Page 32 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Perseus

I STARED AT HARPER AS she slept soundly, her small hand still in mine. A crease had started to form between her brows shortly after she’d drifted off, so I quickly entered her dream, redirecting it when I found her in her home studio with Drake rushing toward her. As an Incubus, I only had the ability to influence sexual dreams—good or bad ones. I certainly wasn’t about to make hers into a pleasant sex dream. She didn’t need anything like that right now.

Since it was that or darkness, I opted to give her no dream at all. Her mind would remain quiet and dark for her to sleep. With that done, I opened my own eyes, coming out of her head to watch over her from my place beside her.

“Xander,” I whispered into the quiet.

The shadow-speak of his name, something demons could use to contact each other through time and space, brought him to me moments later. The Mischief demon appeared from the shadows behind Harper’s side of the bed. His golden demonic eyes flicked from Harper’s slumbering form to meet my own stare over her shoulder.

“How is she?” he asked in a low voice.

“How would you be?” I shot back softly.

Xander shoved his hands into his jean pockets and leaned against the wall. “How are you?”

I dropped my gaze and watched Harper’s calm, resting face. There was no pain currently corrupting her mind, no tears escaping from her eyes, no frown marring her lips. Right now, she was at peace, but it was make-believe. The moment those eyes opened, the misery would rush in, consuming the light from inside her.

So how was I doing? Fuck how I was doing. Only she mattered.

“I’m fine,” I eventually answered, meeting his gaze again. “I need you to do something for me.”

He pushed off the wall and straightened. “Anything. What do you need?”

“There’s a ballerina at Silverlight. Her name is—” I paused, gritting my teeth to keep from spitting the name out in a violent outburst. Taking a deep breath, I finished, “Mandi Everette.”

The name still came out as though it were the foulest thing to ever roll across my tongue, and it might as well have been. The human deserved to rot in filth and agony, and it was my pleasure to ensure that happened.

Harper still hadn’t opened up with the details, but I knew she’d been drugged. I’d returned to the ballet studio to clean it up after dealing with Drake. In the process, I’d found a bottle of mostly drunk water, and a mere whiff of the drink told me it had been laced. It didn’t take a genius to know Harper wouldn’t have accepted a drink from Drake but, rather, the person in the room she’d trusted. The same person who’d conveniently left right before the attack.

“What about her?” Xander asked with a curious raise of his brow.

“She helped Drake attack Harper,” I ground out. “I don’t know to what extent she was involved, but I know she was.”

Understanding dawned in Xander, and he grinned with rising excitement. “Do I get the honor of fucking with her?”

Mischief demons like Xander could be as obnoxious as a common house fly that refused to leave. They could cause car troubles, trip you after you just bought a tray full of hot coffees for all of your coworkers, or move your keys and wallet so you couldn’t find them.

They could also cause chaos on a grander scale—making both traffic lights show green so that an accident happened, shoving someone down a flight of stairs that resulted in broken bones, or causing disturbances with their voice and body in an attempt to convince someone that they were haunted.

Just as Incubi fed off of sexual energy, Mischief demons gained power from people’s reactions to their antics. The more frightened, anxious, angry, or emotional they got, the stronger the demon became. This all made him the perfect demon for what I needed.

“I don’t just want her fucked with,” I said to Xander. “I want her ruined . As much as I want to get rid of her outright, that’s too easy. I want her life to feel like it’s over. I want her to exist in misery for the rest of her goddamn life.”

Motivation puffed Xander’s chest out. “You’re gonna turn me on if you keep talking like that. Any particular ideas in mind?”

“You can have creative freedom with it. All I ask is for the final bang to happen during next Saturday’s show.”

Xander grinned and toyed with his septum piercing. “You got it.”

Shadows thickened around him like he was about to vanish, but before he did, I added, “Thank you.”

Xander froze and held my stare. Demons weren’t ones to share our feelings. Hell, we pretended as if we didn’t even have any. Expressing emotions or sentiments like gratitude wasn’t something we did. Hearing my thanks now probably surprised the fuck out of him.

