Page 47 of Anarchy
“I couldn’t read his messages before because they weren’t being backed up to the cloud, but I have them now. Dorian wasn’t just messaging with Akul. Vegran was part of this too. Those were the only messages with details only someone in the know could have. The messages with Silvaria have a lot, but Dorian left things out. The person with access to his cloud server is named Hank, but there’s nothing there anymore.”
“And I was banking on that when I had one of my agents pull Silvaria from her cell for further questioning,” Kaine boomed. “Dorian Gray has plenty of properties. If you weren’t planning on throwing someone under the bus, the logical thing would be to rent something at that yard under a fake name and pay with cash. The people who own it probably give zero fucks about that as long as they get their money. So I put her in front of my best sirens to inform her of that and ramp up her emotions.”
“Did it work?” Talvath asked.
“It’s still an ongoing conversation, but my agent let it slip about the hidden cameras in Ripley’s apartment and that Dorian would have known she was going to be arrested. She’s happy to spill her guts, even without the threat I had in my pocket of us telling Lilith. Anyway, the demon that hooked up Silvaria and Dorian with Akul and Vegran is named Salgrak. She said he was really young and offered to put feelers out for the right price. Between Silvaria and Dorian, he made a killing. I’m guessing he took money from Akul too.”
“He’s not in Dorian’s phone,” Balthazar said. “He might just be a greedy fuck who didn’t think they were going to take it this far.”
“I know he is,” Talvath said. “Not everyone is cut out for being in the deals and soul collection business. The first few years after you get hired are pretty brutal. It’s commission only. Not everyone is willing to make deals, and even if they are, it’s not a guarantee you’re the one getting summoned. The ones who want to stick it out until it becomes a well-paying job resort to all kinds of things. Most normal demons just work harder and get a second job, but we have all types here.”
“Fixing your sun is going to take care of a lot of long-term problems and prevent something like this from happening again, but it’s going to put a lot of demons out of work,” Reyson said.
“Good,” Talvath said. “The soul collection business was only beneficial to Hell because it kept our sun alive. It didn’t bring any money into our economy, and the job has always drawn two types of people. I took this job, and many other people did it for the good of the realm. Many other people took it because giving people their darkest desires for their souls was a power trip for them. Personally, I’d rather it be fixed. I’d rather move into a new position educating the Hellhounds that will be free. You know we have not taught them to read or write.”
Lilith looked down at her phone like we all weren’t in the middle of a shit storm. She waved her hand, and another door appeared. Samael came marching through with two demons slung across his shoulder. He dumped them at Lilith’s feet, and she conjured ropes to bind them.
“These two got squirrely when I was giving my speech. If they aren’t in on it, they agree with him and are plotting a jailbreak.”
“Now that we have that information, I think I’m going to go melt Dorian’s brain. If I leave his necklace on, it won’t kill him. You’d better have something epic for these two because Dorian kidnapped my witch, and Akul turned Bram’s twin into a monster. I have opinions about that,” Reyson said, stalking off.
“Keep going through Dorian’s phone, Balthazar. Kaine, keep in touch with your people. I doubt we will get much from Akul and Dorian, but Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and we might get more information from the witch they manipulated. Akul might have sympathizers, but I’m sure he kept this to himself. Even other extremists would draw the line at giving those sigils out, knowing how people on Earth distrust demons. Humans have their own misconceptions about this realm. Someone with a grudge could partner up with humans to try to wipe everyone here out, even if they don’t work in deals.”
I doubted that. I knew everyone was capable of evil no matter what realm you lived in. I saw pure evil when I looked at Akul. I saw it when I looked at my twin brother. If Akul could turn someone who shared my DNA andshouldlook at him like an oppressor, I was guessing he could spin this to other extremists.
Balthazar slung his arm around my shoulder and led me out of the room.
“These assholes aren’t going to say anything else today if they say anything at all. Ripley misses you, and so do all the Hellhounds. Felix gave them a pep talk, but he’s a cat and might be their mortal enemy like cats and dogs on Earth.”
This was what I wanted this entire time, but it didn’t feel like we were done. But they were right. Akul and Dorian weren’t going to talk. Their silence was the only thing keeping them alive. Reyson was holding back because of Lilith, but something told me what she had planned was even worse.
They didn’t need me, but the Hellhounds did.
35
Ripley
Icouldn’t help it. As soon as I saw Bram again, I flung myself at him and nuzzled his neck. I missed that fucking Hellhound. I knew Reyson had gotten something out of Dorian and took his phone. Balthazar had deleted his blackmail material, and Felix left to go wail on him.
Felix came back in spattered in blood shortly after, but where was Reyson? We were all finally together except Reyson. Reyson finally strolled in and tossed his long hair over his shoulder.
“My theory was correct. If I melted his brain while he was wearing the locket, it didn’t kill him. He did scream like a little bitch. I got what I needed. Dorian and Akul had a conversation about how they thought this would play out. Akul intended on murdering everyone who didn’t agree with him and then framing a demon named Mastrang as the traitor. Does anyone know that one?”
Talvath started laughing.
“Samael knocked him out and brought him in here. He was one of two demons that were acting like they were going to try to rally an army to free Akul. If you tell him that, he’ll fill in pieces on Akul’s other crimes.”
“We can do that tomorrow,” Lilith said. “It’s late, and everyone is tired. We should go to bed. We can pick this up in the morning.”
Reyson started nudging Bram and me closer together. What was he up to?
“Ripley and Bram will share a bed tonight,” he announced.
Ah. That. He was playing matchmaker. May stepped forward and looked a little uncertain.
“Can the rest of us share beds if we want to?”
I hoped she had areallyhot Hellhound threesome tonight. I hoped the rest of them got some lovin’ too. They deserved it. All the Hellhounds looked like they had someone they wanted to pair up with. I might step on Lilith’s toes, but I didn’t care. I poked Ravyn in the side, and she nodded at me.
