Bella is surrounded by her men in her dressing room. She has her legs crossed, and she sits so elegantly in her seat that she probably could rival Cleopatra for the best queen pose. Two of her pets crouch at her feet, massaging them. Another rubs her shoulders, while feeding her grapes whenever she gestures for them to with her long finger. She swallows a grape and levels her eyes at me, sharp and vicious.
I’m back at Club Belladonna, hoping we might still strike a bargain. It’s evening, so the club is now full, and the music is louder than before. It’s some kind of techno beat that sounds completely vile. I’m more of a strings guy. Tension rings in the air. Electricity zips past Bella and I, and it’s not the good kind. I’m surrounded by her clan members, who all look at me like they want to tear my throat out. They’re still pissed over the missing girls.
“You have a lot of gall coming here,” Bella says, uncrossing her legs and then crossing them the other way. She’s wearing a thin gown that shows off a generous helping of her skin. It’s creamy and can probably entice any man, supernatural or not, but all I can think about is how she poisoned Val, and whether Val’s awake. She’s mostly stabilized, but it’ll be a while before she can open her eyes.
Fuck—that woman gave me such a scare. I wanted to kill her for getting herself hurt like that, which I realize doesn’t make sense, but nothing makes sense when I’m with her. I’m just relieved that she’s better now.
“I’m hoping we can strike another deal,” I say.
“I want my girls back. And even then, it might not be enough. You promised me an increase in customers, but now I have less girls to serve them, and the turnout is going to be lower than before.”
“I can’t find them.” Actually, my men and I have found one or two, but a couple won’t make a difference, and Val’s getting to me with how pissed she was at our plan. Why am I letting her into my head so much? I didn’t see a point in making those girls suffer if they weren’t serving my purpose, so I let them go and asked my men to find proper lodging for them.
Val’s making me soft.
I worry that she’ll become my weakness.
“Then you’re not welcome here.” Bella waves her subjects forward. They look hesitant, so she scowls at them. They only take tentative steps toward me, and once I summon my blackfyre, they go back to their original positions.
“Pathetic,” she says. I can feel her trying to work her succubus powers over me.
The air’s suddenly sweeter, and lewd thoughts creep into the edges of my mind, but I’m more strong-willed than she gives me credit for, and all I do is smirk in her direction. “Are you seriously trying this on me?”
She waves for another grape, and her pet pops it into her mouth. She chews. “It was worth a shot. Now, leave. You’re only wasting your time here.”
“How about a simple trade?” I ask.
She raises a trimmed brow at me. “You’re proposing me another one? I don’t know how to trust you after what just happened.”
“That was a miscalculation. This, we can be certain about. We can give you more drugs from Hell. It’s what our clan specializes in. Your demons would like that.” I study her henchmen. Some are nodding at my statement. They’d like our drugs, since we’ve honed the craft, and it’s so good that we manage to reign in Hell with it.
Bella snorts and flicks her hand. “That is useless to me.”
“Hardly.”
“It might give the demons here a fun time, but we’ve weaned off it for the most part. The humans can’t even use drugs from Hell. It drives them mad. And I don’t want them mad. I want them horny and to return here.”
“There are other ways—”
“You’re asking me to sacrifice my men for something so frivolous.”
Frivolous? Drugs are what we use to control the Underworld, but I suppose the demons here think differently.
“Leave,” Bella says. “Before I stop being gentle with you.”
“Reconsider,” I say. Maybe I should have added a “please” in there, but I’m not in the mood. I hardly ever am.
She glares at her men, talking to them with her eyes. They get her message and move to attack me, but how hesitant they are makes them look incompetent and ridiculous.
I sigh. “No need. I’ll leave.”
It was worth a shot.
I adjust my jacket on my shoulders and spin toward the exit. The succubi around Bella start hissing at me, like snakes. They sound ridiculous. What is baring their teeth at me going to do? All it does is remind me I should pluck their teeth out first should we ever meet in battle.
I rub the back of my head, feeling a little frustrated. It’s now certain that we’re stuck having to face the demon army ourselves. The army isn’t impossible to fight. I have some men—and my men are all stronger than Bella’s—around the region that I’ll summon to our cause. Xeres knows about them, but he lets me lead them, not caring much about what I do. It’s this sort of hidden control that makes me like what I do.
I’m afraid of having casualties, and I’m not keen on losing anyone in our group.
I’m not keen on losing Val.
Stupid woman.
When I walk out of the back entrance and into the alleyway, two figures drop down in front of me. I immediately summon a fire dagger and throw it in their direction.
My dagger nearly flies into Jared’s face, but Sylver raises his hand to catch it. It hits his wrist, cutting through it and tearing his flesh. The fire dissipates into smoke.
“Hell,” I say, eyes widening.
Sylver winces. “Note to self: never jump out in front of you.” His wrist is bleeding, and I can see the white of the bone underneath, but it’s already beginning to stitch back up.
“Holy fuck,” Jared says, looking at Sylver’s wounds.
“Sorry,” I say, having to pull the word through my teeth. I don’t apologize often, and it feels weird. I turn to Jared, whose auburn hair looks like it hasn’t been combed for a couple decades. “What are you guys doing here?”
Sylver snaps his bloodied wrist into place. He grunts, and his face contorts in pain, but he doesn’t let that pain show in his voice when he says, “Jared here kept asking me to take him to you. Says he wants to learn from you, and he wouldn’t stop yapping about it, so I decided to bring him along, since there’s nothing to do in the church except read Bibles.”
