away from her ear, and I heard a loud, explosive curse come through the receiver.
Well, that certainly wasn’t good. My feelings about Noah were mixed, but I sure didn’t want him pissed off at me.
“Yeah, I know,” Remy said, the phone cradled against her ear again. She pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers, as if fighting off a headache. “It was my responsibility and she got away from me. I’m sorry. No, I know.” Pause. “I
I took the phone, regarding it like I would a snake. I pressed my fingers over the mouthpiece and whispered to Remy, “What if I ‘oops!’ drop it and we get disconnected? Think he’ll call back?”
She snorted at me and shook her head. “Trust me, you don’t want him any more pissed off at you than he already is.”
I made a face at her and held the phone up to my ear, waiting for the explosion. It was silent on the other end, so I made my voice as cheerful as possible. “Hi, Noah,” I chirped.
“You just find this all one big joke, don’t you?” I couldn’t tell how Noah was feeling from his voice. It was emotionless, like he was reading off a piece of paper.
“I don’t understand what all the commotion is,” I began, keeping my voice light. “What’s the big deal if I made a new friend?”
“They’re not your friends.” Noah sounded exhausted, and I could hear him stifle a yawn.
“Gee, sorry if I’m boring you.”
Noah sighed. “You’re not boring me. Quit being so damn needy. The sun is down and I’m going to be passing out in approximately five minutes until the sun comes up again, so let’s finish this, all right? Who was it that you met up with?”
Was I that needy? That obvious? I flushed at the thought. “He said his name was Uriel.”
Noah began to swear a blue streak at the exact same time that Remy did.
“Uriel,” Remy moaned, then headed toward the bar. “I need a drink.”
On the other end of the phone, Noah was still cussing like a madman, and I began to get irritated. And a little scared. Okay, a lot scared. I watched Remy slug down a shot of whiskey, and sighed. “I did something bad, didn’t I?”
There was quiet on the other end of the phone. After a moment, Noah cleared his throat. “It depends. Did you hunt him down or did he find you?”
“He found me.”
“Interesting.” Noah certainly sounded calmer, which I took to be a good sign. “And did you agree to do anything for him? Any favors of a sort?”
“Nothing big-”
I had to break off my sentence and hold the phone away from my ear because of the cursing that ensued. I looked over at Remy, who was downing her second shot of alcohol.
“Didn’t we warn you?” Noah shouted. “Didn’t we tell you to stay away from them? That they were bad news?”
I winced. “Yeah, but he’s an angel. How can he be a bad guy?”
Another round of expletives. “Forget it. I can’t stay awake any longer. Tell Remy that I said to stay put until sunrise, and I’ll be there at the crack of dawn. Got that?”
“Got it,” I echoed, and disconnected with a satisfying click. “Sheesh, what a jerk.” I made a face at her. “He told me to tell you he’ll be here at the crack of dawn.” The words rolled out of my mouth, compelled by my Serim master.
“I can’t believe you got tangled up with Uriel already, and it’s only been two days,” Remy moaned from across the room, shaking her head like I was on the verge of death. “Noah’s going to have my head. What did he say to you?” She fixed intent gray eyes on me.
“Nothing special, just that he wanted to have a talk with me when he wakes up.” I omitted the teensy part about how we weren’t supposed to go anywhere. “So what’s so bad about Uriel?”
Remy gave the whiskey bottle another longing look but stepped away from the bar. “Uriel is one of the head honchos upstairs. If he’s taking an interest in you, it means big things are afoot.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” I protested. “I went into a church and he was there.”
She shook her head at my ignorance. “That didn’t clue you in?”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Never mind. Just forget I said anything, all right?”
“So what did you promise to do for him?” Remy crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head, regarding me. “Let me guess, just a little something small, right?”
I blinked. “Yeah, come to think of it. He just wants me to go hang out with a couple of vampires-”
Remy exploded at that. “Hang out with a couple of vampires? Why in all the nine hells is an angel sending you to rub shoulders with that lot?”
All this screaming and cussing was really getting annoying. You’d think I’d agreed to smuggle nuclear weapons into an orphanage, not just say hi to a few folks with questionable dentistry. “Look, if it gets your panties into a wad, I just won’t go, all right?”
She shook her head at me. “You have to now. You promised.”
“Well, then, I guess I lied. He’ll get over it.” I waved it off with a flick of my hand. “I’ve told worse lies.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Remy was shaking her head with determination. “You
“Once you make a deal with an angel, you have to follow through-because they may be good guys, but they never forget if you wrong them. That’s why our kind avoids them and Noah’s kind calls them ‘dealers.’ They offer you a free hit to suck you in and bring your guard down. Then they ask for just a little favor, and you do it, because you promised. And they keep coming back to you with more and more little favors, until you find yourself trying to take down the whole vampire syndicate singlehanded because that’s what Uriel or Gabriel or one of the bigwigs wants, and you’re so far in you can’t stop. Ever.”
I ignored the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Uriel had seemed so nice, almost cuddly. “But he said he just wanted me to check things out. That’s all.” It sounded pretty lame even to my ears, and I sighed. “Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe they don’t do these kinds of things.”
“Are you kidding?” She stared at me in amazement. “I’ve known several succubi that have had their existence ended because of angel interference. And I’m pretty sure none of them went upstairs, despite all the gun-running they did for their angel pals.” Remy hauled me back up the staircase behind her. “Face it, kid. When it comes to the major leagues, the best thing you can do is stick to the minors and keep your nose clean.”
“Got it,” I replied meekly, allowing her to drag me into my room. “What are we doing?”
She headed straight for my closet and thrust the doors open. “Dressing you for the part. If you’re going to go ‘hang out with a few vampires,’ you’ll need to dress in something sexier than a sweater set.”
I sat down on the edge of my bed, watching her. “Um, I don’t think I want to go anymore, if that’s all right.”
Remy shook her head. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. You gave that up the moment you let that angel put his lips on you.”
I scowled. “Well, don’t pick out something superslutty. If I’m going by myself, I want to at least be comfortable and somewhat normal seeming.”
She tossed a glittery red corset top at me. “You’ll wear what I give you, and who says I’ll let you go in alone?”
My eyes widened. “But I thought you don’t like hanging out with vampires. You have them warded and stuff.”
She shrugged and pulled a hanger out of my closet. “Doesn’t mean that I’ll let you walk into the lions’ den alone. Oh ew, why’d we buy these pants?” Remy tossed them to the floor. “Where are the leather skirts? We need something short and tight.”
