I laughed to myself at the way Jericho was being so dramatic. Destroy the world? I wasn’t so sure. Disrupt life as we know it? Yes, that could happen if humans knew about our existence. But Jericho’s reaction toward his brothers seemed a little bit exaggerated. Even as he threw open the door and ushered us inside the bar, he acted like nothing else I the world mattered except for finding his siblings.
I immediately recognized that there was a shifter behind the bar and the space was full of everything except humans. Minus a few here and there, this was definitely not a place for the mortal. A table of vampires occupied the far corner. Several lower demons glared their red eyes at me from the bar. And two, very large shifter men stood like sentinels on the side of an open doorway.
Jericho headed directly toward them.
Hustling up behind him, I did my best to act like we were a team even though Jericho had been ignoring my presence since we’d stepped inside. The shifter on the left, a bear I think, looked down at me from underneath the rim of his ball cap. He raked his eyes over my body and his lips turned up in the corner.
“Let me in,” Jericho demanded.
The shifter in the hat huffed. “No.”
“I need to talk to my brothers.”
“I don’t care.”
Jericho’s body started to shake with anger. His hands glowed with the power of his light, but just as he was lifting them to us it, I slid my hand into his. Smiling up at the man, I said, “Come on. We only need a minute. It’s important.”
Both shifters only focused on me, so I gently pushed Jericho behind me. Using my Mammon-given skills of persuasion, I gently rubbed my fingers down the chest of the one with the hat. “What will it take to get us inside?”
“Arabella,” Jericho warned.
“Arabella?” the other shifter asked. He wore a black tee with jeans and had hair so short it was almost buzzed. He smelled like some kind of cat shifter. “Ashby’s sister?”
“Yes,” I said, surprised.
“No shit,” he laughed. “Pete this is the sister of that demon I was telling you about. The one who—” he stopped abruptly when he remembered I was listening. “The one who used to dance at that club. Remember?”
Pete smiled. “I do remember that story.” Turning to me, he added, “It would seem that your sister did Devon here a really great…favor not too long ago.”
“Yeah?” I asked, looking at Devon.
“She saved my ass,” he admitted. “Big time.”
Thanks, Ashby. “So, could you help us out tonight?”
The two shifters looked at each other and then stepped to the side. “Just don’t cause any trouble.”
“We won’t,” I cooed as we walked through the doorway and into a poker room. Several small, round tables filled the space, each decorated with green felt and covered in bills, coins, watches, and other valuables. It reminded me of the Wild West—men with their cigars, betting away their daily earnings just so they didn’t have to go home. The air was heavy with smoke, the haze so thick, I didn’t even see the angel brothers at first. Tucked away into the corner with their backs facing us, the three men sat there with their gray wings hanging free as though no one would give them a second glance.
“I can’t believe them,” Jericho growled beside me.
“The wings?”
“The wings. The gambling. The smoking. The drinking. I mean it’s like…it’s like they don’t even want to try to gain favor.”
“They tried to kill me,” I said with a shrug.
“Yeah, but I wonder now if that wasn’t just for the sake of killing you.”
Shivering with that thought, I let Jericho step around me and stalk toward his brothers. As he approached, I noticed one of them, Griffin I think, jerked his wings up and down a few times. The other two looked at him and then turned to spot Jericho…and me. Jumping to their feet, the table almost tipped over as the other two patrons complained about their cards getting messed up.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Aldrich asked me.
“She’s with me and in here, you don’t touch her,” Jericho growled, putting his hand on his brother’s shoulder and forcing him to sit. “We did not come here to fight.”
Really? By the looks of Jericho when we were standing outside, I would have guessed otherwise. But as I twisted my head around and saw Devon and Pete watching us closely, I knew Jericho was right in saying that.
Elijah, with his blue eyes and perfectly messy blond hair, glared at me. He chewed on a toothpick and by the way he stared, I thought he might be planning all the different ways he could kill me with his dagger fingers.
