Seducing Chaos

by Luna Quinn

  The male Dragon nodded at Razor in greeting when he and Sasha reached him. His canary-yellow eyes shifted to Sasha, and he flashed her a smile. She returned it.

  “Where’s Aleks?” she asked.

  “Making the rounds, so it’s just me today,” Bek said, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “She put up a good fight, I’ll tell you that. Whined a little, too. But in the end, the short straw decided her fate. Thank fuck, I could use the break from the vicious little thing.”

  Since most Dragons were born in pairs and their bond was unbreakable and lasted their entire lifespans, Razor knew Bek wasn’t serious. According to him, being separated from their twin for too long was both painful and, in extreme cases, fatal.

  “I’ve scouted the area around the address you sent,” he informed them. “As far as the outside goes, it’s nothing more than an abandoned junkyard.”

  Together, they walked the few blocks to the location. Once there, they took spots behind a crumbling wall that would place them across the street from the address.

  Razor looked around, sniffing the air.

  “What exactly are we looking for?” Sasha asked from next to him.

  “How much do you know about the Others that live in Two, specifically this section?” he asked her, surveying the map on his phone. Shadow Realm may have been his land, but it was big enough that there were still parts he was unfamiliar with.

  “Not much. I’m usually in and out. And if I do spend time here, for whatever reason, it’s usually closer to the marketplace.”

  He nodded. “After the Great Fires, when the Veil was still open—mind you, this was all before our time,” he began to explain, “hundreds of Others escaped the Underworld, crossing to the human realm. At the same time, many humans chose to leave their own realm and cross over to our world. The Others that managed to escape mostly wanted to get the hell out of Dodge and out from under Erummon’s deadly thumb. Most of them made a home on the human plane, no fuss, no drama. They flourished in their new home, and tried to live peacefully side by side with the humans, as did the humans. Well, most of them, anyway.”

  Razor motioned to the junkyard. “Unfortunately, not all Others embraced their new way of life. They bred and began to look like their human neighbors…though only on the outside. They made this part of Two their own little world. Before you ask, it’s the same for them as it is with everyone else—so long as they play nice and follow the rules, they can stay and live peacefully.”

  “Okay, so why are we being all creepy right now again?”

  “Because, if this anonymous tip is right, they just broke a rule. A big one, so they get to have a nice little chat with me. We’re being creepy because I don’t want them to know I’m coming just yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “They’re not our biggest fans. They don’t like anyone outside of their own kind, really.”

  That earned him a glance. “Why do they stay here then?”

  “Because they’ve developed a taste for human flesh,” Bek answered her.

  Sasha swung her head in Bek’s direction. “Are you serious?” She turned her gaze back to Razor. “And you allow them to live here? So close to Celeste Nation? You do know they’re like all human over there, right?”

  “This city is open to all beings, Sasha. As I said, so long as they follow our laws, they can stay.”

  “I guess.” She didn’t look convinced.

  “Bek,” Razor said, turning to the Dragon, “how is our current relationship with the Kriintunoros?”

  The Dragon pretended to think. “Amicable? They haven’t complained…much.”

  Razor snorted. “Good enough. Get Lrox.”

  The commander’s lips twisted in a wicked smile. “I’ll be back shortly.” And then he was off, disappearing around a corner, leaving him alone with Sasha.

  “Are we going in there or what?” She motioned with her chin towards the junkyard.

  “Not just yet. I need to deal with Lrox first.”

  “You need his permission to snoop around your own city?”

  “I do not. But you do.”

  “Um, no, I don’t,” she said, almost offended. “I’m a Reaper. I have a free pass in my assigned territories. And besides, I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, but it’s not the same thing for you to come here in Reaper capacity as it is to come asking questions about bodies and suspicious activity. Plus, you won’t always be with me. I need the word to spread that you’re working with me, therefore off limits.”

  He hoped that Sasha wouldn’t ask any more questions. He much preferred Xavier to be the one to have this talk with her.

  “Okaaay, but I’m already off limits.”

  He ignored her, pretending to fiddle with the map on his screen.

