He would’ve been beautiful if it weren’t for the rivulets of blood dripping down his chin.
Caleb’s body jerked every few seconds. Aftershocks of the tag—I would know. His bare arms revealed not one but two daimon tags. Furious, I screamed at the daimon in front of me. “I’m going to kil you!”
Daniel laughed and wiped the back of his hand over his chin. “And I’m going to love tasting you.” He sniffed me
— literally sniffed me. “I can almost taste you now.”
I kicked out, catching him in the chest. He staggered a couple of feet back, hitting the bed. Caleb groaned and tried to sit up. Daniel coldcocked Caleb. I cried out, struggling like a rabid animal, but the daimon knocked me to the floor.
And then I was flying up, but no one was touching me. I hit the wal so hard the plaster cracked, along with what felt like every bone in my body. There I stayed, pinned with my feet dangling several feet off the floor. The daimon control ed the air element—something else I hadn’t learned how to defend myself against.
“You need to learn to play nice. Both of you.” The other daimon held his hand up. He had a Southern accent—
smooth and deep. He stepped up to where I hung, leaned in and patted the top of my foot. It was the daimon from the al ey, the dark-haired one who’d been with Mom. “We do get hungry, you know? And with you here… wel , it gnaws out our insides. It’s like a fire inside of us.”
I tried to pul away from the wal , but I didn’t move. “Stay away from him!”
He ignored me, walking over to Caleb’s motionless frame. “We aren’t new daimons by any means, but you…
make it hard to resist the lure of the aether. Just a hit. That’s al we want.” He ran his fingertips down Caleb’s face. “But we can’t. Not ‘til Rachel e returns.”
“Don’t touch him.” I barely recognized my own, low voice.
He glanced back at me and waved his hand as if it were an after-thought. I hit the floor feet first, and then fel to my knees. I ignored the way my stomach muscles pul ed and pushed to my feet. Without thinking about anything other than getting him away from Caleb, I rushed him. The dark-haired daimon shook his head and simply threw his arm up.
My body slammed into the wal , knocking several framed paintings to the floor. This— this was nothing like training.
And this time I didn’t get up.
Clearly annoyed, he pushed away from Caleb. He advanced on me, and I screamed, swinging on him. He caught my arm and then my other, hauling me to my feet.
With both arms rendered useless, I had only my legs.
Aiden had always praised my kicks, and with that thought in mind, I pushed my upper back against the wal . Using the daimon’s arms and the wal for support, I pul ed my legs up to my chest and kicked out.
I caught him right in the chest, and by the startled look on his face he hadn’t expected it. He fel back several feet, and I hit the floor once again.
Daniel shot away from the bed and dug his hands into my hair, wrenching my neck back. For a moment, a sick sense of déjà vu hit me, but there was no Aiden to save me now—
no cavalry would be arriving.
As I struggled with Daniel, the dark-haired daimon dropped down in front of me. With his hands resting on his knees and the lazy smile splayed across his face, he looked like he was about to talk about the weather with me.
He was that casual.
“What’s going on here?”
Daniel released me at the sound of my mother’s sharp and angry voice. I struggled to my feet, twisting toward her. I couldn’t help the mixture of terror and love coursing through me. She stood in the doorway, surveying the damage with a critical eye. I only saw the glamour. I couldn’t see her true form.
I was so screwed.
“Eric?” She directed her scowl at the dark-haired one.
“Your daughter… she’s not happy with the current state of things.”
I couldn’t pul my eyes off of her as she stepped over a piece of broken wood. “My daughter better not have one hair on her head missing.”
Eric glanced over at Daniel. “Her hair is perfectly fine.
She’s fine. So is the other half-blood.”
“Oh. Yes.” She turned to Caleb. “I remember him. Is he your boyfriend, Lexie? Sweet of him to tag along either way. Stupid, but sweet.”
“Mom.” My voice cracked.
She turned to me with a smile—a big, beautiful smile.
“Lexie?”
“Please… ” I swal owed. “Please let Caleb go.”
