Page 108 of Finders Reapers

“Valentina!” Todd beamed, his eyes drifting to my cleavage for a brief moment. “I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?”

I glanced at Rome, but his attention was on the bartender as he ordered our drinks. I gave Todd a smile that did not reach my eyes. “Good. Thanks. How have you been? The Bellagio keeping you busy?”

“Always.” He nodded emphatically.

Rome pushed away from the bar, and Todd brushed his hands down the front of his shirt.

“I’ll see you around.” Todd gave an odd finger wave before he raced to the bathroom so quickly that it looked like he was skipping and trying not to fall over his own feet.

My brow furrowed as I watched him go.

Rome paused, a drink in each hand, as he turned at the waist and did the same. Rome blinked to clear away his thoughts and facial expression and approached the table. He placed my drink in front of me delicately. I thanked him.

“That was Lobby Todd,” Rome grunted.

“He’s a demon,” I stated. My eyes fixed on the door that Todd had disappeared to. “Demons can travel vast distances. I mean, Ollie brought us here all the way from California.”

Rome hummed and took a long drag of his vodka. “Lobby Todd is purger.” He grunted. “Purgers do not have enough magic to travel that far on their own. Their master sends them where they need to go.”

“A Purger?” My hand flew to my throat. “Like the Demon that killed me?”. I hissed.

Rome shook his head. “I was at the Paris that night. Todd was not. Todd did not kill you.”

“You were at my birthday party?” I fought a smile.

Rome nodded stoically. “Who do you think gave you CPR?”

I was gobsmacked. I sat there, resembling a fish out of water as I digested that information. Rome, however, seemed to have more important things to focus on as he got out his phone and fired a quick message to the other guys.

“Todd’s presence is a message,” Rome stated Grimly. “Mr. Bub is watching. He knows that we are investigating the contracted souls.”

We settled our tab and said goodbye to Oriax as Rome trawled the app for a death close to Las Vegas that would allow us to use the doors to get home. Traveling for business instead of pleasure.

It felt kind of morbid. Waiting for someone to die like waiting for a taxi.

The wait wasn’t long, but every second was filled with the roar of my internal voice screaming at me and demanding that I tell Rome all about Mr. Bub’s numerous appearances on my travels and his desire to know what our Grim was up to.

I was about to go to the bar and order another drink when my phone chirped. Rome and I took our phones out of our pocket in unison, and the map showed an address in Summerlin, near my old neighborhood. We both walked to the bathroom, and Rome did his thing, muttering in Cyclian to call forward the demonic magic to change the door into a ‘doorway.’

It had been a long day, and I was tired. The idea of witnessing a death, collecting a soul, and then stopping in at HQ to deliver it felt akin to being asked to make one final drink for a customer at Starbucks after clocking out, but Oriax and the bartender had their tongues in each other’s throats, and it seemed impolite to tear him away for a ride home.

There was a strange and frenetic energy that had cloaked Rome, something even more dangerous than his default. Todd’s presence had rattled him. Though his face showed no blatant emotion, Rome had little tells that I was getting used to it. One of his throat muscles was working overtime, and his hands flexed into fists before releasing more than a dozen times.

The doorway spat us out at a house. A darkened hallway. No lights glowing even though there were sconces. Rome crept forward, but his feet made no sound on the carpet, and I realized that we were invisible and had been since we had stepped out of the doorway.

One of the doors was open, and I glimpsed inside to see a child asleep on her side.

Rome frowned at his phone and shook his head, gesturing for us to continue.

We crept forward and pushed into the room at the end of the hall. Two adults were asleep in a king-sized bed. The sheets bulged on one side with the curve of a pregnant woman’s belly.

I felt a bit sick.

Rome shook his head again and gestured to the man. Her husband.

We watched in silence as the husband gave one final shuttering breath, and he was gone.

I had no idea what had happened, only that he had died in his sleep next to his pregnant partner.

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