She’d had everything carefully arranged only for it to blow up spectacularly in her face. Ending up under a dog fight was not part of the plan in any way, shape, or form. Worst of all, when the demon had finally approached her, she’d…
Well, she wasn’t sure what happened.
She had looked into his bright golden eyes and lost her train of thought. Utterly. She’d forgotten what she was even doing there.
It didn’t make sense. She’d been in Montreal watching the demons for close to a month now. She already knew what they looked like. She knew everything about them, even their phone numbers. There should have been no surprises when she finally interacted with Raum in person.
From her spying, she knew he was athletic, so she’d dressed so she appeared to be exercising. She knew he, like most males, had a critical weakness easily exploited: a healthy sex drive. With a coy smile, maybe bending to display her cleavage, she’d been confident she could lure him into her trap.
But when the moment came, her mind had blanked.
He was just so…intense. His dark skin was rich with bronze undertones, his mouth sensually full, and his eyes… The golden color was so otherworldly, it nearly sparkled.
Ridiculous.She was an angel and was not plagued by the drive to copulate, else she would have fallen from Heaven and become a Grigori as her friend Daniel had. And she’d already known what Raum looked like, so there should have been no reason for her to react so oddly.
She’d watched him closer than the others. From what she’d observed, he was always calm, often quiet. She’d never heard him raise his voice, nor had she seen him smile, though his closest companion, Meph, seemed to grin without cease.
He was also detached, always a little separate from the others, even when they were together in a group, and that suited her needs in this case. She needed someone who could keep secrets, who kept their emotions hidden.
It was why she’d chosen him as her target.
You erred once, but you won’t again, she told her frazzled reflection.There is no harm in making mistakes so long as we do not repeat them.
She was in uncharted territory with this plan. A slip-up was likely inevitable and excusable so long as it didn’t recur.
Guilt assailed her. Not for the first time, the knowledge of who she would have to become to complete this mission—a liar, a cheat, a traitor—plagued her to the point of nausea, but she pushed the sensation away.
Everything was riding on her success. Sheneededthis. She deserved to reascend and finally atone for the past.
She could do this. She just needed to modify her trap slightly.
The next time Raum left the safety of his apartment, from behind the wards where she couldn’t touch him, she would be waiting and watching. When the time was right, she would lure him, and she would ensnare him.
He would not escape her again.
3
Hide And Seek
At eight the following morning, Caro’s rusty van rolled up to the curb outside Raum’s apartment building, and she waved at him from the driver’s seat. Questioning his sanity, he climbed in, and she floored it before he’d even sat down.
“Morning! You have coffee yet?”
“Not enough.”
She laughed as the van peeled around a corner, suspension squeaking like it was ready to snap. Pulling over at a cafe, she handed him a twenty to buy coffees. When he got back, she hit the gas like they were in a road rally.
He couldn’t help his discomfort as she drove, humming some radio tune under her breath. This whole situation was just so…human. He wasn’t sure how to interact with humans if he wasn’t trying to manipulate them, steal from them, or party with them and get laid.
The latter hadn’t happened in an embarrassingly long time—since he’d stopped going out with Meph when his brother had fallen head over heels for a snarky blue-haired witch. Before then, Raum and Meph had been partners in crime, partying every night, sometimes with two or more women at once.
He remembered when he and his brothers first arrived in Montreal after escaping Hell. They’d gone out to party, thinking this would be their new life—total freedom from responsibility.
Then Ash had fallen in love with Eva and broken his curse, Mist had come along and teamed up with Lily, and then Meph had gotten into art and found Iris—Hell had probably frozen over at this point—and Belial… Who knew what was up with him.
Bel had sworn an oath of celibacy for six months, actually followed through on it, and then turned into a wrathful recluse, always on the verge of blowing a gasket.
And now Raum had a job. Working for a human. At an animal shelter.
