Xander pulled out his phone and snapped photos of the bloody, soiled unconscious body. “I’m sending these to Pers. Maybe it’ll cheer him up a bit.”
The golden boy of our group was at his place tonight, no doubt trying to help his human however he could. The rest of us were here, releasing whatever pent up feelings we had on thissorry excuse of a human. Well, all of us except for Coldin. He wasn’t allowed to come until the main event.
The three of us went upstairs to the main floor of my house and gathered in the kitchen to rinse off the blood from our face and hands.
“I’m worried about Perseus,” Xander declared. His dark eyes were tight with concern as he scrubbed at his hands. His black hair fell into those eyes, which he promptly pushed back with a grumbled, “Stupid hair. I’m cutting this shit off and going back to all short hair.”
Ignoring Xander’s gripes about the longer half of his hair, I finished cleaning my arms. “I get what you mean about Perseus. The Incubus isn’t eating, which isn’t good.”
We’d all seen how weak and troubled Perseus was earlier this week. The evening we’d gathered at Zagan’s to discuss Drake and his execution date, our fellow band member had nearly collapsed. While I understood why he didn’t want to feed from Harper right now, I also knew he couldn’t go on like that for much longer.
“Perseus is tough,” Zagan reminded us. He ran a now clean finger thoughtfully along his bottom lip where his two piercings were. “He’ll be okay.”
“Hmph,” Xander grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter.
Just as Zagan and I were best friends, Perseus and Xander shared a tight bond. It was never easy to see the suffering of the demon you considered a brother. It was part of the reason I loathed humans so much. Not only were they horrible to each other, but they treated my kind with contempt and revulsion. Unless they wanted something from us. Then they coveted us enough to trick us into bonds and to enslave us to their whims.Theywere the true monsters.
Though, Serenity wasn’t too bad.
“What’s that smirk for?”
My gaze snapped up to Zagan’s, and I quickly schooled my features. I blinked and scratched at the bar piercing the top of my ear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Zagan’s blue eyes narrowed, but he let it go as the typical carefree air returned to Xander. He pushed away from the counter to stand next to me and Zagan.
“I need to have some fun. You guys wanna go to Hell’s Gate? We can see how Eden is fairing as the new manager.”
I snickered. With Babette, the previous owner of Hell’s Gate, being dead, the demonic club had been handed over to Eden. The bubbly and party-hungry Mischief demon would be great at running the popular club in Hell, though I dreaded to see what she’d done with the decorations. I could just picture gold glitter, pink velvet, and Satan knew what else adorning the once gothic club.
“Can’t,” I finally answered. “I’ve got plans.”
“What?” Xander screeched with an offended frown.
“With who?” Zagan asked. He suddenly gave me a knowing smirk. “Serenity?”
“Shut it,” I growled. “We’re going to a human club.”
“Sounds fun,” Xander announced. “What time should we meet you there?”
I frowned. “That wasn’t an invitation.”
I normally didn’t care about letting the guys around my snacks, but Serenity was more than just a snack. I needed to cultivate this friendship to get even closer to her. That way, I could flaunt what Bradley had lost and ensure that Serenity moved on with her life. I didn’t want him pulling any more tricks in an effort to get her back. The other night had nearly been nauseating to witness from the shadows. Roses and pizza? What bullshit.
Though, that wasn’t nearly as bad as when he’d apologized for hitting her. I didn’t need his confession to know he’d been responsible for it, but watching him pretend to be sorry for something so vile … I nearly killed him on the goddamn spot. And I still considered doing that. I hadn’t decided what final fate I wanted to bestow upon the bastard. All I did know was he’d sealed a miserable future for himself by daring to touch her.
But I couldn’t say any of this without earning relentless teasing from my fellow demons.
With a sigh, I allowed, “Whatever. She and I are meeting at The Crimson Vault at nine.”
“Awesome!” Xander cheered. He pointed his black-painted finger at Zagan. “You game?”
“Let’s head to my place so I can see what Iyla’s up to.”
I groaned but followed Zagan via shadows to the kitchen at his place. Zagan called Iyla down. The brunette hesitated slightly when she saw all three of us but, eventually, pressed into Zagan’s side. He wrapped his arm around her back and stared into her eyes as he asked, “You want to go to The Crimson Vault tonight?”
She mulled the question over. “Sure. Can I invite the girls?”
“Whatever you want, Sparrow.”
