“Heyyy,” came Meph’s voice. “Why don’t you release the nice lady, and we can have a chat like adults, yeah?”
She jerked around in Dan’s grip to see the tattooed demon standing in the doorway of the studio. It was then she noticed the big symbol painted on the front wall beside the door.
The other side of the double doors was thrown open and Belial and Raum came to stand beside Meph. Flames flickered in Belial’s eyes, and he looked furious, but he remained rooted to the threshold, as if he could go no further.
“Demons,” Dan said, still restraining Jacqui’s wiggling form. “Prepare to die.”
Meph scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning a shoulder against the doorframe. “Yeah, no thanks.”
The attitude was mostly just a cover up for anxiety. The Watcher asshole had warded the building, only this time the wards weren’t to keep people out, they were to keep themin.
Prison wards. Empyrean magic, too, so they were strong. With all four walls and the roof warded, the building had become indestructible. It was the one of the oldest tricks in the book, and honestly, it was a little embarrassing they hadn’t seen it coming.
As for dying, Meph wasn’t overly concerned. Grigori weren’t full-fledged angels anymore which meant they were less powerful. They could be defeated, but it still wasn’t easy. Meph was the youngest of his brothers, which made him more vulnerable to pricks like these self-righteous angel dropouts—especially because under no circumstances would he shift into demon form, even if it made him exponentially stronger.
But it wasn’t himself he was worried about. It was Belial.
Bel was doing his damnedest to be a good boy. He had worked hard to find a way for the four of them to get to Earth without being caught, and now he was working even harder to make sure they stayed free, all while trying to manage his dark side.
Jacqui’s asshole husband tightened the hold around her with his left arm and unsheathed a dagger from the thigh holster with his right, shifting his stance to attack position. As if he was going to battle them with his wife pinned to his side or some shit? Not cool.
“Do you know who I am?” Bel asked coolly, maintaining a casual pose. Except Meph could tell there was nothing casual about his brother right now.
Bel stood with those tree-trunk arms crossed over his chest and his legs slightly spread, all that pretty blond hair spilling over his broad shoulders.
“Oh, I know very well,” the Watcher replied.
“Dan, put medown, damn it!” Jacqui hissed at him, still valiantly struggling in his arms. “I swear to god I’ll never forgive you for this!”
“Do you not understand the consequences of pissing me off?” Bel’s voice was getting deeper and louder, though it never wavered from that ice-cold level tone. The hairs on the back of Meph’s neck rose. “Because you’re really starting to piss me off.”
“Shit,” Raum said, exchanging a glance with Meph.
Even the Grigori looked a little wary. Which was dumb because what the hell had he expected when he threatened fucking Belial? You didn’t go around threatening Belial unless you could back your shit up.
“Okayyy,” Meph said, maneuvering his way beside him. He did his best to push his brother back from the threshold a little, but it was like trying to move a skyscraper. He gave that up and put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on Belial’s bicep—which was several inches thicker than it had been a moment ago.
Bastard was growing. Not a good sign.
“Dan, is it? How do ya do. I’m Meph. We aren’t looking for trouble. We have no sinister agenda and mean no harm to any humans. All we want is to go our merry way and be left to our own devices. Isn’t that right, Bel, my big bro?” Meph gave Bel’s huge bicep a reassuring pat.
Belial was frozen, staring at Jacqui’s husband with his hands curled into boulder-sized fists.
“Bel here has been working really hard on his anger management,” Meph said. “Wouldn’t it be a shame to undo all that now? He’s getting a little worked up with you tossing threats around. And it seems like your lovely wife there really isn’t enjoying being restrained. I’m all for a little kink, but consent is key, you feel me? So why don’t you put Jacqui down, and we can all take a second to chill, and we’ll talk this out like—Oomph!”
Pain sliced through him, effectively cutting off his valiant speech.
Meph glanced down.
The motherfucker had tossed a fucking knife into his chest!
He opened his mouth to speak but choked. Blood came out. And then more pain. A shitload of pain. Because Dan had nailed him with a consecrated weapon, and he could feel it burning him up from the inside out.
Trying to keep his cool, Meph tried to speak, but he just choked again. And now the world was spinning. Cool. He looked up at Belial and saw the shock written all over his brother’s face.
Actually, it felt like time had frozen, because Bel’s mouth was opening really slowly. In his peripherals, Meph was aware of Raum leaping toward him, but it was like those scenes in action movies where the character ran in slow-mo to escape the blast, shouting, “Noooooooooo,” ten octaves lower than normal.
Meph stumbled to the side. That was lame. He was going to fall on his ass with a consecrated blade in his chest, right in front of his new human friend and her douchebag husband. And that asshole had thrown the knife at him while he was trying to call a truce. So embarrassing.
