take this girl five minutes to figure out how to hurt us. She's been saying that one over and over again ever since we showed up here. The girl's a Bible-spouting torturer."
"Oh, I've got thousands of them." Penny grinned. "But 'Fear no evil' seemed to fit the situation."
"Seems like you're wasting your time, fellas." I glanced at Trey. "And what about the shifter here? Did you proposition him too?"
"Of course." Caryon grimaced. "Seems he's just as good as the rest of your friends. No fun at all. Didn't even cry when we set his tail on fire."
"His tail?" I glanced from Trey to Penny.
"We were shifting. He was a fox." She flushed. "I was a hound chasing him when the saccharine Satans dropped by."
"But he turned them down." I smiled at Trey. "Now that makes me happy. Let him go, Caryon. He needs to get back to work."
"Whatever." Caryon flicked his wrist and Trey was free.
"You son of a - " Trey lunged for the demon, but I got between them.
"No, just take off. Go back to the club and help Rafe close. I've got this. Penny and I have an appointment in a little while anyway. Date's over." I felt Trey's anger vibrating through him. "Please. If you get into it with these two, you'll only make it worse on all of us."
"Penny? You want me to stay?" Trey turned to her and took her hand. Her feet were still firmly planted.
"Thanks, Trey. I'm so sorry you were caught up in this mess." Penny glared at the demons, then at me. "Not anything else you can do here. Go, save your job. You've been absolutely great about this."
"Call me later, please. Let me know how you are." Trey leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.
Penny flushed. "Sure. Take care." She watched as he shifted and flew off into the night. "Wow. He really is a nice guy."
"Gag me." Spyte staggered like he was going to fall down as he held his stomach. "Where do you find these creatures, Glory, Penny? Wimps R Us?"
"He's no wimp. When you surprised us, he would have torn you apart if you hadn't paralyzed him." Penny glared at him. "That's such a cowardly way to deal with people. Makes me realize who the real wimps are here."
"Penny, why don't you just be quiet so we can get out of here?" I put my hand on her shoulder. She was right, but that didn't mean we were going to stand around and trade insults with these demons all night. So far they'd just talked. But I still had a pair of ruined boots to remind me they could do worse. And Alesa had almost ripped me to pieces in my shop when she'd arrived in town. Murder was definitely in their playbook.
"Fine." Penny lifted her chin. "Let me loose so we can leave or I'm singing 'God Bless America' again."
"There's an incentive to hurry. The girl's got the pipes of an orangutan in heat." Spyte waved his hand. "I'm muting her." And Penny was frozen head to foot.
"What now?" I put my hands on my hips. "I thought you wanted my cooperation?"
"We do." Caryon smiled at me. "Progress report, Glory."
I glanced at Penny, who, even frozen, fairly radiated fury and disappointment. With me. I was going to have to fix this with her. Later. I turned to Caryon as he looked significantly at my eyebrows.
"Fine. Progress. I'm calling Simon. He wants a relationship with his son and there are signs it's badly enough to give up his goddess. If he gets free, it's on Lucifer to get him on his team. So either of you got any ideas how we can destroy the queen of the energy vacuum pump?"
"You're thinking of taking out the goddess herself?" Spyte rubbed his hands together. "Bold. We can't help you with that. Rules."
"Lucifer loved the idea. But he agreed. It's all on me and my friends. Didn't seem worried about luring Simon over later. The man's nothing if not confident of his persuasive abilities."
Ah. That got a reaction. Cary and Spyte exchanged glances. "Oh? Didn't you know Luc and I had a little chat?" I smiled. "He's obviously lost faith in your ability to handle this on your own. Wasn't entirely happy with what you did to my lashes either, Cary." At least I'd gotten proficient with the fake ones. No sign yet that my own were growing in.
"You're lying. Luc would never demean himself by coming to