Jedda had been sealed inside collapsed diamond mines and hadnever felt thistrapped.
Finally, just as she was counting the number ofgoonsbetween her and the nearest door, Razr cursed andbacked off.What he didn’t do was stopglaring daggersat the other fallen angel.Not even while Shrike led them to a grand libraryfull of literary classics, modern fiction, and a sprinkling of demonic tomes.
Seething at Shrike’s trickery and betrayal, and still hoppedup on an adrenaline dump, she rounded on the bastard as soon as the doorclosed.
“What is it you want, Mr.Shrike?And why didn’t you simplymake an appointment instead of inviting me here for this...this...spectacle?”
She looked over at Razr, who stood a couple of feet away,his fists clenched at his sides and his dark eyes smoldering.Hatredpractically seeped from his pores, and she swore she could feel it in a wave ofacid heat washing over her skin.
Shrike walked around the desk and sank into the leatherchair behind it.He gestured for both her and Razr to take seats in the twochairs across from him.She accepted, but Razr shot the other fallen angel thebird and remained standing, his gaze sharp, his stance deceptively relaxed.Jedda got the impression that inside he was coiled like a snake and ready tostrike.
Shrike shot Razr anannoyedglancebut then focused on Jedda.“I invited you here because the things I’m going toask you for aren’t going to be easy to find.Hence, the sacrifice.It’simportant that its energy envelops you.”
Evil bastard.Jedda didn’t have a whole lot of roomto lecture anyoneon the subject of ethics, but she’dnever tricked anyone into attending a murder-themed dinner party.
No, but you’ve killed too.
Dammit, no she hadn’t.Not intentionally.
But she’d benefited from the death, hadn’t she?
Shoving her errant thoughts back into the deepest recessesof her mind where they belonged, she looked Shrike in his steel-gray eyes.
“I don’t appreciate the deception,” she said in her briskbusiness voice, the one she used when dealing with deplorable people like Tomfrom the Taaffeite mine.“And Idefinitely don’tappreciate being enveloped in some strange spell.SoIdon’t think I’ll be doing business with you.”She started to stand, butlightning fast, his big hand clamped around her wrist.
A snarl rang out, freezing her in her seat more effectivelythan Shrike’s grip ever could.
“Release her.” Razr’s eyes glittered with thethreat of violence.It made her wonder what fallen angels were capable of.Andit was a little bit of a turn-on.
Shrike grinned, a smile so cold she shivered.“As long asshe promises to hear me out.”
Shit.She didn’t want to hear another word from this bin ofburning rubbish, but she also didn’t have a death wish, nor did she want to seeRazr’s body flopping around on the floor next to his head.
“Of course,” she agreed with forced calm, hoping toalleviate the tension and get this meeting over with.“I suppose it can’thurt.”
“Good.”Shrike released her, and she resisted the urge torub her wrist, where her skin burned as if his fingers had been sticks of fire.“Now, here’s the deal.What I want will be a challenge, but I know you’ll comethrough for me.”
“Just tell me what it is, and I’ll tell you if I think it’spossible.”
For some reason, he looked amused, and she didn’t like thatone bit.“You are, of course, familiar with the famous crystal skulls ofMesoamerica.”
She couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.Not onlywas every one of them almost certainly fake, but if he wantedonehe could easily hire any competent dealer inantiquities.He didn’t need her for that.
“Of course.But—”
“Are you also familiar with the crystal devil’s horns?”
She sucked in a startled breath.The existence of thecrystal devil’s horns wasn’t common knowledge.Even most of those who werefamiliar with the legends didn’t believe they existed.
“I’m sorry,” Razr said, “but what the fuck is a crystaldevil’s horn?”
Shrike sat back, the smug look on his face so obnoxious shewanted to slap it off.“Not long after the first crystal skulls came onto thescene, a human archaeologist digging in Mexico discovered a curved crystalhorn, much like a ram’s horn.It was perfectly seamless, with no flaws.”
Jedda leaned forward eagerly, unable to contain herexcitement.She loved mysteries that surrounded the elements of the earth.
“It was found deep inside a cave full of human skeletons,”she said, “and it was reportedly hot to the touch.The man who found it wentinsane shortly afterward, and the horn was lost to the ages.But then, in 1938,Adolf Hitler sent a team to the same cave in search of more treasures.Theyfound another horn, and they assumed that it, along with the first one,belonged to a crystal skull.But no skull that matched the horns was everfound.”
Shrike shook his head.“A skull was found.”
