her tirade arrested everyone in the hallway.
She moved closer to Cain, her fingers finding and lifting the necklace that had fallen out of his shirt. “W-where did you get this?”
Cain looked down at her hand, his irises still flickering with the lingering rage of angels. “Eve gave it to me.”
Reed’s teeth ground together. Eve had given a gift to his brother?
Doors opened along the hallway and residents poked their heads out. Sydney, too, appeared from Eve’s condo.
“What’s going on out there?” one woman asked crossly. “I’m calling the police.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Ishamel released Reed and moved away to address the concerns of the onlookers. Sydney joined him in working damage control.
“Where did Evangeline get it?” their mother persisted, sounding formidable despite her petite stature.
“An Infernal in the firm made it’ Cain answered.
Their father stood still and watchful. “No, he didn’t.”
Tugging at it, she said, “Give it to me
Cain’s head tilted. His gaze narrowed. “I can’t. I promised Eve I wouldn’t take it off
“She could be dead!” she snapped, chilling Reed with her callousness. “Give it to me.”
Then she gasped and covered her mouth as her careless words registered. “I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“What is this, Ima?” Cain asked with dangerous softness, watching her like the predator he was. “What does it do?”
“It doesn’t do anything.”
“How do you know?”
Adam stepped forward and caught her wrist. “Leave it.”
“I can’t just—”
“Leave it,” their father repeated harshly. He pulled her back down the hail to Cain’s condo.
Reed turned his attention back to his brother. “What the fuck is going on around here? Where’s Eve?”
“Missing.” Cain shoved the necklace back inside his T-shirt, then pointed an accusing finger. “Find her. If she was in your car. . .“ His throat worked. “Just find her
Agreeing that Eve came first and killing his brother could come later, Reed shifted to the men’s restroom of the 7-Eleven on the corner of Katella and Harbor. As he exited to the street, he saw the crowds and heard the sickening grind of metal being ripped apart. His gut knotted.
Eve.
“You are not wearing the chain I gave you,” Satan said smoothly, snapping his fingers and conjuring a throne in the center of the yellow desert. He sank into the seat and stretched out his long legs. His crimson wings were tucked away, leaving behind a frighteningly normal vision of a breathtakingly handsome man What was worse was his resemblance to Cain.
And Abel.
Eve would really like to hear the explanation for that one.
“We really have to stop meeting like this,” she muttered, tugging one of her heels out of- a crack in the hardened ground.
“1 just saved your life.”
“I’m sure Ishamel would have done the same, if you hadn’t beaten him to it. And by the way, I have to point out that my life isn’t supposed to be in danger. You agreed to call off the bounty.”
As if wounded, he set an elegant hand over his heart. “I did.”
“The vamp that rammed me into traffic didn’t seem to know that!”
“Sometimes it can take awhile for word to spread. However, you are none the worse for wear.”
“The car I was driving can’t say the same.” There was something off about the nonchalance the Devil displayed. If he’d done as he said—and she believed he spoke at least in half-truths—then he’d been openly defied. It was hard to believe he would take such an offense so easily.
“Where is the necklace, Evangeline?”
The way he used her full name gave him a paternalistic air that chilled her blood as surely as his touch did. She wished that she’d gone to the ladies’ room at the police station. “Somewhere safe.”
“Hmm.” His head cocked to one side, allowing a curtain of silky black hair to fall over his shoulder. “What do you consider safe, I wonder? Your parents’?”
“As if I would drag them into this. It’s not a big deal, okay? it’s fine.”
“Maybe I want it back, if it is of no use to you.”
“You can have it back once I kill the Nix. That was the deal.” Eve had no idea how she sounded so calm and in control when she was far from either, but she was grateful. “Now, why did you bring me here? It’s only been one day since we made our little arrangement. You’ll have to give me more time.”
“Abel?” he persisted. “Sarakiel? Cain?”
Her brow arched, but her fingers were digging into her biceps through her silk shirt. “What. Do. You. Want?”
“Perhaps you asked Eve to watch it for you?”