I was equally surprised when the constant teasing glint left his face. My immature and jokester of a friend watched me with sincerity that would’ve been normal on anyone else but was alarming on him.

“You don’t have to thank me. I like being a menace. It …” He paused and rubbed at the small tattoo on the side of his pinky. “It keeps my mind busy.”

I knew what he didn’t say and why he tenderly touched the ink on his finger. Having things to do kept him from thinking about her , which was all he ever did. If he was fucking around and constantly getting into shit, he never had time to stop and think about the human who’d wrecked him.

With that, he left, and as he got busy with his task, I refocused on my own. All night, I racked my brain for ways to help Harper somehow. Would taking her away from here help? Would surrounding her with female friends aid the hurt? For once, I was lost for answers, and nothing I thought of seemed good enough.

What could I do for her?

What could I give to take the pain away?

Morning light began to fill the room. With a tired sigh, I realized I hadn’t slept a wink and had no solution to show for that lack of rest.

I wanted to stay right there, stretched atop the comforter with Harper’s small hand in mine. But she wanted me at work. She wanted me to be there for my other dancers. I didn’t give a shit about any of them right now, but I did care about Harper. I wasn’t sure if she needed time alone or if she truly felt guilty about taking me away from Silverlight.

Either way, I wanted to give her any ounce of peace that I could, even if that was my absence. Plus, I now had something to take care of at the company.

I carefully pulled my hand out of Harper’s. My palm turned cold and tingled with the need to be back in her hold. I pushed the feeling aside by clenching my fist and got ready for work instead. With my hair down and gray slacks and white button-up in place, I went back into the bedroom.

“Harper,” I whispered, gently shaking her shoulder.

Her blue eyes fluttered open, and she sleepily looked over her shoulder at me.

“I’m going to work,” I told her, running my finger over the hair on her forehead to tuck it back behind her ear. “Think of my place as yours. You’re welcome to anything here. If there’s something you need, just call me, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”

She made a groggy, mindless sound of acknowledgment. Yawning, her eyes closed, and she snuggled deeper into the covers.

My heart twisted, and I leaned down to place a kiss on her temple. I hovered there for a moment more, sending a silent plea to the Prince of Darkness himself that nothing ate away at her peace while she slept. Worry cut up my insides with its sharp barbs as I walked away and drove to work. Even as I nodded in greeting to the staff, my mind and heart remained in that bedroom, lying with Harper as she faced the darkness.

I collapsed into my office chair with a heaviness weighing me down. I pressed my fingers to my temples and braced my elbow on the arm of my chair as I called for Rupert, the dance master, répétiteurs, and the administration teams to meet me in the conference room.

Fifteen minutes later, I found myself standing at the head of the large oval table, looking over Rupert, the stage director, the managers of marketing, lighting, music, and costuming. The répétiteurs and dance masters also gathered around the room, waiting for me to begin the abrupt meeting.

“Scary,” Xander chuckled as he appeared alongside the répétiteurs. He crossed his arms and grinned at me from where he leaned against the wall, hidden from all eyes and ears except my own. “You look like you’re about to murder everyone in here.”

I pretended not to hear or see the demon, though I couldn’t deny his observation. Most of the time, I carried myself with a smile and the utmost pleasantness at work. Today, my staff found themselves facing a very different and unfamiliar version of their boss. There was no smile to be found, and I gave no effort to false civility. Today, their boss wasn’t the human but the demon, bitter and out for blood.

“There’s going to be a change in the schedule,” I announced, getting right to the point of the meeting. “We’re moving the show line-up by one place and ending the season with Dancing in the Dark instead of starting with it. I’ve already updated the schedule for the individual departments and emailed it to everyone. Starting today, the Dancing in the Dark group will pause their practice for that production and begin prep for The Nutcracker instead. I’m gathering that group of dancers after this meeting concludes to explain this to them as well.”

There was no missing the shared shock and confusion among those gathered. They stared up at me as though I’d sprouted my horns and demonic eyes that I constantly kept hidden.

“We were obviously anticipating The Nutcracker to begin soon since it was next in the line-up,” Rupert began carefully while looking at me. “We’ll get it done, sir. But may I ask why the change? Did something happen?” He paused and added slowly, “Does it have something to do with Tuesday’s practice and Harper’s absence?”

