Chapter 14
Dante
“STUPID FUCKER,” XANDER HISSED. HE ripped a fingernail out of Drake’s hand while Zagan pinned the feeble human down with a knee in his back.
Drake’s lips pulled back in a wet scream, and tears ran down his filthy cheeks.
The three of us demons in the room smiled at the sight and sound.
Xander held up the bloody fingernail that had been torn clean out of Drake’s digit, and with a malicious sneer, the Mischief demon shoved it into Drake’s mouth.
“Eat it,” Xander ordered. “Or your tongue will be next.”
The human whimpered and moaned in pain as he slowly chewed on his nail.
Once he was done, Zagan stood and gripped him by his greasy brown hair to haul him to his knees.
I stepped forward, and no sooner had the fear lit up Drake’s face than I swung my fist into his face, knocking him out cold.
Zagan released him and let his limp body fall to the floor with a hard thud.
“Weak piece of shit,” I grumbled.
Xander pulled out his phone and snapped photos of the bloody, soiled unconscious body. “I’m sending these to Pers. Maybe it’ll cheer him up a bit.”
The golden boy of our group was at his place tonight, no doubt trying to help his human however he could. The rest of us were here, releasing whatever pent up feelings we had on this sorry excuse of a human. Well, all of us except for Coldin. He wasn’t allowed to come until the main event.
The three of us went upstairs to the main floor of my house and gathered in the kitchen to rinse off the blood from our face and hands.
“I’m worried about Perseus,” Xander declared. His dark eyes were tight with concern as he scrubbed at his hands. His black hair fell into those eyes, which he promptly pushed back with a grumbled, “Stupid hair. I’m cutting this shit off and going back to all short hair.”
Ignoring Xander’s gripes about the longer half of his hair, I finished cleaning my arms. “I get what you mean about Perseus. The Incubus isn’t eating, which isn’t good.”
We’d all seen how weak and troubled Perseus was earlier this week.
The evening we’d gathered at Zagan’s to discuss Drake and his execution date, our fellow band member had nearly collapsed.
While I understood why he didn’t want to feed from Harper right now, I also knew he couldn’t go on like that for much longer.
“Perseus is tough,” Zagan reminded us. He ran a now clean finger thoughtfully along his bottom lip where his two piercings were. “He’ll be okay.”
“Hmph,” Xander grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter.
Just as Zagan and I were best friends, Perseus and Xander shared a tight bond.
It was never easy to see the suffering of the demon you considered a brother.
It was part of the reason I loathed humans so much.
Not only were they horrible to each other, but they treated my kind with contempt and revulsion.
Unless they wanted something from us. Then they coveted us enough to trick us into bonds and to enslave us to their whims. They were the true monsters.
Though, Serenity wasn’t too bad.
“What’s that smirk for?”
My gaze snapped up to Zagan’s, and I quickly schooled my features. I blinked and scratched at the bar piercing the top of my ear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Zagan’s blue eyes narrowed, but he let it go as the typical carefree air returned to Xander. He pushed away from the counter to stand next to me and Zagan.
“I need to have some fun. You guys wanna go to Hell’s Gate? We can see how Eden is fairing as the new manager.”
I snickered. With Babette, the previous owner of Hell’s Gate, being dead, the demonic club had been handed over to Eden.
The bubbly and party-hungry Mischief demon would be great at running the popular club in Hell, though I dreaded to see what she’d done with the decorations.
I could just picture gold glitter, pink velvet, and Satan knew what else adorning the once gothic club.
“Can’t,” I finally answered. “I’ve got plans.”
“What?” Xander screeched with an offended frown.
“With who?” Zagan asked. He suddenly gave me a knowing smirk. “Serenity?”
“Shut it,” I growled. “We’re going to a human club.”
“Sounds fun,” Xander announced. “What time should we meet you there?”
I frowned. “That wasn’t an invitation.”
I normally didn’t care about letting the guys around my snacks, but Serenity was more than just a snack.
I needed to cultivate this friendship to get even closer to her.
That way, I could flaunt what Bradley had lost and ensure that Serenity moved on with her life.
I didn’t want him pulling any more tricks in an effort to get her back.
The other night had nearly been nauseating to witness from the shadows. Roses and pizza? What bullshit.
Though, that wasn’t nearly as bad as when he’d apologized for hitting her.
