Page 23 of Consorting With The Enemy

“Really?” I barked at them. “You’re gonna do this now? After all of you left me enchanted, chained, and drained while you came here to fight my battles? Tell me you aren’t serious about this shit. Az almost allowed Tantrum to destroy him and it wasn’t even his fucking feather.”

“Do something with your man, Az.” Nic said, ignoring or not caring about my outburst.

Instead of arguing with me, though, Az just turned away and started walking toward the demon army. Fuck. “Stop. Wait.” Shit. I caught up with him and tried to stop him, but he kept moving forward. Within a second, Nic, Thibeau, Gabriel, Julian, and Marchand had joined us to form a line. Frustrated and terrified, I said, “So, I guess we’re doing this your way? No compromise?”

“Looks that way,” he answered quietly. “I love you, Ariel. Stop fighting with me, with us. They’ll sense the discord and use it against us. We stand solid. Together. All of us.”

With no other choice, I kept walking until we all stood before my brothers. Leraje, Gagoze, Barbatos, Eligos, and Hurakan. I’d never been fond of any of them but had to admit they weren’t nearly as bad as Tantrum. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t slaughter me without hesitation if given the opportunity.

Leraie stepped forward. “Well, well, baby brother. You’ve made quite a mess of your family and the underworld, haven’t you? We always knew you’d be trouble but never once considered it would lead to this.” He arched a brow. “You do realize you just used some sort of magic, which you shouldn’t possess, to blow up your eldest brother, don’t you?”

“Yep, I noticed that.” I dusted my fingers down my leather jacket. “Actually, I thinksomeof him may still be on me.” If I was being honest, I’d admit that none of my brothers looked very upset about Tantrum’s demise. “I guess what we need to decide now is if any of you are interested in joining him.”

Barbatos whistled. “Look at you, threatening your family.” His eyes roamed over those standing tall beside me. “What an army you’ve built, baby brother. Fallen angels, fairies, vampires, familiars, witches, and,” he frowned as his gaze landed and stayed on Marchand, “whateverthatis. A hybrid of some sort? He’s quite pretty, but does he possess any power?”

“That’s the pet, brother,” Eligos said. “The one father wanted for himself. Perhaps the one that started this entire clusterfuckery.”

Az growled and his wings turned razor sharp. “Speak of my nephew being someone’s pet again, and I’ll see you destroyed.”

Suddenly Eligos screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his groin.

“Better yet, I’ll handle anyone who even fucking looks at my man,” Gabriel warned. “That bite of magic there…it was just a hint of what I’m capable of. Trust me, I’d be delighted to show you more.”

Leraie held up his hand and his side quietened immediately. “Enough.” Ignoring me and focusing all his attention on Az, he asked, “Did you not receive our message from the Incubus Jarsan? The angel half-breed is no longer coveted by the underworld. Take your nephew and leave, Azazel, the fallen one.”

Az lazily crossed his arms over his chest and answered, “That’s not going to happen. You’ve invaded our realm, demon. What you’ve started, we intend to finish.”

“We aren’t here to fight,” Leraje countered. “We’d like to negotiate terms and be on our way.”

Tired of being ignored, I stepped in front of Az and said, “You might think you have room for negotiations, but you’re mistaken. You have nothing we want. Nothing we fear.” That was a lie. I was terrified for my new family.

“Perhaps,” he concurred, then added, “Perhaps not. Do the vampire lords really not want our daylight rings?” He looked toward Julian. “How long has it been? Centuries? Wouldn’t you and your lover cherish the opportunity to once again feel the warmth of the sun touching your chilled skin?” He turned his attention to Nic. “The Gaudet family—one of the most influential and powerful witch families to ever exist. Just imagine how much more power you could wield if you possessed the original Gaudet clear quartz stone?” He laughed and his gaze flickered toward me. “It was one of twopreciousgifts given to our family by a powerful Gaudet witch.”

Nic looked bored. “I assure you, demon, it is the secondpreciousgift that the Gaudets’ intend to take. We possess enough power without the clear quartz stone. Try again.”

“Yes, I believe I shall. How about you, Azazel? What would you be willing to sacrifice to get your hands on the Archangel blade?” He paced back and forth as he talked. “Imagine, if you will, that the Angel Master finally finds a way to travel to this realm so he can retrieve the hybrid. Wouldn’t the blade be a necessary weapon in your arsenal if you ever hope to defeat him…hope to protect your nephew?”

Az didn’t give any response to Leraje’s offer. Nothing. Nor had Julian. Gabriel had mocked my brother’s offer. They were willing to sacrifice so much for me.Me. I couldn’t allow them to do it. I knew my worth wasn’t anywhere near even one of the tokens Leraje offered them, much less all three.

I stepped closer to him and when Az tried to pull me back, I shrugged off his grasp. “What is it that you want in exchange for these gifts, brother?” I already knew what the answer had to be—me. Revenge. I’d destroyed father and Tantrum. They had to fear me as much as they hated me.

“It matters not,” Az barked. “None of us are interested in an exchange of any kind. Stop talking, Ariel. For once, you won’t enjoy the punishment I’ll inflict on you for this disobedience.”

“What. Do. You. Want?” I repeated.

“You destroyed father and Tantrumonious, brother. There must be retribution for such atrocities. Surely you understand this. If we allow you to go unpunished, our people will never allow us to ascend to the throne.”

Us? Surely he didn’t mean they all intended to rule. “Us? What game is this? The underworld has one ruler, not a council.”

Leraje smiled. “Yes, Tantrumonious believed the same thing. Of course, he also believed he should be that one ruler.” He looked back at his brothers. They nodded their agreement. “We believe differently. Together, we intend to rule the underworld.”

Realization dawned on me. “You set Tantrum up, didn’t you? All of you. You sent him here knowing I could destroy him.”

“I told you he was a clever little witchy,” Hurakan said as he stepped forward. He sniffed the air. “You smell much more like a witch than a demon now, brother. Tell us, did it take Gaudet blood to save you from Andromalius’ pet’s bite?”

Fuck, they’d been playing a chess game behind the scenes from the very beginning.

“I ask you again. What do you want in exchange? Let me hear you say it.”

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