Page 18 of The Magic of Revenge
Just then, a door behind the table opened and a man stepped out. This dude was massive. Every bit as tall as Cam, but with a more sinister edge to him. His dark hair was thick and short, and his face was clean-shaven.This must be Asrael.
Of course, this guy was dressed in a pinstriped suit like a fucking mobster. He smiled, but it wasn't kind. It was threatening and chilling, and power radiated off of him in waves.
"Asrael. Welcome home," Laurie crooned, standing from her chair and rushing over to him, placing a kiss on his cheek.
Sloane kicked me under the table and I knew what he was thinking. This dude was bad news. I never knew if it was because Sloane had the asshole affliction himself that it made it easier for him to detect fellow assholes, but he was a beast at picking them out. Takes one to know one and all that, right?
"I see our guests have arrived. Long time no see, gentlemen."
Um, what? I've never met this man before in my fucking life. Fact. There was no way you could convince me otherwise. Something told me that if you were ever introduced to Asrael, there's no way you could ever forget that moment. I knew I'd be replaying this one over and over for years.
He moved through the room with purpose, leaving Laurie where she was. Asrael sat in Laurie's seat, his focus now on the dark-haired beauty next to him. "Palmer, a pleasure. As always." He lifted Palmer's hand, giving the back of it a soft kiss and she blushed.Interesting. Very interesting indeed.
My gaze darted to Laurie just in time to see her stare daggers at Asrael’s back with narrowed eyes, but the expression faded so quickly I almost second-guessed if I'd seen it at all.
"Oh, Asrael. Such a charmer. It's good to see you too, though, it's been too long," Palmer said with a smile, taking a sip of her wine.
"You'll have to forgive us, Sir. Our memory seems to be a little hazy after the last assignment. I have to admit, I don't recall having met you before," Sloane admitted and Asrael slowly turned his attention from Palmer to Sloane.
Oof. The dude's gaze was like staring into the pits of hell. Evil lived there. Dark and malevolent, the color of his eyes matching what I was sure the color of his soul would be if he had one. Black.
"Not a problem, Mr. Sullivan. I remember meeting you. All of you, in fact. You've been valuable assets to my company. Laurie filled me in on what happened with Fischer," he added, softening his tone half a decibel. He was going for sympathetic, but he just looked constipated.
All that did was solidify my impression of the man. Anyone who had to try to act human, to show basic human emotion, wasn't someone that I wanted to be associated with. And I didn’t mean people who were socially awkward. I meant sociopaths and psychopaths. My money was on the latter for this dude.
"Well, thank you for letting us stay here. This place is beautiful," Cam commented, no doubt picking up on the man's ego and deciding to stroke it a bit.
Asrael took the bait and sat up straighter in his chair. "It is, isn't it?" He looked around the table, realizing he didn't have a beverage yet. A server materialized almost like he'd conjured her out of thin air. "Laurie. Come sit down, darling. We're ready to eat," he said with a tone of exasperation, like she was the one holding up dinner when in fact, we'd all been sitting around waiting for him.
Classic gaslighting. Damn, I was going to have to google the checklist for Antisocial Personality Disorder later...
Laurie ignored his comment, walking around him and taking the spot to his right. The moment her ass hit the chair, the servers brought out salads for everyone. Asrael wasted no fucking time digging in.
"So, to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? I'm sure you're a very busy man," Cam added, continuing to feed this guy's ego.
"Indeed." He took another bite of salad and I was positive he was chewing as slowly as possible just to make us uncomfortable. What felt like eighty-four years later, he swallowed and then chased it down with his alcohol. "I asked Laurie to bring you here for a few reasons. It's been a long time since all of us have sat down together and it's long overdue."
Damn, the guy was a great liar. If we hadn't already figured out something was off, I would've believed him with zero hesitation.
Cam nodded in agreement, like he'd missed this big devil man. I swallowed a snort.
"The other reason involves an assignment, and I do not discuss work at the dinner table. We can meet in a couple of days time and I will fill you in on all of that." He paused, looking over my head. "Ah, here's the main course."
A plate was sat down before me, filled with a steak the size of my head, a baked potato overflowing with green onion, bacon, and butter, and a roasted vegetable medley.Gods, these people sure do know how to eat. Let's see if it tastes as good as it smells.
"So, Palmer, how long have you been with Montague?" Sloane piped up.
She paused, her fork nearly at her mouth with a juicy bite of steak stabbed onto the end. "I've been here since I was sixteen," she told him, and then devoured the bite on her fork.
"Sixteen? Didn't your parents have something to say about that?" Sloane questioned and I watched Palmer's face fall, but she regained her composure quickly.
"Well, that played a big part in how she came to be a resident at such a young age. Her parents were taken from her when she was young," Laurie explained, eyeing Palmer with something that didn’t quite pass as pity as she talked. The latter was giving her an impressive death stare.
Cam nodded, understanding what that was like. One day we were going to destroy the person who’d killed Cam's mothers and his kid brother, Hunter.
"We take pride in employing the rarest and most powerful witches and mages," Asrael boasted. "We help people meet their full potential, then we push further. My studies have found that when you think you've figured out everything your magic is capable of, there is always more. It's just a matter of digging deep and wanting it."
Maybe the man had a point. Considering what he said, I decided that later I'd sink deep into my psyche and search for my panther. Bagheera wouldn't leave me like this without good reason. Fuck, even back when I was freshly awakened and called him every name under the sun he hadn’t left.
