Page 42 of Wicked (Dark Delights #5)

Isaac

Isaac wove carefully through the evening traffic, keeping a sharp eye on both his speed and his surroundings.

It wouldn’t do to be pulled over right now—or worse, get in a car accident.

They couldn’t possibly explain what they were doing, and he didn’t fancy a stint in a jail cell while the cops figured it out.

Isaac didn’t recognize much of the music coming out of the radio, but he hummed along tunelessly as he drove.

Gospel was most common at HQ, for obvious reasons, and Isaac had never seen the appeal.

Most of the time when he was alone in the car, he didn’t bother listening to music, but Alex’s radio automatically came on to the last station he’d been listening to.

And this, some woman crooning about her boy being a monster, wasn’t bad. It was quite fitting, actually.

Besides the occasional unhappy grumble from Alex in the backseat, the trip was a quiet one.

The sun was bright, not yet fallen beyond the horizon, but it should be hidden by the time they arrived at their destination.

His heart was lighter than he could ever remember it being.

There was a relaxed contentment in his body.

Gone was the restless need for action. For the first time ever, he wasn’t gnawing at the bit for a blade in his hand, even though it had been days since his hunt with Nathan.

The promise of violence at the meeting was an exciting one, but he didn’t need it.

It was strange—and exhilarating. Was this what normal people felt like?

He vowed to ask the other humans if they felt this way after meeting their demons. It had to be either Shadrach or being away from the guild that was making him feel this way. Perhaps a combination of both. Freedom and the love of a dangerous man were a heady combination.

Near the meeting point, Isaac found a mostly empty parking lot near the private beach where Lilith should be waiting.

There was no sign of Shadrach or Talon, but he supposed they knew better than to show their faces.

Lilith would be able to sense them if they got too close, and they wouldn’t want to risk tipping her off too early.

The cove was down a sharp cliff, and a series of wooden steps led down to the sandy beach.

They would be sitting ducks down there, visible on all sides.

For the first time, wary adrenaline coursed through him.

He didn’t like relying on the mercy of others.

They usually had none for the likes of him, and he doubted Lilith and her cohorts would be any different.

Ultimately, he was their enemy, too. Would they actually pay him, or consider him an inconvenience and try to kill him after Alex confirmed Talon’s death?

“We’ll have to go down there for the meeting,” Isaac said, studying the stairs through the windshield. “I don’t like it, but I guess we have to trust the others will be nearby to intervene if something happens. ”

Alex made a low noise in his throat that Isaac took for agreement.

Isaac half-turned to glance back at him. “Ready to pretend you hate me?”

Eagerly, Alex nodded. A little too eagerly, perhaps, but Isaac did duct-tape him more than strictly necessary.

He got out of the car, glancing around to make sure there were no witnesses to see him haul Alex out of the backseat.

Once he was wobbling on his feet, Isaac used a pocket knife to cut the tape around his ankles—and he didn’t expect Alex to attack.

Isaac barely managed to block the knee that nearly collided with his face, snarling as he threw his shoulder into Alex’s stomach and shoved him against the truck.

Right. Demons could be watching them right now. They had to make it look real.

He pinned Alex with a hand around his throat. “It didn’t have to be this way, Hawk.”

Alex muttered something behind the tape that sounded very much like, “ Fuck you .”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Please, like anyone would touch you after you were sullied by that monster.”

It took all he had not to grin and ruin the charade. He swore he saw a twinkle of disbelieving mirth in Alex’s eyes, too.

He grabbed a fistful of Alex’s hair and dragged him away from the truck, ignoring Alex’s yowl of pain. “Come on, Hawk. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can disappear.”

He had to adjust his hold going down the stairs, gripping Alex’s arm tightly so he didn’t stumble and fall. Talon would probably retaliate if Alex broke any bones under Isaac’s, admittedly dubious, care .

A woman in black was waiting for them below.

She stood barefoot on the sand and held a pair of expensive-looking heels in one hand.

Her ruby red lips lifted into a cruel smirk when she saw Isaac manhandling Alex down the stairs.

Their feet sank into the soft sand as they marched out to greet her, and when they were a handful of steps from her, Isaac shoved Alex to his knees.

“Alex Hawk, delivered as promised,” Isaac said. He ripped the tape from Alex’s mouth hard , hoping it would hurt bad enough to make his eyes water. Tears would really sell this whole thing.

