The Demon's Song (6 page)

“Hellfire,” Phenex muttered. “I know where this is going.”

“You and me both.” Gadreel popped a piece of bacon in his mouth and dropped a wink
at Sofia. “No rest for the wicked.”

She didn’t know what they meant, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. What she did know
was bad enough. Sofia hadn’t missed Gadreel’s small mention of Sara, though, and she
latched onto it with fervor.

“You said it was an old vampire who attacked Sara, but that she wasn’t a fatality.
Have you seen her, then? Is she going to be all right?” she asked Gadreel.

“Mmm,” he agreed, his tone disinterested. “For a vampire.”

Sofia nearly choked on the bite of bacon she’d just taken. “
What?
”

Gadreel gave her a long-suffering look as he watched her try not to aspirate tiny
pieces of fried pork.

“Please, it’s hardly shocking. Your friend was bitten and nearly drained. It’s not
like there are a lot of options at that point. She’s fine. A little pissed off over
the whole thing, but fine. I expect she’ll be able to come back above once the current
mess is taken care of, and then you can shout at her or beg her to bite you or whatever
it is you had in mind.” His eyes brightened with sudden interest. “In fact, if you
do decide to let her bite you, please let me know so I can watch.”

Sofia glared at him as she got the coughing under control, though at this point his
lack of empathy didn’t surprise her. On some level, she’d known this was the most
likely outcome for Sara. She’d watched the looks between Justin and the one who’d
taken Sara away—Amir, she thought his name was. Still, knowing that one of her best
friends was now a blood-drinking immortal was a lot to take in on top of everything
else.
She’s not dead
, Sofia told herself.
She’s alive—I think vampirism qualifies—and she’s safe. That’s all that matters right
this second
.

Phenex was watching her closely, and when he spoke, the melody of his voice was soothing.

“You’ll see her. Maybe not a lot, but you’ll see her. At least she’s walking and talking.
There was only one other option, and it wasn’t a good one.”

She looked at him and nodded. He was right, even if she didn’t like it. The best idea
for the time being, she decided, was to take things one step at a time.

“It could be worse,” Gadreel interjected. “There are so many other things that could
have gotten her. A vampire is
cake
. We get chased by things you won’t even see in horror movies. They’re that disgusting.”
He seemed obscenely proud of the fact, Sofia thought. And then his look turned sly
and speculative, making her dread whatever was coming next. He seemed to like being
the center of attention. Whatever it took.

“Phenex told you about all that, right? What we do? Why we’re slumming it up here
instead of ruling the fiery expanses of the underworld? That’s what the lords of Hell
are, you know. Fallen angels, every one. We were the highest of demons. We exiles
are still Fallen, of course, but the lords of Hell part, not so much.” One eyebrow
quirked up ever so slightly. “He really didn’t tell you how we came to be the only
Fallen ever to be sentenced to death by the Infernal Council and escape?”

The look Phenex gave Gadreel at that moment would have sent most people screaming.
Instead, Gadreel simply grinned, showing gleaming white teeth that looked ready to
bite. And the hell of it was, Sofia wanted to know what he would say next. This information
interested her, and he knew it.

So, from the looks of things, did Phenex.

“No,” Sofia said, feeling a little guilty as Phenex turned that fulminating glare
on her. “He hadn’t gotten to that part yet.”
If he ever intended to. Which I doubt.

Gadreel’s eyes widened in sheer wicked delight.

“No? It’s quite a story. You see, Lucifer had decided to crack down on those the Infernal
Council had deemed...
insufficiently devoted
, let’s say, to the cause of destroying what we call the Balance. The human realm
functions as it should when it’s fairly equal parts darkness and light, though things
fluctuate at times. And, of course, Heaven and Hell are always trying to push things
one way or the other to gain an advantage.” He waved his hand dismissively, as though
he were talking about the weather instead of creatures battling over the onset of
the Apocalypse.

“Why were you condemned to death?” Sofia asked, unable to help herself. If nothing
else, Gadreel was an engaging storyteller, leaving her hanging on every word. She
wanted to know it all, what they’d done to make the devil himself want to kill them,
how they’d gotten here. But her question was quickly brushed off, accompanied by the
slightest stiffening of Gadreel’s shoulders before he relaxed again. His reaction
only sharpened her curiosity.

“I didn’t do anything but be better at everything than Mr. I-Am-Hell.”

Phenex’s snort told Sofia that there was a lot more to that story, and Gadreel shot
him a nasty look before continuing.

