“I have a feeling you like poking dangerous things with sticks, don’t you?”

“If the stick is sharp enough, no thing is dangerous.”

She cocked a blond eyebrow. “Really? Because I don’t think I could find a stick sharp enough to make you less dangerous.”

“I’m not a danger to you, Blaspheme.” Putting his fingers to her throat, he stroked the silky skin right over her jugular vein. “Not if you’ve been honest with me.”

In an instant, her demeanor changed, intensified, almost as if she had a split personality, and the other one had come out to play. Gone was the easygoing, flirty doctor, and in her place was a temptress with pouty lips and half-lidded eyes. Her delicate wings flared out and tucked away again, and in the smoky light from the wall sconces, he could see glittery particles floating in the air.

Aphrodisiac powder. She was attempting to enchant him with it. And okay, he suddenly felt a little amorous, but it didn’t overshadow the disappointment rolling through him that she’d so blatantly use a False Angel trick on him. Did she really think he’d fall madly in love with her and then collapse in a sad little puddle of grief when she left him high and dry?

“I am what I am,” she said in a low, smoky voice that filled his brain with fantasies of doing her in front of a roaring fire. A campfire, a forest fire, a freaking fire in the Pits of Pain, he didn’t care. “Thank you for the distraction. Now I need to get back to the clinic.”

Dropping his arm, he snared her hand. He wasn’t going to let her screw with him more than she already had. “I’d say it would be even better next time, but there won’t be a next time.”

“Then we’re in agreement.”

The hard-to-get angle wasn’t going to work with him now that he knew what she was up to. Anger bubbled up, but he tamped it down, figuring he had the upper hand now, and once he had it, he didn’t give it up.

Still gripping her, he flashed to Underworld General’s parking lot.

“Well,” she said crisply, whipping her hair over her shoulder, “I guess this is it. Nice knowing you, Revenant.”

“No,” he said, “this isn’t it. I still need you for Gethel.”

Now that Heaven had made him an offer, he needed Lucifer to die more than ever. His death would mean Rev wouldn’t lose his status in Sheoul, but it could also get him a welcome into Heaven. Either way, he would have the power to choose his destiny. Win-win all around.

Of course, that was assuming Blaspheme and her doctor buddies were devising a way to rid the realms of Lucifer. They had to be. Eidolon’s family was too tied together with Reaver and the Horsemen, and there was no way they couldn’t be plotting to destroy Gethel, and with her, Satan’s brat.

She started toward the sliding glass door that led to the emergency department. “I told you to bring her here.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Then I’ll find you another doctor,” she called from over her shoulder.

“Unacceptable.”

She spun around, and a sudden chill infused her voice. “Yeah, well, here’s the thing. You might be a Shadow Angel with powers and influence I can’t even comprehend. But here, in this medical facility, I lay down the law. So let’s part ways without a scene, shall we?”

Revenant banked his frustration. He was used to getting what he wanted, but in this case, he was going to back off. For now. But he’d be back, and he wasn’t going to settle for any other doctor.

No, he wasn’t as through with Blaspheme as she’d like to think.

From now on, he’d run the Revenant/Blaspheme show, and any plot twists that came up would be orchestrated by him, and him alone.

Blaspheme was shaking so hard by the time she entered UG’s emergency department that her head hurt from her brain rattling around inside her skull.

She’d had sex with Revenant. Good sex. Really good sex.

And he hadn’t even laid a finger on her.

As she strode through the halls on the way to Eidolon’s office, her body flushed hot from the memories.

And then it flushed cold as she remembered the story Revenant had told her as they lay in the aftermath of their passion. He was an angel born and raised in hell, forced to become something he wasn’t.

Sounded familiar.

She hated that she could relate to him, especially since he admitted to killing vyrm like they were nothing more than flies that needed to be swatted. If he learned the truth about her, would he destroy her as nonchalantly?

He’d terrified her when he’d said he wasn’t a danger to her… as long she was being honest with him. So what had she done? She’d tried to use her seductive powers on him, aphrodisiac and all, in hopes of distracting him. Making him feel something for her so he wouldn’t kill her.

Clearly, it hadn’t worked, since he’d said there wouldn’t be a next time for them.

She should have been happy about that, but for some reason, his rejection had stung. Gods, she was an idiot. She wanted him out of her life, and yet, when he agreed, she got upset.

How could he be such a danger to her but at the same time, make her feel… safe? Because she had felt safe with him. He’d saved her from an angel assassin and then took her someplace where only someone harboring a death wish would try to get to her.

Then there was the simple chemistry of their relationship. She was flat-out attracted to him. His power and darkness drew her, but beneath all of that, behind the arrogant wall of defense mechanisms, was a male no one had loved for a very long time.