“Isaac, how could you ?” Alex’s voice sounded wrecked, and a sob rattled out of him.

“He was just a demon, Hawk,” Isaac said, rolling his eyes. He jerked his head at the woman. “I take it you’re Lilith? Do you have my money?”

“I do.” From behind her back, she withdrew a fairly small black bag.

He guessed that a million dollars in large bills probably didn’t take up as much space as the movies suggested.

“But first, I want to hear it from him.” She dropped the bag and stepped closer, walking right up to Alex and grabbing him by the face.

Her bright red nails dug into his cheeks as she forced his head up. “Is Talon really dead?”

Alex sucked down a loud gasp. Tears tracked down his face. “Yes, yes, he’s dead. I can’t believe Isaac killed him.” He squeezed his eyes shut, his shoulders shaking.

Damn, he was a pretty good actor.

Lilith’s face split into a nasty grin. Her red eyes met Isaac’s. “You can go,” she dismissed. “Take your money and disappear. I never want to see you in my city again.”

Go? Just like that? “What about Hawk?”

“Oh, he’s mine now.” She smiled down at Alex. “I’m going to take my time with him.” When she looked at Isaac again, all the humor was gone from her face. “I said go.”

He lurched into motion, easing past her as though to go for the bag of money. His eyes scanned the cliff around them. Where was the cavalry? Where were Shadrach and Talon?

The familiar sound of an unsheathing blade caught his attention, and he turned to see Lilith withdrawing a knife from her pocket. Alex’s eyes widened as she brought it down toward him, and Isaac lunged for her?—

Talon appeared between them, grabbing her wrist. She whirled— away from Talon—so fast she became a blur and screamed, “Now!”

A boom echoed across the cove. Isaac ducked instinctively, and something slammed into Talon. Black blood sprayed from his chest, and he went down with a shocked grunt of pain.

“Talon!” Alex screamed. He had a knife in his back pocket; he could cut his wrists free. While he did that, Isaac distracted Lilith, drawing a holy knife hidden at his lower back.

“You!” she snarled, swiping at him with her knife. He caught it and swung at her chest, but she ducked under his arm and twisted herself free, slamming her other fist into his solar plexus. He staggered, gasping for breath, and she turned toward Alex, who was still sawing through the duct tape.

Isaac was willing to concede that he’d maybe used too much.

Talon, with black blood dribbling from his mouth and soaking into both the front and back of his shirt, stumbled between her and Alex. He looked like he barely managed to stay upright. What the hell had they shot him with ?

She scoffed.

There was another ear-splitting boom , and another thing hit him at center mass.

It blew straight through him this time, whizzing over Alex’s head and splattering black blood all over him.

He gasped in shock, and Talon fell backward, half on Alex, who struggled to catch him while he was still half-trapped in duct tape.

It was a gun. A very big gun, by the sound of it.

Isaac spun, desperately scanning the cliffside. “Shadrach!” Where the hell was he? Somebody had to stop that gunman.

“I came prepared,” Lilith said. “I knew there was a chance you were still alive, and I knew you’d never let any harm come to your little human. All I had to do was threaten him, and if this was all some kind of trap, you’d barrel right in.”

She was leaning over Talon, snarling in his face, and Isaac approached her silently from behind, his sneakers sinking into the soft sand. Alex’s hands were free now, but Talon was sprawled on top of him. He wrapped an arm around him, trying to drag him away from her.

Isaac swung—and she whirled around. She wasn’t fast enough to catch his wrist, and his holy blade sank into her chest as a sharp pain exploded in his abdomen.

For a wild moment, he thought he was shot, but he hadn’t heard another of those deafening booms. She gasped, her face going slack as the life left her, and he staggered, letting his blade fall with her body as he looked down.

The hilt of her knife protruded from his stomach.

“Isaac, oh shit ,” Alex said. He and Talon both stared at the knife .

This was not the good kind of pain, he thought wildly as his knees wobbled.

Strong hands caught him before he could fall, easing him to the sand. “Pull it out, killer,” Shadrach said. “It can’t heal while it’s still in there. That’s it.”

His hands shook as he pulled the knife free, a low moan squeezing out of his tight throat.

“I know, I know,” Shadrach murmured in his ear. “Stay with me. It won’t take long. Keep pressure on it so you don’t lose too much blood.”

