“As soon as we got in bed, I cried, and not just the small, cute tears, but full-on bawling my eyes out. I couldn’t help it,” Rebecca said, clearly a little mortified. “Seb was really nice, though. He didn’t say anything. He just hugged me and let me get it out my system.”
“Oh. I class that as something happening,” Lilliah decided with a smile. “I'm glad things are working out for you. Even though I find the whole thing so weird.”
“Are you two coming down or are you just going to stand on the stairs all day?” Sebastian stood at the bottom of the stairs smirking up at them, most likely having overheard their conversation.
“What?” Lilliah cut in, frowning. “What the hell are you wearing?”
Sebastian frowned, looking down at his black clothing. “A top and trousers?” he asked, confused.
“But they’re just plain black,” she shot at him almost accusingly. “They’re normal clothes.”
“Yeah, so?” He frowned. “Just because you look like a rainbow threw up on you doesn’t mean I have to.”
“Why do you get to wear clothes like that?” Lilliah asked, walking down the stairs and meeting him at the bottom.
“These are Azrael’s. They had to go out to get yours.”
I should have guessed, really, Lilliah thought as she looked at Sebastian's clothes. Although a little big, they looked good.
“You really do look awful.” He grinned, his eyes dancing between Lilliah and Rebecca.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Rebecca replied, pulling at her top.
“It’s actually not too far from what you'd normally wear.” Sebastian smirked.
Lilliah burst out laughing at Rebecca's disgusted expression.
“That’s not funny. I wear colours, but I make them look good. There was nothing I could do with these. There really was no hope,” she deadpanned, walking into the dining room.
“You know, the more I look at them, the more I like them.” Lilliah smiled when she saw Azrael and Benedict sitting at the table. Azrael’s head was bent over a newspaper.
”Morning,” she said to Benedict with a smile, taking the seat opposite Azrael as Sebastian and Rebecca took the seats next to her.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?” Azrael asked, leaning forward in interest.
How is it possible for someone to look so awake and so alert on so little sleep? Lilliah thought, searching his face. How is that fair?
“I'm okay,” she told him honestly. “Just a little tired. When did you get in? This morning?”
“A few hours ago. I can function on very little sleep.” His face lit up in a cheeky smile as he took a sip of his coffee. “Do you have any injuries you want me to look at?”
“No. I’m healing pretty nicely.”
“Good, good. Rebecca, what about you? You feeling okay?”
“I’m fine. Just really tired.” She yawned.
“Oh, there you all are,” Edna interrupted, walking into the room holding a teapot. “Did you all sleep well?”
“It was amazing, thank you.” Lilliah smiled politely. “Also, thank you for letting us all stay here on such short notice.”
“Don't even mention it, dear,” she said with a sweet smile as she poured tea into Lilliah's cup. “Azrael has been a friend for many years. Too many to count,” she said, pulling a face as Azrael looked up from his paper. “You’re all welcome anytime. Now I’ll go and get all your breakfasts.” Lilliah watched her leave.
“How’s the mansion? Is it all burnt down?” Sebastian asked, stretching his arms and leisurely draping them over the back of Rebecca's chair.
“No. It’s mostly the west wing that burnt down. I'm having builders come in today to assess the damage,” Azrael informed them. “Don't worry about the house. It’s nothing.”
To him, a mansion burning down might not be anything, but to Lilliah, it was everything. “What about all your things? All the paintings?” Surely they were all ruined now?
“Most of the paintings survived. The ones that didn’t . . .” He shrugged again. “They’re just paintings. I'll take you shopping later. We need to get you all new clothes.”
“Okay.” She decided to let it drop. “Then can we go and see the werewolf?” Lilliah asked anxiously, remembering their conversation from the night before.
“Yes. Then we'll go and talk to him. Benedict can stay with Sebastian and Rebecca.”
“What?” Sebastian demanded. “Is this the guy you were talking about last night? The guy who knows where my mum is?”
