The Demon's Song - By Kendra Leigh Castle Page 0,54
Raum had been watching Ember not so much to protect her as to protect the world from her, since she had the capability to break the barriers between Hell and Earth.
Okay, so it wasn’t really like what had happened with him. But Ember and Sofia were both women, so that was something.
Phenex gave a couple of short raps on the front door, and it was quickly opened by a beautiful redhead with an equally beautiful smile.
“Phenex!” Ember said. “I didn’t think you were back yet!”
He managed a small smile. He genuinely liked Ember, an emotion he reserved for very few people. She was always friendly, and had a hell of a temper that was fun to watch when it went off—provided it wasn’t directed at him. And she’d been good for Raum in ways no one would have believed.
“Yeah, I’m back for now. Change of plans,” Phenex said. “Looks like the trouble at Amphora is Belial’s work. I had to bring Sofia down here for now, since Belial announced his presence by trying to kill her.”
Ember’s brow creased as she took in the information. “Belial. More fun with high demons, I guess. So Justin was okay with you bringing a mortal down here?”
“No. But she’s here anyway.”
Ember laughed at that. “Color me unsurprised. So where is she? You didn’t lock her in the house or anything, did you?” She frowned, looking across the street. “I’m going to be honest, any of you bringing a woman home with you scares me. I think I’ve spent too much time watching you all.”
“No, she’s not locked in. She’s…ah…I need somebody to hang out with her so I can talk to the others. Maybe go back downtown for a while.” And lick his wounds over Sofia’s flat insistence that she didn’t belong to him, accompanied by the implication that she never would. But that part, he wasn’t sharing.
Ember arched a slim red brow. He suddenly wanted to sink through the stone and vanish.
“You dragged her here and now you’re ditching her?”
“Not for long. I just…we just…”
“Uh-huh.” Ember looked deeply unimpressed. “I’ll go over and say hello. If she’s been putting up with you for a couple days straight, she could probably use a friendly face. Raum’s gone down to the Half Light to meet Levi already. I think the others are probably there, too.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t go,” Phenex said. Ember was a fierce fighter when she wasn’t running her custom scent shop, Lotions & Potions, and she was an asset to any strategic discussions she sat in on. But Ember simply smiled ruefully and shook her head.
“Nope. I got my fill of everyone last night. Raum can have at it. I’m going to take a well-deserved night off. Or I was.” She eyed him. “I hope your current assignment is nice to talk to on top of being pretty. Justin mentioned that she was hot, but that was all the gossip I heard.”
“She is. Nice, I mean.” Hellfire, that sounded lame. Sofia was a lot more than nice.
“Then why do you look so guilty?” Ember narrowed her eyes. “You picked a fight and then left, right? Damn it, I wish you weren’t all so predictable, Phenex! Though I thought you had a little more in the empathy department than most. Tell me why she’s mad at you, and I’ll go.”
He didn’t want to talk about it, much less be accosted by an angry she-demon over it. But since he knew she wouldn’t let it go, and since he really did need her to go be with Sofia, Phenex relented.
“She wants to keep working. I told her no. When she insisted, I asked why she couldn’t just do as she was told.”
Ember winced. “Smooth. You realize you were a jackass, right?”
“No.”
Ember sighed. “Yeah, you do. And you like her, or you wouldn’t have bothered to fight and then run off to brood about it.”
Phenex hooked his thumbs in his pockets and glowered. “I asked for a favor, not a lecture, Ember. And I don’t brood.”
All she did was snort. “Please. I live with a champion among brooders. Go. Take off. I’ll go entertain Sofia.” She stepped out the door, shutting it after her, and Phenex started to walk away, relieved. Now that this was taken care of, maybe he could clear his head. But Ember’s voice, and her tone, strangely tentative after the way she’d given it to him, called his attention back behind him.
“Phenex? This Sofia…what does she think of it down here?”