I nodded. “It does. That brings me to the next topic of this meeting. Harper will be out for an extended period of time. She’s dealing with some personal matters, and therefore, can’t be here to do Dancing in the Dark . I’m adjusting the schedule in hopes that she’ll be ready by the new show dates. If she’s not, we’ll move it to next season and replace the end of this one with a different ballet.”

“Sir,” Kendra, a middle-aged blonde répétiteur, cut in with a small raise of her hand. “Is there really a need to move the entire schedule for one ballerina? There’s a reason we have understudies. If Harper can’t do it, there are other ballerinas who can.”

I stared at this waste of space. Seconds ticked by, and with each one, the air in the room thickened with my quiet rage. People cast nervous glances Kendra’s way and shifted in their seats.

“Uh-oh,” Xander whistled low and vanished from his side of the room to reappear by Kendra. He studied her oblivious profile and snorted. “You’re gonna regret saying that, human.”

Ignoring Xander, I kept my calm stare fixed on this brainless husk. “I’m sorry, Kendra. Can you clarify something for me?”

Kendra’s gray eyes glanced apprehensively around her, as though hoping someone around the room might jump in and save her. When silence and averted gazes was all she got, she met my stare and nodded. The human didn’t speak. If only she’d learned that lesson earlier.

“Do you think I’m unaware about the existence of understudies?”

“Of course not, sir.”

“Then did I perhaps stutter when I spoke?” I continued cooly.

She swallowed hard. “No, sir.”

“Did I ask for your advice on the matter?”

Her hands began to shake, and she shrunk in on herself. “No, sir.”

“How strange then that you thought you could speak on the issue. I didn’t ask for your permission to change the schedule. I am telling you that’s what we’re doing, and if you have a problem with that or my reasoning … Well, I have no problem replacing you.” I swept my eyes over the entire room and finished, “That goes for all of you. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir,” came the chorus of meek replies.

“Careful,” Xander warned as he left the trembling woman to stand beside me. “Your demon is about to come out.”

I didn’t need Xander’s warning. My skin was dangerously thin with my hold on my true form ready to snap at the slightest rise in my anger. My insides burned with a need to break Kendra’s neck for even daring to speak about replacing Harper. No one could replace her. Not a goddamn soul.

“Good,” I finally acknowledged, briefly reigning in my hatred. “Now get out of my fucking conference room.”

A meeting had never cleared out faster. The minute the door shut, my control snapped. My head, hands, and eyes revealed what was always kept hidden. I raked my black-clawed fingers through my hair and tugged on the roots as I dropped into a chair.

Xander sat in the one adjacent to mine. “Is work always this exciting? Maybe I should apply for a job.”

“I hope you’re here with an update.” I dropped my hands to the table.

“In fact, I am,” he answered cheerfully. He tucked his hands into his dark hoodie pockets and mindlessly swiveled side-to-side in his chair. “Mandi will be a no-call, no-show for work today. I put her into a rather deep sleep that she won’t wake up from until the day is practically over. I’m sure Silverlight’s irate boss won’t be too pleased with that behavior.”

Snickering, I leaned back in my chair. The tension in my shoulders eased a fraction upon hearing that today could be Mandi’s first write-up—the first step leading to her eventual firing.

“Excellent,” I complimented.

“And she definitely helped that fucker. I went through a burner phone she had and found a whole slew of messages where they concocted the plan for Mandi to approach Harper, get her alone, drug her, and give that bastard the green-light to do what he wanted.”

I’d already suspected as much, but having it confirmed made a snarl climb my throat. The urge to kill both of them nearly made my vision go red. I had to reel that desire in, because I didn’t want Mandi dead. I wanted her to live while wishing for death.

“Speaking of that prick,” Xander added, “he’s been receiving a nice beating from everyone. I think Dante goes down to visit him every night. Though, Dante’s basement is starting to smell from how much the human has shit and pissed himself.”

Knowing the man was suffering made me smile, especially since I knew it was just the beginning.