Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)

by Kaylie Smith

Hurry, your time is running out, the Shadow Voice that haunted her every waking thought whispered inside her mind. If you miss your window, there will be consequences.

There were two golden rules their mother had taught them about roaming New Orleans after dark: the first was that if the dark looks at you, you never look back. That was a surefire way to be caught by a Devil.

“A heart and a key would set me free,” it said. “But you should hope we do not meet again, angel.”

Her name on his tongue sounded like a wicked prayer. “You are exactly the person I’ve been waiting for.”

Despite what some mortals believed, Hell was not meant to be a punishment for humans who lived sinfully before they died. Human morality was much too diverse and fickle to base an entire afterlife on after all.

She buried her face into the crook of his throat. “You came.” “You called,” he answered.

“In a different life, in a fair one, I would’ve kept you until my eternal soul withered away to dust,” he vowed to her.