“Uh, okay?” Stevie replies. Kas and Asmo both stand, as do I, removing Blair from my lap and placing her gently on her tender ass. She winces and shifts her weight.

“Why don’t you stay here with the witches and Asmo and I will handle this,” Kas says. I give her a glare.

“No fucking way am I letting you handle this,” I reply. Stevie and Blair both watch the conversation like it’s a tennis match. I stop paying attention to them when Kas claps her hands together while trying to make her point.

“Like Hell I’m going to let dumb and dumber handle this. If you want a job done right, you send in a woman. That’s why Lucifer assigned me to this case, to make sure you incompetent dick folds didn’t screw it up,” Kas mouths back.

My temper is on the surface, and I can’t help it when my finger is near her face. “There’s a fuck ton more on the line with this case than you realize. I’m not letting her get away. I don’t even give a shit if you’re part of taking her back to Hell, but this needs to be done right.”

“You think there’s a lot on the line for you, you have no idea!” Kas shouts back at me. Both of our demon tempers simmer on the surface.

“Yeah, and what the fuck do you have to gain, Kas?”

“Like I would tell you, you wouldn’t understand, anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Asmo asks her pleadingly. Hell, this man is pathetic. He touches her arm, and she shucks it away.

“You two are assholes and if we don’t do something soon, we’re going to miss our opportunity,” Asmo says.

Kas and I are trying to calm down as we glare at each other. Asmo in the middle of us like he’s our kid and we’re in the middle of a custody drop off.

“Can we just get this over with?” he asks, and Kas and I both huff.

It’s at that moment that we hear a loud yelp to the left of us. Stevie’s red hair is in the clutches of Paige—Mara.

“What do you want? How did you find me?” she says. Her eyes darting between the three of us and finally landing on Blair.

“Let my cousin go, now,” Blair says calmly, standing from her seated position.

“Only if you come with me,” Mara says back, her eyes now unmoving from Blair. I go to take a step toward Mara and she growls at me. She pulls a blade from under her dress and holds it to Stevie’s throat. “Any closer and I’ll do it.” I can’t tell from here, but it looks like it may be a dark object. The damage that could do versus a standard blade is severe.