Working for the Devil

CHAPTER 31

The next day was hot and breathless, thunder rumbling off and on, the light taking on a weird gray-green cast. I spent most of the day trying to sleep, sprawled on the small bed. Japhrimel dragged his chair up to the side of the bed and watched me, his green eyes veiled. I didn't speak much. I slept thinly, tossing and turning, waking with my katana still clenched in my hands and the same muggy heat lying over the city.

And Japhrimel's green eyes resting on me, oddly dark. Glazed.

My mind kept worrying like a dog with a single bone, over and over again.

Jace. The Corvin Family. Jace. Santino.

Jace.

The afternoon was wending toward evening when I finally sat up on the bed, tired of retreading the same mental ground. "Do you think he's betrayed me?" I asked, without even knowing I was going to open my mouth.

"I don't know," the demon answered, after a long, still pause. He rose to his feet like a dark wave. Demon-smell washed over me. He'd kept the window open, but the air was so close and still that the fragrance clung to the room. "You need food."

"I'll be fine. There's hunting to do." I stretched, my back cracking as I arched, then I swung my legs off the bed, came to my feet, and picked up my bag from the floor. A few moments divested it of everything I wouldn't need tonight—I piled extra clothes, the spare plasgun, and some other odds and ends on the bed. Japhrimel watched expressionlessly as I clumped over to the bathroom door, and was still watching when I came out. I buckled on my holster, checked the plasgun, and slid it in. Shrugged into my coat, immediately starting to sweat again. I finally gave my hair a short, vicious combing and braided it back.

"Do you think he's betrayed you?" he finally asked me when I checked the action on my main knives.

"It's looking pretty fucking possible," I said. "If what Abra told me is any indication, he ran with the Corvin Family even before he came to Saint City. You don't ever escape the Mob. And if Santino's running the Corvins from behind, they might be running Jace—or he was using me to pressure them for something. Or maybe just holding me until the Corvins reached a point in negotiations with Santino…" I trailed off. "It's very possible." I slipped my turquoise necklace on over my head, settled the pendant between my breasts. Japhrimel didn't reply. I finally settled my bag strap across my body. "What do you think?" I asked him.

His jaw set. "Do you truly wish to know?"

I nodded. "I do."

He shrugged, clasping his hands behind his back. "My opinion? He wants you far too badly to give you up to this Family," he said. "All the same, it would be foolish to trust him."

"If he wants me so much, why did he leave me?" I flared, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"It seems we must discover this," he answered. "Do you care for him, then?"

"I used to," I said, opening my eyes and looking down at my free hand, clenched in a fist. "I'm not so sure now."

"Then do not decide yet," was his equable reply. But his face was full of something dark. I didn't want to know.

It was my turn to shrug. "You have agents in the city, you said."

He nodded. "They are already searching for information. Quietly, so as not to alert our quarry."

"That's good." My conscience pricked me. But that was ridiculous. He was a demon. He wasn't human. He wasn't even close to human. "Hey… you know, I…" Was I blushing? I was. Why?

I don't have time for this.

I approached him cautiously, laid my hand on his shoulder. His smell closed around me, vaguely comforting. "Thank you," I said, tilting my head back to look up into his face. "Really. I really… well, thank you."

One corner of his mouth quirked up slightly. It was by far the most human expression I had ever seen on him. "No thanks necessary," he said quietly. "It is my honor."

"Do you really think I can kill Santino?" I asked.

His face changed. "We have no choice, either way. I will do all I can to protect you, Dante."

"Good enough." I dropped my hand. "Let's go find our first contact."