“And you were worried aboutourage.” Blaise snorted.
I pursed my lips. “I’m only twenty.”
“And your soul?”
“Ten millennia.”
Kai wheezed, and Blaise choked.
“Hey!”
“I’m still processing what the hell happened,” Thaddeus said, pacing back and forth in front of the portal. “We're in Hell. How are we supposed to get blood?”
“I’ll have one of my demons get blood bags.” I shrugged. “I’ll get a mini-fridge down here.”
“Without electricity?” Kai asked.
“Electricity is magic, and we have that. Humans just learned to harness it,” I retorted with an eye roll, but I forced a neutral expression.
I was ignorant of all the supernatural when they turned me into a vampire. They were getting a culture shock, just like I had. All they knew was regarding the living realm. They knew little about Hell or how long demons had been around. I needed to remember that.
“You just delegate demons to run errands for you?” Thaddeus huffed, judgement clear in his bitter tone.
“Does that bother you? Would you rather I do it?”
“That’s not it.” He paused, shoving a hand through his long, inky black hair that fell to his shoulder blades. “You’ve uprooted our entire purpose of keeping balance. The Draven clan is meant tohuntabandoned.”
My heart plummeted to my stomach. “You...didn’t want to come to Hell.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re not being forced to stay here. If you want to go back, I’ll take you back myself.” I bit my cheek, and blood pooled in my mouth, coating my tongue in a dull metallic taste.
Even if it fucking kills me to do so.
He shook his head, enchanting green eyes straining as he struggled to maintain eye contact. “King Zelek already expects us to work here, but we don’t haveanyof our belongings.”
I pushed up off the bed and went over to him to stand toe-to-toe. I had to arch my neck back to look up at his distressed, handsome face that only seemed to spark irritation in my belly. “I’ll talk to him to relieve any expectations he has of you in Hell if you’d rather leave. I wouldn’t want to impede yourpurpose.”
He gave me one tight nod, and disappointment spread through my veins. If Thaddeus left, Blaise and Kai would leave too. That thought fucking killed me on the inside...but it wasn’t up to me. They’d been together for over three-hundred years, and I’d been with them for less than a couple of months.
Maybe I’d been too rash in convincing Dad to let them come with us.
“No.” Blaise’s gruff voice made me jump. His jaw ticked, and his eyes blazed as he stared at Thaddeus. “You weren’t rash. Thaddeus has just gone bloody bonkers!”
“Don’t be daft, Blaise.” Thaddeus’s voice rumbled as he narrowed his gaze. “We’re from the living realm. We’re not supposed to be in Hell.”
“What’re we supposed to do then? Stay in the living realm and hunt abandoned as if it’s our only fucking meaning in life?”
Thaddeus blanched. “Itisour meaning.”
“Not mine. Not anymore.” Blaise shook his head, heated gaze shifting to me. “My meaning is that woman right there.”
Thaddeus growled, and it echoed through the room, crawling down my spine. I lifted my chin to see Thaddeus’s glare falter as he glanced down at me.
“Blaise is right. Maybe we can do more good here. Stop them before they get to the gate,” Kai spoke up. “I don’t want to leave Lilith either.”
“That’s a proper point.” Blaise arched a brow, as if he were challenging Thaddeus to try something.
