Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) (16 page)

Keegan stopped beside Ronin, exchanging a disbelieving glance with him. “Must be hypersensitive to pain.”

Ronin shrugged and brought his foot down on the boarg’s rapidly healing hand.

“Hurts,” the boarg yelled.

Keegan squatted next to the boarg. “Tell us everything you know about this job.”

“No—nothing. Wanted you alive. Too
interesting
to be killed.”

“Gee, a raving lunatic thinks we’re interesting.” Dagan sauntered up beside them. “I feel so special.”

Ronin took in his brother’s battered face. The cuts and scrapes were closing, and though his clothing was torn, he seemed largely unharmed. “Yeah, you’re a regular Cinderella.”

Keegan grabbed the boarg’s jaw and forced him to meet his gaze. “What did he plan on doing with us?”

When the boarg didn’t answer, Ronin pressed down on his hand. The boarg’s back arched off the ground.

“Arghh! Don’t know. Offered a fortune for your delivery.”

“How did you get the nets?” Dagan asked.

“Messenger service. Human.”

“What else can you tell us?” Ronin dug the heel of his boot into the boarg’s wound.

“Nothing! Nothing!”

Keegan sighed. “He’s telling the truth. He’s worthless.”

“I hate to interrupt this fabulous party,” Dagan drawled, “but several of the demons who fought us are missing.”

Ronin motioned toward the side of the roof. “I threw two of them off when the fight started. They must have run away.”

“In case they went for reinforcements, let’s get the hell out of here.” Keegan knelt and patted the injured boarg’s face. “Tell whoever hired you that they should have sent more men.”

They walked down the stairs, then headed toward Dagan’s car, which he’d parked around the corner.

“We’ll have to regroup and figure out where to go from here,” Keegan said.

“I know.” Ronin wiped the grime off his face. They’d gotten nowhere with today’s stakeout.

“What’s with the doom-and-gloom voice?” Dagan asked.

He rubbed at the tension knot that had formed at the back of his neck. “I’m trying to figure out how to tell Amara that the Council doesn’t give two shits about her or her mother.”

Keegan clapped him on the back. “Good luck with that, brother.”

“Hey”—Dagan nudged him with his shoulder—“we’ll figure out a way to get Amara’s mother out of there. If we could get away from Mammon, we could do anything.”

“I hope so.” For Amara’s sake, Ronin truly hoped so.

Chapter Fourteen

Asmodeus stood on his balcony and observed the surrounding buildings. The fact that he could see nothing from this vantage point rankled. When he’d ordered Gofrey to retain the services of a group of demons, he’d been sure the Detainors would be spying on him from nearby. But now the gut feeling that told him he was being watched had receded. He hoped it was because his hired goons had captured them. Perhaps they were on their way here at this very moment.

The buzz of the intercom drifted in through his partially open door. He pushed away from the balcony and went inside to press the answer button. “Yes?”

“I’ve heard back from one of the demons we hired, master.” The low tenor of Gofrey’s voice indicated something was wrong.

“What is it?”

“The Detainors have gotten away.”

Asmodeus took one long moment to process that. When he spoke, he let all of his fury show through in his voice. “What?”

“There were twelve of them, including two raya—rayamaras,” Gofrey stuttered. “They carried the four binding nets we had sent to them. Who would imagine they’d be able to escape that?”

“You
jackass.
You should have hired more demons.”

“I...I didn’t know how strong they would be.”

“Don’t you think you should have checked?” Asmodeus bit out. “Surely someone would’ve been able to enlighten you.”

“M—my apologies, master. We’ll hire more demons. Better ones. We’ll get them—”

“Silence.”

Gofrey immediately quieted, and Asmodeus rubbed his chin as he considered what to do next. His element of surprise was gone now. The bounty hunters knew he was on to them. A sliver of fear pierced his gut at the thought of how strong they were. Something told him he wasn’t quite ready to take all four of them on himself yet. He would have to evaluate how best to entrap them without getting himself captured in the process.

The stress of the situation caused his stomach to churn. Instinct made him long to seek out Belpheg. The dark fae had solved so many of his problems. But Asmodeus didn’t want to risk his fury. Not after he’d assured him he would be able to catch the brothers with the binding nets Belpheg had sent him.

He couldn’t afford to upset Belpheg right now, and in all honesty, the dark fae unnerved him beyond belief. Every time he met with Belpheg, it felt like he lost some intangible part of himself. Ridiculous, but he couldn’t help the feeling. If only he could free himself from the dark fae’s clutches without suffering any consequences, but he’d agreed to allow Belpheg a one-time use of his abilities when he gained full power. If he tried to back out now, Belpheg would strip him of his powers. He couldn’t live with that.

