Return to Me (Storm Lords) (9 page)

Finn grinned. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

The meeting was to take place in a nightclub, or so Torr had told her. They’d parked in an alley in an area she recognized, just off Soho. The streets here were milling with people despite it being almost three in the morning. Bella was still recovering from the drive; being shut in an enclosed space, with more testosterone than she had encountered in a lifetime, had sent her blood pressure rocketing.

A line of people queued along the road, but they walked straight past, Cade in the lead, she and Torr behind him, her two ‘bodyguards’ bringing up the rear. Bella felt like royalty.

The bouncer stepped aside without a word and opened the black double doors. “Impressive,” she murmured. Though not entirely unpredictable. There was something strangely menacing about the group. On the street, you learned quickly who to steer clear of, who not to mess with, or you didn’t survive. And Torr and his partners could easily have had ‘don’t mess with me,’ stamped across their foreheads.

“Actually not that impressive,” Torr said. “Cade owns the place.”

“He does?”

Cade turned his head and smiled at her. “Phoebe likes to dance.”

“So you bought her a nightclub. How sweet.”

“Would you like a nightclub?” Torr leaned close and murmured in her ear.

“I don’t dance,” she snapped and stepped through the door, wincing as the noise hit her ears and jolted all the way down her spine. The place pulsated with the deep throb of heavy metal, and a crush of half-naked people gyrated on the dance floor. An unlikely venue for a business meeting, but what did she know?

Once inside, the group closed up around her. Torr rested a hand lightly on the middle of her back and steered her through the crowd to the far side of the room. Another bouncer stood in front of a door, which he opened as they approached.

“Is he here?” Cade asked.

The bouncer nodded. “Inside. Waiting.”

Torr leaned down close. “When we get in there, stay with Finn and Kill, they’ll look after you.”

“I don’t need…” she trailed off. What was the point?

She heaved a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them and the noise was muted. Then she stopped moving, so abruptly that Finn banged into her from behind.

Cold trickled down her spine.

Torr turned to look at her, his brows drawing together. “You feel something?”

She swallowed, forcing herself to search for whatever was turning the air to ice. They were in a large room. On one side was a comfortable seating area with two huge sofas facing each other. On the opposite side was a table with half a dozen chairs around it. A man sat at the table. He looked up but didn’t stand, his gaze wandering over her, in a way that made her feel like she’d been dunked in a bucket of slime.

She wanted to look away, but her gaze remained glued on the figure as his leisurely perusal finally reached her face and their gazes locked.

A sense of wrongness washed over her.

Nausea roiled in her stomach and she couldn’t understand why. Nothing in his immediate appearance suggested anything bad; in fact, he was handsome, in a smooth, well-cared for sort of way. Short, perfectly cut, blond hair, designer suit, immaculate white shirt, dark red tie. However, as she studied him, a wave of intense emotions swept over her, lust, hatred, rage, pure evil, and underneath something else. Something screaming to get out. She swayed under the force, and Torr put his hand on her shoulder. As soon as he touched her, a sense of calm washed through her, pushing back the fear.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She shook her head, unable to speak.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you here. But I have to do this.” He nodded to Finn. “You and Kill take her back to the bar.”

“You’ll be okay?” Finn asked.

Torr looked at Bella and smiled. She was sure the smile was faked and meant to make her feel better. It failed, but on the other hand, she had to get out of there. She could feel the evil beating on her, trying to break through the walls she had built up around her mind. She didn’t want to know what this would feel like without her protection. What was he? And what business did he have with Torr?

“Cade will stay with me,” Torr said. “I think we can handle Razul between us.” He leaned toward Bella. “If I’d known you would react like this, I wouldn’t have brought you in here. I just wanted to keep you close.”

Finn took her arm, and she allowed him to draw her from the room. As they reached the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. Torr was staring after her a brooding expression on his face as though he was displeased.

What had she done wrong this time?

***

Torr watched her until the door clicked shut behind her and she disappeared from his sight.

She’d obviously felt Razul in her mind. Why the hell could that stinking demon weasel his way past her defenses, but she managed to keep him locked out?

“What’s up?” Cade asked from beside him.

“Nothing.” He shrugged off the feeling. “Let’s get this over with.”

He stalked across the room and came to stand in front of Razul. He studied him for a minute, trying to decide how he had manifested himself here. Was this a mere vision, or had he taken possession of some hapless human.

The body certainly appeared human, and Torr could already see the lines of destruction spreading. Razul destroyed anything he touched on this dimension. Is that what Bella had sensed. The tortured soul trapped in a body taken over by the demon.

“Where is it?” he asked.

Razul lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. “Where’s what? Have you mislaid something?”

“Cut the fucking crap, Razul.”

Razul reached up and pulled a chain from beneath his shirt. On the end of it hung a black, heart-shaped crystal, which glittered, reflecting the rays of light. “You mean this?”

Even though he knew this was no more than a manifestation—Razul would never let him get this near—Torr felt his soul call to him as it did when they were close. One of the reasons he had given in to Lilith’s seduction so long ago, was the excuse it had given him to stay close to his soul. Now he closed his eyes and savored the sensation.

He stared at the crystal, trying to keep the hunger out of his expression, but he couldn’t prevent himself from taking a step closer, and Razul’s fist closed around the jewel. He stared into Torr’s eyes. “Come any closer, and I’ll crush it.”

The sensation of wrongness Torr had been sensing over the past two days, intensified. He was choking, his lungs filling with vile putrid poison. He swayed, forced himself to stand upright, keep the expressions from his face.

