“That’s exactly why we invited him. He’ll out himself pretty fucking quickly if he does anything besides participate in the pumpkin carving contest and the feast.” I gave Art a sharp look. “You will be assigned babysitting duty while he’s here. I don’t want you to let him out of your sight.”
Art stared at me for a long moment before nodding once. “Yes, Sir.”
I stepped toward him, getting in his personal space. He didn’t flinch or move, but I didn’t miss the way the blood drained from his face. He recognized my threat for what it was.
“If you fuck this assignment up, Art, you’re done. I don’t give a shit if Hazai has a soft spot for you. I will fucking unmake you if you let that snitch anywhere near my wife tonight. Is that understood?”
Art swallowed and nodded. “Yes, Sir,” he replied, casting his gaze down respectfully. I took a small step back and pointed down to my boot.
“On your knees. Lick it,” I ordered. “Show me that you still know how tofucking obey.”
Art didn’t hesitate; he dropped to his hands and knees before me and ran his tongue over the toe of my boot. I watched him with a grim sense of satisfaction. Due to the promise I made to Lilith, I couldn’t hurt him for what he had done, but there were other ways to punish him.
He glanced up at me, silently asking if I was satisfied. I snarled. “Did I tell you to stop?” His expression darkened, and he dropped his face back down, continuing to clean my boot with his tongue.
When Gabriel entered, I still hadn’t allowed Art to stop, and the angel raised an elegant eyebrow.
I glanced over at him and cocked my head to the side at his all-black attire. I had never seen him in anything but white before. If he thought putting on the color of our people would make me trust him, he was sorely mistaken. It would take more than that to get him off my shit list.
“Do you have to pay extra for the spit shine?” he asked sarcastically as he made his way to the nearest couch, sprawling out on it with his legs spread before him as if he belonged here. I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Unless you want to clean the other boot, I would watch your fucking mouth, Gabriel,” I snarled, snapping my fingers at Art and turning my attention back to him.
“Have you had enough?” I asked, and he nodded, keeping his lips pressed firmly against the leather of my boot. “Thank me for the opportunity to earn my forgiveness.”
“Thank you, Sir, for the opportunity,” Art said, his voice carefully steady. Satisfied that I hadn’t detected a hint of defiance in his tone, I conceded.
“Get up,” I ordered, and he immediately obeyed. He licked his lips and winked at Gabe.
“Just another day in Hell. Still sure you want to join us?” he asked. His tone was upbeat, but there was something tight in his expression that told me he knew he was still on thin ice with me.
Gabriel, on the other hand, was staring at us with an unmistakable heat in his eyes. He didn’t respond; he just nodded his head once. The green light of the fire danced in his citrine eyes, and the corner of his lip curled.
“You ever lick Shem’s boots?” he asked Art, and they stared at each other long enough that even I felt the tension.
“Enough,” I snapped. “We’re here to discuss your roles this evening.”
The two of them seemed to have trouble tearing their eyes away from one another, but after a beat, they both turned their attention back to me. I pursed my lips. There seemed to be some sort of rivalry brewing between them, and I felt that it had something to do with Shemhazai.
“Art, outside of Jezebel, who else knows about our plans to plant idea seeds in the Voodoo GMs?” I didn’t mention the fact that Hazai’s backupplan was already in play. If either of them were playing double agent, I wanted them to believe that our plans had truly been thwarted.
Art threw a glare back at Gabriel. “You mean besidesGabe? No one.” His tone was accusatory.
“Alright. Gabriel, you will have the very important role of identifying and incapacitating any and all Voodoo GMs that attend the feast tonight. Once you have apprehended them, you and Art will work together to plant the idea seeds in them before they wake up. It’s important that they wake up without knowing they have been compromised. Do you think the two of you can handle this task? Or do I need to lock you up and find someone more competent?”
Gabriel scoffed. “If I had known I was going to be actively going undercover, you should have let me wear white.”
I forced myself to keep the surprise off my face. So Shemhazai had ordered him to wear black.
Interesting.
I gave him a condescending sneer. “I thought you were the type to rise to a challenge, Gabriel. Are you telling me you can’t handle this task? I don’t have room for incompetent fools on my Watcher’s council.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “Of course I can handle it,” he snapped, and I snarled, taking a step forward. I wrapped my hand around his jaw, squeezing hard enough that he would have bruised if he were mortal.
“Watch your fucking tone, or I’ll put you on your knees faster than you can say ‘amen.’”If he wanted to be on the council, he would need to learn now who was in charge, and it sure as fuck wasn’t him.
He dropped his gaze, abasing himself respectfully, and I let him go, stepping away.
