The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,145

but it certainly wasn't my angel. Thankfully, it seemed that he didn't recognize me at all.

"Well, hello, beautiful," he said, somehow making it sound incredibly sleazy.

I refused to meet his eerie green eyes as I tugged my arm free. "Do you have any idea how much of a turnoff it is to have men grab me?"

"And here I heard women loved that." He stepped a little closer, as if waiting for me to melt into him.

Which was when I remembered that most humans had a fondness for angels. They were beautiful, powerful, and for some strange reason, irresistible to people. So far, the only excuse I had was that I hadn't looked at him yet. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite convinced that I could actually play this role. I fucking hated angels.

"Well," I told him, "I'm not most women. I'm also not really into guys." Hopefully, telling him I was a lesbian would remove a little bit of his suspicion.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" He asked.

Which meant he didn't really care what I wanted. Letting out a heavy sigh, I turned my full attention on him. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Lemme guess," he said. "You must be one of the top bitches at Kappa Mu." His eyes raked across my body. "Are you crashing our party?"

"In all honesty, I'm just trying to find one of my friends. Maybe you’ve seen him? Short guy, kinda scrawny, dark hair and wearing a Harry Potter shirt." I racked my brain trying to remember the name of Amy's friend. "I can't find Daniel anywhere."

The angel before me nodded a few times as if he was thinking about it. "Yeah, I think I remember him. If you'd like, I can show you where he’s at."

Okay, that was a trap. I knew it was a trap. The problem is that I really wanted to accept his offer. If he took me to where they were holding this kid, then I’d know exactly where the slaves were. He couldn't mind-fuck me because of my deal with Luke. And if Michael's box hadn't been able to hold me, then some minor malakim surely wouldn't have wards that could keep me in. Plus, there was the fact that I could always summon Luke if I got in too deep. Hell, I could summon my entire legion.

So I decided to just go with it. "Yeah, that would be great. You wouldn't mind?"

The smile this guy gave me could only be described as oily. "Not at all." And he held out his hand. "Right this way."

I wanted to groan, but I kept that in my head even as I dropped my palm into his. The angel gave me another one of those eerily disturbing smiles and started leading me deeper into the frat house. It was weird. People almost seemed to move out of his way. Quite a few of them looked at him and smiled, yet completely ignored me.

Which made me wonder just how many of these humans had been mind-fucked. Could it be something they were doing with the music? Or drinks? Or had they simply gone person-to-person, looking in each of their eyes, tweaking their aether so all of these people would submit?

The angel led me up the stairs, aiming for the second floor, and I followed. Right now, there was no real point in making a scene. The strangest thing, though, was that the students around me all seemed so young. I was only a few years older than them, but I'd kinda gotten used to the ageless beauty of the outworlders.

Everything was going great until we reached the top of the stairs. The angel holding my hand turned left, and we stepped into a hallway that was entirely filled with angels. I couldn't name which choir they were in just by how they looked, but I knew. Where else would you find at least twelve guys with perfectly green eyes? Some were pale, almost monochromatic. Others were just a little too vibrant. Then there was the one in the middle who looked like he was made of metal.

"Uzziel," my angel called out.

And the archangel turned. His eyes landed on me and narrowed in confusion. "What?" He asked.

"She says she's looking for her friend. It seems he wandered off somewhere in the middle of our party."

"He's probably in here," Uzziel said. "Invitation only."

He lifted a hand and gestured me closer. Every instinct in my body told me to run away. The simple