Chapter 4
Ex-cuse me?
This had to be some kind of cosmic fucking joke.
There was no other explanation for why, in this devil-forsaken hole-in-the-wall inn, out of all the demons in Hell, they had to run into Andras.
He’d not changed in the years since Zach had seen him last. His skin was a milky-white, his eyes the palest of greys.
His delicate face was framed by white-blond curls and dominated by plump lips.
He was ethereally beautiful, deadly, and an absolute pain in the fucking ass.
“Andras,” Zach growled. “Take your hands off him before I rip out your damn throat.”
“And why would I do that, darling heart?” Andras mused, pressing the tip of a talon-like nail to Drew’s cheek hard enough to make him yelp. “It appears you have some sort of attachment to this human, so what better way to gain your cooperation than using him as my leverage?”
Zach narrowed his eyes at the term of endearment, but didn’t bother disputing the use of it. Andras would definitely latch onto that and go out of his way to use it to his advantage. “And what exactly is it you need my cooperation for?”
“Really, Zachariel. Straight down to business? Is that any way to treat someone who shared your bed for so many centuries?”
Drew’s eyes widened a little at this, and Zach cursed internally.
They’d never really discussed his previous partners, and although he knew Drew was aware he’d had some, this wasn’t exactly the way he wanted him to learn about his longest-lasting relationship to date.
It was the last straw. “I swear to all that is fucking holy, Andras, if you don’t let him go right now, you won’t survive beyond the next thirty seconds. I will end you,” he warned.
Andras simply looked amused. “Oh, really? You and whose army?” He gestured with his free hand around at the inn. “Because from where I’m sitting, you’re in disguise, in the middle of enemy territory, and one false move on your part will have this entire crowd out for your blood.”
Drew whimpered, his face paling in pain as Andras scratched down to his jaw, but before Zach could react, Leila did.
In the blink of an eye, the feathered menace was upon Andras, leaping up from Drew’s lap and launching herself at his face.
Andras cried out, even as he toppled backwards off the bench, trying to bat away the sharp beak and even sharper claws.
Zach knew exactly how much that stung, since the wounds he’d received from the familiar yesterday were only just now beginning to fade away.
Making the most of the distraction, Zach leaned over the table and hefted Drew into his arms, pulling him over to the safety of his side of the table.
As soon as Drew was clear of the danger, Leila gave Andras one last peck on the chin and then flapped her way back over to land on Drew’s shoulder.
She bokked angrily at the demon, even as he staggered back to his feet.
“What the fuck is that thing?” he demanded, wiping blood from his face.
“Your comeuppance for being an asshole,” Zach snarled. He turned to Drew and examined his face, which now had a long, shallow scratch adorning his cheek.
“I’m fine,” Drew said quietly, putting on a brave face.
Zach cupped his cheek before kissing him gently. “Are you sure?”
Drew smiled, and it almost broke Zach’s heart at how damn resilient his boyfriend was. “I promise.”
Turning back to Andras, but keeping Drew tucked under one arm, he said, “Leave now, before you really piss me off and I bring the true death to your door.”
Andras held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Now, now, don’t be hasty,” he said, his eyes darting from side to side. None of the demons near them were paying them any attention, used to disturbances and fights breaking out regularly. “Maybe you could hear me out?”
“And why would I do that?” Zach demanded. “You threatened Drew, hurt him, and tried to blackmail me into helping you.”
His shoulders slumping, Andras deflated. In a small voice, he said, “Zachariel. Please.”
That shocked Zach, as he could count on one hand the number of times he’d heard Andras use the word please before, and they’d all been whilst begging for Zach to fuck him harder.
He’d never heard it in this tone of defeat and desperation.
What didn’t shock him was Drew turning to look at Zach with large, pleading eyes.
“I think he needs our help. It wouldn’t hurt to listen to what he has to say, would it? ”
Zach sighed. Despite being a world-class snark champion, Drew had a heart of gold and would never turn his back on someone in need. He was more of an angel than Zach could ever be. “Fine,” he grumbled, and gestured at the table. “You have ten minutes.”
Pulling Drew down onto the bench next to him, Zach sat.
He noted that Leila was looking at him with slightly less disdain than usual, so he must have scored a few points with the distrustful familiar.
He couldn’t be that upset about it, though.
Zach was rather grateful that she was looking out for Drew’s best interests, and if that meant he had to prove to her he was trustworthy, then so be it.
Andras was openly staring at the hen, who had placed herself on top of the table between Drew and the demon. “What is that?” he asked again.
Zach arched a brow. “Use your brain, Andras. You know what she is.
Those pale grey eyes shot to his, wide in awe. “How? It’s been said there’s only been a handful in existence.”
He continued to steadily hold Andras’s gaze, allowing him to draw his own conclusion. Andras glanced over at Drew—gentle, unassuming, and awash with power—and he flinched a little as he realized exactly who he’d been threatening. “Uh, sorry about the scratch,” he said, gesturing at his own cheek.
Drew shrugged. “It’s okay. You’re scared and not thinking straight.”
“Scared?” Andras snapped, affronted. “I’m not scared!”
“It’s okay to be scared,” Drew assured him. “It happens to all of us. Maybe we can help with whatever is scaring you.”
“Nothing is scaring me!” Andras insisted, his pale cheeks flushing red with agitation. “That’s preposterous.”
