Page 24 of Demon's Heart

He didn’t recognize the demon. Her wavy brown hair, light skin, high cheekbones, and dark eyes sparked no immediate memories, but she wasn’t suppressing her power, so even with her demonic features hidden, there was no mistaking her for human.

Hundreds of Eternals fell to Earth with Lucifer to look for their mates. After the fall, they spread out across the globe, and in the Realm of the Damned, Dante, Ash, and Onyx had beenisolated from the general population by Lucifer, so it wasn’t surprising not to recognize this demon.

Her eyes flashed silver flames. “My name is Ren. I’d say it’s a pleasure, but your faces tell me otherwise.”

“Our faces?” Dante’s blood heated, his voice dropping to a growl. “Attacking my flock is what’s made this meeting a displeasure.”

Ren’s hardened expression cracked, her brows lifting. “What do you mean attack? I’ve done no such thing.”

“So you haven’t been sniffing around my birds?”

“Sniffing, yes. Attacking, no.”

“What are you doing here?” Ash rumbled. He’d left his wings out and flexed them, filling the small living space.

Ren’s spine straightened. “Looking for you. Your escape was a well-kept secret for a long time, but once we found out you betrayed Lucifer and were gone, everything changed. Best news I’d heard in an age.”

“Best news?” Dante cocked his head. “So you’re saying you don’t support Lucifer?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Then why kill my shearwaters?” Dante growled.

“I haven’t killed any birds. It must have been someone else.”

“Are there more demons in this realm?” Ash asked, betraying a hint of alarm.

Ren’s eyes darted between them all. “I don’t know. I came by myself.”

“How?” Dante trusted her less and less. She’d been too easy to find. Pretending to be against Luc might be a ploy to win their trust.

“I heard rumors of Lucifer’s plans to come to this realm and followed when he broke the containment spell. Who knows if others did the same. I wasn’t the only one who knew what was happening.”

“Okay,” Dante hedged. He’d see where this was going. “If you aren’t killing my birds, then why were you looking for us? Revenge?”

Many demons blamed Dante, Ash, and Onyx for their imprisonment in the Realm of the Damned as much as they blamed Lucifer. Everyone assumed the Hounds had supported Lucifer freely the entire time rather than being under his control.

“Revenge for what? You escaping?” Ren scoffed. “Hardly. We’re all jealous you got one over on that bastard. No one’s punishing you for that. You rebelled first. It was a good thing.”

“You don’t seek revenge for imprisoning you?” Ash asked, his suspicions mirroring Dante’s.

“Ah.” Ren’s eyes flashed. “I’ll let it slide. Let’s go with the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As long as I don’t get dragged back, I don’t need anything else from demonkind. Even you three. Go live your lives.”

Onyx shouldered past Dante. “Great, thank you so much for your permission. But if you’re so Zen, why bother looking for us at all?” He sounded nothing but annoyed to be there.

“I wanted you to know I was in the city.” Ren bent to pick up the saucepan. “I’m not with Lucifer and figured giving you a heads-up was common courtesy, so there were no surprises down the road. And this way, we can help each other when Lucifer starts rounding demons up.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Onyx huffed.

“You want protection?” Ash clicked his tongue. “That’s a big ask.”

Ren pursed her lips. “Wouldn’t you rather I allied with you? I let you find me, left myself unprotected as a show of peace.” She turned to Dante, cutting him off like she sensed his argument coming. “All I did to the birds was leave magic at a fewnests so you’d know I was here. I’ve been waiting for you all day. I didn’t kill anything. That’s not peaceful.”

“So it was another demon?” That might be the worst possibility. Multiple demons slipping into this world independent of one another was much messier than Ren being part of a group or Luc bringing allies with him.

“Was my magic on the dead birds?” Ren asked, a hand on her hip. She glanced between them. “I’ll take your silence as a no. Look, assess me all you want. I’m not the most powerful among us. I’ve never been great at masking my spells. If I’d killed anything, you’d be able to tell.”

Ashhmphed. “So you say.”