Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) (5 page)

“Well, for more than one night, at least,” Asmodeus amended wryly.

He was right. The man who had consumed her thoughts for the past several weeks—he was dead. And she should know.

After all, she’d been the one to kill him.

§

Belpheg sat in his ritual chamber, meditating in an attempt to center his powers. His hands shook from the effort. It was getting more and more difficult to ground himself, and a month had passed since he’d ordered Asmodeus to obtain the life essence of the bounty hunters. The fact that he hadn’t yet done so displeased Belpheg. If he didn’t have a use for Asmodeus, the incubus would be dead by now.

He closed his eyes at the memory of the life essence he’d felt through his soul connection with Asmodeus. An angel-demon hybrid whose rare blood combination had made the transference of his powers to Asmodeus easy. From there it had been a simple matter of twisting those abilities into something far more...useful. Even better, he’d recognized that life essence. He’d felt something similar to it before, in an old acquaintance.

Mammon—the man who had once saved his life.

Belpheg had known Mammon’s sons now worked as interdimensional bounty hunters in New York City. He was also aware that they had captured Mammon and turned him in to the Council. The demon had been so cocky that he’d never even requested Belpheg’s assistance. He’d thought he would be able to take control of Earth by himself. How wrong he’d been, and Belpheg had been content to let him suffer for it. But he should have considered learning a bit more about his old friend’s progeny—he’d never bothered to discover what their mothers were. Had he known, it might have saved him some time.

He would use Mammon’s sons, use the strength that Mammon had bred into them. Once Asmodeus absorbed their energies, the incubus would be allpowerful. And Belpheg would have at last completed the circle of twelve men he’d worked for years to collect.

Twelve men with twelve powers each. That was the magic number. Their powers would be at their zenith when they completed a magical circle on the equinox, and with Belpheg in the center of that circle—with all that energy focused on him—things were bound to get interesting.

Damn Asmodeus. He should have trapped the brothers by now. The March equinox was less than two weeks away. If Belpheg didn’t make the timeline, he would have to wait until the summer solstice, and as unstable as his powers had grown, he didn’t want to wait any longer.

He’d have to pay Asmodeus a visit.

Belpheg concentrated on mentally stroking the cord that bound his soul to Asmodeus’s. When it hummed in response, he let his spirit float out of his body and into the astral realm.

Asmodeus joined him soon after, his figure forming out of his essence. He refused to meet Belpheg’s gaze. “Yes, Belpheg?”

“The bounty hunters. Why haven’t you absorbed their energy yet?”

Asmodeus rubbed his neck. “They’re proving difficult to trap. My succubi can’t even get close enough to lure them. In fact, only one of them ever seeks women out, and he appears to be wary of women whose genetic makeup cannot be easily determined. Perhaps as a result of what happened to his brother.”

Belpheg gritted his teeth. “Time is running out.”

Something flickered in Asmodeus’s eyes. He cocked his head. “I don’t understand. What’s so important about these brothers? Why the equinox?”

Fury boiled Belpheg’s blood and a clap of thunder sounded, a response that echoed his emotions. “Your job isn’t to question, but to act. I’ve been very kind to you. Did you forget what you were before I met you? A paranoid wreck, so mentally damaged you lived in fear of your own shadow. Do you want to become that again?”

Asmodeus bristled, but when he spoke all he said was, “I’m working on getting them. In the meantime, I’ve discovered another potential source. He’s a dark elf. Strong, cunning. He—”

“I don’t care!”

A bolt of lightning zigzagged through the sky, and Asmodeus tensed. “I’ll get them.”

“Make sure that you do. Your time is running out.”

Chapter Three

It was a nice night for a new assignment. Then again, Ronin was ecstatic that they finally had a gig to work.
A job means we all get to stay here, at least a little while longer.
And the fact that it was a big baddie they were after? Bonus. Always felt good to take down a real creep.

Once they’d arrived at Keegan’s apartment, he headed straight into his office to call the Council liaison. The liaisons were higher-level employees who acted as middlemen between the Council and its lower-level workers—in other words, people like Keegan, Ronin, and all the other lowly bounty hunters.

Hey, at least the pay was good. Money meant nothing to the Council.

About twenty minutes later, Keegan strolled back into the living room, where they all waited for him. Brynn, Taeg, and Maya reclined on the leather sectional, and Brynn kept shifting in place, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt her back.

