"You guys be careful moving in daylight. See you soon." Dev hung up his phone.
Sam gestured around the room. "You brought me to an empty club? Why?"
Dev turned her stiff body to the left and pointed up toward the steel rafters where two dozen demons were hanging like vampire bats. The rest would be sleeping in contorted positions in the upstairs rooms. He had no idea why the Charonte slept like that, but they did.
Sam's jaw went slack as she saw the demons, whose flesh was a bicolor swirl of reds, oranges, and blues. Their yellow, white, and red eyes glowed from the ceiling as they silently watched them as if trying to decide if they were friend or foe. She knew they were demons, but had no idea what classification or pantheon they belonged to. "What are those?"
"Charontes," Dev said in her ear. "Ever been around them?"
"No."
His breath tickled her ear and even though she couldn't see him, she had the distinct impression he was grinning at her. "They're not exactly sociable and not particularly fond of me."
That made her curious about his choosing this place. "Then why are we here?"
"'Cause I'm betting Dev has some shit he wants to drag me into and you can friggin' forget it, Bear." There was no missing the venom in that deep masculine tone. "I'm done with you and your sister and don't even mention that worthless Wolf's name to me 'cause I'm not your bitch and I ain't leaving here. Stick a fork in me, Bear, 'cause I repeat, I am done. D to the O and you know the rest so get the hell out of my club before I feed you to my boys."
Dev laughed as he turned to face the demon who'd flashed in behind them. "Nice seeing you too, Xedrix. Always a pleasure."
"Yeah, for you. Never for me."
Sam had to force herself not to gape at the spectacle in front of her.
With swirling blue skin and black hair, Xedrix dwarfed Dev's height. Something that wasn't easy to do. Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, Xedrix had a pair of oversized wings that twitched behind him. Whether it was from a need to attack or fly or strictly from irritation, she wasn't sure. But there was no missing the malice in his glowing eyes.
The strangest thing, though, was that even with a small pair of horns jutting out of his head and his short black hair that was tousled from sleep, the demon was incredibly beautiful and very masculine. There was just something about him that made you want to reach out and touch him.
Weird.
Xedrix narrowed his stare on her. "Why you bring a Dark-Hunter here, Bear? You know how we feel about them and they're not even on the menu, which double sucks for us."
"We have Daimons after us."
That got Xedrix to widen his eyes. Several of the demons dropped from the ceiling. They twisted in midair so that they landed gracefully on their feet around Xedrix.
Their happy expressions were almost comical. "Dinner!" The tallest one started licking his lips in eager expectation as he high-fived one of the other demons.
The shortest one shook his head. "No. Snack time. Unless there's a bunch of them. Let's hope there is."
"Need some sauce," the orange demon said to the other two. He shoved at the short red one. "Ceres, grab a bottle. Extra hot."
Xedrix held his hand up to silence them. "We're not lucky enough for home delivery, guys. Trust me. They won't come here."
The demons around him actually pouted.
Ceres didn't seem to buy his argument. "One of them might be stupid. Daimons not real bright. They could come here. Maybe we could lure them in with a tourist or two?"
The tall one brightened. "We could tie some Dark-Hunters outside as bait."
They all seemed to like that thought.
Except Xedrix, who rolled his eyes. "They're not that dumb. Believe me and you tie a Dark-Hunter outside, Acheron will go Atlantean on us and the last thing we want is to be sent home to mama. Or do you guys really want to go back into slavery under the Destroyer's not-so-delicate fist?"
"Fine," Ceres said petulantly, his wings drooping. "Should have known it was too good to be true." He sighed.
The demons shot back to their places in the rafters, but not before they muttered a few choice insults for Dev getting their hopes up.
Sam looked at them as they wrapped their wings around themselves and seemed to cocoon into the ceiling. That was interesting...Odd, but intriguing.