Page 50 of The Angel's Kiss
“Well, something has changed because now the demons are looking,” I said and rose from my chair. “If you discover anything useful, please let me know, and I’ll do the same.”
“Perhaps your demon can tell you more,” Michael said with a bit of attitude.
“More than you, maybe,” I shot back. I didn’t bother to stick around. My razzle-dazzle of meeting the Archangel Michael faded the moment he started treating me like everyone else did. It was disappointing, to be honest. Azazel was one of the few people I’d come across who actually showed me respect.
I got a ride to the limit of the shield’s barrier and Azazel was waiting. I walked over to him and took his hand. “Take me back home.”
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
Again, it caught me off guard that he was concerned for me. I nodded. “Yeah, I’m just tired and want to sleep.”
“Very well.” Azazel wrapped me in his arms and I couldn’t mistake the sense of protection I felt. Like he’d never let anything harm me. It was warm and comforting. I closed my eyes and let him take me back to my home. He released me once our feet hit the floor.
“While I’m sleeping, can you do some investigating? Shake some demons and see what falls out,” I said as I walked toward my bedroom. “Oh, before we part. What can you tell me about those six demons who impregnated those women?”
Azazel released a deep breath. “A failed experiment. It was to make a half-human, half-demon offspring. Those demons were destroyed by Guardians.”
“Was there a seventh?”
“No.”
I nodded. I guessed he would know. “Okay. We’ll meet back here in the morning. Bring breakfast.”
Azazel smirked, but then disappeared. I climbed into my nice, comfy bed and crashed.
Chapter seventeen
Azazel
It’s Nice To Feel Needed.
Being a demon, Ididn’t require much sleep, not that I didn’t need any. Lucky for Rai, I was still raring to go. If demons were trying to release Satan, that would only cause mayhem in both Hades and on Earth. I wondered if the three Empresses were aware. I had no way of contacting them on my own since I’d been banished, but I knew just the demon to lead me to another demon who could.
I materialized in front of a demon haunt I used to frequent when I was still welcomed. I stepped up to the door and didn’t bother to knock, they wouldn’t have let me in. I kicked it hard and the metal door went flying off its hinges, smashing into the demon guard who’d been minding it. He hit the wall, growled, tossed the metal door aside, then rose, as if ready to take me on.
“Mind your manners and step aside,” I warned him.
“The Guardian’s Bitch isn’t allowed inside,” the demon said.
“I can go past you or through you,” I said as I came closer.
“Let him in,” came the voice of the demon I wanted to see.
The demon who’d been blocking my path—foolishly so—moved out of my way and I entered the little gambling house. There was a mixture of demons and humans because this was a place where deals were made and lives were changed. Humans putting everything on the line for a chance at fame, power, money, good looks, it didn’t matter. Whatever they wanted they could get for that hefty price.
I wasn’t a soul-bartering demon, nor did I dabble in life, but the demons here did. A human could bet their soul for what they wanted, or years off their lives—a risky gamble to say the least. Win or lose, the price would have to be paid. But humans, as I had told Rai, were flawed beings who made this world the cesspool that it was. Destroying everything that was given to them. Demons... we just inspired them to do what was already in their nature.
I saw Edgar, the demon who ran the joint, and made my way over to his booth. Two female demons who’d been keeping him company parted ways and I took a seat opposite Edgar.
“Showing up at my place of business like this is bad news,” Edgar said.
“Then I guess it’s best that you tell me what I want to know so I can leave,” I said.
Edgar frowned and huffed, but nodded. “What do you want, Azazel?”
I had to control my temper, because I didn’t appreciate the disrespect put on my name. Before I’d been banished, demons like Edgar would never have dared to look me eye-to-eye. Never have dared to call me by my name. It was always “my lord” or “Sir” or “Grand Knight”. Now, they felt emboldened to simply call me Azazel.
“Why are demons searching for children?” I asked, just getting to my point.
