The Demon's Song

CHAPTER Five


“Have you lost your f*cking mind?”

Phenex glared at Justin as a section of wall slid away on the far side of the bathroom and a group of vamps with heavy-duty cleaning supplies and a reinforced body bag hurried in as silently as ghosts. Justin murmured a few instructions to the leader of them before beckoning Phenex to follow him back into the hidden corridor.

The fallen angel sighed irritably, but there weren’t a lot of choices if he wanted to know what the vampire king was up to. He was working some kind of angle, he had to be. You didn’t just pat the witness to a vamp attack and subsequent murder, however justified, on the head and send her on her way. He’d only barely managed to keep from following her out himself. Maybe then she would have tried some of those defensive moves on him. The thought made him smile. He’d never let anyone pin him, but with Sofia, it might open the door to all kind of possibilities.

Resigned, Phenex stepped through the hidden doorway into a dimly lit corridor that he knew ran, mazelike, behind the walls of the entire building. If you didn’t know where you were going, or how to open the doors back into the club proper, you could wander in here forever. He’d heard rumors that more than one curious human had been pulled out starving and half-crazy—and he didn’t doubt them. Justin could be annoyingly soft when the mood struck him, but never when it came to security. The man was a soldier through and through.

All the more reason why Phenex didn’t get what had just happened.

Justin walked a few paces away before turning and waiting. Phenex stalked over to him, keeping his voice low.

“Well?”

Justin looked annoyed, a good sign that he hadn’t just decided to embrace mercy on the off chance it would buy him a little redemption should anyone ever manage to get a stake in him—which was unlikely.

“Give me some credit, Phenex,” Justin said. “I’m having her followed. Like I said, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to bring out the cleanup crew recently. I’m starting to think there’s an organized group of breakaway vamps trying to use Amphora as their own personal feedlot. It needs to stop before we do end up in a situation where I can’t keep the police out of it.” He ran a hand through his short crop of hair, the first time he’d let his agitation show. “You know how much this could ruin.”

Phenex did, though most of the sympathy he mustered was out of a desire to preserve his own comfortable living situation. The vamps, weres, and other night creatures of Terra Noctem needed the freedom to feed, the safe-from-human-eyes jobs, and the steady cash flow that places like Amphora provided. When it worked and everyone followed the rules, Amphora was a bridge between day and night that drew humans and supernatural beings alike. If things started to fall apart, it was going to get dangerous on both sides.

And he’d be stuck in the middle. Without making overtime, no doubt. The angels were picky about only paying for the work they’d specifically doled out, which usually entailed cleaning out pockets of low-level demons in areas where they were threatening to tilt the balance between light and darkness in what Heaven deemed to be the wrong direction. Dirty work, and lots of it—enough that the angels had gotten desperate enough to pay for help in the first place. But protecting Terra Noctem was expected to be, much to his continuing annoyance, gratis.

“You could have said something,” Phenex grumbled, caught off guard by the depth of Justin’s concern about the situation. He and his brothers had been out of Hell for over a year now, and even if they hadn’t exactly kept out of trouble, they were earning their keep. It would be nice to be in the loop at the beginning more often. At least as a kind of “thank you” for not wrecking anything so far. Well, anything big. The other stuff was the fault of the demons they were paid to hunt down. Mostly.

Justin shrugged, frowning. “I didn’t know what I was looking at. I still don’t.”

“Could be demon involvement. Though Uriel would probably have already shown up if it was.” The archangel, for all his annoying righteousness, had an amazing nose for demon-related trouble. And Uriel just loved that he now had a band of black wings to take care of it. Just thinking of the Heavenly golden boy had Phenex curling his lip. Uriel seemed to be looking at the renegade Fallen as some kind of weird pet project.

He didn’t need to be anyone’s project. All he really needed right now was a stiff drink.

Justin was mulling what Phenex had said. “You’d think Uriel would have shown up, yes. That he hasn’t tells me that it’s either an all-vampire problem, or some kind of vamp-demon side project that doesn’t threaten the Balance. Which means we’re on our own.”

“You mean you. I hunt demons, not vamps.”

“No, I mean we. You’re blood-bound to protect Terra Noctem now, remember? Whatever threatens it. Raum and Meresin are off demon-hunting, but Levi should be back soon from wherever he sneaked off to. Caim, Murmur, and Gadreel are just taking up space down there right now.” His eyes narrowed. “Especially Gadreel. Which gives me plenty of firepower to take care of this before it gets any worse.”

