As if he wanted the company, A’Damiel, or Damon as he preferred to be called, parked himself on a vacant stool beside him. Straight, jaw-length black hair swung forward, briefly hiding Damon’s expression.
“Of all the bars in this city, you chose mine?”
Damon smirked. “Needed a change of scenery. Here I am.”
“If you want information on how your ward is coping after her transition and your desertion of her, you know where the castle is.”
For a long second, Damon didn’t respond. Then he shrugged. “As long as Echo’s happy, I’m fine with that. But you—” He cast Blaéz a pitying look. “Didn’t expect you to suddenly develop a conscience. How is that going, by the way?”
Blaéz regarded Damon with an even stare. The fact that he had taken Echo off the streets when she was a child and kept her safe was the only reason the warriors hadn’t pounded the life out of him for letting another Guardian die. But the dickhead seriously tested those limits.
“You have something to say?”
A snort. “Of all the Guardians, you’re the last one I would have thought to become that shithead’s chew toy—doing what he wants. Maloch? Seriously? There’s no way he’ll ever let you go. Whatever promises he’s made, he’s already found a way to bind you for eternity. You know he has a thing for males, right? Especially those of your kind.”
“No idea what you’re talking about.” Blaéz slugged back his liquor. Pushed off his stool and headed out of the bar, the whiskey a hard fiery ball bouncing about in his belly. Maloch was a parasite, one he would eventually annihilate. The bastard had the hots for him, and had whipped him instead of acting on that need. Blaéz had far preferred his skin melting off than being physically violated.
“I mean, seriously, how far out of your mind are you?” Damon asked from behind him.
Blaéz pivoted. What was it with this male? He prowled the Dark Realm like it was his home, yet he wasn’t a demon. “If you have something to say, spit it out, instead of following me around like a hound.”
“Why?” Damon straightened his white dress shirt like it was important it didn’t wrinkle. Violet eyes glowed in the dark. “This is so much fun, watching you screw your life over—wait, or is that you being screwed with?”
Blaéz lunged for him. He flashed out of reach. “Sometimes, I wonder why I bother with you lot. Seriously, Celt,what you seek is long gone. What you see is but a shadow of what once was.” With that cryptic comment, in a swirling shower of molecules, he vanished.
What did that even mean? That Blaéz would never get his soul back?
Somewhere in the distance a car honked as the familiar strains of darkness snaked through him. The clamor in his head grew along with the urge to move, in one direction only. Blaéz struggled against his soul’s pull.
Imagine that. The one thing he wanted but fought against, because Maloch used it to haul him back to the Dark Realm. The only pull he wanted was the one Darci had on him. But this shit was his legacy with no way out.
Darci was better off without him. All he did was hurt her. The Guardians certainly didn’t need one like him tainting the work they did—
An eerie, ruddy glow shimmered over him. He glanced up as the pale, silvery moon took on a red luminescence. And Blaéz knew there was little he could do to stop this.
One second he was standing in the derelict backstreet, the next he was yanked deep into the old abandoned Delancey Subway. A casualty of a gas explosion a decade ago, now a notorious hunting ground for demonii.
A damp smell permeated the place. Water dripped from leaking pipes in the ceiling, soaking the cement in the ominously dark tunnel. The air shifted and separated as if sensing him.
Yesss…embrace us, warrior.Weare what you need. We are one. Cooooome…
A black portal shimmered open, and the sulfuric reek of Hell drifted to him.
Chapter 19
Darci stared blanklyat the choked traffic as Hedori drove her back from visiting Grace at the hospital. Late afternoon sunshine spilled through the Range Rover windshield but did little to warm her.
“He’ll be back, m’lady,” Hedori said quietly. “Sometimes he disappears, but he always returns within a few days.”
Darci nodded. What could she say? Thatshe’ddriven Blaéz away? He hadn’t returned from patrol that morning. Or answered his cell.
With shaky hands, she smoothed her dress. She hadn’t meant to wound him with her actions. But she’d been hurting and needed time to come to terms with everything.
No, she would never leave him, because he mattered to her. Besides, she could always fill the maternal gap in her heart with her nephew and new niece.
Grace’s baby would be born whole and healthy. She refused to consider the alternative.
Her cell rang. Hastily, she pulled it out from her tote. Disappointment filled her when she glanced at the display. She forced a cheerful note in her voice. “Hey, Nora.”
