Zayne’s skin crawled as he sat staring at the female who lay on the cot, lips thinned with her stubborn refusal to talk.

The shakes had begun to settle over him again, every muscle stiff and aching, along with his jaw. Interrogating her wasn’t the best idea, when he needed a hit of Abyzz so bad, he could damn near taste the sweet licorice flavor swimming through his veins. He wanted to wait. To see Shey again, get lost in her for one night to set him straight, before he returned to focusing on Denya. Even if it wasn’t the Shey, she was damned close enough. Enough to make him come. Enough to make his body all fucking warm and tingly.

Enough that he couldn’t stand one more minute of the female’s stubborn bullshit that kept him from drowning himself.

Zayne shook his head of those thoughts.

He rarely got pissed off at women as a general rule, but his patience had worn thin, and the intervals between the stiffness had grown closer and closer, until once again, he faced falling into a monster case of withdrawals.

“Why don’t you take a hit of whatever it is that’s bothering you?” Her voice drew him out of a momentary spell, catching him off guard with the sound he hadn’t heard in the last hour they’d stared each other down.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a junkie. It’s written all over your face. And you’re about ten seconds from falling into a seizure.”

Zayne licked his lips, slightly embarrassed at her mostly accurate assessment of him. “Why don’t you talk, so I can get right on that?”

“You’re asking for secrets. Secrets I can’t give you, unless I happen to like my skin extra crispy while bathing in the flames of Stygius.”

“You know where the succubi are kept.” A tic in his muscles twitched his neck, and his hands curled into his body as a violent spasm wracked his bones.

“I give you about five minutes before you’re seizing on the floor.”

“Then, fucking talk!” Another wave of agony struck his muscles, and Zayne fell from the chair, just as she’d said. With a trembling hand, he managed to snake his fingers into his pocket and pull out two vials. The angry cloud of red slid across his eyes, giving both vials the same hue. “Fuck!” He pushed his muscles to raise a hand, holding up the small glass bottles to the female. “Which is red?”

“The one on the right.”

“Which right?”

“My right.”

With a nod, Zayne tucked it away and held to the one on the left. He pulled a capped syringe from inside his coat and set it into the top of the vial, drawing up the fluid inside. Not bothering with a tourniquet, he slammed the needle into his veins, exhaling a sigh of relief the moment that warm, fireplace sensation spilled into his blood.

Eyes closed, he took three long breaths, allowing the drugs to work their magic, and when he opened them again, the red haze had dissipated to the stark fury in the female’s tightly-drawn brows.

“Where did you get that? Who gave that to you?”

“Gave what?”

“Red Queen. The red vial. Do you have any idea what that is? How it’s made?”

“It’s made by the succubi, isn’t it?”

Her jaw hardened, eyes narrowed on his. “Perhaps you should ask your fucking junkie supplier.”

“Funny, he told me to ask you.”

“That high is great, right? Your fantasies come to life. Want to know why? Every vial is a sacrifice. Every vial contains the soul of a young succubus.” Unless Zayne was mistaken, her eyes carried a shine in the flickering flame illuminating the room. “Those poor girls are slaughtered, so pieces of shit like you can get high.”

A jolt of shock ran down Zayne’s spine. “What?”

Eyes rolling, she shook her head. “The fuck does it matter anymore? I’m tired of running. I’m tired of being scared. Trapped. I’m tired of watching bastards like you get off, while these innocent little girls are taken from their homes.”

“What girls? What are you talking about?” Zayne eagerly followed the trail of breadcrumbs that tumbled from her mouth, exactly the information he needed.

“Virgin succubi are the cleanest. Their souls are essentially untainted, as they haven’t taken life. They also produce the purest offspring. For that reason, they’ve been used by the Lycans to create Purebloods, and most recently they’ve been bought by the Optevyl to prolong their blood lines in the event of war. Or decimation.” The Optevyl were something like the KKK of the Underworld, those, often in powerful positions, who believed in pure demon breeds. “As you know, virgin succubi are rare, but they can be made clean.”

“How?”

“By injecting them with hellsfire.”

“That’s madness. Hellsfire kills. It consumes.” A twinge of panic struck Zayne’s heart at the memory of his mate getting swallowed by the deep blue flame.

