Page 38 of Wicked (Dark Delights #5)

Isaac

They went home for Isaac to shower and freshen up, because he wanted to get this In Extremis visit over as soon as possible.

It was just after midnight—plenty of time to go by the club and set their plan in motion by announcing that he’d killed Talon and wanted to cash in on the bounty.

He’d dressed in some of his brand new clothes—a pair of dark jeans and a white button-up that was as soft as butter.

His hair was down for once, the ends spiraling lightly as they dried.

He felt distinctly naked without a weapon, knowing he was about to walk into a demonic lair that wasn’t exactly friendly, and he wasn’t the only one stressing about the impending visit.

“When you get in there, remember: don’t take any shit from anyone,” Shadrach instructed, smoothing his hands across Isaac’s shoulders.

Shadrach’s living room was dimly lit with only a standing lamp glowing in the corner. The demon fidgeted, smoothing Isaac’s folded collar and checking the buttons on his shirt. He was fretting; it was cute .

Isaac nodded, mock-serious. “Do I strike you as the type who takes shit from anyone?”

Shadrach glared. “Don’t make jokes. The club used to be safe for the Sentinels, because we were in good standing with Lilith.

I don’t know how they’ll react to you, but you can expect them to be suspicious.

I expect everyone there now is loyal to the bitch.

Anyone with any sympathy for us will have either cleared out or kept their mouths shut to stay off her radar. ”

“I’ll be fine,” Isaac said. “I can handle a few demons.”

“What if paladins show up at the club?” Shadrach asked.

“They won’t show up unless they have some reason to suspect I’d be there,” Isaac said. “Which they don’t, because I’ve never been there before.”

“You’ll text me if you need me to get you out,” Shadrach said.

“Yes.”

Shadrach’s fingers tightened on his shoulders. “If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’ll go in there and kill everyone.”

“No, you won’t, because that would undo all my hard work,” Isaac said calmly. Why was Shadrach making such a fuss, anyway? He knew Isaac was a paladin. He’d gotten the drop on Shadrach before. Surely he didn’t think Isaac wouldn’t be able to handle himself in the club without him for a few hours.

Unless he thought Isaac was going to run off or betray them. It was, admittedly, something he’d done before.

“Do you not trust me?” he asked as it occurred to him. “Do you think I’ll screw this up or run away again?”

Shadrach stilled, meeting Isaac’s eyes. After a moment, his expression softened. “No, killer. I don’t think that.”

“Then what? ”

Shadrach smiled crookedly, so painfully handsome that it hurt Isaac to look at him.

“I almost lost you once already, and there was very little threat to your life then. I thought you’d just chosen not to be with me.

Being without you for even that short time was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.

Willingly letting you walk into danger tests my resolve.

You humans are so fragile.” One of his strong hands slid up Isaac’s shoulder to brush the side of his neck, where his pulse was strongest. “Your life-blood is so dangerously close to the surface at all times. One wrong prick, and down you’d go. ”

Isaac leaned in, his voice soft. “On behalf of my people, fuck you.”

Shadrach’s smile sharpened.

“I’m not fragile,” he promised, draping his arms around Shadrach’s shoulders. “When I get back later, I’ll prove it. I’ll show you how much I can take.”

One of Shadrach’s arms curled around his lower back, crushing their bodies together. “Promise?”

“Yeah.” Isaac shivered as the delicate touch on his throat hardened into something dark and possessive. “But right now you have to let me do my job. And remember that I’ve also had your blood, which makes me even less fragile than usual.”

Shadrach leaned in, baring his teeth.

“No marks,” Isaac said. “I don’t want any halflings asking questions about where they came from.”

Shadrach growled, a rumbling note in his chest that vibrated Isaac’s sternum.

It was an entirely inhuman sound, and not one that should set his blood aflame the way it did.

Instead of a biting kiss—as Isaac had expected— he was treated to a slick one instead, Shadrach’s tongue pressing inside his mouth to taste him thoroughly.

The world swirled around them, pockets of shadow and color blurring past. Isaac closed his eyes and clung to Shadrach, letting the demon take his weight until everything came to a whirling stop.

Blinking his eyes open, Isaac grimaced. “I’m not a fan of that.”

