Page 26 of Prince of Wrath

The elevator finally came to a stop, and Ben sauntered into a large open room where several lesser demons were working. I recognized them in an instant. They were marked with my brother Gaap’s sigil. The Prince of Sloth had been absent from his throne for decades. His legion of lesser spirits should have been delighted to serve my other princely brothers, but it was clear these demons had no leadership.

A tall, thin demon wearing all black broke away from the rest and met Ben in the middle of the floor.

“What are you doing here?” the lowly demon snarled, but Ben didn’t cower.

“I wanted to be sure our deal was actually going to go into effect,” Ben answered, holding up his phone to show the demon something. “Sloane’s business hasn’t been affected at all. Only one of her clients turned on her, and he was basically useless.”

“I told you, the magic surrounding her is more powerful than mine. Whoever she made a deal with ensured she was protected, not just marked. You’re going to have to do your own legwork to tear her life apart.”

My fingernails dug into my palms. How dare they defy the orders of the princes of Hell.

My magic was distinct. This demon knew who he was fucking with. There was no denying to whom Sloane’s soul was tethered.

“She didn’t bargain for her career,” Ben shot back. “Why hasn’t it crumbled like the others I’ve fucked with?”

The lesser spirit shrugged. His patience was gone for the human who’d made a loose deal with him. “You’ll have to figure it out. Now get out before you attract the wrong kind of attention.”

Ben turned away with a huff and got back into the elevator.

I followed until I was standing at the threshold. As the doors started to close, I unveiled myself. Ben’s eyes bulged at the wicked, vicious smile spread across my face. He cursed as I let the doors close. Then I turned around to find a room full of lesser demon scavengers staring at me with all the surprise of children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Well, look what we have here,” I said into the room.

The silence was broken by someone saying, “Oh fuck.”

Then the screaming began.

* * *

Covered in inky-black demon blood, I stepped into The Red Room. Semper, the demonic manager, came out of the office to greet me.

“Ruby called in sick. Journey and Margot will have to go on first. Whoa . . . what happened to you? Are you hurt?” Her mouth hung open while her eyes searched for the source of blood I was covered in.

“I had to remind a few lesser spirits of their place.”

“By killing them?”

I shrugged. “They fucked with Sloane.” I grabbed a towel from the bar back and smeared the tar-like residue from my face.

“Oh, well, in that case.” Her eyes widened in a mock show of agreement and she went back to the mental checklist she had been rattling off. “Beatrice will be late but will be here by her second set. I can move Clementine to fill the void.”

“That is what Clem does best.” I gave her a cheeky wink, and she shook her head.

“And that is all I have for the day.” She pulled off the sweatshirt she was wearing to reveal her dancing clothes. “What sort of trouble have you been up to?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. But it looks like I’ll have to clean up the mess that was made by one of my brothers who should have been more concerned about his duties than fucking holes in every country.”

“Who’s fucking holes?” One of the dancers came striding out on the stage in nothing but her shoes.

“Lexx, you need to at least be in a thong,” Semper scolded with a pointed finger to the back of the stage. “You know the rules. This isn’t Vegas.”

Lexx was one of our bisexual dancers who drew in the few straight men who tended to tag along with their lesbian friends. She was tall, thin, blonde, and overly augmented. Her breasts and ass were fully rounded while the rest of her didn’t hold an ounce of fat.

Her lips made a deliberate pout as she crouched down and spread her knees wide. She bounced on the balls of her feet and watched for any sort of reaction from me. It wouldn’t come. Though she did stir a new fantasy of Sloane spreading herself for me center stage while a crowd watched me devour her.

When I raised a brow of confusion, Lexx closed her legs. In a smooth motion, her hips shifted from one side to the other to stand. The disappointment and challenge in her eyes were a dangerous combination, I knew. It wouldn’t be the first time jealousy and wrath had mixed into a volatile cocktail against me. But Lexx and my issues with Gaap would have to wait.

I pulled out my phone and called Sloane.