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“Why am I here?”
“What’s going to happen?”
“Are you deaf?”
Eva stewed for a minute, fidgeting with the necklace Logan had given her as she tried to translate the strange symbol. He probably regretted giving the gift to her—and banishing the nightmare demon.
And kissing her.
With a groan, she plopped her forehead down on the table. “Thanks, Sig,” she mumbled into the metal.
The door creaked open, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. A dark-haired male Seminus demon entered, his resemblance so similar to Blade’s that she knew they must be brothers. The differences were subtle but somehow significant. From her brief glimpses, the sleeves of glyphs on their right arms seemed identical, but the symbols at the top, their personal marks just under their jaws, were different. Blade’s was a broken sword, but this guy’s was a line. A flat, horizontal line.
This guy’s hair was also an unkempt mop, so unlike Blade’s short, neat waves. And his eyes might have been the same chocolate brown as his brother’s, but they were hard as diamonds. The biggest difference was in his expression. She hadn’t spent much time with Blade over the last couple of days, but with the exception of his understandable rage, the times she’d seen him, he’d been smiling or laughing.
This guy didn’t look like he’d smiled or laughed in his entire life.
“Eva Tennant,” he began as he tossed a file down onto the table with enough of a crack to make her jump again. “I’m Rade. I know you think the smart and loyal thing to do is to keep your mouth shut until you talk to The Aegis or get a lawyer. But you’re wrong. We need information from you now, and it can’t wait.”
“I’m sorry, but I—”
“I wasn’t done.” He sank down onto the empty chair, all rudeness and flexing arm glyphs that disappeared under his black T-shirt sleeve and popped back out on his neck. “One of the people you killed has a fiancé who is right now hunting your colleagues. When he catches them—and that isn’t anif, hewillcatch them—they will die horribly. We need to know where your colleagues are so we can get to them before he does.”
He was trying to scare her. He might even be telling the truth. But she wasn’t going to spill her guts so easily.
“They are all trained demon hunters,” she said. “I’m sure they’re capable of taking care of themselves.”
Rade looked at her with pity. Pity! “Draven’s a vengeance demon. Atormentusdemon. Do you know that species? No? They are born looking and acting like everyone else in the human realm. They live their lives without humans ever knowing they’re the fire chief down the road or the kindergarten teacher in their kids’ classroom. Most live good, decent lives. Until tragedy strikes. When that happens, they lose themselves. They become…monsters. The kind of monsters you Aegi believe all demons to be. Right now, he’s redeemable. But once he makes his first kill, it’s kind of a trigger. He’ll kill another, and another in his pursuit of vengeance. And he won’t stop until you’re all dead. And that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is how he’ll do it. I’m not going to waste time explaining. Your imagination can take care of that. Just tell me where they are.”
Cold sweat drenched her palms as she clenched them in her lap. He was definitely trying to scare her, and it was working. She had to put more effort into keeping her voice strong and steady.
“If I can’t contact my supervisor,” she said, “I’d like to speak to Kynan.”
“He’s busy dealing with the firestorm you started.”
“Then Arik.”
“Busy.”
“Logan?”
“No.”
“Is he busy too?” she asked, her frustration with this jerk making it a little easier to hide her anxiety.
Rade just stared, his cold, dead eyes making her want to shiver. But she’d been trained for this very scenario, and she stared right back. She had a right to demand access to the top DART personnel. It said so in the exchange program paperwork, which she’d read carefully, thanks to parents who had imparted on her the importance of going over a legal document with a fine-tooth comb and a critical eye.
Section 4, paragraph C stated specifically that in the event of an interagency conflict, she must be allowed to speak to either DART’s Director, Kynan Morgan, or its Deputy Director, Arik Wagner. And she wasn’t going to back down.
“I know my rights, and—”
The door swished open again. Logan entered like a storm cloud, bringing a crushing pressure and plummeting temperature with him. For a moment, she wondered if she’d be better off with Rade.
“It’s okay, Rade. I got it.” His voice was clipped. Rough. Charred around the edges.
Rade bowed his head and slipped out. “I’ll be in the hall when you need me.”
When. Notif.
