Touched by Fire (Demons of New Chicago #1) - Kel Carpenter Page 0,42
were just a small amount compared to the pile I’d left in the woods.
The back door opened with a shrill squeal.
I frowned when I saw Nathalie standing on the opposite side of the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest. A white paper plate with a sandwich sat in the middle of the table. I wasn’t sure if this was her idea of bargaining power or a truce.
I shut the sliding door behind me, cutting off the worst of the screaming winds.
“You were out for quite a while,” she said, her eyes dropping to the two logs.
“Needed time to think,” I said, striding past the table toward the fireplace. She stepped in front of me and extended both hands.
“Let me. You go eat.”
I lifted an eyebrow and handed her the wood. She shooed me toward the table with a look. As I took a seat at one of the rickety wooden chairs, sweat started to practically pour off of me. I grimaced, pulling at the turtleneck.
“So,” Nathalie started nonchalantly. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“You didn’t have to do all this to ask me that,” I said, taking a bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
She grunted as she finished maneuvering the logs and then looked up and wiped a stray brown lock from her forehead. “I made you a sandwich,” she said skeptically. “Also, you aren’t exactly the most forthcoming with information. You wouldn’t even tell me where we were going until we got here.” She motioned to the cabin.
I nodded while I chewed. “If we didn’t make it out of the city, I didn’t want the information tortured out of you.”
To her credit, she didn’t pale or even outwardly react as she set to work with the can of lighter fluid and match sticks. It took her three attempts to get it, but when she was done, an orange fire glowed, casting the room in warm shadows. “Why can you tell me your plans now, then?” she said. She got up and came to sit in the chair across from me.
“Knowledge is power. If you’re planning to come with me tomorrow, which I assume you are, then you need to know what you’re up against. Ignorance could get us both killed.” I set half of my sandwich down and leaned back to read her face.
She was grinning.
I frowned.
“You’ve decided to trust me.”
“I’ve decided to not kill you,” I corrected.
Nathalie snorted. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Piper. I know the truth.”
My chest squeezed a little bit because I knew the truth too—and she wasn’t far off. A decade of life lessons told me I was stupid. That this decision was going to get me, and by extension my sister, killed. All my training, all those years, every single thing said I was going to regret this.
Except one.
My gut.
It was telling me a different story. Given Nathalie hadn’t tried to kill me yet, I was trusting it. For now.
“My old boss is very powerful. He’ll have bounty hunters all over the city looking for us. We’ll have to be careful.”
“Anders isn’t your boss?” she asked, kicking her feet up on the wooden chair opposite of her. I shot her a look, and she immediately lowered them, grinning sheepishly.
“No,” I rolled my eyes. “He was just the middleman. Hiring hunters is beneath my actual boss. Anders was his paper pusher, and he handled the shit my boss deemed not worth his time.”
Nathalie leaned forward, resting her elbows on the chipped wooden tabletop. She looked me square in the eye as she asked, “So who is your boss?”
“Lucifer.”
Her brown eyes turned a slight shade of amber as she slumped back. “Lucifer?” she repeated. “He’s your boss?” I nodded, and she let out a curse. “Well shit, no wonder I couldn’t figure out who’d employed you after you left human patrol. With your hatred of magic, I never would have thought—”
“I never met him. It was only ever Anders I dealt with, but Lucifer paid twice as good as human patrol with half the rules. I got to choose who I hunted and how I brought them in.” I shrugged, having lost my appetite to finish the sandwich despite chopping wood for hours. “The gig was good.”
“Until now.”
I nodded. “Until now.”
She mulled that over for a moment before saying, “I didn’t know he was in New Chicago.”
“Most people don’t,” I shrugged. “I don’t even know for certain he’s here now, but I suspect he is.”