Infernal Games by Jenna Wolfhart

15

My shift ended an hour later. Thankfully, I hadn’t endured any more surprise visits from Lucifer’s disembodied voice. Asmodeus and Eisheth had both vanished by the time the cages lowered to the ground. I tried not to panic about what that might mean. Az had seemed angry about my date with Lucifer, but surely that didn’t mean he’d go off with his mortal enemy.

No, there would be an explanation. This was all just part of Lucifer’s stupid game.

He probably wanted to turn us against each other. Asshole.

But despite my determination not to read too much into things, unease twisted in my belly by the time I got changed back into regular clothes. Az never showed as the club shut down. No one knew where he was, and Valac and Priyanka were eager to head home for the night. We waited around for a little while but locked the doors when the clock hit four.

Lucifer blocked my path when I stepped out onto the sidewalk, just behind Priyanka. He towered over me, his body pulsing with energy and rage. I swallowed hard and stepped back. I hated when he just popped up out of nowhere like this. After the whole disembodied voice thing, I’d hoped he’d leave me alone until tomorrow.

I should have known better.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re really fucking creepy?” I scowled as I tried to step around him. He shuffled left to block my way. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”

“Wolves don’t have heart attacks.” A smile twisted his lips, and a strand of silver hair fell into his impenetrable eyes.

I sighed and folded my arms. “It’s an expression. One you might understand if you made any attempt at being normal.”

“Being normal is underrated.” He shot closer, moving with the speed of a lion on the hunt. “I never told you the plans for our date.”

“Oh. Great. I can’t wait to hear where we’re going.” I didn’t even attempt to hide the disdain in my voice.

“Tomorrow night. I’ll collect you from your new home at Valac’s.” He fingered a strand of my hair, loose around my shoulders now that the wig was gone. “Leave you hair like this. I like the red.”

My heart throbbed beneath my ribs. This obviously wasn’t a genuine compliment. It was laced with a threat. He knew exactly why we’d all worn wigs, and he was angry about it. I’d made a move on the chessboard he hadn’t seen coming. Good.

“Maybe I’ll dye it,” I said with a smile.

He stepped closer and sneered. “Best not, little wolf.”

And with that, he was gone. Thank god.

When we reached Valac’s apartment, I said goodnight and padded into the bedroom I called home. For now. Sighing, I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a Saved by the Bell t-shirt I’d picked up from a thrift shop the day before. The bed called to me. Warm, soft, and safe. My entire body ached, liked it had been whipped through a blender for the past several days.

Hendrix waddled in after me, cocking his head. I smiled and patted the pillow next to me. He jumped up beside me and settled in for the night.

I climbed beneath the covers and let sleep call me away.

* * *

“Right.” Caim stood in the center of Valac’s apartment with a whiteboard that was pretty much as tall as he was. On one side, he’d taped a map of Manhattan. Three street corners were highlighted by bright red circles. He held what looked like a costume shop wand in his left hand and a beer in the other. The entire Legion was here, plus Priyanka and Ramona, who both lived at Valac’s along with me.

Caim smacked the wand against the map. “Rafael is back in town. So is Michael. And they’re making their presence known.”

A low growl rumbled from Phenex’s throat as he punched his fist against his palm. “Let me have at them. I’ll handle it.”

Stolas cut him a dark glare. “The way you handled Lucifer? You and Valac barely made it out of that little scheme of yours in one piece.”

Turned out, Lucifer had used their own trick against them. He’d found some clothes that belonged to a girl Phenex was involved with, and then he’d waved her scent all around Lower Manhattan. Phenex had been off like a rocket. If Valac hadn’t caught up to him in time, Lucifer would have gotten his claws into my favorite redheaded demon.

“That was a dirty-ass trick,” Phenex muttered, still punching his palm. “Using Lucinda against me like that.”

I smiled. “I think I need to know more about Lucinda.”

Caim chuckled, but Phenex quickly held up his hand. “No. Absolutely not. Lucinda is a terror, and I don’t want to say anything more about her. Ever.”

“I thought you had a thing for her,” Ramona said, cocking her head. Today, she wore a curly purple wig.

“You thought wrong.”

Shrugging, Caim turned back to the map. “Anyway, now that we’ve covered Phenex’s obsession—”

“I am not obsessed.”

“—we should get back to the task at hand. The fallen angels are targeting supernaturals close to us again.” The twinkle in his eye died. “Innocents. And they’re trying to make a point.”

Stolas flipped the golden coin. Morax’s seal flickered as the coin rushed up to the ceiling and then fell like a lead weight into his open palm. I swallowed hard. Morax had been a brother to all five of them. Not by blood, but by something more. A chosen family, bound by love and trust. And he’d been stolen from them. Now, the fallen angels were using that loss to rub salt into a very open wound.

