"Good thinking," Thaddeus said with a shudder. "That was bloody awful."
"Tell me about it," I muttered under my breath. "By the way, in the vision, Viktor had some upgrades. He looks more animalistic than humanoid now, and he's stronger and faster. He teleported, and he can screech like an abandoned but worse. Dangerous doesn't begin to cover him."
The guys were tense. I hadn't told them exactly what I'd seen, just that I'd seen their deaths by Viktor. It was too fucking hard to remember, but the vision was important. I needed to take what I could from it to help us take him down.
"We'll keep that in mind," Gabriel said, picking at the sleeve of his white button-up. "Let's get this over with."
Such an asshole.
Blaise grunted in agreement.
"I have a bad feeling," Kai murmured, and I nodded.
There was something in the air. It was crackling with static electricity, and my hairs were standing on end.
"Keep my daughter safe." Dad's voice boomed through the room.
“Always,” Aziel said.
“Of course.” Kai bowed.
“Don’t worry.” Blaise bowed as well.
“I’ll protect her with my life,” Thaddeus answered.
And I would die to protect each one of them.
We had a better chance when we were together. For some reason, the prophecy flashed in my mind. I'd agreed with the start of it. I was the Crimson Demon, but I wasn't so sure we understood what the rest meant.
Beware of lightning in the flood.That part didn't make sense at all to me. Selene had suggested it made sense because there was a metaphorical storm brewing, but I wasn't so sure. It didn't seem linked to Viktor at all, unless one of his powers had been lightning or something weather-related. A shiver ran through me at the thought. He didn’t need any more fucking powers.
Calamity or liberation.That could happen in several scenarios. I figured we had one chance to take him down, and that was today. If we didn't, calamity or liberation. I was leaning toward liberation, but something didn't feel as grave about fighting Viktor as the prophecy says. I’m not underestimating Viktor by any means, but something felt off.
Balance unhinged.That part made a little more sense. Viktor's immoral acts were tilting balance, and it was causing balance to lean toward the evil side.
Infatuation for Twilight.I guess that part could’ve meant his infatuation for the dark magic, since blood magic was considered dark, but that didn't feel right either.
Contraband’s steady beat spills from flesh.That was the only part of the prophecy that seemed to fit best with what Viktor was doing. Contraband meaning the humans, steady beat meaning the blood, and spilling from flesh, meaning him draining them of the blood completely. It was sick, but it made sense.
Existence implodes.That made sense with the balance being unhinged. If balance was tipped to one side for too long, the realms implode. Nothing and no one would survive. I was the Crimson Demon, so according to the seers, it rested on my shoulders to make sure that didn’t happen. I had to figure this out and make sure we stop the prophecy from unfolding.
"Obliterate that son of a bitch before he comes down here," Dad growled. "If he opens the gate, it's over. Blood magic is stronger in Hell than it is in any realm. If he gets down here with that much new-blood blood in his veins, he’ll be more monstrous than ever before."
Panic skittered down my spine, sparking my stomach.
"We're wasting time," Carmilla said, rubbing her cheek. "Let's go before he kills any more new-bloods."
"Took the words right out of my mouth," Gabriel said in a bored voice.
With a wave of his hand, Dad teleported us out of Hell.
Viktor was going to pay.
SIXTEEN
Dust was thick in the air as my vision adjusted to the darkness of the warehouse. It looked like we had been teleported inside a small janitor's closet.Thanks, Dad.
Everyone was tightly packed against each other in the room.