Shadrach chuckled. “Sorry.”

They were in a darkened alley in a familiar part of the city. This was Sector Thirteen, as the paladins knew it, and near to In Extremis. The moon was hidden behind dark clouds, and thunder rumbled in the distance.

“You’ll have to walk from here. If I go any closer, some of the demons might sense my presence.”

“Okay.” Isaac moved to extricate himself, but Shadrach’s grip tightened instead. He ducked his head, inhaling Isaac’s scent like a drug.

“If they harm a hair on your head, I’ll string their guts from the rafters of that fucking place,” he snarled in Isaac’s ear. “You’re mine, and I hate that I can’t show them .”

Isaac shuddered. The notion of being owned by a monster shouldn’t be so appealing. It was impossibly hard to pull away—not just because Shadrach’s grip was unrelenting, but also because his body wanted nothing more than to press closer and rock against Shadrach until they were both sated.

“Ugh, fuck,” he whined. “I can’t believe you. You always turn me on before I have to go do other stuff. You better make this up to me later. I’m going to start keeping a tally.”

Shadrach bared his teeth again as he let Isaac go and took a step back. “I’m going to make you bleed later,” he promised. “Gonna make you scream.”

“Promises, promises,” Isaac said breathlessly, backing away. Shadrach had his own gravitational pull, and Isaac couldn’t look away. Only when he rounded the edge of the alleyway did he finally regain his composure.

He took a deep breath, raising his gaze to the sky as he turned in the direction of the club and began to walk.

The brisk summer air cooled the lingering heat under his skin, and focusing on what lay ahead chased the last remnants of desire away.

He was going to walk into a nest of serpents and prove to them that he was no longer a mongoose.

The only way to find Lilith was to make them think they could trust him.

An unfamiliar halfling stood outside the door of the club. He eyed Isaac up and down for a long moment. He had no weapons, no guild rings or crucifixes to identify his allegiance to their enemies, so after a beat, he reached for the door and pulled it open.

Stepping inside In Extremis was like walking through a fae circle.

One moment he was in the world he knew, the world of dark streets and danger around every corner.

Inside, dark lights and hazy air gave everything an ethereal feel.

The scent of tobacco, liquor, blood and sex filled his lungs.

As he descended the metal staircase into the abyss, he caught sight of bodies writhing together on the dance floor and in the booths, some dancing and some in the throes of passion.

He passed a booth where two men were tangled around a woman, her head thrown back on one of the men’s shoulders in abandon as they all rocked together.

A bite wound on her neck trickled blood between her bare breasts .

So this was why his superiors never wanted the paladins to come here.

He made his way to the bar, which was the only part of the room lit with decent light, and took a seat on one of the stools. The bartender, a woman with a long ponytail and blood-red lips, approached and jerked her head at him, silently asking what he wanted.

“Who’s a guy talk to about turning in a bounty?” he asked.

Her red eyes narrowed, skimming down his body and back up. “No way you took out a leviathan.”

“I killed a black-eyed asshole for attacking me at the guild, yeah. I hear his head is worth some money.”

Her gaze sharpened. “Guild?”

It was all part of the story he’d crafted.

He laid his left hand on the bar and tapped the tan line on his ring finger.

“I used to be with the Paladin Guild. They’ve gone off the deep end, and I’m looking to get out.

I’d rather make a cleaner exit than some of my predecessors.

That bounty would make things a lot easier. So?”

Her suspicious gaze didn’t waver for a moment, and then she turned away without a word. A moment later, she plunked a crystal tumbler on the bar in front of him and poured a dark liquid into it.

“Drink this. Prove you’re not like your paladin buddies.”

“Getting drunk will prove that?”

“Most of them don’t drink. They definitely wouldn’t trust a drink poured by a demon.”

Yeah, Isaac thought, that was true. As far as he knew, this place acted as a legitimate club.

They didn’t have poisons on hand, and they didn’t want to be caught killing their customers.

Whatever was in this drink might make him sick but wouldn’t kill him, and he had to hope Shadrach’s blood would keep him healthy enough to get the job done.

He lifted the glass to his lips, mindful of the weight of many stares on his back. They were all waiting to see what he did. Announcing he worked for the guild in a room full of demons was a big risk.

