Chapter 2

I returnedto the bar to find Reynard crouched by the flat-pack furniture, all organized into little piles on the floor. Everything had its neat and tidy place. He'd begun assembly in a much more orderly fashion than Zee's and my raccoons-in-a-trashcan approach.

A tight band gathered his long black hair at the nape of his neck, and with his sleeves rolled up, he was clearly serious about fixing the cabinet. I could have asked for his help with the missing demon, but this seemed like a Zee problem—it was probably best to leave Reynard out of it.

"I uh... I have to go do a thing in Demontown." I gestured absently at the door, not sure why I was telling him. He was technically just a guest, but too much had happened in the past few weeks for me to treat him like one.

So what were we, if anything? Friends with benefits? Whatever we were, my gut said I should tell him I was heading out, and my gut was usually right about most things.

Crouched, and with pieces of cabinet in his hands, he looked over his shoulder. Something must have shown in my face for him to ask, "Would you like me to accompany you?" He rose to his full height, carrying a bag of screws in one hand, and a screwdriver in the other.

"Oh, no, it's fine." I laughed him off. Vampires were banned from Razorsedge anyway. I planned to visit quietly, without making any waves. Taking Reynard with me would be the opposite of subtle. "Thank you, though, for offering."

"Anytime, Adam."

Ever since his wife—and whole family—had tried to kidnap and hand me over as a gift to their queen a week ago, he'd been on his best behavior, volunteering to help out around the hotel while avoiding Zee. He'd even helped fix the pipes, since our handyman gargoyle, Claymore, was still AWOL.

We probably needed to discuss everything that had happened, but to do that, I'd have to explain how I managed to disappear an ancient vampire duke when I was supposed to be just a harmless human. Then there was the kiss we'd shared during our not-date—which had been all kinds of wonderful—but as he hadn't shown any interest in me since then, it had probably been a spur of the moment thing that he had no intention of repeating. However, add to that how he'd agreed to help deal with my evil-sorcerer problem, and we really did need to talk. But not yet.

Zee's wellbeing was more important than everything else.

"If you need me, you merely have to ask," Reynard said, after several minutes had passed with me staring at him like an idiot.

"I will." I smiled, appreciating the offer. It felt pretty good knowing I wasn't alone. Reynard had a knack for making me feel safe. Zee did too, but Zee's company was more chaotic and fiery. Reynard's presence was altogether smoother, calmer, more measured. Reassuring. But I was getting ahead of myself. He'd asked to stay, and agreed to help with my sorcerer problem, to avoid his family's wrath, but he could just as easily up and leave tomorrow.

Relying on others was a mistake I'd never make again.

With my hood up and hands tucked into my pants pockets, I walked from the hotel, hopped on a bus into downtown San Francisco, and from there, had an Uber drop me inside Demontown's limits. It was still early, so the boisterous parts of town hadn't gotten lively yet. With any luck, I'd slip in mostly unnoticed, and nobody would have to know. Not even Zee. He wouldn't want me here alone—probably wouldn't want me here at all, since he preferred to keep this part of his life far from the hotel. But there were things about me he didn't know. Things, such as being able to handle myself should Demontown bare its teeth.

I climbed Razorsedge's painted neon steps, and waved at the female demon wearing a transparent plastic coat over glossy lingerie.

She purred as she eyed my approach, then recognition must have kicked in. "Oh shit, it's you babycakes."

"Hey, Velvet."

A broad grin broke out across her face. We'd met briefly, the last time Zee had brought me to the club. "You here with Zee?"

"Uh, not really. I need to speak with Sebastien. How do I do that?"

Her eyes narrowed, probably trying to assess whether I was serious. "Ask at the bar. You may have to wait though. He gets pretty busy."

"Alright, thank you."

"Anytime. Any friend of Zee's is a friend of us all around 'ere." She blew me a kiss.

She probably wouldn't have been so kind if she knew I'd buried one of her friends in my flowerbeds.

I pushed through the main door, and had a demon grunt and point to the sign telling visitors to leave any weapons with him. I shrugged and showed him my hands, earning another grunting snarl, indicating I could proceed. I ventured deeper into the club, where the music and lights throbbed. An occasional bark of laughter sailed under doorways. A huge demon muscled by me, barely sparing me a second glance under my hood. I tried to project calm, nothing-to-see-here vibes, but couldn't stop my heart from racing, especially when I entered the main club, where a large crowd had gathered around two demons performing an erotic dance on stage. The crowd was mostly made up of demons. Some tall, slim fae added a dash of poised glamor, speckled among several humans being paraded around on leashes. Demon bait.

I spotted a sequin-clad Ben behind the bar, relieved to find a face I knew, and tucked myself into the shadows at the end of the bar.

"Hey there again, peaches," Ben greeted with a smile. His sequined jacket sparkled like stars. "What can I get you? You here for Zee?"

"Oh, uh no. I'm here on my own. I need to speak with Seb. Is there a way to get a message to him?"

