Page 4 of Wicked (Dark Delights #5)

Shadrach

Shadrach’s apartment was quiet, the distant sounds of the city muted beyond the walls of his basement apartment.

He was staring up at the dark ceiling of his bedroom when the phone rang.

It was one of very few people. Since he’d fallen in with the Sentinels , as they called themselves now, a lot of his connections in the demon world had dried up.

There were lines in the sand on both sides now.

The prophet, Ira, claimed things would get easier in the future, and Shadrach supposed he was probably right.

He was ancient enough to know that time was like a flowing river.

Things were constantly changing. Their little world was in flux right now, but it wouldn’t always be.

The waiting was boring, though.

He brought the phone to his ear. “What?”

“ Come to the Rink .” It was Talon. He was the closest thing Shadrach had to a brother, but he’d just laid down. Whatever trouble the Sentinels had gotten into now, it could wait a few hours, surely.

“Do I have to? ”

“ I’ve captured a paladin .”

Well. That was far more interesting than laying here and trying to sleep the day away. “I’ll be there in five.”

He hung up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

His basement apartment was the height of luxury, and most of all, he appreciated that no daylight snuck in through superfluous windows.

He dressed in complete darkness, pulling on a pair of black slacks and a smooth, buttery soft button-down.

Smoothing his hair back with one hand as he pocketed his phone, he teleported from his apartment to the Rink.

The Rink—a literal skating rink that the Sentinels had claimed as their own—had become a base of operations.

There was almost always someone there, which made it all the more surprising when Shadrach arrived and found Talon alone, for once without his precious human, Alex, and pacing out on the training mats that used to be the skating floor.

“Where’s the paladin?” Shadrach asked.

Talon pointed toward the back rooms. His dark hair was mussed.

He wore dark-wash jeans and a fitted black shirt.

His favorite leather jacket was draped over the half-wall that separated the training floor from the arcade area that was now the meeting space.

“In one of the storage rooms. I moved out the boxes and tied him to a chair.”

“Why did you capture a paladin? You know the humans will protest.” For some reason they still cared about the members of their former guild.

It was why they’d charged into battle two days ago and put down the kalmach that had attacked the Paladin Guild.

He doubted they would be happy about Talon kidnapping one of them .

“That’s why I called you ,” Talon replied. Impatient and snappish as always.

Shadrach suppressed an amused smile. “What do you want me to do about it?”

Talon stopped pacing and braced his hands on his hips. “I know they won’t like it. But when I went to the guild to kill Weston?—”

“You what?” He knew that human was responsible for the attack, but he hadn’t spared a thought for what would happen to him. Honestly, he’d expected the paladins to deal with it, but he wasn’t surprised Talon decided to take matters into his own hands.

Talon rolled his eyes. “Right, you weren’t here for that.

Nathan asked me to do it. The others agreed Weston was too dangerous to let live.

So I went there while the wards were still down to take care of him.

And while I was there, I overheard their Commander Sloan talking to one of the paladins.

One they’ve all vouched for in the past, someone named Isaac.

He’s been reporting on them, telling Sloan about secret meetings some of the remaining paladins have been having.

Dissenters, Sloan called them. Nathan and Ira were once a part of that little group, where they shared concerns over Sloan’s leadership. ”

“This human betrayed them,” Shadrach said. That changed things significantly.

“Yes. It also means he’s had Sloan’s ear for some time. He may know Sloan’s plans for us.”

Shadrach brightened. This was promising. “You want to torture him for information?”

Talon smirked, gesturing toward him. “See, this is why I called you. No one else would share my excitement.”

“They just don’t have the refined sense of entertainment that we have,” Shadrach crooned.

It had been a long time since he and Talon had worked together in such a manner.

He’d thought Talon had lost his taste for the more visceral pastimes.

“You don’t think the humans will mind if we stain their storage room? ”

“I think they’ll mind who we’re staining it with . I was hoping we could get started before they arrived, maybe learn a few things before they reel us in.”

Shadrach took a breath to speak when the door behind him swung open.

“Stop right there!” Ira called. Wolf trailed in after him, grimacing apologetically.

“Oh, dammit ,” Talon murmured.