And every single of these demons looked ready to rip those angels apart.

“Where the hell is Az?” Bael broke the heavy silence and strode to the door to peer out of the peephole. “He should have been here ages ago, lads.”

“Has anyone seen him since last night when he was with, um...?” I hated asking it. Acknowledging his ‘meeting’ with Eisheth made me feel like I was being paranoid and jealous, and obviously, I was neither of those two. Ahem. First, I had no reason to be jealous. We weren’t in a relationship. Just lust. Sure, he wanted to protect me, but Az wanted to protect everyone.

The only actual relationship we’d shared had been fake.

“Eisheth?” Phenex jerked up his head and shot me a lazy smile. “Someone seems a little bothered, eh?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not bothered. Do I need to ask you about Lucinda again?”

“Anyone who says they’re bothered is usually bothered, love,” Bael drawled.

“Whatever. Don’t you think it’s a little weird?” I asked, folding my arms. “The last time anyone saw him, he was with his mortal enemy. The one who...” I pressed my lips together.

It suddenly felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Tension pounded against my skull as Phenex slowly stood. Anger rippled off his body like a heatwave. Striding toward Caim, he fisted his hands and then punched the map.

Yep, that’s right. He punched the whiteboard. It toppled to the stone floor and cracked clean in half.

Caim’s mouth dropped open. “Now, why did you have to go and do that?”

“I was angry,” he muttered. “I needed to punch something.”

“Maybe a wall next time?” Caim said, throwing up his hands. “You messed up my map.”

“I think not,” Valac murmured from the back corner. He’d watched most of this entire meeting silently, arms draped over his knee. “If Phenex wants to punch a wall, he can go home and add to his collection of holes.”

“Better I punch your wall than your face,” Phenex shot back.

“Boys.” Priyanka sighed and padded between them, shaking her head. “This meeting is giving me a headache. Can we please focus on tracking down the angels before they kill anyone else? We need to make a plan. Not do...whatever this is.”

“I’m ashamed to admit this is often how we make our plans,” Stolas said from his spot on the hard sofa. “They’re like little children, bickering all the time.”

Caim pointed at Stolas and laughed. “That’s pretty rich, coming from you. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about the time you and Bael got so annoyed with each other that you were throwing books at each other’s heads. You practically destroyed an entire library.”

My brows shot up. Man, I wished I had some popcorn.

“And here I thought you two were the more level-headed ones of the bunch,” I couldn’t help but say.

Priyanka whirled toward me and snorted. “Mia, not a single one of these demons is level-headed. Maybe we should come up with the goddamn plan ourselves.”

“Sure,” I said, hopping off my stool. “You grab the marker. I’ll snag the map. We can make the plan in your room and lock the door so they can’t interrupt us with their squabbling. Ramona, you should come along as well.”

The demons jumped to their feet and held up their hands. Objections peppered the air. Bael and Stolas grabbed one end of the whiteboard each and hauled it back to its feet. Valac was the only one who didn’t move. He stayed on his spot in the corner, watching with piercing eyes.

“We’ll behave, okay?” Caim said insistently when I tried to swipe the map from the broken whiteboard. He danced away when Pri lunged for the marker. “They’re using Morax against us. Don’t block us out of this, Mia. That’s not fair.”

My heart squeezed at the look on his face, and I retreated. “Fine.”

Priyanka and I retook our seats, exchanging knowing smiles with Ramona. We’d actually managed to shut them the hell up. Hopefully, it would last long enough to make this plan.

Unfortunately, we didn’t come up with much. Time flew by as we brainstormed ideas, and the sun slowly set outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Orange hues splashed onto the stone, transforming the floor into burning embers. As the sky darkened, a full moon glow joined the sky. The day was gone, and all we had was a flimsy, half-baked plan.

“We’ll take to the streets tonight,” Phenex said firmly. “Our only option is to go on the hunt. Lucifer will be distracted by Mia. Should give us enough time to rip out their hearts if we find them.”

What did it say about me that the most bothersome thing about this conversation was the Lucifer bit? I was getting too comfortable with the whole heart rippy thing.

“Well, I’m glad this torturous date will be a positive development for you,” I said with a laugh.

Inside, my whole body felt like it wanted to shrivel up and die. The brighter the moon grew, the closer I got to my date with the King of Hell. I’d thought about feigning sickness but soon realized that wouldn’t work. Wolves don’t really get sick like humans do. I couldn’t even have some sort of fake accident. My job wasn’t an excuse. I had no family nearby. None of the excuses I’d conjured would work.

So, the date would go on. At least it meant I could help the Legion.

If I couldn’t go with them to rip a supernatural serial killer’s heart out, at least I could do the next best thing. Fake date a demon. Hey, I was a pro at that by now.