He could still smell the scent of strawberries.
Az exhaled on a heavy breath. “This world isn’t for me.” He’d ruled over an army of angels, and now he was reduced to fighting shifters in a dirty alley in order to get his kicks. “I’m going back.”
“Not unless you get redemption,” a soft, feminine voice told him.
Seline.
He glanced into the mirror and saw that Sam’s mate stood just behind him. Seline’s warm, brown gaze met his in the mirror. “If you really hate it here so much,” she continued, shrugging her slender shoulders and sending her blond hair sliding back, “then prove that you should get the free pass back upstairs.”
Upstairs. Where there were no pesky emotions to plague him. No feelings to tie him into knots. No needs that made him ache. Only duty and death.
“If that’s what you want . . .” Sam interrupted, voice taunting as he offered his hand to Seline. She stepped toward him and their fingers locked. “But something tells me that the longer you’re down here,” Sam said, amusement flickering in his eyes, “the more you’re gonna like it.”
Az’s gaze drifted around the bar. Couples were dancing, their bodies too close together. Nearly screwing right there in public. Drinks poured and were guzzled instantly. Magic drifted in the air.
Booze. Alcohol. Sex.
Jade.
He blinked, wondering for a moment if he’d imagined her. But, no, this wasn’t another fantasy.
She was there. Standing just inside the doorway with her eyes narrowed as she scanned the bar.
“See something you like?” Sam taunted. “Because I sure think you must.”
Az realized his whole body had stiffened. He’d even taken a step toward her without realizing it.
Sam’s left hand slapped onto Az’s shoulder, and it felt like a burning poker had been laid against his skin. Probably because Sam was still pissed at him and wanted the touch to hurt. Sam was as powerful as Az, and the other Fallen knew how to control fire and magic just as easily—if not more easily—than Az did.
“Go ahead,” Sam told him. “Go find a human. Screw yourself silly. Live a little.”
But with every moment that he spent on earth, Az felt like he slipped farther away from his past. From his real life.
Not meant for earth. Too much pain. It ate at him here.
“Redemption,” Seline said softly as she pressed against Sam’s side. “It’s your only way.”
It was his only way. Because if he stayed here, well, a very long, long time ago, a certain powerful prophet had predicted that Az might just bring about the end of the world . . . when he killed his own brother.
He’d had the chance to kill Sam before. He’d passed. End of the world apocalypse averted.
For the moment. But every day, Az could feel a darkness stirring inside him. If the emotions just kept growing stronger, what would happen?
Could he keep holding on to his control?
Or what if that old prediction finally came true? If the darkness inside of him grew too strong, Az wasn’t sure what would happen or what he might do.
His gaze returned to Jade. He could barely see the top of her dark hair now. She’d slipped to the side, moving almost stealthily as she turned toward the hallway that led to the darker part of Sunrise.
The part humans weren’t meant to see.
She was a human. Lost. Alone. Hunted by the Other.
Weak.
Sam began to laugh behind him.
Humans were weak, but they were also favored.
“You’re going to regret so many things,” Sam murmured to Az as he pulled Seline closer. “So many . . .”
Az turned his head and offered a tight smile to his brother, the only angel who’d ever been able to equal him in power. The angel who’d fallen when he’d slaughtered dozens of humans. “Fuck off,” Az told him.
But Sam’s grin didn’t fade. It only stretched wider as he said, “Now that’s the spirit, brother.”
Az left him. Intent on finding Jade, he pushed his way through the crowd. She shouldn’t be there. It was far too dangerous for her to be in that wild crowd.
Redemption.
He pushed back two demons who’d blocked his path. Demons . . . they looked just like humans, unless you were powerful enough to see through the glamour that they used. Usually, only other demons could read past the illusion. A demon’s true gaze was pitch black. Darker than the worst night in hell.
The demons didn’t bother with glamour when they glared at him. Az shoved a burst of his power at them and sent the demons stumbling back. In this town, he was used to enemies being near. He was used to enemies being everywhere.
The dark corridor on the left snaked away from the main bar. A few more steps down that corridor, and Az found himself in front of a barred door. A seven-foot-tall bear shifter blocked his way—and there was no sign of Jade.
“Where is she?” Az demanded.
The shifter smiled.
Fine. Az grabbed him and slammed the shifter’s head against the door. Once. Twice. The third slam broke the door.
He tossed the shifter aside and peered through the shattered remains of the door. Another hallway waited.
But voices reached his ears. Men. Probably more demons or shifters. And then, he heard her.
Az entered a cavernous room and, even with the cluster of bodies, he caught the scent of strawberries. He focused on that scent. Followed it.
There she was. Jade was leaning over an old wooden table. Two demons sat at the table, with their eyes too intent on her body. She slapped a wad of cash down on the table’s scarred surface. “Here’s the money, now do it.”
One demon jumped up. Grabbed her. And put a knife to her throat.
In that instant, the dumb-ass demon begged for death.
And Death heard his plea.
CHAPTER THREE
The blade slipped down her throat, slicing the skin—then the demon was yanked away and tossed across the room.
What the hell?
Jade covered her throat even as she scrambled for the knife that had fallen to the floor. She needed that knife, she needed—
“Get out of here.” Oh, hell. She knew that deep, rumbling voice. Az was there. He grabbed her before her searching fingers could close over the knife’s handle. “Run,” he told her. “I’ll take care of them.”
Run? No, thank you. Her throat stung, but, luckily, the blade hadn’t sliced her too deeply. “What are you doing here?” Had the guy totally not listened to her at all? She’d tried to do the right thing, but, no, here he was, looking all tall, strong, and avenging, and—