Yet he couldn’t deny that he liked the idea of stealing Murmur’s grimoire.
Until Belial said, “No.”
“Why not?” Meph jumped to Raum’s defense. “We know Murmur wants it. If we steal it, he’ll have no choice but to bargain with us to get it back.”
“It’s too risky.”
“And straight-up murdering him isn’t?”
Bel’s jaw shifted. “It’s simpler. Less complications. That’s how I like to do things.”
“You’re being obtuse,” Meph said.
“You’re so obtuse, I didn’t realize you even knew such a big word,” Bel retorted.
Ash looked at Raum. “Bel’s right. Way too much could go wrong, and once again, we risk Murmur getting wind of it and turning on us. Not to mention, you seem to forget that Bel is supposed to meet with himtonight. We can’t pull off that big a heist in so little time, and if we try to reschedule it’ll look suspicious.”
Raum made a sound of frustration. “But—”
“We’re not stealing the book.” Bel pinned him with a sharp look. “End of story.”
And that was that.
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 train wreck 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 the skin off your entire body with a butter knife until you don’t have a single tattoo left.”
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.
