Page 25 of The Night Hunting

“Thanks,” I whispered. “And thanks for meeting me.”

She turned to Doreen. “Nice to see you again.” Then to Thierry. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same,” Doreen said at the same time Thierry said, “You too.”

We sat down around the table and a waitress halted beside us. “What can I get for you?”

I didn’t want anything, but … “A beer for me.”

Thierry asked for the same, and Ariella and Doreen ordered wine. We also asked for two portions of fries to be shared.

Once the waitress was out of earshot, Doreen leaned over the table, her eyes on Ariella. “So, what do you have for us?”

“I met a demon who was in hiding,” Ariella started. “I wanted information from him, so I made an attractive offer. In the end, he confessed he had been deep in business with Paimon, but he had done something wrong and was now in hiding.”

“He’s not in Paimon’s good graces, then,” Thierry said.

“No, but that doesn’t matter as long as he can point you in Paimon’s direction, right?”

“Right,” I said. “Where do we find him?”

“Here,” Ariella said with a proud grin. “I told him to meet me here in …” She looked at her phone for the time. “In ten minutes.”

“Won’t he expect to see you alone?” Doreen asked.

The waitress placed our order on the table, then put a hand on Thierry’s shoulders. “Can I get you all anything else?”

Thierry stiffened.

“No, thank you,” Doreen said without even looking at the woman.

With a huff, the waitress walked away.

“To answer your question,” Ariella continued, “I’ll take my drink to another table.”

“And then?” Thierry asked. “You’re going to ask him where we can find Paimon and you think he will tell you?”

“He will tell me, one way or another.” She grabbed her wineglass and sat at a table right in the middle of the place, at least fifteen feet from ours. And I realized, if the demon didn’t turn back to take in the entire bar, he wouldn’t see us here in the corner at first, which gave us an advantage.

I hoped this went smoothly, but nothing was that simple, not in the supernatural world.

Ariella sipped from her wine, her gaze fixed on the entrance. Thierry drank two gulps of his beer before setting it aside, but Doreen and I didn’t touch our drinks. But I nibbled at the fries—they were mushy and cold, but I needed something to occupy my hands and my mind.

“I heard what Paimon did to your pack,” Doreen said, catching my attention. I stilled, a french fry halfway to my lips. “I’m sorry.”

I flinched at her words. I was sick and tired of everyone saying they were sorry. I didn’t want their pity. I wanted action.

I shoved the fry in my mouth. “We’ll get through this.”

“I know the DuMoir vampires can provide anything you might need, but know that the Blackthorn Hunters would also help, if given the chance.”

“Right now, I want to help you take Paimon down. That’s all I want.”

Doreen nodded. “You know, revenge won’t bring her back.”

“Doreen!” Thierry hissed.

“What? He has to understand.” She leaned over the table again. “My brother was a hunter and he was killed by demons. All I wanted was to avenge him, but in doing that, I was pulling away from my family, from Kayleen, my younger sister, who needed me more than ever.”

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