Demon of Vengeance: Chronicles of the Fallen, Book 4 by Brenda Huber Page B

furniture dotted the room, hand carved and delicate. A dresser here, a wardrobe there, a vanity complete with mirror, backless seat, and a silver brush set over there in the corner. Plush green carpet padded every step. The room had been painted a powder blue, and the ceiling looked like puffy clouds. Open. Airy. Spotless and dust free. Sebastian hesitated.
    This couldn’t be Asher’s bedchamber, could it? Surely the very masculine demon wouldn’t claim a room so obviously designed for a woman’s use. But everything here was so… fresh .
    The idea of placing her in the mercenary’s bed didn’t sit well.
    “It’s the guest room,” Asher commented with a wry twist of his lips.
    A guest room? Why would this anti-social demon need a guest room? And a frilly one, at that?
    To the best of Sebastian’s knowledge, Asher didn’t have a mate.
    “I don’t,” Asher gritted out, patience clearly dwindling.
    Sebastian looked over at him, wary. He’d heard stories of Asher’s abilities. Were they true?
    “It wouldn’t take a mind reader to translate the look on your face just now, Vengeance,” Asher informed him. It didn’t go unnoticed that he hadn’t answered the unspoken question, though.
    “Put her down,” Asher barked.
    Sebastian placed Phoebe on the bed and stepped back.
    Asher sat down on the side of the bed, hip to hip with Phoebe. He peered over his shoulder, his expression dark.
    “You’re hovering.”
    “Sorry.”
    Sebastian backed up several steps. But he didn’t take his attention off Asher, watching every move like a hawk.
    Turning back to Phoebe, Asher laid one hand on her forehead, one hand on her chest directly over her heart, and closed his eyes.
    After what seemed like forever, Asher opened those unfathomable dark eyes and pierced Sebastian with a look that would have worried any other demon. In all honesty, it even unsettled Sebastian, just a little bit.
    “I thought you said she was human,” he hissed.
    Sebastian’s mouth fell open and his brows snapped together. “What do you mean? What is she?”
    “Not human,” Asher snapped as he turned back to his patient. Sebastian watched every move Asher made even more closely now. He tensed as Asher conjured a small vial of gelatinous, luminous green liquid. At the same moment, a parchment appeared before Sebastian. The figure on the contract was, as usual, astronomical.
    “You sure you don’t just want my first born?” Sebastian growled as he pricked his thumb and pressed his bloody print to seal the bargain. The parchment disappeared.
    “Not yet,” Asher murmured, all his intense focus on Phoebe’s face.
    Sebastian’s brows snapped together. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
    That was the other problem with Asher. Everything was a damned riddle. One that, more often than not, came back to bite you in the ass when you least expected it. Before Sebastian could question him further, Asher lifted Phoebe’s head with far more care than Sebastian would have thought the demon capable and eased the slimy green concoction past her lips.
    Sebastian held his breath as Phoebe resisted at first, her precious face screwed up in disgust. But after a moment or two she acquiesced, accepting every last drop of the vile looking elixir. He expected her to get sick again, the way she had when he’d given her the Tylenol. But, though her eyes remained closed, her brow relaxed.
    Without warning, a punch of power rippled through the room, and Sebastian tensed.
    What the hell was that?
    The power wobbled, and then settled down to a faint simmer, damned near unnoticeable. And it was coming from Phoebe.
    Asher vanished the now empty vial and waved a hand over her mauled shoulder, conjuring a fresh bandage. He stood.
    “Take her home. Change that bandage every few hours until the wound is healed.” He produced a small lidded container and handed it to Sebastian. “Put that salve on the wound. Keep her comfortable. And under no circumstances are you to