The Price of Exorcism by Dakota Brown (sneezy the snowman read aloud .txt) 📗

You're known to hell, and ifwe know you, heaven does as well. And if the Host is getting involved, it'sgoing to affect your half angel. Best if we stay informed.

I groaned.

Also, if this gets out of hand, it will impact all ofthe planes.

Okay, okay, I'll stop complaining. He was being serious, and I took his words seriously,but I was getting bored.

Fortunately, the only people who appeared to be payingus any attention were the horsemen, who were seated across from us. War,especially, seemed to be fascinated by me. I was looking forward to talkingwith her more this evening. I wanted to know her story.

The real progress will happen tonight, he sent back to me.

Though I kept my poker face in place, I sighedmentally. The speaker changed, and I tried to focus.

Ezra put his hand on mine, and I let him, surprisedbut grateful for the physical contact. I noticed War watching us and she archedan eyebrow when I met her gaze. I shrugged, letting a hint of a smile sneakthrough my otherwise stoic expression.

I was trying to figure out if I could recreate thefifth grade and start passing carefully folded up notes to War when Ezra's handon mine tightened. I glanced up and tensed. Nicki, Daed, and another guy whoseemed familiar, but I didn't know, walked into the room.

Everyone fell silent at the intrusion, except for thesoft growl that escaped Mayhem's throat.

"It seems we weren't invited to what looks like afascinating meeting," the man I didn't recognize said.

Yeah, where do we know him from, mate?

That is the mage that attacked us last night.

Oh, nifty. Idid sigh out loud this time. Of course, Nicki and Daed would be mixed up withthe mage who was clearly working for demons. Lott most likely. I should haveguessed that since it was completely unsurprising.

"An oversight I hope you will forgive, Brennan O'Neal,"Azrael said, standing and drawing the attention to himself. He sounded sincere,but I couldn't help but think he was not at all sorry. "We were not aware thatyou would have any interest in this gathering. We are simply sharinginformation on recent events. Who are your companions?"

"Occultists in my service," he answeredwithout providing names.

"Very well, please join us."

Since Azrael had offered, no one else would dareobject. At least not at the moment. I suspected Ezra was going to have wordswith the angel of death later. Azrael had taken charge of the meeting and Isuspected that most of the others were at least marginally afraid of theancient being. Probably with good reason, though he seemed nice enough.

The speaker whose presentation Brennan had interruptedvisibly tried to collect himself. He, like many of the others present, was amage in the employee of some demon or another. Several of the speakers hadclaimed to be in the service of the angels, and there were a handful of Sidhepresent, along with, of course, Ezra and the horsemen.

It seemed like most had sent representatives, otherthan the Sidhe, Ezra and the horsemen. I wondered why Ezra had come in personif he could have sent someone in his place.

I wanted to talk directly to Azrael. Also, I'm here atsomeone else's request.

I didn't reply, squeezing his hand in acknowledgement,while trying to ignore the glares Nicki and Daed were shooting my way. Fuckthem, anyway.

The rest of the afternoon dragged, and I was seriouslygrateful when Azrael called a halt for the evening.

I was torn between wanting to disappear so I couldavoid my old friends, who were obviously no longer friendly at all, and not wantingto miss whatever was going to happen this evening. Also, I needed food.

Ezra held out his hand for me.

"An awful lot of touching, demon," I saidquietly as I accepted.

He winked at me as he tucked my arm through his.

I almost expected him to head toward Azrael butinstead he led me through the doors and out into the lobby area of the hotel.He didn't spare a glance at Brennan, Nicki, or Daed, but they were staringdaggers at us.

"Let's get something to eat. Azrael knows I needto talk to him. He won't leave without finding us. We have to sit through thistomorrow, then we can leave tomorrow evening."

I sighed. "Did we learn anything today?"Mayhem trotted along behind me in his fluffy form. No one at the meeting hadremarked on him.

"Yes. Mostly what I expected. The incidents we'reseeing are not isolated. I doubt we'll learn anything else useful, however.Especially with your friends here."

"Not my friends," I protested.

"They were, once."

"I don't know Brennan."

"I understand that," Ezra assured me.

He led me into the restaurant and pulled out a chairfor me at one of the tables. It had enough room for a few more people and Ithought he hoped the horsemen would join us. The restaurant was as fancy as thehotel, but I doubted it would hold up to dinner last night. Still, it should betasty, and my stomach growled. Maybe sex instead of a large lunch hadn't beenthe best idea. I banished that thought. It had been a great idea and now Icould eat a big dinner.

A waitress came up to us and handed us menus. Iwatched as others from our meeting came into the room. Azrael headed our way,but before he could get there, Nicki pulled out the chair next to me.

I groaned quietly. Daed sat next to her and Brennan satat the other end, leaving the seat next to Ezra open. I thought that was wiseon Brennan's part. Before I could decide if I was going to give up on dinnerand leave, Cáit sat across from me, next to Ezra. Mayhem placed himself betweenme and Nicki.

She grinned at me and acted like it was the mostnormal thing in the world that she'd abandoned the other three horsemen andjoined us instead. I suspected Azrael had sent her over.

"Hey, look, they have pizza!" Nicki declaredand called the waitress over.

Fuck. Therewas no way the pizza here was any good. At least not by my standards.

Before I could object, Nicki ordered for the entiretable, including pitchers of drinks. I had really been eyeing one of thesteaks, and I also wanted nothing to