“Shadrach!”
“Let him go!”
“He’s been invited in!” Shadrach snarled in Julian’s face. “He can’t be allowed to leave. If he?—”
Julian’s vision was going fuzzy when a big hand clamped down on Shadrach’s wrist, twisting hard and pulling him away. Ithurtas his fingers scraped off of Julian’s neck, but a moment later he was free, rasping in a deep breath and coughing hard.
The behemoth moved between them, forcibly backing Shadrach up.
“Do not harm him,” he said.
“What the fuck do you care, behemoth? This doesn’t concern you.”
The huge demon didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his back on the furious Shadrach, tilting his head toward Julian, who met his strange, glowing eyes. Everything else seemed to dim as their eyes met, like the volume had been turned down on the rest of the world.
The same hand that had pried Shadrach’s from his neck now lifted to his chin, guiding Julian’s head up to inspect the damage. The rest of the room was silent, watching, as Julian’s breath caught in his throat.
Chapter 2
Valac
Earth was sodifferent than Valac remembered. It was a blindingly bright ball of chaos. He hadn’t set foot beyond the realm of Hell in thousands of years. In fact, the last time he’d found himself on the surface, humans fought with chariots.
He was sent here on a mission. There was unrest amongst the demons who existed on the surface. For the first time in centuries, a leader had been killed. The halflings were floundering without guidance, and Valac intended to find out what happened. Violent changes in leadership certainly happened, but demons were long-lived creatures. Demons killing demons was a fairly unusual occurrence, and this particular death had resonated all the way back to Valac’s superior, Astaroth. One halfling wasn’t a great loss in Valac’s eyes, but their worth wasn’t for him to determine. At this time, he was simply a seeker of knowledge.
His journey brought him to the location of Lilith’s murder first. Nothing was left of her body, of course, but the aura remained, for a demon powerful enough to sense it. Sand shifted underfoot as he’d searched the area. The sky was dappled with starlight, and gentle waves sloshed against the beach beside him. As far as deaths went, this one had been in a peaceful place.Several other demons were present at the time of her death, as well as humans. Lilith had been filled with hatred for them all. It left a scar in the air that vibrated with tension. It would fade with time, but for now, he could clearly sense how much she’d wanted to hurt them.
He focused on the other demonic presences that had been here at the time of her death. The stronger the demon, the stronger the aura.
Leviathans. There weren’t many ofthosein the area. He tracked their demonic signature through the city and found them locked in battle with still more halflings. It was safe to assume they were involved in the turmoil plaguing the demonic community here. After determining who belonged to which side, he’d ended things quickly so that he might get on with his mission.
Meeting the beautiful human wasn’t in his plans. In the past, any human who laid eyes on him recognized him for the monster he was. None had dared to stand against him, but this one, with his golden hair and jewel blue eyes, like lapis lazuli, was braver than any other in Valac’s long history. He hadn’t meant to step between him and the leviathan, Shadrach. It rankled him to see the leviathan hurting him, and he’d acted without thinking.
Now, he wanted to rip Shadrach apart, because there were finger-shaped bruises and fingernail marks on the human’s sun-bronzed skin.
His lip curled angrily, and he started to turn around and do the same to the leviathan when Julian reached for him, snagging his wrist.
Valac’s mind ground to a halt at the touch. No human had dared to touch him in thousands of years. He couldn’t even remember the last time anotherdemonhad touched him, even in passing. The human’s palm was warm, but his fingertips were chilled. It was smooth in places and rough with calluses inothers. A fascinating dichotomy, just like everything else about this human. Soft but strong. Small but mighty.
“Don’t,” he croaked. “Don’t start anything on my account. He’s right. I shouldn’t be here.”
“You helped them.” They should be grateful, not threatening.
“I did, and I probably shouldn’t have. I’ve been ordered to keep my distance, and I’ve already done things I shouldn’t. Coming inside—seeing this place—all of it is jeopardizing… well, everything. For them as well as me.”
Then he should leave. There was no logical reason for him to stay if he didn’t want to and neither did they. But Valac couldn’t bring himself to say as much aloud. He wanted Julian to stay, because… he wasn’t ready to let him go. It didn’t make sense.
Valac inclined his head and watched relief pass across the human’s face. Looking at him left Valac feeling wrong-footed, so he turned away, focusing his attention on the matter at hand.
The leviathans, Shadrach and Talon, were standing together, one scowling and the other studying. Valac focused on the latter, as he seemed more amenable to conversation.
“I was sent here to investigate a death. I have some questions, if you’d be so kind as to answer.”
Talon’s face gave nothing away. “The kind of investigation that precedes a punishment?”
Valac smiled. “You know I’m no enforcer.”
“On the contrary, I happen to know you have plenty of methods for exactly that. We all just bore witness to some.” He gestured to the door and the parking lot beyond.
