CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ella's demon sneered, in no mood to tolerate either female right now. It was clear by their tight expressions that they weren't here to browse the shelves or buy something. And while there was nothing particularly confrontational about their posture, it was very all business .

Moving a little stiffly, they purposefully made a beeline for the counter. Reaching it first, Maxine gave a strained smile. "Ladies," she greeted simply. "Dionne and I would like to apologize."

"You would?" asked Ella, because it didn't seem as though either of them truly wanted to.

"Yes. My behavior last week was uncalled for. I was simply defensive on hearing you accuse my daughter of theft. But she has since admitted to me that the accusation was not actually false."

Ella exchanged a quick look with her sister.

"All right," said Mia.

Dionne did a little head flick that made her hair bounce. "I'm sorry for taking the cash. I shouldn't have. And I should have apologized before now so, yeah, sorry."

Neither of them are being sincere , Mia telepathed.

I know, it's weird that they'd even come here. "Apologies accepted." Not entirely true, but there was no sense in dragging out the conversation, so it was best to round it up.

Maxine's mouth curled into a placid smile. "Thank you. For Jocelyn's sake, I would like for there to be no friction here."

"As would we," said Ella.

"Wonderful." The harpy turned her smile on her daughter … only to see that the hellcat was idly scrolling through her cell. "Dionne?"

The hellcat didn't look up from her phone screen as she absently responded, "Uh-huh?"

" Dionne ."

The young woman's head snapped up. "What? What now? I said what you told me to say. Can't we just go?"

Ella clamped her lips shut to hold back a smile.

"You're supposed to be … " Maxine trailed off.

" Come on , Mom, they're not going to give me back my job. I wouldn't give me back my job."

Which clearly pleased Dionne immensely, Ella noted, but the same could not be said for Maxine. "You're right, we won't. But we wish you the best of luck in what comes next."

The hellcat gave a whatever shrug and then headed for the door. Maxine bounced her gaze from her daughter to Ella and Mia, clearly torn on what to do. Reluctantly, she followed Dionne, muttering something too low for the words to carry.

Watching them leave the store, Ella frowned as a thought came to her. "You know, it just occurred to me …Dionne's had a lot of jobs."

"Yeah. And?"

"And Maxine is always the one to get her these jobs."

"Right."

"And Dionne never seems to want to work in any of these places." Or so each of her past employers had claimed when Ella spoke to them before hiring the girl.

Mia lifted her shoulders. "Yeah, so?"

"So, what if Maxine is choosing her daughter's jobs for her? And what if it's because she wants to use Dionne as a plant?"

Mia's lips parted, her eyes widening. "You could be right. People do that. Information is an important currency in the demon world."

It was, and it was sometimes used as blackmail material.

"And you know something, I always thought it was weird that Maxine befriended our aunt. I mean, they have nothing in common."

Ella dipped her chin. "So maybe she just hoped to get info on our lair … or maybe even on Luka, come to think of it." It was more likely the latter, since their lair wasn't in Vegas or at all influential. "Nothing's been going on in our lives over the past few months that would make Maxine inclined to send a spy our way."

"If Dionne resents being made a plant, it would explain why she ensures she gets herself fired," said Mia. "It would also explain why Maxine's now pushing for her to get her job back. Damn, I'd better warn Jocelyn to be even more careful than usual in what she says in front of Maxine."

"Do we pass on our suspicions to Knox? He's Maxine's Prime, but would he even want to know?"

Mia twisted her mouth. "You could tell Harper just in case. If she feels it's noteworthy, she'll mention it to her mate."

Ella nodded again. "I'll head over to her tattoo shop on my lunch break."

Arriving at Urban Ink, she pushed open the front door. The place was trendy and bright but with an edgy vibe. Customers lounged on the leather recliners at four almost identical stations. Beyond them were doors to various rooms, along with a tracing table and other equipment.

Waiting clients could hang here in the very neat reception area on the comfy-looking sofas while watching TV or flicking through the tattoo portfolios on the table in front of them. There was also a vending machine for anyone who might be feeling peckish.

Ella smiled at the imp who stood behind the reception desk. "Hi, trouble."

Khlo? saluted her. "Yo, demon witch."

