“Brother cousin!” Zavier suddenly shouts and walks toward the demon with open arms.
“Come again?” Luna asks while watching the exchange with a quirked brow.
Leviathan holds Zav at arm’s length while he tries to push past like a needy toddler.
Does it deter the redheaded vampire? Of course not.
“Valen is my vampire daddy, and Levi is his nephew, therefore we’re brother cousins,” he explains.
I scowl. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
Zavier shifts his attention to me and slides into my personal space, causing me to tense. “It doesn’t have to make sense to you.” He taps my nose.
Luna rolls her eyes, but mirth twinkles in her blue eyes when Leviathan finally lets Zav hug him after he runs back over. The tie between her and the demon shimmers briefly in the light, and I catch her glancing at it.
“So there’s no way I can see Safira? Forgive me if I don’t fully believe you,” I say, attempting to bring the conversation back around. “We have a powerful witch we could reachout to.”
Leviathan shakes his head. “A fallen angel turned vampire is not going to be allowed to cross the threshold into Iniquity. And considering I’m bound here at the moment”—he raises his wrist—“there’s no way for me to go in person. I’ll have to see what I can do, but seeing her is impossible, Uncle.”
A sense of determination fills me at his words. My mind is still a mess after all the revelations, but I refuse to accept what he’s saying.
I’ll find a way to contact her, even if it kills me.
CHAPTER 52
VALEN
“Where have you been?”Ava shrieks as I step through the door. Worry fills her tone, and I spot Celine behind her, wearing a similar expression.
“Is Zav with you?” she asks, and as she does, the man in question enters behind me. “I can’t believe you two. How dare you go off the grid with everything that’s gone on?” she yells at her mate with indignation.
Celine is quickly picked up from her position on the couch by her mate and rushed next door to their apartment. Her shouts and pounding against Zav’s back can be heard even as their door closes behind them.
I shut our door and kick my boots off. Every piece of clothing on my body feels too tight after everything. Sighing, I run a hand through my hair and feel it flop back into place. “Fuck, I’m so sorry I forgot to pick you up from work,” I apologize as it hits me just how much time has passed. “I didn’t mean to go radio silent either.”
Once I saw that family tree, I was consumed with finding out what was fact and fiction and lost all common sense. For millennia, I’ve been unaware of what happened to my sister. The idea that I might finally have answers had my common sense fleeing me.
“It’s okay. I got dropped off by a coworker. He lives close by, so it wasn’t a big deal.” Ava brushes it off. She leans forward to make eye contact and I watch as she observes me with concern wrinkling her brow. “Do you understand how worried I was?”
I bristle at her words, zeroing in on one. “He?”
Ava levels me with a look. “Oh, calm down. He is in a loving marriage and also happens to be about forty years older than me. Don’t evade the question.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I reply and drop onto the couch, pulling her into my lap. She tries to resist at first but quickly melts into me.
“Seriously, what’s going on?” She pleads with wide, blue eyes. I feel like shit that I kept her in the dark today. It wasn’t intentional, but that doesn’t make it any better. “I started to think they might’ve taken you again, but then Luna texted to let me know you were at her place talking to Levi. Thank God she answered, because I was ready to tear through the entirety of Chicago looking for you.” She rubs my cheek with a gentle finger. “Why were you at her house?”
Nuzzling her neck for comfort, I allow her scent to flood my nose before answering.
“I was doing some research on demons, because I felt like there was more going on than Levi had claimed, and came across a piece of information that needed confirmation. Remember when I told you about my sister? That I believed her killed by a demon?” I feel her nod beneath me. “It turns out that not only is she alive, but she’s Leviathan’s mother.” The words feel like sand in my throat even now. I’m still in disbelief.
It seems impossible that my sister would’ve fallen in love with a demon based on what I know of their kind. But it seems like there’s a lot I don’t know, so perhaps Leviathan wasn’t lying and demons are not exactly what I’ve been made to believe.
Ava jolts away and stands in front of me. Her face is comically frozen in a state of shock.
“What?” she shrieks, planting her hands on her hips. Her hair is the slightest bit damp from a shower and curling around her shoulders. “How’s that possible if a demon killed her?”
Pom Pom comes running out from the bedroom at the commotion and licks my hand when I hold it out for him. Grabbing one of his toys that lies precariously on the floor, I throw it, and he goes scuttling across the floor to get it. His nails make a clickity sounds as he goes.