“
Anyway
, there were six of us. Six glorious lords of Hell, unjustly singled out for a variety
of reasons, condemned in secret. They’d plotted to make a spectacle of us, a warning
to the others.” Gadreel grinned, eyes glittering with pleasure. “We would never have
known until it was too late. Except who should come knocking at our doors in the wee
hours but Leviathan, the mighty and terrible, bearing both the news of our impending
demise and the
strangest
offer he’d put together to save our skins. Phenex barely made it out. He’d sent Belial
into a fury for stealing his—”

Phenex got to his feet so quickly that his movement was a blur. Sofia had seen him
move that way last night, but it still startled her. It left her speechless long enough
for him to put an end to the conversation.

“Enough,” he growled. “If there’s nothing else, take off. Find somebody else who wants
a story.”

Gadreel’s mouth curved into a small smile, though there was no humor in it. He got
to his feet with deliberate grace. Sofia found herself holding her breath again as
she rose, too, stepping back from the table and closer to Phenex. She still couldn’t
quite get a read on what the relationship was here, but it seemed unstable, whatever
it was.

“Embarrassed, Phenex? Don’t want your new conquest to know why
you
were marked to burn in the Phlegethon?” He curled his lip. “I didn’t think it was
possible for us to fall further, but you’re working on it. She’s just a
human
, and here you are playing house and worrying about her opinion. You should worry
more about this fixation on helping the weak. The last one was nearly the end of you.”

Cold fury burned through her, and the words came before Sofia could think better of
them.

“Maybe I’m not as strong as your kind, but at least I have a soul.”

The barb hit its mark. There was a burst of black rage, just for an instant, in the
depths of Gadreel’s eyes. Before she could react, Phenex had placed himself in front
of her, shoving her behind him as he tensed for a fight. But the first blow never
came. Gadreel had gotten it under control almost as quickly as it had begun to slip,
though his bitterness lingered in his voice.

“Touché,” he said, and gave her a mocking little bow when she peered around Phenex’s
arm at him, chafing at the way Phenex tried to shove her back. “Just remember, my
little sharp-tongued primate, that a soul isn’t everything. And now, before your protector
threatens to shove any more kitchen implements in places they don’t belong…”

She blinked, and Gadreel was gone without another word, without a sound.

Chapter Nine

Phenex didn’t move a muscle.

Sofia stepped carefully around so that she faced him. He looked lost, she thought.
Lost, and very distant. She wanted desperately to know the missing pieces of Gadreel’s
story, but asking would gain her nothing right now. Instead, she filed away what she’d
learned and tried to pull him back to the here and now. For reasons Sofia didn’t care
to examine too closely, she seemed to want his company this morning. And though his
serious expression didn’t detract at all from his looks, she preferred his smile.

“So...your friend is kind of an asshole,” Sofia said.

His laugh, a soft huff of breath, was less than she’d hoped for. But it was a start.

“Yeah, he really is, most of the time. But for future reference,” Phenex replied without
meeting her eyes, “the one thing you don’t want to give a fallen angel a hard time
about is his lack of a soul. It’s kind of a sore subject.”

Sofia’s stomach sank.

“You really don’t have a soul? That was just a shot in the dark.” She didn’t care
about having offended Gadreel, but Phenex hadn’t done anything to deserve it. His
voice was cool when he answered her, his gaze still directed away.

“No. Angels weren’t given them. And demons haven’t figured out a way to steal them.
So…either way we’re pretty much screwed.”

She couldn’t imagine. Just as she couldn’t imagine Phenex, with his overwhelming presence,
simply ceasing to exist one day. Unsettled by the thought, she tried to defend herself.
“He treated me like…well, like a talking monkey that could double as a sex toy. It
pissed me off.”

Phenex’s lips twitched as his eyes finally shifted to meet hers again. “You’d be surprised
at how many women go for it.”

She wrinkled her nose, relieved at the humor in his voice. “Not really. He’s so beautiful
that they probably don’t hear a word he says.”

“You did.”

“Only because I find men who look like they spend more time on their hair than I do
off-putting.”

Now he did laugh, a warm, rich sound that flowed over Sofia in a rush. It was a beautiful
surprise. Even knowing him for so short a time, she got the impression that most of
his amusement was of the cynical, jaded variety.

“It’s true. He preens. And he hogs the bathroom. You get used to it,” Phenex said.

Sofia smiled, though it faltered a little as she asked the question she couldn’t get
out of her head. “So I know you told me you were a fallen angel last night, but...you
were really in Hell? As in, an actual place full of flames and demons and”—she gestured,
looking for the right words—“you know. Eternal punishment. Evil. And even
demons
wanted to kill you?”

