Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

27

“Asmodeus.” The stocky vampire mob boss strode up to our table and held out a hand toward my fake demon boyfriend. As they shook hands, I turned my eyes onto my plate. I’d ordered the halibut, and the meal had been pretty tasty until now.

After our little kiss, I’d been lulled into a false sense of security. We’d had drinks. Our food had arrived. Everything was going well. We were going to get through our dinner without a confrontation. But the vampires had decided to take notice.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you around here,” Lars said. “Thought you might have forgotten about those of us who don’t live and breathe all things Hell’s Kitchen.”

“My friend here has said the same thing,” Az said easily, lounging against the booth’s maroon seat. “She says we don’t get out of Hell’s Kitchen often enough.”

Lars flicked his greedy eyes my way and gave me a knowing smile. “More than friend, don’t you think?”

“You caught me.” Az flashed Lars a smile full of teeth. “Mia is my paramour. She moved in with me a couple of weeks ago.”

“So I heard. So I heard,” Lars murmured, turning back to Az. “What’s the, you know, taste like?”

Az tsked. “You know we don’t drink blood, Lars.”

“I don’t know why. All the other demons do.” He leaned closer to the table and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Some of the fallen angels, too. Why do you Princes have to pretend you’re so above it all?”

“Because we are.” Az gave him a smile that masked the rage I could clearly see flickering in his eyes. Did the vampire notice it, too? “We don’t need to subsist on blood like you do.”

“Yes, yes,” Lars muttered, flicking his eyes to Az’s porterhouse steak. He wrinkled his nose. “You and your animal meat. I don’t know how you can stand it. The human kind is much more enticing.”

Right. So…this guy was more than a little creepy. He and his desire for human flesh was downright terrifying. And I had to sit here and pretend that I didn’t care what he said.

He jerked his thumb toward me. “Why’d you end up telling this one about us? I thought it was against your rules.”

Az folded his arms and gave me an appraising glance, like I was some kind of puppet on display. “She accidentally found out the other night at a party.”

“Ah.” Lars nodded. “I heard about your little fight.”

“We’ve made up.” Az flashed me a wicked grin. “She’s all mine now.”

“Oh, I bet,” Lars said, licking his lips. “You’ve made a deal, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“She just looks so delicious.”

My hands drifted down to the edge of the seat. I wrapped my fingers around the leather and clung on tight. If this fucking vampire said one more creepy thing about me, I didn’t think I’d have the willpower to hold back.

I’ll show you delicious, asshole. When my knuckles connect with your teeth. I hope you like the taste of your bones.

“Mia,” Az murmured.

I snapped my attention back onto his eyes. The ice shards had grown darker. Flames flickered deep within, calming me down. Only a little.

“Just because I’m okay with you being a demon doesn’t mean I want to hear you talk about me like I’m a little trophy you won.”

Az’s eyes darkened even more in a warning.

But Lars just laughed. “You’ve got a feisty one here, old friend. Good luck.”

The vampire gave me one last look and then drifted back to his table. Az waited until he was out of earshot before leaning forward with a growl.

“You couldn’t wait until he walked away before you snapped at me?”

I folded my arms. “No.”

Rolling his eyes, he turned back to his meal. “It’s a good thing he didn’t take offense. I think we may have bagged ourselves an invite. So, just play nice for the rest of our dinner.”

“Great,” I replied as I stabbed my halibut with my fork. “I’m really looking forward to the ball.”

“Mia.”

“What? You want me to play nice? I just said something positive.”

“With sarcasm.”

I gave him a sweet smile and dug into my food. The sooner I ate this halibut, the sooner we could get back to Infernal.

The sooner we could save Serena.

* * *

“Here’s the plan,” Bael said as he paced from one end of the map to the other. He held a little pointer stick and kept stabbing it at the shredded page to accentuate his words. “The Legion, minus Az, are going to head to the warehouse now. We’ll find some good places to stay out of sight.”

“And wait for the fun to start.” Phenex grinned.

Valac folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, his bleached white hair falling into his eyes. “We’ll check for cameras before we go in. The killer could be monitoring the place. If he knows we’re there, he’ll never show up with Serena.”

I swallowed hard. “The only thing I ask is that you don’t do anything to tip him off. If he knows we plan to trap him…”

“We’ll be careful,” Valac said, meeting my gaze. A shiver went down my spine at the pure darkness within his eyes. Valac had seen some shit in his life. I couldn’t help but wonder what, even though I knew it would probably scar me for life.

What could scare a demon?

“You’ll start your shift,” Caim added. “Get ready with the girls. Be ready to go out and let the patrons see you. But just before you’re set to go into your birdcage, leave through the back door and go straight to the warehouse. We think he’ll be in the crowd watching for you.”

“If you hear anyone following you, don’t freak out, love,” Bael added. “It might be him, but that’s okay. He’ll be checking to see if any of us are with you.”

