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Nothing would

CHAPTER ONE

PARIS TOSSED BACK THREE fingers of Glenlivet and signaled the bartender He wanted an entire hand and by right or leto cut it, either Fury and frustration were living entities inside hi

“Leave the bottle,” he said when the bartender made a move to help someone else Hell, suddenly Paris doubted every drop of alcohol in a ten-mile radius would do the trick, but hey Desperate times

“Sure, sure Anything you say” Shirtless Boy Wonder released the bottle and beat feet

What? He looked that dangerous? Please He’d washed off the blood, hadn’t he? Wait Hadn’t he? He looked down Shit He hadn’t Crimson streaked him from head to toe

Whatever He wasn’t in a human bar, so no “authorities” would have a beef with hidooddesses had been allowed here, but when Cronus reclai vaels and other creatures of the dark to co, Zeus

Call the bartender back, Promiscuity said I want him

Pro hiaet ant, do we?

A farowl sounded in his head

Whaa, whaa, pout, pout He downed the second alcoholic offering and quickly chased it with a third Both scorched so good he enjoyed a fourth The potent alcohol razed his chest, burned holes in his abdomen, and flooded his veins Nice

And yet, his ees of that bone-deep fury and frustration unsmoothed His inability to save a not-so-innocent woered for, body and soul, drove hiainst his flank

“If I asked you to leave, would you?” a monotone voice said from beside him A voice accompanied by a blast of arctic air

He didn’t have to look to know that Zacharel, warrior angel extraordinaire and infa ago, when the feathered axman had come to Buda to off Paris’s friend Amun Had old Zach actually succeeded, two crystal blades would have been drilling into his spine at that very moment

I want him, the demon said

Screw you

Finally We’re on the sae

Really hate you right now

Once upon a ti frequency Then the stupid sex fiend had stopped,Paris to bed this person or that person, no s toward theain and it orse than before, because he wanted everyone, especially the ones Paris felt no desire for

“Well?” the angel prompted

“Leave, when I had to beg Lucien to bringnext tiave a crap about my location”

“I do not care about your location”

True story Zacharel didn’t care about anything, a fact you learned real fast in your dealings with hiet lost”

As Paris nursed a fifth whiskey, he studied the s the area behind hi The walls were rose-coloredstretch of crushed diamonds

Throughout the roooddesses to fallen angels trying to work their way back into their saintly fold Good luck with that in a bar Morons Anyway There was probably a de the masses, but Paris couldn’t tell for sure

Demons were as sneaky as they were evil They could skulk around in their own scales, proudly showcasing their horns, claings and tails—and getting decapitated by warrior angels like Zach Or they could possess someone else’s body and skulk around in their skin

Paris had thousands of years of experience with the latter

“I will leave, as you so succinctly suggested,” Zacharel said, “after you answer another question for me”