James had been hoping to get some time off to do nothing, and hopefully, hang out with Arkie more if the demon wanted to, but here they were, in the car again. It wouldn't be too bad—he was still hanging out with Arkemoz technically—but there were two other vampires in the car with them, and that kind of ruined things. James wouldn't have taken his time with the trip because Denise was in trouble, but he would have loved to talk with the demon, which just felt awkward with two women in the back.

He didn't actually know what their names were, but he also didn't really care. At least they didn't seem to be impressed with him just based on the fact that he'd managed to stay alive for longer than the average vampire. He appreciated that.

There was also another car right behind them, which James thought was a bit of an overkill given that those vamps were most likely not waiting around to attack them. But he wouldn't argue with Black, mostly because James knew it would have been a waste of time from the beginning.

He hoped Denise was all right, though, and that she'd just broken her phone in a fight or something. James knew she could handle herself, but there had just been three of them. If they got ambushed....

James pushed that thought aside. He hadn't even realized until now that he actually cared about Denise to the point that he'd be this worried. That was new.

James looked over at Arkie, who was intently staring out the window, a focused scowl on his face. He was so adorable.

"So, Arkie—how do you kill a vampire, again?"

He'd meant it as a small, friendly jab, but Arkemoz seemed to take it completely seriously. "With a wooden object stabbed through the heart. Or sunlight. Or fire." He scowled down at his hands in his lap. "I wish I knew that when they attacked me."

"Well, now you know. And with how freakishly strong you are—"

"Wait, how strong is a demon?" asked one of the women. James actually remembered seeing this one around given that she had very noticeable, red hair.

"Very," James replied when he saw how unsure Arkie looked. He probably had nothing to compare it to. "You'd kick all our asses, wouldn't ya?"

Arkie shrugged, not looking happy about the prospect of fighting them. Not that James could blame him given his experiences with vampires so far.

"This body has more limitations than I do in my true form."

Well, that was really vague. And James had a million questions again. He didn't want to keep badgering Arkie with them, though. He didn't want the demon to get annoyed with him, even though he looked really cute when he was grumpy.

James was going to ask him to elaborate anyway, but he got enthralled by watching Arkie twirl the stake he'd gotten in his hand. It was surprisingly elegant. For some reason, James hadn't thought that would be something he'd ever call a demon that, yet here they were.

Though it would definitely look better without the black, metal handle Aegis added to the stakes. James wouldn't pretend that they didn't make the stakes easier to handle, but it made them look so.... James couldn't think of the right word, but he preferred the raw look stakes used to have.

At least those asshole humans who fancied themselves hunters of the supernatural—but mostly vampires—used the good old stick-like stakes. Since joining Aegis, they hadn't bothered James, but he almost missed it. Those guys were always good for a laugh.

To James' shock, he only then realized that they were already at the coordinates and he quickly turned to another street. He knew that if someone had been watching, they already knew they were here, but it wouldn't hurt to be at least a little subtle.

Climbing out of the car, he nodded at the other Aegis car that stopped in the street opposite them. It was nice that they at least had enough common sense to not follow them in the town, too.

Seeing as there were already long shadows on the street that would offer good enough protection, James started making his way toward the house without waiting on anyone except for Arkie. And for once it was mostly because he was worried those vamps would try something again, and not just because he wanted to be near him. Though he couldn't help himself from staring at the demon's tail as it swayed as he walked.

James wondered if Arkie would use it to fight because he wanted to see that for sure. Arkemoz had looked like he had planned on it back in that Aegis holding room. The tip looked really, really sharp, so James had no doubts.

James took one look behind him to confirm that everyone had caught up before opening the house door, growing more suspicious when he found out it wasn't locked. And it didn't take long to find something either.

Almost right at the door, there was an envelope on the floor. James gave it a glare, looking over at Arkie who was standing next to him. But the demon didn't offer any comments, only scowling down at the envelope as well.

James shrugged, picking it up and turning it over. He almost dropped it when he saw the ridiculously fancy handwriting, though. It only said Darling, but he already knew exactly who had left this here. He shook his head, trying to push through the sudden tightness in his chest.

"What's wrong?" Arkie asked, but James couldn't get the explanation out right now. Or ever.

