Page 76 of Death Trap

Whatever had happened to Azrael, it didn’t matter. All that did was that he was part of my problems, and he had been for a long time. Unknowingly to me. And now he was hovering over me, standing on the coffee table, staring at me like I was a T-bone steak and he hadn’t eaten in days.

He’d finally found me and had gotten to me again. The one person standing in his way of glory.

And I was locked in place. Unable to even form words. Completely pathetic.

Tamara, on the other hand, was riled up and ready to go. “You set us up?” she barked at Benjamin. “All your pleasant chitchat was just stalling, wasn’t it?”

Benjamin sank back toward the doorway where the bedrooms lay, behind Azrael. That was enough to give us our answer.

“He is wise to do as I say,” Azrael said calmly, unaffected by Tamara’s attitude. “And you’d be, too, if you did the same.”

When his eyes narrowed on her, she stepped forward to meet his stare head-on. “I never follow anyone. Didn’t in life. Don’t in death.”

I wished I had the guts to do that.

Azrael looked her up and down. “Tamara, is it? A level three witch and expert in the dark arts?”

“You know me?”

“It’s my job to know everyone ever reaped,” he replied. “Your name is also uttered quite a bit down here. You’re popular amongst the demons. Many of them have a bounty on your soul.”

If he were telling the truth, it would make sense as to why she was still waiting in line in purgatory. The demons were fighting over where she belonged.

She shrugged.

“You should also know you were right when you said anyone can be killed,” Azrael said. “Even spirits.”

She paused, considering his words. “You were eavesdropping on us, too?”

This was looking more and more like a setup, and my nerves were stretching thin. I glanced around the room for a potential exit. The only one I found was the door we had come in through. Who knew if the other doorways even led to other parts of the apartment? This entire place could have been a stage. A ruse.

It was Azrael, so I didn’t put it past him. Nothing about him was what it seemed.

“I suggest you keep your lips tightly shut if you don’t want to see what that means,” he said icy cold.

Tamara shifted closer to me, seeming unsure.

“What do you want, Azrael?” I asked, pulling all my bravado into my voice. I might be shaking in my boots, but I wasn’t going to show him I was. Especially after everything the bastard had put me through. “What’s with this cat and mouse chase?”

His smile was slow and deliberate. “Oh, Jade, you still don’t know?”

I said nothing, but everyone’s stares seared into my skin.

“I’m disappointed in you. I always thought you were smarter than that.”

“Well, you’ve made it quite difficult to find answers,” I said. “Altering the censor. Hiring Cole. Sending Halflings after me.”

Right then, his grin widened even more, almost spreading to touch his eyes. Tamara and I stepped back reflexively. I had seen and fought so many Halflings over the last few months. Azrael reminded me of one of them.

He had changed. Or was in the process of changing. Maybe his blackening heart was transforming his outside, too. Turning him more demon-like.

“I have put you through a lot, haven’t I?” he said, like he was proud of himself. “I’m glad Simon found Benjamin’s folder I left in my desk. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure how I’d get you down here.”

I stopped. “You did that on purpose?”

“Oh yes. Everything in your afterlife has been carefully orchestrated by me.”

My stomach turned as nausea gripped me. Was he telling me the truth? I obviously couldn’t trust him for beans, but if he wasn’t lying this time, that meant my afterlife had been a lie. The jobs, the spirits I’d helped cross over, the “trouble” I had gotten into—could it really have been all planned by Azrael? Was I just a pawn in his game all along?

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