Taeg affectionately nuzzled Maya’s neck. “What did you find out, bro?”

“Our mark’s name is Asmodeus. An incubus.” Keegan headed to the bar, where he snagged five glasses and poured everyone but Brynn whiskey. As he passed out the glasses, he said, “The Council has suspected for some time that he’s been conducting illegal activity on Earth, but they now have proof that he employs a small group of succubi to murder Otherworlders on his behalf.”

Ronin took a big gulp from his glass. “Serial murder by succubus? That’s odd.”

Keegan arched a brow. “The oddest thing is that he seems to have some sort of agenda. From the intel they’ve been able to gather, he carefully screens and chooses his victims.”

Dagan pushed away from the wall and took his drink. “What the hell? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

Maya let out a hacking cough. Coloring, she lowered her glass and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand “Sorry. Still haven’t gotten used to shooting whiskey straight.”

Taeg rubbed her back. “You’d better get used to it, sweetheart. If you want to be part of the team, you have to hang like the boys.”

Ronin stifled a chuckle when she threw him a dirty glance. Taeg’s teasing aside, they’d found Maya to be a valuable asset over the past several months. Her ability to see through glamours often came in handy, and the woman had trained to fight better than most demons.

Brynn shifted her position again. “At least you’re able to drink.”

Ronin nudged them back to the topic at hand. “What would be the purpose of singling out
Others
to be killed by his succubi?”

“Maybe he has some sort beef with them,” Taeg said.

Dagan scratched his head. “Or he could be an Otherworldly hit man.”

“All good suggestions,” Keegan said. “But the Council wants us to definitively answer that question before we try to apprehend him. They’ve heard rumors of Asmodeus’s desire to take down the Council.”

“Do they think he might have a chance?” Ronin asked. Because that would be something. No one knew for sure how many Council members there were, but every one of them was wise and strong, the perfect specimen of his or her species.

“Not likely,” Keegan said. “I mean, what are the odds of someone being powerful enough to take on the entire Council? But for some reason the Council members still view him as a possible threat.”

Ronin couldn’t hold back his grin. He’d been hoping for something to keep his mind occupied, and this was perfect. When the memory of those seductive, world-weary brown eyes came into his head once again, he pushed it aside. This assignment would be the best thing to help him forget about the sad, sexy succubus who’d almost taken his life.

Taeg scooted forward on the couch and leaned his elbows on his knees. “So what do we know about this Asmodeus?”

Keegan took a swig of his whiskey. “He was given leave to move to this dimension twenty years ago. Apparently he’s kept himself quite busy in the past few years, amassing a sizable fortune, staying under the radar the whole time. The Council knows where he lives—a townhome in Brooklyn—but he’s got to have friends in high places. Someone has bespelled his entire street. Nobody unwanted can get in, and he never leaves.”

That was pretty big-time. While cheap spells or enchanted devices were available on the black market, bespelling an entire street took some serious power.

“Shit.” Ronin kicked back the contents of his glass. “That means we’re going to have a hard time catching this guy. We’ll have to find a way through. Or how to lure him out.”

“Exactly.” Keegan grinned at them. “So who’s up for a good old-fashioned stakeout?”

“Hell yeah,” Dagan replied.

Taeg chuckled. “You know I’m in.”

Keegan turned to Ronin, who smiled. “Let’s do this.”

“Excellent.” Keegan glanced at his watch. “Sun will be up in a few hours. Let’s get some sleep. We’ll reconvene around ten tomorrow evening.”

Only a few more hours until they would start their mission, and hopefully kick some ass. Ronin couldn’t fucking wait.

§

Shortly after midnight, they found the perfect rooftop from which to spy on the townhouse. It loomed two stories higher than the top level of the townhome, far enough away that they could avoid arousing suspicion, but close enough to give them a halfway-decent view.

Ronin gazed into his binoculars, taking stock of Asmodeus’s residence. Located in Brooklyn Heights, the brownstone had several tall, thick trees in front, but since it was March they were bare. Irregular windows dotted the front of the building, and a turret contained a wall of windows, not that he could see through any one of the frosted panes.

Taeg, who stood beside Keegan, scratched his chin. “Doesn’t look like the home of a demon mass murderer. It’s all charming and
normal
.”