“And, as much as I hate it, we won’t be,” Az said in a low growl. “But I’ll be keeping an eye on you from the sky. It’s a cloudy night. He won’t know I’m there.”

“Okay,” I breathed, glancing around at the six of them. “Anything else?”

“You don’t have to worry, Mia.” Phenex clapped a hand on my back. “We’ve got you. You’re one of us now.”

“And we protect our own like we protect our own lives,” Stolas murmured as he stepped up beside Phenex. Caim edged in, along with Bael. Valac even joined. The five demons formed a protective circle around me, and a low chant spilled from their lips.

“One fight at a time,” they shouted in unison.

My heart thumped as a strange sense of belonging washed over me. It had been a very long time since I’d felt this way, like I was part of something else. Part of a family almost.

A family of demons, sure, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it truly felt as if they were on my side.

In another week, this would all be over. No more demon contracts or vampire mob bosses or weird supernatural parties where people got killed. But no more Caim or Stolas. No more Phenex and Valac. No more Bael.

And no more Az.

Before they could see my unshed tears, I blinked them away. How embarrassing would that be, right?

As the Legion shuffled away, Az stepped in close. He captured my eyes with his. “You ready?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “I feel like a million things could go wrong.”

“That’s life, Mia,” he said. “But as long as you trust us, you don’t have to live in fear.”

“I know,” I said, meaning it. “I could see it in their eyes. They won’t let anything happen to me.”

“No, they won’t.” He wound his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. “But more importantly, I won’t. I will not let anyone in this world harm a hair on your head. Do you understand me?”

Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Actually, I think I do.”

* * *

The dressing room sparkled with activity. The dancers swirled through the space, along with the scent of sweet perfume, pizza, and chocolate cake. They were filling up their stomachs before they took to the cages, and I joined in with great abandon. I hadn’t been able to stomach much at the restaurant.

“You look confused and concerned,” Priyanka said as she twisted my hair into an elaborate braid. “Everything alright with Az?”

“Not really,” I admitted, careful with my words. I wasn’t sure how much she knew about our relationship or our plans to save Serena from a supernatural serial killer tonight. “It all kind of started off as a…joke.”

“A meaningless fling,” she said with a knowing smile. “And let me guess. You’ve developed feelings.”

I flushed. “I don’t know if I’d say that.”

“And you don’t know if he feels the same.” She tightened the braid, spinning the strands together. “Az is difficult to read, so I understand how you might be confused.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” I sighed.

“Because you’re in a fake relationship?” She arched a brow when I shot her an anxious glance. Chuckling, she shook her head. “You forget. The most important thing to Az is loyalty. Every single person who works for him is in his circle of trust. He tells us everything, including what’s been going on with you.”

I should have known. Of course he wouldn’t have kept any of it to himself. These dancers were part of his family, same as his Legion. But if they knew about our fake relationship, then surely they knew about…

About me.

I pressed my lips together. “He’s really told you everything?”

“Most of it, I’m guessing.”

I closed my eyes. As understanding as he’d been about my past, I hated the idea he’d discussed it with anyone other than me. Those were my skeletons. Not his. My shadows. My nightmares.

“I wish he hadn’t done that,” I whispered.

Priyanka’s hands slowed. “Why is that, Mia?”

“Because some of that…it wasn’t his to share.”

“You mean your past.” Her fingers got to work once again. She was almost finished with the braid now. Just in time to end this awkward conversation. “He didn’t tell us about that. We got an anonymous letter the other day, slid beneath the door while the club was shut. One of the girls found it, took it to the Legion. Az was so mad it looked like he would burn the whole place down.”

“Wait, what?” All the blood rushed from my face, pooling in my gut like a stubborn rock.

“He wouldn’t hear a word against you, Mia. Said that if anyone had a problem with you and your past, they could get the hell out.”

My eyes flipped open, and our gazes caught in the mirror. “Az said that?”

She gave me a solemn nod. “He certainly did. And so we all stayed, Mia. If you say you didn’t do it, that’s enough for us.”

I was literally speechless. Not just because of Az’s reaction to that letter but because of theirs. These people barely knew me. I shouldn’t fit in, even if it sometimes felt like I did. They were demons, fae, werewolves, and vamps. I was a scrawny little human with bad memories, an empty bank account, and a pigeon I’d named Hendrix.

Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t stop them this time. My own damn family hadn’t believed me, but these supernaturals did. For the past two years, all I’d wanted was an escape from accusing stares and hastily-made assumptions. And somehow, I had found it. In the most unexpected place imaginable.

In a week, I would have to leave it all behind. It wasn’t like I could actually stay in this life…could I? Would Az even want me if I decided I’d like to stay? We’d made a deal. Soon, that deal would be done.

I would have to say goodbye to this place and these people.

Unless…unless I was wrong about how Az felt about me. He’d defended me, viciously so. Maybe I was wrong to think last night hadn’t been real.

After all was said and done, maybe I actually could find happiness here.

But first, I had to save Serena.