“It can be controlled.”

“How?”

“Me.” She lowered her head back against the cot, and Zayne caught the glisten of a tear falling down her temple. “I was taken hostage by a group. One that produced the very drug you showed me just now. My job was to clean the souls of these … children. I had no idea what they were doing with them at first. I was told they’d been forced to seduce their victims into sudeszx after sex, by their pimps, and that I was merely helping to cleanse their souls, to keep them from burning in Stygius for assisting suicide.” Her lip trembled as more tears slipped down her temple. “Lies. All of it. I managed to escape the room they locked me in, after one of the girls fought them and made a scene. While searching for an escape, I found the room where they … drained all of the blood from these poor girls, until all that was left was a pale lifeless child who’d been taken for no good fucking reason! Children! And I had unknowingly facilitated their murder.”

“That’s why I couldn’t read your sins. You blocked them.”

“I will never be used to kill the innocent again. I’ll die before I let that happen. But they’re still manufacturing the drug.”

“How?”

“Head Hunters. They’re hired by the Optevyl to seek out virgin succubi. They’re the best at finding them. In addition to what the Optevyl pay them, the demons who produce the drug, the ones who’re after me, somehow managed to work out a deal with them. For a cut of the drug profit, the Head Hunters look the other way when one of the girls goes missing. As long as they don’t take the oldest, most valuable succubi.”

Denya.

“Where are they?”

“You’ll never find them. They’re so deep in the hills of Orcosia, the locals couldn’t even tell you. Always moving. They never stay in one place.”

“If they’ve worked out a deal with the Optevyl, why do they want you?”

“She’s the ticket to war in the heavens.”

The voice came from behind, and Zayne turned to find Xander standing outside of the cell.

“She uses hellsfire to clean souls, giving evil the access it needs into the heavens.”

“They can’t find me. If they do, I’m as good as dead.” Her gaze flicked from Xander, back to Zayne’s. “I’ve told you what you want to know. Now will you let me go?”

Zayne gave a quick glance toward Xander. “We’re going to keep you safe. We’ll help you.”

“Uh, ‘the fuck?” Xander’s stare damn near drilled a hole in the back of Zayne’s head. “Too much Abyzz messes with your head, my man. I ain’t helping shit.”

“Excuse us for a minute.” Zayne stood from his chair and exited the cell, nudging Xander’s arm along the way for him to follow. “What exactly do the Sentinels want with her?” He spoke low as they exited the cell block.

“I don’t much give two fucks. That female is my ticket to heaven. Neither you, nor any other bastard, is going to get in my way.”

“She’s innocent. And how is she going to get you back into the heavens? You chose to fall, remember?”

“Not the actual heavens. More like a motel room with raunchy porn in the background and a sex swing at the ready.”

“How is that any different from any other night for you? And what does she have to do with that? You’re not planning to fuck her, are you?”

“Not her. And what makes this different, you ask? A once in a lifetime night with an angel. Ever fucked one before? They don’t call them divine for nothing.”

Zayne rubbed his hand across his skull, trying to absorb Xander’s reasoning. “You’re going to hand over a female, who for the most part is innocent, for a piece of ass?”

“First of all, it ain’t just a piece of ass. It’s a divine piece of ass, and it so happens I made a promise to that ass. I don’t make promises as a general rule, but when I do, I don’t break ‘em for anyone. Second, she’s Fallen. She ain’t all that innocent. Third, and most importantly, she’s fucking Fallen. Which means every bit of what she just told you could hold as much truth as a porn star dressed in a priest’s vestments.”

“She confessed a sin. One that someone’s trying to kill her for.”

“You read her soul? You saw the truth yourself?”

Zayne crinkled his brow and clamped his mouth shut. “Give me until tomorrow. I may have more questions for her.” At the very least, it would buy him time to come up with a plan—even if it meant taking the female with him, to help him track down the drug-dealing demons and find Denya.

“You have until tomorrow. I’m getting in touch with the Sentinels the following day. No exceptions.”

“Deal.” Zayne would try to figure something out. Setting her free would put her at risk, and from the sounds of it, more so than what the Sentinels had in mind with her.