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“Shade?” She sniffed.
“Yes, Eddie.” Not in all his years had he enjoyed hearing his name spoken by another being quite as much.
“I think my leg might be broken.”
Fresh rage pounded through him, and he gloried in the carnage the hounds were wreaking behind them. “We’ll fix it.”
“I know.” Her thin hand patted his cheek. “You’re here now, and everything will be fixed.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ashe threw Calix into the room, and his bloody form hit the floor in a wet squelch before Ashe lowered himself to the ground and pressed his forehead to the floor.
Shade’s hounds and Sophia hadn’t spared any of the demons who had pursued Eddie out of the bunker, and Ashe had fought hard to spare as much of Calix as he had.
Indolex’s power washed over him in a hot wave of fury. His voice like metal over stone grated on Ashe’s ears. “What happened?”
“She had the key, milord.” Ashe kept his head lowered. “And as far as I can ascertain, this piece of shit gave it to her.”
He felt Indolex move closer. No longer a demon, but something other and infinitely more powerful, the wash of his energy coated the back of Ashe’s throat in a metallic taste and cradled his mind like a giant hand. The sweep of his robes penetrated the edges of Ashe’s vision. “You are sure of this?”
“No, lord.” Ashe kept his forehead pressed to the hard concrete floor. “The cameras were not working during the incident, but only he and I had access to the key to her cell.”
“I see.” Indolex nudged the top of Ashe’s head with his foot. “Look at me when I speak to you.”
It was always a crap shoot with this fucking being, and whether you were looking at him or not, you were always guaranteed to be doing the wrong thing. Raising his torso, Ashe met the limitless black of Indolex’s gaze. Once a high order demon like himself, Indolex had gorged himself on the power of the Nephilim until he was what he was now—deadly and undefeatable and terrifying. His power rivaled that of a hell prince now, and in a showdown, Ashe would put his money on Indolex. The bastard was driven by a soul-deep viciousness Ashe had never encountered in another being. For the first time in his long life, Ashe was truly afraid of a being. Lucifer at his angriest had retained some shade of reason. Indolex was pure evil purpose.
Indolex gazed at him, his unbroken black eyes drawing Ashe into the void of his soul. It was like looking into the face of chaos. “Then I have only your word that it was Calix and not you that gave her the key.”
“This is true.” Ashe held that fathomless stare. “But you know what is at stake for me.”
“Yes.” Indolex’s raspy chuckle was like a cheese grater to his nerve endings. “We both know what keeps you chained to my service.”
Ashe forced down his own rage and shrugged. “I would not risk them.”
Indolex cocked his massive head, overhead lighting gleaming off the silver tips of his deadly horns. “You are a clever one, Ashe. I would not put it past you to play a deeper game.”
He chose not to answer that.
In the next two minutes, Indolex would let him know the decision Ashe was certain the giant being had already made. Nothing he said would make any difference.
Indolex loomed over a moaning Calix.
Calix’s lids fluttered open. His eyes widened in panic when he saw who was standing over him.
Ashe held his breath.
Bending, Indolex grabbed Calix by his throat and held him dangling five feet off the ground. “You have betrayed me, Calix.”
Calix shot a panicked look at Ashe. “No, milord. It is?—”
Closing his fist, Indolex crushed Calix’s skull. His face expressionless, he then ripped the heart out of Calix’s chest and ate it.
Calix’s body dissolved into thick, gray ash and drifted to the floor.
On a low, disturbingly sexual moan, Indolex absorbed Calix’s power. His body beneath the robes shuddered like he was climaxing.
The door behind Ashe opened, and demons poured through.
