Page 25 of The Devil and His Goddess

The chase was still on.

The hunt for my prey was stronger than ever, and with a devious smile, I decided tonight required another masked visit.

Chapter 10

Perseus

I DOWNED A GLASS OF Hell Fire, welcoming the burn of the demonic liquor as it slid down my throat and settled in my gut. Glancing at the time, I noted it was nearly ten. It wasn’t quite as late as I wanted it to be for me to pop over to Harper’s.

After leaving the restaurant, I got a message from Dante to meet all of them at Hell’s Gate, a club we frequented in Hell. My band mates sat around the table in their demonic forms, nursing their drinks of choice and smoking the red-rolled cigarettes that let your whole body loosen up.

Zagan had brought his human bond, Iyla, tonight, but the brunette was currently out on the dance floor with Eden, our good friend and Mischief demon. Iyla was the reason our world had changed. Zagan got stuck in a demonic bond with her, forcing our daily lives to shift. I wasn’t annoyed by it like Dante was, but admittedly, I was irritated with the situation at first. I had an established routine in New York with so many amazing productions to watch. Once I found Silverlight—and by extension, Harper—I had mellowed out.

I still liked to poke at Iyla about it as if she annoyed me, though. It was fun ruffling her feathers, which I’d been doing this evening. She believed Zagan helped her because of his kindness, and I quickly corrected her silly assumption. The human woman didn’t understand that we demons only operated to benefit ourselves. We didn’t truly care about them. At least,mostdidn’t. I was starting to wager that Zagan was the exception, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. It would ruin the fun in messing with her, which I’d planned to continue doing until Eden stole her away to dance.

“Uh-oh,” Xander said from my right. His golden Mischief eyes looked past Zagan, who sat at the other end of the table across from him. “Here comes trouble.”

I followed his gaze just as Babette placed her manicured hand on Zagan’s shoulder and sank down onto Zagan’s lap. The Bargainer demon was the owner of Hell’s Gate, and she’d been chomping at the bit after Zagan forcenturies.

“I finally caught you,” Babette purred to Zagan, running her hand up his chest. Her back was to me from this angle, but there was no missing the smile in her sultry voice.

“We aren’t good enough for you, Babette?” I teased.

She glanced over her shoulder, making her red hair shift to expose her bare shoulder in the green dress she wore. Her violet Bargainer eyes lit in amusement as she regarded the rest of us. “You boys will be next. I want to sample the leader first.”

Xander laughed with a low whistle. I rolled my eyes and sipped on more of my drink, not actually interested in what Babette did in her free time. Dante scoffed, and Zagan’s face remained completely blank.

“Touch me, and I’ll carve your insides out,” Coldin threatened flatly, his features never changing from his ever-bored expression.

I sputtered around my drink and hid my mouth behind my fist as I fought against my laugh. The Letum demon wasn’t anyone’s fan, but he at least tolerated us. Anyone outside of our little group—which Babette was—wasn’t safe with our drummer.

Babette’s face drained of color a bit, but she just turned back to Zagan and murmured, “Your pet is as friendly as ever.”

“He’s a good boy,” Zagan responded, his lip twitching in an effort to not smile.

The Bargainer demon stood, and she leaned down close to Zagan, nearly hitting him with her black horns that curved behind her head. The woman whispered not-so-subtly, “I’llbe a good girl for you. You know my pussy is always ready for you, Zagan. Come see and have a taste. Maybe we can make a little deal while you show me how well you fuck.”

Babette stood with a salacious smirk and sauntered away.

“Her fucking arousal has stunk up the table,” Dante grumbled as he waved a clawed hand in front of his face.

Zagan turned in his chair to glare his black-and-red slitted eyes at Babette’s back. “As if I’d ever make a fucking deal with her. Nothing is worth being her fucking sex toy.”

“Just keep ignoring her, Z,” I suggested. “I’m sure she’ll eventually get the message.”

The five of us shared a look before declaring all at once, “Nah.” We chuckled over our unanimous decision.

The mood instantly changed when Dante’s dark arm nudged Zagan, and he nodded at the dance floor. “Looks like someone’s having fun out there.”

We all turned, and I immediately spotted Iyla grinding her ass on some Mischief demon. The guy was practically drooling, and even at this distance, I could see the demon’s hard-on.

The energy around the table immediately thickened with venom, and when I glanced at Zagan, he bared his fanged teeth and curled his clawed hands into white-knuckled fists. He shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process.

“This’ll be good,” I said with a laugh as I completely turned my chair around to watch the show that was about to unfold.

Iyla was oblivious to the murderer heading her way, as she danced against the Mischief demon. The second Zagan reached the stranger, he grabbed each side of the blond demon’s head. His claws dug into his scalp right before he gave a quick twist. The demon’s head snapped and engulfed in flames, falling to the floor as nothing but ash. Without hesitating, Zagan stepped over the remains and pressed into Iyla’s back.

Shaking my head with a grin, I glanced over my shoulder at my other band mates. “We all agree he’s in love with her, right?”

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