“The others are on their way,” Ira said. “Neither of you is doing anything until we’ve had a chance to talk this out. God , we were right in the middle of—you know what? Never mind.” His face flushed, and Shadrach smirked at Wolf, who rolled his eyes.

Talon raised a hand as though to halt them. “Wait. The others?”

“Yes, of course I called them all. You’re holding Isaac hostage.”

“Goddamn you and your visions, Ira Faer,” Talon declared.

Ira put his hands on his hips, mirroring Talon. “Don’t use that language with me, Talon. You thought you could keep this a secret!”

“None of you needs to be here for this! Some of the others were friends with him, weren’t they?”

“All the more reason to include them!” Ira said. Behind him, Wolf cracked open a beer and took a long pull .

“It’s seven o’clock in the morning, Wolfman,” Shadrach said, amused.

Wolf nodded pointedly. “Exactly. It’s too damn early for this drama.”

That was fair. “You know what, give me one of those.”

Wolf opened another and set it on the counter for him. Shadrach took a sip, letting the cool liquid wash down his throat. Then he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

“Take that outside,” Ira said absently.

“Why? We’re all immortals here.” Shadrach pulled himself up to sit on the half-wall.

Ira, like all the other humans with demonic partners, regularly ingested demon blood, which made them functionally immortal.

They could still die, but very few injuries would actually be severe enough to kill them, and sickness was nonexistent.

Within minutes, the rest of the humans filed into the Rink.

They were in various states of undress. Luke wore one of Malachi’s band shirts with the sleeves cut off, and while it was baggy on Malachi, it barely fit his thickly muscled human.

Nathan slurped at a fresh coffee, leaning heavily on Storm, his white-haired halfling partner, who was murmuring quietly in his ear.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked. He was in joggers and a baggy T-shirt, his hair still mussed from sleep. “Why are we here? Talon, when did you leave ?”

“I went to go take care of Weston just before dawn,” Talon said, sighing as though accepting his fate. “While I was there, I overheard something.”

The humans exchanged a grim look with each other. “What’d you overhear?” Nathan asked, tucking himself under Storm’s arm.

“One of your friends has betrayed you. One of the paladins you all trusted has been working with Sloan against the allies you had in the guild, the ones who were questioning Sloan’s leadership.”

“No,” Nathan muttered.

Luke stiffened. “Who?”

“Isaac,” Ira answered, folding his arms and bowing his head. “It’s Isaac.”

“What… What does that mean?” Alex asked, glancing from face to face. “What’s happening? Why are we here?”

“I captured him,” Talon said. “He’s tied up in the storage room.”

“You what ?” Alex squeaked, and the others all exploded in outrage.

Shadrach watched them all with idle interest. Wolf leaned on the wall beside him. Quietly, he said, “He’s been dreading this for a while now.”

“He knew about this?” It was rare that either of them would admit anything about Ira’s visions. It was maddening, even if Shadrach understood, logically, why he’d keep most of his knowledge to himself.

Wolf nodded. “Bits and pieces, I think. He always says he never has the full picture about any of these big events.”

“Any guidance?” Shadrach asked. If he asked for more, Wolf would clam up on him, he was certain.

Wolf tilted his head. “He hasn’t told me much.”

Shadrach schooled his expression to hide his disappointment. This was a big event , which meant some things were about to unfold. He wanted to be there when they did.

“What do we do?” Alex asked, looking to the other humans.

“You should let us interrogate him, little bird,” Talon coaxed gently, drifting closer to him.

Talon only had eyes for Alex when they were in the same room together.

He softened in a way Shadrach had never seen before.

He didn’t understand it. Alex was fine—attractive enough and maybe more stubborn than most, which made him a little more interesting than the average human.

But worth all the fuss Talon made over him? Shadrach didn’t think so.

“You mean torture him,” Luke said, scowling.

“Torture doesn’t work,” Ira said. “It’s been disproven many times. He might talk, but we’d have no way of knowing if anything he said was true.”

“ We could make him talk,” Talon said darkly.

“No, he’s the type to lie just to have us chasing our tails,” Nathan said.

Interesting .