Azrael nodded once.
“Well then, I’m coming. I can’t just sit here while you all go out looking for her.” Sebastian's whole posture screamed he was ready for a fight. Lilliah's eyes darted from her brother to Azrael, who was looking slightly annoyed but not surprised.
“The club we're going to will be full of both vampires and werewolves. Maybe even some warlocks and witches. They will all know what you are,” he told Sebastian, possibly as a way of deterring him. It wasn’t working.
“Good,” Sebastian shot back confidently. “I want to be there.”
The silence stretched out over the breakfast table as Azrael watched Sebastian closely.
“Fine,” Azrael finally answered. “We'll all go. But first, we'll go shopping. We'll leave after breakfast.”
Sebastian agreed, happy with the outcome. Lilliah’s phone buzzed again.
“Jeremy again?” Rebecca asked, leaning forward so she could see Lilliah.
She nodded, quickly turning off her phone.
“Boy’s a stalker.” Rebecca snickered.
“Jeremy?” Azrael questioned with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah. My friend.” She tried to smile.
Azrael stared at her for a few moments before returning his attention to his paper.
An hour later, they were all piled into two cars, heading for London. Sebastian and Rebecca rode with Benedict while Lilliah rode with Azrael in his Bentley.
“I own an apartment in London,” Azrael told her when she had asked why they were bound for London.
“How many houses do you own in England?”
“Five, including the mansion.”
Lilliah nodded as they drove through the streets.
“So, Jeremy,” Azrael broached. “Has he always just been your friend?”
Lilliah stared at him, a little dumbfounded. Was he jealous? “Yeah,” she clarified. “Jeremy, Rebecca, and I have been friends for years. Since we were small.”
“Does he text her too?”
“Sometimes,” she lied. Jeremy never texted Rebecca. “He’s asked me out a few times,” she told him honestly, lifting her shoulders in a small shrug as she looked out the window. “I just don’t see him like that. But he is, and will always be, my friend.” She wanted to clear that up right away. “So you don’t need to be jealous.”
“Jealous?” he repeated the word, laughing. “Jealous,” he said again, smiling. “I guess I am.”
“You don’t need to be.” She turned to him, smiling. She couldn't blame him for being jealous. She had been feeling that exact way about Dena, and Dena hadn't been texting him constantly like Jeremy was texting her.
“So how do you know Edna?” She’d been trying to figure out their relationship all night, and since they were in a sharing mood, now seemed like a good time to ask. She could tell it had never been a sexual relationship, but he was close to her, which she found strange.
“I've been working with Edna's family for years now. I’ve known her since she was a little girl. And when her mother was a little girl and so on,” Azrael told her, quickly changing lanes.
“That must be so strange,” Lilliah replied, “seeing her grow up and her seeing you as she grew up, but you not changing at all.”
“Her family knows what I am,” Azrael told her, smiling. “Her great-grandfather, Andrew, was a struggling farmer. He got into some trouble with the man who owned the land his house was built on. Well, long story short, the man was a
vampire—a vampire who tried to cross me. I killed him, thus saving Andrew,” he explained.
“So you've known the family ever since?”
“Yes. Andrew was very grateful. I didn't do it for him, but he came in handy. I gave them a house on my land, and in return, they worked for me, doing odd jobs and garden work mostly,” he explained. “They have always known about our world but stayed out of it as much as possible. I respected that. But when Edna's mother fell in love with a warlock, a very powerful warlock, they blamed me.”
“They blamed you?” Lilliah asked, confused.
“Because I introduced them. Edmund was at the house one day, and they met and fell instantly in love.”
“That's very romantic.”
“Her family didn't see it that way. They saw me as a child from their God and him as a child of Satan.” He let out a little laugh while keeping his eyes on the road as he changed lanes. “If they only knew.”
“So what happened? Did her family forbid her to see him? Like Romeo and Juliet?”
“You really do like your tragic love stories, don't you?” He laughed, glancing over to see her nod. She had always been a sucker for a sad love story.
