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Reese didn’t miss a beat. “Oh yeah, plenty. I just don’t give enough fucks to bother doing anything about it. Sorry, not sorry.”
And that was the entire reason I couldn’t shake this woman. She was exactly like me, and I hated how much I truly adored her in no time at all. Most days, I forgot she was a demon at all.
“You know if we hadn’t met like this, it’s likely I would’ve buried you in a fight,” I remarked, sly smile on my lips.
Reese shrugged, not the slightest bit insulted by the thought. “I’d be smart enough to run.”
Fuck, I think I just made a friend.
“I suspect he told you something about the remaining two of the Sworn Three?” Reese inquired, leading me back over to the table. When I nodded and sat back down, she continued, “Well, there’s talk the two are in cahoots after you. Don’t want to take any chances, and all that. We think we’ve figured out where they’re headed, and my guess is Nova went to confirm that before we move. The rest of the team will rendezvous with us at that spot.”
“Sounds a bit too easy,” I commented with a cheeky grin.
Reese’s lips twitched, and she bowed her arms nonchalantly behind her head. “You’re right on the nose there, Lady. It’s not that easy. We have a few tricks up our sleeve, but the team is going to be totally outgunned by those bloody beasts Madam Mayhem brings with her every time. Not to mention whatever plague Dr. Sick throws our way.”
“Please tell me that they didn’t choose those lame names themselves?”
Reese’s eyes glimmered with amusement. “Not all of us can land clever names like Lady of Hell and Fury like you can.”
“Lady of Hell and Fury?” I asked, kind of liking the sound of it.
“That’s what the demons who’ve heard about your little dance at Donovan’s are calling you, yeah. It’s clearly a testament to how terrifying they find you.” Leaning forward, Reese rested her chin on clasped hands. “Although, I’m still a fan of the former Half-Breed Bitch name you went by. Classy as fuck and a totally fitting image of you, if you ask me.”
I threw my head back and laughed, unable to hide how tickled by her joke I was. “You and me both, Reese.” Coughing away the remaining giggles, I focused on what we spoke about before. “So, do we have a plan for how to tackle those slippery bastards, or should I just wing it like I always do?”
Smirking devilishly, Reese hummed in her throat. “I’m sure Nova has a plan we’d have to adhere to, but he’s all about creative freedom, and my guess is he’ll let you do whatever the fuck you want with those batshit-crazy bastards.”
Lifting my bat and looking at the eerie gleam of the silver spikes, I smiled a little too gleefully. “Lady likes.”
I LOOKED OVER AT THE man driving us back to his little estate in the middle of nowhere, his emerald-green eyes absorbing the light of the moon with his forward stare on the desolate road ahead.
It was midnight before he returned and announced that we had a week to prep for a full-on scuffle with the notorious two left of the Sworn Three. Reese and the rest got to work preparing the necessary equipment and troops. This one would mean all hands on deck, because that was the level of terrible these two devils were.
It gave me butterflies to think I might be able to kill off some badass motherfuckers, and maybe Lucifer if things went our way. But even should I die out there, it’d be doing the very thing I loved—bashing in pure evil with a smile on my face.
Still, the lingering confession was in the back of my mind as Nova delegated tasks to his team and informed them of what we’d need in order to accomplish the impossible. To my surprise, Nova called on all the demons waiting to go to war, which was easily a few hundred by the sounds of it. To match the sheer number of hellhounds Madam Mayhem could summon on a moment’s notice, we’d need every single person willing to fight for Nova’s cause.
Nova stated in no small way that the power of the two beyond those two abilities—debilitating symptoms of sickness and vicious hellhounds—was a problem all on its own. They were trouble even without their ability to summon a plague and snarling puppy-dogs. Though, I’d admit I was the slightest bit interested in seeing both powers in action.
But if they were as clever and as powerful as Nova, shit was about to suck. And hard.
When I finally got Nova away from the group, ready to ask the questions I’d been unable to ask since he disappeared, the green-eyed demon quickly shut me down. His whole demeanor was new to me, and it caught me off guard. The usually aloof, weirdly gentle fallen angel was very clearly angry, and I didn’t exactly know for what reason. Nova radiated a rage I hadn’t seen on him prior to this, and when I went to ask about it, the demon swiftly ordered that I go to the car.
So here I was, pissed off but silent.
Finally, Nova looked over and let loose a sigh. “I apologize.”
Jerking my eyes over to him, I regarded Nova with a raised eyebrow. “For what, disappearing after saying whatever it was you wanted, or acting like a total asshole when you returned?”
The sides of Nova’s lips lifted slightly. “Both, I suppose.”
“Look, I’m still not sure how to take all that ‘you’ve claimed my heart’ and I’ll die if you don’t love me back talk, but I’ve decided it doesn’t really matter right now. We can’t discuss replacing the mark until we kill off these two bastards. I imagine timing is everything—as in good ol’ Luci will know if you replace the mark with mine the second you do it, yeah?”
Nova offered me a proud grin. “You’d be correct in that assumption, little bird.”
“Then let’s table our previous convo until we do in these two psychopaths. We can discuss it if we survive their joint wrath, ‘kay?” I argued, feeling the squeeze on my chest for the second time that evening and not really knowing why.
Brushing back his silky locks, Nova sighed again and nodded. “I think that’s for the best. I fear I may have spoken too soon about it, and I regret that it may have caused a rift in our relationship by doing so.”
