The spacious kitchen reminded her of Ully's lab with its landscape of stainless steel. A tea kettle was already whistling when they entered, and the maid rushed across the kitchen to grab it.

Katie sat on a barstool at the breakfast bar, watching the maid pour tea into two mugs sitting beside the stove. Two mugs, as if she were expecting company or someone else was already there. Katie eased off the chair and reached into her pocket for the perfume. She needed a quiet, safe place where she could channel Rhyn's power to call forth a portal. Her mind went to the bathroom in the hall.

"I've got to run to the restroom. I'll be right back for the tea."

The maid turned, looking past her, and Katie spun away. The lanky form standing between her and the door made her gasp.

"Hello, Lunchmeat," the demon Jared said, smiling slowly. "I see you're having tea with my blood monkey."

"Who let you out of Hell?" she whispered.

"More than one way out of that place, as you discovered." "Rhyn's here."

"If he were, I'd sense him."

He took a step closer, his blond hair and green eyes highlighting a slender face. His frame was thin to the point of gaunt. She didn't remember him being so tall in Hell, but she'd been afraid to look too hard at him when she passed his cell.

"You look well," he said, looking her up and down. He moved closer and she skirted the breakfast bar until it was between them. "Not so brave without those bars between us, are you, Lunchmeat?"

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"You don't want to do this!" she exclaimed.

"Pretty sure I do. The taste of your sweet nectar before I tear you apart?" He smacked his lips, his eyes glowing. He started around the breakfast bar, and she kept pace with him on the opposite side. If she could make a break for the door … she gripped the perfume bottle harder.

"Sasha sent you," she said, willing him to talk rather than attack.

"Hell no. He'd never let me out of the zoo. The demons released us after Sasha fled." "What'd he do?"

"Eh, Sasha killed a couple of demons he really shouldn't have. Pissed off the Dark One and the demon-leader, who freed us all to hunt him. It's coming back to bite him now." "And my sister? Where is she?" she asked, bracing herself for the answer.




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