Page 15 of Give a Devil his Due
I purse my lips, giving her a side-eye. Colt bares his teeth at his twin in a macabre smile, while Satanael’s vein is throbbing on one side of his temples. Beelzebub, with his tree-trunk arms crossed over his chest, has Raphael pinned under his red-glowing glare, and George is poking my mate with an insistent finger at the center of his chest.
“I think so,” I admit to her under my breath before speaking louder. “But to find out for sure, I’m willing to start stabbing at all of them. Then I’ll know which of them bleeding affects me the most.”
The annoying buzz of many voices disappears, and they all turn toward me, mouths slightly open. With a grin, I twirl my dagger between my fingers. My father isn’t worried about my threat, but he does take it personally.
“This isn’t the time for humor, daughter.” Shoulders squared, he lifts to his full height, the arrowhead tip of his tail twitching behind him. “If what Lucifer’s son says is true, he and the Archangel will have to stay back and always be close to you. I will not have them on the front lines only to lose my flesh and blood for their incompetence.”
As predicted, the two males he just named useless in a fight speak together, calling him a prick and telling him they are willing to demonstrate how good of a warrior each of them is. My father’s lips curled in a freakish expression that told my monkey brain to run screaming and hide. Cass, leaning against the wall next to me, jolts, so I place a fingers on her forearm to tell her she’s safe. Satanael wouldn’t dare to hurt my friend. If he tries, I’ll cut off his tail. And the horns.
“Enough.” My bark brings a much-needed silence, and I grab for Narsi, wrapping my fingers in the back of his shirt to jerk him back when he pounces. “If you move an inch from my leg, I’ll saw your mouth shut, and then you won’t be eating any faces any time soon. How about that?”
Pouting, he shrinks back and glowers, peeking at me with one eye socket from around my leg.
“You”—The tip of my blade stabs the air at Satanael—“will still be chained if the two you just called incompetent didn’t find you. So, how about you stop insulting them. And most importantly, there won’t be much fighting going on now that the jinn are gone, so let’s not worry who will jump first to throw fists, huh?”
A strange expression fleets over my father’s face, and my heart stutters when I notice the same on Raphael’s. The rest stiffen as well, and pregnant tension drops over us heavy enough to make my knees buckle.
“We received a word.” Raphael shifts on his feet.
Eric’s chest rumbles.
“Stop growling, Eric.” The sounds stop, and I lock my narrowed gaze on the Archangel. “Well?”
“After we returned with Satanael, we sent a message to everyone still prowling through the city in search of survivors.” The Archangel exchanged a loaded glance with my father. “To ask anyone if they have noticed unusual activities around Atlanta. We just left the group of hunters when Eric called out. They said MARTA is definitely a place all of them avoid.”
“The Atlanta metro? Why? Did the tunnels cave in?” My eyebrows dip low over my eyes. What does that have to do with anything?
“Terror made all of them turn around and walk away.” Raphael watches me like a hawk to see my reaction.
Numbness spreads through me.
“Jinn.” My lips don’t move when I breathe that one word, and he gives me a sharp nod.
“It could be leftover wards they forgot to remove.” George pitched in with no conviction in his tone.
My eyes slowly roll over everyone until they lock on Eric. “We can start the search there.”
“Very well,” my mate agrees, but my sigh of relief is short-lived. “Let’s grab whatever we have ready. Beelzebub, Colt, George, and Satanael will take the lead. The three of us will take the back.”
Like hell I’ll take the back, but I keep my mouth shut. It’s not easy to endure the heavy gaze Eric holds on me until my lungs start burning. My bright smile forms a line between his brows, too, but the rest dart in all directions, and he doesn’t have time to lecture me. I grab Cass’s hand and drag her toward the front door. With Maddison gone, all the responsibilities are on her shoulders for the safe house.
“You’ll be careful, Hel. Promise me.” My friend tightens her hold on my fingers.
“Always,” I tell her, avoiding her piercing gaze, along with the guilt drowning me for forcing her to stay behind.
The dagger strapped on my thigh warms, reacting to my emotions, and my tail flicks, making my butt cheeks clench. I’ll have time to feel bad later.
It’s time for killing leftover scum, methinks.
Helena
George is not very happy to be carried like a duffle bag in Beelzebub’s arm, but since the second option was being up close and personal with Colt, he keeps his mouth shut. I’m not ecstatic for my much-too-human friend to fight the jinn either—if there are any left in Atlanta—but he told me I had to give him this. Plus, who am I to judge if he wants to fight? I will just hide the fact that I ask Beelzebub and my father to keep an eye on him.
Better to be safe than sorry.
A cold wind pelts my skin as I wobble in the air. I’m still too weak to flap my wings like the rest of them, so I wave them up and down, keeping my formation by sheer will alone. Eric even agrees that my stubbornness proves very productive in this. Ass tight so I don’t pitch toward the ground every time my tail brushes over it, I strain the new limbs as much as I can, repeating“almost there”like a mantra in my head.
Colt dips to the side, making a wide circle to join me at the back. “How you holding up, she-devil?”
