Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,23

virtual shredder program he’d developed. “It took forever for Heaven to agree, but they finally gave him the names and last known locations of those children.”

“Hmm.” Lyre’s pert nose wiggled as she ran the information through her processor. It was cuter than it should be. “Maybe he’s going to blackmail Azagoth for something. He’s had a bug up his ass about Azagoth ever since I arrived.”

Interesting. “And when was that?”

“Not long after the near-apocalypse.”

Which was just a few years ago. “That explains it,” he murmured as he looked back down at his screen.

“Explains what?”

“Why you don’t radiate evil.” He deleted more files related to Azagoth and his realm. “You’re not completely saturated with it yet.”

“I am too,” she said, a little defensively. She might as well have stomped her foot, and he gave her a skeptical glance.

“How much time did you spend as an Unfallen?” he asked.

“None.”

“None?” Ooh, he should probably delete that porn file. “You were captured and dragged down here right away?”

“No.” Her sterling eyes flashed as her defenses came up. This seemed to be a touchy subject for her. He’d have to file that information away. “I came of my own free will.”

So she was another Flail. She’d wanted to expose herself to the evils of Sheoul. He had absolutely no respect for shitbags like that.

Although he had to admit that she didn’t strike him as being anything like Flail. Aside from wanting the list of Azagoth’s minor children, anyway. Not that it mattered. He was going to get out of this hellhole and would hopefully never see either of them again.

He jammed the flash drive into the USB port and downloaded the file containing the names that would hopefully buy him some time.

“Done.” His gut churned as he unplugged the drive and held it out to Lyre. “Tell Bael to shove it up his ass.”

The merest hint of a smile teased her lips. He shouldn’t find it sexy, but he did. A lot.

“As much as I’d love to say that, I’ll let you tell him yourself.” She bounced the little drive in her palm, and her expression grew serious. “Cipher, I hope whatever you put on this drive isn’t a trick, because if it is, we’ll both pay with blood. And when I recover, I’ll show you just how saturated with evil I am.”

He doubted the threat would have sounded as cute coming from Flail. But in any case, she didn’t have anything to worry about. There were no tricks on the flash drive.

At least, none Bael would find out about until Cipher was long gone.

Chapter Nine

The flash drive felt like victory in Lyre’s palm as she walked Cipher toward Bael’s throne room. Take that, Flail. I won. Big time.

She glanced over at Cipher, whose expression was stony. Unreadable.

But it hadn’t been that way when he’d downloaded the list or talked about the names on it.

Names of children.

An unexpected wave of guilt engulfed her. She’d known Bael and Moloc were after Memitim, trained adults who could handle themselves. But the revelation that these were young children left her spinning and struggling to conceal it.

Dammit, it shouldn’t bother her. She was a fallen angel. A willing fallen angel. She should be sweating evil from her very pores by now. Evil that would allow her to not care. To maybe even enjoy the suffering of innocents.

Instead, she was slow-walking the damned list and wondering what Bael was going to do with it.

But she couldn’t stall forever, and they finally arrived at Bael’s residence. Two sleek, black-haired Canis demons, drool dripping from their canine jaws, let them inside.

Bael and his brother Moloc were huddled over a map with Rancor, a female fallen angel who had gained control of the Horun region after a coup backed by the brothers.

All three fallen angels had sworn allegiance to Revenant, but before Lyre had fallen, she’d uncovered evidence that they were secretly working against him. At the time and as a historian, she’d been fascinated by the political dynamics in Sheoul, even as she was disturbed by the Satan loyalists. The Powers That Be in Heaven didn’t openly admit they were backing Revenant as the King of Hell, but he was definitely preferable over the imprisoned alternative.

But as a fallen angel betrayed by her Heavenly family, Lyre had intentionally chosen to sell her services to an enemy of Revenant. Hell, she’d come to Bael within an hour of falling.

She’d regretted it by the next day.

But there was no point in dwelling on the