by Maya Daniels
“I have nothing to say. It is unknown to me as well,” he tells her, not turning her way. “I don’t like unknowns,” he mumbles the last part, more to himself I think. Well, he can join the club.
“Do we even know where we are going?” Meda asks.
“Not yet, but the farther she is from the barrier to the woods, the better she will look and feel,” Lucifer answers so matter of factly I’m about to ask him if he can read my emotions.
“The color is returning to your face,” he answers my unasked question.
“I thought you can’t read my mind.”
“I don’t have to read your mind. Your face is very expressive.”
“No poker for me, huh?” I say dryly.
His lips quirk a little before the serious mask returns. We walk in silence for a few minutes through the trees, going deeper into the woods when the hairs on the back of my neck rise up, and there is prickling between my shoulder blades. Before I open my mouth to say anything, Lucifer slows down, and in two steps he takes cover behind a tree on our left, leaning on his shoulder so we can’t be seen. My sisters follow suit like a dance they’ve rehearsed their whole lives.
“Someone is watching us. Put me down,” I whisper close to Lucifer’s ear, and he shudders. Not the right time to dwell on that, either. He releases my legs and my body slides parallel to his but he doesn’t let go, only repositions his arm from around my shoulders to my waist and holds me pressed to his body. A shiver passes through me that pools delicious warmth between my thighs. My eyes zero in on his mouth and his breathing speeds up. Maybe I do need to get laid. My stupid hormones are all over the place. Before I have time to snap out of it, a loud voice does it for me and my jaw hits the floor.
“We know you’re there, show yourself!” Remi yells, and I can only gap at her head peeking from behind the tree where she took cover.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper-yell at her.
“What? They’re watching us, so it’s not like they don’t know where we are.”
“I’m sure they’ll get right on it now that you yelled at them,” I tell her, and she grins at me.
What the hell is with the grinning?
Before I say anything else, the rustling of leaves and branches captures my attention, and I peek around the tree, very aware of how close Lucifer is from the warmth of his body pressed to mine and his breath tickling the top of my head as he tries to see around the tree, too. My heart is in my throat, but not from any sense of danger. Oh, no. This is from stupidity, and I want to slam my head on the tree trunk to make myself snap out of it.
Two heads pop out from behind the bushes ahead of us. Both are men. Meda yelps and Faith snickers. I ignore it, but this gives me pause because the only men I’ve seen around here apart from Lucifer are the creatures and Derik—although Lucifer will argue that he is not a man but a male. The two I’m looking at don’t seem evil at all. If anything, they just act curious.
The one on the left has dark hair, olive skin, and a round, friendly face with the shadow of a beard. His light brown eyes sparkle with intelligence and curiosity like he can’t believe what he is seeing. Mischief is clear in the depths of his eyes. The one next to him has black curly hair, ebony skin, and black eyes that are assessing us with the sharpness of a sniper spotting its target. The curiosity there convinces me he doesn’t have bad intentions—well, not yet, anyways.
I take a deep breath and reach out for their energy to get a better read on their emotions. Lucifer stiffens next to me, but I can’t worry about whatever puts him on edge at this moment. All I feel from those two is curiosity, interest, and, barely-there fear. Fear of what? Us? Well, only one way to find out, I guess.
“We don’t want trouble. We’re just passing through,” I say loud enough so they can hear me while sticking my head out from the cover of the tree.
“Passing through to where?” a deep male voice full of humor echoes around us, coming from the guy on the left.
“We have no idea,” Jez says nonchalantly, and I gap at her. “What?” She lifts one eyebrow at me as if to dare me to contradict what she is saying.
“Oh, great. You can join us, then,” answers the second voice, a little deeper than the first, of Sniper Eyes, and both guys come out from behind the bushes.