“And Val?”
“Xeres is taking care of her.”
I cough a laugh.
“What?” Sylver asks.
“He’s not the kind to take care of people. I’m just imagining him being all domestic.”
That brings a smile to Sylver’s lips, but Jared isn’t in on the joke.
“I hope he makes sure she stays hydrated,” I say.
“He knows what to do.”
“Really? He hasn’t really cared for anyone before.”
“He has his pets.”
“Val isn’t some bitch.”
“She’s not—”
“Then don’t compare her to his dogs.”
Sylver shrugs. “Well, if you don’t like how Xeres has taken care of her when you get back, you can scold him.”
“I don’t scold Xeres. That’s not really what seconds do.” I try not to undermine his authority when I can, because I feel like it’ll ruin the order of things, the delicate balance we have. Sometimes I can’t help it, though. Demons like conflict, and I can’t change what I am.
We walk out of the alleyway. A commotion has started there. A burly, bald man is dragging a couple of girls back into the club. They’re crying and begging to be let go, but the men continue to push them forward. Passersby are staring, but none have the balls to step in. I see someone phoning the police, but that’s not going to do any good. The Belladonna clan has the police doing their bidding. They’ll just accept the call and pretend like they’ll do something about it.
I edge behind a wall.
“What are you doing?” Jared asks. That’s why I didn’t bring him along when he first asked me. Too many questions.
“Stay back,” I tell him.
As inconspicuously as I can, I throw a fire dagger at the Belladonna entrance sign above the man. Nobody notices the dagger. It’s quick. The fixture creaks and, in a split second, drops on the man’s head, knocking him out. The girls they were dragging shriek and stumble backward, almost tripping. One of them searches the crowd, and her eyes find mine. She gasps. I wave at her to leave, and she takes her companion’s wrist and darts away as quickly as she can.
The men around the club give chase, but I focus on their surroundings, imagining the fires of Hell. The illusions I send confuse them. My head throbs and the illusion fades quickly, because I’m not particularly good at that kind of demon magic, not like Sylver is, but it does the trick.
Val is changing me. I usually wouldn’t care to step into situations like this. There’s no reason for me to butt into things. But I think about how Val feels about these girls, so I act, wasting my time and energy.
Sylver steps out of the alleyway and whistles at the sight of the fallen sign. “We’re helping the Belladonnas attract attention, all right. So much for bringing them more customers.” His wrist has already healed, but it’s stained by blood. Some of the blood got on his pants.
“That was so cool,” Jared says, standing behind me. “Teach me.”
I shake my head. “Later.”
“C’mon, dude.”
“Now isn’t the time. When we get back to the church, okay?”
“Fine,” Jared says. He’s still such a boy.
A group of obscenely gorgeous men and women walk toward us from across the street to inspect the ruckus. I recognize the three figures walking in front of them immediately. Great Angel Michael, Azael, and Uriel. Atia’s trailing behind them. They have their wings spread out. Angels don’t hide, not like we do. Humans are unable to see their wings, so they keep them out in public with no consequences.
They’re scanning the area, and I know exactly who they’re looking for.
“Why are you tensing up?” Jared asks. Yep, they’re looking for him.
Fucking angels.
We don’t need their company now. Three great angels are three too many for us to confront in our current states. We’re all weak and tired and need to go back to Hell to rest soon.
“Let’s go,” I say to Jared, grabbing his shoulder and tugging him into the alleyway. Sylver and I share a look. He, like me, knows exactly how dire this situation is. We can’t risk a conflict with so many powerful angels now, and not in front of so many humans. We might be able to hold on, but I don’t want to take a chance.
Jared points. “Isn’t the way back to the church there?”
“They’ll spot us if we head in that direction,” I say.
“Who?”
“Trouble.” I look up to a roof and phase there. I’ll slip back down if I mess up, but I shift my weight forward and tip over the edge of the roof.
Jared cups his hands around his mouth and readies to shout something, but Sylver silences him. Sylver phases Jared up to the roof. We’ll have to get back to the church via a detour.
“We need to let Xeres know of this,” Sylver says.
Strangely, the sounds of Vegas are clearer on the rooftops. They come to me with more clarity, as if being higher gives me a better vantage on the sounds. I can no longer see the angels, and I’m hoping they’re unable to follow us. There’s a dog barking nearby, and police sirens screaming in the distance.
“You take Jared back first,” I tell Sylver.
“What?” Jared says. Val has really spoiled this kid. He’s not even a kid anymore, but I think of him as such. “It’s supposed to be ‘demon adventure’ time, not ‘take Jared back to his room—’”
“The angels are close. We can’t risk it.”
Sylver gets my drift. “Shouldn’t have brought him out, huh?”
“Nope,” I say. I look at a large building in the distance where I am supposed to meet up with my men. They’ve traveled from all across the country just to come to our aid. The alternative is punishment in Hell, so that’s why they’re so eager to serve. “I have some errands to run. Keep him safe.”
Sylver salutes. “Yes, sir.”
I still find Sylver’s easygoing and subservient nature odd. He doesn’t have to be this way. Not with how strong he is.
We part ways, and I phase across the rooftops, heading to get us some backup for the big battle we have to face, whether we like it or not.