The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,13
about only paying for the work they’d specifically doled out, which usually entailed cleaning out pockets of low-level demons in areas where they were threatening to tilt the balance between light and darkness in what Heaven deemed to be the wrong direction. Dirty work, and lots of it—enough that the angels had gotten desperate enough to pay for help in the first place. But protecting Terra Noctem was expected to be, much to his continuing annoyance, gratis.
“You could have said something,” Phenex grumbled, caught off guard by the depth of Justin’s concern about the situation. He and his brothers had been out of Hell for over a year now, and even if they hadn’t exactly kept out of trouble, they were earning their keep. It would be nice to be in the loop at the beginning more often. At least as a kind of “thank you” for not wrecking anything so far. Well, anything big. The other stuff was the fault of the demons they were paid to hunt down. Mostly.
Justin shrugged, frowning. “I didn’t know what I was looking at. I still don’t.”
“Could be demon involvement. Though Uriel would probably have already shown up if it was.” The archangel, for all his annoying righteousness, had an amazing nose for demon-related trouble. And Uriel just loved that he now had a band of black wings to take care of it. Just thinking of the Heavenly golden boy had Phenex curling his lip. Uriel seemed to be looking at the renegade Fallen as some kind of weird pet project.
He didn’t need to be anyone’s project. All he really needed right now was a stiff drink.
Justin was mulling what Phenex had said. “You’d think Uriel would have shown up, yes. That he hasn’t tells me that it’s either an all-vampire problem, or some kind of vamp-demon side project that doesn’t threaten the Balance. Which means we’re on our own.”
“You mean you. I hunt demons, not vamps.”
“No, I mean we. You’re blood-bound to protect Terra Noctem now, remember? Whatever threatens it. Raum and Meresin are off demon-hunting, but Levi should be back soon from wherever he sneaked off to. Caim, Murmur, and Gadreel are just taking up space down there right now.” His eyes narrowed. “Especially Gadreel. Which gives me plenty of firepower to take care of this before it gets any worse.”
Phenex grunted. “More than you need for this sort of thing, if you ask me. You know we don’t leave much behind but smoking rubble.”
Justin’s razor-thin smile surprised him. “Which is exactly why I want you on it. An example needs to be made, and soon. That should be much easier to accomplish now that we actually have survivors.”
All at once, Phenex got it. Of course Justin had let Sofia run. It even made sense in a way he normally would have approved of. But this time, this one time, he found himself bothered. It caught him completely off guard.
“Damn it, Justin, you’re using her as bait?”
Justin’s brows winged up. “Yes. And?”
“And nothing. She’s going to end up dead before you figure anything out.” The renegade vamp wouldn’t have been alone in the club. His companions would have been out there, watching, waiting. Sofia’s flight wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. “Who’s following her?”
“Daegan, for now. Amir tagged him on his way out.”
Phenex threw his head back and gave an infuriated growl as he curled his hands into fists. “Daegan? Seriously?”
Justin’s expression darkened, but Phenex ignored it. He didn’t care whether the vampire king enjoyed having his decisions questioned or not. It obviously needed to happen more often if he was going to do stupid things like this.
“He was available, and he’s plenty competent,” Justin said flatly.
“He’s also functionally illiterate and he scratches himself so often you’ve got to wonder what he does in his off-hours,” Phenex pointed out. “Daegan. Hellfire, Justin, you’ve got better than that!”
Justin bared his fangs. “If you’ve got a better idea, I suggest you tell me before I follow Sofia’s lead and punch you in the throat. Except by ‘punch’ I mean ‘rip out your vocal cords so I have some peace until they grow back.’ I’ve found three half-dead humans in this place in the last month, and now I’ve got a brand-new accidental vampire down below. This is pressing, and I’m not in the mood for any Fallen bullshit right now.”
Phenex snorted, amused despite himself. Getting under Justin’s skin wasn’t usually so easy, but it was always entertaining.