I look at my sisters and they peer back at me, confusion swimming in their expressions. Jez shrugs and walks out from behind the tree. Meda rushes to stand beside her, and the other two step out as well. The two men scan them up and down, checking them out with interest. I can’t blame them. These women are beautiful, inside and out, their souls shining bright through their eyes like a thousand suns, and I don’t say that just because they’re my sisters and I love them. They truly are the head-turning type. I try to join them, but the damn angel is pinning me to the tree with his body and I can’t move a muscle.
Before I tell him to move, he slaps a hand over my mouth and I glare daggers at him, promising retribution as soon as I can move. He smirks at me, the asshole.
“What are you doing in the woods?” Remi asks the men.
“We were brought to this realm not long ago by Dark Wizards. I have no idea what happened, but the caped jailors got distracted and we bolted out of there. We are searching for a way out of here,” Sniper Eyes tells her.
Remi’s eyes go round, and I wiggle to get Lucifer to let me go. He frowns at me, and I knee him in the jewels. He gasps and hunches over, releasing me in the process. It serves him right for acting like he is the boss of me.
“You know where they keep the men?” I burst out from behind the tree so that Lucifer doesn’t have a chance to grab me again, and the two guys jump back.
Shit! I scared them! I’m such an idiot.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I lift both arms in the air to show I’m not armed. Well, not with a physical weapon, anyways, but they don’t need to know that. “I’m Al, by the way.”
I hope giving them a name will make them less
jumpy. We are all staring at each other now, my sisters and I holding our breaths in hopes they will say “yes,” and can point us in the right direction.
“I’m Archie and this is Will,” Sniper Eyes says. Well, Archie, now that I know his name.
I give them a small smile in hopes of relaxing them a bit more so we can ask questions, but they both pale, their eyes widening right before I hear shuffling behind me. I look over my shoulder and see Lucifer has finally decided to join us out in the open, and being the jerk he is lately, he stands with his legs shoulder-width apart, his arms crossed over his chest like an overlord. Movement in front of me makes me snap my head in their direction to tell them it’s okay, he’s with us, but my jaw hits the floor for the second time in less than thirty minutes.
Archie and Will are moving like whirlwinds, positioning their bodies in fighting stances like practiced warriors. Out of nowhere, they pull out weapons. Archie, on the left, aims his arrow at Lucifer’s chest, and Will, on the right, whirls a staff like a Bruce Lee reincarnate.
Well, shit, there goes our nice way of asking questions. My groan sounds loud in the quiet of the woods.
Chapter 21
“We don’t have time for this,” I raise my voice enough to stop them in their tracks, my arms waving like a traffic controller.
“Stay back!” Will yells at Lucifer.
“Hey! You can’t fight him and win, so stop the crap. We don’t want trouble. We need to find a friend that was taken to those cells that you escaped from,” I tell them, hoping it will bring some sense into their brains. “And where did those weapons come from? You had nothing on you a second ago.” I narrow my eyes at them.
Lucifer hasn’t moved an inch like it’s below him to even take a defensive stance or try to oblige them with a reaction. I have no doubt in my mind that he can easily kill them. Thank the Goddess his ego works for us at this moment.
“You’re going to fight the angel?” Remi asks, clearly taken aback by their stupid
ity.
“We conjured them,” Archie answers my question, not taking his eyes off Lucifer.
“Everyone calm down. There will be no fighting. Can we just talk like normal people?” Jez asks from behind Remi.
“There is nothing normal here,” Meda says softly, and Faith laughs. She does have a good point.
“Put your sticks away, mate, no one will fight you, but if you push it your escape was for nothing,” Faith says firmly to the two men.
They stare at Lucifer for a few more moments before slowly lowering their weapons. I take a deep breath, grateful they’ll live long enough to get out of this cursed realm. Lucifer is on our side for whatever reason, and I’m happy for that, but I must say these two men would have lost their minds trying to stand against him. I know he’s only shown me a fraction of his power, and I can unashamedly admit I would never have the guts to stand against it. Well, unless he tries to hurt someone I love, in which case, I’d fight him to the last man standing. Most definitely I’ll lose to him, but it won’t stop me that’s for sure. What the hell is wrong with me? I squeeze my eyes tightly shut to rid myself of these thoughts.