“Can we have the table?” Jericho asked the two other players and the dealer. The dealer looked like a newer vampire, and if I wasn’t mistaken, the other patrons were some kind of mixed fae. Not full-blooded like Flint, but something mystical circulated in their blood. Plus, from their wide eyes and shaking hands, they weren’t powerful enough to challenge four angels and a demon.
Once the seats opened, Jericho gestured for us to sit. He held the chair out for me, which earned us several glowering stares. “I thought we killed you,” Elijah said.
“I’m tough to kill,” I replied.
“What did you do?” Griffin asked his brother. “Did you fucking save her?” Spit flew from his mouth with that last question and Jericho tensed beside me.
“What do you know about the demons wanting to reveal?” Jericho asked, instead of acknowledging the question.
“Baby brother,” Aldrich tsked. His brown hair hung freely over his brows and his thick biceps stretched against the fabric of his button up shirt. “Always trying to do the right thing. Who would have thought you’d give up some of your white to save a demon?” His eyes flicked to where Jericho’s wings would be, even though he didn’t have them extended. How did Aldrich know some of Jericho’s feathers turned gray? The large man snapped his eyes at me. “Because I know what happens when we disobey,” he said, answering my silent question.
“Telepathy too?” I asked in my head.
Aldrich nodded and sat back in his chair with a smirk dancing across his face.
“You broke her neck,” Jericho snapped at his brother. “Someone allowed me to save her. It wouldn’t have worked if Father didn’t have a plan.”
“Father?” Griffin huffed. “Do you really think Father has anything to do with us?”
“You? No. But me? I’ve done nothing but serve him well.”
“You and your little magic hands,” Elijah teased. “So what if you can heal. Healing isn’t going to help prepare you for what’s coming next.”
“What is coming next?” I asked.
“Shut up,” Griffin snapped.
“Don’t talk to her like that!” Jericho leaned across the table and glared at his brother. “She came here even after you tried to kill her. Have some respect.”
I raised my brows and blew a kiss at Griffin. Had he been sitting right next to me, I might not have been so eager to taunt. But I loved getting under people’s skin—what demon didn’t? And Griffin was just too easy.
“Now, tell me what you know about demons wanting to reveal.” Jericho’s voice changed, and his brothers seemed to sense it as well.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Elijah said.
“Me neither.”
“Nope,” Aldrich added last.
“None of you remember the conversation with Raphael in the cathedral?”
I whipped my head around to look at Jericho. Not understanding if he knew the white angel the gargoyles had talked about or if he was fishing, I was still proud of the tactic. The three brothers all bit their lips, Elijah chewing harder on his toothpick.
“How did you…?” Aldrich asked and then let out an unamused laugh. “The gargoyles?” Jericho nodded and Aldrich spat on the floor. “Those fucking little stone monsters.”
“So, you know about the plan?” I asked.
“We know,” Griffin grumbled. “And we support it.”
“But Raphael doesn’t,” Jericho confirmed.
“He’s stuck in ancient times. He doesn’t see the benefit.” Elijah quickly took over the conversation. “Do you see that bald guy at the table behind us? He’s a shifter. An old panther whose days were numbered before the big reveal. But as soon as the shifters went public, he opened this place for the non-humans, and has made bank since then.”
“The guy’s a millionaire ten times over,” Aldrich added.
“He’s benefited greatly,” Griffin continued. “Raphael doesn’t understand that times are changing. Humans are more willing to accept—”
“They’ve been killing shifters. All over the country,” I interrupted.
“A few sacrificed for the many,” Elijah groaned. “It’s something my baby brother should understand quite well.”
I looked over at Jericho, whose blue eyes glowered across the table at his handsome brother. “We can’t reveal ourselves. It wouldn’t be the same for us.”
“No?” Griffin asked. “I think it would be marvelous. Angel and demon themed clubs. A consistent revenue to offer help to those willing to pay. Hell, you can even make a killing as an assassin.” He glared at me. “Or a stripper.”
“And you could be a lumberjack,” I snapped back.
“Regardless. It’s going to happen,” Aldrich said in a bored tone.