Only then he noticed that he'd been clutching the envelope so hard that he'd managed to crumple it. The idea of just tearing it apart and burning it for good measure sounded really good right about now, but Denise's life could be on the line. And it probably was if he was involved.

Shutting his eyes for a moment, he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. It was actually a small note, written on a card with swirling patterns around the edges.

It read: Come see me alone, or Denise Owens dies. It was followed by a set of coordinates, which James was currently too upset to actually bother reading. Not that it would do him any good—he barely understood how coordinates worked.

So Nathan was now involved in this demon kidnapping business, whatever the point of that was. He had to be, given that there was no reason for him to have been here otherwise. James didn't want to think about what Nathan could have done to Denise already. The guy had always been far too into knives.

Even though he highly doubted that there was anyone except for Denise left alive, he agreed to search the house, coming across two piles of ash on the second floor. Because of course, Nathan would manage to kill two Aegis agents and kidnap the third by himself, never mind with however many people he'd brought with him.

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It was sort of insane to think about how competent Nathan was, and yet since the moment they'd met, Nathan had had no problems letting James manipulate and gaslight him for a hundred years. And sure, James felt awful about it in retrospect, but Nathan was also still a bloodthirsty murderer, so that made it easier to handle.

"We need to report this," said the one vampire whose name James actually knew. Well, he knew her surname, at least, which was McNeil. And without interacting with her much in the past, he knew very well that she always insisted on doing everything by the rules, which was his least favorite thing that people working for Aegis could do.

But he shrugged, not seeing why they shouldn't report back, and everyone except him and Arkie left the room. Black would go along with this, most likely. James could already see it. The plan was going to be an ambush most likely, which Nathan would probably see coming, so he'd have backup. Though it was very weird that he wanted James to come alone. Why didn't he ask for Arkie?

Maybe Nathan thought that Aegis would rather keep a demon out of these people's hands, even if it meant sacrificing one of theirs.

Arkemoz was giving him a strange look, as if he was trying to figure out what was bothering James. And James didn't feel like explaining this. But then again, that warlock guy had already basically told Arkie what James used to be like, so there was probably very little to lose.

"What's up, Arkie?"

The demon scowled further, his tail flicking back and forth. He looked ticked off that James had even asked that, since it was obvious. "Who is this person? What does he want with you?"

"Uh...." What the hell was he going to refer to Nathan as? Even if he wanted to say something that was one hundred percent true, he wasn't sure what it would be. "He's an, um...an old acquaintance of mine."

Nice one. James almost rolled his eyes at himself.

"Everyone in Hell described mates they didn't have children with in this manner."

James gawked at Arkemoz, who had his eyes narrowed so much they were just slits as his tail continued to flick from side to side. James laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his hair in a bid to do something. That had been a bit too on the money. "I, um, take it there's a stigma against that where you're from?"

"We mate for life. And for the purpose of having offspring. So yes, not creating any is quite shameful."

Arkie was getting sassy. James would have enjoyed that if the topic had been anything else.

"Aren't you guys immortal? How does that even work?"

Arkemoz didn't answer this time, and just somehow managed to scowl even more. James sighed. Well, there was no point in lying. Arkie had apparently figured it out already.

"Okay, all right, we had a thing." His shoulders sunk. Admitting it certainly hadn't made him feel better. "When I was...less nice."

Arkie's tail stopped moving, but its tip was sticking up. It certainly didn't look friendly, so James would assume it was negative. He was still frowning, but it looked more pensive than annoyed. James could practically see the gears in his head turning. He was already expecting Arkemoz to ask why two men would be in a relationship—if his and Nathan's thing could be called that—since demons were apparently super baby focused, but to James' surprise, Arkie moved right past it.

"What do you think he wants from you?"

He even accompanied it with his small, adorable head tilt. James let out a breath as he relaxed a bit. It was probably better Arkie had asked about this now. He doubted explaining this would get easier at any point.

"I dunno. We haven't seen each other in years, even before Aegis turned me...good again." He really didn't like using that phrase. It sounded stupid, and he certainly wasn't good, but he had nothing better to call it. He certainly wasn't going to use the word rehabilitated. "We were very on again, off again."