Snickering, Ella walked to the desk. "I was hoping to speak to Harper. I only need a minute."

Khlo? briefly glanced at the sphinx over her shoulder. "She's with a client right now, but she'll be done soon."

Noting that Harper had set down her tattoo gun and seemed to be giving her client aftercare advice, Ella said, "I'll wait. No Piper today?" She couldn't see her anywhere.

"She left early—had to go somewhere with her mom."

Shame. Ella loved chatting with her. She was about to take a seat on the sofa, but Khlo? held up a staying hand.

"No, don't go sit," the imp pled. "Stay here with me." She leaned forward, propped her elbows on the desk, and gave Ella a huge smile. "Tell me how life's treating you these days. I'm interested."

"No, you're not. You want something." It was easy to sense.

The imp scratched her cheek. "Well, now that you mention it, there is something you could do for me."

"I'm not going to convince Luka to let your family into Infernal."

Khlo? frowned. "Oh, come on, they'd behave themselves."

Ella snorted. "Imps have no concept of what that means."

"That's not true. We learn. We evolve. We—"

"Do as you please," Ella finished. "And it mostly pleases you to disregard warnings, ethics, rules, and your own damn safety. I have no clue why."

Khlo? stared off into the distance, a pensive look on her face. "No, neither do we."

"Hey there, Ella," cut in Raini as she sidled up to the imp. A succubae, the tattooist was positively stunning, but she often tried toning down her looks—which didn't work well. " Love the earrings."

Fingering one of the dragonflies, Ella smiled. "Aw, thanks."

"You here about a tattoo?"

"No, I just want to speak to Harper about something."

"Well, if you change your mind on that, I recommend you have a baby hippo tattooed on you," Khlo? interjected.

Raini frowned. "Didn't we agree you'd stop trying to—"

"Do not badmouth Fritz, he hasn't done a damn thing to you," Khlo? griped.

"Of course he hasn't. Because he isn't a ‘he'. He's a cock with a pair of hairy balls. But you insist otherwise. As if we can't see what you draw."

"Imps don't always follow logic," Ella pointed out.

Raini grunted. "Don't I know it."

Right then, Harper's client appeared at the desk, stealing Khlo?'s attention.

Harper approached Ella mere seconds later. "Hey, what brings you here?"

Ella folded her arms. "Well, I got a little story." She quickly relayed her business with Dionne and Maxine to the sphinx, adding her suspicions.

Harper dug her teeth into her lower lip. "Hmm, I'll mention it to Knox. I hadn't suspected Maxine of planting little spies around, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's her game. Her old business partner used to do it."

"I'm not positive she is doing it," Ella clarified. "And I'm not outright accusing her of it either. I just wanted to make you aware of my suspicions."

"Knox will talk to her," said Harper. "If it turns out you're right, he'll put a stop to it."

Ella cocked her head. "You think Maxine would admit to doing such a thing?"

A cunning smile surfaced on the sphinx's face. "People are very hesitant to lie to my mate, and he's very good at making them part with information they'd otherwise keep to themselves."

A little like Luka, then.

Devon—another tattooist as well as someone who specialized in piercings—appeared out of the back room with a darling little infant in her arms. Devon also happened to be Tanner's mate, which surprised a lot of people since hellcats and hellhounds generally didn't get along at all.

"She won't settle," complained Devon, casting her hellpup a quick look. A smile took over her face as she spotted Ella. "Oh, hi, I didn't know you'd stopped by. No one tells me anything." Her cat-green gaze danced from person to person. "Am I missing interesting stuff?"

Khlo? pulled a face. "No, it's super boring."

Clapping for what appeared to be no reason, Ana?s babbled at Ella, her liquid-gold eyes smiling.

Ella grinned. "Aw, Devon, she's so cute." Violent, according to Levi—whose face she'd clawed several times—but cute. Though she had Tanner's eyes, she had the same gorgeous ultraviolet ringlets as her mom.

Ana?s looked about a year old, but demonic babies were advanced that way, so she was probably nine or ten months old—Ella couldn't remember what month the kid was born.

Devon offered her to Ella. "Wanna hold her?"

Spluttering, Ella leaned back slightly. "Uh, no. No, I don't." She liked her eyes exactly where they were. "But thanks."

