Page 19 of Demon Demands

Monday Night

After we left the warehouse, we went back to what Dolyn called his workroom. It was a big ass basement, but whatever made him happy — I didn’t really care what he called it.

The interior room was a large open area with light gray walls. A stained black table took up the center portion of the basement, spanning twenty feet or more. Wide wooden beams were spaced throughout, providing stability for the structure above us. And there was one beat-up rolling desk chair shoved in the corner.

I wondered briefly if he had a meeting room behind one of the many doors lining the walls. There had to be some sort of semi-professional place that he could talk to his clients. Or maybe he did that somewhere else entirely.

I glared at the doors suspiciously, not fully trusting the demon hybrid yet and curious about his other secrets. The guys were in the same mindset that I was in, though they showed it with slightly less hostility after leaving the warehouse.

I knew too many rumors circulating around the fearsome Dolyn Drake to show my hostility openly.

We were all dressed to bring death to anyone who crossed our paths. Black tactical gear clung to our bodies, tight and surprisingly breathable. I had new katanas strapped to my back and holsters attached to my forearms and thighs filled with impossibly thin throwing knives.

Draped across their backs, Briggs had an ax and Palmer had the flail that he’d picked out with Franklin. We each had weapons that seemed to fit our speciality or preference.

Everyone was dressed similarly, except for Sloane. She was still wearing tights and my t-shirt, though there were huge holes in the back of it from her wings. I loved seeing her in my clothes, having my scent surround her, but she still wasn’t ready to go.

Outside of the overwhelming organization of the warehouse, I took a good look at Sloane. I could see through the back of my shredded shirt that my Kitten’s skin was splitting and healing as she held her demon at bay.

I didn’t realize that she was still fighting with herself, but I could tell that she wanted a clear head until we got to Jack.

Everything would go downhill once we retrieved Jack from Hannibal, but I didn’t know if the others were aware of that.

They’d been enamored by Sloane’s demon form, and then engulfed in the mass of weapons inside the warehouse. There hadn’t been much time to think about the repercussions of what we were starting.

Granted, it had technically started several millennia ago and gradually escalated. But we were about to make the first solid move on the board against Hannibal, which meant we were making a move against Satan.

I hadn’t spent enough time in the Underworld recently to know how many followers Satan had amassed. I could guess, though. Hannibal was his biggest fan.

A real dick rider.

Six months ago, the vast majority of demons were still neutral, refusing to choose a side. Lucifer and Sam would never ask the population to make that choice, but Satan and Hannibal had been recruiting. Not even the Devil himself knew what kind of tactics they were using to get what they wanted.

It would only be a matter of days before they struck back, bringing a tidal wave of innocent deaths with them. They wouldn’t just aim for the Devil’s legions, they’d murder every demon that crossed their path.

“Is that what yer wearing to fight, Love? I don’t think those tights will be much in the way of protection, but they do make yer arse look edible,” Palmer whispered, leaning over Sloane to look at the map on the tabletop.

Hyland raised her brows at Sloane from the opposite side of the table, pointing her index finger at Palmer. “Where can I find myself one of those?”

Sloane hummed under her breath in agreement but didn’t remove her eyes from the digital landscape that she was studying. “Which part?”

“The whole everything that he’s got going on. Ripped, nasty, Irish, lust rolling of him in waves. Which answer gets me what I want?” Hyland shot back without missing a beat.

“Fuck. Here we go,” Vaughn muttered.

“I’ll give ‘er a free pass this time,” Palmer told the fae. “I don’t know if I should be flattered, worried, or give ‘er my brother’s number.”

Hyland perked up. “You have a brother?”

Palmer chuckled at her. “Yeah, but he’s a twat.”

Hyland opened her mouth with a retort for Palmer, but she clamped her lips together quickly. Lucifer and Sam walked out of the room we’d been in to witness the interrogation of Max, the former looking a little pale.

“Tell her,” Sam urged his father, nudging the First Devil closer to Sloane.

“Oh,” Novak suddenly jumped to his feet from where he’d been sitting against the wall. “Hyde, will you show Palmer and me how to use that bar thing you’ve got across your shoulders? It looks interesting.”

The bar thing was a collapsible staff that Hyland had brought out from the training room earlier. And Novak was acting odd, even for him.