Phenex sighed, shoved a hand through his hair, looked at the ceiling, and then finally
back at her. “Yes, it’s a real place. And Gadreel was telling the truth, for once.
Each of us was marked for death. We Fallen had gotten...complacent, I guess you could
say. Eternity is a long time. The underworld never changes. Fight to tip the Balance,
run herd on the tormented souls of the damned, be seen at the right parties, whatever.
Some of us got tired of playing. Lucifer and the Council decided they needed to make
a statement, shake things up, and for various reasons, I ended up on their list.”
He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “We got lucky, I guess. All this new effort
from Hell to tip the Balance into darkness has thrown the white wings for a loop.
They needed extra help dealing with these massive outbreaks of low demons—you’d never
want to run into one, I promise—and they were willing to pay, so...”

Sofia shook her head, amazed. “You’re mercenaries. Angelic mercenaries.” She’d always
been willing to accept that there were more things in the universe than she could
imagine or comprehend, but still, being hit over the head with all of this was an
experience she’d never expected to have.

“Uh, we’re not angelic. You might have noticed.” Phenex pressed his lips together
and exhaled loudly. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Here’s the deal. We have wings, we have
to be on a side, at least nominally. In Hell, we were about to get tossed into a flaming
river for entertainment. Up here, we work for the good guys and stay alive. So we
slay demons and keep the Balance in shape, and deal with some extra things for the
vamps so we have a protected place to stay. We get paid well, because it pisses off
the white wings when we steal, and, best of all, we get to keep breathing. It’s weird,
but I guess it works.”

Sofia raised an eyebrow. “So you still need protection.”

“Sure. No one in Hell knew what they meant to do to us except the Council, which is
very small. To everyone else, we look like a bunch of traitors. Any one of the other
Fallen would be happy to end us. And as for the Council...they don’t like to lose.
We count as unfinished business. They already tried for my brother Raum.”

“What happened?”

He looked smug. “The Infernal Council has one less member.”

Sofia widened her eyes, blinked, and looked away, shaking her head in wonder. “Good
to know.” He was trouble any way you sliced it, an ex-demon mercenary on the run from
Hell. And for some reason, he was here with her.

The words came before she could think better of them.

“Phenex, why are you doing this? Gadreel said you volunteered to watch me. Why? You’re
a warrior, not a nanny. I’m not even going to pretend that I live an exciting life.
That vampire you grabbed last night was so out of his league it was ridiculous, and
I doubt this vampire king needed to waste one of his big guns here. So why?”

His face was impassive, though his eyes told another story. There were emotions roiling
beneath the surface in him that Sofia couldn’t begin to guess at. Likely it was safer
not to. Such an ancient creature would have some fairly extreme baggage. Just another
reason not to get too close.

Except she’d already taken a couple of steps toward him before she realized it and
stopped herself. The magnetic pull he seemed to exert on her was going to be a big
problem if she didn’t watch it. It was like having a force of nature show up in her
life for an unexpected and extended visit. She was too busy flailing to even try to
nail down what came next. Understanding him, even a little, was something she needed.
Maybe then she could figure the rest of this out.

Phenex moved forward, closing the distance between them with just a few steps, until
there were only inches separating them. Sofia didn’t move a muscle. She could actually
feel the heat radiating from him, as though he really did nurse a fire deep within
him, just like the mythical bird he shared a name with. Even his eyes seemed to burn
as he looked down at her. His focus was so singular, so intense, that her every nerve
ending sizzled, waiting for the slightest touch. When he lifted his hand to her cheek,
lightly brushing a lock of hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear,
Sofia heard her own sharp intake of breath and blushed. Her inability to hide her
reactions to Phenex embarrassed her. And still, she couldn’t move away, hungry for
another brush of his hand.

She knew next to nothing about him, and it didn’t seem to matter. This was attraction
at a level she hadn’t thought existed outside of fantasy.

“Sofia,” Phenex said, and he made her name sound like a fragment of some exquisite
song. “I’m here for a very simple reason. Eternity is boring. You’re not.”

She turned her cheek into his touch as he stroked his fingers down her jaw, making
her shiver. The heat from his fingertips rippled through her, shimmering over her
skin, turning her breaths shallow. Sofia’s lips parted when Phenex ran his thumb gently
over them. Her eyes slipped halfway shut. She couldn’t seem to think, every possible
protest of her better judgment scattering in the face of pure desire. She lifted her
chin, asking without words for his mouth, for
more
. She caught a fleeting glimpse of Phenex’s beautiful face through her lowered lashes
and saw an expression that bespoke a hunger so deep that it ought to have terrified
her. Instead, it found its match in her own, rearing its head with shocking force.

