“Yes, well, this is a bit of an emergency.”Jedda adjustedher sparkly shoulder bag with an impatient tug.“Why don’t we set up anappointment at my officeforsometimethis week?”
The smile on Shrike’s face turned predatory, and Razr cursedinwardly.This was about to go south, and the bitch of it was that with Razr’sangelic abilities bound, Shrike was afucktonmorepowerful than Razr.Any negotiations would be all about Razr’s ability to bluffhis way through shit.
“As I said,” Shrike practically purred, “the festivities areabout to begin.”
Suddenly, the lights shut off, leaving the space lit only bythe flickering flames from the candles and torch sconces on the walls.
Yeah.Realsouth.
Speculative murmurs rose up, and unholy excitement chargedthe air.
“I don’t like this,” Jedda whispered, and Razr experiencedthe oddest desire to comfort her.To protect her.And not just because she wasin possession of his gem.Heck, she might be responsible for stealing it andkilling the humans who had been protecting it.
If so, he’d deal with it.But rightnowhis only goal was to keep her safe.
And to get out of this alive.
Chapter Five
Jedda had been in a lot of uncomfortable anddownright dangerous situations before, but something about this one made theothers, even the battles, seem tame.
Shrike wasn’t your average Big Evil.He was Bigger Evil withan attitude.She had no idea what fallen angels were capable of, but it wasprobably safe to assume that they could make most demons look like kittens.
Razr, on the other hand...She wasn’t sure what to thinkabout him.He was smoking hot, for sure.She’d always been a sucker for darkhair and dark eyes, and she’d bet her life-stone that beneath his expensive,exquisitely tailored suit was the body of an athlete.He probably had amazingwings, too.
But there was also a familiarity between them that didn’tmake sense.She would have remembered meeting him, and yet she swore she felt aconnection, as if their pulses were synced.And if that was true, then hispulse was pounding as hard as hers as she watched a bunch of blunt-snouted,horned dudes with wicked blades on the ends of long poles advance toward thecenter of the room.She thought the weapons were called halberds, but shesupposed their name wasn’t important.The fact that they could cleave a body inhalf was.
Razr moved close, and while Jedda could take care ofherself, she had to admit to being grateful that he was, at least for now, herally.
“Shrike,” Razr growled.“What’s going on—”
He broke off as, in a single, coordinated move, the halberdguys swung their blades so suddenly and so fast that she didn’t have time toscream before a dozen heads plunked to the floor.Their owners’ decapitatedbodies collapsed next to them with wet, obscene thuds.
“Lexi!”A roar of rage tore from Razr’s throat as a femalein a crimson evening gown hit the tile, blood spurting from her headless neck.
Nausea and horror rolled through Jedda, and she stumbledbackward as the shock wore off the crowd.Some people screamed, some cried, butmost laughed.
Razr launched in a blur of fury.Hisfistslammed into Shrike’s jaw, knocking him into a wall.Before Shrike couldrecover, Razr had Shrike by the throat and pinned, their faces nose to nose.
“You killed her!”Razr snarled.“What the fuck?”
“Thisisa demon dinner party,” Shrike growledthrough bloodied lips.“What did you expect?”He smiled, one Jedda assumed wasintended to be comforting but only came off as terrifying.“Besides, wasn’tLexi cursed with a bunch of lives and deaths?She’ll pop up again somewhere.”His eyes lit up with a malevolent crimson light, and little bursts of lightningsizzled at the tips of his fingers as he raised his hand toward the back ofRazr’s head.“But you won’t.”
“Don’t do it, Shrike,” Jedda warned.“He’s with me, and ifyou kill him, I swear that whatever ‘proposal’ you have for me is going to diewith him.I willneverwork with you.”
Shrike snorted, but he dropped his hand to his side again.“I think you will.But I’ll let him live.For now.”
The crowd began to chant a bunch ofmumbo-jumboJedda didn’t recognize, but she did understand one word: Lothar.Her gutchurned again.
“Fuck you.”Razr shoved Shrike hard enough to make his skullcrack against the wall.“Let us leave, you piece of shit.The ceremony isover.”
One of Shrike’s hooded goons spotted his boss’s predicamentand headed their way, the edge of his blade dripping with blood.Jedda forcedher wobbly legs to move closer to Razr so she could impress upon him theurgency of their situation.Shrike might have shelved his homicidal urges forthe moment, but he seemed like the kind of psycho who could change his mind inan instant.
“Hey.”She spoke under her breath, her words meant for Razronly.“Maybe you should back off a little...”
“You really have no choice but to release me.”Shrike’sdeceptively calm voice wigged Jedda out.In her experience, hotheads were farbetter to deal with than people whose emotions ran cold.Both could bedangerous, but hotheads were more predictable and easier to manipulate.Shrikedidn’t strike her as either of those things.He gestured toward a closed doornearby.“Why don’t we go someplace quieter to talk?”
Razr hesitated.He was going to refuse and get them bothkilled, wasn’t he?
