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Cooper stammered. "I… I mean, noteveryday."
"Every day since you met us," I said. "But that's not normal. We don't just go around killing people for shits and giggles. In fact, Jake can go a whole month without killing someone. Maybe two months."
"It was three months one time," Jake said.
Cooper looked like he wasn't sure if we were joking or not.
"You have more restraint than Dagen," Hutton said. He toyed idly with his scar. "Some of them liked to hunt down humans just for fun. Sometimes they would kill them straight away. If there were women, they would…" He looked down at the floor. "Keep them alive a bit longer."
I didn't need him to draw me a picture to know what he was talking about. "Did you ever do that?" If he had, I would hand him over to Jake to do whatever he wanted with him. Some things were beyond forgiveness.
Hutton’s head jerked up. "Rape a woman? Gods no. They didn't take us along for those hunts, they just bragged about them afterwards. Made me sick."
Plenty of paranormal people didn't think highly of humans. It wouldn't surprise me if white wolves had hunted in the same way. Not now, unless they wanted to have their balls cut off and shoved down their throats.
I caught Jake looking at Hutton with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"What are you thinking?" I asked softly.
"Lots of things," he said. "The first is that we should go down to the Lair in the morning and have a chat with the soon-to-be former owner. Find out what Dagen offered him that made him cave. Whatever it was, we would have given him more. It must have been something really good to risk pissing us off."
I nodded. "Agreed. Although they probably bonded over the fact that they're both slimy as fuck."
Jake snapped his fingers. "I should have realised something was missing. It's our slime factor. We should have raised that."
"Personally, I prefer not to lower myself by raising something like that," I said. "If I have to be slimy, I'd rather not own the Lair. What was the second thing?"
"What we're gonna do with him." Jake nodded towards Hutton. "In case you hadn't noticed, I don't trust him."
"That has not gone unnoticed," I said. "But we could use somebody with inside knowledge of Dagen's operations."
"It's not recent knowledge," Jake pointed out.
"If it's not recent, then maybe he should be given the benefit of the doubt," I pointed out. Okay, I wasn't that naïve. Normally it took me years to trust someone. I made an exception once before, and he was standing right in front of me. Cooper seemed to be another exception, although I wasn't at the same level of trust with him as I was with Jake. Maybe I was just a good judge of people.
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to prove myself," Hutton said.
"Which is exactly what you would say if you were trying to infiltrate our organisation," Jake said. "You should go. If we decide to give you a chance, we'll know where to find you."
Hutton nodded. He obviously knew that was the best he was going to get right now. With a heavy sigh, he slipped out the door.
"There's one more thing I'm thinking," Jake said. He cupped my cheek. "I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. All. Night. Long."
11
"Is it me,or is this place more rundown than the last time we were here?" Jake asked.
Jake lived up to every second of his promise. It was like he had nine years of pent-up sexual tension to release, or something.
Yeah, okay, I knew he had other lovers, even a girlfriend or two, but like me, they never lasted long. In his case, it didn't surprise me. He never made any attempt to hide how he felt about me. No girl likes to compete with another woman for a guy's attention, unless they have that kind of relationship. I might have agreed to share him with someone else, but he was always so focused on me, he never gave anyone a chance, not really.
Besides, I'm a hard act to follow.
"It's about the same," I said. "Itiscalled the Lair. It wouldn't look right if it was fancy." I had planned to spend a shit load of money on it, and change the name. Something in keeping with Crimson, and my restaurant Scarlett. What? I like the colour red, okay?
The bouncers on the front door were hairy. I mean,reallyhairy. They looked like gorillas, with a little extra dose of human hands and face. Demons, obviously. Demons came in every form, from ones who look like giant spiders, to those who would pass as regular humans. A lot were part shifter, or part witch.
"Good afternoon," one greeted warmly. He gave me a smile like we were old friends. No doubt, he could beat the shit out of someone if he needed to.