His hands clamped on her hips. Her hands fisted in his shirt. Then his mouth was on
hers, and Sofia gave a soft, broken cry an instant before his tongue swept in to taste
her. Her hands flattened against the hard planes of his chest, then slid upward, over
the place where she could feel the rapid beat of his heart, over the broad contours
of his shoulders, into the silken softness of his hair, where she tangled her fingers.
Phenex’s lips were warm and soft, a startling contrast to the hardness of the man.
Sofia felt any control she might have had deserting her as his tongue rubbed against
hers in a rhythm that matched the aching throb between her legs—legs that threatened
to give out on her as he licked and nipped, teased and then plundered. She arched,
pressing her breasts into his chest, the thin material of her shirt abrading nipples
that were hard and tight, sending tiny shock waves spiraling deep inside her.

One of Phenex’s hands slipped around to cup her backside, holding her up, while the
other slid higher to press against the center of her back. Sofia melted into him,
sighing into his mouth while he swirled his tongue against hers again. The hand on
her ass tightened, firm but not painful, guiding her hips against his so that she
could feel the thick, hard ridge of his cock against her lower belly. Even through
their clothes she could feel the heat pulsing off of him, and Sofia rolled her hips,
wanting the friction, wanting to be closer.

At her movement, Phenex made a sound deep in his throat, a low, purring vibration
that was the singularly most erotic sound Sofia had ever heard. As he made it, he
pressed back against her, meeting each searching motion of her hips with his own until
they were caught together in an erotic dance. The hand at Sofia’s back moved down
again, and Sofia pulled her fingers from Phenex’s hair to wrap her arms around him.

The kiss began to change subtly, becoming harder, more insistent. Phenex’s breathing
grew harsh, and those impossibly sexy sounds he was making became more akin to growls.
Sofia could feel the scrape of his teeth against her lower lip, gasping at the bright
shock of pain when one of his fangs drew blood.

“Phenex,” Sofia whispered, clinging to him for dear life. She was brutally aroused,
her body screaming at her to take him, to find a way to have him pounding inside of
her. Her nails dug into his shoulders, dragging down his back. Her breath caught in
her throat when he wound a hand in her hair, then pulled her head back to expose her
throat. His fangs flashed when he bared them, and there was something wild, something
completely inhuman in his eyes.

Demon
. The word flashed fever-bright through her mind, and for the first time, the word
and the man seemed to match.

Sofia went rigid in his arms, every doubt and fear returning with a vengeance in one
horrible moment. She didn’t know him, no matter how much she wanted him. And, God,
how she wanted him…the need to have Phenex was so overwhelming she was shaking. It
scared the hell out of her.

It took every ounce of willpower she could muster to brace her hands against his chest
and try to push him away. It was like trying to move a boulder. He dragged his mouth
down her throat, beginning to suckle at the sensitive skin. She writhed against him,
eyes rolling back from the pleasure, even as she continued to push at him. Her sanity,
now that it had returned, refused to allow Sofia to lose herself again.

“Phenex,” she said, her voice ragged and barely audible. “We can’t. I can’t. Stop.”

He said nothing, and she felt those dagger-sharp incisors scrape against her throat.
Her immediate instinct was to grab his head and press it to her neck, inviting his
bite, his teeth in her skin, a joining as intimate as any she could have imagined.

Sense won out over instinct, though just barely.

“Phenex,” she said more sharply, finding her voice. She began to struggle against
him, fear beginning to trickle down her spine like ice because of how badly she still
wanted this and how fragile her control seemed to be even now. It was too much, too
soon. She needed to think this through before she made some kind of huge mistake.

“Phenex, stop!”

He shuddered violently, and then Sofia was stumbling backward as Phenex shoved her
away. The abrupt loss of him against her, of his heat, was almost painful. Sofia sucked
in a breath as she wrapped her arms around herself, confused and aroused and barely
able to stand. Phenex had staggered back, slightly hunched over, head down with his
hands dug into his hair. His harsh breathing sounded more animal than man.

When he finally lifted his eyes to hers, they glowed like blue flames. In that instant,
she could see him exactly as he was. Phenex was beautiful, and terrible—and even as
a fresh wave of desire swamped her, Sofia knew that he was as dangerous to her as
any vampire. More dangerous. Phenex would be able to hurt her in ways that would leave
her body intact and her much-vaunted soul in tatters. Standing here, her body aching
for him, Sofia was as sure of this as she’d ever been of anything.

She had to get a handle on it. Now, before she lost herself in a beautiful immortal
who would never belong to anyone. Especially not to some inconsequential human.

Slowly, and with what appeared to be great effort, Phenex straightened and pulled
himself together, though his eyes still burned and his breathing remained uneven.
It was all Sofia could do not to close the distance between them and wrap herself
back around him. Instead, she held back, her own breathing shallow, hoping her knees
wouldn’t give out on her. She could still feel his mouth, his hands on her skin.

“Phenex,” she said, her voice uneven. She felt that she ought to try to explain why
she’d stopped him. “I—”