“No. You were too busy threatening my life in exchange for finding your man.”
Selene frowned.
“Ah, never mind. The excuse to set foot in Soleil’s brothel was payment enough for my services.” He lowered his voice. “She doesn’t care for me.”
“Personality conflict?” Selene asked.
“As an incubus, I feed off sexual energy. The clients might not notice, but it drains the girls.” He smiled wickedly. “Thank you, by the way. For earlier.” He gestured in the direction their car was parked. “And they say there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Selene felt her cheeks blaze with the hot sting of a blush.
He approached her, inhaling deeply. When he spoke again, his voice was flinty and his breath carried a hint of sulfur. “To answer your first question, I am a purveyor of antiquities: rare magical objects and forgotten and out-of-print texts on the supernatural. Feel free to examine the merchandise, but don’t touch. Some of my inventory can be… temperamental.”
She nodded slowly. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” She focused on a dehydrated monkey’s paw.
“Now, Jason.” Ryker held out one hand sporting long, tapered fingers with nails filed to a point.
Jason removed a silver cylinder from his pocket and placed it in Ryker’s palm.
“What is this?”
“This is the weapon that you lent me. I was unable to use it.”
“Our agreement, Jason, was that I would lend you this enchanted weapon in exchange for a fairy’s heart. Are you telling me you did not uphold your end of the bargain?”
“I’m saying I wasn’t able to use your weapon, and thus, I didn’t get the heart. I’m returning the weapon.”
“Where is the heart?”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “What makes you believe it’s not still beating in Nickelova’s chest?”
Selene wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Ryker’s expression darkened even further. The incubus gave off an aura that was both the darkest red she’d ever encountered and cold as ice. Cold fire. That’s how she’d describe him. A wild, icy absence of humanity.
“I canfeelit.” His voice was harsh. “You don’t have it with you, but it’s close. Very close. Did you hide it from me? Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “You feel it now? Here?”
“Since early this morning.” Ryker rubbed a circle over the left side of his chest. “The air is thick with it, a heady perfume of power that makes my skin tingle.”
“Alex Bloodright stole that heart,” Jason said. “Do you think you can lead us to it? He’ll be where the heart is.”
Ryker examined Jason and then Selene. “You’re telling the truth.”
“Of course I’m telling the truth. I’d give you the heart if I had it, but Alex took it. If he’s here, we need to stop him.”
Ryker sniffed the air. He strode out of the store, the door chiming above their heads, and turned slowly on the sidewalk. His tattoo smoldered through the right sleeve of his shirt, the round curves and geometric shapes of an ancient symbol glowing through the posh fabric. “I thought you were hiding the heart from me for your own purposes.”
“I never had the heart. Alex cut it out of Nickelova and left us to die. We barely made it out alive.”
Ryker assessed Jason, eyes blazing. “Very well. I’ll lead you there.” Ryker extended his hand. “Alex is yours. But the heart is mine.”
“And then we’re square?”
Ryker nodded.
“Deal.” Jason shook the demon’s hand. Selene had a bad feeling about this. Was it a good idea to make a deal with a demon?
Ryker motioned for them to follow as he drifted down the street in that unusually fluid way he moved, turning left down the next alley.