"Baby, he knows you're here." He thumbed over his shoulder, under his wings, and between the glittering racks of bottles, to where a camera's beady lens watched the crowd.

Was he watching us now? Did he even care?

"Can I get you a drink while you wait?"

"No, thank you. It's okay." I needed to keep my head clear for what came next.

Ben eyed me long and hard, then huffed a short laugh, and leaned on the bar. "Can I give you some advice you maybe won't like but need to hear?" His wings spread behind him, blocking the camera's view.

"Sure, I guess."

"Sweetie, you're not the first person to think Zee needs saving. We've all had tricks fall for us, try and pry us out of Sebastien's grip, thinking they can set us free like we're fireflies in a jar. You humans have a soft spot for creatures you think are trapped. But take it from me, Zee don't need your help."

"It's not like that," I dismissed. I wasn't like those other humans, for one.

Ben straightened, and shrugged his wings. "You sure?"

The phone on the back wall behind the bar rang. Ben went to answer it, leaving me trying to organize my thoughts around his words. I wasn't trying to save Zee. I just wanted him to have a choice. Sebastien had some kind of hold over him. Whatever that hold was, it wasn't right. Besides, Sebastien had sent me a personal message by leaving a dead demon on my doorstep. It was time I responded.

"You can go up," Ben said, hanging up the phone.

I nodded my thanks and hopped off the stool.

"Hey." He caught my eye. "Don't accept any drinks from him, alright? If anything happens to you, and Zee finds out I sent you up there, he'll skin me alive."

Nodding again, I headed across the room to the back door, where I'd seen Seb take Zee before. The door opened into a narrow, double-height staircase—probably built that way to accommodate arched demon wings. Feeling small, I climbed the steps to a landing, where a demon guard nodded me through a second door, and into a sprawling apartment suite with a smoky-glass partition separating the bedroom area from a sumptuous lounge. Storage cupboards lined the back wall. To the right, a wall of windows looked down onto the club's stage.

The background thrum of music sounded like a giant's heartbeat, as though I'd walked into the belly of an enormous beast.

I sucked in two great lungfuls of cologne-scented air, and sighed out.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the stupid little human." Sebastien emerged from behind the bedroom's privacy glass like a snake slithering from long grass. His wings shimmered with black metallic spray, like great canvasses of silk. His spiral horns shone too, painted in white gloss. He wore black and white pinstripe pants, patent leather shoes, and a black silk shirt. He was a lot to take in.

He approached a drinks trolley, and poured himself something smoky and pink from a crystal decanter. "Drink? Drugs? I'll get you anything your heart desires."

"No, thank you."

"Hm, so cute." He purred. "Do I frighten you, little human?"

"No." I lowered my hood for the first time since stepping out of the hotel.

He chuckled, making his wings sparkle, then turned and slow-blinked, running his gaze over me. I knew what he saw. A twenty-something, blond-haired man. Kinda average. Not much to set him apart from every other blond-haired male human.

"I assume you got my message," Seb said. "And you didn't cry to Zodiac about how terrible I am. Aren't you a package of short, blond and interesting."

I wasn't that short. "How do you know I didn't tell him?"

"Because he's here, looking for his bitch, when you and I both know she's no longer with us." He sauntered toward a couch and reclined into it, vanishing his wings as he sat. Sipping his drink, he drew his long white hair over his shoulder and twirled a long lock between his fingers, while his tail twitched.

"You killed her then. You admit it?"

"So?"

I swallowed and took a few steps forward, so I wasn't loitering by the door like the scared little mouse he believed me to be. "If Zee finds out?—"

"He won't do a fucking thing." Seb grinned, revealing small, sharp, triangular teeth. "You seem to be confused, Adam Vex. Cherise was mine, to fuck and fuck-up as I liked, and it just so fucking happened, I liked very much to kill her. Oh"—he frowned—"does that upset your little human feelings? Poor fucking you. What I do with my property is none of your fucking business, fuck face." He pointed at me. "You better fucking learn real quick who the boss is around here."

"You own the demons in Razorsedge—all of them?" A TV screen built into the cabinet on the back wall caught my eye. Split eight ways, the footage showed live images from multiple viewpoints around the club—the main stage area was there, and so were a few smaller rooms—clearly watching the demons inside performing their duties.

I blinked away. Seb had probably watched Zee in those rooms, and a spiky part of my insides definitely did not like that thought.

Zee had accused me of being jealous after he'd fed from unsuspecting guests in our lounge, and I'd denied it. But here, now, in Zee's world, it wasn't the sex I was jealous of, but how Sebastien knew Zee like I didn't. I'd had six months of Zee's life, Sebastien had years.

He breathed in, and eyed me as though wondering if I was worth the air his next words would expel. "Fuck off, Adam Vex." He leaned forward, and his pale blue eyes narrowed. "Fuck all the way off to your happy little hotel, and don't come back. You've had your fun. It's fucking over. Zodiac is mine. He's always been mine." He stood, discarded his drink on a side table, and strutted toward me. "Will always be mine." His wings shimmered back into the visible spectrum and opened wide, doubling his size.