I didn’t need his confession to know he’d been responsible for it, but watching him pretend to be sorry for something so vile …
I nearly killed him on the goddamn spot.
And I still considered doing that. I hadn’t decided what final fate I wanted to bestow upon the bastard.
All I did know was he’d sealed a miserable future for himself by daring to touch her.
But I couldn’t say any of this without earning relentless teasing from my fellow demons.
With a sigh, I allowed, “Whatever. She and I are meeting at The Crimson Vault at nine.”
“Awesome!” Xander cheered. He pointed his black-painted finger at Zagan. “You game?”
“Let’s head to my place so I can see what Iyla’s up to.”
I groaned but followed Zagan via shadows to the kitchen at his place.
Zagan called Iyla down. The brunette hesitated slightly when she saw all three of us but, eventually, pressed into Zagan’s side.
He wrapped his arm around her back and stared into her eyes as he asked, “You want to go to The Crimson Vault tonight?”
She mulled the question over. “Sure. Can I invite the girls?”
“Whatever you want, Sparrow.”
Xander cheered and started talking about the plan for this evening, but I couldn’t stop staring at Zagan and Iyla, who only looked at each other. The world outside of them didn’t seem to exist, and as they whispered with soft smiles, my chest burned with a fierce need.
I knew love was a lie. It was an emotion used to exploit and abuse, and if you fell for those three magic words, only pain awaited.
Yet … I wanted to feel what these two seemed to feel.
I wanted to know what made fighting for someone worth the trials.
I wanted to know why a person like Serenity would bother entertaining scum like Bradley.
I wanted to know what a person saw when looking into the eyes of their world.
I gritted my teeth as Zagan’s obnoxious words began to play in my head yet again.
Maybe you will someday.
THE GUYS, IYLA, AND I arrived earlier than Serenity.
We managed to get tables in the upstairs VIP section, thanks to our famedom, but not before getting ambushed by fans.
It took forty minutes just to walk from the entrance up to the VIP section, because we had to stop every step to greet more fans, pose for photos with them, and sign some exposed flesh on their body.
When Serenity texted me that she’d arrived, I reluctantly headed back into the den of wolves.
I spotted a flash of silver headed in my direction, and when I pried myself away from two fans, I finally saw her. My dick threatened to push through my dark jeans.
Her silver hair cascaded over her shoulders and back like glittering stars raining down.
She wore a black minidress with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a sweetheart neckline that showed off the tops of her pillowy breasts.
With a needy groan, I drank in her moon phase tattoo, which started on her breast bone and disappeared between her breasts, under the dress.
I traced the sight of her full-sleeve wildflower tattoo, the two snakes coiling around stars on her other arm, and her wrist tattoo.
The dress hugged her wide hips, stopping mid-thigh, and a hint of her leg tattoo peeked out from under the hem on her left leg.
A soft shimmer coated her eyelids, and a dark purple stain painted her softly smiling lips.
She’d managed to hide the bruise on her jaw with make-up.
“Goddamn,” I rasped when she stood directly in front of me. “Maybe we should just skip the dancing and go somewhere private.”
She laughed me off, but I saw the color rise to her cheeks. She looked around the room and stated, “So this is a club.”
The place was pretty nice from what I’d seen so far.
The walls were a deep red velvet with gothic adornments and decor.
The bar and dance floor were black with strobing lights raining a kaleidoscope of color down on the dancing crowd.
Red and white lights glowed around the bar.
I could almost pretend this club was a knock-off version of Hell’s Gate, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other top-side demons were currently lurking about the place.
“You want to get a drink, dance, or meet the rest of the crew first?”
Her eyes tripled in size. “T-The crew? As in Sinners Do It Better?”
I smirked. “Yeah. Minus Perseus. He’s not here tonight.”
“Holy shit,” she squealed, suddenly bouncing from foot to foot and fidgeting with her hands. I didn’t think it was possible, but the pink blush on her cheeks deepened. “I-I wasn’t expecting to meet them. Shit. I’m freaking out.”
Laughing, I guided her to the bar and suggested, “Then let’s get you some liquid courage first.”
I ordered a Skrewball, and she ordered the house special—some blood-red drink with edible gold glitter around the rim and a black candy bat floating among the ice.
She downed half the drink before we made it upstairs to the VIP area, politely stopping with me every time I got asked for a photo by a fan.