Eve of Chaos (4 page)

The demon was a
Nix—a Germanic shape-shifting water spirit. He’d targeted her almost from the
moment she had been marked, then made a nuisance of himself until she killed
him. Correction: She’d
thought
she killed him.

She
would
kill
him. This particular Nix had taken the life of her neighbor Mrs. Basso. Sweet,
forthright, widowed Mrs. Basso who had been a beloved friend. Eve’s need for
vengeance was what motivated her when the damned Infernal bounty hunting got
tough.

Pulling away
from Reed, she limped down the hallway to her master bedroom. The crash of the
waves against the shore pulsed in through the living room balcony’s open
sliding glass door. In her premarked life, she’d been an interior designer. Her
condo had been one of her first projects, and the space remained one of her
favorites. Even the mistakes she’d made in the layout were fond ones. She
wouldn’t change a thing. She felt safe here, less like a demon killer and more
like herself.

Eve absorbed the
calm she found in her home with deep, even breaths.

Reed called
after her, his tone both seductive and challenging. “Need help getting naked?”

She sighed
inwardly. Outside these walls, the worst of Hell’s denizens were converging en
masse. She would need to be ready when she ventured out again.

As if her love
life wasn’t dangerous enough.

Eve climbed onto
one of the Shaker-style bar stools at her kitchen island. “You know, I wish the
demons I killed would stay dead.”

In truth, they
usually exploded into ash like the
yuki-onna
had and were returned to
Hell where they were punished for blowing their chance to play with mortals.
She was the only Mark to have vanquished the same demon more than once.

“Hey,” Diego
Montevista protested from his seat on the stool beside her. “I’m alive for the
same reason they came back to haunt you.”

She smiled.
“That’s right. And you’re worth it.”

Montevista—previously
the archangel Raguel’s chief of security and one badass Mark—bumped shoulders
with her. “Damn straight.”

Mira Sydney
frowned from her position at the other end of the island. Like her partner,
Montevista, she was dressed in head-to-toe black—parachute pants and cotton
T-shirt, with thigh holsters for both a 9mm and a dagger. “I still don’t
understand how that worked.”

Montevista was
large and forbidding, but his lieutenant was tiny and sweet-natured. Fair to
his dark, Caucasian to his Latino. But it was clear that decades of working
together had created a strong affinity between them. Alec had assigned them to
Eve’s protection detail after the Obon festival. After all, Cain of Infamy
didn’t need the same protection that the other archangels did. Eve didn’t mind.
She’d bonded with both Montevista and Sydney during her training— infamous for
being the worst Mark training disaster in history. Out of a class of nine, only
three survived. And Raguel Gadara had been taken; the first and only successful
archangel abduction.

“The world’s
gone to shit since Eve hit the scene,” Reed grumbled from the stove where he
was stir- frying homemade Kung Pao chicken. He was clearly unhappy to have
company during their date.

“Gee, thanks,”
Eve said.

His mouth curved
in a devilish smile that contrasted sharply with the wings and halo he
occasionally sported for shock value. There was very little that could be
called angelic about Reed. “At least you’re good eye candy.”

Eve groaned. He
winked.

As gorgeous as
Reed was—and he looked especially fine with an apron tied over his usual elegant
attire—he had some seriously rough edges. But she didn’t want to smooth them
away; she wanted to understand them. She knew firsthand that he was the type of
man who could lure a woman to sin with just a look. Charm wasn’t a necessity.
Still, Eve strongly suspected that some of the crudity that spilled from his
mouth was due to his nervousness around her. It was oddly endearing that he
would be so affected by her. She couldn’t resist exploring the attraction
further.

Sydney cleared
her throat. “Tell me the whole story. From the beginning.”

Eve looked at
her. “Surely you’ve heard it too many times already.”

“Not from the
source I want to hear it from you.”

“All right.” Eve
leaned into the counter. “When I was a newbie, I stumbled across a tengu who
didn’t smell like shit and had no details. I told Cain. We told Gadara. Gadara
told us to find out where the demon came from. Abel agreed and put the order
through.”

Sydney shot a
quick glance at Reed. “I remember hearing that you were assigned to a hunt
before training.”

Reed’s features
took on a stony cast. As Eve’s handler, he was the only person who could put
her to work. Marks weren’t supposed to hunt before they were fully trained.

Eve nodded. “In
his defense, no one believed me. They thought I was in transition and my Mark
senses hadn’t fully kicked in yet.”

“How green were
you?” Montevista asked.

“A day or two.”

Sydney whistled.

“Yeah. Rotten,”
Eve agreed. “Especially after I proved I wasn’t nuts and we
still
had to
track down the source of the tengu’s abilities.”

“The masking
agent,” Montevista offered. “Stuff that temporarily hides Infernal stench and
details.”

“That’s what
they started calling it. Cain and I discovered that they were producing and
distributing the mask out of a masonry located less than an hour’s drive from
here.”

“Ah.” Sydney
grinned. “Upland.”

Eve nodded
sheepishly. She was never going to live that down. “The masking agent was
concocted from blood and bone meal made from Marks, animals, and Infernals.
Plus spells and other stuff. Cain came up with the idea to destroy the mask
ingredients in the masonry’s giant roller kiln. I came up with the idea to toss
the Nix in there and evaporate him, too. Abel came up with the idea to lock the
Black Diamond Pack’s heir in the kiln room. And it was God’s idea of a joke to
make the masking agent a life preserver when cooked at high heat. It kept the
wolf and Nix alive when they should have been blown to smithereens. It’s also
what saved Montevista a few weeks later.”