Devon's lips flattened, and she cast a look at the others. "They've been telling you that Ana?s tries to kill people, haven't they?"

Ella spluttered again. "That's simply not true. I'm just not great with kids." Lie.

Huffing, Khlo? turned to the infant and gripped her small fist. "People are so mean to you, aren't they, Ana?s? So mean. You're sweet and adorable."

"Wanna hold her?" offered Devon.

The imp reared back. "Fuck, no."

The hellcat flushed. " Oh my God, you're all such assholes ."

Ella started to laugh.

"Hate to say it," began Darko, sitting on the grass with the neck of a beer bottle caught between his thumb and finger, "but I really did think it might be one of us. Glad I was wrong."

So was Viper. He'd raided every psyche over the past few hours, and he'd swiftly come to the realization that none of his brothers were responsible for the notes. Nor had any of them been a source of information for other celestials.

While it was a relief, it wasn't necessarily comforting. Because the likeliest theory at this point was that Ella was being targeted by a celestial. Such a thing would only occur if the Uppers had become aware of who she was to Viper. And that meant that the club was somehow being closely monitored without them sensing it.

Gritting his teeth at the idea, Viper gazed beyond the chain-link fence, eyeing the barren land and black forest suspiciously. It was no sweet view. The yard, too, was no one's idea of pretty. There were no plants, no flowers, no decorative items. Only a large patch of mowed brittle grass, some concrete paving, and several picnic benches.

Most of his brothers were currently gathered in the yard. It was easy to tell by their expressions that some were still offended that he'd suspected them. Nonetheless, they understood his need for caution, so they weren't holding it against him. Their main concern was that an outsider might have somehow acquired inside information.

Viper's main concern was Ella.

He currently had Ghost and Rebel watching her; neither had spotted anyone loitering near her home or car, and they'd confirmed that she wasn't being tailed. Well … aside from the guards that her anchor had wisely put on her.

On the bench across from him, Prophet leaned forward and rested his lower arms on the wooden table. "I don't see how any outsider could get close without our knowing."

Sting caught Viper's eye from the neighboring bench. "If it is a celestial writing these notes, the only thing I can think is that they've been following your financial activity. You bought her apartment building. You bought the bar next to her store. You bought the pool hall she frequents. Ella's the common denominator there."

"Yeah," allowed Dice, who was seated on Viper's right, "but he buys a lot of property—there's no reason for those three to stand out. And how could any celestial know he bought the bar anyway? It's located in the Underground."

"They could have heard about it," Sting suggested. "Demons talk. Especially when they've got something to whine about. And a lot of them aren't happy that our club has a presence in the Underground."

"That's true." Dice looked at Viper. "If I was watching you, I'd be very interested in any properties you purchased in the Underground. I'd wonder if you'd done it to be near your woman. So I'd look at what staff worked there; I'd take note of what businesses are close by, and I'd notice Ella's store. A celestial could teleport down to the Underground and move about unseen, if they were careful enough. They just wouldn't be able to linger for long."

Razor nodded as he scooped up a dead bird and tossed it over the fence. "If a watcher cottoned on to how Ella also lives in a building you own, their bat senses would be tingling."

"Spidey," Jester corrected.

Razor waved that away. "Whatever. If the celestial also watched you at the pool hall, they'd have noticed you eye-banging Ella, V—they could have then put the pieces together and suspected who she is to you. It wouldn't take much detective work to figure out she's been going there for years. Dots would be connected. Assumptions would be made. Why notes would then be written, I don't have a damn clue."

"It'd help to know the intent of the compulsions," said Dice, absently running a fingertip along his eyebrow. "They were cleverly written, when you think about it. The phrases on the first two notes are harmless enough that someone might say them out loud in a kind of amused surprise. The third was more threatening but, coupled with how it was delivered to her door, it meant there was a chance Ella would read it aloud out of anger."

"I personally don't get why anyone would go down a note-writing route at all," said Blackjack, perched on the edge of a bench on Viper's left. "The Uppers would surely want her dead. A professional slayer would get the job down fast and bail."

Jester pursed his lips, considering that. "Maybe it ain't a slayer at all. Do you think it could be one of the now-Six archangels, V?"

