Finally, as he sat back down across from her, he broke thesilence.“What if I can get you the crystal horn?We can get Shrike off yourback with it.At least buy some extra time, and I’ll help you find the Enochgems.”
Help her?It wouldn’t make any difference.She couldn’t giveup her diamond.But the crystal devil’s horn?Was he serious?
“How can you help me get the horn?”she asked.“I thoughtyou didn’t know what it even was?”
“After you and Shrike described it, I realized I’d seen itbefore.”He waggled his brows.“I just happen to know who owns one.”
No way.“That’s next to impossible,” she informed him.“Probably a replica.I told you, according to legend there are only two––”
“And one of them happens to belong to my boss.”
He really was delusional.But she played along.
“Okay,” she said.“I’ll bite.Who is your boss?”
“I call himAzagoth, but youprobably know him as the Grim Reaper.”
She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or laugh...harder.TheGrim Reaper?Demons were always calling themselves all kinds of crazy shit.She’d met a dozen idiots who swore they were Lucifer.And a dozen more whoclaimed to be Jack the Ripper.Hitler.Caligula.The list went on.
“Tell you what.You prove you work for the Grim Reaper, andI’ll prove I’m an elf.Deal?”
“Deal.”Razr grinned, that killer one that made her ovariesclench.“Come on, Dobby.Let’s go.”
Chapter Nine
Dobby?Jedda revised her opinion about Razr.He was clearly broken.
Also?Sheoul-grawas super creepy.
Jedda had spent most of her life in the human realm, withoccasional jaunts to theelvenand demon realms, butthe Grim Reaper’s home was, by far, the most unsettling place she’d been.Razrhad explained it as being a holding tank for the souls of dead demons and evilhumans, but apparently there were two distinct sections.One was for the living,and the other, known as the Inner Sanctum, was where the souls were kept,presided over by a fallen angel named Hades, but not untilAzagothchecked out every one of them.
At first glance upon materializing on the arrival pad,everything seemed relatively normal.A green, grassy landscape stretchedforever, broken by a forest in the distance.Ancient Greek-style buildingsformed a small city dotted by fountains and sculptures, all lending a peacefulvibe.
But once inside the largest of the buildings, things gotbizarre, weird, and a little scary.From the room filled with tortured, twistedstatues to the zany little demon things Razr calledgriminions,Azagoth’shome left her wanting only to go back toherhome.
“Why is it that I can see thegriminionsdown here but not in the human realm?”she asked as one of them skittered past,chattering in some language that reminded her of the squirrels that scolded herevery morning on the walk to work.
“It’s probably because you’re an elf.Humans can’t usuallysee them, either.”
“Oh, now you believe me?”
He casther asideways glance asthey started down a shadowy hallway.“It’s actually starting to make sense.”
“Hmph.”She poked him in the ribs.“I told you so.”
“Don’t get cocky, Keebler,” he warned her, but his tone wasteasing and his made-for-sin mouth was quirked in mischief.“You still haven’tproved it.”
Stubborn male.“Don’t worry, I will.”A dark, intense buzzvibrated through her, coming from a room ahead.When Razr stopped in front ofit, she eyed the iron doors with curiosity.“What’s in here?”
“A bunch of shitAzagothhascollected from people who owe him.”Razr waved to a big guy with a blue Mohawkat the far end of the hall.“Or people he blackmailed.I don’t know.In anycase, it’s a museum of rare and valuable crap.”
She couldn’t tell if he was kidding about the blackmail, butshe didn’t really care.She’d shoved a precious gem up a dude’s ass.Who wasshe to judge?
“Like enchanted stones?”She bounced on her toes inexcitement.
“Yeah.”He grinned.“Want to see?”
“Did you really have to ask?”
