“This is disturbing, she’s clearly—”
“Clearly fucking mine to do with as I please?” I finish for her, and I feel Lilith still underneath my hand.
Her mouth starts to open, and I shove two fingers inside of it so she can’t speak. “You know how much I like the pretty ones.” The angels across from me all give me disgusted glares, and Lilith looks like she wants to murder me. “The fact that she had a penchant for murder was a bonus.”
“Must you put on such a heinous display?” Rita asks, looking away.
“Why do you think I brought her to this meeting? For her input?” I tug at her hair, her blue eyes meeting mine. I can feel her hatred towards me at this moment. This was supposed to help build our relationship, but it’s more important to protect her. They can’t know what she means to me. “I just like pretty, needy things.” I lean forward and graze my teeth against her throat. “And she takes it so well.”
Ezekiel clears his throat. “It must be wrong, Rita. He never treated Lily this way.”
Hearing that name has an effect on both Lilith and myself. I wonder how many questions she will have once we’re back in Hell. I’m sure it will be the inquisition.
“How can you let him talk to you like that?” Lilith’s twin demands. My hand is still wrapped in her hair, although her attention is on her twin.
“Diana…” I tug at her hair.
“Ah, you forget yourself, pet.”
“You’re really gone, aren’t you?” Diana asks her sister with tears welling in her eyes. Rita wraps her arm around the angel’s shoulder.
“We tried to warn you, sweetheart,” she consoles the angel. The hatred Lilith had directed at me is now at Rita, and she goes to open her mouth again. I lean close so only Lilith can hear my next words.
“Open your mouth again, and I’ll fill it,” I whisper more harshly than intended, and she firmly clamps her lips shut.
“I saw what I needed to see,” Diana says, standing up and giving Lilith one last look, one filled with sadness and pity. “I hoped it wasn’t true. But seeing you with him.” She looks at me in disgust. “You’re no longer the sister I thought I had.”
She leaves the room, and I watch as all resolve and fight leaves Lilith. She opens her mouth but then shuts it right back up. I release her hair and glare at Ezekiel.
“It’s clear that this meeting was just a ploy.”
He looks at Lilith one more time before looking at me.
“Your demons are still causing unneeded havoc.”
“Continue grating on my nerves, and I’ll make sure they cause more.”
“She’d be so disappointed,” he says with a sigh, and a manic laugh escapes my lips.
“At the flagrant display of utilitarian dictatorship that’s taken over Heaven, you’re right. You fucking forget yourself, brother. She created Hell, she created me to manage it. But you, you were always built to be a foot soldier and nothing more.”
His face turns red as he glares at me. I know he wants to pick a fight, and I welcome it. With how fucked up this day went, I could use a little bloodshed. With the right weapon in my hand, I could kill every single angel in this room. I would, of course, spare Lilith’s twin. Ezekiel scoffs at me and instead takes the high road leaving the warehouse along with his companions. Suddenly I’m in a very stifling room with a very pissed demon.
“Take me home.”
“Lilith.”
Her eyes are molten with fury. “I said take me fucking home.”
I grab her wrist, portalling us back into my office. Once we’re free from prying eyes, she yanks her hand away as if I’ve burned her. I expect her to stomp her foot and go right to her room, but as always, she proves me wrong. With both hands, she shoves me in the chest.
“Why would you do that?”
“Lilith, there’s so much you don’t know.”
She pushes again, her strength nothing compared to mine. “And whose fucking fault is that?”Fair enough.“The way she looked at me… this was supposed to be closure, but you made it so much worse. She doesn’t just hate me, she pities and loathes me. She… she said I wasn’t her sister anymore. Do you know how much of my life I spent protecting Diana? Putting what Diana needed above myself? Do you?”
I shake my head no and grab at her wrists, stopping her from trying to push me around or leave me. “They couldn’t know that I care for you. Making them think you were...”