"They'll have found someone to replace me by now. There'll be Seven of them again at this point." Viper rubbed at his jaw. "As for whether any of them would do this, I don't know. We didn't exactly part on a pleasant note, but I don't see what reason they'd have to target Ella."

"They killed her once," Jester reminded him.

Like Viper could ever forget. "To keep us apart. It didn't work. They failed. They'd be likely to just accept it. The Uppers, though? They'll resent her since, in their view, she ‘seduced' me down ‘a dark path' that resulted in an obsession I never shook off."

"What if it's not a celestial, what if it's someone close to her?" Rivet suggested. "Like her sister?"

Omen's brows met. "What?" he asked, pure incredulity ringing through his voice.

Rivet lifted his shoulders. "They live in the same building, so it'd be easy for Mia to leave the note."

Jester shot him a derisive look. "That's the stupidest idea ever. Why would Mia do any of that?"

"It could be a prank. Maybe she's bored." Rivet raised his brows at Jester in challenge. "You got a better theory?"

" Any theory would be better than that," Jester stated.

On the grass, Hustle stretched his legs out in front of him. "What if Ella's sending the notes to herself?"

Jester did a long blink and then looked at Rivet. "Scrap what I said. It turns out there is a theory that ain't better than yours."

Hustle raised his hands. "People have done weirder shit for attention."

"Hey, here's a thought," said Omen. "What if it's Neta?"

Blackjack blinked. "Who?"

"Neta," Omen repeated.

Darko tilted his head. "You mean the delivery company?"

Omen's brow furrowed. "No. And you're thinking of Letta."

"Then what's Neta?" asked Darko.

"Not a ‘what'," Rivet cut in. "It's a ‘who'. She sewed the patches on our jackets. How can you not remember her?"

Dice sighed. "That was Esta."

Rivet lifted his shoulders. "Then I don't get who you're talking about."

"Neta is from Maddox's lair," Omen reminded him. "She's always hanging around the club, bar, and pool hall." He paused, but Rivet still appeared confused, so Omen continued, "She's blonde. Has an impressive rack. You fucked her in the parking lot."

Rivet's eyes went wide with realization. "Oh. Neta. Right. The hot petite one with the pixie haircut."

Omen's mouth tightened. "No."

"Then I really have no clue who she is."

"It won't be Neta," Dice said to Viper. "She didn't like seeing you with Ella at the Red Rooms, but your woman was receiving notes before that. Neta would have had no reason to go after her back then."

Sting raised an index finger. " Unless the descendant had noticed how often he watches Ella. The compulsion could be to pressure her to stay away from you, V."

Personally, Viper doubted it. Neta's interest in him wasn't that profound. But he wouldn't dismiss the idea.

"Are you going to tell Ella that the mugger is dead?" Blackjack asked him.

Viper dipped his chin. "I'll have to. I'm not yet ready to go into specifics, but I'll make it clear that he's a goner. Right now, she has it in her head that he's her note-sender. It's blinding her to other possibilities. I don't want her in the dark." He rose to his feet. "But before I do that, there's someone else I need to see."

Fastening the tie of her towel robe, Ella exhaled a rough sigh. A hot bath never failed to calm her mind and sweep away any tension from her muscles. Tonight, it had done nothing. Her mind was too hyper over the little mystery of the note situation.

It made matters worse that her demon was all worked up. The entity's need to hunt, nab, and avenge wound her even tighter.

Hearing the chiming of her cell phone, Ella padded out of her en suite bathroom, batting at one of the curls she'd gathered into an unruly ponytail to keep dry as she bathed.

Entering her bedroom, she jerked back as Viper came striding inside. Ella put a hand to her pounding heart. "I need to put a bell on you."

He raked a searching gaze over her, his eyes darkening as pure need moved over his face.

Her muscles bunched. Damn, he could make her feel hyperaware of herself with just a look. She liked it, even though it made her ovaries do a damn jig.

"I told you I'd be coming," he said as he erased the distance between them in purposeful strides.

"I didn't think you'd be here so soon."

He pressed a kiss to her mouth, sweeping a hand down her back. "I wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine. All is well. Nothing to report. I think my bodyguards are having the desired effect."

"Yeah, I heard that Belinsky put guards on you. Good."

"Heard it from who?"

