of liquor arrived. For a few moments, she wondered what she would look like, sitting at a table someday with a fancy cup in her hand. She thought about all the things she had seen and tasted, and what her taste buds might choose when they were allowed to choose such things.

Her thoughts were cut off abruptly when the woman chose to speak again. “My name is Emily.”

“Addison.” If pleasantries were being exchanged then maybe they would help iron out the seams.

Besides, …it had been quite a while since anyone had cared to introduce themselves in any proper way. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gotten to say her name, much less in a normal greeting type of way.

The night just kept getting better.