Ash groaned and closed his eyes.Here we go.
Bel stared at them.
“Mist already found us,” Ash explained, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “He attacked me in Eva’s apartment, and we took a dive out of a third-story window. Wings got involved. She saw the whole thing.”
“Oh, shit,” said Meph.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Bel’s eyes were almost completely covered in flame now, and his big chest was heaving. They were so fucked.
“Oh, but that was only confirmation of what I already knew.” Eva sounded oddly like she was enjoying this.
Ash shot her a furious look over his shoulder, and she glared right back at him. Evidently, this was some kind of punishment for lying to her and putting her in danger. He supposed he deserved it.
The air around Belial began to waver with heat. “What?”
“She saw everything that first night at that club.” He had no choice but to explain this all now, thanks to Little Miss Stubborn. “She saw us kill the gargoyle.”
“I snuck back inside,” Eva explained, “and saw your fancy angel wings, and I saw you guys murder that ugly troll thing.”
“That’s not possible.” A few sparks shot off into the air around Belial’s head. Shit, the bastard was about to ignite. Eva took a step back warily, finally starting to understand what sort of bear she was poking.
“She has the Sight,” Ash said, shooting a quick glance at Raum, who had crept quietly to stand beside the kitchen sink. He jerked his chin to tell him to get ready to defuse the situation.
“And you didn’t think to tell me that, Asmodeus?” There were actual smoke tendrils coming off Bel now. “You didn’t once think itmightbe a fucking good idea to share that important fucking information with me? Did it neveroncecross your mind that it might not be smart to hang arounda fucking human that has the fucking Sight?”
“Easy, bro.”
“Don’t tell me to take it easy!” Bel spun and punched the wall. His fist went right through the drywall.
“Great,” said Meph with a sigh. “There goes our security deposit.”
“You need to chill, Bel. There’s a human here, and we need to talk about Mist.”
Belial had grown a bit. His head was inches from the roof now. “Youled Mishetsu right to us. This is supposed to be our safe place, andyoufucked it up!”
“I didn’t—”
“ASMODEUS, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.”
His voice boomed around the room, preternaturally loud. Everybody slammed their palms over their ears, cringing. The sound of Eva’s cat howling from inside the carrier filled the air.
And then the shit really hit the fan.
Those sparks crackling in the air around Belial suddenly ignited, and the huge bastard burst into flames. Giant feathery wings exploded out of his back, shredding his T-shirt in the process. And since he was heading into full rage mode, those white wings burned with hellfire too.
Belial grew even larger until his head hit the roof, his biceps the width of tree trunks and his fists like clubs. His eyes filled completely with flames, and his blond hair miraculously grew until it swirled around his head and shoulders, part of the vortex of flame and smoke and sheer fucking terror.
Ash sighed. He’d seen Belial fly into rages ten thousand times, but Eva hadn’t, and if the scream that tore out of her throat was any indication, she was terrified.
She cowered behind him and gripped his arm with a clammy hand, and he felt kind of nauseous knowing she was scared, which wasn’t a pleasant sensation.
That she sought protection from him after everything that had happened tonight sent another weird feeling bouncing around his gut. Heavy and fluttery at the same time. He didn’t understand any of that, but he did know it made him want to give her what she sought.
Belial was advancing on him now, flames surrounding him. The air pressure spiked like they’d taken a dive deep underwater, and a phantom wind gusted through the apartment. The cat was still yowling. All the lights were flickering.
Normally, Ash would fight it out with Bel a bit, let the poor guy blow off some steam. He always got a few burns for his trouble, but he never felt the pain, and he healed quickly enough.
But now wasn’t time for fighting. He wanted Eva to feel safe. There was no using reason to talk Bel down once he’d fallen this far off his rocker, so that left only one option.