“Torture might work on some people, but it won’t work on Isaac,” Luke said scornfully.

Doubly interesting.

“Why don’t we find out?” Shadrach said, his cigarette clenched lightly between his lips. “I’ll go have a little chat with him and find out what he thinks about torture.”

Luke frowned at him. “If anyone’s going to do it, I’d rather it be Talon.”

Talon cast Luke an amused look. “Thanks for the vote of confidence?”

“You’re just a little less sadistic than Shadrach,” Luke said bitterly.

Talon scoffed. “You only think that because you never knew me before.”

Alex softened, looping his arms around Talon’s waist and kissing his collar. It was like watching a rabbit snuggle with a tiger.

“If you want a gentle hand with your torture, a leviathan shouldn’t be your choice. They like inflicting pain too much,” Malachi said, sighing. “I wouldn’t be opposed to handling it.”

Luke looked faintly sick. “I’d really rather you didn’t.”

Malachi wrapped an arm around his waist. “Whatever you want, treasure.”

Treasure . Satan help him. Shadrach struggled not to roll his eyes.

Nathan stepped forward. “I want to talk to him.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Luke asked. “Apparently none of us know him as well as we thought.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Nathan folded his arms, his deep blue eyes conflicted with emotion. “I want to look him in the eyes and ask him why he did it. I want to see what he says.”

“You might not like what you hear,” Ira warned.

Alex, Luke, and Nathan turned to look at him, and Ira did a double-take when he realized it.

“You’ve got to tell us what you know,” Nathan said earnestly.

Ira’s mouth opened, but nothing came out, his eyes wide with uncertainty.

“Come on, Ira,” Luke rasped. “He was our friend. Or—we thought we were friends. If you don’t want those two to torture him, we need to know.”

“I…” Ira flailed. “I don’t know! I don’t have all the answers, okay?”

“What do you know?”

Ira pursed his lips together. “I know this has to happen. It won’t be pretty, but it’ll be worth it.”

“Worth it?” Luke repeated in disbelief. “Worth it? Letting them torture Isaac will be worth it ?”

“Why did you call us here, then?” Alex asked, sounding faint. “Why did you have us all come if we can’t do anything to stop this? Are we supposed to just stand by and witness it?”

“Little bird,” Talon said softly, but he went silent at Alex’s sour glare.

“Yes,” Ira replied, looking bleak. “Yes, we have to be here. We have to witness it. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not happening. Isaac might’ve betrayed us, but we still owe him that, because one day we’ll have to look him in the eye?—”

“Ira,” Wolf interrupted quickly, and Ira’s eyes widened again. He’d slipped up.

“Look him in the eye?” Luke asked. “Are you saying he joins us?”

Ira grimaced. “No, I didn’t say that. Nobody heard me say that. All I said was that we’d have to look him in the eye, which means they at least don’t kill him?”

Luke and Nathan looked at each other, and Luke shrugged. “I’ll take it.”

Shadrach wondered what would happen if he grabbed a knife, teleported to the storage room, and slit the paladin’s throat.

Would that change things, and would they be better or worse?

His eyes drifted over to the weapons table, idly curious.

If they couldn’t change the future, then everything was predetermined and free will was merely an illusion.

That would mean every decision Shadrach had made for a thousand years had led him to this moment. He chafed at the very idea.

“I’m going,” Nathan said.

Storm’s fingers trailed down his arm. Their eyes met, and Nathan understood whatever Storm wasn’t saying aloud .

“I’m going in alone. I’ll be fine,” Nathan promised. “Stay here, okay?”

Shadrach wondered what it would be like to have that kind of deep connection with someone, where words weren’t needed.

“But—”

“I know you don’t like it, but bringing a demon into the room when he’s already tied up and vulnerable is just asking for obstinance. He’s already going to be panicked and defensive. I don’t want to make things worse right off the bat.”

Storm sighed. “Fine. But don’t get too close.”

Nathan tried to look affronted despite the humor twinkling in his gray blue eyes. “Do you think I can’t defend myself?”

“That’s a trap I’m not falling for. Go on before I decide to come with you.” He gave Nathan a swat on the behind, and Nathan let out a halfhearted laugh as he went.