“Haven’t we learned that appearances can be deceiving?” Keegan asked.

Too true. Their father had the handsome visage and charm of a true gentleman, but he was far from that.

Mammon.
Their father. The mere thought of the evil demon brought back horrible memories. If possible, Ronin hated him more than any of his brothers did. Mammon had stolen the rest of them from their respective mothers when they were mere infants, whereas Ronin had spent ten wonderful years with his mother before Mammon had come to claim him. Ronin had left without telling her, instinctively knowing what fate would befall her if he didn’t obey Mammon.
I never got to say good-bye. Not to her, and not to...

Ronin shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The past was the past. No good to dwell on it now.

“I wonder what would happen if we tried to walk up to the place?” Dagan asked.

Keegan lifted his binoculars. “According to the Council, humans can stroll down the street with no problem, but any Otherworlder who tries to step inside gets kicked back.”

“So it’s an invisible shield affecting only non-humans,” Ronin said.

“Pretty much.”

Taeg whistled. “That’s some serious shit. Where can I get one?”

“All you have to do is make friends with a mage. Piece of cake,” Dagan deadpanned.

Ronin lifted the binoculars toward the sloped roof, then lower, to the large third-floor balcony with its black iron railing. “What if we try approaching from above?”

“No good,” Keegan said. “The air above the townhouse is also enchanted. This demon is smart. He knows there are too many beings in this city who can fly.”

Ronin and Keegan among them. That was the beauty of being only half-demon—at least given what their other halves were.

Something on the balcony caught his attention. One of the doors leading inside was ajar, and if he squinted he could barely make out a figure. Was someone pacing back and forth in there?

“Devil’s luck,” Keegan swore.

Ronin kept his eyes trained on the crack in the door. “What is it?”

“A woman stepped out of the building.”

“I see her,” Taeg said. “She’s hailing a taxi.”

Could that be one of the succubi? Maybe she was on her way to seek out a new victim. The memory of the toxins that had paralyzed his body elicited a spark of empathy for the next poor bastard on Asmodeus’s list. Ronin adjusted his binoculars. The fierce staccato of his heart slammed up against his ribs, and his pulse pounded in his throat. His vision dimmed and blurred, making him fear for one second he was about to lose consciousness. But then he focused on her—the soft curve of her cheek, the rigid set of her spine. The slim length of her legs bared by her tiny red slip of a dress, and the outline of her outstretched arm as she summoned a cab.

No fucking way.

“One or two of us should follow her.” Keegan’s words sounded weak and far away. “She has to know what Asmodeus is up to.”

Ronin barely noted what his brother said. He was too focused on the woman.
Amara.
His sad, sexy little Amara. She
worked
for Asmodeus.

“She hailed a taxi,” Dagan said.

“I’ll track it.” Keegan started to lift his long-sleeved shirt over his head, but Ronin reached out and stopped him.

“I’ll go.”

“Ronin?” Keegan’s voice held a note of worry.

Taeg turned to Ronin. “What’s up, bro? You sound weird.”

Paying them no mind, Ronin pulled off his lightweight wool sweater and tucked it into the front of his jeans. With one brace of his shoulders, his wings grew out of his back. Large, full, and white. Not very inconspicuous in a city this size, but he’d found that humans tended to see only what they wanted to. And a man flying over the city with the wings of an angel was something very few people would ever admit to seeing.

“What’s wrong?” Taeg asked again.

When he didn’t respond, instead setting his sights on the taxi that even now raced down the street, Keegan let out a soft curse.

“That succubus, is she—is she the one—?”

Without waiting for his brother to finish, Ronin took off. He soared high into the air, shadowing the cab.

“Shit, bro!” Taeg yelled.

From the loud snapping sound behind Ronin, he suspected Keegan had let loose his own wings. His suspicions were confirmed when Keegan’s wings beat wind against his back, creating a strong cross breeze that lent Ronin speed. He ignored his older brother. There was only one thing on his mind.

Amara.

Whatever secrets she was hiding, he was about to uncover them. And if she was in league with the incubus they hunted, as it seemed she was...Well, then it didn’t matter that she’d left a mark on him he couldn’t seem to erase. She must be brought to justice.

No matter how enticing she was, she would have to pay.