Page 41 of Their Reckless Thief
I leaned against the wall, keeping my distance. The idea of sitting in his filthy office, of touchinganythinghere, made my skin crawl. Fred might look like an upright human citizen, but he was as corrupt as they fucking came. “I’ve got it on good authority that there’s an artifact somewhere in the human realm. And I want it. Fucking yesterday.”
Fred blinked, obviously caught off guard. “An artifact? You mean like… a magical artifact?”
I nodded slowly. “A mirror. And I need it.”
His pupils dilated slightly. The fucker knew something. “A mirror? I-I can look into it for you, sure, but… what do I get out of it?”
Of course. The bastard wouldn’t give me anything for free.
My jaw tightened. “What do you want?”
Fred leaned back in his chair, some of his nerves fading as greed took over. He smirked, his double chin wobbling. “I want a free pass through the tear in the Veil. No questions asked. I come and go as I please.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “What business would you have in The Below, Fred?”
He grinned, leaning forward now, his voice dropping to a disgusting whisper. “I’ve heard rumors about a brotheldown there. Incubi, succubi, the best sex anyone could ever experience. I want in on that.”
Revulsion twisted in my gut.Of course.
He was a pig. Worse than a pig. I’d encountered worse in my life, but Fred was the kind of filth that made your soul feel dirty if you were in the same room as him.
My lip curled back in disgust. “You do know, of course, that the women at my brothels choose their partners. They have the freedom to say no, and they charge for their worth.”
Fred leaned back with a smug smile, his belly pressing against the desk. “I doubt I’d have any trouble getting one of them to want me. I can bepersuasive.”
Disgusting.I took a breath, reining in the urge to tear his throat out. “Here’s the deal, Fred. You bring mevaluableintel on the location of the Mirror of Truths, and I’ll give youonefree pass into The Below. No promises after that.”
He blinked, clearly surprised. “One pass? That’s it?”
I bared my teeth in a mockery of a smile. “One. Be grateful you’re getting that.”
Fred weighed his options, the gears turning slowly in his thick skull. Finally, he nodded. “Deal. I’ll dig around. But if this mirror is what I think it is, it won’t be easy.”
“I didn’t come here for easy,” I replied coldly. “I came here for results. And if I find out that you ran your slimy mouth about this, I will make sure you can never speak again. Understood?”
He nodded emphatically.
As I turned to leave, I caught a glint of fear in Fred’s eyes. Good. That fear would keep him in line. He needed to know that if he crossed me, there would be consequences far worse than he could imagine.
As I stepped back into the sunlight, I took a moment to breathe. Ineededthat damned mirror. The Shadow was closing in, and I was running out of time.
Fred would either give me what I wanted, or I’d break him in half.
I wasn’t playing games. Treaty be fucked.
12
VINCENZO
I pacedthe length of my study, clutching a half-empty bottle of whiskey. It wasn’t the same type of whiskey I had served Celeste in my basement. This was a special brew, much stronger than that human shit. It was exactly what I needed. The alcohol burned its way down my throat, but it didn’t do a damn thing to burn her out of my mind. No matter how much I drank, how hard I tried to drown it, I couldn’t get Celeste out of my head. The image of her limp body in that tub, her pale skin under the water, and those fuckingeyesof hers staring into nothing was etched into my soul. Every time I blinked, it was like I was back there, dragging her out of that water, my heart jackhammering under my breastbone like a fucking idiot.
What the hell had she done to me?
She’s just a human.A human who tried to rob you.I should’ve been pissed, enraged that she’d had the nerve to break into my house, to spy on a meeting that could very well have cost us our lives. Instead, all I could think about was her body, drenched and broken, her lips parting for a breath she almost never took again.
I took another swig, then slammed the bottle down on the desk, hard enough for liquid to erupt from the neck and spillonto the wood. My vision blurred for a second, but when I blinked, all I saw was her face.
Fuck!
