“See, we’re all ready to the point where you use my name in that scolding tone,” he pointed out. “I am meant to touch you.” The tone of his voice caught me off guard. I could only stare at him as I came to grips with the meaning behind the way he was looking at me.
“Sebastian,” another voice yelled behind me, and I spooked.
I turned around to see another huge figure that towered over my small frame. He carried two weapons against his back. His dark eyes slanted as he met Sebastian’s easy-going ones. His look was intimating and strikingly handsome while Sebastian’s was like the ocean during the moments it was calm—sensual and breathtaking all at once.
“Let’s go,” the figure said. His gaze crossed over me before doing a double-take, the rapid blinks and all that went with someone overlooking, then finally noticing my small presence. “I didn’t know you had a guest. If I had known—”
“You would have still said, ‘back to work’.” Sebastian interrupted him.
“I would have given you a little longer.” The man smirked. “Like you have the stamina to last long, anyway.”
This other Reaper had the wrong idea if the heat I felt across my face was any indication. He thought I was his booty call. I looked to Sebastian trying not to burst into a fit of laughter, andfor once, he seemed a little ruffled as he took in my grin. “I have no problem with my endurance.”
“If you say so,Sloth,” the other Reaper was still grinning, and Sebastian looked two seconds from losing it. “Your problem is more along the lines of ‘not falling asleepduring’.”
And Sloth? Falling asleep during… Sex? Was that possible? Or was my mind in the gutter when it was supposed to be somewhere else?
My eyes roamed over Sebastian. “Sloth?” Now I was curious.
“Coming from Mr. Work and No Play,” Sebastian muttered, then his eyes fell on me once more. “Ignore Payne, he’s normally got a stick up his ass unless it comes to ruffling me or one of my brother’s feathers.”
Payne laughed, and I turned around and smiled. “I’m—”
“Isabella Wen.” Payne finished for me.
I gasped, staring back and forth between them. “Can all Reapers peek inside your mind and pull out information like that?” It was a little unsettling.
“It’s not your mind we’re pulling from,” Payne answered. “It’s like a databank we get inside our head once we’re bestowed Reaper power.”
“Bestowed?” I gave him a strange look.
“Yeah, no one’s born a Reaper unless your last name is Reaper. Grim or Melanie bestow it on demons they deem worthy or those that wish to be one.”
“Well, huh? You can be one just like that?”
“Why, you interested in becoming one?” Payne teased.
“Don’t do it,” Sebastian warned. “He seems pleasant now but try working with him. Besides, there’s no such thing as a day off as a Reaper.”
“Well, the dead don’t live,” Payne hummed.
“And evil doesn’t go away by itself,” Sebastian added.
“You must live in the human world,” Payne said to me.
I nodded softly. “Uh, yeah, I guess. I’ve been living there for the last decade, but it’s strange, I’ve been working at a hospital for almost a year and I’ve never encountered a Reaper until Sebastian.” Because it was a small town, I wondered?
“That is,” Payne agreed. “I’ve camped out at one when so many deaths were lined up that same day.”
“Enough about Reaper business,” said Sebastian in a bored tone.
Payne sighed. “Look, we all have something to do. I need you to check it out while the rest of us are busy checking out the other places we’ve found.”
“About that…” Sebastian moved from the counter. “Izzie might know something about the imps.”
I gave up on him calling me Izzie. Instead, I wished he didn’t drag me into whatever business they were getting into. “I don’t know anything about any imp behavior.”
Sebastian smiled. “Yeah, but you know who’s on the other end, right?”