“I don’t think Azalea will appreciate anyone using magick or power in her woods, so let’s not poke the bear, huh?” I tell no one in particular.
“Azalea?” Will asks, cocking his head. “You mean the old lady in the woods?”
“Yeah, you’ve seen her? Where is she?” I ask him.
“We’ve been walking for a couple of hours, but she did meet us when we first entered the woods. She told us to walk this way to meet our fate. We thought she was telling us we’d need to fight and die, to be honest,” Archie explains, “but I’m not so sure that’s what she meant, now.”
“We can walk and talk,” Remi says, and makes shooing motions with her hands, trying to get us all walking again.
“Good point,” Jez adds and moves.
“Tell me exactly what she said, word for word,” Lucifer demands from the men as he steps towards them with long strides.
They stiffen for a second, and I hold my breath, hoping that no one will die, but after a second they turn on their heels and march with him, Will pointing with his arm towards the supposed direction of our destination. My sisters come closer to me as we hike behind them. Having them near me gives strength to my tired body. A deep sigh escapes my lips. Squeezing between them so I’m in the middle, I reach my hand forward, and Remi and Jezzinta both take it in a three-hand hold. I reach my other one behind me, and Meda and Faith do the same. My shoulders sag in relief. Just the touch of their skin to mine is enough to dispel a little trepidation that has taken residence in my chest.
“You okay?” Jez asks, looking at me with sad eyes.
“I’m not sure, sis. Something is definitely wrong with me, but I’ll be okay until we get home. There’s no other option. Whatever happens after that …” I let the words linger.
“What gave it away that something’s wrong with you?” Faith asks, but the squeeze of her hand in mine tells me she’s not being mean, she is just as stressed about the whole thing as we all are.
“Ever since that night we fought Enlil and you guys were gone, all I’ve felt is anger. Well, anger and guilt,” I say.
“What the hell, jackass? Guilt? For what, exactly? We were there by choice, not random victims of evil,” Remi says angrily.
“Let her speak, sis,” Jez tells Remi.
Frowning for a long moment as if she is about to read me my rights, Remi shakes her head and turns away from me. I guess that’s my sign to keep talking, and I give Jezzinta a small smile in thanks. When Remi loves someone, she’s ready to smack them so they see things her way if need be, as we’ve all witnessed.
“As I said, anger is all I have now. Lucifer showed up, as I told you earlier, and trained me to get better control of the elements so that I can come after you. I was expecting a different scenario than the one we’ve found ourselves in, to be honest.” Angry tears prick my eyes. “How can I be so stupid as not to see it? Because of my stupidity, all of you are here, and I can’t even imagine what you had to deal with.”
“You do have shitty choice in men, mate,” Faith chirps, and Jezzinta scowls at her, while Remi looks at me with her eyebrows up in an “I told you so” way. I frown at her. I’d already figured that out; I didn’t need her to rub it in.
“Yeah, no shit,” I mumble.
“Oh, knock it off, Sap! He bloody well fooled me as well, and I don’t give a shit if they admit it or not, but Remi and Meda bought it, too. Shit, Lucifer as well. That idiot gave him a gift, in case you forgot,” Jezzinta says angrily, her eyes on Remi and Meda and her chin up as if daring them to contradict her. It almost makes me smile. Almost.
“Yeah, wings,” I automatically add.
“Say what, now?” Remi snaps her head back as if I slapped her. I grimace and nod. There is nothing to say to that.
“Bloody lovely,” Faith murmurs.
“It shall be fine, A-Ma, you will see. No coincidences, it’s all in the Divine plan. Everything is for a reason, I am sure of it,” Meda says reassuringly.
“Well, as always, I got the short stick in the plan,” I tell them. “Ever since I touched that lantern, something’s been happening to me. It started changing me. I don’t like it and it scares the shit out of me, but if it gets you out of here I’ll do it again, no questions asked.”
