Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,9
than ‘fry all the villains to a crisp.’ Brute force isn’t the only skill we’ve got. Look at… Look at how far Ruse has gotten us with his incubus charm. Why don’t we have him beguile all the guards into being on our side, and then we’ll be able to waltz right through the place and get the cells open without running for our lives at the same time?”
Ruse blinked at me, apparently startled that I’d singled him out. He ran a hand through his rumpled chocolate-brown waves, past one of the small, curved horns that poked through them. “As much as I appreciate your faith in me, Miss Blaze, I can’t easily charm more than a couple of mortals at the same time—not to the lengths we’d need to override their devotion to their cause.”
“You wouldn’t have to win them all over at once,” I said. “They’re not expecting us to be here. We have time. We watch the museum, follow the guards when they go off duty so we know where they live, and you can bring them around to our side one at a time. If we can get a few of the syndicate’s followers to help us track them down, we could probably have them all dancing to your tune by tomorrow evening.”
The incubus tapped his lips, but a soft smile was starting to tug at them. “You know, that might work. And I would love to see a whole company of Company goons following my every command.”
Omen still looked skeptical. “We have no idea of their shift structure or how many staff might be working in the inner chambers of that place. Miss one, and we’ll still have a mess the second we get in there.”
We might have been able to sort that out if we’d had weeks to survey the museum’s comings and goings, but I wasn’t going to leave Snap at the Company’s lack-of-mercy for that long. I spread my hands. “So what? You and Thorn can take care of one or two stragglers if they get in our way, can’t you? Or we let the guards deal with their own.” I liked that way better than being responsible for several deaths-by-charbroiling—and who knew what other havoc on top of that.
Thorn cleared his throat and rested his hand on the small of my back, a solid, comforting pressure that offset the faint stinging still radiating through my shoulder blade. “You know I’m most at ease with physical combat, Omen, but I believe Sorsha’s plan has its merits. The incubus has proven just how much influence he can wield. We’ll have more time to uncover information on our enemies’ weaknesses and policies if we enter through non-violent means. Any records we can obtain could make the difference between succeeding against the larger organization.”
For the warrior to support a strategy that involved him standing back while someone else took the lead role was as huge as, well, the warrior himself. I would have kissed him if I hadn’t suspected that would only undermine his larger point with his boss. I settled for giving his brawny forearm an affectionate squeeze instead.
Omen’s mouth went as flat as his voice had been. I hated it when he ramped up the cold-and-hard-as-ice façade he turned to more often than not. Hated it so much that I’d never been able to resist poking at him until I found the right angle to provoke some of his own inner heat to the surface.
To be clear, dealing with a hellhound shifter in a rage was no laughing matter. But I’d take being terrified over condescended to any day.
We could get along; we’d proven that while making our final plans to take out the facilities back home. But Omen had been particularly stick-up-ass-ish when it came to my unexpected voodoo skills from the start.
“Are you sure this isn’t all about giving you more excuses to hide away your powers?” he demanded. “Because it sounds an awful lot like that.”
I gazed right back at him. “I’ve gotten so far from hiding them that a whole bunch of shadowkind and at least a couple of human beings who are still alive witnessed my flame-throwing last time. And I’ve spent my whole life toeing the line between risky and outright suicidal, so you’ll just have to trust that I know when I’m on the verge of crossing it.”
“Maybe you simply need a little more practice at exercising that discipline you struggle with.” He loomed on me