Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
LORELEI
B ast, Samael, and Phenex follow behind me as I walk inside. I can’t believe she’s actually here, and I’m not sure what she’ll have to say to me.
“Hello?” I ask. “Madam Sera?”
“That’s not possible,” she mutters, bustling out from behind a curtain. “Lorelei Rose.”
“You know who she is,” Phenex grunts. His hand lays heavy on my shoulder, as if I’ll disappear if he doesn’t.
“I do, I’ve been dreaming about her for two years,” she says. “I’ve tried to send you visions when I could.”
“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “It was a bit cryptic, but we did get one.”
“I’ve been having really odd dreams lately,” I confess. “I thought I was over tired or something. None of it ever makes sense, and there’s always so much darkness.”
“You’re about to enter possible darkness,” Madam Sera mumbles, sitting down. “I know it doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry, the future has so many different variables. Please, sit.”
“Bunch of mumbo jumbo,” Bast sighs. “I can’t say shit though. It’s gotten us this far.”
Madam Sera glances at him in sympathy. “It is frustrating,” she acknowledges as I sit across from her. “I see three mates, have you found the fourth?”
“Yes, he’s stuck in traffic,” Phenex says.
“I don’t have a bite mate mark from him yet, though,” I say softly.
“He needs to complete it as soon as possible,” she says. “It’s very important.”
“It’s forever,” I whisper, remembering the way he lost Dahlia.
“That’s not why he’s been waiting,” Samael says, his hand on my shoulder. “He’s going to bond with her tonight. You said by her twenty-first birthday, Madam Sera.”
“Yes, but the visions have been telling me different things,” she mutters. “There’s someone here who shouldn’t be, Lorelei is being hunted for who she is. Her DNA is very important. With the four of you as her mates, it’ll change the very core of her being.”
“My healing,” I breathe, scared to speak any louder. “Is it possible that I’ll be able to live longer?”
“Anything is possible because of who you and your mates are,” Madam Sera says. Her hand touches her tarot cards but doesn’t do anything else as her eyes turn an eerie white as she falls into her trance. “You’re meant to bring back omegas, Lorelei.”
“The plague killed them all,” I remind her. “It was a freak thing.”
“No it wasn’t,” she spits out. “The plague was engineered to kill them. Omegas were never meant to be a secret with their mates, they were always meant to be revered. They were too weak to survive the plague.”
“I’m not going to lose Lorelei to some half baked plan to bring back omegas,” Phenex growls.
“It’s not up to you,” Madam Sera says, blinking slowly. The light fades away and she shakes her head. “Her fate has been written in the stars. I have to go, if you’re here, then so is the monster who shouldn’t be.”
“Who?” I ask. “How am I supposed to protect myself?”
“Make things official with your mates. Keep them at full strength. You,” she says, pointing at Samael. “You’re not feeding appropriately.”
“What?” I ask, twisting to look at him over my shoulder.
“You’ve been so busy,” he mumbles. “I didn’t want to pull you away from your studies, and I’ve been working too.”
“We need to fix that,” I say. “I think I saw a fun house. I fucking hate those things, but it’ll at least give you a full feeding.”
“It’ll be a start,” he agrees, wincing at my glare.
“Be careful of the darkness,” Madam Sera says. “The monster who seeks to destroy you is someone in power here at the university. Feed your mate and then go home right away. I must leave.”
“Thank you for everything,” I say, standing.
Nodding, she grabs a bag and begins to pack. Phenex sighs, his hand resting on the back of my neck to lead me out of the tent. I can feel Bast and Samael’s presence behind us as we walk, and I frown as I twist around to look at Samael.
“You have to tell me when you need me,” I hiss before gasping as Phenex pulls me out of the way from being mowed down by a monster who isn’t looking.
“Too many damn creatures here today,” he grunts. “Yell at him later, Baby Girl. You may like kinky, angry sex.”
Samael chuckles, the tone deep and rich as we make our way through the grounds.
“Why wait?” he asks. “If I catch you, I get to fuck you, Sweet Girl. It doesn't matter if people will see.”
“Samael,” I gasp, while Bast and Phenex just shrug.
“May as well enjoy your last glimpse of freedom before we go into ultra-protective mode after this,” Phenex rumbles. “I think we need a vacation. None of us are teaching summer classes.”
