13. Asta

W hy in the fuck would she bring her here, of all places?

Honestly, it's a stupid question. I can probably guess why she would do it. Lea has always been a thorn in my side, but she's smart and strong. Fuck, she's so lucky I need her alive, or I would have killed her right there.

It doesn't help that I know I'm the only reason she was able to do it. No, if anything, that only pisses me off more.

Lea knew exactly what she was doing, and while it might be a funny joke to her, I doubt she thought about the target she might have just put on Aeri's back.

Mortals aren't meant to be able to get into our side of Purgatory. It's a ‘VIP section,' but that's just what we say to keep people from looking too deep into it. No, our VIP section is meant to give demons a place to be themselves. Somewhere along the way, it became a place for much more than just us, but the one thing we don't allow is mortals. It's as much for our protection as their own.

Do you have any idea how hard it would be to explain to a mortal the presence of a nine foot tall beast with horns, skin like leather, wings that span the room, and black eyes?

At the very least, it appears she gave her a way to blend in, mostly. But that doesn't make what she did any less annoying.

I want to wring Toji's thick fucking neck, but doing that would chance him figuring out she's not one of us, and that would be even worse. Lea was able to take advantage of the fact that Aeri lives with us. Our auras are strong and easily cling to her, the same way her mortal presence helps us hide from the divine assholes.

We need a mortal, which is how she ended up with us in the first place. Outing her would be counterproductive.

"Fuck!"

My hand slams through one of the glass panels that line the hall to my office, shattering it into a million pieces that rain down on the ground. The shards do little more than slide over my skin, not leaving a single mark behind, and somehow that makes me more upset.

"If you're looking for pain, there's a church down the road. I can always go grab you some holy water to bathe in, brother." I can hear the amusement in Talian's voice even before I whip around to face him, but despite my anger, his smile remains.

Annoying fucker.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you didn't know your little friend brought in the mortal."

"Are you telling me you did?"

His smile tells me he did, even without him saying a word, and I'm reminded once again why I sent him back to hell the last time.

Talian loves to push buttons. He doesn't care whose buttons; he just wants a reaction, and right now, I can't help but feed into that despite knowing it's a bad idea.

"I'm pretty sure I was told, ‘the mortal is none of my concern.'" He uses his fingers to quote me, and suddenly I'm no longer convinced we need him.

"What's going on?" The question catches me off guard. Not because of the question itself, but because of who asked it. Turning around, I find Bast just down the hall, looking as though he just stepped out of the office.

Bast hardly ever comes to the club. While he might enjoy the mortals, he prefers to do so from afar. He wants to learn about them and their way of life. He finds them and their creations fascinating, but he isn't great at blending in and even less at socializing. To be fair, he isn't great with that, even in hell. He's always been more reserved and kept to himself with anyone but the three of us.

For a while, the club was a safe space for him; he stuck to the VIP section or the offices. That is, until one of our dancers/bartenders set her sights on him. She might have come on a bit strong, but Bast is a high-level demon, a devil. He far outranks anyone who comes to the club. Yet when she started flirting with him, it was as if he were the lowest class sitting at the feet of Lucifer himself.

He was terrified. So much so that he avoided the club altogether, and we quickly realized it wasn't just her, but women in general.

Bast almost lost his mind when I gave Aeri the room to stay in. He knew we needed a mortal and seemed fine when I told him to be there the first day to meet her. That is until he saw she was, in fact, a female.

Apparently, it wasn't just the fact that she had hit on him; it was that she was female at all. Add that to the fact that Aeri is very much so a mortal, and well, Bast was in his own personal hell. Wanting to learn about her and be close to her, but too afraid to do so.

It might be funny if it weren't so damn sad.

"Since when do you venture out of the nest, Love?"

Bast glares around me at Talian but doesn't say anything. He doesn't typically feed into his bullshit the way the rest of us do.

"What happened?" Bast asks again, turning away from Talian back to the now shattered glass wall in confusion.

Unfortunately, my brother knows me well enough that I won't be able to simply sweep this under the rug. Despite how often he chooses to stay at the house, I don't foresee him taking her working here well.

As of right now, Aeri doesn't know I'm her boss.

