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“You don’t have to call it a favor, you can call it…” He licked his lips that were chapped from the cold. “Joining forces. You want Gaven and his men dead, and I want them behind bars. If we work together, we can bring them to justice quicker.” Justice. Fuck. Darien’s idea of justice was very different than Finn’s—and absolutely did not involve allowing his victims to breathe any longer than he wanted them to. “And in the meantime,” Finn continued, “find the person who really did this. A lot of innocent people died in that explosion—”
“Don’t try to sell me a sob story, Finn—it isn’t gonna work this time.”
“Look.” Finn’s tone turned pleading. “You’ve got something to gain from this, and so do I. Whoever caused those explosions needs to be arrested, same with Gaven and his men—”
“Wait,” Darien cut in. “Explosions? There was more than one?”
Finn nodded, his expression grave. “The second explosion happened this morning—a skyscraper in the Financial District. A couple of the men who died happened to be near the outskirts of the blast, so we were able to identify them right away. Both worked for Gaven.”
Darien’s mind raced as he tried to figure out how and why this was happening.
And how this person was finding Gaven’s men so easily. Their auras were hidden the same way Loren’s was hidden. Had Darien been able to track them, he would’ve already found them and slit their throats.
“The third,” Finn continued, “happened this afternoon. A hotel on the waterfront. Three wanted criminals—two were Payne’s.”
“And the other?” Finn didn’t reply. Darien prompted, “The other guy—who was he?”
Finn sighed. When he spoke again, his words were barely audible. “He was in the imperator’s employ.”
Darien clenched his teeth. “The imperator.” He squeezed his hands that were resting on the table into fists. “Is he in Yveswich?”
Wouldn’t that be a coincidence? If the imperator really was here, Darien couldn’t help but wonder if the man had tailed him after he’d left Angelthene. The ambush at the hospital…that attack had been organized by Quinton Lucent.
But he had no reason to follow—at least, not until now, and not unless his purpose was strictly to retaliate against Darien. For all they knew, Loren was still in a coma, still utterly ineffectual as a pawn in his game.
Darien took comfort in that fact. But even the simple thought that someone could be after her again made him want to race back to Roman’s house and make sure she was safe. Guard her. Die for her, if need be. If protecting her was his sole purpose in life, he’d die for her with pride.
Finn’s attention flicked to Darien’s clenched fists. “I don’t know,” he said quietly, selecting the same careful tone someone might use to soothe a feral animal. “But clearly, some of his men are.”
“Would you say that’s unusual?”
“Not necessarily. The imperator has men in every capital city, but they don’t usually turn up dead like this.” Finn rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Two times, and we call it a coincidence. Three, and we call it concerning.” He studied Darien, a glint of hope in his eyes, the foolish fuck. For a detective, he wasn’t very good at reading people. Or maybe it was just Darien who he couldn’t read. “So, what do you think?”
“I’m thinking I’m not sure I want to trust you again.”
“I’m not fucking with you, Cassel—”
“This time,” Darien hissed. He barely resisted punching the table, instead pointing a finger at Finn, the horns on his steel monster rings glinting. “You may not be fucking with me this time, but it hasn’t been that long since the last.”
Finn’s jaw flexed. “Is there anything I can do to change your mind?”
“You could try putting your gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger.”
Finn stared at him for nearly a minute.
Darien stared back.
And then Finn slid out of the booth and took out his wallet. He threw down a twenty and placed a business card on the table before Darien, snapping down the cardboard edge. “In case you change your mind.” He slid the card closer.
And then he left, the bells on the door chiming with his departure.
Darien sat there for a minute. Thinking. He sensed Finn lingering in the parking lot, standing outside the diner instead of getting in his car and driving away.
After another few minutes of thinking, Darien got to his feet and walked out.
Outside, the night was sodden with rain that pummeled the ground in heavy sheets. Demons stalked through the dark, the gleam of their eyes barely visible in the shadows, while others dug through the dumpsters at the side of the diner, crushing garbage in sharp teeth. They ate everything—glass, metal, you name it.
Finn was heading for his car, hands in his jacket pockets.
