I smirked, raking my eyes up and down his body as he did to me. “Lilith.”
“Like the mother of all demons?” He mocked a shiver. “Creepy.”
“Shut your mouth, Blaise.” A fellow ginger with short messy hair suddenly appeared behind him on the balcony. His light blue eyes were trained on me, piqued with apparent interest.
A faint smell of the woods after a thunderstorm drifted from him to me, and I inhaled deeply.Two of my favorite things combined.
“You smell amazing,” I said in a breathy tone that caused the ginger’s eyes to narrow in on my lips.
“Everything about me is amazing, Lilith. Want to find out for yourself?”
“You must be Kai, right?” I bit down on my bottom lip softly and flicked my gaze up to meet his.
“Right.” His eyes twinkled at my recognition.
“I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”
A snort emanated from behind me, and I swiveled around to face sexy man bun guy...I mean, Thaddeus. He was twenty-times sexier than before, and he wasn’t wearing a man bun. Curly black hair tumbled down to his shoulders, caressing a delectable neck tattoo of the same language Blaise had tattooed.
“You’re a long way from Heaven now,” he said.
I cocked a hip. “Well, I’ve been to Hell, and I gotta tell you...this isn’t it.”
“What do you mean you’ve been to hell?” Kai asked, flopping himself onto the bed, sprawling out to make himself comfortable.
“I died once.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. If I’m not in Heaven or Hell, where am I?”
“I told you,” Blaise said, not bothering to move from his perch near the balcony. “You’re at the Draven Manor.”
“And I’m supposed to know what that is?” The burning in my throat intensified, and I rubbed it, leaning my head back slightly.
“Where’d you get that pendant?” Thaddeus asked, fixated on my necklace.
I instinctively grabbed for the fire opal. “My father left it to me when I was a baby. Why?”
“Do you know your father?” Blaise asked.
My muscles tensed as I shook my head. “What’s it to you?”
Thaddeus and Blaise exchanged glances, and I pursed my lips.
Fucking weirdos.
“Are you hungry?” Kai asked, the switch in topics shifting the tension in the room.
A whimper escaped me at the thought of food, but the burning turned to scorching, and it spread down to my abdomen. An intense craving twisted in my stomach, causing me to double over.
“Why does it feel like I drank battery acid? Oh my God, you guys didn’t pour acid down my throat, did you?” My eyes prickled with heat from unshed tears. “Great, of course. You’re probably serial killers. I bet that wreck never happened. Maybe you slipped me some shrooms or something and I imagined everything. Oh fuck. That explains everything!”
Thaddeus sighed, shaking his head. “We aren’t serial killers.”
“Mostof the time,” Kai chirped.
“Bloody hell, Kai, shut up.” Thaddeus pinched the brim of his nose before stalking closer to me and grabbing my wrist.
“Hey!”
He pulled my hand toward him and slapped a bag of warm, red liquid into my hand.
