Page 16 of To Hell and Back
“You can fanboy later.” Arson waved his hand impatiently to cut him off. “What does she want?”
“I don’t know, but she says it’s urgent. Like life-or-death urgent.”
When Arson started to rise out of his seat, Killian shot him a glance that had him settling back down in his chair. The cane was vibrating against his leg, and the crystal skull was pulsing with light as if it were excited. He couldn’t deny that he felt his own sense of anticipation stirring as well.
“Bring her up here.”
Arson cringed a little at the demand before he could mask his response. “Umm, really? I could just go down and…okay, fine. Just…try not to scare her to death, would you? She’s a good kid, and if she’s coming here to talk to me, she must be in serious trouble.”
Killian’s lips twitched in amusement. “I’m quite fond of dealing with trouble. And life-or-death situations happen to be my specialty.”
Chapter Six
Seneca frowned atthe demon who was guiding her down the hallway into an area of The Manor she had never been in before. He gripped her bicep as he dragged her along with him, his large hand wrapping around her entire upper arm with ease. Although his grip was firm, it didn’t hurt. While she didn’t like him touching her, she didn’t try to escape his hold.
There would be no point in that anyway.
Besides, she wanted to speak to his boss, so arguing with him would have been counterproductive. She was dripping rainwater all over the expensive carpet lining the hallway, but she considered that a fair trade for being manhandled by him, regardless of how gentle he was being with her.
It was petty as fuck of her, but she was all about embracing the revenge aspect of her rebirth, in every form.
When they came to a stop in front of a closed door, she realized her big escort was practically shaking in his biker boots. His strange reaction made her own nerves increase to a distressing level. Her luck had gotten her this far so she had to believe that everything would be okay.
She had prepared herself to talk her way into The Manor during the short drive over to the private club, but she hadn’t expected them to turn her away before she even had a chance to get out of the car. Ignoring the guard’s warnings, she had hopped out and begged him to let her speak to Arson.
When the guard insisted they were closed for a private event, she had been both relieved and slightly baffled. Since Shadow had hosted her surprise birthday party at the nightclub during her last life, she knew The Manor hadn’t been closed. That difference was confusing, but it meant there wouldn’t be as many people to save this time around.
Acting on instinct, she had blurted out the raw truth to the guard. She had to speak to Arson about an urgent matter or people at The Manor would die. While that sounded like a wild statement, the shifter must have heard the ring of truth in her voice. He’d still been skeptical enough to send someone inside to verify that she wasn’t just some crazy chick, though.
She couldn’t really blame him for that.
Since she wasn’t a member of the private club, she understood their reluctance to let her in. Having Arson confirm that he knew her had paved the way inside, but she still had to convince him to help her.
She just wasn’t sure how much to tell him.
“This is it,” the demon announced.
“Great. Thanks for…” Her words trailed off when he simply disappeared without another word.
She glanced down the hallway to make sure he had really teleported away without any further explanation and just left her there. Sure enough, she found herself alone in the hallway. The few times she’d been to The Manor as a guest, the staff had been exceptionally courteous.
That made this demon’s behavior even more alarming.
Thankfully, there was only one doorway at the end of the hall so she assumed that was Arson’s office. Feeling slightly embarrassed about her disheveled appearance, she tried to fix her hair as she moved to stand in front of the door. She wished she’d had time to stop in the bathroom to do some damage control before meeting with the owner, but there had been no chance for that.
She could try to find one now, but she didn’t want to be accused of sneaking around where she didn’t belong. Before she even had a chance to knock on the door, it slowly opened on its own in ominous welcome. Evidently, he already knew she was there. Taking a deep, calming breath, she stepped forward into the dark room. She froze when the door automatically slammed closed behind her.
Talk about a jump scare.
Or it would have been if she hadn’t been raised on horror movies and scare tactics. If he’d been hoping to make her flee in terror, he really had the wrong girl. Even so, she had to grumble to herself about the dark angel’s perverse sense of humor.
The room was dark compared to the well-lit hallway she’d just come from. It wasn’t completely blacked out, but it was shadowed enough to make it an intimidating space to be in. The candlelight should have been soothing, but somehow it made the dark interior even more foreboding.
Like walking into the very pit of Hell itself.
That thought made her want to giggle. Obviously, that was an inappropriate response to the situation, but she couldn’t help it.
Been there, done that already.