Bracing himself, he drank quickly. The liquid was strangely sweet and burned going down, but it was surprisingly pleasant.

He set the glass down on the polished black bar and tapped it. “Another.”

The woman laughed, filling it again. “Damn, holy man. All right. I’m Magda. I’ll see what I can do about contacting the bounty’s benefactor.”

Someone sat down beside him, a gangly man with dark hair and red eyes. “Did you really do it? Did you really kill Talon?”

Isaac smirked. “He went after the wrong paladin.”

“How’d it happen?”

The bartender was texting someone, the pale glow of the screen highlighting the smooth angles of her face. He wondered if she was contacting Lilith.

“Well, you heard about the attack on the guild, right?”

“The kalmach demon, yeah. No lie, we’d hoped the guild would fall that day,” the man said, and a handful of others around him voiced their agreement. It seemed he’d attracted a crowd.

Isaac shrugged. “It’ll take more than that. Anyway, the wards on HQ were down. It gave Talon the opportunity to slip inside and grab someone to interrogate about the guild’s inner workings.”

“And he grabbed you,” Magda guessed .

Isaac nodded. “Exactly. It wasn’t easy, but he’s dead.”

“She’ll want proof,” Magda warned.

“What am I supposed to do about proof? He turned to ash not long after I stabbed him.”

“That’ll be up to her.”

“How do I talk to her, then?”

“You don’t,” she said curtly. “I’ll let you know what she says. Just hang out here, drink and relax.”

“Relax,” Isaac repeated, internally grating at the prospect of staying here any longer than absolutely necessary, “in a bar full of demons?”

Magda smirked. “Don’t worry your pretty little face, holy man. Nobody here will hurt you, especially not if you can really handle a leviathan.”

With a sigh, he lifted his drink to his lips and sipped it this time to cover his churning thoughts.

For the most part, everyone left him alone.

Magda kept his glass from running dry, and soon the alcohol had his head swirling pleasantly.

He lost track of how long he sat there watching the undulating crowd.

In one corner of the room, two women were kissing fervently, licking into each other’s mouths.

A few booths away from them, a man’s head bobbed in another man’s lap.

It reminded Isaac of Shadrach, the sensation of his sucking mouth around his cock.

Dangerous heat pooled in his gut at the thought, and he pointedly turned away from the scene.

The last thing he needed was a hard-on in a room full of demons.

“All right, listen up,” Magda said after some time, and Isaac turned on his stool to face her, hoping he looked more attentive than he felt. All he wanted was to return to Shadrach, to leave his control behind and let Shadrach take over .

“There’s one way and one way only that Lilith will be willing to pay you, and that’s if you bring Talon’s human to her. She wants to hear it from him that he’s really dead.”

Isaac didn’t have to fake his put-upon sigh. “Seriously? It’s not like he’s going to just hop in the car and go for a ride with me. I killed his…” He waved a dismissive hand. “Fuck buddy. Pet demon. Whatever.”

Magda shrugged, dragged a napkin over, and pulled a pen from the apron around her waist. “If you want the money, you’ll find a way.

Kidnap him if you have to, I guess. Take him to this address at this time.

Don’t be late.” She slid it toward him, and he reluctantly picked it up, noting the address and time. It was forty-eight hours from now.

“Fine.” He drained his cup and brandished it. “This was good, by the way.” He dropped a handful of bills on the bar. It was all he had in his wallet, so he hoped it was enough. “Thanks for the info. Guess I’ve got a kidnapping to plan.”

She snorted out a disbelieving laugh and shook her head. “Come back if you get your mil. You’re all right—for a holy man.”

Isaac smirked and turned away. As he passed through the crowd, he wondered how many of the demons he could kill on his way to the door, if he had a blade.

Quick jabs to the chest would take many of them down before they even saw him coming.

The crowd was congested enough to hide covert attacks, at least for a little while.

The fantasy carried him up the stairs and out into the cool night air. The bouncer watched him idly, and Isaac gave him a salute as he turned away and walked down the sidewalk, passing under the jaundiced glow of a street light, eager to find the alley where he’d left Shadrach.