“Are they killing in hell?” I was praying they weren’t. I really didn’t want to go there.
“I wish they were. We have a score to settle. I don’t enjoy losing souls to wannabes. Half of their victims were coming to me anyways. Not anymore.”
Oh, I had totally forgot about that part. He was not a happy camper.
“You know, you could have sent Constantine a text instead of making me do all that work.” This was truly a waste of my time.
“I could have. But I wanted to meet you. Besides, now you’ve earned your own right to be here. That’s a huge thing. Not everyone can come to one of my clubs. And as long as you’re not blowing up the place, you’re welcome—both for business and pleasure.” He handed me a black card. Unlike the paw Constantine’s had, mine had stick figures dancing. That was too cool, because they moved as you moved the card. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Thanks, I think. Not sure when my boss will give me time.”
“You do have a very jealous boss. I would hate to incur the wrath of Death.” The wrath of Death—I had never thought about that before. “Come back soon, Isis.”
“Hopefully not too soon.” I waved at Jake and took off. That was way too much for one night for me. I needed to leave before somebody else tried to challenge me. Jake gave me another devious smile before I walked away.
Chapter 25
There was a heavy pressure on my chest, and I was struggling to breathe. My eyelids flew open when a wet thing touched my nose. A pair of huge eyeballs was inches from my face.
“Holy Jesus Christ! What is going on?” I screamed.
“It’s six a.m., and you’re late for practice.” He sat back on his back legs and looked down at me, very king-like—which meant he was not happy.
“I had a long day. Remember, you sent me to see the devil.” I tried to cover my mouth as I yawned. It was way too early for this. I wanted more sleep.
“That was yesterday. Today is Friday, and we have things to do. Get. Up.” Constantine was an evil overlord. Why didn’t anyone believe me?
“OK, OK. Just remember, if I fall down, I warned you.” I was sure if I fell down, the only thing Constantine was going to do was laugh at me.
“You’ve got five minutes. Eric is already downstairs.” Constantine hopped off the bed and was heading out before I could speak. I had thought Eric was not supposed to be back till next week. Great. Another beating, before breakfast.
Sleep was out of the question after Constantine had scared me to death. My heart was still racing, and I was wide awake. I really wanted to skip practice, but I doubted I had an option. I forced myself out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom. After quickly brushing my teeth, I got dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. My hair was a hot mess, so I pulled it up into a quick bun. It wasn’t as if I could impress Sexy-Butt downstairs. He was turning more into Sour-Face.
By the time I made it to the gym area, I was ready to battle. I was expecting Bartholomew to be doing his drills with Eric and Constantine giving orders. Instead, all three were gathered around one of the bench tables. Bartholomew was sitting on the floor, Constantine on the bench, and Eric was in a squat. I shook my head. He could even do those well. That boy really sucked. I sneaked behind them to find them staring at a laptop.
“What are you three looking at?” I was praying it wasn’t porn and I would have to kill Eric and Constantine.
“You! Nice moves, Isis. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
I had no idea what Constantine was talking about till I focused on the screen. By God, I wished they were watching porn now. It was a video feed of me doing last night’s dance-off.
“Ouch, that looked painful. Nice roundhouse, Isis.” Bartholomew looked very impressed.
“I’m actually impressed. An intern who got information without killing anyone. How did you know the Devil would have poles at the club?” Eric had stood up and was giving me his undivided attention. I was sure I liked it better when he ignored me. His intensity was overwhelming.
“He’s the Devil. If he didn’t have stripper poles, nobody else should. How did you get a copy of that?”
“Is all over YouTube.” Bartholomew’s matter-of-fact voice was scarier than Constantine’s.
“Oh God. That’s out there for the whole world to see?” I prayed I would get hit by lightning.
“Only for the supernatural world. This is a private channel.” Bartholomew was still not helping.
“That’s a relief. At least my godmother won’t see it.” I was pretty sure they had missed my sarcasm, since they all looked way too happy. “That was not helpful. The supernatural community, from what I’ve seen, is huge. Did I mention huge? And I don’t even know who’s in it.”
“Stop overreacting, Isis. It wasn’t like you made a fool of yourself. If you had lost, that would have been embarrassing. All you needed was to drop the mic.” That was the first compliment Eric had ever given me.
“Thanks, but after all that, I didn’t get anything.”
“What do you mean?” I had Constantine’s full attention. “Did the Devil not talk to you?”
“Oh, he talked to me. He just didn’t say anything useful. And he goes by Jake.”
“Imagine that. He has always been an arrogant one.” At least I knew Constantine was not a fan, or he didn’t like competition in the arrogant department. “Let’s hear it.”
I took a deep breath before starting. “The witches are not his. In his terms—and I quote—they are wannabes. They are also not working out of hell.”
“That’s really
