by Maya Daniels
The Devil is in the Details
The broken Halos series Book 1
Maya Daniels
Copyright © 2019 by Maya Daniels. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design by Jessica Allain, Enchanted Whispers
Interior design by Zoe Parker
Edited by Anthony J Kohler and Emma Jaye
Proofreading by Cassandra Fear
If you are unable to order this book from your local bookseller, you may contact the author at [email protected] or visit the website
www.authormayadaniels.com
Contents
Preface
Prologue
1. Helena…
2. Helena…
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
About the Author
Also by Maya Daniels
Prologue
Eric…
When someone you have loathed and been at war with for centuries comes up to you with an offer you can’t refuse, you must stop and wonder why. You might think that being cautious and thinking things through so you do the right thing would be more the trait of an angel, rather than a demon, yet here we are. I look at the old man standing in front of me, wringing his hands behind his back, thinking I don’t see it. I can smell his righteous disdain for my kind while he is standing here seeking a deal with me.
Nostrils flaring, I let him see my eyes change to their amber hue, and hide my smirk when he gulps, but I’m impressed that he doesn’t cower or walk away. He must be desperate. I can work with desperate if it means getting what my father didn’t manage to obtain a millennia ago.
“So, let me get this straight,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring down my nose at him. “All you want me to do is kill this girl and the Order, that has been a pain in my ass for centuries, will let us deal with our own without interference?” Lifting one eyebrow to show how ridiculous I find his offer, I watch him squirm.
“Yes.” Clearing his throat, he squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath. “As I said, the details about it are confidential to the Order and do not need to be discussed. All you need to know is that if you kill the girl, we will look the other way unless you or yours get in our way. If that happens, I can’t promise that we will let that slide.”
“Why?” I ask, and my eyes narrow when I see panic flashing in his eyes.
Catching himself for slipping up and showing emotion, he snarls at me. “Why does it matter to you, demon?” I can’t hide the smirk anymore as he continues, “I’m giving you an opportunity no one has ever dared offer and here you are looking a gift horse in the mouth!”
“From where I’m standing, old man, not one of you ever offers anything that doesn’t give you the upper hand, least of all to me and mine. So, you’ll have to excuse this lowly demon for wanting to know what kind of hole you’re trying to have me dig for myself. Now speak! I don’t have time for this. I have hunters to hunt and rogues to kill.” A menacing smile grows on my face as his eyes widen.
“You don’t fool me, Eric! I know a lot more about you than you realize. Take the offer while it’s still on the table. I can’t promise you it’ll still stand if I walk away.” Okay, the old man has a backbone, and his words ring true to my ears.
“When?” At his confused face, I laugh. “When do you want the girl dead?”
“So, you’ll do it?” There’s so much hope in his eyes that uneasiness gnaws in my gut.
Shrugging a shoulder, I say, “What’s one more dead hunter to me?”
He squirms again. “Tomorrow! I’ll give you the time and place where she’ll be. Just leave the rest of her team alone. But you must do it tomorrow!” His words rush out for fear I’ll change my mind. The disquiet grows inside me.
“You do that and she won’t be your problem anymore.” I listen intently when he mutters the time and place before turning and walking away from him.
“Thank you, Eric. You won’t regret it!” he calls after me. My feet falter while my cold heart shrivels. What the fuck have I just agreed to?
I almost jog to my car. While driving to see the only person that might make some sense out of all this, my mind reels. The city blurs around me, and before I know it, I’m walking into the reception area of our place of operations. The pretty brunette behind the desk straightens up and starts batting her lashes like a bitch in heat. I might take her up on her offer eventually, but I don’t need complications in my life right now. A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of commitment.
“Eric!” she purrs, leaning on the desk and pushing her boobs up. “How wonderful to see you again.” I don’t come here often. I don’t need to be seen to do my job.
“Lauren, is Maddison here?” I give her one of my trademark smiles. Her eyes dilate and her breathing speeds up.
“Yes,” she says in a breathy voice while her eyes roam over my chest. I smile to myself. Silly woman doesn’t know what she’s asking for. “She just came in.”
“Thanks!” Rapping my knuckles on the desk twice, I stride through the doors towards Maddison’s office.
I don’t knock. Instead, I push the door open and walk inside where my eyes immediately connect with Maddison’s blue ones.
“What’s wrong?” Her musical voice usually calms me down, but not today.
She listens intently while I describe meeting the crazy old man. When I’m done, we sit looking at each other for long moments. Lifting her arms, Maddison rubs little circles on her temples. I can relate to that. Ever since I walked away, I’ve had a raging headache.
“This…” she starts before shaking her head. “This is either the best day of our very long lives, or it’s a setup!”