She tsked and shook her head. “I cannot al ow that.”
My insides twisted. “Please. He… just, please.”
“Baby, I can’t. I need him.” She reached out and brushed back my hair, the way she used to. I flinched, and she frowned. “I knew you would come. I know you. The guilt and the fear would eat at you. What I didn’t plan on was him, but I’m not mad. See? He’s going to stay.”
“You could let him go.” My chin trembled.
Her hand drifted down my cheek. “I can’t. He’s going to ensure that you cooperate with me. If you do everything I tel you to do, he’l live through this. I won’t let them kil him or turn him.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to be hopeful. There was catch, probably a big and terrible one.
She stepped away, turning her attention to the two male daimons. “What have you told her?”
Eric’s chin came up. “Nothing.”
My mother nodded. Her voice was the same, but I realized as she talked, it lacked what actual y had made it hers. There was no softness in it, no emotion. It was hard, flat—not hers. “Good.” She faced me once more. “I want you to understand one thing, Lexie. I love you very, very much.”
I blinked, backing against the wal . Her words hurt more than any physical blow could. “How can you love me?
You’re a daimon.”
“I’m stil your mother,” she replied in the same flat tone,
“and you stil love me. That’s why you didn’t kil me when you had the chance.”
An act and truth I was already regretting, but looking at her now, I could only see her—Mom. I closed my eyes, wil ing myself to see the daimon, the monster inside of her.
When I opened my eyes, she was stil the same.
Her lips twisted into a smile. “You can’t go back to the Covenant. I cannot al ow that. I have to keep you away from there. Permanently.”
My gaze fel to Caleb. Daniel inched his way closer to him. “Why?” I could keep my cool as long as the bastard didn’t touch him again.
“I need to keep you away from the Apol yon.”
I blinked, not expecting that. “What?”
“He wil take everything from you. Your power, your gifts
—everything. He is the First, Lexie. Whether he knows it or not, he wil drain everything from you so he can become the God Kil er. There wil be nothing left of you when he is done.
The Council—they know this. They don’t care. Al they want is the God Kil er, but Thanatos wil never al ow that to happen.”
I backed up, shaking my head. Mom was utterly crazy.
“They don’t care what it wil do to you. I can’t al ow that.
Do you understand?” She stalked forward, coming to a stop in front of me. “That’s why I must do this. I must turn you into a daimon.”
The room spun and for a moment, I thought I would pass out.
“I have no other choice.” She caught my hand, pul ing it to where her heart beat. She held it there. “As a daimon, you wil be faster and stronger than you are now. You wil be immune to titanium. You wil have great power… when you turn eighteen you wil be unstoppable.”
“No.” I pul ed my hand back. “No!”
“You have no idea what you are saying ‘no’ to. I thought I lived before, but now I am truly living.” She held her free hand in front of my face, wriggling her fingers once, then twice. A tiny spark flew from her fingertips, and then her entire hand was on
fire.
I jerked back, but her grip increased on my hand.
“Fire, Lexie. I could barely control the air element as a pure-blood, but as a daimon, I can control fire.”
“But you’re kil ing people! How does that make it okay?”
“You get used to it.” She shrugged dismissively. “You’l get used to it.”
My blood froze in my veins. “You sound… freaking insane.”
She looked at me blandly. “You say that now, but you’l see. The Council wants everyone to believe the daimons are soul ess, evil creatures. Why? Fear. They know we are far more powerful, and in the end, we wil win this war. We are like gods. No. We are gods.”
Daniel practical y licked his lips in anticipation as he eyed me. Sickness and fear clawed through me, and I shook my head. “No. Don’t do this. Please.”
“It’s the only way.” She turned away, glancing back at me over her shoulder. “Don’t make me force you into this.”
I looked at her, wondering how I could’ve hesitated in the al ey. There was nothing about this thing in front of me was my mother. Nothing. “You’re freaking insane.”
She whipped around, expression hardening. “I told you not to make me force you into this. Daniel!”
