Page 46 of Demon Hunger
“Has he—how do humans say—put the moves on you yet?” He smirked, a glint in his blue eyes.
What?!
I bit my tongue. He was baiting me. That was all. I could trust nothing that came out of his mouth. Instead, I decided to get some questions of my own answered.
“Why are you doing this? There are rules you’re supposed to follow. You can’t hurt me. You need to leave me alone.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw, suggesting he was angry about something. Maybe I’d hit a nerve.
“I won’t hurt you. Don’t you worry about that,” he said.
Just a few weeks back, he’d been ready to blow my head off, but now he was following the rules? Yeah, right. Why kidnapped me then instead—not that I was mad there would be no torture or murder. Still, it didn’t make any sense.
He brought his hands together, his left one rubbing the right one, which happened to be gloved, something I hadn’t noticed before. He massaged through the glove, squeezing his fingers and knuckles and continuing to his wrist. His expression grew pinched, as if the kneading caused him pain. The angel seemed troubled, harried, and tired. Had someone hurt him for disobeying?
“What happened to you?” I asked, gesturing toward his hand.
His gloved fingers twitched, but he offered no answer. I watched his face closely. Everything in his expression had tightened, and that muscle was ticking his jaw again. Was I right? Had he been punished for trying to break the rules? Was that the reason he went from trying to blow my brains out to this?
“Why are you working for the devil?” he asked, sounding truly puzzled.
“You have some nerve asking that.”
“Don’t you think your Creator knows what He’s doing? This fallible world needs to end. It’s not hard to see that humans are a pest.”
“Why do you care one way or the other? You live past the pearly gates, down the streets of gold.”
His eyes narrowed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
My nostrils flared as anger coursed through me. Prideful or not, I still hated to be wrong. I had no idea what heaven looked like and probably never would, which didn’t seem so bad considering this asshole lived there.
“But to answer your question,” he went on, “I care because I hate this job. I want it to end. Drevan succeeded the last time. He redeemed seven worthless people, and the cycle started all over again, and here I am.” He looked me up and down as if I were the bane of his existence. “I can’t go through that again. I won’t.”
I sneered. “Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a whiny baby? So what? Humans got another chance, and you had to wait in your palace until the threat onuswas back.” I didn’t know if he actually lived in a palace, but he didn’t protest, so I figured it was close enough. “And now, the poor, suffering angel is bent on killing a defenseless human.”
“You’re hardly defenseless,” he shot back.
“You have to be kidding me.”
He batted a hand in the air. “You never answered my question. Has Drevan tried to romance you?”
Why the hell was he asking this? How was it relevant? An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
Jophiel must have noticed something in my expression because he said, “He has. Hasn’t he?” He shook his head. “I hope you haven’t fallen for it.”
My right eye twitched.
He smiled, his wings opened a bit, then immediately snapped back, which came across as a sign of satisfaction. He knew he’d gotten to me.
“Do you know he did the same thing with the last Redeemer?” he asked.
I bit my tongue. I knew I didn’t have to say anything to coax the rest out of him. This was the reason why he’d brought me here, to tell me this.
“You met her, I’m sure. They’re inseparable.”
What?!
That feeling in the pit of my stomach festered.