“They tried to forbid them, but Edmund wasn’t the type of man you could tell what to do. They married in the chapel on my estate.”
“I'm glad they didn’t listen. In stories like that, the parents never know what's good for their children. They never understand.”
“Well, her parents left, refusing to even look at her. They never spoke again.”
“It’s a little dramatic.” She rolled her eyes as she turned more to look at him.
“She didn’t mind. All she cared about was being with Edmund, and he with her.”
“So they lived happily ever after?” She knew there wasn’t such a thing in real life, but surely their love story deserved it?
“No,” he replied, giving her a sad smile. “Edmund was in The Cure at the time. He wanted to change it. He said it was becoming too much about the mortal world and not enough about the magical one. A lot of people disagreed. He came to me when his wife was pregnant, asking for my protection.”
Azrael was looking straight ahead, his eyes turning cold at the memory.
“So you protected them?” Lilliah hedged softly, putting her hand on top of his.
“Yes. Edmund had been helping me track you for years, so I owed him that much. But just his wife and unborn child.” He sighed. “Edmund was too proud a man to be under another man's protection. Plus, it would have been of no use. We both saw it coming. He had too many enemies.”
“But surely they could have run away?” Lilliah suggested, frowning.
“The people who were after him would never have stopped. They saw him as a major threat. A threat they didn’t like. And Edmund understood that as long as his wife and child were with him, they'd be in danger too.”
“So what did he do?” she pressed.
“I took his family far away. He stayed and died.” They both sat in silence for a moment.
Lilliah quickly wiped a stray tear that had leaked down her cheek. “That's really sad,” she muttered after a moment.
“Not for him,” Azrael told her, turning his hand to hold hers. “For his family, he'd have done anything. It was a sacrifice he gladly made.” They had pulled up outside a row of shops, just behind Benedict's Range Rover. She hadn’t even realised where they were.
“So he died,” she stated simply. It really was a tragic love story.
“Yes. But his family lived. I provided for his wife and child, just as I will for his grandchildren.” He slowly brought her hand to his lips, gently kissing her knuckles. “Dry your eyes, beautiful. We have shopping to do.”
They had been shopping all morning, and Lilliah was well and truly exhausted. She stood in front of a mirror, examining herself as she tried on another pair of jeans. Shopping for clothes had never been her thing; she just didn’t see the point. Rebecca, however, was having the time of her life.
“Oooh,” Rebecca squealed, flinging the curtain of the dressing room open. “Have you seen these shoes?” she asked, pointing her foot down to give Lilliah a better view. The blue heels were gorgeous, and very high.
“They are nice.” Lilliah smiled, turning back to her reflection. “But when would you wear them?”
“When wouldn’t I wear them, more like?” She laughed, sitting on the small stool in the corner of the dressing room. “I mean, just look at them,” she exclaimed. “It’s times like these I know there's a God.” She giggled.
“Please. You have enough high-heeled shoes back at home. What do you think of these jeans?”
“Another pair of jeans?” Rebecca asked, rolling her eyes as she looked at the other three pairs on the floor. “Azrael has basically given us free reign over his credit card and all you've chosen so far are two pairs of jeans, a few hoodies, plain tops, and a load of underwear? Not even sexy underwear, but plain cotton underwear?”
“I'm just picking the stuff I’ll need. I don't want to spend too much of his money.” She shrugged. “And we need underwear!” she justified, mortified that Rebecca was even commenting on them.
“Yeah, I know.” Rebecca laughed. “It was that time of month the other day, and well, let's just say Benedict wasn't too happy about going to the shop.” Both girls giggled.
“I know.” Lilliah laughed. “I used yours. I'm so glad I didn't have to ask.” They broke out into a fit of laughter.
“But honestly, I will repay him. I already told him I’ll pay him back when I get my credit card.” Lilliah told her friend once the laugher had died down.
