1 PART OF THE PROBLEM #2
Belial passed out another round of espresso, and after a little more persuasion from Ash, he finally agreed to grant Murmur one more favor in exchange for his silence and a bunch of other carefully worded clauses typical of demon contracts.
After that, they fell into silence, interrupted only by Meph and Iris being gross.
Raum ground his teeth. Funny how they let the most unstable one in the group call the shots. Bel had a way of bullying everyone into going along with his plans, and sometimes they agreed to the dumbest shit just to keep him from losing his temper. It was amazing Ash had talked him into negotiating.
They were all treading on thin ice. While Raum was surprised they’d lasted this long as fugitives hunted by both Heaven and Hell, he couldn’t help thinking it was only a matter of time before someone slipped up again and the shit really hit the fan.
Murmur was a wild card, and even with a contract keeping him silent, there was no telling what he’d do.
“Eva’s playing at the nightclub this Saturday,” Ash said. “I expect you all to show up and support her.” He pinned them all with threatening looks.
“You’re not playing with her?” Iris asked.
He made a face. “I play jazz. This is club music.”
“He acts all snobbish,” Meph whispered loudly, “but really it’s just because he can’t figure out the DJ controls.”
Ash shot him a murderous glare.
“I heard you trainwreck at Iris and Lily’s birthday.”
“I will kick your teeth in.”
“I’ll cut your hair in your sleep.”
Iris gasped. Even Raum winced.
Ash’s eyes narrowed. “If you touch a single strand of hair on my head, I will peel every inch of tattooed skin off your body with a butter knife until you don’t have a single drop of ink left.”
Considering every inch of Meph’s body was covered with tattoos—even half his face—that would be a lot of skin to remove. But Meph, being the idiot he was, just looked excited by the threats. “Oh yeah? Well, I will—”
“Shut. The fuck. Up.”
Everyone’s gaze shot to Belial, who suddenly appeared seconds away from a major temper tantrum. Completely out of the blue. Sure, Meph was annoying, but that wasn’t news. As far as Raum could tell, Bel had been unprovoked, which wasn’t normal.
A temper tantrum for Bel was not just an outburst of emotion. Things would burn. People would scream and possibly die.
Bel’s fists were balled so tightly, the veins bulged in his arms all the way up to his neck, and hellfire danced across his sky-blue eyes like a warning.
He also looked several inches taller than he had a moment ago, and for a guy already standing at seven feet in human form, that made him pretty fucking big.
Faust whined softly.
“Okay, okay, we’re all good.” Ash held his hands up. “Just a little friendly teasing.”
Meph nodded and forced a smile, but his grip tightened around Iris. “Yep, we’re all buddy-buddy. Everyone loves everyone. Best friends over here.”
While Bel took deep breaths, Raum stared into the empty bottom of his espresso cup. Great. Now he couldn’t ask for more coffee without risking setting Bel off, and his headache wasn’t even close to gone.
Ash inched toward the door, probably figuring now was a good time to make an escape. “I’ll be back later, and you can tell me how the meeting went with Murmur.”
“If he even tries to fuck with me,” Bel rumbled ominously, “I’ll make him regret it.”
“No one will fuck with you,” Meph assured him.
“Get the fuck off my counter.”
Meph wisely slipped off the edge and started backing toward the hall with Iris. He flashed a grin at Raum before the two of them disappeared from sight.
At the corner by the door, Ash turned back to Bel with a frown. “You know, you still haven’t told us how you contacted Murmur in the first place to set up this meeting.”
Coffee time having reached its conclusion, Bel started pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards and generally making a lot of loud noise. “I have ways.”
“What ways?”
Raum raised a brow at Ash. Now didn’t seem the best time to be drilling Bel about his secrets.
“I don’t get why you’re always so cagey about this,” Ash went on. “We all know you have someone in Hell working for you. Don’t you think it’s in our best interest to know who it is?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Actually, it is, because it pertains to our safety and, consequently, Eva’s safety.”
“Ash,” Raum muttered.
Ash glanced at him. “We deserve to know.”
“Do we have to know right now though?” He shot a pointed look at Bel.
Ash blew out a breath. “Fine.” He pointed at Bel. “But we’re not done talking about this.”
Belial eyed the offensive finger. “Keep pointing that at me and I’ll rip it off.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “See you later.” The door slammed, and he was gone.
Silence reigned for several moments until Bel suddenly pinned Raum with a threatening look. “What?”
The hellhound still sitting at Raum’s feet whimpered softly, so Raum scratched behind his ears to calm him. “Nothing.”
Bel glared at him. A lesser demon would wither under that stare, but Raum had been on the receiving end of it many times, and he was used to it. He just stared blankly back.
Say what one would about him, he was extremely even-tempered for a demon. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d raised his voice above a conversational tone, and he never lost his temper.
On the flip side, he rarely smiled and sometimes forgot how it felt to laugh.
He was just … empty. Sometimes he thought if he were to peel back the outer layers of his personality and look into his mind, he’d find nothing but blank space.
“I know you’re thinking something, so just spit it out,” Bel said.
Because of that, Raum sometimes did stupid shit.
He liked loud noises and crowds and parties because it distracted him from the hollow feeling.
He was reckless and impulsive because the rush gave him a little burst of exhilaration.
Every time he stole something, he felt alive for a split second before it faded back to nothingness, leaving him empty and wanting more.
And sometimes, he liked to poke the bear a little bit.
“You’ve been uptight lately,” he told Bel. The mother of all gross understatements.
Bel’s eyebrows climbed his forehead like he couldn’t believe Raum had the audacity, which was fair. Raum had just told Ash off for provoking Bel, and now he was doing it himself. Again: sometimes he did stupid shit.
“Your point?”
Raum tilted his head. “When was the last time you went into a full-on rage?”
Bel pinned him with the scariest glare known to man. But, to Raum’s surprise, he actually responded. “Few months.”
Raum’s brows rose. “That might be a record.”
Silence.
“Have you ever considered giving in to it? Maybe letting the rage out is good and holding it in isn’t.”
Bel’s hands balled into fists, and Raum knew he’d finally crossed the line. But he wondered if he was on to something. Maybe the key to mastering the anger wasn’t fighting it but expelling it.
But that meant controlling it. And Bel had never been able to do that.
While Belial continued to pin him with a flaming death glare, Raum slipped off the stool and headed toward the door. “I’m going for a run.” Faust scurried after him to escape the fury emanating from the kitchen.
Just as they stepped into the hallway outside, a plate smashed against the wall, right where he’d been standing.
Raum closed the door quickly, and he and Faust hauled ass to the elevator. They didn’t relax until the doors slid closed and the lift started to descend.
He blew out a breath. “Jesus.”
He’d been denied his espresso quota, had to watch Meph and Iris make out and listen to his brothers bicker, and had a plate thrown at his head. All before nine o’clock.
Today sucked.