Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(25)

“Let me know if you need any help tracking her down. I’ve got eyes and ears all over this city.” Her expression was stone cold. Her smile had vanished.

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” I had no intention of letting on that I was way ahead of her. If she didn’t know it was my sister, I wasn’t about to enlighten her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more she wanted to say. I was curious but not enough to prod her.

I gathered up the knickknacks scattered about on the desk: a small stone wolf statue, a magic eight ball that had been a gag gift from Kale and a shiny green chunk of jade. Lena had given me the jade, along with many other crystals and charms over the years. I rubbed a finger over its smooth surface before dropping it into my bag.

I made sure to grab all personal effects from the room. Even the smallest bobby pin couldn’t be left behind. Demons could do very scary things with personal belongings.

It was going to be easy to leave the office behind. My place here had ended the moment I’d killed Veryl. Things were changing. I was changing. Gone were the simple days when my biggest kill was a careless vampire or a twisted werewolf.

As I exited my office for what was likely the final time, Lilah moved to let me pass and took her last chance to spit out whatever was on her mind. “Hey, Alexa, when you came here that night to kill Veryl, did you take anything from his office?”

I froze. I had a split second to decide between a lie and the truth. “Yes. I grabbed some files from his computer.” The truth came out steady and strong. I had nothing to hide. The way I saw it, I had a right to any further information Veryl had stashed on me.

“Oh.” Relief flooded her features. It was gone before I could make sense of it. “That’s all? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” Now my curiosity was piqued. “Is something missing that shouldn’t be?”

She shook her head quickly, her tight smile plastered back in place. “Not missing. Most likely hidden.”

A lot of things could be said about Veryl, but nobody could ever say that the bastard wasn’t clever. He knew his time was running out, and he’d planned ahead. What could he have hid that would have Lilah so worried?

“Would you like some help?” I asked, ignoring the text message alert that rang out from my bag.

“I’ve got this. But, thanks anyway. You should be kicking some vampire ass for info. I don’t want to keep you from that.” With a grin that didn’t quite reach her coppery eyes, Lilah turned to go. “Have a good night.”

I watched her disappear down the hall into Veryl’s old office. The door closed behind her, loud in the sudden quiet. I dug my phone out, finding a message from Jez with photos asking me which outfit looked better.

I sent her a fast reply though my mind was otherwise occupied. Whatever Veryl had hidden from Lilah, it had to be important. My curiosity was insatiable. I wanted to know what it was.

My cell phone rang in my hand, scaring the crap out of me with the theme from The Twilight Zone. Arys had obviously been messing with my phone again. It was better than last week’s Rick Astley song. Nothing like being rickrolled by a vampire. Real funny.

Shya’s fatally smooth voice greeted me. “Alexa, would you mind coming by tonight? I have something for you.”

“Is this something I actually want?”

“It’s something you need to see. If you don’t want it, you can walk away.”

“Fine.”

I had planned to stop by The Wicked Kiss despite Arys’s order to stay away. I never was very good at taking orders from him. Thanks to the demon, Arys would get his way regardless of my personal rebellion.

* * * *

An ear-splitting shriek echoed throughout the house. I winced, resisting the urge to cover my sensitive ears. Watching a demon be tortured wasn’t my idea of a good time.

The sound of flesh sizzling was followed by another scream. Holy water on demon skin was clearly not pleasant. I cringed inwardly and paced away from the ugly scene. The scent of sulfur was thick on the air. It was starting to give me a headache.

Shya stood off to the side, overseeing the proceedings. He was careful to avoid any potential splash back. Falon, the ass**le extraordinaire, was taking a little too much joy in wielding the bottle of blessed water.

The entire fiasco had nothing to do with me. I still wasn’t sure why I was there. Shya seemed to take perverse pleasure in making me witness these events. I glanced at him, noting the intensity in his red eyes as he stared at the man tied to a chair in the middle of his living room. It wasn’t really just a man; it was a demon. Whatever he’d done to piss off Shya, it must have been big.

A peal of wicked laughter poured from Shya, and my skin crawled in response. Average height and build with a shock of blue-black hair, on the surface Shya was very much a fine-looking Japanese man. Lies. He wore that face, but he was a demon, and those red eyes ensured I never forgot that.

“I knew you’d slip up,” he spoke to the man struggling in the chair. “You’ve gotten lazy. You can’t be trusted anymore. It’s time to send you back.”

“No!” came the frantic response. With eyes wide and the stink of burnt flesh wafting from him, the bound demon panicked. “Torture me, tear my limbs off. I don’t care. Anything! I can’t go back!”

I lingered as far from the action as possible. The wall at my back was glass from floor to ceiling. I wished I could simply step through to the other side and escape the stifling atmosphere. A fire burned in the hearth adjacent to me. Nobody else seemed to find it uncomfortable, but on a hot July night, the fire was ridiculous.