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Any one of those clubs could come for retribution. We could easily handle that with some gunfire.
"Stay back," I demanded, pushing Josephine behind my back as Ly moved to do the same, even if Lenore wasn't mortal anymore. She could still get hurt. It still mattered to Ly to protect her.
The engines cut.
Footsteps made their way up the path.
They didn't pause to ring, to knock, just charged in like they owned the joint, like they were welcome.
There were what seemed like ten of them in all, coming to a stop inside the doorway.
There was something primal and otherworldly about them immediately, something that made me stiffen, that made Josephine let out a startled gasp.
It was that sound that did it.
It pushed past whatever strange boundary that had been in the way, whatever it was that made me flicker, that made me dance around what I think everyone knew was coming.
It was her fear that brought it out of me.
The Change.
But more instantaneously.
And with dramatics.
Meaning a low, feral growl escaped me even as my wings shot out from my skin.
I hadn't felt or seen my wings in so long I'd forgotten how they'd felt like an extension of myself, like extra arms. And one of those wings had wrapped around a startled Josephine encircling her completely.
To that, the leader of the group of men who weren't quite men lifted a brow slowly. Not shocked and not interested, even. It was at once curious and dismissive.
"You've been here too fucking long," he growled.
Growled because that was how his voice sounded. Like a growl.
I didn't recognize him personally.
But he was as tall as I was, but a mountain of a man. Wide, strong, with arms that were bigger than my thighs, a chest that looked like you could bounce shit off of.
His hair was dark, cut short at the sides and slightly longer on the top, there was a matching beard on his tan face, and something about him spoke of what humans would consider Middle Eastern lineage, though he had no accent at all to speak of it.
His eyes were black.
As was the mood that seemed to hang around him.
Cold, lethal, merciless.
Those were words that came to mind immediately.
"Here?" Ly asked, recovering before I did, making me look to see his wings were out as well, but only curled around Lenore, not wrapping her up completely. Not yet anyway. He'd long-since gotten used to his Claiming of his woman. He could control it better.
"Earth. The human plane. Whatever the fuck you want to call it. Not home."
"Home?" I clarified, drawing his gaze over to me again.
"Are we really playing these fucking games? I got shit to do. I don't have time for it."
"Then why are you here?" I asked, voice getting a little more threatening.
"I hear you've been looking for me."
Ly and I shared a quick glance, both of us realizing it at the same time.
This wasn't some biker we pissed off.
It wasn't some supernatural who didn't like us.
No.
This was fucking Marceaus.
The oldest of us.
The most brutal of us.
Red's mentor.
"You're Marceuas?" I asked, feeling the tension leaving my shoulders, letting my wing relax as well, tucking Josephine close, but not blocking her completely.
"Yeah, and as I said, I don't have the fucking time for this. What do you want?"
"Red."
"Red what?" he asked, brows screeching.
"Not what, who," I corrected. "Red. She worked for you. You trained her."
The realization came over him in a wave, making him lose some of the tension.
"I haven't seen her since she disappeared."
"She didn't disappear. She came up here," I explained. "To the human plane. Got sucked up with the rest of us."
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "That fits," he agreed. "What about her? I haven't seen her if you're looking for her."
"We're not looking for her. She's upstairs," I explained. "She went back down when we found an opening," I told him, not wanting to give away our secrets, let any other demons know they could use the witches if they wanted to. We'd been decent enough to them, but I couldn't guarantee all our kind would.
"And she's back?" he asked, confused.
"Yeah. She came back. Fucking battered. Every inch of her whipped. Toenails pulled out."
"What?" he barked, all that tension that had fled coming back with vengeance.
"Yeah. We're as confused as you are. But we were looking for you because that's not it."
"How is it not it?"
"She's healed. Very, very slowly," I told him, seeing the confusion we'd felt at witnessing it. "With human medical assistance," I added. "But something else is wrong with her."
"Show me," he demanded, waving his arm out, making his men fall back several steps. "Relax," he added when my wing tightened around Josephine. "I have no fucking use for your little human," he added. The pure indifference in his voice said he wasn't lying. But I kept her tucked at my side as we led him upstairs, leaving Ly and Lenore and Minos—who'd heard the ruckus and emerged in the shadows to keep an eye on things—to watch over Marceaus's men.
