Consumed

Jared took a moment to digest that before speaking again. “What about their hierarchy? Where does Thorne sit in it?”

“Their hierarchy isn’t like ours, they don’t have an overall leader. Demons belong to different ‘lairs’, and each lair has a dominant figure. Thorne’s the leader of his lair, which is a pretty large one. That means he has more influence than most. He’s widely respected amongst his kind.”

“Great,” mumbled Sam. “We couldn’t have pissed off a lowly lair, could we?” She sighed. “What’s he like? I want to know who I’ll be meeting.”

“In a word, daunting. Seriously, I’m not easily intimidated or freaked. But that guy scares me – mostly because he’s not trying to be scary. He’s really smooth and charismatic, but you can just feel that his calm can change in the blink of an eye. And he’s really…” I hesitated, knowing this wouldn’t wash down well with Salem.

“What?” Sam prodded.

I turned to Salem. “Don’t get mad, I’m just objectively stating a fact.” He narrowed his eyes but said nothing. I returned my attention to Sam. “Thorne is devastatingly good-looking.” As I’d expected, Salem growled. “I’m just saying so she’ll be prepared! Demons are like vampires, they have natural sex appeal. His is really potent – enough to throw someone mentally off-balance. You should probably also know that a lot of people believe he’s one of the most powerful demons in existence, but no one seems to know what type of demon he is.”

Jared ran a hand through his hair. “This keeps getting better and better.”

Sam frowned thoughtfully. “I think you should come to the meeting with us, Ava.”

Yay! “Happy to.”

Of course, Salem’s entire body went rigid. “You can’t be serious, Coach.”

“It makes sense. Ava has a better understanding of these creatures than we do. She’s met Knox Thorne before, and the presence of a mutual acquaintance might help keep things calm. Besides, she’s part of the legion now. We’ll call it ‘work experience’.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. How cute. “For all we know,” growled Salem, “the meeting could be a trap.”

“I’ve already considered that, which is why we’ll be taking plenty of back-up. Obviously we won’t take all of the squad into the hotel itself – that will look like a challenge. But we’ll keep them close by. And Jared can teleport us out of there if necessary.”

I soothingly patted Salem’s arm, knowing it would swing his focus to me. “Big guy, if we’ve got any hope of making this work, you need to stop interfering when it comes to my assignments.”

“She’s right,” said Sam, amused.

Salem moved his gaze back to Sam. “I stay with her every minute. She doesn’t leave my side.”

At her nod of agreement, I clapped a little. “This is going to be fun.”

Growling, Salem turned to Jared. “The female has no fear. It’s not natural.”

Jared sighed, sharing a look of understanding with him. “Welcome to my world, Salem.”

The hotel, which was situated in the heart of Vegas, was absolutely amazing. And it was swarming with demons. What made them stand out to us was their preternaturally alluring sex appeal – all demons were built for sex, sin, and seduction. The doormen, concierge, receptionists, and general manager were clearly sentries. While some of the guests were demons, others were totally clueless humans.

Sam, Jared, Salem, and I waited at the reception desk to be ‘given clearance’ to go further. Chico, David, Denny, Max, and Butch were ordered to remain in the sitting area, but they weren’t happy about it. They couldn’t be more pissed than the rest of the squad, though, who Sam had told to sit in the restaurant opposite the building.

“You’re humming,” Salem told me. Oops. He cupped my elbow as he then whispered into my ear. “Remember to stick close to me.”

I might have teased him, but this wasn’t a time to be glib. We were surrounded by potential enemies, and the meeting could go either way. “Okay, okay.”

“Mr. Thorne is ready to see you now,” the receptionist suddenly announced, signalling for the concierge.

Without a word, the concierge escorted us through a ‘staff only’ door to the far right, and then led us down a long hallway. On reaching an unmarked door that seemed to pulse with power, he knocked and announced, “I’ve got your visitors.”

“Then you’d better let them in,” called out a deep, throaty voice that I recognised. The concierge opened the door, but he didn’t come inside.

Knox Thorne stood between his desk and the window, his powerful build accentuated by his black suit. Dark eyes measured every one of us, giving away nothing. His body language was cool, relaxed. It was probably genuine. I’d gotten the impression that he wasn’t fazed by much. Considering he was without any guards despite being in the presence of four vampires, I was most likely right.

Of course, he was as compelling as always. He projected a raw sexual magnetism that could ensnare any female and reduce her thought processes to mush. However, I wasn’t as affected as the first time we’d met. Maybe that was because Salem’s arm was brushing mine; the skin-to-skin contact had my body attuned to him and him alone.

I was guessing that Sam’s metaphysical bond with Jared made her immune to Thorne’s natural appeal, because she was the image of composure. No one spoke for a few moments, too busy sizing each other up. It was Jared who, being a fairly impatient person, broke the silence.

“Demon,” was all he said in greeting.

“Vampire. Quite an entourage you have.” Thorne slid his gaze to the restaurant across the street where the rest of the squad waited. He was no idiot. Sadly.

If Sam was surprised, she didn’t show it. “Would you expect us to go to unfamiliar territory without back up?”

Thorne didn’t answer her. Instead, he moved his attention to me. “Miss Sanchez…good to see you again.”

I guessed that the only reason Salem didn’t bristle was that there hadn’t been anything suggestive in the demon’s tone. Despite that Knox made me uncomfortable, there was one thing I liked about him: he wasn’t a flirt. Oh, he was charming when he wanted to be, but not in a way that was designed to provoke or taunt; he didn’t seem to play those kind of games. “It is,” I said.