up. Quickly he dialed his father, letting him know he was on his way to Betty’s.
“I’m leaving the office right now,” Lucifer responded. “I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
When he got to Betty’s neighborhood, Finn parked his motorcycle a few blocks away and hoofed it to the house like he normally did. There was something about parking in front of his father’s girlfriend’s house that felt weird. He vaulted the back wall and knocked on the kitchen door.
Betty let him in. “Nix is in the living room,” she said.
“Thanks.” He went through to the main room.
Nix Caine was sitting on the sofa, leafing through a magazine, but looked up when he entered. She seemed a little thinner than she’d been the last time he’d seen her, but she looked fit. And content. He felt a brief flare of envy that he quickly quashed. If she wanted hearth and home and happily ever after, that was fine. For her. For him it was footloose and fancy free all the way.
“So what’s this all about?” she asked. There were little yellow flecks in her eyes, which told him she was agitated and her demon half wanted to play.
He glanced back toward the kitchen. Raising his voice a bit, he asked, “Is there any more of that cheesecake?”
Betty poked her head around the corner. “You can wait until Lucifer gets here,” Betty answered. “No one’s having any of his cheesecake without his permission.”
For God’s sake. The woman was more protective of a food item than she was of her own flesh and blood. No wonder Nix seemed brittle. If he had to deal with Betty like she did, he’d be on edge, too.
“Finn, you begged me to meet you,” Nix muttered. “Tell me why.”
“I didn’t beg.” He sent her a scowl. “And I’d rather wait until—”
“Tell. Me.”
He heaved a sigh. “You know, I think I liked you better when there was a chance you’d go insane. You weren’t as cranky then. You were sure a helluva lot more fun.”
“Finn!”
There was no easy way to say this, so he’d just get it out. “I’ve been asked to kill Caine.”
She shot to her feet. Eyes dilated and crimson rimmed what was left of her irises, now gone completely yellow. “The hell you say!”
“Slow down, little cousin,” he drawled, holding out one hand, palm facing forward. “I didn’t say I was going to.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me that.” Fang tips peeped out over her bottom lip as her vampire half made itself fully known. “Explain. Now.”
“You’ve gotten scrappy since you were turned,” he said as he sat down in one of the plush armchairs that faced the sofa. Even knowing Nix could make a dash for his throat at any moment, he couldn’t bypass the opportunity to play with her a bit.
Betty slipped into the room and settled on one end of the sofa, her gaze on her daughter. She held herself tensely, as if ready to spring into action at any time. She shot Finn a look that clearly conveyed her feelings at the moment. She thought he was being an idiot, baiting her daughter the way he was.
She was probably right.
“Ex. Plain.” Nix crossed her arms and one booted foot began tapping on the carpet.
He figured if he drew this out any longer he’d end up with that boot up his ass, plus he didn’t ordinarily turn his teasing into cruelty. “My test of loyalty to the rogue group is to kill your husband.”
“Well, that ain’t gonna happen.” She plopped down on the sofa and curled her legs beneath her. Her relaxed pose in no way detracted from the fierceness still blazing from her eyes. “What did you tell them?”
“I said I’d do it. They know Caine and I had a run-in several months ago, and really, there’s no love lost between us.” When Nix shot to her feet again, he hurriedly assured her, “I’m not going to, of course. But I have an idea how we can do this, especially since I talked Liuz out of accepting Caine’s head as proof the deed was done.”
Nix went very still as only a vampire can do. “Son of a bitch.”
“There’s more,” he cautioned.
“Oh, hell, there always is.” She sighed and sat back down.
“The meetings that I’ve been to have taken place in the basement at Devil’s Domain.” He watched for her reaction to that bit of news. Nix knew the owner, Byron Maldonado, a vampire and an old friend and former employer to