It's strange, no matter demon, angel, or anything in between, all who enter know who I am. My reputation in hell ensures they not only know me, but respect me. Most often, we frequent the bar in our half-transformed state. It's easier and more appealing, if I'm being honest. But I don't frequent the bar to be appealing. I do it to ensure everyone knows who's in charge.

I have no doubt she knows I'm in charge. She just doesn't know the connection yet, though she will, eventually. If not when Bast hears about it, then definitely when Kai does.

Fuck, I don't even want to tell him.

"Tell me what?" Kai calls from behind me, and I clench my jaw against the need to break something else or someone.

Speak of the devil; of course, we're all here, fantastic. I should know better by now to just always keep my mind protected.

"Let's take the shit show in the office," I all but growl.

Talian skips past me and around Bast before disappearing into the office with a smile on his face.

"Whenever he's this happy, it can only mean one thing for us," Kai grumbles as he follows after him.

He doesn't say more, and he doesn't need to.

I'm the last in, and I let the door close behind me. The whole office is soundproof, not only to keep the noise from the clubs out, but to ensure no one should overhear anything we say, and it's almost deafening as they all stare at me, waiting.

"So what's the great news that has this asshole so fucking happy?" Kai asks, not one to waste time.

Guess I should just get it over with. "Last week, Cassandra quit, and I had Lea out looking for a replacement." I start simple, with the facts that I know they will take the best. Making my way over to my desk, I drop into my chair, looking around at my brothers. Talian looks bored, no doubt waiting for me to finish. Kai appears as though he's waiting for the other shoe to drop, and Bast, well, he looks somewhat relieved. Not that I can blame him. Unfortunately, that's about the end of the good news, and I'm not sure he will like her replacement anymore.

"So Bast is free to come back to the club," Kai says, folding his arms over his chest as he leans back in his chair. To anyone else, he would seem relaxed, but I know him better than that. I can see the wheels in his head turning, and I know he's trying to read my mind. I can feel the slight tickle at the edge of my subconscious.

He knows my power level is far above his, yet he can't seem to help himself in situations like these. Patience is not something he could ever understand the concept of. None of us can, but he's the worst.

"He's not?" As it turns out, he doesn't always need to read my mind. Somewhere along the line, he's gotten pretty damn good at reading my face, no matter how much I might try to keep shit from showing on it.

I bare my teeth at him, but he ignores the threat, waving me off with a roll of his eyes. "If you would just spit it out, I wouldn't have to try to poke around in your head or search for clues on your ugly mug."

His insult only pisses me off more because we both know I'm anything but ugly, in either form. Hell, by mortal standards, we're all pretty good-looking. The mortal women always seem to trip over themselves around me, or most of them do.

Talian does a terrible job at attempting to hide his giggling, but I ignore him pretty easily. The last thing we need right now is for me to indulge him in anything. He has a way of getting under all of our skin, hence the reason he went back to hell recently. The last thing we need is something else setting us all on edge.

No, the tiny mortal female I brought around to help us stay undetected seems to be doing more than enough on her own to keep us all on our toes.

"Bast has always been free to come to the club. It was only his choice that kept him away, so yes, he can come to the club–"

"Though I'm not sure he can handle this much better. Hell, I'll be surprised if any of you can." Talian says, cutting me off before throwing his head back and laughing as if this is the funniest thing he's ever witnessed.

Don't kill him…

Kai ignores him, instead holding my gaze and simply lifting a brow in question.

"Lea has replaced Cassandra..." Saying it aloud pisses me off all over again.

Lea knew what she was doing, and in doing so, put the mortal in danger.

Of all the mortals for her to try some shit with, it had to be this one. It's not as if she's particularly special, but her presence has kept us off the angels' radar. Honestly, it's almost as if she isn't there most days. Of all the mortals we've ever housed, she's by far the easiest to deal with, much better than the last asshole, the one Kai ate.

Unfortunately, that also means Aeri is literally the only one this could work with. She's the only one close enough to us for Lea to be able to sneak in. Anyone else would have never made it past Toji. Mortals reek of what they are, but with our power levels… Well, our auras can mask that. Even I took a second to realize it was her. If not for her unique scent and the gleam in her eye, I might have overlooked her completely, or at least overlooked her as a mortal.

