Eve of Chaos (31 page)

Regardless, they
had more control than he did.

“So what more do
you want?” he asked, when the silence stretched out.

“What can you
get?” Chaney asked.

Reed laughed. “I
don’t work that way. Let’s start with you telling me what I’m bidding against,
and I’ll see if I can beat it.”

The Alpha tried
to look innocent. Asmodeus didn’t bother. He tossed his head back and laughed.

“I’ve always
liked you, Abel.” He grinned. His teeth were a hideous shade of yellow,
incongruous within the beauty of his glamour. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Reed
confessed, his mind spinning with the possibilities. “I suspected, you
confirmed. I figured someone else besides me would want Raguel back. I couldn’t
be the only one who’d bargain with a demon to do it.”

Cain, maybe?
Someone sent by Sabrael? Ishamel? “I’m under a vow of secrecy,” the king said.
“Can’t tell you who it is.”

“I don’t care
about
who.”
He’d tackle that next on his own. “I care about
what.
They’re
offering you something, but you think you can get more out of-me or you
wouldn’t have shown up today. What are they proposing, and how much more do you
want?”

Asmodeus glanced
at the Alpha, then back at Reed. “They’re offering to widen the Black Diamond Pack’s
territory by thinning the ranks of the perimeter packs.”

“Okay.” Reed
waited a moment, then, “Come on. You already said that sharing the spoils with
Chaney doesn’t work for you. So, what are
you
getting out of it?”

The king
slouched in his chair and smiled. “A handler. One who’s been a pain in my ass
for too long.”

Reed staved off
his horror and launched into his bid. “I can top that. Easily.”

“Oh?” The
Infernal smiled. “Whatcha got?”

“An archangel to
replace the one you’re giving to me.”

Chaney whistled.
“Which one?”

Asmodeus
laughed. “Who do you think?” His eyes brightened to the point that Reed
appreciated his sunglasses. “He’s going to give us Cain.”

Azazel stood
with hands clasped behind his back, separate from the mass of celebrants around
him. “You gave her the amulet, my liege?”

Sammael
shrugged. “Doing so serves many purposes, not the least of which is that she
will be marginally safer until news of the successful bounty reaches everyone. ”

“If you say that
I took part in the hunt, it will lower my status. I am above such games.”

“Are you?”
Reclining more fully on the divan, Sammael watched the revelers through the
filmy sheers that surrounded his pallet. Between his spread legs, a succubus
worked, her mouth gliding up and down the length of his cock with laudable
skill. “How odd. I thought your place was where I put you.”

His lieutenant
bowed. “I meant no offense, my liege. I simply point out that my ability to
perform the tasks you set for me is enhanced when others fear me. That fear is
more easily invoked when I am seen as separate from the masses.”

Sammael hissed
in pleasure at the fervent tongue stroking the underside of his cock. “Worry
not, Azazel. I told Evangeline that I would think of something. I did not say I
would use her suggestion.”

“Thank you.”

Sammael turned
his gaze back to his subjects who danced and fucked with abandon just beyond
the edge of the divan. Unfortunately, his lieutenant’s continued agitation
affected his enjoyment of the debauchery. “You still have questions.”

“Just one.”

“Well, spit it
out. I resent how readily everyone believes in a divine plan, yet I am always
questioned.”

“You’ve given a
convenience to someone who is a pawn of our enemies. I just want to understand
why.”

“Convenience,”
Sammael repeated slowly. “Yes. I suppose the amulet is convenient. It certainly
evens the odds between a powerless Mark and a gifted demon.”

“Yes. You could
have ended the bounty without making things easy for her.”

Lifting his hand
in a delaying gesture to his lieutenant, Sammael rolled his hips, screwing into
the eager mouth that serviced him. Taking his cue, the succubus increased the
pressure and tempo of her suckling. He came with a low groan, shuddering with
the welcome release of tension.

“Excellent.” He
pushed his fingers into the demon’s hair and yanked her head back. She stared
up at him with heavy-lidded, worshipful eyes. The Asian glamour she wore had
been her idea, but he’d taken a perverse enjoyment in it after meeting Cain’s
woman.

“Azazel is too
grim.”, he murmured, caressing her cheek. “Help him relax.”

“With honor, my
liege.” She crawled over on her hands and knees, the awkward movement made
sensual by the leisure with which she crossed the distance.

“I’m not grim,”
Azazel protested. “Just curious.”

Sammael yawned,
dangerously bored and only slightly mellowed by his recent orgasm. “Convenience
works both ways.”, he said. “Now loosen up. The priest is our next
entertainment, and I want you to enjoy the show.”

***

Eve pushed aside
her doubts and trusted her instincts. “I don’t believe Cain has anything to do
with this. He’s not well, but he isn’t a portal to a Hell-layer either. He’s
got too much good inside him.”

“He doesn’t
understand what’s happening to him,” Hank argued. “How can we rule anything out?”

“He understands
enough to push me away”

Her head turned
to look into the darkened depths of the room. Compared to the racket the tengu
had been making before, it was now eerily silent. “I was too hurt to see it at
first, but he’s trying to protect me from himself. He proved he still cares
last night when he showed up at the stadium. The Cain we know is still in there
somewhere. He’s not completely possessed.”