“The man has too much money.” Rebecca shrugged, still smiling. “I offered to buy my own too, but he just wouldn’t hear any of it and basically thrust his credit card into my hand.”
Being given a credit card with an unlimited balance wasn’t anything new for Rebecca. It’s what her parents had been giving her since she was old enough to know how to use it. It was their way of making up for all the time they spent away. A complete contrast to Lilliah’s life, as her mother kept a tight rein on all her money, refusing to give her and Sebastian too much in case they spent it all.
“Do you still have your credit card?” Lilliah asked. She wasn’t sure what Rebecca had managed to save from the burning house.
“Yeah.” She nodded easily. “Did I tell you my dad called because I hadn't used it in a while?” She smirked, shaking her head. “I guess that's how they'd find out if I were ever murdered or something. My credit card wouldn’t be used.”
Lilliah smiled down at her friend. It would have been so easy for Rebecca to have turned into a pampered princess with all the money her parents threw at her. But instead, she had learnt to look after herself from a young age, not depending on anyone and ignoring the constant stream of nannies who came to look after her. “I told them we'd gone away for a few weeks on a girly holiday. They hope we're having a lovely time in France.”
“They'd know if something had happened to you, though.” Lilliah frowned, but honestly, she wasn’t so sure. Rebecca barely spoke to her parents when they were on tour. Her dad claimed it made him lose his concentration.
“Maybe, maybe not,” she said, looking up. “So are you going to get more than just those jeans and plain tops?”
Eventually, Lilliah gave up and let Rebecca choose a few clothes for her, deciding it was better than constantly arguing with her.
“See,” Rebecca said, walking in with yet another pile of clothes, “that dress looks amazing on you. Your legs look drop-dead gorgeous.”
Lilliah had to agree. She did look amazing in the red skater dress that Rebecca had picked for her.
“But when will I wear it?” she asked, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look in the mirror.
“Sleep in it if you have to.” They both giggled as Lilliah got undressed to try on the new clothes. “What are the boys doing?” she asked as she tried to squeeze her head into a sma
ll top, already deciding she didn’t like it.
“Benedict and Seb are sitting down, and Azrael is getting chatted up by the sales lady.”
“What?” Lilliah squealed, almost losing her balance as she pulled the top over her head.
“Jesus.” Rebecca laughed, steadying her friend. “Calm down. He's not paying her any attention. It's kind of funny really.”
Lilliah carefully peered out from behind the curtain. Rebecca was right; the brunette saleswoman was practically falling over herself to get Azrael’s attentions, twirling her hair around her fingers. “Oh, please. Look at her. I hate it when girls do that.” She smirked bitterly. “She’s so obvious.” She was very beautiful, Lilliah acknowledged, trying to get a better look.
“Yeah, I know. But he's so not interested.” Rebecca shrugged, confidently sitting on her seat.
“Mm-hmm,” Lilliah murmured, deciding now was probably a good time to make an appearance. “I'm ready. Let’s go.”
“Finally!” Sebastian exclaimed when she pulled the curtain back. “How long does it take to try on clothes?”
“You can’t rush these things,” Rebecca replied, smiling sweetly while walking towards the counter, all her purchases in hand. “It really does take time to look this good,” she joked.
“Did you get everything?” Azrael smiled, walking towards her, leaving the saleswoman confused and annoyed.
“I think so,” she replied, smiling back and getting to her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss, spying the fuming saleswoman out the corner of her eye. “But I will pay you back,” she whispered as she put the clothes down. She hated people buying stuff for her; it just didn’t seem right when she had the money to buy it herself. As soon as she got her bankcards back, she’d repay him.
“I'm insulted.” He smirked, handing the cashier his card without even looking at the amount. “Do you think I can’t afford to buy you clothes?” he asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“No. It’s not that,” she quickly explained. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you still shouldn’t have to buy me, my brother, or my friend clothes. That's crazy.”
Ruined (The Seraphim Series Book 1) Page 20