Slumping in my stool, I sighed in defeat. “You’re good at this.”

“What?”

“Getting your way.”

The shadows left his eyes and his mouth curved into a full smile. I nearly fell off the stool in shock. Moving to stand between my legs, he threaded his fingers through my hair. “Remember that next time you think about fighting me on something.”

I snorted, amused. “You’d be bored if I always let you have your own way.” I wanted to ask him about the loss he’d hinted at. But I didn’t want to dig up the pain again, didn’t want to lose that panty-dropping smile. I’d shelve my questions for now.

“You could never bore me.” His mouth was mere inches from mine when there was a knock at the door. My entire body seemed to sigh in disappointment. “Later,” he promised me with a growl.

I followed him out of the room, expecting it to be Will, or maybe even Gina. As such, I was surprised to see Sam and Jared at the door. “Evening,” Sam greeted with a smile as she entered. Salem and Jared exchanged curt nods.

“We stopped by your apartment first,” Sam told me. “When you didn’t answer, we figured you’d be here.”

They’d been looking for me? A lifetime habit kicked in, urging me to instantly declare…“It wasn’t me. I wasn’t there. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She chuckled. “You’re not in any kind of trouble. If you were, you’d probably be able to use that sweet, innocent face of yours to get out of it. We just have some questions that we hope you can answer.”

“Oh. Not a problem, then.”

Salem came to my side, curling his fingers possessively around my wrist. “What’s going on?”

“Like Sam said, we just have some questions for Ava.” Jared’s intense, hazel gaze then locked on me – it was hard not to squirm. “When we were in the brothel, the demon we found in the attic mentioned The Underground. You knew what she meant.” I nodded. “So you know about demons?”

“A little. One of the people I was friends with when I was human…Well, it turned out she was a demon. I didn’t find out until after I Turned. Since I was preternatural too, she felt comfortable enough to reveal what she was.”

Salem spoke to Jared then. “Why the interest in demons?”

“An hour ago, we were contacted by a vampire from Sebastian’s line,” he replied. “He was instructed to pass us a message from a demon named Knox Thorne.” Jared looked at me. “You know him?”

“I wouldn’t say I know him. I met him once, but we didn’t really talk much. My friend belonged to his lair before she mated into another one, so I saw him at the celebration of her mating.”

“Well, it seems that the demon who was held captive in the brothel belongs to Thorne’s lair.”

“What was the message?” Salem asked Jared.

“Thorne wants to meet with us. According to the messenger, the guy’s pissed and he wants to know about the vampires behind the existence of the brothel.”

Sam’s expression was grim. “We can’t afford to give him any intel. It’s one thing for us to track and destroy the bitch as punishment. But if another species was to attack her, the woman’s entire line would want to retaliate, despite that she deserves whatever comes her way.”

Jared nodded. “If a war then begins, we’ll be forced to choose a side. I wouldn’t want to defend her, but it wouldn’t be good to side with demons over our own kind. We’d no longer be trusted to protect vampirekind.”

“A war between vampires and demons could even make other preternatural species nervous and worry they’re next,” Salem pointed out. “They could decide to attack us first, considering it the best form of defence.”

“Exactly,” said Sam. “We’ve agreed to meet with Thorne. If we hadn’t, it would not only have been considered an insult, but it would have made him think that we aren’t taking all this seriously. The problem is that I don’t know much about demons, and I don’t want to go in there blind. All I could find out about Knox Thorne is that he’s a ruthless businessman who runs a chain of hotels, casinos, restaurants, and nightclubs.”

“He wants us to meet him at one of his hotels,” revealed Jared. “But we need to know what we’re dealing with here. Demons are pretty insular and private – it’s hard to understand them. The last thing I would have expected to learn was that a demon is a fucking billionaire who mingles in perfectly with unsuspecting humans.”

“That’s the thing about demons,” I began, “they hide in plain sight. You won’t find them dressed in leather, holed up in bars. Demons like power and control and challenges. A lot of them are CEOs, politicians, bankers, lawyers, police, and people in the media.”

“What’s The Underground?”

“A subterranean location that’s apparently like Vegas on steroids. I’ve heard that they’ve got casinos, bars, fighting rings, bistros, and clubs down there. My friend said they even hold concerts in The Underground.”

“And if I had teleported to their personal playground with an injured demon, they would have pounced on me,” Jared realised. “What about demons themselves? What are they like?”

“They aren’t naturally evil, if that’s what you mean. They can be good, bad, or something in between. They’re notoriously sexual, they have addictive natures, and they enjoy adrenalin rushes. Like with us, there are different breeds. I’m talking lots of different breeds: reapers, harpies, incubi, succubae, hellcats, hellhounds – the list goes on.”

Appearing pretty fascinated, Sam tapped her chin. “Which breed is the most powerful?”

“From what I learned, none are more powerful than the other. Whether a demon is powerful or not depends on the individual.” 

“You said they’re not evil, but the thing we saw in the attic – that was fucking evil,” maintained Salem.

“Demons are a lot like shifters; they have a dualism to the soul. Whereas shifters share their soul with an animal, demons share their soul with an entity which is – essentially – a psychopath. Their eyes turn black when the inner demon surfaces; that’s what we were dealing with in the attic. Some do hand over full control to their inner demon, become rogue, but they’re quickly dealt with. Demons police their own pretty well.”