  “Razor.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  When he didn’t look at her, Sasha stepped into his field of vision.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Did you ever wonder why Reapers are trained to fight? It’s because you’re not off limits, Sasha.”

  He paused when her eyebrows lifted. “I did warn you. There is an agreement for Reapers to travel safely in and out of Shadow Realm. But it’s pretty much impossible to guarantee your safety at all times.”

  “Well, that’s comforting.” Sasha made a disgusted face. “So you’re basically going to tell this Lrox guy that he can’t eat me.”

  Razor grinned mischievously. She’d walked into that one all on her own. “Yes, because I’m the only one that should be allowed to eat you.” He leaned down, zeroing in on her lips. “In fact, I’m downright starving right now.”

  He fingered one of her curls and tugged it playfully, but then froze and cursed inwardly.

  To his shock and absolute pleasure, she didn’t break his nose like the last time he’d touched her hair. Sasha only rolled her eyes and batted his hand away, trying in vain to hide her smile. “I’m serious. I need to know what to expect.”

  “I’m going to make it very clear that you’re not to be touched. And then I’m also going to remind him whose land this is. And it sure as fuck isn’t his.”

  Another eye roll. “Oh, great, a pissing contest. Should I have brought my ruler, Raz?”

  The nickname made him pause. She had never used it before. He liked the way it sounded coming from her mouth.

  Sighing, he addressed the first part of her statement. “It’s more than that, Sasha. A dead body, or maybe bodies, were dumped on his personal playground, and he didn’t think to inform me. That’s a challenge if I’ve ever heard one.” A second later, he added with a wink, “Plus, we all know my dick is bigger.”

  Sasha eyed him for a moment, overlooking his last comment. Such a brat. “Okay, I get that. He fucked up. But he won’t eat me. Bek said they eat human flesh. I’m not human.”

  “Maybe not anymore, but you would certainly taste human.”

  She looked him up and down. “Well, you look pretty human to me, so, you would, too.”

  He shook his head. “I’m like that stuff they serve at the restaurant on Green Hill Street—the thing they call tofu. I only look edible.”

  She laughed. “Tofu is edible, Razor.”

  “Lies,” he said, smirking cheekily at her.

  Before they could say anything more, Razor erased all humor from his face as he heard and smelled Bek getting close. The commander rounded the corner a few seconds later with a chill-looking Lrox beside him.

  Lrox sauntered over like he fucking owned the world. That grated on Razor’s nerves. The Demon might look human, but one only needed to look into his strangely colored eyes to see that there was nothing remotely human in there. They were cold, dead. The guy was deceptively attractive, with his shoulder-length brown hair and trim physique. It was a trap.

  He bowed slightly. “Judge, a pleasure to see you. What brings you around my neck of the woods?”

  Razor inhaled deeply, pushing back
the urge to sucker punch him for having the balls to call the Hellhounds’ city his.

  “Lrox, I’m sure Bek explained why we’re here. But before we talk business…” He gripped Sasha around the waist and pulled her close to him. Shit, he hadn’t meant to do that. Clearly, he’d reacted instinctively to having another man around Sasha. “I’m sure you’re familiar with Sasha,” he continued. “She’ll be my partner for an indefinite period of time, so she’ll be in and around Shadow Realm. If you or any of your people see her around, she’s to be left alone.”

  Lrox took longer than Razor was comfortable with studying her, but Sasha just looked at him with a bored expression. Good girl, he wanted to praise her. He couldn’t, so he squeezed her hip instead.

  The Demon gave a small nod. “I understand.”

  Razor gave him a sharp nod back. “Good, now business.”

  He released Sasha, and before Lrox could even form an inkling of what was coming next, Razor threw a punch, hitting him square in the jaw. The other man went down, hard.

  “This is my land, not yours, you stupid fuck,” Razor snarled down at Lrox through clenched teeth. “If you’re going to challenge me and my brothers, have some fucking honor. You think I can’t smell your second-in-command sneaking around behind me as we speak? You’re a fucking coward.” He glanced at Sasha over his shoulder. “Stay alert, she’s not far.”

