Beauty Awakened (Angels of the Dark #2)(57)
Author: Gena Showalter

“I know you’re here,” William said, sipping at a glass of what looked to be ambrosia-laced red wine.

Tensing, Thane stepped into the natural realm to fully reveal himself to the warrior. Immediately he smelled the sweet scent of the wine, the sharp odor of hair products, the pungent aroma of nail polish and the familiar fragrance of sex. Lots and lots of sex.

William must have bedded every single one of the stylists.

“How did you know?” No one could sense him when he had no wish to be sensed.

“He’s been saying that every two minutes for the last hour,” said the girl stepping up to William to remove the foil.

Electric-blue eyes glittered as William handed his glass to a female strolling past him—electric-blue eyes that reminded Thane of Axel. But then, there was a reason for that. “Did you have to ruin it, Lakeysha?”

The gorgeous black girl grinned widely. “Well, yeah. You ruined me for other men, so I thought I’d return the favor somehow.”

Thane studied the building, halfway expecting their easy banter to be a trick, for an enemy to be waiting in the shadows, ready to attack him. He saw bricks and mortar, open indoor spaces with fifteen beauty chairs, or whatever they were called, and a row of round hair dryers and sinks. No menacing shadows. No swish of a weapon.

In the back was a big red door. If he were to walk through it, he knew he would enter the club, where there were small cages hanging from the ceiling, and poles stretching from individual tiers. A thump, thump of rock music shook the very foundation of the building.

“I should be offended,” William said, having noticed Thane’s darting gaze. “I’ve done nothing to earn your distrust.”

“You live. You breathe. That’s enough.”

William had shacked up with the Lords of the Underworld—immortal warriors fighting to free themselves from the dark urges of the demons that oppressed them. He had spent centuries locked inside the prison Tartarus, both for his philandering ways and his savage temper. He would kill anyone at any time for any reason.

Without a doubt, he wasn’t the most trustworthy of males. But intel was intel, and Thane wanted to know what he knew.

Thane had asked some of his shadier connections at the Downfall what they knew about the six demons responsible for the travesty in the skies, and while he had learned several interesting things, he hadn’t learned anything of value.

“Clearly I got your message,” William said. “You wanted to meet, so here we are. What do you want?”

Many things. They would start with information. “You are Lucifer’s brother.”

For a moment, the affable mask William sometimes wore fell away, revealing the vicious warrior at his core. “He’s my adopted brother. Adopted. We’re not blood.”

“You were both fostered by Hades, the keeper of Sheol.”

A pop of his jaw. “Yeah. So?”

So they both thought the same way. Surely. “Where are his minions? The six demons responsible for my king’s death?”

“How should I know?”

An evasion. One that wouldn’t be tolerated. “The demons are now living among the humans. You are now living among humans. They are evil. You are evil. They came from hell. You spent many centuries in hell. You should know where they went.”

Far from offended by the description, William puffed up. “They could be anywhere. Everywhere. You’ll have to draw them out.”

“How?”

“Do I really need to do your job for you?” William shrugged wide shoulders. “Fine. I will. There might be a whole pack of you guys on their tails, but that doesn’t mean you’ll find them. So, put a bounty on their heads. Even their mothers would turn them in—if they had mothers, of course.”

Every warrior instinct he possessed rebelled. “And take the kill out of my own hands?”

“But the job will be done, so I don’t really see the problem.”

Of course William saw no problem. He thought only of the goal, not the collateral damage. “The job may be done—but it may not. I wouldn’t know for sure, since I had no part of it. And demons lie. They are never to be trusted.”

The girl finished with the foil, and William waved her away.

“If I fail to destroy their forces,” Thane added, “someone else will step into their role. Their plans must be stopped at the root.”

William snickered like a teenage boy. “You said root.”

This is one of the many reasons I kill demons. This right here. No, William wasn’t actually a demon. He’d even fought and escaped hell, allowing light to shine in the darkness of his soul. But he’d since begun to race down the road that led back into the darkness. So, he qualified.

“Look. I have a feeling you’ll be a little too busy shopping for bras to set a trap for the demons you want killed,” William said. “You’re a what? Forty-two C? Lakeysha over there will give you hers, I bet, freeing up your time and allowing you to do as I suggested.”

Thane had to admire his courage. “As I said, demons lie. Demons cheat. I will never trust them to do the job for me. I or someone I trust will make the kill. What can you do to aid me?”

“Nothing.”

Perhaps the warrior would reconsider. “I know you have always desired to know who your real parents are.”

William stilled, and for a moment, he appeared to stop breathing.

“I can help you with that,” Thane said. “Aid for aid.”

A sharp inhalation of breath, proving the action hadn’t malfunctioned permanently. “Fine. I’ll set a meeting with Maleah. You’ve heard of her, I’m guessing?”

Maleah. Who hadn’t heard of her?

Once a Sent One, she had been the most decorated soldier in their realm of the skies. She had been so decorated, in fact, that scheduling a meeting with her had been harder than scheduling a meeting with the king. Then, one day, she was gone, fallen, and no one had known why or what had happened.

“Set the meeting,” Thane said. “As for the information I owe, check with the Sent One named Axel. I think you’ll discover something very interesting during your first conversation.”

* * *

THANE, BJORN AND XERXES armed themselves for war.

The meeting with Maleah was scheduled to happen in half an hour. William had worked fast—and the childish male would have snickered had he heard Thane’s thoughts on the matter.

Thane had returned home with just enough time to bed a new female in an effort to clear his mind and ease the growing pressure to succeed. Afterward, he had alerted his boys. At least Kendra wouldn’t be bothering him again. Yesterday, he’d done the unthinkable.