Page 104 of Baking and Angels

Eleanor snorted. “Okay, so you twodoknow each other. He told me he knew you, but I didn’t want to believe it. So, youareactually Lares.”

The way she was eyeing him, looking him down and up, like she was seeing him for the first time, made him feel like a dried-up milk cow ready for butchering.

How does she know? Vassago couldn’t have told her,Raffertywondered.

Which meant she had to already know about Lares. And Vassago’s smug grin told him there was some piece of all this that he was missing.

Still, he kept his face carefully neutral. “Yes, I told you that when I was introduced to you,” he said as if it were an obvious thing. He couldn’t remember if he had or not; he just needed her to doubt her own accusation that he had lied to herabout it.

The quirk between her eyebrows told himit worked.

Vassago’s twinkling eyes ruined the triumph.

“I’m not surprise to see you two together,” Rafferty commentedbreezily.

Eleanor shifted her arms from crossed to fists on hips. “And whyis that?”

“Oh, he’s just being a bit bitter, my dear,” Vassago said, grinning like a crooked salesman, which he was.

“Don’t call me ‘dear,’” Eleanor interjected quickly, as if it were already becoming rote. That told Rafferty this demonic relationship had been going on for a while.

Vassago continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “I previously represented Rafferty-boy here as a client, much like I’m doing for you. Unfortunately, he made a lot of personal choices that forced me to end the relationship.” He sighed. “There is only so much I can do. You know. Free willand all.”

“I thought we had a deal,” Rafferty said, using his whole will to keep his voice level.

“Yeah, about the deal, you mind if I walk with you a minute?” Vassago slapped his hand on Rafferty’s shoulder in the way he did the first time. It made Rafferty’s skin crawl. Despite not being able to see his eyes, there was a smugness in the gesture that just dared Rafferty to shrug him off.

“Sure,” Rafferty replied, turning to head the opposite way down the hall, using that natural motion to escape Vassago’s touch.

Vassago simply took it in stride. “I will be right back with you,my dear.”

“Don’t call me ‘dear,’” sherepeated.

And he repeated it, disregardingher words.

The demon and the man walked side by side, not saying a word until they were out of sight of the others.

“You’re not a judge now, so you’re a… what exactly?” Rafferty asked.

“A personal manager,” Vassago stated, tugging on the lapels of his suit jacket as he scanned around them at the doors tucked into alcoves. “Though I thought of going with life coach. Ah, there it is.”

He scurried over to a door, one with police caution tape hanging on only one side, still clinging to the concrete. The other side had pooled on the floor amongst some dirt anddetritus.

Rafferty wasn’t surprised to see this door. Of course, Vassago would bring him here, to where everything last went very, very wrong. It was the demon’s natural environment.

The demon in question gave him an expectant look through the glasses, smiling a sharp smile, enjoying making his target uncomfortable. Rafferty had played all these games before, and they seemed so silly and unnecessary now.

“This is the only one that’s not locked,” Vassago said, answering Rafferty’s unspoken question. “Trust me. Ichecked.”

Rafferty didn’t trust him, but also didn’t want to dwell in this demon’s company any longer than heneeded to.

He had other priorities.

Turning into Vassago’s chosen room, Rafferty’s eyes went straight to the carved circle, etched and burned into the concrete floor. He couldn’t feel a thing from it, but the sight of it still made his stomach queasy. Someone had mopped up the gore that had been left by Vassago’s last victim, but Rafferty could still picture exactly how it looked. That image was burned into him. Why it should disturb him now, he had no idea. He had seen far worse inhis time.

Vassago let the door drop shut before slipping his hands into his pockets, grinning under the fluorescent lights in the room. “I’ll cut to the chase. I need to make a modification to our agreement, and in exchange I’ll grant you one favor.”

Rafferty didn’t even fight to keep his forehead from wrinkling.“A favor?”

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