Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62528 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62528 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
“Great,” he said flatly. “You’re all here.” Can’t a man sulk in peace in the comfort of his obscenely large mansion? “We’re just missing Bonbon and Gorg.”
“Heya, boss. I heard the bad news.” Bonbon trotted up. “And Gorgonzolina likes to be called by her full name.”
Damien sighed with resignation. They were never going to leave him alone, were they?
“So, what’s the plan?” MF asked.
“Plan?” Damien stood. “Well, I intend to sleep for twenty-four hours. Then I’m going to my shop.”
“Damien,” Maxton said in his deep, low, haunting voice, “are you not alarmed by what we saw?”
Hell yes. Before, there was only one set of gods, who’d thankfully retired. Now there were two of each—excluding Cimil, unless she’d made a backup. Who knew what the outcome of all this would be?
“I would classify the event as diabolical on Cimil’s part and catastrophic for the rest of us,” Damien said. “The original gods will not be pleased about being replaced. They are far too narcissistic to permit being sidelined.”
“How did Cimil even pull it off?” MF asked.
“She took all those 3D body-printing machines and loaded them up with sack juice plus some dragon eggs,” Pet said. “I watched her do it. She said that the splooge and yolks were rich in powerful supernatural building blocks. She has an entire walk-in freezer full of the stuff. So yummy.”
Everyone except Damien winced with disgust. He was more interested in what Cimil planned to do with all that material. Can’t be anything good. Perhaps she was planning to build an army after all. Like he said, the original gods were not going to be happy about being replicated. She’d need something to fight back with.
“She made new gods out of that? Impressive,” said Maxton.
“But what does Cimil want with you, Damien?” MF asked.
Sky said that was part of the deal with Cimil. She had to exit Damien’s life for good. “I do not care,” he said. “I will never lift a finger to help Cimil or Sky again.”
They all chuckled. Apparently his posse of degenerates did not believe him.
“No, I really mean it this time. You’ll see. Now, if you do not mind, I need to get some sleep.” It had been a very long few days, and his heart had been stomped on yet again.
Though, oddly, this time, it wasn’t as bad. He had been given closure, and it was the one silver lining. Sky’s decision to disappear from his life showed exactly how she felt, and it explained her sudden change of plans back in Dallas. She’d never intended to cross over permanently. She’d only said that to explain her absence from their lives. He guessed that once they all returned to LA, Amelia and Miguel would have been miraculously freed. Sky would have said goodbye, and none of them would ever have known about her side deal with Cimil.
At least I didn’t trash a car for her in a fake death. Yes, perhaps it all worked out for the best.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
After several hours of tossing and turning, Damien had not been able to sleep, so he decided to get to the shop and catch up on a few pending alterations.
Today, he drove his cobalt blue convertible Mustang and wore a navy-blue suit with a deep purple tie. It was his go-to outfit when he planned to gorge himself on Chinese food since it hid stains well.
He opened the shop and went in back to find all of his orders had been completed with a note from MF saying that she’d had some extra time on her hands.
Damien growled. He’d been looking forward to the work and taking his mind off things. Damned speedy vampire. Will I get to do any tailoring now that she’s turned?
He would have a stern conversation with her when she came in. Time for her own shop.
The bell over the door out front jingled.
“MF? Is that you?” He marched out. “This cannot go on. I am the tailor here…”
Standing in the middle of his shop was that redheaded dragon woman. Her green eyes were filled with a wild sort of panic.
“Jac, what are you doing here?” he asked.
“You never called me back,” she said.
“My apologies. I completely forgot. It’s been a very strange twenty-four, but you could have simply called again.” Although, his phone was still off. He did not want to risk any of the gods bothering him with new missions, threats of decapitation, or whatever else they felt would keep him in line.
“I’m here because Heebie killed Dash.”
Ah yes. That. “I am sorry to hear of the stripper’s demise, but I am sure the club will find another.”
“No.” She approached him and grabbed his arms. “He’s a vanity demon.”
“Did someone say demon?” Bonbon walked up with Gorgonzolina on his tail.
“What’s that?” Jac took a step away from Bonbon.