Page 43 of Protector Unmatched

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Zoltan stuffed the padded envelope into the inside pocket of his coat. This time he was prepared to track Vasili down if the unscrupulous human decided to play games. He was done with bowing to the conman’s terms when it came to what Vasili offered him for purchase. It was time to sniff out the man’s sources and deal with them directly. What did Zoltan need a middleman for when he could deal with the original procurer himself? It would also mean that fewer people knew what Zoltan was looking for. Besides, he didn’t like Vasili. The idiot thought himself superior, and nobody was superior to Zoltan. He was the Great One, the King of the Underworld, and soon the ruler of the human world too. And whoever stood in his way would be crushed.

But for this afternoon, he would play along with Vasili’s game one last time.

His colored contact lenses hiding his green eyes, Zoltan left his condo and waited for the elevator. When it dinged and the doors opened, he stepped inside and realized that he wasn’t alone. A well-dressed woman in her forties stood in one corner.

He met her eyes and said politely, “Good day.”

She gave him a quick smile then averted her eyes, but Zoltan didn’t miss the blush that colored her cheeks. Yes, she liked the way he looked. And he wouldn’t be averse to a quick fuck, but two things stopped him. The first was his rule never to get involved with a woman who lived in the same building, in case he had to dispose of her at some point. The second was that he had an important meeting with Vasili. Knowing the way the shyster operated, he’d quickly find another taker for his stolen goods if Zoltan didn’t show. It was something he couldn’t risk.

Swallowing his lusty feelings, Zoltan turned his back on the woman and stared at the doors while the elevator descended. When the elevator dinged to announce their arrival, Zoltan stepped aside politely and let the woman pass ahead of him. She whispered a thank you that sounded more like an invitation to her bedroom than a display of good manners. But he didn’t react. Couldn’t.

Well, maybe after his meeting, after he’d accomplished what he needed to do, he could pick up a woman to quench his thirst for some horizontal action. Despite the fact that he fucked demon females on a regular basis, he’d grown tired of their barely disguised agendas. They let him fuck them because they wanted to sit on the throne beside him, whereas a human female didn’t even know how powerful he was. They wanted him because of his charm and good looks. And somehow that was more palatable to him. And when he had them in his bed, he felt a kind of satisfaction he rarely achieved with a demon. Even though the thought of another woman, one neither demon nor human, always intruded when he climaxed. But he couldn’t have her. At least not yet. For now, he’d make do with human substitutes, petite women with long blond hair, pouting lips, and slender legs. But enough of the daydreaming.

His hands buried deep in the pockets of his coat, Zoltan left the swanky condo building and started walking. Even though it was early afternoon, storm clouds darkened the sky and prevented the sun from illuminating the streets. It felt as if the city could sense the ruler of the demons walking among the imposing buildings, as if the city had eyes and ears and knew something was brewing.

Zoltan turned into the narrow one-way street where Vasili’s meeting spot was. He swiftly walked along the sidewalk, then he heard a sound on the other side of the street. He spun his head in that direction and dove for the dagger in his boot. The movement saved his life. A weapon whizzed past above him, narrowly avoiding his head, and clattered to the ground, the sound of metal on stone echoing against the buildings. Had he been upright, it would have found its target.

Zoltan gripped his dagger and lunged across the deserted street, chasing the shadow he’d caught in the corner of his eye. He saw it disappear into a building slated for demolition and dove after him. Nobody attacked the Great One and got away with it.

Inside the dilapidated building it was dark, the windows boarded up. But Zoltan was at home in the dark. He heard the rapid footfalls of the person fleeing from him, trying to traverse the building to find an exit leading to the street behind, but he wouldn’t get far. Quiet like a mouse, Zoltan cut off the assassin’s escape route. Loud breathing gave the bastard away. When he emerged from behind a column, Zoltan pounced and tackled him. They fell to the dusty stone floor, wrestling. But Zoltan was stronger. He landed a punch in the aggressor’s face, making the man’s head whip to the side. When he prepared for a counterpunch and glared at Zoltan, one thing was immediately clear: the man was a demon. One of his contact lenses had fallen out and revealed a demon-green eye.

“Fuck!” The revelation gave the demon time to land a blow to Zoltan’s temple, but he absorbed the pain easily and pinned the demon down.

Fear in his eyes, one beaming green, one a dull brown, the demon began to whimper. “No, please have mercy, oh Great One!”

“Mercy?” Zoltan would have laughed had the situation not been so dire. One of his own demons, though he didn’t know him personally, had tried to assassinate him. “I’ll show you mercy.” He glared at the demon and bared his teeth.

“No, no, please. I was forced. I had to do it. Or he would have killed me.”

Zoltan narrowed his eyes. “You’re saying you’re only a tool?” He spat in the demon’s face. “Coward!” How he despised weak men.

“No, please, you have to believe me. He’s planning a coup.”

So, there was somebody vying for his throne, and he wouldn’t even do it the honorable way by proving to the underlings that Zoltan wasn’t capable of defeating the Stealth Guardians, but by simply trying to have him assassinated.

“Who? Who’s that vile coward?”

The demon opened his mouth. There was a whizzing sound, and Zoltan recognized it immediately as a dagger flying through the air. He let go of the would-be assassin and dove the other way, sliding behind a thick column.

“He’s here, oh God!” the demon on the floor said. “He’s—”

His sentence was cut short. Zoltan didn’t have to look any closer to know the fate of the demon.

Silence followed the second dagger. Zoltan didn’t dare breathe, only listened, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn’t hear in which direction the traitor had disappeared. Most likely he’d already opened a vortex outside the building and escaped back into the Underworld.

Fuck!

When it was clear that he was the only man alive in the dark building, Zoltan came out from behind the column and dusted himself off. He confirmed that the demon was indeed dead and collected any trinkets or weapons that might connect him to the Underworld. He dragged the demon to a hole that appeared to be an unused elevator shaft and tossed him in. He wasn’t concerned about the body being discovered. He had more important things to do. And finding the traitor was only one of the things on his list.

Before he emerged from the building, Zoltan looked up and down the street. But there was nobody in sight. He sent a quick text to Vasili, telling him that there was police activity around the area and changed the meeting place to a different location. Vasili replied in the affirmative.

Zoltan was extra cautious when he made his way to the new meeting place. He turned often, doubled back several times, but nobody was following him. For today, he was safe.

Vasili was only five minutes late, but for once, Zoltan didn’t mind. It gave him enough time to make sure the new meeting place, at the back entrance of a club, was secure, and they wouldn’t be observed.

“Do you have pictures?” Zoltan asked impatiently the moment Vasili joined him.