There's no way to overlook her completely, especially not dressed up as a demon. I have no doubt Lea used a bit of her magic to make it all look more authentic, and if I weren't so upset with her, I'd have to congratulate her because she did a damn good job.

Aeri is pretty as far as mortals go, but dressed up as a demon…

Fuck, she's the thing of my nightmares, a woman who I would devour and not the way Kai does.

"Cat got your tongue, brother?" The smile on Talian's face makes me want to strangle him. Only Kai can read minds, but right now it feels like Talian can, as well.

"Aeri is currently down on the floor as Lea's new trainee."

Before I even finish my sentence, Kai is out of his chair. Not two minutes ago, he seemed mostly unbothered, curious if anything. Now he looks like he might just lose his shit right here, and we both know that's not something that happens often.

"Why the fuck would you allow that?" Kai demands, taking a step toward my desk before he seems to remember himself and stops. "Mortals are forbidden from entering our side of the club. That's the whole point of having an area for them." He tells me as if I don't know the rules. As if I wasn't the one who made them.

I remain quiet as he goes off on a tangent, almost talking more to himself than any of us at this point.

Maybe if I let him get it all out, he'll feel better?

"How the hell did Toji let her in? I'm going to go have a word with him…"

I step out from behind my desk and into his path, before he can reach the door. We both know damn well he will do more than have a talk with him should he go down there right now.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason, Kai detests Aeri. Don't get me wrong, he's never been the biggest fan of mortals, not the way Talian or Bast are, but he's tolerated them, or most of them. The last one was strange, but I still think there is more to that story than Kai gave us, no matter how much he might try to push it off as he was annoyed with him. I know Kai better than that. One day he'll tell me why he did it, but for now I don't care much. Other than the fact that it left us without a way to mask our presence, I hadn't cared one way or the other for that mortal myself.

I don't care for any of them, but I don't hate them, they just are.

But in all the times we've been to the surface, in all the eons I've known Kai, I've never seen him act like this with a mortal.

Something doesn't add up.

"Toji probably doesn't even realize he let a mortal in because we've done a wonderful job of masking her mortal scent, something that Lea took full advantage of." I explain, and I watch as understanding lights his eyes.

"I'm going to send her back to hell."

"Oh, are you? Do tell why, dear brother, it's not as if you spend much time at the club as it is, so why would you be concerned as to who works here?" Talian slings his arm around Kai's shoulder as if he's not on the verge of losing it. The smile on his face tells me he knows the danger of what he's doing. He just doesn't give a shit.

"Because she's out of line. Bringing a mortal here is stupid, not to mention dangerous." Kai's voice is low and full of warning for Talian to back off, but as always, he ignores him.

"Careful brother, it almost sounds like you care." Talian goes so far as to reach out and push his finger to Kai's nose before he finally seems to sense the danger he's in. With a chuckle, he ducks out of the way as Kai attempts to grab him before quickly moving away to hide behind Bast.

Bast, who until this point has stayed quiet, sitting in his chair. It's not until Talian decides to use him as a shield that I realize he doesn't appear as upset as I thought he might be. There have been a few times over our many years that we have come topside for one reason or another. Oftentimes, I bring one or most of them, though most times I end up regretting it. We own land, houses, businesses, you name it, and we have it, though most of it needs updating by the time we come around again.

That's what happened with Purgatory. Before it was a club, it was once a pub, many, many years ago. Back then, Bast spent more time there than the rest of us. It gave him an easy way to observe the mortals, most of whom were male and drunk. When we renovated the pub, he'd started out spending a lot of time here, until Cassandra, that is. He'd been pretty good at just avoiding the other women, staying behind the bar, or tucking into the back. It worked well with customers. Not so well with a worker who could easily follow him and didn't seem to understand her obsession was frightening a very high-level demon.

As far as I'd seen, he'd avoided Aeri, but now I'm wondering if maybe I missed something. But that's not possible, is it? Bast has been like this for eons. There's no way one mortal woman could change that.

"She needs to leave." Kai's voice is low, and though Talian spoke to him last, I know his words are meant for me.

"No." It's not the answer he wants, but I couldn't give a damn. We already had to find a replacement because of him once, so whatever his issue is, he can get over it. "We need a mortal, and I'm not going to have you fucking this up again, Kai."