I pushed off the wal as Daniel grabbed for Caleb, who groaned as he started to come around. Mom caught me before I could reach them. The daimon bent his head to his arm.
Horror twisted through me. “No! Stop!”
Daniel laughed a moment before his teeth cut into flesh.
Caleb jackknifed across the bed, eyes going wild as his terrified screams fil ed the cabin. I pushed at my mom, but I couldn’t get past her. She was strong, so unbelievably strong.
“Eric, come here.”
Eric seemed to be more than happy to oblige. His dark eyes flared with hunger. Revulsion and fear fil ed me, and my struggles renewed.
Mom’s hold tightened around my waist. “Remember what I told you, Eric. Smal bites, every hour and no more. If she fights you, kil the boy. If she complies, leave the boy alone.”
I turned cold. “No! No!”
“I’m sorry, baby. This is going to hurt, but if you don’t fight them, it wil be over soon. It’s the only option, Lexie. I’d never be able to control you any other way. You’l see. It wil be for the best in the end. I promise you.”
Then she shoved me at Eric.
CHAPTER 19
JUST LIKE THAT.
What a bitch.
I screamed and twisted back to her as Eric pul ed me into his arms. “Don’t let them do this!”
She raised her hand. “Eric.”
The daimon flipped me around. I kicked and I threatened every possible method of death and dismemberment, but it didn’t stop him. The daimon smiled at me through my rant.
Then his fingers squeezed, and in a mil isecond, his teeth sank through the soft flesh of my arm.
Red-hot fire shot through me. I reared back, trying to escape the burning, but it fol owed my movements. Over my screams, I could hear Caleb yel ing and begging for them to stop. Neither Mom nor the daimon paid any attention to him. The pain slithered through every part of my body as Eric continued to drain. The room tilted, and there was a pretty good chance I was going to pass out.
“Enough,” she murmured.
The daimon lifted its face. “She tastes divine.”
“It’s the aether. She has more in her than a pure does.”
Eric let go of me then, and I fel to my knees, shaking.
There was nothing—absolutely nothing that felt like that.
Even the aftershocks of the tagging stole my breath.
Gasping for air, I stayed there until the fire dul ed to nothing more than an ache.
Only then did I realize Caleb was silent. I lifted my head and saw him staring at me. There was a dazed look to his eyes, as if somehow he’d managed to remove himself from this place, left his body or something. I wanted to be wherever he was.
“Now, that wasn’t too bad?” Mom grasped my shoulders and forced me back against the wal .
“Don’t touch me.” My words came out weak and slurred.
She gave me a cold smile. “I know you’re upset, but you’l see. We’l change the world together.”
Daniel returned to Caleb’s side, but he didn’t move. The way Daniel looked at him made me think he wanted to do bad things to Caleb. Abruptly, the oracle’s words came back to me.
One with a bright and short future.
Caleb would die. Horror forced me toward the bed. This couldn’t be happening! In an instant, Eric had me pinned back against the wal . Blood— my blood—stil stained his lips. Once he was sure I wouldn’t move again, he let go and leaned back with a smug half-smile.
Sickened, I pushed down my own pain and fear. “Mom…
please let Caleb go. Please. I’l do anything.” And I meant it.
There was no way I was going to let Caleb die in this godforsaken place. “Please, just let him go.”
She studied me silently. “What would you do?”
My voice broke. “Anything. Just let him go.”
“Would you promise not to fight me or run?”
The oracle’s words kept replaying over and over, like some sick chant. There was no tel ing how much more of this he could take. Caleb’s color was chalky, sickly. What was about to happen was fated, wasn’t it? Had the gods already seen this? And if I chose not to fight, I would be turned into a daimon.
I swal owed down the taste of bile. “Yes. I promise.”
Her gaze flickered over Caleb and the daimon. She sighed. “He stays, but since you made a promise, I’l make you one. They wil not touch him again, but his presence wil make sure you keep your promise.”
Snapping out of his daze, Caleb frantical y shook his head at me, but I agreed again. I wanted him out of here, but for now, this was the best I could do. I sat opposite the bed with my back pressed against the wal , eyes trained on Caleb and Daniel. Eric took up position beside me. Al I could do was hope someone had checked on us by now.
