He stepped back to give her a peeved glare. "You're welcome."
"For what? Pissing me off?"
"I saved your life."
She scoffed at that. "No. You didn't. You pulled me out of a fight I needed to finish. Gah! I can't believe you left Chi and Ethon there while carrying me off like some helpless child. How dare you!"
Dev took a deep breath to calm himself before he escalated this fight to nuclear proportions. One of them needed to have a calm head until he figured out what was going on. Something during the fight had triggered a profound and unexpected consequence for Sam. The one thing he knew about Dark-Hunters was that they only lost their powers whenever they confronted a memory from the event that had caused them to sell their souls.
Sam was hurting and all he wanted was to help her. Her uncharacteristic screech had told him that. No one made that sound unless they were torn completely up.
"I saw them going for the windows and knew I had to pull you out of daylight before they shattered them. Which they did. Had I not grabbed you when I did, you'd have been killed or at least severely burned." Even with her Dark-Hunter powers drained, she still wouldn't have been able to stand in daylight.
She made a sound of profound aggravation as she surveyed the concrete floor and light blue, riveted metal walls around them. "Where are we anyway? Hell?"
He flashed a charming grin at her. "It's much cooler than that. Club Charonte."
"Which is what?"
He didn't answer. Instead he pulled his phone out and made a call.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Sam glared at him.
Dev recklessly ignored her seething fury at him as Ethon picked up the phone. He wanted to make sure his family was all right before they carried this conversation any further. At least Ethon answered--that in and of itself was a good sign that Sanctuary was still standing. "Hey, what happened when we left?"
"The cowardly bastards vacated right after you did. Chi and I tried to take as many down as we could, but we had to exit the range of that seriously annoying yellow ball in the sky that was dancing all over your room. You know, Bear, you should have smaller windows. Fang went after them, but they vanished back into their hole and he withdrew to protect the family in case they returned to another area for vengeance's sake. Anyway, the fanged brigade is probably tracking you guys right now, so watch your back."
Like Dev cared? "Bring it if they dare, which I doubt." Either way, his family was clear and that made him deliriously happy. His evil plan had worked and the Daimons had withdrawn--at least for the moment.
"Don't be so cocky, Bear. They were open for business." The humor vanished out of his tone. "Is Samia all right? They didn't hurt her, did they?" There was a note of concern in Ethon's voice that seemed deeper than just one Dark-Hunter worried about another one.
Dev couldn't put his finger on it, but it made the bear in him sit up with suspicion as to why Ethon would feel so deeply about a colleague. "She's fine. I got her out of there before they toasted her any. What about you guys? Any of my family get hurt?"
"Fang's fine. As for us, nothing that won't heal." Then Ethon changed the subject. "So where are you now?"
"Club Charonte."
Ethon gave a short laugh. "Nice. Very nice. I highly commend your choice." The Charontes were the mortal enemies of the Daimons and the Daimons wouldn't dare come near this place. At least not right away. The one thing about a Charonte, they were perpetually hungry and lived to eat things that wouldn't get them arrested.
Daimons were one of the things they could lavishly feast on with immunity.
Ethon sobered before he spoke again. "Are you sure Sam's safe there?"
"Oh yeah. But I might not be in a few minutes. She looks like she's about to gouge out my eyes and beat my ass until I'm a quivering bear mat."
"Poor you."
"Tell me about it. I don't envy me right now."
Ethon spoke to Fang in a muffled tone that suggested he had his hand cupped over the receiver. "It's not important. I'll be all right." Then he returned to Dev. "We'll get over there to you as soon as we can."
"Sounds good. By the way...what happened with Gautier?"
"Nick? What's he got to do with anything?"
What's he got to do with it? The little bastard would be lucky to live next time Dev ran into him. "He's the one who summoned the Daimons."
"Nick?" Ethon repeated.
"Nick." Dev snapped the syllable. He was getting tired of the Spartan's obtuseness.
"Nick?"
"Ethon. Stop."
"Sorry, man. I just can't wrap my mind around that. He hates the Daimons with a passion to rival your Charonte buds. Trust me. You say that word and the man flips. I had to pull him off the ceiling just a few days ago when the subject came up. I can't imagine him summoning them unless it's to kill one."
"Yeah, well, I know what I saw. Nick was in league with them."
Ethon let out a low whistle. "I'll notify Acheron then and we'll get to you immediately. Just in case."
Dev glanced to Sam, who was still eyeballing him like she wanted to carve off some vital piece of his anatomy. The weird thing was, she was strangely attractive with that fire in her eyes and it turned him on.
I am so messed up.
"You guys be careful moving in daylight. See you soon." Dev hung up his phone.
Sam gestured around the room. "You brought me to an empty club? Why?"
Dev turned her stiff body to the left and pointed up toward the steel rafters where two dozen demons were hanging like vampire bats. The rest would be sleeping in contorted positions in the upstairs rooms. He had no idea why the Charonte slept like that, but they did.
Sam's jaw went slack as she saw the demons, whose flesh was a bicolor swirl of reds, oranges, and blues. Their yellow, white, and red eyes glowed from the ceiling as they silently watched them as if trying to decide if they were friend or foe. She knew they were demons, but had no idea what classification or pantheon they belonged to. "What are those?"
"Charontes," Dev said in her ear. "Ever been around them?"
"No."
His breath tickled her ear and even though she couldn't see him, she had the distinct impression he was grinning at her. "They're not exactly sociable and not particularly fond of me."
That made her curious about his choosing this place. "Then why are we here?"
"'Cause I'm betting Dev has some shit he wants to drag me into and you can friggin' forget it, Bear." There was no missing the venom in that deep masculine tone. "I'm done with you and your sister and don't even mention that worthless Wolf's name to me 'cause I'm not your bitch and I ain't leaving here. Stick a fork in me, Bear, 'cause I repeat, I am done. D to the O and you know the rest so get the hell out of my club before I feed you to my boys."