“What the hell happened?” Nathan called as the others reached them. There was a splash of black blood on Luke’s T-shirt, but otherwise they all looked unharmed.

Isaac didn’t know, and spots danced in front of his vision, tempting his eyes to close.

Shadrach answered. “There was a gunman up on the ridge there. A human. That’s why none of us could sense him. He had that.”

Isaac turned his head, realizing the gun lay in the sand beside them. Shadrach must have dropped it when he appeared. Nathan picked it up, pulling the slide back and ejecting the bullet. It was almost as long as his hand .

“Anti-tank rounds,” Shadrach said. “She wasn’t fucking around.”

“Clever,” Storm said begrudgingly.

“Not clever enough,” Isaac rasped, and Talon met his eyes. For the first time since they’d met, Isaac felt like there was an understanding taking place between them. She’d tried to kill them both and failed.

Alex raised a tearful gaze toward Shadrach, cradling Talon in his arms the same way Shadrach was cradling Isaac. There was significantly more blood on Talon and Alex, though. “Is Talon going to be okay?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine once he heals. We’re lucky she couldn’t get her hands on any holy water. If the rest of us hadn’t been here, she might’ve won this. Those shots were enough to put him down for a while. Long enough for her to end him herself, if that was her plan.”

Talon’s eyes rolled with stubborn attitude, but he didn’t try to speak.

Shadrach huffed out a laugh. “Obviously she didn’t account for the rest of us. Wounds that big will take a while to heal. Time and rest will be key. Maybe a little of your blood to take the edge off,” he added to Alex.

“Anything,” Alex swore. “Anything you need, okay?” he added, softer, to Talon.

One round appeared to have gone through his lower ribs, while the other hit him almost directly in the center of his chest. Without holy inscriptions or holy oil on the rounds—which, thankfully, Lilith didn’t have access to—Talon would live to see another day, no matter how mangled his body was right now.

“What took you guys so long?” Shadrach asked the others.

“Halflings intercepted us,” Nathan said. “We’re all okay. She obviously expected a trap.”

“She’s dead now, so who cares?” Shadrach said. “Killer, you okay?”

Isaac nodded, peeling his blood-soaked shirt up. “It’s healing.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Shadrach purred, kissing his cheek. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Isaac huffed out a laugh, realizing he was also relieved. Not because he was fine, no, but because Shadrach was. It could just as easily have been Shadrach who’d appeared to take on Lilith. How would he have felt to see Shadrach on the ground and bleeding like Talon?

His gut twisted at the thought, and he turned to seal his mouth against Shadrach’s, desperate for contact. Shadrach hummed, bringing his hands up to frame Isaac’s face. The reverent touch had claws, sinking deep within Isaac and taking root. He never wanted it to stop.

“She was going to kill them,” Isaac said, letting his eyes drift closed. “If anybody’s gonna kill Talon, it’ll be me.”

It was a stupid joke. He didn’t expect a reaction from anyone, but a groaning laugh barked out of Talon, and Isaac opened his eyes to see mirth twinkling in the demon’s dark eyes. Maybe they could find some common ground, after all.

“F’king bitch,” Talon groaned, glaring at the dusty black clothes that remained where Lilith had once been.

“Good riddance,” Wolf said. “Although the demon world will be in an uproar for a while until new leadership steps up.”

Talon waved a dismissive hand.

“Well, now what?” Nathan asked, glancing at Lilith’s remains with an expression of distaste.

Shadrach sighed. “I’ll take Talon and Alex back to their place. They can’t be seen like this.”

“One of us can drive Alex’s truck back to the Rink,” Ira offered. “Best to get it away from here, especially if there’s a dead body up there on the ridge somewhere.”

“There definitely is,” Shadrach said glibly. “That way.” He pointed at the cliff behind them. Someone would find it eventually. It wouldn’t be traced back to any of them, so it didn’ t matter.

“Are you okay to wait here for a few seconds while I carry Talon and Alex home?” Shadrach asked.

Isaac nodded. “The wound is closed. Now I’m just tired.”

“We’ll wait with him,” Luke promised.

“Give me twenty seconds to take them home, and then I’ll be right back here,” Shadrach promised.

When he moved away, Isaac laid back in the sand and breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, and everyone was okay.