Razul’s thin lips curled into a malicious smile. “Feeling a little under the weather?” But he loosened his grip on the crystal and slipped it back under his shirt.

Torr breathed in deeply as the tight hold around his chest loosened. He turned on his heel, crossed the room, and poured himself a drink. For a minute, he stood staring at the amber liquid. Whiskey wasn’t what he needed right now, but blood. Razul had woken the dark hunger inside him. He lifted the glass to his lips and swallowed, then poured himself another.

Cade came up beside him. “You want us to try and take him?”

“What’s the point? That’s nothing but a vessel, and Razul could destroy my soul before we reach him.”

“And what would happen?” Cade asked.

“I don’t know.”

It was the truth. Torr had never heard of an angel whose soul had been destroyed, but he couldn’t imagine anything good could come of it. The corporeal body was a container for the soul. If his soul was destroyed, he presumed he would be as well.

“Just try to stay cool,” he told Cade.

He carried his drink back to the table, kicked out a chair, and sat down opposite Razul. “So, I take it there’s something you want from me.”

“If I didn’t, I’d have already destroyed you.”

One of the things he’d always hated about Razul was his exceedingly boring inability to get to the point. He sat back in his chair and sipped his drink. Tried to convey a nonchalance he certainly didn’t feel.

“Was that your woman?” Razul asked, gesturing toward the door where Bella had disappeared.

The pretense at nonchalance vanished. “Mind your own fucking business.”

Razul raised an eyebrow at his tone. “Lilith wants her dead. But I can think of a few better uses for her.” He licked his lips.

Torr dropped his glass and stood up abruptly, the chair crashing to the ground behind him. He rested his balled fists on the table and leaned in toward Razul. “You touch her, and I’ll hunt you down in the Abyss, slit you open, and strangle you with your own entrails,” he snarled.

Razul swallowed, but didn’t back away. “She believes if the woman was dead, then you would return to her.”

“
Never going to happen
. Besides she would be reborn.”

“Maybe, but the thousand years are nearly up. This is your last chance.”

Shock jolted through him. He hadn’t been aware that Razul knew the terms of the Covenant. He’d thought no one knew but Lilith, Gabe, and his brothers. Had Lilith told the demon?

Glancing up, he caught a sly smile on Razul’s face and forced himself to think clearly. He paced the room then came back to stand before the demon. “What do you want?”

“In return for your soul?”

Torr nodded.

“I want you to open the portal between this world and the Abyss in three days’ time, on Samhain, when the walls between the worlds are thinnest. Open the portal and I can pass through.”

Shit.

It was what he’d been expecting, but still the shock knifed him in the gut. If it was only Razul, he might have considered it. They could let him through, and afterwards they would hunt him down and slay him before too much harm was done. Hell, it might even be fun. But once the portal was open, then his followers would swarm through, and that would be the end of any peace on Earth. Forever.

He kept his expression blank. “I’ll think about it,” he lied.

He needed time. Time to try to work out his options. He suspected he had two. Accept Razul’s terms and maybe he would get his soul back, or tell the demon to go to hell and his soul would be destroyed. He would lose the ability to love and lose Bella a second time. And probably die.

But it wasn’t so simple. If he allowed the hordes of Hell to come to Earth then he would be breaking the terms of the Covenant.

No harm to mankind.

And Bella would be forfeit.

“You don’t, and I’ll crush your soul. And afterwards, I’ll take the woman anyway. Show her a real man.”

Torr released his anger. He leaned forward, grabbed Razul by the throat, and dragged him across the table. He shook him like a rat, holding him up so he dangled in front of him. “I said I’d think about it,” he growled. He tightened his fingers until he heard the snap of vertebrae, then he loosened his grip and dropped the body to the floor. As he stood back, the remains disintegrated into dust.

Raising his fist, he smashed it down onto the desk. The wood snapped in half under the force of the blow. He struggled to breathe; he was drowning again. Deep in the Abyss, Razul was crushing his soul in his hand. He fell to his knees as the pressure increased.

Then he was free and he could breathe again. He stayed down for a minute, before slowly rising to his feet.

“Torr?”

He swung around to face Cade. Inside him, the darkness was rising.

Cade watched him, worry in his eyes. “Remember what you said about staying cool. You really need to get a grip right now.”

A red fog of rage obscured his vision. A growl trickled from his throat.

“This is what he wants, Torr. You, losing control.”

He gritted his teeth.

“Bella is outside. Do you want her to see you like this?”

Bella.

The name broke through the fury in his head. He breathed in slowly, forcing the dark powers back into the recesses of his mind where they usually slumbered. The reprieve was temporary; they couldn’t be banished so easily.

“Are you okay?” Cade placed a hand on his arm.

Torr growled and shrugged him off. “I have to get out of here.” He could feel the darkness like a humming in his blood.

“Where are you going?”

“To hunt.”

***

Bella followed the two men around the edge of the dance floor. Finn led them to a cordoned off area, guarded by a bouncer, leaning in close to speak with the man. He nodded, removed the rope and gestured them through.

In here, it was quieter, though the thud of the music could still be heard. Tables were scattered around a small dance floor, all of them occupied. Bella was sure she recognized a few famous faces among the drinkers.

Finn scanned the room for a moment then took them to a corner table, which was already taken; but after a word from the bouncer, the guests left quickly, casting sidelong glances at their small group.

Finn pointed to the chair in the corner and Bella didn’t argue. She was still shaking.