  Turning back to Lrox, who was now standing, Razor bared his teeth. “Come on, Lrox. Or are those giant balls of yours too heavy to move? Because they’d have to be incredibly huge for you to think that I wouldn’t find out about you. What did you think was going on when a random body appeared on your doorstep? Or were you really too stupid to realize it was something shady?”

  A watchful Bek remained behind Lrox. His commander wouldn’t interfere unless others attacked.

  “It was free food!” the Demon yelled. “I didn’t care where it was coming from. You ration our food, Judge. It’s not enough. What did you expect me to do, give it back?”

  “If you don’t like our rules, Lrox, you’re more than free to leave. The rations are fair and you know it. You’re not starving.”

  There was panic in the Kriintunoros’ eyes. Razor knew they would never go back to the Underworld. Then Lrox’s gaze shot to the right and his eyes widened.

  Razor breathed deeply, trying to remain calm. Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder in time to catch Lrox’s second-in-command leap at Sasha from behind a car.

  Razor didn’t move; he knew Sasha could handle herself.

  She didn’t disappoint. Goddess, he was hard again. Her fighting style was all sleek moves and swift attacks.

  Carlica, Lrox’s second-in-command, threw a punch, but Sasha blocked her, kicking her leg out and getting the other woman on the right thigh. The female Kriintunoros stumbled, but quickly regained her balance. The fight kept going, but it was obvious Sasha was the better fighter.

  Razor turned back to Lrox, who was looking worried now. “You should be worried,” Razor confirmed. “You have no idea what you’ve just done,” he said, low enough for Lrox’s ears only.

  The man glanced over his shoulder as if ready to bolt, but Bek took a menacing step forward.

  “Bad Lrox,” Bek chastised, like one would a misbehaving child.

  When Razor looked back to Sasha, the fight was over. Carlica was on the ground, passed out. Sasha stood breathing heavily, one hand bleeding.

  When their eyes met, she gave him two thumbs up. “I’m good. Made the bitch take a nap.”

  Bek laughed. Razor found it incredibly hot. He gave her a heated look, hoping she would read how badly he wanted to get her naked.

  Her lips parted, and the scent of her arousal was heady. Message received.

  “Now, Lrox,” he said when he turned his attention back to the other man, “if you want to leave this meeting alive, you need to give me something useful. Did you see who left the body?”

  Lrox swallowed, already shaking his head. “No.”

  Razor sighed, ready to pull out one of his handguns, when Lrox blurted out, “I still have one of the bodies.”

  That brought him up short. “What do you mean, bodies?”

  “Like you said, bodies have been appearing in the same spot for several weeks now. There was one this morning. I don’t know who she is, but I still have her.”

  Razor inhaled deeply, shoving back the urge to kill him where he stood. “Show me. Now.”

  Inside the junkyard, Lrox led them to a small shed-like building. Lrox threw open the door. Razor motioned for him to go first. Razor entered next, followed by Bek and Sasha.

  As soon as he was inside, he released the roar that had been threatening to escape. It filled the space, making the structure quiver.

  He was going to kill whoever was responsible for this, painfully. Starting with Lrox.

  “Is that…Hailie?” Sasha’s voice broke.

  “Yes,” he confirmed through clenched teeth.

  The little girl’s body was sprawled on the dirt, her glassy eyes staring up at nothing. Sasha stayed back when he moved to kneel next to the body, sniffed at it. The girl hadn’t been dead long. A day at most.

  “Sasha.”

  He felt her move in, then she was kneeling next to him, her arm stretching out slowly until her palm lay flat over Hailie’s chest, her hand trembling. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell she was fighting tears.

  She suddenly jerked her head towards him, her watery eyes confused and panicked.

  “What is it?”

  “This…this can’t be right.” She turned back to the girl, touched her chest again, squeezing her eyes tight. There was a desperate feel to the movements, as if whatever she’d discovered, she wished she hadn’t.

  “Talk to me, Sasha.”

  She shook her head. “There’s no soul. It’s just…gone. Stolen.”

