Suriel nodded. “Something nefarious. Perchance he is the one behind the recent murders.”
I raised my brows as his words snapped me out of my shock. “Perchance?Um, what century are you from?”
Suriel exchanged a glance with Gabriel. “Well, we are very old.”
“And you didn’t think to update your vocabulary during the past few centuries?”
Suriel cocked his head, and a lock of his golden hair tumbled into his eyes. “Why would I?”
“Nevermind.” The fact that I was currently having a conversation in the middle of New York with two centuries-old fallen angels was not the craziest part of my night.
I was the fake girlfriend of a literal demon.
Oh my god.I shuddered as a new thought sprang into my mind like a ninja ready to chop into my brains. Asmodeus had mentioned kissing. I would have tokiss a demonif I wanted to keep my soul. Did he have normal lips? A normal tongue?
An unwelcome thought flashed through my mind. Forget the tongue. Did he have a normaldick? Or did it have a weird spade-shaped end like a demon tail?
More importantly, did he have anactualtail, too? I wondered if Serena knew. I made a mental note to ask her later.
My cheeks burned as I realized I was thinking far too much about Asmodeus’s dick. It wasn’t like I was ever going to see it. He’d made it clear our deal had nothing to do with sex.
He better keep it that way.
“Here’s our contact details.” Gabriel slid a small business card into my hand. It displayed a telephone number in black letters against a white background. Nothing more. “Call us if you see or hear anything suspicious.”
“You really expect me to carry on like nothing has happened,” I whispered to them.
The two angels shrugged in unison.
“You don’t really have another choice, Mia,” Gabriel said with a gentle smile. “Just whatever you do, don’t make him angry. Oh, and take this. You might need it. Just…never let him find out you have it, alright?”
He dropped a gleaming signet ring into my hand. A thin silver chain wound through it. When I took a closer look, I spotted that same emblem engraved into the center of it. The one on the flyer. The one on the door.Infernal’ssymbol.
“Great,” I muttered as the angels vanished around the corner. For a moment, all I could do was stare after them, flipping the card over in my trembling fingers. If I were smart, I’d walk straight over to the subway entrance, climb on board the G train, and hightail it to Serena’s apartment.
Strangely, it wasn’t the demon part of the equation that had me spooked the most. Having grown up with Serena, I understood that supernaturals were a multifaceted group of people, just like humans were. They weren’t all good; they weren’t all bad. That might extend to demons…but Asmodeus had trapped me in a soul contract without telling me, and these angels thought he might be linked to a serial killer. Now, I had to pretend like I didn’t know about any of it.
How the hell would I pull this off?
Unease racing down my spine, I threw the chain around my neck, slung my hands into my jacket pockets, and started walking. I needed some time to think. Asmodeus was back at the club, unaware I’d been approached by two fallen angels who wanted to take him down. I still had a little time to make a plan. I wondered if I could convince him to tear up the contract. I knew next to nothing about demons, so I didn’t know if that was even possible. How binding were these things? Ifhedecided to renege on it, what happened to my soul then?
All I knew was, I didn’t want to go through with this. I needed a job, but I wasn’tthisdesperate.
Was I?
With a deep breath, I rounded the corner instead of continuing south to Asmodeus’s apartment building. He wouldn’t be there, but I wasn’t ready to walk into that penthouse just yet. Not until I’d had a chance to clear my mind and make a plan.
The distant thud of footsteps sounded on the sidewalk somewhere behind me. Chills swept across my arms. Glancing around, I noticed this street was steeped in darkness. I was away from the bustling, twinkling nightlife now. Instead, the buildings were ghosts, full of shadows and darkened windows. I cast a quick glance behind me, but no one was there.
No one that I could see.
Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to wander through Hell’s Kitchen alone in the middle of the night, even with my trusty pepper spray. In fact, it was downright stupid. Why had I come out here alone? Idiot. Heart suddenly in my throat, I picked up the pace, only to hear the footsteps do the same.
Shit.
I started to run, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. A car squealed past and slid sideways as it jerked to a sudden stop beside the curb. The passenger door flew open. Asmodeus rushed out, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched tight. A burst of shadows exploded from his skin in the blink of an eye. And then they were gone.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he barked, thundering forward. The vein in his neck seemed to pop right out of his skin.