Maybe Aiden final y had come to talk to me or start practice again. Maybe someone had checked on Caleb, and someone at the Covenant put two and two together. If not, in a horrible twist of fate, the next time I saw Aiden, he would try to kil me.
And I doubted he would falter like I had.
Daniel turned from Caleb and stared at the fresh tag on my arm. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head. Next was Daniel’s turn, and I had a feeling he was going to make it as painful as possible. My eyes burned as I pushed against the wal , wishing I could somehow disappear into it.
An hour came and went, and my body tensed as Daniel knelt down and pried my other arm from my chest. This was wrong, so wrong. There was no way to prepare for this, and when Eric placed his hand over my mouth, Daniel bit into my wrist.
I sagged against the wal , reeling after it was over. Like clockwork, Daniel and Eric took turns tagging me. Mom blabbed on and on about how we would eradicate the Council members, starting first with Lucian. We would then sit on the thrones, and even the gods would bow before us.
The tables would turn, she said, and the daimons would rule over not just the pure-bloods, but the mortal world, too.
“We’l have to take down the First, but when you’re a daimon Apol yon you’l be stronger than him—better than him.”
Mom was real y, absolutely nuts.
I learned about their draining. Maybe she was trying to prepare me for my new life? Pures kept them wired for days, halfs only for a few hours, and mortals, wel , they kil ed them for the fun of it. Too bad there wasn’t a pure I could hand over to the daimons now. That may sound terrible, but my arms were covered in crescent-shaped bites, much like my old instructor had been scarred. And I’d pitied her—
ironic.
The draining continued. Pieces of who I was disappeared with each tag. I no longer pressed away when Daniel dipped down or Eric leaned over. I didn’t even scream. And the whole time, s
he stood by and watched it al . I was losing myself to this sick madness, and my soul turned dark and desperate.
Eventual y, she left to go check the roads. Not once did she feed off me. I supposed she’d bagged herself a pure earlier, but when she left, I immediately wanted her back.
With her gone, Daniel got bold, and though it made me want to vomit, I let him get close. Every so often, he would run the tips of his fingers over my arms, around the bite marks. At least it kept his attention off of Caleb.
“I can already feel it,” murmured Eric.
I’d forgotten he was stil there. Even though he was tagging the hel out of me, I preferred him to Daniel. “Feel what?” My voice sounded sleepy.
“The aether, I’m buzzing from it. Almost like I could do anything.” He reached over and poked one of the bites, causing me to wince. “Do you feel it leaving you? Going into me?”
Refusing to answer him, I lowered my head to my bent knees. He sounded high… and I felt sick—my soul felt sick.
By the time Daniel tipped my neck back, I was exhausted and near delirious from the pain. Caleb hadn’t moved in a while, and Eric didn’t need to cover my mouth anymore. I only whimpered as the teeth pierced the skin at the base of my neck.
Eric made soothing noises as Daniel drained me, his thumb tracing the wild pounding of my pulse. “It’l be over soon. You’l see. Just a couple more tags, and it wil be over. A whole new world is waiting for you.”
After Daniel was done, I slumped to the side. The room spun, tilted. I had a hard time focusing on what Eric was talking about.
“We’re going to change the half-bloods first. They can’t be spotted like us. They don’t need elemental magic. Al over the world, we wil launch our attack. It wil be beautiful.”
Eric smiled at the thought. “The Covenants wil be infiltrated… and then the Council.”
It was a good enough plan, one that could easily become a scary reality. Eric didn’t seem bothered by the lack of conversational input. He continued on, and I found it hard to keep my eyes open. Fear and anxiety had ridden me hard. I dozed off. For how long, I didn’t know, but something jarred me awake.
Weary and confused, I lifted my head in time to see Daniel standing in front of me. Had it already been another hour? Was this it? I couldn’t help but wonder if they were preparing for the last bite, the last drop of aether and the last of my soul.
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