I hear Luc sigh before my bed dips. He sits beside me, his back against the bedhead.
"Rory, I'm sorry." I can see the pain in his eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
"It's okay," I tell him quietly.
"I'd like to tell you why." Luc swallows, looking like he's about to be sick.
"You don't have to, Luci." I put my bookmark in and move my book to the bedside table. I watch as struggle wars inside his head.
"I want to." Luc exhales deeply. "The guys wanted me to tell you yesterday but I was afraid of your reaction."
I don't say anything, just put my hand over his in the space between us. He smiles shakily.
"When my mum met my dad, it was a classic bad boy meets good girl situation. They met in high school and were married soon after. A few years later, they had me. Mum was convinced she could change his way of life. That she could force him to settle down so they could be a real family. The first few years of my life she kept me away from everything, didn't want me brought into it but once she was in, that was it. My father's not a good person, Butterfly. He was charming and charismatic, at first. That's how he sucked her in. She tried not to get involved. But that lifestyle…it's addictive."
Luc stares at our hands like he can see everything. Torment swims in his green seas.
"What lifestyle?" I ask softly.
He sighs and meets my eyes. His beg me to understand.
He swallows before sighing. "My father is Knox Cross. Most people know him as Hades."
My eyes widen. "The president of the Death Reapers?" Shit.
I’ve heard Drake talk about the son of Hades. Never a name though. Hades’ son has a reputation. Some of it is good. Most of it’s bad.
I should be sprinting for my life knowing this. But him being Luci…after knowing Dec knew him…I don’t move.
"Yeah," he scoffs and I focus on every word. "She thought she could change him and when she figured out she couldn't, well, she changed for him. She started using drugs, drinking all the time, cheating on him. I'd only met my grandmother a few times over the years when Mum came to visit. Every time, she would ask Mum to let me stay with her. She knew my father was a bad man and she wanted to help me but I couldn't leave Mum."
Luc absentmindedly rubs his thumb over the top of my hand. He takes a shaky breath, struggling to continue and I grip his hand.
"There was no hope for me once Mum had given up. I was trained to become his second in command. I didn't want to," he begs me to believe. "Between my grandmother and a few other people, plus the guys, I knew what my father did wasn’t right. But there was always…punishments for refusing."
I slide closer to him, curling a hand around his arm. I see him try to fight being pulled under by the memories he's facing telling me this.
"By the time I was ten, I was doing drops for him. At twelve, I was paying people visits when they didn't pay up. People call me The Slayer," he tells me.
"As if the name Lucifer isn't scary enough," I murmur and managing to pull a smile out of him but it soon fades.
"I was a ruthless killer by fifteen. But I never fell in love with the game like he did. I never did innocents. He said it made me weak—tried to train it out of me. I learnt everything. I knew how far to go until someone breaks. How far I can pull an arm back until it snaps. How long a person lives when he’s found out they’ve betrayed him. He had me do everything for him."
Luc goes silent and I tentatively ask him, "How did you meet the guys?"
"School, if you can believe it. Some of the other kids knew who I was, I’d paid visits to their fathers and soon enough, the knowledge that I was the son of a Death Reaper spread pretty quick. As for the guys…it was the twins. They latched onto me and wouldn't fuck off. And trust me, I tried. Being around me is a death sentence but once they get attached…they never leave." Luc chuckles and I smile.Of course it was the twins."They knew my father was a Death Reaper but I didn't tell them I was The Slayer until I was maybe thirteen or fourteen?” Luc shrugs. “They put me in a corner and made me confess. The fuckers already knew. They had Alec look into me years ago so they already knew everything. Six months ago, the ACIC approached me. They enlisted my help in bringing my father and the club down. If I refused, they'd make sure I went to jail too."
"How can they do that?" I ask him, shocked.
"I'm eighteen, Butterfly. I've done a lot of bad things—they'd be pretty happy to take me out." Luc smiles sadly.
I just shake my head.
"Anyway, the raid was about a month ago. I told you I got injured," Luc reminds me and I nod. "Yeah, well, during the raid, one of my father's men shot me in the leg." My eyes widen and my mouth drops as my gaze drops to his leg. The one he’s been limping around on and climbing trees with.
Luc chuckles at my expression.
"It's fine, Butterfly,” he assures me. “He's got shitty aim—he was trying to kill me. Saw me as a threat or something like that.”
