“So I heard. So I heard,” Lars murmured, turning back to Az. “What’s the, you know, taste like?”
Az tsked. “You know we don’t drink blood, Lars.”
“I don’t know why. All the other demons do.” He leaned closer to the table and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Some of the fallen angels, too. Why do you Princes have to pretend you’re so above it all?”
“Because we are.” Az gave him a smile that masked the rage I could clearly see flickering in his eyes. Did the vampire notice it, too? “We don’t need to subsist on blood like you do.”
“Yes, yes,” Lars muttered, flicking his eyes to Az’s porterhouse steak. He wrinkled his nose. “You and your animal meat. I don’t know how you can stand it. The human kind is much more enticing.”
Right. So…this guy was more than a little creepy. He and his desire for human flesh was downright terrifying. And I had to sit here and pretend that I didn’t care what he said.
He jerked his thumb toward me. “Why’d you end up telling this one about us? I thought it was against your rules.”
Az folded his arms and gave me an appraising glance, like I was some kind of puppet on display. “She accidentally found out the other night at a party.”
“Ah.” Lars nodded. “I heard about your little fight.”
“We’ve made up.” Az flashed me a wicked grin. “She’s all mine now.”
“Oh, I bet,” Lars said, licking his lips. “You’ve made a deal, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“She just looks so delicious.”
My hands drifted down to the edge of the seat. I wrapped my fingers around the leather and clung on tight. If this fucking vampire said one more creepy thing about me, I didn’t think I’d have the willpower to hold back.
I’ll show you delicious, asshole. When my knuckles connect with your teeth. I hope you like the taste of your bones.
“Mia,” Az murmured.
I snapped my attention back onto his eyes. The ice shards had grown darker. Flames flickered deep within, calming me down. Only a little.
“Just because I’m okay with you being a demon doesn’t mean I want to hear you talk about me like I’m a little trophy you won.”
Az’s eyes darkened even more in a warning.
But Lars just laughed. “You’ve got a feisty one here, old friend. Good luck.”
The vampire gave me one last look and then drifted back to his table. Az waited until he was out of earshot before leaning forward with a growl.
“You couldn’t wait until he walked away before you snapped at me?”
I folded my arms. “No.”
Rolling his eyes, he turned back to his meal. “It’s a good thing he didn’t take offense. I think we may have bagged ourselves an invite. So, just play nice for the rest of our dinner.”
“Great,” I replied as I stabbed my halibut with my fork. “I’m really looking forward to the ball.”
“Mia.”
“What? You want me to play nice? I just said something positive.”
“With sarcasm.”
I gave him a sweet smile and dug into my food. The sooner I ate this halibut, the sooner we could get back toInfernal.
The sooner we could save Serena.
