Page 15 of Okay, I Regret a Little
Chapter 12
Sota
I
needed to regroup. I didn’t just need Barbatos. Solron was off playing in Olympus, too, and I needed her particular brand of hacking. I couldn’t exactly bring that up to Bael. Bael wasveryparticular about what people said about her around him. He let her go off and cause trouble when she wanted. If he got any hint you were trying to take away her fun, he turned into a total bear.
I needed someone to hack Silverhold, and Solron was the best at that. Amduscias also let it slip that while there were no cameras in Scorchwood, they bugged the entire prison with listening devices. I was almost certain Kudan was still there somewhere. He had nowhere else to hide. Demons learned what happened when they sheltered him. No one was dumb enough to risk it.
I loathed kissing ass, especially with everything at stake. I got that having an alliance with Olympus could be paramount for Hell if Barbatos and his crew pulled this off. But what about those of us already in Hell? That alliance wouldn’t save my emperor. It wouldn’t save Rei. Kudan wouldn’t die because of that alliance.
I had to stroke Bael’s ego until he gave me the name of a hacker. This was supposed to be Solron’s mentor. Bael kept boasting Solron had by far surpassed him, but Dakan was the second best in Hell if I needed a demon hacker. I didn’t need the second best. I needed the best, but this wasn’t a skill set I had, so I needed to take what I was given.
Dakan was a shadow demon like Solron. I didn’t know the first thing about him. We knew little about Solron’s past either. She got into some trouble getting into things she shouldn’t with her computer. She should have been punished per Hell law for that. Solron ended up working for Bael instead, and we all knew pretty soon, she was going to end up the queen of Hell.
No one knew a damned thing about her life before Bael took her under his wing, and I’d never heard of Dakan before. Still, I needed his help. I went back to my estate and dimmed the lights so he could actually get here. I had no pretenses he would knock on my front door like a civilized demon. Shadow and flame demonsneverknocked unless your name was Bael or one of the other kings of Hell.
I mentally prepared myself for someone popping out of the shadows in my study, but my heart still jumped to my throat when he appeared. Demons were all beautiful by Earth standards, but it was like Dakan went out of his way to make himself ugly. He took the whole demon mythology way too hard. Either that, or he was just a little confused.
His entire body was shaved and tattooed like a snake demon. Snake demons were very proud. They would have beaten his ass all over Hell if they saw his tattoos. I wasn’t about to bring that up to his face because I needed him, even if he wasn’t Solron.
Dakan looked utterly bored as he plopped down on my sofa.
“Do you know my fee?”
Bael didn’t mention that, but of course, he would have one. People in Hell didn’t work for free, no matter who the job was for.
“No. Tell me.”
“This is how shit works. I’ll get into anything you want, but if it’s illegal, you go down for it. Not me. I was never here. You’ll wire the sum I write down to my bank account. Half of it will go to me, and half will be my insurance policy until I’m sure this has blown over, and I’m not going down with you. I’ll find whatever the fuck you want, but if you do something wicked with that information, keep me out of it.”
“I’m catching a terrorist and saving my future wife.”
Dakan just shrugged.
“Every terrorist is a patriot to at least one person. Someone out there could call you a terrorist as we speak.”
“Watch it,” I growled. “I’m defending my emperor, and I’m working with Bael.”
Dakan’s eyes darkened.
“Fuck Bael. I don’t know what Solron sees in him. I could have given her everything.”
I changed the subject because I needed this man to get information. I’d been around Solron and Bael before. They were desperately in love. Bael doted on her, and if she ever had feelings for Dakan, I couldn’t imagine she ever looked at him the way she looked at Bael. I wanted that kind of relationship with Rei if I could ever get her out of prison.
“I need you to look up three things. I need you to get the file on an inmate in Silverhold Detention Center for the Magically Delinquent.”
“Child’s play.”
“I need access to the audio system at Scorchwood and a way to know which area it’s coming from.”
“That’ll take me ten minutes top.”
“Lastly, I need you to hack the Aether Circle.”
“That’s going to cost extra. I know about those fuckers even here. They killed many demons, and I don’t trust they didn’t have a stockpile somewhere after the greenhouses were burned and can still summon one of us. I’m not fucking with that unless you make it worth my while.”
Great. Bael had to direct me towards a very undemonlike coward. At least he was corrupt and would get over it for money. I hated demons like Dakan, and I could understand why Solron wasn’t with him anymore. Demons never backed down from a fight. We might put it off for a while until we knew we could win, but most of us didn’t need a monetary incentive to do the right thing.
“You’ll get your money,” I spat.
“Good. Get me a computer, a beer, and some cheese fries. You’ll get your information.”
I wanted this demon out of my house as soon as possible. My area of Helldid noteat cheese fries. We had our own junk food that I knew was going to be unacceptable to this demon. Still, I needed this information, and I didn’t have Solron.
I guess I would have to scrounge up cheese fries and a ton of money to get the information I needed.