  He inhaled sharply. Bek cursed behind him.

  Breathing through his nose, he tried to keep his beast at bay when all it wanted was to rip someone to shreds over this. Even as his blood began to boil over, his voice remained cool as he said, “Maybe one of your Reaper buddies—”

  Sasha was already shaking her head vehemently before he had a chance to finish the words. “No. If her soul had been collected, there would be a signature of some kind. Every Reaper has one; it’s how we know if a soul has been picked up. It’s our system.” She took a deep breath. “Think of it as a mail package. It needs to be signed for on both ends. This one was just torn out. I can see the wound, Razor. Is this what happened to the missing girls?” She lowered her head.

  It was enough to push him over the edge.

  He shot up like lightning, spinning towards Lrox. The man was still looking at the young girl lying dead on the floor when Razor pulled his handgun and unloaded the entire clip into his head. The Kremortium bullets tore his skull to pieces before the body hit the floor.

  Sasha flinched, but it was probably more over the abrupt gunfire than feeling any adverse reaction to Lrox’s death. Neither she nor Bek commented on the fact that killing Lrox hadn’t been very Judge-like of him. Good, because he didn’t even feel slightly bad about it.

  Logically, he knew that Lrox hadn’t actually killed Hailie, but he was still partially to blame. Had the bastard reported the body dumping earlier, maybe Razor could have prevented more deaths. Even Hailie’s.

  It was starting to become evident that Razor was coming up short on fucks to give. The more shit that hit the fan, the more he grew comfortable with letting go of some of the principles he had once valued.

  “Get the girl a proper burial,” he told Bek. “Find Carlica and get rid of her. Send her back to Erummon or kill her, I really don’t care which. You can monitor the fights for leadership, or you can let them sort it out themselves. Your call.” Razor rubbed a hand over his hair, slipping the gun back in its holster. “And check the rations. Sin can tell you how many times a week the cleaning units have been making deliveries. He knows this sh
it better than I do.”

  Bek nodded, dragging Lrox’s dead body out of the shed. Razor walked back to Sasha.

  Her face turned up to his, and in her gaze, he saw fury had joined her sorrow. “I have to get this bastard, Razor. We have to.”

  “Yes, we do, pretty girl. And we will,” he told her, and then allowed himself to touch her cheek. “I promise you, we will.”

  “We’ll start with Castor.”

  Razor nodded, tugging her out of the shed. They both gave Hailie’s body one last look before closing the door. “I think it’s time we get everyone together, because I’m getting the feeling this is bigger than any of us suspected.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  They rode in silence, something Sasha was grateful for. Her head was spinning a hundred different ways still, and she needed the time to sort out her thoughts. The night had begun surprisingly well. Her new openness towards Razor had made her feel so happy. Sael had been right; she was allowed to start living for herself. And it had felt good.

  Then they’d found Hailie.

  She’d felt an immediate affinity with the girl back when she’d first met her in the meeting with Castor, but after seeing the girl so distraught after losing her sister, Sasha’s heart had bled for her. To find her body broken and tossed away infuriated her. Though she couldn’t possibly have done anything else, a stab of guilt pierced her chest. These kids running around in her streets were ending up like this more and more often, especially the young girls. She was failing them, and she needed to find a way to put an end to this. Now.

  Goddess, and Hailie’s soul was missing, too. Hearing about the missing souls was one thing, but actually feeling how it had been ripped out of someone she knew? Her gut clenched. She needed to make this right.

  “We’re here.” Razor’s gruff voice brought her back to the present. He’d parked his bike in the familiar parking garage underneath the Night House.

  Sasha unwound her arms from around his waist and slid off the bike slowly. They were both back in business mode, it seemed. Without waiting for him to say anything else, she went to the elevator and pushed the button. When the doors swooshed shut, Razor’s arms were there, wrapping around her shoulders, pulling her into his body. She moved into his embrace and closed her eyes, accepting the comfort he was offering. His familiar scent filled her with a calm she had a difficult time finding on her own, and she allowed herself to physically and emotionally lean on him for a minute.