“Stop with the pity party, Alexia, it doesn’t become you. You talk like you’re alone this shit, or did you forget to send our invites? They got lost in the mail? Hm?” Remi says, obviously still upset. Not that I blame her.
“It’s not a pity party, but you’re right. I need to snap out of it. I do have a favor to ask before we get out of here.” I hold their gazes for a second. We all stop walking and they turn in sync to me, waiting. Well, here goes nothing.
“Whatever is happening with me, it’s spreading fast. It’s making my soul freeze, slowly spreading over everything inside me.” I raise a hand, stopping Remi and Jezzinta from cutting me off since they both open their mouths at the same time. “It’s happening, I feel it and I don’t know how to stop it. The colder it is, the angrier I get, and my mind is not my own. At least that’s how it seems. I have too many voices, too many personalities in my head. It’s hard to think, so I function on instinct alone.”
I wait a moment, letting the words sink in, carrying the gravity of the situation. I’m hoping they’ll understand why I’m telling them this and they won’t try to stop me. That’s the problem when you are surrounded by loved ones. They give you the love and support you need, but they’ll do anything they can to stop you from doing something dangerous, even when it’s the only option. Well, we don’t have the luxury to delay, thankfully.
“Anyway, my point is,” I continue, “I’m not sure what will
happen when I fight Derik. Before we get into a debate, let me just tell you here and now, that fucker is mine. You will let me have my revenge!” I make sure they understand there is no debate on this.
“Is that so, witch?” Lucifer’s deep voice sends shivers up my spine and goosebumps cover my entire body. Apparently they stopped as well.
“Yes, it is!” I frown at him.
“You can have your revenge, but we shall all fight him, or did you forget he has a goddess tethered to him?” He tucks his chin and staring me down as if to scare me. It might have worked a while ago, but not anymore. Whatever the hell is going on with me makes me seek danger like a moth seeking a flame.
I tilt my head like a bird scouting its prey. A thrill runs through me, responding to the threat in his voice. “Or what? You’ll try to stop me?” I’m shocked and disturbed by the purr in my voice. Shit, the crazy me is in the driver’s seat.
“What the fuck, jackass?” Remi slaps me.
The loud smack echoes through the woods and is followed by gasps from everyone but Lucifer. He just widens his eyes, checking Remi out like this is the first time he sees her.
I
shake my head, my cheek burning, and take a deep breath. “Thank you. I needed that,” I tell her. Now everyone is looking at me, confusion clear in their eyes.
“As I was saying, I have no control over what is happening to me, so I’m grateful Remi snapped me out of it,” I explain. “Just don’t make it a habit,” I tell her.
“Why not? It felt good, actually.” She grins at me and I snort ungracefully. I had that one coming, I know that much.
“I have a feeling,” I continue as we shuffle forward, following Will and Archie headed in the direction of the cells, “when it comes to that fight, I will not be the same after it. If I’m left with instinct only and the coldness in my soul, I will not be your sister anymore. It won’t be me. So, if that happens, I need you to kill me,” I finish, avoiding their eyes as I brace myself for what’s coming.
“What the fuck?”
“She’s lost it. I told you.”
“Bloody, ay, that’s stupid, mate.”
“I can kill you now if you like.”
That last part was Remi, obviously. I look at her unflinchingly and wait. We walk in silence for a while after that outburst. I know what they’re thinking and that they’re pissed at me, but that’s not going to work.
Steeling myself for an argument, I speak again. “You all know me well enough. Whatever this thing is, it’s making me something I’m not. Something I don’t want to be. I’m asking you guys to do this because I know one thing for sure. No matter how I change or who I become, I can never hurt one of you. I’m pretty sure I’ll end my own life before I do that. That’s not something I can say for everyone else. It will be better to end a disaster than to play the hero, trust me.”
A few moments pass, but they all keep moving, not one of them saying a word or watching me. Well, Archie and Will glance at me out of the corners of their eyes, and I’m sure they think I’m nuts. They’re not far from the truth.