Dangerous Games (Riley Jenson Guardian 4)

"Good. In the meantime, I'll get Salliane to dig up the dirt on the Hunter's Club and its owner."

"According to Jan, the owner of the Hunter's Club just happens to be the brother of the woman Quinn is following."

"Interesting."

"Why?"

"Because we've been cross-checking the Cattle Club's security tapes, and have discovered Jin talking to a man named John Kingsley on more than a few occasions."

"So?"

"So, he's a very nasty piece of work who's been suspected of several murders. There's never been enough evidence found to convict him."

"That still doesn't explain why he's raised your bad-guy antennae."

"Ah, but see, he also happens to have a half sister by the name of Maisie Foster, who owns a punishment club by the name of - "

"The Hellion Club," I finished for him. "So Rhoan's already checking this Kingsley person out?"

"Yeah." Amusement crept into his voice as he added, "Apparently he ran into Quinn there."

My eyebrows raised. "Don't you think it's a little bit coincidental that Quinn is following the woman who owns the club that is recommending people to the special services of the Hunter's Club? He obviously knows something he's not telling us."

"Which means you need to find out what you can from him."

Yeah, like he was going to tell me anything. He'd more than likely try locking me in a closet somewhere. For my own protection, of course. "You think this woman could be the one raising the demons?"

"I have no idea. Though I doubt Quinn would simply follow her if that were the case."

"He would if he had motives other than finding the person who was raising the demons." And I very much suspected that was the case. After all, the spooky guy in the alley had basically implied there was more to this than just a couple of demons.

"As I said, question him." He paused. "I did a search for that name the souls gave you."

"And?"

"Azhi Dahaki is part of an ancient Persian legend. It's said that he's the servant of Angra Mainyu, who's supposedly the god of darkness, the eternal destroyer of good, the personification and creator of evil, and bringer of death and disease."

"A real charmer in other words." I paused. "That ring I found had Persian hieroglyphic thingies on the back of it."

"Cuneiform inscriptions, actually."

"So you've translated them?"

"Not fully."

His voice was grim, and chills skated across my skin. "What does it say so far?"

"Something about entrusting their souls to the god of darkness."

I rubbed my arms. "But it's just a legend, isn't it? I mean, a god of darkness and lies can't really exist, can it?"

"Humans once believed werewolves and vampires didn't exist."

"That's because we were covering our asses like crazy. And it's also totally different to this sort of situation."

"No, it's not. And there is no reason to believe there aren't things in this world that have chosen to remain hidden while the bolder of our races have stepped out of the shadows."

"Jack, we're talking about an ancient god here."