“Wish this guy was waiting an extra day to get the girls,” one of the men grunted. “I wanna take that redheaded one for another ride. I like a little Russian every now and then.”
The other goon chuckled, and it was an ugly sound that sent chills skating down Maron's spine. “Good of the boss to let us check out the merchandise first.”
“Yeah.” The first man winked at the second, and Maron resisted the urge to solidify and put a boot in their balls.
Assholes. Her nostrils flared in disgust. Well, she knew what they were waiting for…selling girls imported illegally from Russia. They may have come to the U.S. willingly, but she doubted they’d had any idea what was in store for them. Her heart wrenched. She hated shit like this. Hated. She wasn’t law enforcement, and it wasn’t her job to save these girls. Her aim was to drag Bruno kicking and screaming into hell.
That part would be a pleasure, considering how nice he’d been to let his men test the merchandise. Her hands balled into fists, but she spun for the stairs and went back the way she’d come.
Her men were waiting for her, just as she’d instructed them. Kobal paced, as was his way. The man had more energy than any two demons she’d ever met. She’d bet he was invaluable on a long hunt, with enough tenacity and vigor to never give up. Raum would be a good voice of reason and balance for that. Too bad they wanted a full bond…and that they were men. Otherwise they would have been great partners to work with.
Kobal paused when he saw her, a smile flicking on and off his face. “There are a couple of cars outside with armed men.”
“Nine on the bottom floor, including Bruno. They’re waiting to move some kind of merchandise.” Raum straightened to attention as he reported in.
“Another four up top. All heavily armed.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead as she materialized. “They have a bunch of Russian girls locked up there, and they’re waiting for someone to come get them. Selling them off.”
“Human trafficking.” Kobal looked angry, sickened, and a muscle in Raum’s jaw began to tick.
“Can’t wait to bring this motherfucker down.” She rolled her shoulders, easing the tension in her muscles. “Here’s the problem… It’s unlikely he’s going to be alone tonight. As soon as whoever is coming to get these girls shows up, the place will be crawling with even more people. The three of us can’t suck his soul and fight off his men, plus whoever is handling this shipment of Russians.” She ran a hand through her hair. “We have a couple of options. First, we could wait until tomorrow.”
They didn’t like that idea, she could tell. None of them said it, but they didn’t want to abandon the girls to their fate, even if it wasn’t their job to help. Maron flatly refused to—she didn’t give a damn what the job called for. She was supposed to scrub evil off this planet, and the one rule was that she couldn’t trap a soul that hadn’t been marked for it. Leaving those girls with Bruno’s thugs or letting them get sold into sex slavery…that was evil. She wouldn’t do it.
“I’m not leaving little girls to be forced into prostitution.” Raum’s eyes flashed with the same rage that poured through Maron’s veins.
Kobal folded his arms. “What are the other options?”
She pulled in a breath, bracing herself for their reaction. “Let me go in first.”
“You want to go in human form? Alone?” Raum’s expression darkened to a scowl.
Notching her chin up, she dared them to contradict her. “Do you think two big, scary-looking men popping out of thin air in front of those girls is going to keep them calm?”
“What’s keeping them calm going to do?” Kobal sliced his hand through the air. “There’s no way to get them out of there. And what will you do if Bruno discovers you?”
“He likes pretty women, and he won’t remember me from the last time. I can handle him.” But she remembered him and the lewd way he’d looked her over, the way he’d groped Lilim before she’d booted him in the gonads and then knocked him out so they could extract his boss.
Kobal’s scowl was even deeper than his partner’s. “I don’t like it. I don’t want you going in there without back-up.”
Their bond told her that everything in him rejected the idea of putting her in harm’s way without one of them at her back. She could feel the emotions rolling through him, and disappointment flooded her that it was more of the same. Another man doubting she could do her job as a hunter. Some time in the last twenty-four hours, some slender piece of her soul had begun to hope that Samael was right about them. She was such a fool.
“I’m going in and protecting the girls while you guys call the cops and keep an eye on Bruno until they get here. I won’t go solid unless it’s necessary.” Like if one of those assholes decided to take another test drive. She jutted her jaw stubbornly. “We can snatch him out of the chaos and finish the job. It’ll work.”
Raum’s nostril’s flared in annoyance. “Fine. But you ghost out of there the second things go south.”
“Damn it,” Kobal snapped. He thrust his hand through his hair, sending the pale strands flying. “I don’t want to leave the girls, I really don’t, but the fact that you can’t die doesn’t mean a bunch of guys couldn’t hurt you too. If anything happened to you…”
“It won’t. Trust me to do my job.” The way Shax never had. She squashed the thought. That was the past, and it was time to move beyond it. Shax couldn’t do anything to her anymore. She was a hunter, and a good one. She’d won. He’d lost. The end.
Now she had to be a good hunter and vanquish a little more of the darkness in the world.
The silence lengthened as neither man uttered a word. Right. They couldn’t even say they trusted her—couldn’t say they believed in her to come through when the chips were down. There was something new from a man. Not. She clenched her jaw and turned away from them. “Just call the cops. I’ll do my part, you do yours.”
She flashed to invisibility and returned to the room with the girls. They were still cowering and clumped into the corner, a tangle of shivering limbs. She breathed a sigh of relief that nothing more had happened to them in the handful of minutes she’d been gone. Now she had to wait, hope their buyer didn’t show up before the cops did, and make sure nothing happened to them in the meantime.
Then she was going to fry Bruno’s ass. And enjoy every minute of it. She normally didn’t relish her work quite this much, but she’d make an exception for him.
She clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides, trying not to let the waiting drive her insane. How long would it take for the cops to get here? Had Raum and Kobal even done what she wanted? Her thoughts darted in crazy circles, fears, doubts, anger and far too many emotions ricocheting around her. She tried to reel herself back in, tried to focus. The last thing she needed to do in a tense situation was unravel. The men needed her to help them reap a soul like Bruno’s, and they were good at their work or Samael wouldn’t keep them in his silo. Everything she knew about them said they’d come through, so she waited with the girls, peeking out through door every few minutes to check on the guards.
Nothing so far. Her tension ratcheted up by the moment. Where were they? What was going on out there? Damn. Damn. Damn.
Bruno was still nearby, she could feel him, though his goons emanated enough evil that she wouldn’t be surprised if she was sent after them in the future. But she could sense no more than that. More people were moving around outside, but who? The police? The girls’ new pimp? The sniveling, pitiable sobbing from the teens only made Maron more determined to help. Woe to anyone who tried to touch them. She had no idea what the authorities would do with them—probably deport them, but a lifetime of sex slavery couldn’t be a better choice than that.