I said goodbye to the other girls—Lexi, Ramona, Ellen, Piper, and Willow—and found the side door of the club. There were still several patrons wandering around the front, taking a smoke break outside.Infernaldidn’t close for another hour, and the night owls looked like they were only getting started.
With a slight smile, I turned the corner, aiming my boots south. Tonight hadn’t been that bad after all. I might have even made some new friends. As much as I loved Serena, it wasn’t fair to rely on her as much as I did. If I was going to make it in a new city, in a new life, I needed to meet other people.
The three hundred bucks in my pocket didn’t hurt either.
Two large figures loomed out of an alley. They strode into the center of the sidewalk, turning to face me. My heart jerked in my chest as I came to a sudden stop, gazing at them with cotton balls in my mouth. They were both huge, muscled, and heavily tattooed. One had buzzed hair and was slightly taller than the other, but only by an inch.
The taller one stepped toward me. “Hello, Mia.”
“Um.” I took a step back and reached for my pepper spray.
“No need to be afraid.” He smiled and held out a hand. “My name is Gabriel, and we just want to talk to you about your new association withInfernal.”
“Gabriel,” I repeated, ignoring his offered hand. Heart hammering, I glanced around me at the empty street. Should I turn around and run back toInfernal? Should I scream? Douse them in pepper spray? Probably all of the above.
“Yes, ah.” He turned to the other guy, a golden-haired Adonis with a bicep bigger than my thigh. “This might be a little difficult for you to comprehend, so please don’t freak out when we try to explain.”
“We’re angels,” the golden-haired one said, folding his arms over his white, button-up shirt. “Supernaturals exist, particularly in New York City. You’re surrounded by them all the time.”
Gabriel shot his friend a dark look. “Great going, Suriel. We were supposed to ease her into it. Humans freak out when they learn supernaturals are real.” He turned back to me, and the brilliance of his encouraging smile was almost blinding. “It’s alright, Mia. You don’t need to be afraid.”
I wet my lips and took another step back. Truth was, this wasn’t news to me…but I couldn’t tell them that. I’d known for a very long time that vampires and werewolves are real, but supernaturals live by strict laws. The most important one? Never let humans find outanything.
“Oh my god. You’re crazy.” I widened my eyes and pasted shock onto my face. “You must be on drugs or something.”
Gabriel’s smile dropped. “Oh. You already know about us.”
“What? No. I—”
“You’re a terrible actress,” he said, sighing. “Who told you?”
“No one,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s not particularly difficult to figure out. There’s evidence all over the place if you know what to look out for.”
That last part was true. The evidencewaseverywhere, but I hadn’t magically deduced the existence of werewolves all by myself. Serena had told me. Because she was one herself.
I’d seen her shift with my own two eyes.
“Don’t harass her, Gabe,” the golden-haired one said, turning to me. “You don’t need to tell us how you found out. That’s not why we’re here.”
“Okay. Then, what do you want?”
“We need to talk to you about the demons you’re associating with. Asmodeus in particular.”
At that, I blinked. Unease burned through my veins like acid, and my mouth went as dry as my bank account. “Wait a minute, did you saydemons?”
I was aware of vampires, werewolves, fallen angels, and fae. But surelydemonsdidn’t exist in the real world. If they did, I might have to start screaming. Blood-sucking vampires? That I could take. Human wolf-beasts with fangs and fur? Alright. But horned monsters of the underworld? No, thank you. Serena hadn’t mentioned anything about this.
Suriel’s brows winged upward. “Perhaps she didn’t know about supernaturals, after all.”
“At least not demons,” Gabriel murmured, rubbing his jaw. “So, you don’t know what Asmodeus is? WhatInfernalis?”
My stomach dropped. “Are you trying to tell me thatInfernalisn’t a nightclub?”
“Oh, it’s a nightclub.” Suriel grinned and folded his massive arms. “For supernaturals only.”
Wait a minute. My mind raced as it replayed everything that had happened in the past few days. The famous smiling faces on the wall inside the door. The strange way Asmodeus spoke of his club. His insistence that I stay away from the bouncers in the back room.
The demons.
