Page 43 of Soul Redeemed

No sooner had the rim of the glass touched his lips than a familiar voice from behind prompted him to gulp the shot before he choked on the drink.

Spinning on his stool brought him face to face with Xander.

A twinge of panic shot through his veins, when the angel’s gaze slid toward Shey and his brow furrowed. “’The fuck … is going on here?” Xander had met Shey on a few occasions back at the mansion. Though he’d not been there when shit had gone down with Ferno, he certainly knew the female shouldn’t have been staring back at him with her doe eyes like she belonged there, even if he’d never formally asked Zayne what’d happened to her.

“What do you want?”

“Your brother’s been trying to get a hold of you. For months.”

“I’m aware.” Zayne spun back around on the chair and kicked back the second shot of Elysia, squinting as the hot liquor slid down his throat.

“Are you also aware he’s running on fumes right now, holding down the fort while searching for Denya himself?”

“’The fuck is he looking for her?” Zayne’s attention swung back toward the angel. “I told him I’d find her.”

“I see that.” Xander gestured toward Shey, who remained smiling, but silent. “You’ve been digging up graves.”

“She’s an illusion.”

“Well, I sure as fuck haven’t turned as bat-shit as you, and I see her just fine.”

“She’s an illusion you can see.” Zayne waved his hand in dismissal, facing the bar again. “What the hell are you doing here? Gavin send you to check up on me?”

“I’m no fucking babysitter to you demons. I’m here on a separate request. One that promises a prime piece of ass at the end of it. You seen a Fallen come through here? Long black hair? Tattoo on her neck. Goes by the name of Thais.”

Zayne’s brows lifted in recognition, and he twisted back around to Xander. “Thais? I’m looking for her.”

“Yeah? Well, looks like you got your hands full. This one’s mine.”

“She has ties to the succubi.” Glancing around the bar to make sure no one had heard him, Zayne leaned toward Xander and lowered his voice. “What do you want her for?”

“She’s my ticket to heaven. But that aside, she’s been wiping souls clean.”

“Sins?”

“Yep. The heavens don’t look kindly on that.”

No shit. The repercussions would be devastating, having a bunch of demons whose sins had been erased. As one who read them daily, it took seconds for him to identify a truly dangerous breed from the harmless variety. “What do you plan to do with her?”

“Hand her over to the Sentinels. But I’ll let you do your little interrogations before I do. And not that you will, but if you find her first, you hand her over to me when you’re finished with your little ménage.”

“She may know where Denya is.” He tossed cash onto the bar before coming to a stand. “I got told she was last seen at this bar. Between the two of us, we should be able to find her.”

“I came here because the bastard who owns this shithole is known for nabbing lone female supes off the streets.” Xander’s eyes slid to the left, and he frowned again. “Hey, where’d your girl go?”

Zayne swung his gaze to the empty chair Shey had sat on moments before and scanned the crowd. A twinge of frustration beat through him. Fake, or not, she was the closest he’d ever get to his mate again, and just as he’d feared, her sudden disappearance left an aching hollow in his chest. “She wasn’t real,” he muttered.

“What kind of shit have you been smoking?”

Ignoring his question, Zayne shoved his hands into his pocket, his finger brushing over the small vial of Rapture. “So, who do we talk to?”

“C’mon. Bastard never leaves his office.” Xander jerked his head for him to follow, but Zayne couldn’t help giving another once over the throng for Shey.

The effects of his high had begun to wane, the creeping sensation of dread climbing his spine. He’d need another hit soon, but not with Xander around. Asshole’d probably go back to Gavin, who’d undoubtedly order him back to the mansion. Not that Zayne wanted to stay away from the brothers he loved, but the suffocating reminders of Shey were everywhere. Particularly when he looked into Ferno’s sad and sullen eyes. After the fiasco in the alterrealm, when he’d wanted to kill his brother, Zayne had welcomed the opportunity to search for Denya.

To put some distance between him and Ferno.

Through the dark club, Zayne schooled his thoughts on Denya, because without the Abyzz, every fucking sin up in the place wafted across his skull like a torture porn flick and left a filthy taste in his mouth. Between trying to mentally compose a list of questions for the Fallen female, and attempting to ignore the stomach-turning images of rape fantasies and blood fetishes that the Fallen were known for, Zayne nearly lost sight of Xander, as he took a turn down a dark hallway.