Kai's eyes blaze a bright green at my words, and I can sense just how close his snakes are to the surface. Kai doesn't scare me. I far outrank all of them, but that doesn't mean I want to deal with his temper tantrum right now, either. I have more than enough to deal with on my own.

"She's not going to last the damn week on our side of things. You think just because we need a mortal that the rest of the creatures we let through the doors will give a shit? She's lucky someone hasn't snatched her up already, either as a snack or a pet." His S's start to take on a hissing quality, but despite his anger, his words say he's more concerned than anything, and that catches me off guard.

Even more than that, he's not wrong. She is in danger here, or she could be.

Before I can attempt to explain that, Bast finally decides to speak.

"She can't leave."

"What?" all three of us ask, turning to face Bast.

What in the seven rings of hell is happening right now? I've definitely missed something. There's no other explanation.

Bast remains quiet for a moment as we watch him, waiting for him to elaborate, but he says nothing.

"What do you mean she can't leave, Bast? Would you prefer she end up dead or worse?" Kai demands, making Bast flinch at the harshness of what he's asking. He knows as well as the rest of us that Bast has a soft spot for the mortals. The last thing he would want is for one to fall victim to the likes of our kind.

"Of course, I don't want that, but if she leaves, she might actually be worse off!" Bast's voice is full of more emotion than I've heard in a very long time, and I'm not the only one who notices.

"Whatever it is you know, spit it out already," Talian tells him, coming out from behind him where he had been using him like a shield; his earlier need to hide from Kai now forgotten.

"I don't know for sure, but I'm almost positive she's running from someone."

Bast's words take a moment to sink in, but once they do, I find myself feeling more upset by what he's suggested than I have any right to be.

Why do I care about one mortal any more than the rest? Is it really because she's useful to us, or could it be more than that?

No, that's ridiculous. What else could it be? It has to be because she's useful.

I take a deep breath and push my anger and the heat of hell aside before opening my mouth. "What makes you think that?"

Bast is quiet, but that also means he typically sees things we miss, and given his infatuation with the mortals, well, I can't rule out that he may have in fact caught something we missed.

"Aeri's jumpy, and not in the way some mortals are around us, the ones who can sense more. No, she's jumpy around everyone, at every sound and shadow. She creeps around the apartment almost as well as I do. That's something she learned a long time ago, not just once she moved in." Clearly, I was right. Not only had he been paying attention, but he must have been around her more than I realized.

Either way, it doesn't take much thought to see what he was talking about. Aeri was jumpy, both at the house and in the coffee shop. In fact, the only time I can't seem to remember her being that way was tonight, in a club full of creatures who could do so much worse than any mortal she might fear.

It's ironic, really.

"When she first moved in, she said she was new to town and that she wasn't staying permanently. Her hair was chopped unevenly with cheap dye thrown over it as if she were trying to change her appearance." He shrugs as if it should have been something so obvious, but it wasn't.

Only Bast would pay attention to the cut and color of a mortal's hair.

"Regardless of if she's on the run, that's not our problem. Her being here is, and will most likely end worse for her than if she just left. Mortals are not meant to be a part of our world."

"That might not be completely true, though." Kai turns his glare from Bast to me, but the other two seem curious as to what I have to say, so I ignore him. "Lea got her in here because her scent is hidden. She smells of us, and nobody with a brain cell will go against someone they think is close to us. Between that and Lea's ability to weave the world to see what she wants them to, Aeri might not be in danger here at the club. Actually, one might argue between Purgatory and the apartment; she's the safest mortal in the city. Without even meaning to, we've created a safety net for her while doing so for ourselves as well."

I can see that Kai still wants to argue, but Bast seems deep in thought, and Talian even gives a nod. I'm shocked he's even stuck around to listen as long as he has.

Maybe Bast isn't the only one who's taken an interest in our mortal roommate… I'll have to keep a better eye on all of them.

"For now, she stays, and we watch her. She's doing what we need, and that's all that matters. We have shit to do, so get it done."

Before any of them can say anything for or against my decision, I leave. I don't care what they say so long as they listen, and I know they will. We all need her to keep us hidden so we can stay off the angel's radar. Satan knows we don't need to give them another reason to pay attention to us.

Now if only I had someone to keep an eye on me around her. Hopefully, I haven't just made a mistake allowing this mortal a chance.