Sam
Ihated spoutingRamiel’s words to Erela, particularly because I thought they were a load of shit. That wasn’t how I felt. It wasn’t even close to it. And seeing the devastation on her face…. my stomach clenched tight. She thought I didn’t care. She thought I only wanted her for sex. I wanted so much more than that. I wanted everything withErela.
But there was no denying what Lizzie had found in that book, on her own, during the journey over the seas. Erela’s life was in danger. And keeping distance between us might be the only way to saveher.
Chapter Eleven
Erela
There were far toomany people in this house. That became abundantly clear when I ran face first into Rourke’s chest when I was searching for some nibbles the next morning for breakfast. Apparently, he was doing the same thing, an old (very old) can of instant coffee in his beefyhand.
“Urf,” he mumbled, stepping back to stare down at me through half-lidded eyes. “Sorry, Erela. I didn’t see you coming around thecorner.”
I blinked and shook the stars out of my eyes. “S’okay.” A brilliant idea lit up in my brain, and I bit back a smile. “Though, thereissomething you could do to make it up tome.”
Lilith would probably kill me. But it would be worth it if it meant I could, you know, prevent her death and all. Her literal, actual death. The one that wouldactuallyhappen if she didn’t get some blood. She needed it to live, and she was in dire need of healing. As stubborn as she was, she couldn’t hold out for muchlonger.
“Oh yeah?” He dropped the can to the table and screwed off the lid. Leaning down, he drew in a long, slow sniff of the coffee and then let out the kind of sigh that I would have only expected after someone had a particularly pleasurable night in bed. Humans and theirvices.
“Yeah, it’s about Lilith. The lovely lady you met yesterday?” I said with a hopefulsmile.
He grunted, grabbed a ceramic mug from the overhead cupboard, and then spooned the dark coffee grains into it. “Hard to forgether.”
Hmm. After their little meeting, I hadn’t expected him to seem so gruff. Maybe my little plan wasn’t quite as brilliant as I’d hoped. And I couldn’t very well ask him to let Lilith drink from him if he wasn’t feelingher.
“You know what?” I took a step back and glanced over my shoulder. “Nevermind. I’ll leave you in peace to have yourcoffee.”
His head jerked up. “No, wait. What can I do to helpLilith?”
“Oh, well.” I placed a hand on the wall, fingered the wood panelling. “You know what Lilith is,right?”
He gave a grunt and a nod, turning back to his coffee beans. Grabbing a jug of water from the table, he tipped it right on top of the beans in his mug. Then, he stirred the concoction with his finger, lifted it to his lips, swore, and then drank the whole thingstraight.
I made a face. We didn’t have coffee in Celestia, and I was starting to see why. It didn’t seem particularlyappetizing.
When he was done, he slammed the mug on the table, screwing up his face into something resembling pure, unbridledpain.
“Uh, why the hell are you drinking that if it tastes like shit?” I couldn’t help butask.
“The caffeine,” he said, shuddering once. “It’s glorious. Back before the apocalypse, humans mixed coffee beans with hot water. I’ve actually had it a couple of times before, when the stars aligned just right to provide me with fire and coffee at the same time. The instant stuff is crap, but it’s better than nothing. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Coffee is fantastic, though having it cold probably wasn’t my brightestidea.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Isaid.
“So, Lilith,” he said, steering the conversation back onto my lovely demon friend. “Yeah, I know what she is. I told you that yesterday before I met her. She’s a nice demonlady.”
Nicedemon lady, Inoted.
“Do you know what kind of demon sheis?”
He blinked at me. “There are differentkinds?”
“Yeah, so there are the water demons we met…well, when we were on the water,” I said, and he gave a nod at that. “And then there are fire demons, ice demons, death demons…blood demons. Lilith is a blooddemon.”
Rourke gave me a long stare before he replied. “I think I know where this isgoing.”
“As you could probably tell, Lilith isn’t exactly at full strength at the moment. The demon who opened the portal attacked her, giving her a terrible wound. She’s having trouble healing from that because she hasn’t had any blood. And she needs to be in tip top shape if she wants to help us track down that amulet.” I gave him a look. “In order to get back to full strength,she…”
“Let me guess,” he said dryly. “She needs to drink a human’sblood.”