He pointed at the cupboards along the back wall. "I got a contract says I own every inch of him. And you"—he poked me in the chest, jolting me back—"are nothing, fucknuts. You're not even demon bait. You're cum-slush I scrape off my shoe. Now get. The fuck. Out."

I looked up, and up—since he was really tall. He was probably used to people cowering by now, but I'd endured far worse than someone like him.

Zee had told me, when we'd both been sloshed on the hotel roof, that he couldn't leave Sebastien because of a contract. Tom Collins's concoction had likely loosened his tongue. Deals were sacred to Lost Ones, which meant contracts were too.

That contract was why Zee didn't stand up to Sebastien, and it would be the way out of this.

"I'll buy his contract," I blurted.

Sebastien's laugh filled the apartment. He backed away a few steps, to get a better view. "The fuck? You can't afford him."

"Try me." He didn't need to know I had five bucks in my bank account. I'd get the money. Somehow.

"He's priceless. Not even your billionaire vampire daddy can afford Zodiac." Folding his arms, Seb smirked. "I'll never sell."

Ugh, this... demon. I was starting to understand how Gideon Cain must have felt at being denied the one thing he wanted most in the world. There had to be a way. Contracts could be broken, but to find its weakness I'd need to see it. Sebastien would never show me. He had no reason to. But Zee might.

"You have nothing to bargain with. You have no claim over him." Seb pulled an overly dramatic sad face. "Poor baby human. That shit you're feeling inside is your pathetic heart breaking. I can smell it on you. You reek of self-pity, loneliness, and humanity. Now, nice chat, but you're boring and I'm busy. Ciao, bitch."

He turned, and strutted off to collect his phone from a side counter.

There had to be something I could do to show Sebastien I wasn't what he thought—what everyone thought. Enough to make him back off Zee and think twice about taking me on. But I'd already revealed too much to the vampires, and Gideon Cain. Perhaps it was better to back off and speak with Zee, if he'd even discuss his contract. He never liked to talk about Razorsedge. At least, not with me. But things had changed.

"Still here?" Sebastien purred, grin stretching. "Hm, what about a deal? Get on your knees, suck my enormous dick, and beg me to void Zodiac's contract, and I might consider it?"

I chuckled in disbelief. Did he think I was really that foolish? "Considering it means nothing."

"Oh, then you're not opposed to the idea—just the terms?"

I wasn't going to suck his dick. But there had to be something I could say or do to make him think twice about crossing me... Some parting gift. How could I hurt someone like him? Someone who didn't care about anything?

There wasn't much to go on. His suite was luxurious, and five times the size of my room at the hotel. He had everything he could ever want or need at his fingertips.

Although... there was one thing he didn't have. "You know. If you were nicer, you wouldn't need contracts to make them work for you."

Seb blinked, and coughed a laugh. "What?"

"If you weren't such a toxic person, they'd choose to be here. That's what you're afraid of, isn't it? Without the contract, Zee would never come back to you. It's not the club they hate, it's you."

Sebastien's cheek ticked.

"You're alone. Nobody loves you. Nobody even likes you. I almost pity you?—"

He lunged, like a slingshot—wings back—and slammed me into, then through the door, and out into the hall. The guard yelped in surprise, and some demons climbing the stairs swore, then gawked.

Sebastien clamped his hand around my neck and squeezed. Gasping, I kicked out. He lifted me off the floor and pinned me to the wall at his eye level. He was everywhere—his eyes inches from mine, his wings spread, dark canvasses of black blotting out the world. Or maybe that was my vision blurring. My heart pounded, thumping in my ears. I gulped, trying to swallow air, but none came.

He wouldn't kill me, I knew that much. He wouldn't dare risk Zee's compliance. But that thought wasn't much comfort as the darkness washed in, trying to drown me. I couldn't even fight back, not with multiple witnesses, all watching on.

His grip vanished. I dropped, landed on my hands and knees, and choked air back into my lungs.

Sebastien crouched, draped his hands over his knees, and reached out to pinch my chin between his finger and thumb. "You just made Zodiac's life a thousand times worse you dumb fuck. Stay the fuck out of Demontown and away from what's mine, or the next time we meet, you'll be as dead as the bitch I dumped like trash on your doorstep."

I tore my chin free, and tracked Sebastien's leaving as he stomped down the stairs. The demons who had witnessed it all, gave their wings a ruffle and continued on their way.

Sebastien's guard arched an eyebrow. "Want me to carry you out?" he grumbled.

"No," I wheezed, waving him off. "I got this." I stumbled to my feet and rubbed at my sore throat. "It's all good. I'm fine. Everything is fine."

Shrugging my clothes back into place, I flipped my hood up, hiding my face, and hurried from Razorsedge. My visit hadn't been a complete failure. I'd learned that I needed to get my hands on Zee's contract, and that Sebastien was sensitive when it came to friends—or his lack of them.

Now, all I had to do was ask Zee to hand over the contract that tied him to Sebastien, and fight its loophole before Sebastien made Zodiac's life a living hell.