Bael let out a low whistle. “Here we go. Should have seen this one coming.”
I glanced at Bael, and then back at Phenex and Caim, who were narrowing their eyes at each other and throwing back their shoulders. “What’s going on?”
“These two,” he said in his distinctive drawl. “They bicker like brothers. We’re lucky there are no walls nearby for Phenex to punch.”
Lovely.
Something glimmered in the corner of my eye. I turned to face the dilapidated building where the car had dropped us off. We were on a side street in the Lower East Side, and grungy buildings packed tight. Down an alley sat the front of what looked like an old hotel. One that had been abandoned years before. But the front of it shimmered, the rotting wood warping as if I were looking into a funhouse mirror.
I tapped Bael on the shoulder, drawing his attention away from the demon pissing match. “Is that where the fae live?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“The building is shimmering.”
“Huh.” He cocked his head. “You shouldn’t be able to see that.”
Caim and Phenex picked up on the tone in Bael’s voice. They backed away from each other and joined us on the curb. Caim’s warm hand pressed against my back. I leaned into it.
“The fae only allow the shimmer to be seen by a select few,” Caim said, his voice low. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing. Don’t—”
“Let down my guard?” I asked him with a slight smile. “Don’t worry. I got the memo.”
“Come on then,” Caim finally said with a sigh. “Let’s go see what they have to say.”
As we strode down the alley, approaching the warped old building, the truth of what lay before us burned through the illusion. A lush garden spread across the concrete ground with pockets of grass sprouting between the cracks in the pavement. A wrought-iron archway led to a stone path that twisted deeper into the trees. As I tipped back my head, I was shocked to see nothing but the sky. The building had vanished entirely.
“Well, this isn’t what I expected,” I whispered up to Caim. Sure, I’d been prepared for an illusion, but I’d imagined something more like what we’d encountered before. An old warehouse hiding a lush, expensive interior full of comfy sofas and soft carpets and platters of delicious food. Not a fucking forest.
In the middle of Manhattan, no less.
“The fae rarely do what’s expected,” Caim said so softly that I almost didn’t hear him over the buzz of insects. Yep, there were even insects. This was wild.
As a woman suddenly appeared before us, pushing aside thick branches to reveal the glow of a hundred eyes, it finally struck me. We were walking right into the mysterious, dangerous den of a group of magical people who might very well want all of us dead.
According to Caim, the fae hated demons. And I was pretty much the biggest reason why there were a dozen new demons out in the world. If the fae took me out of the picture, the Cult of Lilith would have no way of creating more dangerous immortals.
I swallowed hard as the curvy, pink-haired woman strode toward us in bare feet and a gauzy blue gown that whispered around her legs. She pursed her lips and gave me a once-over before turning with a sigh to Caim.
“You should have warned me before you decided to drop by,” she said in a melodious voice that somehow sounded like rainfall and twinkling stars. “Asmodeus and I have an agreement. Demons aren’t to come here unless invited. It terrifies my court.”
As if to punctuate her words, the scrabbling of running feet echoed through the woods. The fae were hiding from us. A lump clogged my throat. Really not a great sign.
“We have no phone number for you on file,” Caim replied, slowly and deliberately as if he were carefully choosing each and every word.
“Yeah, there’s a reason for that.” She palmed the hilt of a small blade sticking out of a sheath strapped to her side. “I know you lot are different than the rest of them, but that doesn’t change the fact that we can sense the monsters inside of you. This...” She motioned at Caim, then Phenex, then Bael, and then me. “Masks. Your outwardly appearance hides your true natures. But we still sense them. Hell, we can even see them.”
Caim frowned. “You know we don’t harm humans. Or fae. Not unless they do something evil themselves.”
“You’re right. You don’t.” Her hand remained on the pommel. “But you could, if you ever snapped.”
Phenex grunted. “We ain’t snapping, lady. There’s far worse out there than us.”
Her eyes glittered as she sized Phenex up.
“I take it this means you didn’t help the Cult of Lilith,” Caim said as he folded his arms. “They used glamours to obscure what we think was their home base. They couldn’t have done that without the help of a fae.”
River bristled at his words. “I’m offended that you would even think I’d help a cult of demon worshippers.”
