Devil

I have nothing left.

One moment of weakness seven years ago, and I lost my job, my art, and my only friend. Now I'm working nights at a gas station to scrape together a living and a way to care for my sister, and I'm completely alone.

And then I see him on the front page of the newspaper, my former college student and the man who ruined my life seven years ago.

Ryan Bell.

So I carve a statue of the devil and I give the devil Bell's face. I leave it for the world to see.

I shouldn't have done it. I should have known he'd use the statue to hunt me, find me, offer a deal that demands my soul. He wants one year of me-all of me-and then he'll make my problems go away.

How can I refuse? When it's my only chance of salvation? How can I refuse even when I know Ryan Bell will leave me with a broken heart-again?

But it's my own fault. . . I should have stayed hidden, I shouldn't have revealed how the memory of him haunts me still. I was the one who spoke of the devil, after all.

I can't be surprised that he appeared.

(This is the fourth full-length standalone in the Priest Collection, featuring Father Bell's youngest brother, Ryan Bell. You do not have to read Priest, Sinner, or Saint to read Devil.)