“Sir, I am so, so sorry,” Eva panted as she practically collapsed into the room. “I told him he had to wait—”
“Don’t worry yourself, darling. It’s plenty all right,” replied the Englishman, taking a drag from the cigarette in his hand. His nostrils flared as he blew out the smoke from his nose, making his already intimidating expression look all the more dragon-like. “What can I help you with, Maddox? It’s a bit early for your shift to be over, isn’t it?”
“I’m still on the clock, sir,” the young man replied sheepishly.
“Might I ask what the issue is then? Blaine requires an extra pair of eyes on him right now, and you’re not doing anybody any good standing here,” remarked the Englishman.
“That’s the thing.” The boy choked on the words. “There’s been an…incident.”
The Englishman practically growled as he tapped his cigarette against the lip of the ashtray in front of him, flicking off the accumulated ash. “Of course there was.”
“Hey, Mad,” said a scruffy ruffian in a black and white racing jacket coming into the doorway from the club.
“Val,” the blonde boy addressed politely.
“Boss, that brunette at the bar was just asking about you,” laughed Val with roguish delight, smoothing out his pompadour-styled hair before knocking back a shot on the table. “And she has a twin sister.”
The Englishman buried his hands into his face exhaustedly.
“Okay, what’d I miss? You guys look like you were all just splashed with holy water.”
“Where’s Blaine now?” snarled the Englishman.
Val groaned at the name-drop. “What the devil has he done now?”
“He’s back at the manor,” replied Maddox.
“Is that so?” The Englishman’s left eyebrow cocked up as he glanced at his watch. “Did he change the girl?”
Maddox nodded.
“So the two are at the estate then?” His boss grinned. “Calling it a night for a private shag doesn’t exactly sound too concerning. Sounds like our boy’s doing his job.”
“And taking pleasure in doing so,” chuckled Val.
“It’s not like that,” corrected Maddox. “Blaine was attacked tonight.”
The subtle chorus of laughs that had circulated amongst the room suddenly hushed.
“Attacked how?” asked Val.
Maddox pulled up an image on his phone and handed it to his colleague. “He was barely conscious when we dragged him into the manor. He’d been cut pretty bad.”
“Holy shit,” mumbled the ruffian, cringing at the grisly snapshot of Blaine’s sliced arm. “He’s fine now, right?”
Maddox shook his head. “The injury’s at least an hour old, and it hasn’t healed. At all.”
“How bad is it?” asked one of the other men at the table as Val gave the phone over to the Englishman.
“The entire length of his forearm was knifed open with an Angelorum blade,” said Val laboriously.
Everyone gasped, and Eva fell back against the wall.
“He’s as good as dead,” murmured one man. “No one could survive the Angelorum’s hellfire, not with a wound as extensive as that.”
“We have another problem,” said Maddox. “The girl is gone.”
“What?”
“She wasn’t with Blaine at the manor. And the guy passed out five feet into the doorway, so we couldn’t ask him where she was. When he finally came to, he said he let her go.”
“Whatever for?” growled his boss.
“They were ambushed by a pack of Reapers. At least twenty in their ranks. Given Ryder’s current state of health, he knew he wouldn’t be able to defend her if they tracked him down.”
“But he knows where she is?” urged Val. Maddox didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. “Goddamn it.”
“There’s something else.”
The entire room shared in a collective moan.
“The girl was with someone else when everything went down, and by the looks of it, they were a thing.” Maddox retrieved his phone and pulled up another image, handing it to the Englishman.
Raelynd took it, his eyes widening in an instant. “You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” he murmured to the image.
“What is it?” Val walked over and stole a glance at the photograph, snatching it from his hands the moment his eyes settled on the picture. “That’s not who I think it is?”
Raelynd emitted a low laugh as he settled back in his chair, running a hand across his left eyebrow. “Well, well, well. What an interesting development indeed.”