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

"So, I'm Nicki," she said to Cáit. "Thisis Daed and this is Bennana O'Neal. Me and Daed go way back with Price."

War glanced over at me and I gave her a strainedsmile.

"Cáit," she offered after a moment.

"Did Price tell you how she's a giant hypocrite?"Nicki gave us an innocent simile, tone light as if she were relating theweather. "Or had she not gotten to that yet?"

"I haven't taken up demon summoning as a hobby,"I grumbled.

"Just fucking them?" Daed this time.

I raised my eyebrows.

"You do realize I still object to summoningdemons, right? I've been spending the last several weeks sending their assesback to hell, not working for them." I crossed my arms and leaned back inmy chair.

"I don't know, Price, you're the one sporting ademon mark, not us," Nicki sneered at me.

Ezra glanced at me and I shook my head. Nothing hewould have to say would help. They were just being assholes.

I shrugged. "I'm still not working for them."

"You sure? You look awful cozy with Prince Ezrathere," Daed said.

"He's good in bed, mate, not my master."That answered the question about if they knew who Ezra was or not.

Cáit snorted her water, and Ezra patted her on theback when she choked. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Yes, thanks." Cáit laughed. "Sorry."

Brennan was staying out of the conversation, but hewatched us all curiously. I wanted to know more about him, but I also wanted tokill his ass. Or, rather, I wanted someone else to kill his ass. Maybe I couldsend him to hell. He wasn't a demon I didn't think, but maybe it was somethingI could do.

I started pondering ideas about how I could accomplishthat while Nicki and Daed went on about how awful I was.

"Where is Tif?" I interrupted Nicki'stirade.

"Dead," she replied. "Killed becauseyou couldn't be arsed to stick around."

"Oh, it's my fault you got into demon summoningand got our friend killed? Both Darius and I told you to leave well enoughalone. More than once."

"Yes, Darius. How is he, anyway? Are you fuckinghim still, too?"

"Dude's a priest now and that ship sailed a longtime ago," I replied. "So, what happened? Tif gets killed. How'd youexplain that away?" I'd let that knowledge sink in later. She had beengood people, just too easily caught up in Nicki and Daed's bullshit. I'd triedto get her to leave when I had, but she'd refused.

Daed and Nicki traded uneasy looks before shrugging. "Wehandled it."

"Right."

Anything else I wanted to say was interrupted by thearrival of the pizza. If I hadn't been a pizza snob, I supposed it might havelooked okay, but this was not proper pizza, and I mourned the steak I wasn'teating.

I took a drink of the pop they had served us andsighed. It was going to be a long night if Nicki didn't get bored soon.

Fortunately, Cáit had just the thing. "So, do youhappen to know this building's history?"

Nicki shook her head. "No. Why?"

War smiled and launched into a detailed synopsis ofthe hotel's past.

Is she some sort of historian or something?

I believe she's an archeologist, Ezra replied.

Sweet. She may have just saved us all from memurdering my old friends.

Ezra chuckled, took a bite of his pizza and winced. Heglanced at me and my empty plate and shook his head. I'll order room servicelater.

Cáit was a skilled lecturer, and she went on fornearly forty-five minutes about the hotel and the surrounding buildings, notallowing Nicki or Daed to get a word in. I focused on her, making encouragingsounds, as did Ezra.

Finally, the other two got up and left. Brennan lastedfor a few more minutes, but when it was clear Cáit wasn't done, he left, too.

Once they were out of the room, her three companionsjoined us. Famine set to devouring the remaining slices of inadequate pizza.

"That was brilliant." I laughed.

She grinned. "It's a skill, I suppose."

"Well, it really was interesting, so thank you,but you may have saved Ezra having to cover up some murders," I said.

She nodded. "Yes, we had not expected Lott tosend a representative. Especially as we suspect he's involved with a great dealof this."

"Prince Ezra," Azrael said. "Do youthink Lott has the power base to be the driving force behind this upheaval?"

Ezra shook his head. "No. I'm certain he'ssomeone else's pawn. A powerful one, but he's not working on his own. Ifnothing else, he's not smart enough to orchestrate events this widespread."

"What do you think they're trying to accomplish?"War asked.

"An apocalypse," Azrael supplied.

"That seems extreme," I said, shivering atthe idea.

"Yes, but there are many who feel that would bebeneficial on several different levels," Azrael answered, his eyes goingvacant for a moment before he focused on me. "They are short sighted."

Goosebumps covered my skin, and I rubbed my handstogether. I really would be happy if Death never focused on me like that again.

"Is this related to the last few months?"War asked Azrael.

The angel of death nodded, but neither elaborated.Shit, if they were already dealing with some of this, too…were we going to beable to stop it?

Azrael returned his attention to me. "ChrisPrice, I suspect you and your men will have a large part to play in the nearfuture. Prepare yourself."

"How, mate?"

He smiled and shrugged. "I have no idea."

Ezra kicked me under the table before I could mouthoff.

Azrael turned his attention to Ezra, and I sighed inrelief.

"He's intense, but he's pretty nice," Cáit saidto me.

I shook my head. "Yeah, he likes you, though. You'reone of the horsemen."

She shrugged. "He likes you, too. I have to ask,though, how'd you end up with Prince Ezra?" She lowered her voice as if itwe were able to have a secret conversation while surrounded by the guys.

"Uh, well, I kind of died. Think you heard aboutthat. Sabian, my incubus, got Ezra to save me. Apparently, he actually likesme, so I guess I'll let him stick around for a while."

"Azrael told me Ezra doesn't really like anyone,so good job for charming him."

I snorted. "I think I just sassed him intosubmission."

Both Azrael and Ezra glanced at me before going backto their hushed conversation. The other two horsemen were