Page 120 of Guarded
Sensing this was going to get off track very fast, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Focus. We need to wake Quill up, so someone needs to get to sinning and fast.”
Dahlia stood up with a grin. “It’d be my pleasure.”
None of us had a chance to blink before she ran her dagger across Darius’s throat. He fell to his knees, blood spurting between his fingers as he clutched at the gaping wound.
“Whoops,” Dahlia said cheerfully as he died. “That was a bit messier than intended.”
“You cut his throat,” I said, exasperation filling me. “Of course it’s fucking messy. Why didn’t you break his neck instead?”
She flashed me one of her hands. “Because I’ve just had my nails done. I don’t want to break one.”
Nox peered at them with a frown. “Looks like you’ve broken two already.”
“Where?” He tapped her middle and index fingers and she laughed. “No, babes. Those are kept shorter intentionally.”
Nox was still frowning. “But why?”
She patted his cheek. “Oh, my sweet summer child.”
Unlike Nox, I was fully aware of why, but now wasn’t the time to get into it. “It was also pointless, given demons don’t generate enough sin to restock each other.”
Dahlia sucked on her teeth. “Balls. Didn’t think of that.”
Nox muttered an oath and pulled out his phone. The video call sound echoed through the room before a familiar human voice came on the line. “Hello? Is everything okay, Nox?”
“Everything’s fine, Sam,” Nox said reassuringly, “but could you possibly do me a favour please?”
After they hung up, Dahlia shot Nox a quizzical look. “Why not one of the angels?”
“They’re in a meeting,” he said curtly. “I will interrupt it if needed, but I figured we’d try with Samfirst.”
It took five minutes for Sam’s knock to come on the front door. Nox ran down to answer it, returning with Ezekiel’s mate.
“Hello,” he said cheerfully, before spotting Darius on the floor. His pale cheeks went a couple of shades lighter. “Oh dear.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Dahlia said, standing in front of his body and opening her arms wide. I didn’t know what she was trying to achieve, given that did fuck all to hide him. “He’ll come around in a moment or two.”
“I see demons are as bloodthirsty as angels,” Sam said faintly. “Nox isn’t too bad, so I assumed the rest of you weren’t either.”
Hilarious. Nox was the worst of us. There was a pause, during which Nox glared at us as if daring us to correct Sam.
Listen, usually I would, but I’d seen Ezekiel pissed off. The last thing I wanted was more bloodshed. That’d only lead to an upset Sam, and in turn a wrathful arch hell-bent on giving me a pounding.
And not the fun kind that Noah gave me.
Sam’s attention fell on Quill. “Did someone murder him too?”
“No,” I said quietly. “He’s unconscious because he’s not been exposed to enough sin.”
“What do you mean?”
While Nox gave Sam a quick rundown on demon lore, I brushed some strands of hair back from Quill’s face. Down in Hell, he’d been the strongest of us. He’d hated it as much as the rest of us, but he’d coped well enough.
What was it about freedom that was causing him to struggle so?
“You need me to sin?” Sam’s tone was wary as hefidgeted with the ends of his sleeves. “I’m not sure my brain will let me do that.”
“It doesn’t have to be a big sin,” Nox said quickly. “Just a funny lie will do.”