“So, you decided to threaten me in order to blackmail Zach into helping you with a totally non-scary, benign, completely A-okay scenario?” Drew clarified.
“Yes!” Andras yelled, but then paused. “Well, I mean, maybe not entirely benign. From certain angles, the situation could possibly be considered, when looking at it in a certain light, um, a little bit lethal.”
That got Zach’s attention. For all his blustering that he’d deliver Andras into the hands of the true death, he’d not really have done it.
Not to Andras. He might be a demon, but he wasn’t one of the truly evil ones and rarely left catastrophic death and destruction in his wake.
There was a reason Zach had been able to connect with him enough to have been in a relationship with him for over two hundred years. “Andras, what happened?” he asked.
The fight went out of Andras, and he slumped down onto the table, crossing his arms on the wood and dropping his head onto them.
Leila clucked in annoyance as she was shoved backwards, and she flew over to settle on Drew’s shoulder instead.
“I’m being pursued by the Shadow Blades,” he said in a heavy voice.
Zach’s blood ran cold at that. “What did you do?” he demanded.
“Nothing!” Andras asserted, his pale grey eyes large and imploring. “It’s all just been a big misunderstanding!”
“A misunderstanding? It must be a little more than that if the damned Shadow Blades are after you!”
“What are the Shadow Blades?” Drew asked, looking confused.
“The Shadow Blades are Lucifer’s personal army,” Zach explained.
“To have them hunting you means you’ve done something truly unforgivable in the eyes of the Prince of Hell.
They don’t just hunt you down and kill you, they torture you until you’re begging for death.
” He turned back to Andras. “So I’ll ask again. What did you do?”
Andras huffed. “Fine. So, a few weeks ago, a fluke of circumstances saw me gain an invitation to the palace for the Soul Festival.”
Drew opened his mouth, presumably to ask what the Soul Festival was, but Zach halted him with a gentle hand to his arm.
He didn’t want to give Andras any opportunity to slither out of answering the question.
“How did you wrangle that?” he asked instead.
“Those are only for upper management and the royal houses.”
Shrugging, Andras said, “Right place, right time, and right company I suppose. I was meeting with a client who was interested in having me acquire a relic for them when the messenger from the palace arrived with the invitation. We hadn’t concluded our business as yet, so the client asked me to accompany her as her plus one.
I wasn’t dumb enough to turn that down, since I would never have gotten an invitation otherwise. ”
Zach sighed. He could understand what an opportunity it would have appeared to Andras.
While he was considered a higher demon, he wasn’t all that up there on the social scale, and gaining an invitation to the palace’s Soul Festival celebration would give him the chance to network and make connections he otherwise wouldn’t have had.
Andras was a freelance asset relocation specialist who liberated goods from ownership oppression.
In other words, a thief for hire. He did legitimate retrieval jobs as well, but they didn’t pay nearly as well as the more .
. . morally questionable acquisitions. Given that the upper echelons of Hell made their fortunes in being morally questionable, but didn’t particularly like getting their own hands, paws, or claws dirty, his skill set was in high demand.
If he could get on the books of a handful of rich, powerful demons who paid handsomely, Andras would be able to pass on the lower paid, more dangerous contracts.
So what could he have possibly done to jeopardise that and earn himself the wrath of the Shadow Blades? “Then what happened?” Zach prompted.
“Things were going well. My client and I struck a deal, and she introduced me to some of her business partners. I was invited to join them for some card games, and found myself in the company of not only some of the most senior demons of the palace, but then Lucifer joined us.”
Zach arched a brow. Andras had been in the same company as Lucifer?
“I know!” Andras replied to Zach’s expression. “Who would have thought little old me would ever be rubbing shoulders with the big boss himself? It was surreal. I’ll tell you one thing—he knows how to entertain. The drinks were flowing, the food was amazing, and the dancing demons were sex-on-legs.”
“You’ll tell me more than just one thing,” Zach growled. “What happened?”
Andras ducked his head, unable to meet Zach’s eyes. “So, when dawn finally broke, I left the palace, and I might have accidentally had one of Lucifer’s favourite knives in my pocket . . .”
Zack closed his eyes in resignation. “For fuck’s sake, Andras. You stole from Lucifer? How fucking stupid can you be?”
“Well, how was I to know it was one of his favourites?” Andras demanded.
“That is not the point!” Zach snapped. “You stole something that belongs to Lucifer, you dumbass! No wonder he’s sent his assassins after you.”
Andras pulled a heavy dagger with an intricately decorated hilt out of his pocket. “Can you really blame me?” he asked. “Just look how pretty she is!”
Zach reached over and pushed down on Andras’s arm, hiding the dagger from view. “Put that away before someone sees it,” he hissed.
With a pout, Andras slipped the dagger back into his coat. “Spoilsport.”
Before Zach could strangle Andras to save himself the migraine that would surely be making an appearance soon, Drew spoke up. “So what exactly do you think Zach can do to help? It’s not like he can unsteal the knife or anything.”
“Good point, sweetness,” Zach said, kissing Drew on the cheek. “It’s not like I can do much. Your best bet is to return the dagger and hope Lucifer is feeling merciful. You might get away with a couple of centuries in the dungeon that way instead of facing the true death.”
Andras shuddered. “No, thank you, darling heart. I am not cut out for dungeon life. No, my plan is much better.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. When you and your boy toy there go back topside, you’re taking me with you.”