Lucifer frowns. He doesn’t like being commanded, least of all by me. “And if I refuse?” he wonders, his voice deep enough to rival the thunder echoing over the horizon.
I shrug. “You trusted me already.” I inhale sharply and play the only card I have in my arsenal. “I saved your life—”
“You saved your own ass.”
“Exactly,” I agree. “If I wanted to go back to him, I would already be begging for mercy while your head adorns the wall of his study. I won’t run.”
Lucifer doesn’t seem so sure of that. He’s suspicious, my devil. I suppose that’s why he’s still alive.Stupid, evil men didn’t tend to live too long. Vinny’s brutality taught me that.
“He’s takeneverythingfrom me.” My voice tastes bitter with the five years of pain I’ve had to suppress. Memories threaten to spill out from the dark corners of my mind, and I fight to swallow them back. “I want to take something from him.”
Lucifer still doesn’t give me an answer. I’m a slave to the scrutiny of those blue eyes, frozen in place until he finally nods—just once, so quickly that I may have missed it.
“You coming in?” A figure wearing a gray sweatshirt with the hood drawn low stands at the gate, holding it open.
I don’t answer, but Lucifer speaks for the both of us by stepping forward through the gap presented by the gate-opener. I follow him, my gaze on the dwelling up ahead. Apart from being secluded and well-guarded—which I sense from the human-shaped shadows lurking on the edges of the property—it doesn’t look like anything that would attract the interest of either Vinny or the red-haired man. Dogs bark somewhere nearby, and with every step we take, the stench of cigarettes and stale cologne gets stronger.
Up close, I realize that the property doesn’t contain just one house, but a collection of buildings. At the front of the property sits a main square one formed out of brick. A matching detached garage rests a few yards behind it, and then another building looms slightly over the rest, perched on a small hill at the mouth of the woods. Neon decals flash from the square windows built into the lower level of the main building.Mack’sis written in red script on a sign hanging above a blue door. The man who came to the gate pulls it open, and pulsing music eagerly rushes out.
“After you.”
Lucifer enters first, his shoulders squared, his stance open and wary. Almost immediately, however, he relaxes, and I see why when I finally creep forward in his shadow.
The red-haired man is sitting on a stool on the other side of a narrow, packed barroom. When he sees Lucifer, he beckons him closer with a wave of his hand. “You made it.” He has to shout over the music—an angry pulse of hammering percussion and guitar riffs I can feel in my bones.
Lucifer grits his teeth and seems to have to physically keep his hands from slapping over his ears. Jerking his chin, he indicates for me to follow him through a crowd of men and women wearing an array of ragged clothing Vinny certainly wouldn’t approve of. Skirts more revealing than my “video costume,” ripped jeans, and dark leather clad this ragtag bunch. They eye us warily, and the moment Lucifer reaches the bar, the music shuts off.
“Dante.” The greeting comes from a tall man with dark, closely cut hair who muscles his way through the crowd to approach Lucifer from his left side. He’s wearing a leather vest, which hangs open to reveal a heavily muscled chest decorated in what seems to be an even mixture of scars and tattoos. “Long time no see.” The man extends a hand. There’s no hostility in his gaze, but Lucifer eyes his palm for a few seconds before slapping his own against it.
“Mack,” he says gruffly. His eyes cut over to the red-haired man as he speaks, and they share a silent look that I’m sure doesn’t go unnoticed by everyone else in the crowded room. Lucifer isn’t pleased by what I assume is a tense reunion.
The moment Mack draws his hand away, Lucifer steps toward the bar and jerks his shoulder in a subtle invitation for me to follow. I do, less out of obedience and more out of unease at the way the eyes of this stranger graze over my skin. Mistrustful. Hateful. Cold.
A choked sound catches in my throat as I bite back an irrational urge to snicker. Is this how Vinny felt in the few unguarded moments I looked at him and was too exhausted to tailor my expression?
No wonder he hit me.
“This her?” Mack inclines his chin toward me. His brown eyes linger over the V-neckline of my sweater, and he licks his lips. “Not bad.”
He takes a step toward me and nearly runs right into Lucifer’s chest. The devil says nothing, but I feel his presence all the way down to my bones.Possession.Is that what this is? His claim has a different flavor than Vinny’s. My skin prickles with his nearness. He may have already chewed me to pieces, but he isn’t quite willing to share me.
Yet.
“You’ve certainly done a number on her,” Mack ascertains. “Hey, Sammy!” He looks back at someone in the crowd and draws them out with a jerk of his chin. “Get over here.”
Lucifer doesn’t move, but suddenly, he seems taller. The shadows lingering around the periphery of the bar converge on him, deepening the definition of the muscles evident even beneath the leather of his coat.
“Relax.” Mack laughs, but the carefree emotion isn’t shared by the others gathered around us. They tense and their eyes flicker from Dante to Mack and then Arno in the corner; it’s a silent tennis match. “Sammy here’s a doctor of sorts.” Grinning, Mack places his hand on the shoulder of the considerably shorter figure who appears at his side.
Sammy is an older man, but he’s clean-shaven and seems nice enough—though his camouflage-print slacks and gray wifebeater certainly don’t scream “doctor.”
“Damn.” He whistles, his bloodshot eyes on my face. “You’ll definitely want to get that ear looked at. Unless you want it toturn gangrene and fall off!” He chuckles at what was apparently a joke, but it seems lost on everyone else.
“Let Sammy check her out,” Mack suggests. “While she’s gone...we can have a little chat.” His smile widens, but Lucifer doesn’t bother to return it.
There’s something he isn’t saying. Something that lurks beneath his skin and turns him to stone. Finally, he nods just once.
“Um...g-great.” Sammy takes a step toward me, reaching for my wrist.