When another spasm wrenched his gut, Asmodeus realized he was hungry. He needed to feed. And he knew exactly who he wanted.

“Gofrey.”

“Yes, master?” Gofrey sniveled.

“Send Solara up.
Now
.”

Asmodeus sat back to wait for her arrival, when a thought struck him. He’d used his scrying bowl earlier and had seen a few images of Amara with those Detainors. One of them more than the others. Could there be something between her and this bounty hunter? It would explain why she hadn’t attempted to use her allure to extract herself from their grasp. Amara was nearly impossible to resist when she turned it on full blast.

The bitch was stubborn. She could go longer than the rest of his succubi without sustenance. He rubbed his forefinger along the golden band adorning his wrist.

“What if I drain you, my pet?” She would be forced to feed, and he knew from his scrying that only one man guarded her at any given time. If he got lucky, she would drain someone besides the angel. They likelihood they were all immune was slim at best. And if she killed one of the other brothers, she’d have no choice but to flee, or face their wrath. She would come running back to him. Where else did she have to go? Then he would use what she’d learned about the brothers to take the surviving three down.

Asmodeus touched the portion of the band representing Amara’s essence. He closed his eyes and concentrated, uttering the draining spell Belpheg had taught him. A bright ribbon of energy curled out from the band, and he knew the spell was working.

The door to his meeting chamber swung open. Momentarily startled, he eyed Solara, who stood in the doorway.

Oh yes, I almost forgot about her.

Though her shoulders were hunched over, her hands were curled into fists. As if she would dare strike him.

“Close the door,” he ordered.

Only once she’d obeyed did he remember he was still draining Amara’s energy. He jerked his finger away with a muffled curse. Hopefully, he hadn’t taken too much. Killing her would do none of them any good.

“What do you want?” Despite her petulant words, there was a tremor in Solara’s voice.

Asmodeus gave her a thorough once-over. She wore an emerald silk robe that fell to mid-thigh. Probably the least-revealing item of clothing she owned. Though she hadn’t bothered with makeup, most likely in an effort to make herself seem less appealing, her hair and skin still glowed with allure she couldn’t quite restrain. Much as she might try to hide it, her body hungered to be fed.

Such a shame she tried to resist her connection with him. They could be so good together if she didn’t insist on lambasting him over adding Amara to his collection.

“Do you remember when we first met?” he asked fondly. Those first days had been rather fun.

“I don’t care to reminisce.”

Fine with him. He swept away from his chair and rounded the table toward her. Her eyes widened and she pressed her back to the door, but she had nowhere to flee. “Your daughter abandoned you. Three days, and she hasn’t even made an effort to return.”

Something surprisingly like pride flashed in her eyes. “Good.”

“Good?” He closed a hand around her throat. “You say that, even knowing the consequences of her betrayal? Knowing what she has allowed to happen to you?”

Palpable fear flowed off her, but when she responded she said, “I never wanted this life for her. My only regret is that she allowed herself to become a victim in the first place. You were my mistake, not hers.”

Her bolds words angered him more than he would’ve expected. Was he truly so bad? Her life—Amara’s life—had been so empty before him. He’d given them purpose. Meaning. And this was how they repaid him.

“So courageous you are, hmm?” He ripped open the front of her robe. “Let’s see how long that bravery remains.”

§

The crash of the door, followed by the din of voices, woke Amara out of a sound sleep. Disoriented, she sat up on the leather sectional and glanced around the room. It took her a moment to remember that she’d been hanging out at Brynn’s place with Brynn and Maya. She must’ve fallen asleep right here on the couch.

Bram, who’d come over to ‘stay’ with them—which clearly meant he’d been asked to guard her—sat outside on the terrace. He must have heard the noise too, because he walked inside. “They back?”

“I don’t—”

She cut off as Ronin, Keegan, and Dagan entered the living room. Their clothes were torn and bloodstained, and dried blood clung to their skin in specks. Wiping the sleep from her eyes with the sleeve of the red polka-dot pajamas Brynn had given her, Amara rose to get a better view of Ronin.

As always, seeing him was sweet agony. She ignored the ever-present, gnawing hunger in her gut. There were far more important things. Like the fact he appeared to have been in a battle. The fabric of his sweater had practically disintegrated around the shoulders, and one entire sleeve was torn to shreds. Her chest grew tight and she rushed over to him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Already completely healed.” He smiled and brought a hand to her cheek, using his thumb to caress her skin. For a brief moment she forgot about everyone else in the room. About everything other than her and Ronin and how a simple touch from him made her feel like she could soar.

