Given the choice, I’d always rather go down fighting . . .

So would I, I’d replied. Time to prove it. “No deal,” I told the Warden.

He paused. No surprise that he’d already dismissed me and turned away. Now, he turned back, the angry twitch to his brow seeming to say, Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?

“No deal,” I repeated in a stronger tone. “Taking Dagon to whatever torment awaits him might make the two of you even, but it isn’t nearly adequate compensation for me.”

“Your additional compensation is not fearing any retribution for all the demon lives you have taken,” the Warden replied. Then he pulled Dagon into his boat. He didn’t struggle. Dagon didn’t even seem to notice. He was still consumed by whatever had him shaking and clutching his head. The two of them and the river started to fade, wood fragments from the blown-up roller coaster now peeking through those dark currents.

Panic made me shout “Wait!” with all the emotion my father couldn’t feel. Then I lashed myself. Stick to terms he understands. Scales and balances, not feelings and needs.

“Everyone who makes a deal with you has to fill your boat with adequate recompense or they forfeit their lives, right? Well, my boat is still empty because I don’t want exemption from retribution over killing those demons. I only want Ian’s soul returned to his fully healed body.”

The Warden rematerialized, saying, “You cannot withdraw one soul from Dagon without freeing them all,” in a tone that was as close to snapping as I’d heard from him.

“Then do that.” I didn’t want to cry, but I couldn’t stop the tears that trickled down my cheeks. “Dagon only got them through deals he struck. Knowing him, none of them were fair.”

“Fairness is up to another to judge, not me,” the Warden replied in that borderline curt tone.

“Once again, you’re giving me nothing!”

It tore out of me with all the pain I couldn’t force down. I’d tried to reason with him using scales and balances. It hadn’t worked. Now, even if it made no difference, he’d know every damn thing I’d been holding back, both now and in the past.

“You sent Tenoch to rescue me, but that was more to keep Dagon from getting too powerful than to save me, wasn’t it? You only told Tenoch to look in on me afterward, to keep tabs on me, so I didn’t do something similarly problematic with my powers. How else would he know to keep warning me about them? But Tenoch chose to help me heal. He chose to make me his family. You never did. I hope that’s because of some cosmic prohibition. Whatever the reason, if you think we’ve even because you’re finally punishing Dagon and you’ll shield me from other demons’ wrath, let me tell you how you’re not even close.”

I swiped at my tear-soaked face before getting right up in his. His arms folded across his chest. I ignored the subtle warning. He’d either kill me for this next part or he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t going to intimidate me into staying silent.

“You sired a half-mortal child. As such, I have emotional needs. You knew that, and you refused to meet them even when I was so broken, I wanted to die. Your debt to me, therefore, is enormous. I’m offering a way for you to settle it cheap. Restore Ian’s soul back to his body. I don’t care what you have to do to make that happen, just like you didn’t care what I had to do to get the mortal-driven need for love, support, and companionship you denied me for the better part of five thousand years. If you don’t, you are choosing to leave your debt unpaid. Whatever big deal you might be in this plane of existence, in my world, that makes you nothing more than another worthless, deadbeat dad.”

The Warden’s eyes were blazing when I finished, until I had to look away or risk being blinded by them. I waited, expecting something terrible to occur. Dagon bolting out of the Warden’s boat wasn’t it, but that’s what happened.

The Warden caught him after only a few steps. Then he grasped Dagon by his long blond hair and put his hand flat over Dagon’s chest, speaking in a language I’d never heard before.

“What are you doing?” Dagon hissed, saving me the trouble.

The Warden didn’t reply. Multiple lights began showing through the tattered remains of Dagon’s clothes. I sucked in a breath. Please let those be what I think they are. Please . . .

Dagon began to scream. The sounds grew into high-pitched shrieks. Then he tried to run again. The Warden lifted him by the hair until Dagon’s feet were sawing at the air. All the while, those lights moved farther up Dagon’s body. When they reached Dagon’s throat, they glowed until his skin resembled a lamp shade thrown over a spotlight.

“What’s happening?” I had to shout to be heard.

“The souls are eating their way out of him,” my father replied in his normal, dispassionate voice. “The more of his essence they devour, the faster they can free themselves.”

Devour his essence? That sounded ominous, but I’d worry about the ramifications later. I watched, hope building as those lights crawled ever higher. Then, like fireworks shooting out, they burst from Dagon’s open, screaming mouth.

There were so many of them! I counted thirteen or fourteen before they vanished from sight. I whirled, looking back toward Ian’s body, but I still couldn’t see it. All I saw was the dark river flowing around me. My father dropped Dagon. He fell much the same way he had when I’d stabbed his eyes out, but he wasn’t dead. His closed eyes were now as whole as my own. Both of them.

“It is done,” the Warden said in a flat tone. “Your terms of reimbursement have been met.”

I stared at him as I approached. Then I did something I never thought I’d have the courage—or desire—to do. I put my arms around him. “Thank you.”

I’d be in less pain if I hugged a power station transformer shooting electricity from every wire, but I didn’t let go even when his arms stayed loose and he didn’t hug me back. Something flowed over me, though, breaching even the pain. A sensation that felt like an otherworldly caress.

Then it stopped as he stepped out of my arms. “Time is short. I must tell you the repercussions for this.”

“Whatever they are, I’ll deal with them,” I promised.

“Yes, you will,” he said darkly. “For now, Dagon must be returned to your world instead of being punished in mine.”

The Warden held out his hand. Dagon was suddenly sucked away as if a giant vortex had opened up and swallowed him. I was still gaping after that when the Warden resumed speaking.

“Dagon will be weakened by what was torn out of him from the escaping souls. I have also taken away his ability to teleport, and I will ensure that he cannot go near your companion without paralyzing pain. Thus, he will not be able to seek vengeance against you by killing him. But Dagon will regain his strength in time. When he does, he will come for you.”

Oh, yes. He’d see this as my stealing power from him twice: first, when he was forbidden to seek human worship; then, when losing the extra souls he’d hoarded to stave off his own death. He wouldn’t rest until I was dead, no matter how long it took.

Let him come. I had no intention of backing out of my vow to kill him, either. I only hoped those I’d promised justice to could forgive me for delaying it a bit longer. Then again, they of all people should understand. If they could have saved a loved one from Dagon, I had no doubt that they would have.