“I’ll go with setup.”
“Of course, you would.” Twisting her mouth in displeasure, she glares at me. I lift both eyebrows. “It’s worth the try,” she tells me gingerly.
“That’s what I’m thinking.” Tired, I scrub my hands over my face. “I’ll go, and if it’s a setup, I’ll get my ass out of there as soon as possible. If any of them die in the process, oh, well…oops!”
“You’re hoping it’s a setup.” Maddison laughs, and I grin at her.
“Come on, how bad can it be?”
The next day, while I’m perched on the roof of a run-down house in a shitty suburb of Atlanta, I realize how bad it can be. Five hunters exit an SUV and spread out. The old man said the blonde is my target. What the asshole didn’t say was that she’ll take my breath away. A fucking hunter and I can’t pick my jaw off the roof when she walks over and puts herself between a horde of rogue demons and her team. Her hair floats around her beautiful face with every move. Her breasts bounce, pulling my eyes down like a siren song, and her narrow waist and round hips sw
ay in sync with them. Belts wrap around her lower body and thighs—thighs that I want wrapped around me. Full lips press firmly together, and green eyes flare with the excitement of the hunt and hatred for the rogues. My heart thumps hard against my breastbone when she pulls out two large revolvers, spinning them in her hands before pointing them at the horde. A breathtaking smile brightens her entire face before she speaks.
“Playtime, motherfuckers!” Her sultry voice caresses my ears, and I know that very moment how fucked I am.
“Fucking old man could’ve just fucking killed me!” I snarl at the starless sky. “I’m fucked!”
Helena…
One week ago
The city passes in a blur as I stare out the window, unseeing, while I replay the last few hours yet again. ‘What if’s’ have never been my favorite to start with, but I can’t help thinking that if we’d done anything differently, then maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have this gnawing feeling that my life took a nosedive off a cliff and it’s headed straight for the jutting rocks at the bottom. What did I miss? Questions rattle in my brain, causing my temples to pound with their own heartbeat.
“This should be our last stop before we head back.”
George yanks me out of my thoughts when his deep, rusty voice echoes in my ears. I hate the earpieces they make us wear, even though I know how useful they are. Well, useful for the rest of them, anyway; I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. There’s no reason for him to use it because we’re all sitting in his car, but he likes being a jerk. Glaring at the back of his head, I fight the urge to smack his head on the steering wheel he’s clutching in his paw-sized hands like the thing is trying to escape. If you call him out on it, you’ll have to listen to lectures of how he makes sure the equipment is working, so the rest of us just grind our teeth and say nothing. There’s five of us in the car. Jared, Cass, and Amanda act like it doesn’t bother them, but I see their jaws ticking in the occasional light we pass.
Lost in my thoughts, I was enjoying the quiet after our last stop, especially since one of the abominations managed to draw blood before I sent him where he belongs. We are the chosen hunters in North America that protect humans from all things that go bump in the night. Entrusted and blessed by the Archangels themselves—or so we are told—we mostly hunt demons, with an occasional vamp or shifter mixed in. The last stop was a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, where three demons had nested and had terrorized humans for over a month. Possessing them, they jumped from one body to the next and turned a lovely quiet neighborhood into something from nightmares. Out of nowhere, domestic violence blossomed, neighbors killed each other, and fires and break-ins happened every night. It put a red dot on the area, and we were dispatched to investigate. Needless to say, the demons are no more, and I’ll pray that the neighborhood goes back to the idyllic picture the lawns and homes suggested it used to be.
Lifting my arm towards the window, I check to see if the scratch one of the demons left by raking its claws on me has healed. Only thin pink lines are still visible, but those will be gone by the time I take a shower and wash the grime and blood off me. There will be nothing left, not even a scar, but I’ll remember the demon’s words clearly: Soon all of you will regret getting involved in things that you know nothing about. Its raspy voice rattles through my brain.
All of us are blessed with fast healing, longer lifespans, speed, and strength. I would like to think I’m still human, but with each new day after my eighteenth birthday three years ago, I doubt that statement more and more. To make matters worse, I’m even different from the rest of them. My sixth sense is like a GPS for evil, even when the others can’t see demons or any of the other evil creatures that plague humanity. It’s almost as if evil calls to me, daring me to find it. One thing I’ve never told anyone is that when that feeling starts inside my chest, it’s like I’m about to receive the greatest gift of my life. Excitement and giddiness course through my veins, making me sick to my stomach. It should feel repulsive, yet it doesn’t. I’ve lied to everyone I call friends and family, telling them that it’s a sickening feeling because I don’t want anyone doubting my loyalties. My conscience is not clear.
