I arched my brow at Caim, who just grinned.
“Don’t worry. We won’t feed them to the fishes.”
“We will if that’s what it takes!” Phenex thundered.
“Just ignore him,” Caim said easily. “He talks big, but...”
“But what?”
He shook his head and laughed. “Nevermind. He more than talks big. But if we kill all the fae, they’ll take the location of the cure to the grave.”
I swallowed hard. “And here I thought I was the one suffering from blood-thirst.”
He levelled his gaze at me. “It isn’t blood-thirst, at least not on my account. These fae, these witches, if they’re working with the Cult of Lilith, they need to be stopped.”
“Can’t we do that without throwing them into the Hudson River?” I asked in a soft voice. “Look, I know the supernatural world is different than the human one, and I know you’ve used violence before, but...how can we say we’re any better than them if we kill people just to get what we want?”
“Because what we want,” he said, taking a step closer to me, clenching his fist around the terry-cloth towel, “is to prevent demons from taking over the world. And I’ll do whatever it takes to stop that from happening.”
Caim spun on his heels and strode into the bathroom. A moment later, the sound of rushing water filled the silent space, drowning out the pounding of my heart. I stared at the door, watching the mist curl around the frame. I understood where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
Phenex poked his head around the door and motioned for me to follow him out into the living room. With a sigh, I padded over to him and joined the Legion and my roommates where they perched around the coffee table, digging in to a pile of bagels and cream cheese.
“You shouldn’t give him such a hard time.” Phenex grabbed a bagel bag and tossed it my way.
I caught it, the paper crinkling in my hands. “I’m not giving him a hard time.”
“You were.” He tapped his ears. “I could hear you.”
Stolas glanced up at me. “A hard time about what?”
“She wants to do this without violence,” he said at the same time I said, “I don’t want you killing anyone.”
“Ah.” Stolas nodded and turned back to his food. “Interesting that you would feel that way after your encounter with the darkness last night.”
“I’m not my darkness,” I said stubbornly.
I felt Valac’s piercing gaze shudder through my bones. This time, he was the one I aimed my glare at. “No, you aren’t. Not yet. Though it is trying to take over, even now. It’s interesting that you are able to keep it at bay.”
“Caim helped me,” I said as I finally pulled the bagel out of the bag. The scent of fresh dough wafted into my head, and pangs of hunger shook through me. Not this again.
“Hmm. It isn’t that. You have some sort of natural aversion to it.” He nodded, his bleached hair falling into his eyes. “Very interesting.”
Phenex grunted. “What the hell are you talking about now, Val?”
“I’m not sure.” Valac shrugged. “There’s something about her that’s different than the others. She doesn’t feel the same as they do. Maybe it’s just because her transformation never did complete itself.”
“Um, hi.” Sarah raised her hand and spoke around a mouthful of food. “I realize I know absolutely nothing about how all this works, but I’ve been reading these books and listening to what you’ve all said. Isn’t it weird she hasn’t fully transformed yet? All the others did right away.”
“It is weird.” Stolas said. He opened his mouth to say more, but the sharp ringing of the phone cut him off. We all turned to Phenex, who was punching at his old flip phone with his beefy fingers.
He brought the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”
Instantly, he stiffened, and a lopsided grin filled his face. He nodded, grunted, sighed, and then hung up the phone. Then, he turned to the others.
“That was Az. He and Mia have a lead on Morax’s location so they’re not heading back just yet.”
Valac stood, his entire body visibly shaking. “They’ve found Morax?”