She looked back
at Hank. “He would need to be possessed, right?”

“So I assume,
but Cain is a loose cannon right now. There’s never been anything like him.
We’re all learning as we go when it comes to him.”

As Eve
considered the best way to handle the situation, long moments passed. Her
fingers drummed atop the wooden table and her lips pursed. Alec hadn’t come to
her for help and clearly didn’t want it, but she wouldn’t let that hold her
back. If he came apart at the seams, it would be bad for everyone. Especially
for him. She had no doubt the other archangels would kill him.

“Hey.” She
perked up. “You said he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He came to
see you, didn’t he? He wanted your help.”

“Everyone comes
to me for help.” He shrugged. “I don’t always have the answers, but I
appreciate being kept in the loop.”

“What answers
was he looking for today?”

“Actually, I
called him down here to talk about your tengu friend. But we also talked about
his unsuitability for the position of archangel.”

Eve frowned.
“Unsuitability? I think he’s perfect for the job. He always takes command of
the situations he walks into and he knows this job better than anyone.”

His mouth
curved. “Cain is a hands-on sort of Mark. He’s best in the trenches. There are
others who would have been better suited to give interviews to the press and
sit in an office.”

“Maybe that’s
his problem.”, she suggested. “Maybe he just can’t handle all the periphery
stuff. Just listening to the amount of information flowing through Abel’s brain
makes my head hurt. It’s like standing at the base of Niagara Falls. I can’t
bear more than a few seconds of it. And Cain skipped right over that section of
the information superhighway and jumped headfirst into the part where he’s
getting a gazillion times more info than that. That could drive a person crazy.”

“I suppose.
Although I’ve met other archangels who’ve disliked it and they didn’t fall off
the deep end.”

Eve thought of
the archangels—Sarakiel, Raguel, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, and Remiel.
They’d all seemed very comfortable with their jobs. “Which ones? How did they
get over it?”

“Chamuel had a
hell of a time. I don’t think he ever got over it. There were others, but their
names escape me now.”

Leaning over the
table, she asked urgently, “There were more than the seven I’ve met? Abel has a
theory about a possible cap on their number. If he’s right, we need to know
what happened to the others.”

“Your guess is
as good as mine.” Hank’s voice remained raspy and steady. “All I know is that
shortly after the firms were created the number of archangels rapidly
diminished until only seven remained.”

“Why? We need
to—
Ow!”
Eve caught her head in hands. “Shit. . . migraine.”

But she didn’t
get migraines. Hank stood and came up behind her, touching her shoulders. As
the pain bore deep, she curled over the table. Then, as suddenly as it had
struck, it disappeared. Leaving behind Alec, who was searching through her
brain like a spreading flame, licking along the surfaces of her memories.

Alec.

Where have
you been?

He sounded just
as angry as he’d been before. It had to be exhausting, carrying around all that
fury.

Searching for
you,
she gasped, still reeling from
the force of his entry.

Don’t. Not
safe.

Let me help
you!

He began to
withdraw in a rush. Eve caught him with both hands, but it was hopeless. He
moved too quickly, like smoke sucked out by a vacuum. In an instant, he was
gone.

Eve bolted
upright. The back of her head cracked into Hank’s chin. He cursed and stumbled
back.

“Sorry’ she
cried, jumping to her feet so quickly the chair fell back and hit the floor.
“Jeez, Hank. I’m sorry!”

“Bloody H.
Christ!” he snapped, holding his chin. “Don’t apologize to me. Are you all
right?”

She almost ran a
hand over her face, then remembered that she was wearing makeup. “It was Alec—
Cain—digging around in my brain.”

“He hurt you?”

Hank’s tone
alarmed her, so she quickly explained. “He was trying to share information. The
other archangels believe that Raguel is dead, but Cain doesn’t. He thinks
Raguel is alive and that’s why he’s so messed up. He believes that the number
seven is an absolute when it comes to archangels.”

“You were in
great pain,” he insisted, releasing his chin to grip hers. He turned her head
from side to side. He snapped his fingers and a handkerchief appeared. He
pressed it to her right nostril. “Your nose is bleeding.”

“It was like he
had to punch his way in,” she mumbled through the cloth.

“He’s your firm
leader. He shouldn’t have to ‘punch his way in’ to you. . . Ah!” A look of
discovery crossed over his face.

“What?”

“Try reaching
him again.” Hank rushed into the darkness. He shouted over his shoulder as he
retreated. “See if you can make contact.”,

Eve reached out
to Alec. Against her nose, the cloth grew warm with blood. She found him, swirling
like a hurricane, furious and destructive.

She reached out
to his humanity.
I have so much I want to tell you. I want to..
.
lean
on you.

The cyclone
slowed marginally, then swayed. Alec didn’t say a word, but she could feel him
softening.

You owe me,
she prodded,
after the shitty way you treated me
yesterday.

I did you a
favor

She snorted.
Bite
me.

Watch out.
His voice changed, taking on a singsong note of
madness that gave her chills.
1 just might.

“Here.”, Hank
appeared out of nowhere, tossing the necklace at her. It whipped through the
air and she ducked, avoiding a lash to the face. But when it neared her, it
opened, lassoing her neck in a way that would be impossible without some
preternatural means.