“It should be around the corner,” George speaks through the earpiece again, making me physically flinch. Instinctively my fist lifts, going straight for the back of his head. Unnerved by the entire night, I’m barely able to control the anger still coursing through me, and he’s pushing it. I know, because his dark eyes lock with mine in the rearview mirror every time he does it.
Fast as lightning, Amanda grabs my forearm, and her bright pink nails dig into my flesh. “That’s good! We can get it done and go home,” she says, emphasizing home like she’s not glaring at me in the back seat.
Amanda’s pink pixie cut hair is styled in teal-tipped spikes on top of her head. Large brown eyes shaded with glittery eyeshadow and sparkly mascara on the long lashes blink from her porcelain face. She looks almost like a doll. Like those anime characters that she loves so much. We’ve been best friends ever since I can remember, and no one knows me as well as she does. No wonder she snatched my arm before my fist connected with the back of George’s head.
“Yes, I’m actually looking forward to the ‘go home’ part!” Cass snickers, smacking Jared on the shoulder, making his body twist in the passenger seat to look at her over his shoulder. His blue eyes light up, and he gives her a beaming smile when she grins at him.
“Oh boy! I’m gonna be sick.” Amanda groans, rolling her eyes dramatically. “The lovey-dovey googly eyes make me sick.” She turns to me again, pretending to gag. My arm slowly lowers, and she stops digging her nails into my flesh, petting my forearm gently before releasing it.
“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, I lean back in my seat and turn to look out the window. “Go in, get out, go home, and no lovey-dovey googly eyes. It works for me.”
“Of course, it works for you, Hel! You wouldn’t know what googly eyes were if they hit you in the face.” Amanda giggles, smacking my thigh with the back of her hand. “Ouch! Move those guns, would you?” She glares at my weapons as if it’s their fault she hit her hand on them.
“Leave the girls alone! They’re fine just where they are.” Petting them affectionately, I glare back at her.
The SUV makes a left turn, and we forget all about the conversation. All the streetlights are broken, and the street is pitch black. Our headlights light up a quarter of it. Bodies with missing parts are haphazardly tossed around like a zombie Apocalypse movie set. My stomach clenches and my entire body coils up, ready to fight as energy rushes through me. Tension rises inside the car as the three of us lean forward from the back seat to see better. This is not something we see every day, even in our line of work. The abominations are getting bolder by the minute, but at least it can’t get worse than this.
George flicks on his high beams, and we take a sharp collective intake of breath at the gruesome view revealed in front of us. I was wrong. Crouched above piles of dozens of dead humans are gray, wrinkled demons, their arrow-pointed tails flicking like cats’ while they tear the flesh off the bones they clutch in claw-tipped hands. Their heads snap in our direction, revealing red glowing eyes and gaping mouths full of razor-sharp shark teeth. Looking like aliens, with only eyes and a mouth, blood drips down their grotesque faces as they hiss in unison. Everyone else in the car froze, but the anger that I’ve been fighting all night bubbles like a volcano in my chest. I push the door open and jump out of the car.
“Hel, no!” Amanda’s scream pierces the night, but I slam the door in her face.
Pulling both of my revolvers out of their holsters, the usual calm engulfs me like a blanket. Feeling their comforting weight in my hands, I smile at the hissing abominations that turn towards me.
“Playtime, motherfuckers!”
All the abominations spring into action with an eerie screech. Like mice trying to escape a flood, a horde of them bound in my direction. The high beams of the car at my back make it
easier to pick them off one by one. The sound of the gunshots energizes me with its beauty. The demons dropped one by one like rocks, their bodies causing those behind to trip and roll on the cracked, uneven concrete of the street.
Shadows move at the corner of my eye as the rest of my team joins me. Blades, throwing stars, and knives fly in the air as they take down more demons. Shouts and hoots sound above my shots as we add more bodies to this street of nightmares, where so many unfortunate innocent humans lost their lives tonight. The pink scars on my forearm throb for no reason, making me hesitate long enough to realize the demons are not trying to fight or defend themselves. They are dying in their attempts to get to me. My team spreads around me like a circle, guarding my back while I’m in shock at the horrifying thought. I almost drop my guns, which makes rage bubble up in my chest. None of them will escape tonight.
That night, the haunting screeching didn’t stop until the early hours. It’s a night the five of us will remember for as long as we live. I just pray that my team forgets that none of the abominations tried to kill me. Instead, they died trying to capture me alive. Too bad for them. I’m not easy prey.
Helena…
Present Day
Scalding hot water pounds my shoulders as I lean my forearms on the tiles and try to wake up properly. The past week has been one intense hunt after another, and they keep getting more difficult. Even with the fast healing, my entire body hurts; the muscles knotted in my back and shoulders feel like tennis balls under my skin.