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"For people like us," Seven explained.
"We're not people."
"Exactly," Bael piped in.
"Are you telling me there is a demon club around here and this is the first I'm fucking hearing about it?"
"It's not just us," Seven said. "There's not that many of us stuck here. And not many in this area of the world. But there are others who shouldn't exist, like us, there."
"When have I ever been someone for subtleties?" I asked.
"There are shifters, Children of Lilith, and blood-suckers and all sorts of shit," Seven informed me, words landing like a bomb.
Shifters, whatever.
We'd been clashing with various shifters for as long as I could remember.
But incubi, succubi, and fucking vampires? In the area? All in one club? That was something I should have known about ages ago. Especially if Drex was spending time around all of them.
"It's called Sanctuary for a reason," Seven explained. "The owner managed to get some witches to spell the place. No one can fight there. Everyone is just there for a good time."
Just because no one could fight while there didn't mean enemies couldn't be made.
And while shifters and Children of Lilith could be killed if necessary, the same couldn't be said about the blood-suckers. Issues with them could last a hundred years or more.
"I need to know why no one thought it was important to tell me that—"
"Ay, yo, boss man," Daemon called, coming down the stairs, hands up. "Don't shoot the messenger here, but the pretty nurse isn't in the room."
"She's probably in the bathroom," I told him. "She's been taking baths." And my pathetic ass had been listening to her run them every day, refusing to let my hand reach down and deal with the aching hard-on just the idea of her in a bath gave me.
"Afraid not," Daemon said, shrugging. "The door was unlocked."
I'd stormed out.
I remembered slamming the door.
But not locking it.
"Fuck," I hissed, turning, rushing out of the room.
"Spread out," Bael demanded, taking charge even though he was one of the lowest men on the totem pole.
They would check out the house.
She wasn't going to be in the house.
If she saw a way out, she was going to take it. Especially with how I'd been treating her.
She was on the run.
In the middle of winter.
Running blind, not even knowing what state she was in, let alone how far we were from anyone who would help her.
Grabbing my coat, I flew out the front door, feeling the bite of the air as soon as I crossed onto the front step.
Objectively, I found eighty degrees chilly, but this was different. This was a deep winter night that was slipping below zero. Add in the wind chill as it whipped around, and it wasn't looking good for her out there alone, likely lost.
Even if she'd layered on Red's wardrobe and brought a blanket, she wasn't going to be able to keep herself warm for long.
Succumbing to the elements was surprisingly easy for the humans considering they'd adapted to damn near every climate on Earth for thousands of years.
I hadn't ever experienced it myself, but I recognized the sensations as they assaulted my system. I'd read about them thousands of times.
My heart hammered. My throat felt tight. My thoughts raced and crashed into one another.
"Josephine!" I yelled, barely able to hear it myself over the whipping of the wind.
She wouldn't go into the woods. Horror movies made women seem a lot dumber than any of them I'd ever known.
The woods were dark and dangerous, from falling down a cliff, falling in a river, or being attacked by a predator.
A smart woman would look for a road.
And Josephine was a smart woman.
Decision made, I ran in that direction, eyes peeled to the trees lining it, figuring she would want to stay somewhat hidden, but close enough to the street that she could rush out into it if she saw a car coming.
Not knowing, of course, that cars didn't come this way. Because our property stretched far and wide.
But I ran to the end of said property and back.
And nothing.
She wasn't there.
Or, at least, she wasn't close enough to the road for me to see.
The panic rose, a tight grip on my system, holding me at a knife's edge of my control.
"Josephine!" I yelled, feeling the last bit of it snap.
There was no stopping it.
My tongue forked. My fingertips elongated. The pressure at my temples suggested my horns were starting to poke through.
It had been a long time since I lost control.
Since Lenore had wandered off and gotten taken by the shifters.
The difference was, Lenore had been a vital part of my plan to get us back to hell.
Josephine wasn't.
Her disappearance shouldn't have mattered at all, let alone triggered me to lose my shit.
Hopelessness building, I threw myself deeper into the forest that lined the road, running a useless zigzag pattern, ending up retracing my steps several times over.
