“Help, please!” she screamed.
“Shut up, whore. You should have paid your debt. Now the boss is going tomakeyou pay.”
I sighed. Did he really not see the demon standing in front of him?
A few seconds later, he did. One look at me, with my wings spread, and he froze, the girl still twisting in his arms. She slammed her hand into his face, and he absently cuffed her around the head.
“Mistake,” I informed him. I liked most humans. But that didn’t mean I’d give assholes like this a free pass.
He stared at me, and the sharp stench of urine drifted my way.
“Let her go,” I suggested.
He let the girl loose, and she didn’t hesitate. Her blond ponytail bounced as she took off, sprinting down the street.
“Why were you bringing her here? Tell me the truth, and I may not kill you.”
“N-Nero l-likes the young ones. If they can’t pay up, he makes them pay in different ways.”
Well, that just made my whole day easier. Danica didn’t like it when we killed humans, but I could definitely justify this one to both her and Samael. In fact, if she were here, they’d likely be dead already. And Meredith couldn’t be pissed at me for killing a man who preyed on young girls.
I turned, finding Nero standing in the doorway. His eyes met mine. Resignation tightened his face. He raised his gun, aiming at me.
He was ash a moment later. As were all the other bad men in that house.
I watched the short, bald man in front of me as he slowly backed away. “Tell me,” I purred. “What happens to the girls when Nero is finished with them?”
Silence.
I smiled. “He gives them to you, doesn’t he?”
He turned and ran. I lit him up, giving him the mercy of a quick death.
* * *
Meredith
The next morning, I met Kyla and Evie in front of a warehouse off South Miami Boulevard on the outskirts of Bethesda. We’d decided to visit Albert first, followed by the harpy, since she’d likely be a tiny bit slower in the middle of the day.
“How do you want to go about this?” I asked as Evie and Kyla strode into the warehouse next to me. Since Danica had destroyed the Mage Council building, the mages were currently operating out of the space while their headquarters were rebuilt.
Evie shrugged. “Let’s play it by ear.” If she was nervous, her face didn’t show it, so I attempted the same bored expression.
“What’s up with you?” Kyla nudged me with her elbow. “You look like someone ran over your dog.”
“Awesome.”
Even though I was walking into the mages’ territory with a werewolf and a powerful witch, I couldn’t help but still feel a little nervous. We were heavily outnumbered, and the mage who led us to Albert was flushed and shaking with rage, as if he was barely restraining himself from attacking us.
Albert waited for us in one corner of the warehouse, which had been sectioned off with those fake wall divider things. He sat at a desk that looked like it was from IKEA, half-empty boxes of files taking up most of the small space.
“Oh, how the mighty fall,” Evie murmured.
He watched us out of cold gray eyes, studying us as if we were a virus someone had let loose in his territory.
“You wanted this meeting,” he said. “So, talk.”
Evie raised one eyebrow. “Nice manners.”
