Half an hour after dropping Bandit at home, we pulled of the highway. A ‘Keep Out’ sign sat just before the bend in the road that turned and revealed this run-down lot in the middle of nowhere. The bits and pieces of trash scattered about would have made it look like any other abandoned lot you find, had conifers not towered over the make-shift building, keeping it hidden from unwanted eyes. It looked like a great location for a horror movie. In front of a rickety shed made of plywood was a moderate plot of compacted dirt, currently being used as a parking lot for the few cars parked outside. Spray-painted lines marked the spots where cars were supposed to park, not that it seemed the drivers paid that any mind. The slightly bent brambles and flattened grass were the only indication that an unmarked road existed just off the highway that led here. There was just something too convenient about that, and it didn’t sit right with me.
I suddenly felt like we were about to walk into the middle of some shady shit.
“Where are we?” I asked as we got out of the car. An upside-down pentagram hung from the top of the lopsided door, the only indication about what might await me inside.
“I thought I’d take you on a little field trip. Get you away from all the heaviness of this past week,” he replied without hesitation. I faltered mid-step, tripping over a rock because I was too busy looking at him. My arms flailed as I started to fall towards the ground, but Laran caught me by the elbow. Swift. Firm. He pulled me back so I didn’t fall flat on my face, or through the uneven door.
“That’s oddly considerate for a demon. The Horseman of War, no less,” I murmured. Laran stepped closer and bent down, his lips grazing my jaw.
“Haven’t you heard the saying, all is fair in lust and war?” he whispered. I shivered at the brush of his lips against that sensitive place just beneath my ear.
“I’m pretty sure the saying is love and war,” I responded dryly. His lips curved up against my skin, leaving a trail of heat in their path.
“I like my version better,” he rumbled. His very demeanor called to me, dark and seductive. Like a moth to a flame. But a moth didn’t realize it was going to get burned. I was smart enough to know, and part of me wanted it. A small sadistic side of me was drawn to these men—to all men—and it had nothing to do with love, or war.
I swallowed hard, shoving my inner she-demon back. She was going to get me into trouble if she had her way.
Laran chuckled as I stepped away from him, but didn’t release his hold on my elbow. His fingers were distracting, but I didn’t complain as he pushed open the lopsided door and escorted me into what was, for all intents and purposes, a dive-bar. For demons.
All eyes turned on us and I froze.
Why the fuck would he take me to a bar for demons in the middle of nowhere? He may as well have offered me up to them on a silver platter and said bon appétit.
“What are we doing here, Laran?” I hissed through gritted teeth. I moved to shrug off his grip, but he held me tighter.
“Relax, Ruby. They don’t know who I am. Anyone who looks at me will just see a glamor of a male demon they won’t want to fuck with, and by extension, you.” I stared up at him, my gaze slowly falling to the hand possessively wrapped around my arm. He was…laying a claim on me. A warning to anyone thinking they might want a new plaything. He was letting them know I am not on the market.
I let loose a shaky breath as he moved us further into the bar. The scent of smoke and citrus drifted over me and my muscles relaxed instantly. I inhaled deeply, the softest of sighs escaping my lips as the tension left me altogether.
“Feeling better?” Laran asked. His lips twitched in an amused smirk.
“Much,” I answered through the haze that was beginning to cloud over. The corners of my vison softened, but the world never seemed so bright. So…tempting. My inner seductress smiled at the crowded bar as I walked away from Laran and squeezed my way in between two mischievous looking males.
“I’ll have a Black Russian on the rocks. Make it a double.” My voice came out sultry. The succubus was out to play.
**Laran**
She disappeared.
One minute she was standing next to me, sexy little smile lighting up her face, and the next minute she was gone. Someone was going to fucking pay for this, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
A barely-tempered fury pounded in my chest as I scanned the gambling tables. Imps of every shape and size, banshees of all colors, a Chupacabra here and there, even a few shades littered the crowd, but no Ruby. Her amaryllis and lavender scent filled the air, mixing with the pungent smoke of burning white lotus. White lotus: the drug of choice for most demons, and a far kinder version of the black lotus that was known for its…undesirable effects.
I left the gambling tables and searched the bar where I picked up the briefest hint of her. She was close, and yet, as I searched the entirety of the bar, I couldn’t find her anywhere. How the fuck did I lose her? The only person in the world I was created to protect?
This shit was unbelievable.
The itching inside me that something had gone terribly wrong sped up as I barreled toward the stairs. If I found her in one of these back rooms tied up like—I couldn’t even finish that thought. If she was up here, someone was going to die. I squared my jaw and kicked open the first door I saw.
A sallow-cheeked she-demon looked up at me and let out a purr while the male behind her continued pounding into her flesh. She was bent over a desk that had seen better days. Her feral grin and crooked finger she used to try to beckon me forward was not appetizing in the slightest. There was only one person I felt like slamming my cock into and it wasn’t the drugged-out whore before me. I didn’t bother with closing the door as I moved on to the following rooms. They were all much the same: she-demons with one or two males, and no Ruby.
I ran a hand through my hair as I paced the balcony overlooking the bar.
Where the fuck was she?
Nearly half an hour had passed since we walked into The Black Brothers and there was still no sign of her. Much longer and I was going to need to scour the grounds to see if someone snuck her out. I would have thought she would put up enough of a fight, but I didn’t get the vibe she was used to smoking white lotus, and the room itself was a hefty dose that left even the stronger demons slightly delirious.
She’s young. She hasn’t transitioned. What the fuck was I thinking bringing her here?
I took one last round of the bar before my patience ran out. She was here somewhere. I could smell it, but someone was glamoring her.
“Allistair, I need you to get your ass down to Black Brother’s. Ruby’s missing.”
Under any other circumstances, I would chew my own arm off before I called on one of the other Horsemen. Glamors weren’t my specialty, though, and there was no way I was calling on Julian for this. People always thought I was the biggest, baddest fucker around, but that’s only because they’d never seen Death in action. Truth be told, you were already a goner if you saw him lift a finger in a fight. His particular brand of subtly was not needed for this, and Rysten had already pissed me off too much this week. I didn’t know what state Ruby would be in when we found her, but I would rather place my pride on Allistair’s help than the doom-and-gloom twins.
“How the fuck did you lose her?” His response took longer than I’d hoped, given who we were talking about.
“Someone fucking glamored her and is hiding her underneath my nose. I need you to sniff the fucker out,” I snapped back.
“I’m on my way.” Thank the fucking devil for that. I needed him here yesterday.
I didn’t want to check the clock, but I knew the time was racking up. I gripped the railing, not noticing that I’d burned most of it away before I began to stumble over the edge. I pushed a gail of wind up from the floor below, and it hoisted me back onto the upper platform as parts of the broken railing fell on the poker table below. So much for keeping my cool.
I could burn the building down. Tear through it with a twister unlike any other. Flood it with rain that would drown half of the demons in this room. Even decimate it with an earthquake that would level all of Portland.
But Ruby was in here somewhere, and I needed to get my shit together until I found her.
Allistair came striding through the door in record time. Famine must have been staring at himself in the mirror when I reached out, given how quickly he got here. I was halfway down the stairs when his eyes locked on something. I hoped to Satan it was Ruby, because if it wasn’t, I would level the Black Brothers to the fucking ground.