Arkie blinked at him, apparently this concept finally being too much for him to handle. James struggled not to laugh at the poor guy. But that would make sense for someone coming from a culture that apparently never heard of divorce and break ups. James was equally stunned and horrified by the idea.

"I see."

James snorted out a laugh, unable to keep it in anymore. Arkie shot him a glare, actually looking hurt by that, which immediately made James feel like a jerk. But he wasn't given the time to explain that he wasn't mocking Arkie. Not maliciously anyway.

"Adley, get down here!" McNeil yelled from downstairs, making James sigh. He was still planning on trying to smooth things over with Arkie, but the demon was already heading down the stairs, his tails swishing under his coat.

James was starting to realize that that particular tail movement indicated deep irritation, and that he seemed to get Arkemoz to do it concerningly often. Did Arkie have a tail gesture for being happy? Had James seen it before? He hoped he had because if not, well, that wasn't good.

Although with how often Arkie tended to be adorably grumpy, maybe this wasn't all on James.

Heaving another sigh, he dragged himself downstairs, already having an idea of what McNeil wanted to talk about. And he didn't want to take part in it at all. Though seeing the woman's stern scowl somehow did convince him that he should do his best to help, no matter how unpleasant this was going to be. And besides, Denise's life was on the line, and he didn't want to be responsible for her death in the slightest.

"This note," McNeil said from the bottom of the stairs as James joined her, raising up the envelope, "was written by Nathan Marlow, correct?"

James nodded, a shiver running down his back at the way she said Nathan's name. Even though he knew it would be a bad idea, James looked around to find Arkie, but the demon wasn't anywhere near the door, it seemed. But there was a good chance he was outside, as that seemed to be where most of the others were.

"How possible do you think it is that he is part of this group of rogue vampires?"

James knew she was asking that only for confirmation because it was fairly obvious it was the only option. Still, the question made James uncomfortable. Nathan had never been much of a follower. Or a people person. Nathan had spent the better part of a century following James like a lovesick puppy, but that wasn't because he'd wanted leadership from him.

"He has to be. But I don't get why," James replied truthfully, shrugging. He frowned in thought, trying to figure out a theory behind Nathan's motivations at least. There had been plenty of vampire cults over the last hundred years, and Nathan had scoffed at all of them. James had as well, but he hadn't been anywhere near as vocal about it.

"Currently, that doesn't matter. Our main concern is if this is a trick or not."

James snorted. "Of course, it's a trick. Denise might be dead already."

McNeil rolled her eyes. "Obviously it is a trap. But this could have not been written by Marlow."

James grimaced. It didn't take much to make her angry, did it? Though from what he'd heard, McNeil had been here for a very long time, and working with some of these people would have turned him this irritable as well.

"I...guess not," James said, his eyes scanning the envelope. But that was definitely Nathan's handwriting. And if this were a trick, what would be the point, anyway? He wasn't more special than any other vampire, except for his age. And the only advantage that gave him was being a little stronger. "But I'm sure it's him. And even if it isn't, it changes nothing, right?"

McNeil looked down at the note, narrowing her eyes and humming. "We can hope."

Well, that was nice and ominous. Just like James liked it.

"We need to be smart about this," she continued, looking him in the eye again. Despite her having to look up to meet his gaze, it was none the less intimidating. "The coordinates seem to lead to an old bar in the middle of nowhere, two hours from here, abandoned as far as our researchers could tell. Unfortunately, that's about all they managed to find out. But as is, you'll need to go inside alone."

James nodded, not exactly surprised by this. They didn't know how many people Nathan had with him, or what the trap would actually be until it was sprung. And there was a very real chance that Nathan would just kill Denise if he thought James hadn't come alone. And unfortunately, Nathan wasn't an idiot, so they couldn't count on tricking him back either.

"We'll try to find an alternative entrance, or make one ourselves, but you'll have to distract Marlow until we do."

James grimaced. That was going to be very unpleasant, but it also shouldn't be difficult. Nathan had always treated James as the center of the freaking universe. If that hadn't changed over the last decade, a few lies might do the trick. Just like the one he was about to say.

"I'm ready."

McNeil nodded, not looking any less grim than before. "Good. Then we will set out at once."