Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
GRIM
My brothers all stared at me like I’d just suggested we all ride llamas into battle instead of our horses. Choosing to ignore their disbelief, I got to my feet and adjusted the cuffs of my shirt before clearing my throat.
“Shall we be off then?”
“All right, I’ll address the kitten in the corner.”
I raised a brow at Sin. “Pardon?”
“What makes you think Lilith will be at Iniquity? Isn’t that like the very first place anyone would think to look?”
“I never said she’d be there.”
“Why go then?” Sin asked.
Chaos shrugged. “Not like we have any other pressing engagements. Might as well check it out.”
“Does it even still exist? London was decimated,” Malice added.
“If you think Lilith doesn’t have protections in place as well as eyes and ears everywhere, you have another think coming.”
Malice made a musing sound. “Fair point.”
“Any other stupid questions, or can we be off?”
Proving that he was still the reigning king of stupid questions, Sin cleared his throat. “Did you say think coming? Isn’t it another thing coming?” he asked, brow furrowed.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to take the time to educate you on basic grammar, Sinclair. You can Google it when this is all over.”
“If we ever get the internet back,” Malice said under his breath.
Chaos locked eyes with me. “That’s the least of our worries. You’re right, Lilith is our best chance at this point. We need to find her. Iniquity is a strong start.”
Sin made a circling gesture with his hand.
I raised a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He snorted, muttering, “Now who needs Google?” Then he rolled his eyes and explained with exaggerated patience, “Let’s get on with it. After you. Keep calm and carry on. Allons-y.”
“Someone stop him. He’s going to get stuck on a loop if we let him continue,” Malice said.
I simply popped out of the room and into a strangely humid London alleyway.
The street was littered with rubbish and debris.
Most of the businesses were boarded up, and the ones that weren’t had been looted of everything that wasn’t bolted down.
The scent of what had to be burning garbage filled the air, and as I looked around what used to be a bustling metropolis, it wasn’t hard to confirm my suspicions.
Here and there, orange glows emanated from alleys, and on one corner in plain view, a large skip bin burned nearly out of control.
“They’d better be careful,” Chaos whispered, eyes on the three emaciated humans huddling around the fire. “If the flames don’t get them, the demons will.”
From a bit further down the alleyway, a lone figure rose and shambled our way.
He wore layers of tattered and grimy clothes, his skin weathered and dirt-streaked.
As he passed one of the flickering bins, his eyes flared, and I was struck by a fleeting sense of familiarity.
Whatever he was, it wasn’t human. I took a moment to suss him out.
Not a demon, that was certain, but something . . . other.
“They’ll get them eventually. They’re picking them off slowly. One by one,” the man muttered, as if he were part of our conversation.
“How do you know?” Sin asked.
“I’ve been watching. That’s what I do. Watch. Wait.”
“From where?” Chaos asked.
The man coughed out a phlegmy laugh. “From my corner office.” Then he laughed again and gave a mocking bow.
Iniquity’s entrance was next to his “corner office,” which consisted of a heap of dirty, stinking rags beside a trolley filled with empty cans and plastic bags.
“How long have you been camped out there?” I asked, eyeing him carefully.
He shrugged. “Long enough.”
“When was the last time anyone came or went through that door?” I pointed to the nondescript entrance to the club, though it was now painted over with graffiti, rusted chains strung across and secured with a padlock.
“Ages,” the man said. “Ages and ages.”
“Fuck,” Chaos grunted. “So much for that plan. Now how are we supposed to get word to Lilith that Lucifer has Merri?”
Sin gave Chaos an incredulous look. “Since when is the God of War afraid of a little padlock?”
“I am not the God of War.”
“Might as well be, dude. But back to the point. Are you really telling me a little metal is going to keep us out?”
“No,” I growled.
My brothers materialized beside me in the belly of Lilith’s club.
What had once been a den for all manner of depravity, frequented by every species of supernatural creature in existence, was now in shambles.
Tables overturned, glasses shattered on the floor, cracks spiderwebbing the walls, and the mirrored ceiling broken, with deadly shards hanging by a thread.
“Hello?” Sin shouted. “Anybody home?”
“Do you really expect that to work?” Malice asked.
“Worth a shot, ri—” Sin’s response was cut off by an undignified scream as a shard of glass from the ceiling came crashing down, narrowly missing his head. “Motherfucker,” he panted. “That was some real Final Destination bullshit. It nearly sliced me in two.”
Chaos sighed. “Don’t be so dramatic. You would have healed.”
“Do you have any idea how long it takes to regrow an entire brain? Also, I’m tired of always being the one who has to heal. Why aren’t you guys ever on the receiving end of a fatal blow?”
Chaos smirked. “You do have the most punchable face.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Well, you always wanted to be the best at something,” Malice offered.
“Being punchable is hardly an achievement.”
I huffed a frustrated sigh. We didn’t have time to go on a tangent. Not with the humans being picked off for sport, Merri gone, and all the Princes released. “She’s not here.”
“How do you know? We haven’t checked her private rooms. Her office.” Malice took a step toward the stairs that would take us to her voyeur rooms and office, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Can’t you sense the emptiness? She’s not here. The only flickers of life in this tomb are coming from us.” I cocked my head. “And maybe a couple of rats.”
“Great, so this was a colossal waste of time. What now, Columbo?” Sin asked.
“Maybe that watcher knows more than he let on,” Chaos suggested.
Malice frowned. “You think so? He seemed like a nutter to me.”
“You have a better idea?” I challenged.
“Nope.”
“Then interrogation it is.”
Once again we teleported, this time back to our original location on the street.
The man let out a sinister laugh as soon as we reappeared. “No luck, eh, boys?”
“No,” I muttered, turning to fully face him, but he was gone. Vanished into thin air. “I fucking knew it.”
“Fuck,” Chaos snarled at the same time Sin asked, “Where’d he go?”
“To tattle on us, most likely.”
“Tattle to who?” Malice asked.
“That’s the question.”