Sydney shot a concerned
glance skyward. When lightning didn’t strike Eve for her blasphemy, she said,
“I heard the kiln explosion left a crater in the ground the size of a city
block.”

“At least.” Reed
snorted. “It was like a mini—atomic bomb.”

Montevista
grinned. “The stories aren’t exaggerations.”

“Wow.” Sydney
looked at Eve. “So, you killed the wolf a second time, but the Nix showed up
today at the festival.”

“Exactly.” Eve’s
fingertips traced the veins within the granite countertop. “In fact, the police
left a message on my voice mail this afternoon. I wish they would have called
yesterday or even this morning. Then I would have been prepared for the Nix to
pop up.”

Pausing his
stirring, Reed stared hard at her. “The same detectives who are investigating
Mrs. Basso’s death?”

“The ones from
Anaheim, yes. Jones and Ingram. I haven’t heard from the Huntington Beach
Police since their initial interview.”

“What do they
want?”

“To talk to me.
They didn’t give any specifics. I’m guessing the Nix might be back to his old
tricks. He’d already killed a dozen people before Mrs. Basso, so I can’t see
him stopping now.” Her chest ached at the thought of her neighbor. “I don’t
understand why we weren’t hunting him a long time ago. Isn’t it our purpose to
save lives?”

I’m sorry,
babe.
The sympathy in Reed’s tone
elicited a grateful smile from her.

Montevista gave
her hand a commiserating squeeze. “No one knows what criteria the seraphim use
to target Infernals.”

Most demons kept
a low profile. Being too obvious not only pissed off God, it pissed off Satan,
too. Neither of the two was ready for Armageddon just yet. Satan wasn’t
powerful enough, and God liked things the way they were.

But the Nix was
too cocky. He’d been killing women all over Orange County and leaving distinctive
“calling cards” that caught the attention of the police—a water lily floating
in a Crate and Barrel punch bowl. The death of Mrs. Basso had brought notice to
Eve, too, who’d unfortunately had her own Nix calling

card sitting in
plain sight on the coffee table. Now, the detectives were looking at her for
information she couldn’t provide. Replying with,
There’s a rogue demon on
the loose, but don’t worry because I’m a demon slayer for God,
wasn’t the
way to alleviate their concerns

Alec suddenly
appeared on her left side, shifting into her home without warning. “Let me
guess: Kung Pao chicken.”

“Good nose.” Eve
looked back and forth between the two brothers, noting the perpetual tension
that filled a room when they were both in it. Alec should have knocked Since he
lived in Mrs. Basso’s old condominium next door, it Wouldn’t have been a
hardship. But a traditional entry Wouldn’t have the same irritate-Reed factor.

Alec set one
hand on the countertop and the other on the back of Eve’s stool. Leaning in, he
pressed his lips to her temple. “If Abel’s cooking for a girl,” he murmured,
“it’s always Kung Pao.”

“Really?”
She looked at Reed with raised brows.

Montevista’s
dark eyes filled with amusement. Sydney glanced away with a half-smile.

Reed glared. “If
you count ‘always’ as being a onetime thing in nineteenth century China. We’d
get more mileage talking about Cain’s ‘Hop on, baby, let me take you for a
ride’ spiel. You think I suck at pickup lines—”

“I’ve actually
got something worth riding on,” Alec drawled.

Reed’s bamboo
spoon hit the side of the wok with a clatter. “Saddle up and fuck off, then,
shithead. No one invited you over.”

Eve slid off the
stool. “Enough. Satan’s lackeys are after me and you two want to argue about
who’s more adept at getting laid?”

“He started it’
Reed snapped.

“I’m finishing
it.” Eve wished a shot of liquor was an option. Unfortunately, mind-altering
substances were ineffectual in her mark-enhanced body. She crossed her arms and
asked Alec, “Did you come over because you have some news for us?”

He shook his
head. “That’s the problem. Not a word on the streets about this supposed
bounty. We’d expect to hear
something
through an informant or an
Infernal seeking shelter, but it’s dead quiet.”

“You had to
barge in on our date to say you don’t have anything to say?” Reed growled.

“No.” Alec
smirked. “I had to barge in because it pisses you off.”

Eve snapped her
fingers to bring their attention back to her. “The fact that we’ve been busier
than usual can’t be a coincidence, since you’re always telling me there is. no
such thing.”

Alec nodded.
“Right. I’m still digging.”

“Also..
.
thinking about that night in Upland brings up
something important that I forgot until just now.”

Four pairs of
eyes trained on her.

“The Nix said
something to me,” she went on, “just before I rolled him into the kiln. I
asked, ‘Why me?’ and he answered, ‘I do what I’m told.’”

“You didn’t tell
me this before,” Alec accused.

“I’m
sorry
.”
And she meant it.
Staying alive meant not dropping the ball. “He was dead and sent back to Hell.
I was trying not to join him. The memory got lost in my brain.”

“Shit. This is
why you’re not supposed to be able to shut us out.”

Eve didn’t know
how or why she was sometimes able to circumvent the inherent connection between
Marks and their superiors, but she was grateful. A woman had to have her
secrets, especially while embroiled in a contentious relationship triangle.

She continued
before they got off on a tangent. “I also noticed something new today—his details
say he’s now one of Asmodeus’s lackeys.”