Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [77]
Oh, they were still going to die, but first he had special plans for them.
“My lord,” Mordiin rumbled. “We have destroyed four more hellhounds.”
“Good work. Only what, a few thousand left to go?” He hated those fucking things. They were the one weapon that could be used against him, and he wanted them gone. Even Chaos, whom Pestilence had convinced to work with him. Once that mutt rendered Ares immobile, Pestilence was going to kill him. Double-crosses were part of being evil, after all.
“Slaughtering the hounds took a heavy toll on us,” Mordiin said. “We lost several good fighters, more than we lost in the capture of the fallen angels.”
Pestilence snorted at that. Demons were a dime a dozen. “Keep killing the hellhounds, but capture one alive. And tell me you’ve finished with the other tasks.”
Mordiin inclined his head, and his white hair fell forward, catching on his pointed ears. “Your message has been prepared. The structure is built and ready for delivery.”
Excellent. The two Unfallens were going to make memorable gifts for Ares. “What about the Aegi?”
Mordiin gestured to a bloody human strapped to a table. “Like the others, this one knows nothing. He’s too low-ranking to provide any useful information.”
Cocking his head, Pestilence studied the man, whose mouth was open in a silent scream as one of the imps worked him over with a hot poker. “Why can’t I hear his agony?”
Mordiin shrugged. “His screams blew out his voice box.”
Interesting. “Tell the turncoat Aegi that unless he provides us with more substantial results, he’ll be the next victim on the table.” He’d hate to have to permanently maim David, who had been a high-ranking Aegis member and had so far given up a lot of great intel, but Pestilence was getting desperate. He had to find Deliverance, and someone in The Aegis must know where the dagger was.
“Let’s finish the angels and the Aegi. Time to deliver the message to Ares.”
When Ares stepped out into the hall, face hot and still dripping wet and ready to explode out of his skin from the unspent sexual energy, he ran into Limos, who was propped against the wall, suitcase at her feet. She’d changed into a glaringly bright muumuu, and her impish smile told him everything he needed to know about how long she’d been there.
“Wow,” she chirped. “Didn’t take you long to get into her pants. And here I thought Reseph was the charmer in the family.”
He brushed past her, water sloshing in his boots. “Don’t start.” Each squishy step took him blessedly farther away from Cara and brought back the return of his seismic battle senses. It was unsettling to be with her, for his body and mind to experience stillness, as if the world had stopped moving. The lack of distraction left him too focused on her—and on his desires.
Not acceptable.
But neither was how fast his inner tuning fork was starting to vibrate. Ever since Reseph’s Seal had broken, the buzz of worldly violence had intensified, but this new buzz was different, a new, more potent frequency that was drowning out the hundreds of others. Something very, very bad was coming.
“You are no fun,” Limos called out. “Oh, and you might want to change. Reaver got the Aegis assholes to agree to a meeting. They’ll be at Thanatos’s place in an hour. I’m sure you don’t want to look like you’ve been drowned.”
He swung around. “Why didn’t Than call me?”
“Because he called me. I figured I’d tell you when I got here to babysit.” She jerked her thumb toward the door. “You gonna take her with us?”
Damn straight. “Cara has to be with one of us at all times.”
“My lord?”
Ares didn’t bother to turn around. “What, Vulgrim?”
“Your brother left a message.”
“I know. I’m heading to his place in a minute.”
“Not that brother.”
Ares pivoted around to the Ramreel, whose