Erik's silver eyes narrow slightly. "Only you would treat an ancient artifact of devastating power like a carnival prize, brother."
"The faith you all have in me is truly touching," Lucian clutches his chest dramatically. "I'm wounded. Devastated. Completely—"
"LUCIAN!" We all shout in unison.
"Fine," Lucian drops the bomb, actually serious for once. "That spell Morgan fired at me? Ring went flying, and I didn't notice until I was on the plane that it pulled a disappearing act. Well, half of it did. Pretty sure, Lilith's personal carrier pigeon from Satan's asshole swooped in and snagged the broken piece."
Everyone just stares, silent as the grave until Emily explodes.
"God fucking dammit." slamming her shot glass down. "I should've just fried that witchy bitch when I had the chance instead of playing nice." She whirls on Lucian, eyes blazing. "And you! You've been sitting on this catastrophic bullshit of information this whole time? What, were you waiting for the perfect moment to tell us half of an ancient death stone is in the hands of the psycho squad?"
Dani drops her fork, pinching the bridge of her nose. I feel her frustration building through our bond like a nuclear reactor about to blow. "Jesus. We finally get all the pieces together, and now we're back to a Humpty Dumpty situation—and your certifiably insane'mom'has the other half? Perfect. This is just…fucking perfect." She stabs at her steak with enough force to make the plate protest.
Erik's expression remains unchanged as he analyzes the situation, his tactical mind already mapping out implications. "This complicates our position significantly. The fractured stone could have unforeseen consequences—if Lilith uses it… we need to consider how this affects the power balance and prepare accordingly."
"No shit, Sherlock," Lucian rolls his eyes at Erik. "Got any other brilliant observations? Maybe warn us that water is wet while you're at it?"
"Can we go back for it?" Emily asks after slamming back a shot of bourbon like it's water. She pours me another, and I knock that fucker back, letting the burn settle my nerves.
"Holy shit, did you suffer brain damage from all that witch-slapping?" Lucian's mouth runs faster than his brain, as usual. "Or did you forget that Morgan makes Bellatrix LeStrange look like a Disney princess? We barely escaped with our perfectly sculpted asses intact!"
"Please. I handled that situation better than you handled your hair care routine, vampire Ken. Or did you miss the part where I was turning that place into a supernatural Fight Club?"
I've got to hand it to the witch—what I saw when I carried Dani out was nothing short of fucking biblical. Emily's powers have definitely leveled up from parlor tricks to apocalyptic shit-show. The kind of force that makes even vampires think twice about pissing her off.
Dani shoves her plate aside, fixing me with that honey-gold stare that sees right through my bullshit. "Alright, babe, spill it. What's the deal with your psychotic Maker? Because after that little reunion, I think we need the full director's cut of that horror story."
The temperature in the room drops ten degrees as Erik, Lucian, and I go rigid. Talking about that sadistic bitch is like voluntarily swallowing broken glass. But with her loose and causing chaos, they deserve to know the whole fucked-up truth—even if we still don't know how she slipped her cage.
Erik's silver eyes darken with eons of carefully contained rage while Lucian's usual smartass grin vanishes completely. Some demons are better left buried, but this one's already clawed its way back to the surface.
Danica
17
Rhyland takes my hand and leads me to the living room like I'm some sort of delicate flower. I practically face-plant into the plush black couch, burrowing into the cushions. Time for the tea to be spilled, the beans to be dished, and the skeletons to come dancing out of the closet. Storytime, bitches—let's do this.
Lucian plops down in the oversized armchair, pulling Seraphina into his lap like she's his personal angel-sized teddy bear. Rhyland claims his territory at my feet, those huge hands working magic on my tired soles as he drapes my legs across his thighs. Erik, Emily, and Sable claim their spots at the end of this monstrosity of a sectional that's practically the size of a small country. Seriously, this thing could host the UN summit and still have room for a dance party.
"Lilith is…" Rhyland starts. I can feel the tension radiating off him like heat from a furnace as he struggles to find words dark enough to describe his maker's twisted origin story.
I wiggle my toes against his palms, trying to coax the story out of my brooding man. Whatever he's about to drop on us, it's clearly worse than finding out your ex is dating your best friend's cousin's roommate's dog walker.
"Lilith is old. Like, watching-paint-dry-in-the-Paleolithic-era old," Lucian offers. "Rumor has it, she was Adam's first. You know, before Eve got the gig."
My brain does a record scratch. Hold up. Adam's first wife? As in,theAdam? From the Bible? No way. No fucking way.
"Are you….?" I ask, but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, and it's making my head spin. "Nooo. Seriously? As in—"
"The Garden of Eden," Erik confirms, his face somehow even more grave than usual.
"Holy shit!" I nearly choke on my words. "Are you telling me your psycho maker istheLilith? Like, the original 'I don't need no man' badass?"
Lucian grins, but it's all sharp edges. "The one and only. Apparently, she and the Big Guy upstairs had some creative differences, so she peaced out of paradise and went full-on Queen of the Damned."
I blink, trying to process this biblical bombshell. "So, your maker is the OG feminist who told God to shove it, then what? Decided to become the world's scariest cougar?" My brain hurts just trying to wrap itself around this.
Erik nods, his silver eyes distant as if seeing centuries past. "She's one of the most powerful of our kind."