“Why do you say that?” Jericho asked.
“Because the demons want it and enough earth angels want it. If you two can work together, so can all of us. And together, we will all show the mortals just how fragile they really are.”
I didn’t like the way Elijah stared at me with that last sentence. If he thought I was fragile, then I need to prove him wrong. I blinked in behind him and wrapped my arm across his throat. Squeezing hard, I yanked him off his chair and pushed him toward the ground. He tried to reach up and slice my skin open again, but Jericho was there pinning him down.
“Get off him,” Griffin snapped.
“No.”
“Demon, I will kill—”
“Arabella?” Devon stood above us with his hands on his hips, glaring at Griffin.
“Fuck off,” the angel said. “This is none of your concern.”
Devon’s hand shot forward in a blur, wrapping his fingers around Griffin’s neck. The two were similar in height and stature, but Devon had an animalistic fight in him that Griffin must have recognized. He raised his hands and ground his jaw together.
“That’s right,” Devon said, releasing the angel’s throat. “Now, I suggest you all leave before I make you.”
Aldrich stood. “We weren’t finished yet.”
“You’re finished.” Devon looked down at me until I let Elijah go. “Hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” I said with a wink.
As the shifter walked away, Griffin grabbed Jericho by the front of his shirt and pulled him in close. “Now you hear me, little brother. You need to choose right now. Brothers or whore demons? Because the second we walk out that door, you are as good as dead to us.”
“You can’t show your true selves to the humans,” Jericho whispered. “You just can’t.”
“Wrong choice.” Griffin shoved Jericho backward and pointed at me. “She is a trickster, Jericho. She will not have your back when it counts and she cannot be trusted.”
Jericho straightened his shirt and shook his head. “She’s not the one turning me away.”
Griffin smacked his lips together, speechless for the first time since we arrived. He shared a look between Elijah and Aldrich and then slowly glared at his little brother. “We’re done here.”
The three angels tucked in their wings and pushed past the rest of the patrons in the poker room who all pretended that they weren’t just listening to our conversation. Griffin knocked over a glass of alcohol, while Elijah and Aldrich kicked a few chairs. They all glared at Devon and Pete as they passed through the doorway. Somewhere out front, people shouted as the three of them continued to make their grand exit.
“What a bunch of assholes,” I muttered.
Jericho didn’t say anything. Instead, he stood there, watching the door like he hoped they would come back.
“We’re not giving up yet,” I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. He flinched when I touched him, so I pulled away. “It sounds like your maker doesn’t want to expose the angels. Perhaps you could go talk to him?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Not liking the way Jericho acted like a crushed little boy, I let my mind run a thousand scenarios through it. “I’m going to find Ashby. She may have some ideas on who else we can try to get on our side.”
“Okay.”
Shoving the angel, I finally got him to look at me. “Jericho! Stop standing there. We need to go.”
He nodded and headed for the door, leaving me to follow behind once again. Devon gave me a warning look as I passed, so I made sure that we both left the bar as soon as possible. Standing in the fish-smelling air had me ready to go back home, but I needed to make sure Jericho was all right first.
“Jericho?”
“What?”
“It’s not over yet.”
He closed his eyes and sighed. Rubbing his hands back on forth over his skull, he took several deep breaths before speaking again. “I need to go do something.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll…I’ll find you later.” Then, without another word, Jericho spread his wings and jumped into the air. Faster than my eyes could follow, he disappeared into the darkness. Leaving behind the faint scent of vanilla, I tried to grab onto that instead of the stink hovering in this part of the city.
The sun was starting to come up, which meant Ashby still had another day before they left for the honeymoon. After witnessing the strangled relationship between the brothers, I really needed to see my sister. Sure, she might be able to help, but she could also just be my person right now. She didn’t know about Leviathan’s deal or that when the sun rose to its highest point today…my time would be up.
She didn’t know that I was struggling with the loss of my sister in my life.
And she definitely didn’t know about my growing feelings for an angel named Jericho.