Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“Yeah. He needed a pet, and I love wearing collars. A little kink goes a long way in a relationship.” I gave some side-eye to Penny. “That’ll be the encore. You can come back at dawn for that.”

“Seriously, you really need to let that go,” she groused. “I had a good reason for barging in.” She shook her hand at Roger before mumbling, “I thought you’d be asleep!”

Roger snorted. “Reagan Somerset as a pet. I’d love to see the guy dumb enough to attempt that.”

“You can say that again,” Emery murmured.

Roger stiffened right before Darius sauntered toward us wearing khakis, a loose white button-up shirt, and loafers, his hair done just so. He looked casual and laid-back, the theme and color combo of his outfit matching mine. This wasn’t to mock Penny, though. He was providing a unified front.

“Mr. Nevin.” Darius came around to me as Roger rose, pushing the chair back as he had with me. This time, though, his body was all tense lines, his power pulsing and pumping around him. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Darius’s tone and his stance—body positioned over me, hand lightly touching the back of my chair—clearly communicated a threat. He would defend me with his life and snuff out Roger if the alpha posed any sort of a risk, shifter and fae organizations be damned. He’d always been smoothly aggressive with Roger, but I’d never seen him this outwardly hostile.

I reached back and touched his forearm. “The Red Prophet sent him. Cahal is securing the pilots of the jet as we speak. You can chat with them later.”

“Of course.” Darius pulled out the chair next to me and gracefully lowered into it. Roger did the same.

“He has been waiting for you before telling us anything,” I said as Cahal drifted back into the area, stopping by the bar again. If Roger knew, he showed no sign of it. “I assume Penny didn’t want to lead him into the sun-protected areas of the house because she was worried she might find us…dancing again.”

“That’s not why,” she murmured, her cheeks firing up again. “The sunset is pretty. I…didn’t know how long you’d be…” She popped up. “I’ll get drinks.”

A smile worked at Emery’s lips.

“No staff?” Roger asked in a level tone. He was piecing together the seriousness of the setup.

“As you see,” Darius replied. “Now, Mr. Nevin, I assume you didn’t come all this way to watch the sunset. Please, how may we assist you?”

Penny placed a pitcher of water on the table, followed by glasses. She avoided looking at me or Darius.

Roger leaned to his right and reached under his butt, pulling out a square of what looked like parchment. He placed it in the center of the table, a cracked red seal on the top.

“How much have you guys heard about what’s going on in the Brink?” Roger asked.

“Darius pried a bunch out of me last night,” Penny said, sitting down again. She still wouldn’t look my way.

“We are well informed,” Darius said.

Roger nodded, like he’d assumed that would be the case. “You know, then,” he said, “that some very powerful demons have been gaining access.”

“It takes some power to tear them down, yes,” I replied.

“And you know there have been rumors about a woman and a vampire traversing the Underworld.”

Roger’s beta had asked me about that in the Realm, and my knee-jerk reaction had been to punch him in the face. It hadn’t been brought up since, but clearly Roger knew about it. Roger was too far away to punch, sadly.

“We have heard, yes,” Darius said smoothly.

“The rumors started circulating at about the same time Charity was coming into her own. You have probably heard that they stopped her party in the Realm, wanting to take her to the Underworld and ask her some questions.”

Roger waited for a reaction and didn’t get one. We had heard that, yes. We’d known who the demons were really looking for, obviously. If it had been possible to help, we would’ve, but by the time we heard the news, the demons were all dead.

“Word clearly never reached the Underworld that Charity was not the person they sought,” he said. “They recently sent a few powerful demons to Santa Cruz, looking for her. When they found her, she was…assessed.” He paused, his eyes beating into me.

“Look at you,” I said with a smirk. “I didn’t know you had such dramatic flair. Have you been taking classes at the junior college?”

His eyebrows lowered. “They determined that she was not the person they sought. They must’ve been able to feel her magic.” He paused again.

I see now why you lack patience, Cahal thought, and I felt vindicated.

Roger’s gaze flicked to the parchment. “Devon told me the demons didn’t even try to fight back. They seemed content to be killed, although it proved a hard enough task, even with an Arcana using hellfire.”