“What happened?” Bram asked, shattering the momentary spell between the two of them.

“We were ambushed,” Keegan said.

“Ambushed?” Amara glanced at Keegan. “By Asmodeus?”

“Yes. He hired some goons to attack us and take us prisoner.” Keegan smiled grimly. “They didn’t.”

A sense of dread caused an involuntary shiver in her spine. She folded her hands into the sleeves of her pajama top and hugged them to her chest, taking comfort in the added sense of security the fabric gave her. “How did he know about you?”

“Good question,” Dagan said.

She recoiled from the suspicion in his eyes. “You think
I’ve
been giving him information?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Ronin reassured her. To his brother he snapped, “Cut it out.”

“Seriously, we don’t know anything about her. What if she’s been feeding him information all along?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ronin growled. But Dagan’s words triggered a seed of doubt in Amara’s head. She lifted the sleeve of her top and stared at the golden band on her wrist.

Dagan softened his tone. “I’m not saying she’s evil or anything. She’s already admitted he has her mother. Maybe he’s forcing her to spy for him.”

“It’s
not
true. Tell him, Amara.” When she didn’t immediately respond, Ronin tensed and turned to her. “Amara?”

“The band, remember?” She raised her wrist toward Ronin. “He said he could track me with it. What if he’s been spying on us all along?”

He frowned, two lines appearing between his brows. “If that was the case, don’t you think he would’ve ambushed us here at home?”

“I don’t think we’re gonna find any answers tonight,” Keegan said. He strode toward the bar and upended one of the glasses, then got out a bottle labeled Johnny Walker Gold and poured himself a glass. “We need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”

The worry lines still marred Ronin’s forehead. Amara touched her finger to them, smoothing them out. It killed her that she was the cause of all his problems. How easier life would be for him if he had never met her. “How did you get away from the men after you?”

“We fought them,” Ronin said.

Dagan snorted and stomped over to the sectional, throwing himself back on it. “We schooled them.”

“Don’t forget we got our own share of cuts and bruises,” Keegan said.

She trailed her hand down his arm. “Why didn’t you use your angelic ability to calm them into submission?”

“Too many of them. Doesn’t work well in a crowd that size. The ones furthest from the blast zone would quickly figure out someone was trying to fuck with their emotions and get even more pissed.” He wound his hand around hers. “Besides, it only seems to work when you’re nearby.”

Her jaw dropped. “Since when?”

Ronin shrugged. “I lost that ability after the...after Opiate. But Taeg pointed out the other day that being around you seems to trigger it back into action.”

“After Opiate? I...” Her heart plummeted. She didn’t even know what to say. How did one apologize for something like that?

“It’s okay.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She didn’t think it was, but if he could so nonchalantly accept it, maybe it was for the best if she did, too. At least for now.

Amara took a breath, fearful to bring up the next topic when she was sure she already knew the answer. “I take it you didn’t learn anything about Solar—?”

The band on her wrist heated with fiery intensity. It blazed a scalding trail up her arm, and into her torso. Her heart clenched and stuttered before resuming its beat at triple speed. At the same time, a sharp stab of pain wrenched her stomach, blinding her vision with shards of white. She gasped and doubled over.

“What is it?” Alarm colored Ronin’s voice as he crouched down to wrap his arms around her, lending her support.

“My stomach.
Oh
.” Rolling waves of agony constricted all her muscles, driving her body into spasms. She fell forward onto Ronin and couldn’t pull herself back. Couldn’t do anything other than moan.

“Amara.” Ronin pulled her to him, supporting her head when it flopped to the side. “Tell me, what’s wrong?”

She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t summon the energy to form the words.

No energy. Biting pain. Oh hell, this had to be Asmodeus’s doing. He’d finally decided she’d outlived her usefulness.

He was killing her.

Another blast of pain sent fireworks through her vision, and then everything went black. Ronin set her down on the floor, and she didn’t even have the strength to curl into a ball.

Torture. So Asmodeus had decided to torture her before letting her die. Didn’t that figure?

She felt another set of hands on her, then heard Keegan’s voice. “How long since she last fed?”

Ronin murmured a response, but she couldn’t hear it over the sudden ringing in her ears.

At least the pain isn’t as bad anymore.
With that final thought, she lost consciousness.