“Yeah, and then you bit me, and I turned into this,” she says with a shrug.
“It’s not how it works,” I explain. “You can be near death, you can be alive, but not already dead.”
Her lips part, eyes widening. “Then why did it happen?” she whispers.
“It has to do with the nun, what she said. You are more than a human-turned-vampire. You defeated Anathema. Those blades were made for you. They were made to be used only by you.” Viktor dumps an old tome on the table and jabs a finger at some text. “Only the blessed can continue on to a different life after death.”
“Petal?” Lucian says softly. She looks at him. “Did the nuns baptise you? Anything?”
She frowns. “Well, no. They often said I was in their prayers.” She stares at the table, digging through her memories. “On my sixteenth birthday, Sister Mary Joan did this thing where I had to stand in the centre of the circle and make quotes to the elements. Er…” She closes her eyes, frowning. “Something like ‘I call upon the winds of the west?’” She pauses. “No, east,” she corrects herself.
“Paganism,” I say.
“Wait a minute, I thought they were Christians or Catholics or whatever. Why would they be practising paganism?” Cain asks, frowning.
“They do say certain holidays the Catholics celebrate come from pagans,” Clutch says with a shrug.
We all stare at him.
“What? You think I don’t know shit? I had a life before you lot,” he mutters.
“You were a maniac in the fifties. How the fuck do you know about Catholicism and paganism?” Cain voices what we’re all thinking.
Clutch smirks. “There was this chick who lived across the street from me. Her folks were religious as fuck. No sex before marriage and all that. I fucked her.” He grins at the memory. “Her daddy tried to force me to marry her. To avoid it, I became pagan for a few weeks.” He shrugs like he just joined a gym.
We all blink at him.
“You were a real dickhead,” Evelynn says.
“She married some local guy from their church. He’d never had sex before her, so he didn’t know she wasn’t a virgin.” Clutch shrugs, rolling a toothpick across his tongue. “It all worked out in the end.”
“Wow. I thought you were an old-school gentleman,” Evelynn tuts, shaking her head.
Clutch grins. “I am. I always make sure the lady cums first.” He winks.
“Fucking Christ,” Viktor sighs, disgusted.
“The more I get to know you, the more I realise you were a fucking dog,” I say.
Clutch’s grin widens. He leans back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his gelled, slicked-back hair. “Yeah. A hound dog.”
We all groan.
“So, can we get away from the conversation about what Clutch’s dick got up to in his past life and focus on what this could mean?” Lucian cuts in.
Viktor shrugs. “All I can do is keep researching. At least now we have time on our hands with Anathema gone.”
“Anathema may be gone, but Morbius is out there, in charge of the Dominion. Hell, he is the fucking Dominion,” I grind out. “I don’t know what he’s up to, what he’s planning, but I do know not to trust the quiet.”
“How are we supposed to prepare and brace if we don’t know what’s coming?” Shade asks, stepping out from the shadows. I swear he morphs into them.
Lucian rests his hand on the back of Evelynn’s neck, thumb stroking her skin. “We can’t. The only thing we can do is be cautious. Watch out for anything and everything. Tonight we party. Have your fill of the fang bangers, because it’ll be a while before it happens again.”
CHAPTER SIX
LILITH
“Please come,”Evelynn begs, leaning across the bar. “You are my only friend. The fang bangers give me evil looks because I’m with Lucian.” She huffs.
