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The woman either didn’t realize how much danger she’d put herself in or she just didn’t give a damn. She closed the distance between them, craning her head back so that she could glare at him. “I’m sure you’ve all felt those pockets getting lighter lately and you have yet to uncover who is behind the thefts. I don’t give a fuck if you want to handle it internally just to save face. I am willing to hand you those responsible on a golden platter.”
“And why would you do that?” The sound of my voice caused her to jerk away from Sirus and bring those wide chocolate-brown eyes onto me. My lips twitched as her enraged demeanor faltered once she realized who she had come face-to-face with, yet it didn’t take long for the anger to click back into her face. I stifled a snicker as her chin rose sharply. “You are essentially betraying your own kind just by stepping foot on demon ground, human.”
Her upper lip curled. “They’re a disgrace, the lot of them!” She tugged the manilla envelope trapped under her arm free and held it out toward me. “I knew that bastard child of mine was sneaking off to do something unlawful. I just didn’t know what she was doing until I followed her.”
I didn’t have to budge a muscle for Dante to reach out and snag the envelope from her. I merely cocked my head to the side while he sniffed all over it. “You’re breaking curfew by coming here,” I warned softly.
The woman wrinkled her nose at the bouncers. “Perhaps a king like yourself would be willing to look in the other direction just this once, especially when you realize how many souls I’m offering to you.”
I’ll be damned… This human was attempting to flatter me with the enticing sound of a higher rank. Fragile little thing just didn’t realize that I didn’t have that kind of ego.
“You did not come to my club to break curfew only to expect my mercy as your reward,” I countered.
“No, sire.” Her brown eyes slid back toward me. “Rumor has it that you’re willing to pay for every head of those that disgrace your family. That’s all I want.”
Of course this was her ultimate desire. Humanity was driven by every sin that had evolved since the dawn of time. Greed was simply the oldest out of them all. Snorting softly, I drifted my eyes over to Dante when the demon was finally satisfied by the lack of sustenance on the envelope. As soon as he held it out to me, I accepted it and tore the end open.
The mortal had brought me a stack of photographs. Every single one of them had their name and address written on the back. Hell, she’d even gone as far as to assume who held the higher ranks in the organization. I flipped over the first photograph and almost lost it.
The Anti-Paranormal League.
So this was the infamous APL. It was surprising that a human organization would go to such dramatic measures just to rob my family. The poor bastards wouldn’t even keep what they stole. They would disperse the funds amongst their own kind. It reminded me a little too much of a human tale of Robin Hood. As annoying as it was to be hit with another report of their doing, it was also amusing. Just because I hadn’t taken them down yet didn’t mean that I wasn’t tracking their web movements.
A demon preferred to toy with its prey before cutting them down.
I kept flipping through the pile until I reached the end, where I found three different pictures of the same woman. Yet every single one of them bore a different name. Although the photographs were in black and white, it wasn’t hard to decipher that she had altered her appearance just enough to keep someone from recognizing her immediately. My eyes shifted back toward the woman. “What is your name, human?”
“Anita.” The woman raised her chin abruptly. “Anita Rossi, sire.”
All it took was a small tingle on the back of my neck for me to know that Archer had joined us outside. Perfect. I tucked the photographs back into the envelope. “See to it that Miss Rossi is given a generous reward for her donation to my empire.” I turned away from her. From the way my magic hummed under my skin, I knew that she was smirking at the bouncers. I brushed the sensation away and locked gazes with the demon lord. “Do see that she gets home in one piece, yes? After all…we can’t send the riches to a dead woman.” I strolled back into the club.
“Yes, my lord,” Archer muttered.
Although several of the strippers swung their hopeful gazes toward me as I came further inside, I redirected my path toward the staircase at the back. Even Keye was lurking nearby with the eagerness to finish what we had started. I shut it down by simply passing by her without acknowledging her presence.
I didn’t stop until I was upstairs and within the safety of my own office. As soon as I eased into my chair, I pulled the photographs back out and spread them over my desk. Clasping my hands together, I rested my chin on them. I lingered on the woman’s set the longest.
My door soon opened and a grumpy demon lord slipped inside. “Want to tell me why we’re paying a reward fee to a human?” Archer plopped down into the chair across from me and slumped down in it. “I thought we agreed that it was restricted to the paranormal.”
Snorting softly, I reached out to grab the woman’s first photograph and flipped it over. “Who said she was going to keep breathing? It won’t take long for her neighbors to notice the sudden wealth. Rumors will leak about the origin of the money. They’ll turn on her before the week is out.”
Archer scowled. “It’s a waste of funds.”
“It’s not like we don’t have plenty to spare, old friend.” I ran my fingers over the name written in a permanent marker.
Quinn Rossi.
How cold. Anita was willing to turn over one of her own blood. I held the photograph up, bringing the demon’s attention to the address. “Is this the same one she gave you for her home?”
“Yes.”
How curious. The edges of my lips twitched as I turned over the other photographs. Although the first one had the same address as Anita, she’d only written names on them.
Blaire Rossi, fake identity #1. Aspen Barone, fake identity #2. Anita had even circled ‘recent’ under that one.
My fellow demon lord’s mood only grew even more foul as we sat there in silence. He scoffed at the collection spread out across my desk. “I didn’t think you gave a damn about this APL.”
“Oh, I don’t. But who am I to argue with a human turning on their own?” I flipped the woman’s three photographs back over and tapped on the original. “Besides, Nico is in need of some new test subjects, is he not?”
