“At that point,” I rushed out the rest as fast as I could, “Lexdruggedme, tookmetoasecludedhouse, and we had a long chat about some of the misconceptions he has had.”
“He drugged you?!”
“What the fuck is his problem?!”
“I’m going to kill him, that’s the only solution to this.”
“What kind of misconceptions did he have?”
I would only acknowledge Falcon’s question, since it was the most helpful in this situation. I turned to him. “It seems like his uncle has been filling his head with lies like our dads wanted to take advantage of his parents’ deaths to take over the Devil side of the organization, and, therefore, wanted to kill him to get rid of the Devil line.”
The whole room fell quiet for a second, hopefully thinking about how Lex would naturally have a distrust and dislike for us. Then Avery shook his head. “But that doesn’t make sense. His uncle is a Devil, it wouldn’t wipe out the line.”
Falcon interjected, “That is not quite true. If you look at the document our fathers signed between the human government and the paranormal community, it explicitly says that each of them and theirdirect descendantsare the only ones who can hold the title. This means that Vincent Devil will never be able to take over the Devil clan officially.”
So that was the reason. I was racking my brain on the way here trying to think about why his uncle would say that. It all boiled down to power. “Well, then that makes sense as to why he would take Lex away and fill his head with all these crazy thoughts. He wants to control the Devil clan outside of the Syndicate and needs Lex to do it.”
Cosmo, always thinking about the angles, asked, “You said ‘officially.’ What could he do unofficially?”
Ax was the one to pipe up this time. “That’s easy. He could gather the individuals that don’t want to be under the Syndicate’s thumb anymore and make his own army, something that could try to rival the Syndicate but without the backing of the human government.”
“Which wouldn’t stop much,” Avery bounced off. “All he would need to do is really defeat us and then claim himself as the new organization, tell the human government that it’s either deal with him or he lets the supes run free. They would buckle in a heartbeat.”
“Shit,” Rick said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
I saw my moment as they were all quiet and stewing over each other’s words, and I took advantage. “Which is why I invited Lex here to have him meet with the bosses, meet all of you, and prove that we are not the evil beings his uncle has made us out to be.”
“Out of the question.”
“He fucking drugged you!”
“This is why you are not allowed to go places alone.”
“Would he even come?”
Again, I would ignore the other hotheads and pay attention to only Falcon, the only one thinking about this rationally. “I have no idea, but I hope he does.” I swung my gaze around the room, glaring at the rest of them. “Even if he does, I don’t think he’s going to show up right this second.”
“Plus, I drugged him back to escape, so we’re even now.” I hoped this would pacify the naysayers until I could convince them that everything was fine. All their eyes widened at that, like they would start back up again with the arguing, so I lifted my hand to Falcon. “Also, this was very helpful. Thank you.”
Like dogs with a bone, they switched real fast.
“What is that?”
“Did he give you a present?”
“Did you have that checked out first?”
That last one had Falcon glaring at an unfazed Cosmo, but I laughed it off. “Falcon gave me this nifty bracelet that got me out of a barrier. It was meant for traps I might fall into on the search, but it ended up being useful when I wanted to leave the house. He had that place locked up tight, but it was no match for your gadget.”
Falcon’s neck burned red as he stood up and looked away from me. “I’m glad it was useful.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, still not meeting my eyes. “I’m needed in the lab soon, but I think we have taken up more than enough of your sleep time.”
Almost like it was on cue, I yawned, as my body was spent and my mind wound down. I scooted down farther, and the towel I was in became unraveled as Cosmo said, “Do you need me to get your pj’s?”
I pulled up the covers and removed the towel, throwing it over his head and toward the bathroom door. “Naw. Too much work. I’ll just sleep like this.” I smiled as I laid my head down.
“Too mean, Siren. Too mean.” Ax patted my leg as he forced himself up and off my bed, giving me a look like he wanted to run and jump under the covers with me.
“Don’t you dare, Ax.” I growled out, “I want sleep, and that is guaranteed not to happen if you stay.” His eyes sparkled with a devious nature as he nodded.