Phenex grunted. “More than you need for this sort of thing, if you ask me. You know we don’t leave much behind but smoking rubble.”

Justin’s razor-thin smile surprised him. “Which is exactly why I want you on it. An example needs to be made, and soon. That should be much easier to accomplish now that we actually have survivors.”

All at once, Phenex got it. Of course Justin had let Sofia run. It even made sense in a way he normally would have approved of. But this time, this one time, he found himself bothered. It caught him completely off guard.

“Damn it, Justin, you’re using her as bait?”

Justin’s brows winged up. “Yes. And?”

“And nothing. She’s going to end up dead before you figure anything out.” The renegade vamp wouldn’t have been alone in the club. His companions would have been out there, watching, waiting. Sofia’s flight wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. “Who’s following her?”

“Daegan, for now. Amir tagged him on his way out.”

Phenex threw his head back and gave an infuriated growl as he curled his hands into fists. “Daegan? Seriously?”

Justin’s expression darkened, but Phenex ignored it. He didn’t care whether the vampire king enjoyed having his decisions questioned or not. It obviously needed to happen more often if he was going to do stupid things like this.

“He was available, and he’s plenty competent,” Justin said flatly.

“He’s also functionally illiterate and he scratches himself so often you’ve got to wonder what he does in his off-hours,” Phenex pointed out. “Daegan. Hellfire, Justin, you’ve got better than that!”

Justin bared his fangs. “If you’ve got a better idea, I suggest you tell me before I follow Sofia’s lead and punch you in the throat. Except by ‘punch’ I mean ‘rip out your vocal cords so I have some peace until they grow back.’ I’ve found three half-dead humans in this place in the last month, and now I’ve got a brand-new accidental vampire down below. This is pressing, and I’m not in the mood for any Fallen bullshit right now.”

Phenex snorted, amused despite himself. Getting under Justin’s skin wasn’t usually so easy, but it was always entertaining.

“Touchy, touchy,” he said.

“Phenex.” It was, he knew, the final warning before Justin made good on his threat. Not that the vampire would win, but he didn’t need any bad blood right now. Not if he wanted to get his way without a lot of immortal bitching.

“It’s simple,” Phenex said. “Call off Daegan. I’ll play bodyguard until you get this sorted out.”

Justin frowned. Blinked. Then frowned even more deeply. “What?”

“You heard me. I’ll watch her. You’re welcome.”

“Phenex…” Justin shook his head when he trailed off, then gathered himself to try again. “Phenex, that’s…an interesting offer…but I’d rather have you—”

“Tough shit,” Phenex interjected. The longer this took, the farther away Sofia got. “I’d rather be sitting on that beach you and Vivi hooked up at, playing my guitar, and getting paid not to do anything. But I’m here, and Sofia needs to stay alive while you try to figure out who you need to kill. My brothers hunt, I guard, and you don’t lose anyone. Everyone’s happy.”

Justin looked at him blandly. “You’re never happy unless you’re giving me a headache, any of you. And for somebody who struts around like some mysterious demigod you’re about as transparent as glass, Phenex.”

Phenex just shrugged. He didn’t answer to Justin, or to anyone, as long as his decisions didn’t endanger Earth. He was pretty sure that wanting Sofia Rivera in his bed didn’t qualify as upsetting the Balance, the precarious equilibrium between light and darkness. Though that body of hers might inspire him to try things that would.

Justin rolled his eyes to the ceiling and exhaled loudly through his nose.

“Fine. If this is what it takes to get you to lighten up, fine. But until someone makes a move on her, keep out of sight. I need them to think she’s alone. Most vamps aren’t going to get anywhere near you voluntarily.”

That made him smile. “Damn right. I’ll draw demons, though, if they’re involved. I’ll wait and see, but I don’t think it’ll take long.” He sure as hell hoped not. Hiding himself from Sofia wasn’t exactly the plan. Phenex turned away, giving a disinterested wave behind him. He had what he wanted. “Later, Justin.”

“Yeah, great. Thanks for, what, two songs?”

“Three. And you’re welcome.”

“You owe me.”

“Whatever.” Phenex headed for the nearest exit, his power beginning to pulse in time to the beat of his immortal heart. Justin, Amphora, his ever-growing stack of obligations…everything vanished in the face of the hunt. He could barely wait to unfurl his wings and begin.

Justin muttered a few curses in a long-dead tongue under his breath, watching Phenex go. Then he turned and stalked away.