Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(60)

The wolf seemed agitated. He walked between the bodies, his snout coming down, scenting, and then he forced himself away. He whinnied a sad, pleading little sound. Neil fought his base urge to feed. His tail swiped back and forth, his head coming up almost pleading my way. Except he wasn’t looking to me. I was about to go to him when I realized he was calling for Daniel.

Daniel walked over to him and placed a hand on Neil’s back. He stroked the white fur, and Neil calmed down. The wolf seemed more focused, and even his eyes seemed more human than before.

“Time for that after we save our asses, Neil,” Daniel said quietly.

“You can call wolves,” I whispered more to myself than anyone else.

It was a vampiric talent and one that should have taken Daniel hundreds of years to acquire. Dev had told me the truth. I didn’t know the whole story where Daniel was concerned. He’d hidden so much from me.

Daniel was far beyond an ordinary vampire.

Daniel stared at me, his eyes betraying his guilt. “Later. I’ll tell you everything later. We have to get you out of here now.”

“No, we have to get Sarah.” And we had to clean up. Bodies were messy. Bodies meant evidence.

Dev shook his head. “When I left her she was passing a magnet over the hard drives and getting ready to bolt.”

“Good girl.” Daniel nodded. It was standard procedure. It meant one less person for us to worry about. Daniel reached down and pulled the darts out of the faeries, pocketing the shells. “She’ll be safer that way. Make sure we haven’t left anything behind. What a cluster f*ck.”

After a quick search of the room, Daniel declared it was as clean as it could get. We hadn’t fired a gun. The dead men had been taken apart by a wolf or exsanguinated by a vampire. “All right, let’s get the hell out of here.”

“That could be tricky,” Dev replied, frowning. “The elevators are out. That’s why it took me so long to get down here. I had to take the stairs. The wards are holding, though. We don’t have civilians in the hallway.”

Just before the heist, Sarah put up wards on the floor to keep the guests in their rooms. It was nothing harmful. They would just have a sudden and complete desire to spend the evening in.

I looked down at the corpse Daniel had left. Sure enough, he was wearing a charm around his now defunct neck. They had been prepared for witchcraft. Someone had done their homework. If only they had been prepared for a hungry vampire and werewolf, maybe they would be alive.

Daniel grabbed my arm. “We’ll take the stairs. You stay close.”

I shivered as my entire body chilled. A cold wind swept through the room, like a wave lapping at my skin.

“Oh, that would be a great deal of trouble,” a silky smooth voice said from the doorway. “Let me save you the trip.”

I looked at our new guest. The demon the men had talked about had finally shown up.





Chapter Sixteen





“Vampires and faeries and werewolves, oh my!” the demon said with a smile of great pleasure spreading across his face.

He was in human form. He appeared to be a tall gentleman with lanky grace and a designer wardrobe. He wore and immaculately cut three piece suit and the vibrant blue tie stood out.

“You run with interesting company, little human.” The demon’s accent was crisp and British. I wondered briefly if demons had nationalities. Halfer had a bland Midwestern accent.

“Did Halfer send you?” I tried to sound more blasé than I felt. I felt like screaming and running away, but I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. The backpack I was carrying suddenly seemed heavier than before.

“Are you talking about Brix? He’s going by Halfer? That’s so obvious.” The demon rolled his eyes. “Not at all. He would be perfectly perplexed to discover I showed up, which is, of course, the point. Did you enjoy the trio I sent to you at the club? Brix was pissed that I tried to take you. I wasn’t going to hurt you. Much. I just wanted to ask a few questions. Luckily, he’s easily led. He thinks he caught the culprit. For a doubt demon, he is really sure of himself. I like to think of it as his tragic flaw.”

“Why would you fight another demon?” Dev asked. “Shouldn’t you be on the same side?”

The demon laughed. “Oh, yes, the Hell plane is a magical place of demonic harmony where we all hold hands and shit rainbows. We’re at war. Always. As for Brix and myself, you could say we’re auditioning for the same part, and I’ve decided to play a little rough.”

“What exactly are you looking for?” Don’t say the box, don’t say the box, was the mantra going through my head.

“Dear child, I’m looking for the box.” He dashed my every hope. “Please call me…well, I’m certainly not going to give you my real name. I don’t want to get summoned. Let’s go with Stewart. It fits this meat I’m walking about in.”

There was a moment of silence as my stomach churned at the thought.

“You’re in a human being?” Dev’s voice shook ever so slightly.

I looked at Daniel in the hopes that he would tell me this Stewart thing was lying. The only demon we’d dealt with up until now had been able to change form at will. Daniel frowned and nodded, indicating that everything he sensed was indeed human.