"Ghost and Rebel. I had them watching over you." Viper anchored his palm on her hip, the heavy warm weight of it nothing short of proprietary. "I like that Belinsky's so protective of you. Yet, I don't."

Her brow knitted. "You do, and you don't?"

"The more protection you have the better. But I don't like that another man has those rights to you." Viper moved his face closer to hers, his voice lowering as he added, "Especially when I know you've been in his bed."

"I never said I'd been in his bed."

"You didn't have to. It was obvious by how you were spluttering and rambling and avoiding the question when I asked about it."

She wasn't touching that subject. "I didn't tell him you're having me guarded, by the way. He'd freak and ask the kind of questions I'm not feeling inclined to answer truthfully." She frowned at the odd look on Viper's face. "What is it?"

He drew in a breath through his nose. "There's something I need to tell you."

She tilted her head. "What?"

He hesitated, his eyes drifting intently over her face. "I was there the night that you interfered with that mugging."

She double-blinked. "What?"

"I heard you shouting. Well, cursing. I came over just in time to watch you take the psychic hit. I stepped in and killed the fucker that assaulted you."

"But … why … why didn't you … " Ella shook her head, struggling to gather her thoughts. "Why would you come to my rescue and then vanish?" That made no sense. Unless … She narrowed her eyes. "Or were you up to no good at the time? You couldn't afford to be seen in the area?"

He ran his tongue over the front of his teeth. "Something like that." The hand cinching her hip breezed a thumb over her hipbone. "I'm telling you this because I don't want you hunting the wrong person. Whoever's writing the notes isn't the fucker that assaulted you. He's long gone from this world," he added, his voice dropping, sheer menace threaded through each word.

Something told her that her attacker had died hard .

While it was annoying to only learn of this now, she couldn't really blame him for keeping it to himself. He hadn't known about the notes; hadn't realized how hard she was searching for the identity of her mugger. Once he did learn of it, he chose to be upfront with her … even though it meant revealing something he'd apparently prefer to keep quiet.

Okay, so he hadn't been upfront with her straight off the mark. He could have told her this morning but hadn't. She was guessing he'd wanted to speak with his club about it first.

Ella sighed. "How am I supposed to tell this to my family and Luka? They'll want to know how you could possibly have known about the notes. I mean, there'd be no other reason for you to admit to being at the scene."

"Belinsky already knows. I paid him a visit earlier."

Yet again, she rapidly blinked. "You did, what?"

"You said you wanted to keep us on the downlow. That meant I needed to handle this a different way. I told him I'd overheard that he was searching for information on who'd assaulted you that night. I admitted to him what I just admitted to you. He hasn't called you?"

"He might have done. I was in the bath. I left my phone over there on the nightstand."

"He'll want to let you know about our conversation, because he'll have no reason to assume that I'd be the one to tell you."

"Thank you for being honest. You could have hid it from me to conceal your whereabouts that night. You didn't. I appreciate it."

"I told you, you're mine. I protect what belongs to me."

She probably shouldn't like it when he used the M-word, but she did.

"Is there no one else who could be sending you these notes? No enemies, old or new?"

She blew out a breath that slightly rattled her lips. "Not really. I mean, I recently fired someone. But that was after I'd received the first two notes, and she didn't actually want to work for me, so she doesn't care."

He kissed her forehead. "We'll eventually find out who it is." His brow creasing in concern, he breezed the pad of his thumb beneath her eye. "You look a little—"

"Tired. Yeah. Normal for me recently."

"Why?"

"I rarely wake feeling like I've slept well. It'll pass."

He bumped his nose to hers gently. "I'll make sure you get a good night's sleep tonight."

"If that means you intend to fuck me to sleep, I'm all for it."

"Glad to hear it." The hand on her hip tugged her closer as he glided his free hand up her spine to settle on her nape … smoothly pulling her into a hug.

"You're good at this."

A wolfish smile tipped up his mouth. "You said that last night. I was going down on you at the time, wasn't I?"

Her belly clenched at the memory his words conjured up.

"Now, it's fucking with my head that you're wearing nothing beneath that robe," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper; need blooming in his eyes. "I want to see it on the floor."

Smiling, Ella opened the tie. "I think I can accommodate that wish."