should it be any different now? So, when I walked into the club to find Shya seated at the bar with a glass of red wine, I merely groaned. It wasn’t worth the effort to muster a more emphatic reaction.
The demon looked up at my approach, tearing his gaze from the box on the bar. A small half smile curved his thin lips.
The club was now free of bodies and overturned tables though it was still far from clean. The scent of blood clung to the air, metallic and sweet. It stained the floor in several places like a lurid decoration. Closing the doors for a night or two might be the best plan at this point. I’d do it if it weren’t so likely that the number of street kills would skyrocket overnight.
“What are you doing here?” I cut Shya off before he could slip out a snide greeting. “If this is a follow up to Lilah’s little goon squad, then save yourself the trouble. I’m not in the mood.”
Shya raised a brow and gave me a critical once over. He was attractive with an Asian appearance, clad in the dark suit he usually wore. I didn’t know his real face, but I imagined it was something I never wanted to see. The demon was smooth and calculated, as untrustworthy as they come.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he scoffed, eyes flashing in annoyance. “You’re not the only one Lilah has made her enemy. Binding her power has done nothing to stop her from being a royal pain in the ass. I think it’s fed her madness.”
“She killed one of my wolves and threatened to keep doing it unless I willingly give her my blood. As far as I’m concerned, this is all your fault.”
“Our fault,” Shya insisted, sniffing the wine in his glass.
“It was your genius idea to bind her,” I retorted, my fuse short. “I wanted to send that bitch back to imprisonment where she belongs. It needs to happen. Better late than never.”
Arys didn’t give Shya a chance to reply. He loomed menacingly over the demon. “What are you doing in here anyway, Shya? Come to make good on your threats?”
Shya gazed up at Arys from his seat and shrugged. “Not tonight. I’ve come to apologize to Alexa. No need to get all puffed up, Mr. Knight. I come in peace.”
“I’ll just bet you do.”
“Apologize?” I cut in before Arys could initiate violence. I feared he would let that feisty vampire temper start a war I wasn’t sure we could win. “You really are out of your damn mind.”
Ignoring Arys’s glower, Shya fixed me with a cool crimson gaze. “Hear me out?”
Those blood red eyes were eerie, downright chilling with the snake-like pupils. Not so long ago, those eyes had instilled a deep-rooted fear within me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of Shya, but that instinctive wariness was now colored with absolute abhorrence.
“Fine,” I relented. “Make it fast.”
“I am genuinely apologetic for my behavior the last time we were together.” He paused to take a sip of wine, a melodramatic action. The demon seemed to be fond of drama. “It was a choice I have come to regret. I should have been more respectful. As one of the revered Hounds, you deserve much more than that. Please forgive my selfish nature.”
Shya swirled the wine in his glass, looking pleased with himself. He apparently hadn’t just heard the same crock of shit I had. Demons might be many things: clever, powerful, frightening. Above all things, I believed them to be exceptionally delusional.
“So what you’re saying is, you came here to waste my time,” I said. “You threatened to kill me. I’m not pretending that never happened. We’re done, Shya. I’m not one of your pets. Whatever it is you want from me, forget about it.”
Shya’s smile disappeared, replaced by an ugly sneer. “I’ve never looked upon you as a pet. I see the potential in you. The power of life and death joined in a rare and unlikely union. You could be a great ruler, you know.”
“Good Lord, you are out of your mind.”
“Am I really though?” he challenged. “You feel it, don’t you? The power burning in your veins. You’ve watched how it makes others fall before you. Have you not felt the glorious sensation of bringing your enemies to their knees? Can you tell me it doesn’t feel like paradise?”
The crazy talk was giving me a horrible feeling. It was ludicrous. I didn’t understand