“I chose to abstain this year,” Bast agrees. “Fuck, I don’t remember when the last time was that I took a vacation. Here’s the fun house. Better get ready to run.”
“I have to work,” I remind them, walking up the ramp into the huge structure.
“Fuck it! I’ve seen your underwear drawer,” Bast says. I’m still hoarding my cash in my underwear drawer and it's getting a little ridiculous.
“Stop stealing my underwear,” I mutter, knowing he’ll hear me as I hand over one of the leftover tickets from the Ferris wheel. They only sell tickets in sets of five, which feels silly.
Blowing out a breath I step inside, I’m hit with a blast of fear.
“ I’m coming for you,” Samael says through the bond.
I’m running before I even realize it, straight into the darkness and harsh red lights of the fun house.
Do I want to be caught or not? I’m honestly not sure, but I can’t make it easy, can I?
SAMAEL
I can hear her feet pounding on the flimsy floor as I follow her slowly. Fuck, I can feel her excitement, smell her arousal. I’m not going to be able to let this go too long, but I won’t need to.
The thrill as she feeds me through her fear is incredible.
Through the bond and my power as a demon, I tell her she’s not moving fast enough, I’m coming. Her squeal when a demonic clown jumps in front of her makes me laugh. This place is a mixture of fun and horror.
Taking a right down a hall, I listen for her, and hear her giggles on the other side of the wall.
“How did you get over there?” I yell, amused. “Shall I mist to you and end this? I think they admitted some other students, maybe we should give them a show?”
I told the man at the door to close the attraction, and anyone else who was here just left. We’re the only ones in the fun house.
She just doesn’t know that.
“Samael,” she hisses. “No cheating. You only get to fuck me if you catch me. You haven’t caught me yet!”
“Yet is the operative word, baby!” I yell, turning and running in the opposite direction. She must have turned left when I went right.
I can hear her pounding footsteps as she runs from me, and I imagine her heartbeat is racing as well. I’m getting stronger with each passing moment, but I’m ready to hold her in my arms.
This is why our chases never last very long, because I don’t have the discipline it takes for a longer feed. All of a sudden I feel a rush of energy so large that my ears start to ring and my head pounds.
What the fuck? That wasn’t me, so what caused it?
“Lorelei!” I scream, disappearing from my corporal state to find her. Even my bond to my mate is weak, and it takes me what feels like forever to find her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
LORELEI
I’m falling in the darkness. One second I was running and laughing, and the next, someone was grabbing my hair and yanking me toward them. They wore black gloves, their voice dark and cruel as they hissed words into my ear.
It was hard to understand what they were saying initially while fear and adrenaline rode through my veins. They were shorter than me, but it felt as if I was being held by many hands.
I fought and screamed. What kind of being has so many appendages? A hand covered my mouth, holding me immobile while I struggled.
And then a sharp sting is all I could feel as a needle was shoved into my throat.
“Sorry, Lorelei. Your kind needs to stay dead,” President Christa says, letting me go.
The dark is so cold, and all of the clues were there, I just couldn’t see them.
I’m so sorry.
PHENEX
“What happened?” I ask, eyes wide as Samael appears next to me with Lorelei in his arms. “She’s still screaming in my mind.”
“And yet she’s quiet,” Bast whispers. “We need to get out of here. Can you find Alecto? If she has a pulse, it may not be too late to bond.”
Samael’s face is ashen but he nods.
“I didn’t think anyone else was in the structure,” he says. “She was there with me one moment, and gone the next.”
There’s blood dripping from her neck, and I move her hair to look closer. There’s a very obvious puncture wound.
“She was injected with something. I think this is what we were warned of,” I say. “Find Alecto. I don’t fucking care if he has to abandon his goddamned car at this point. We’ll meet you in my apartment.”
Samael’s pupils are blown wide, and all I can see is the violet within them. He disappears with Lorelei in his arms, while Bast and I begin running for the exit.
“Professor Gorsch!” President Christa calls out with alarm.
Fuck, I hate this damn woman. I just want to get the hell out of here.
“We’re on our way out, President Christa,” I reply, continuing on my way.
If she fires me, then she does.
I hear her huff of annoyance, but I don’t care. I know that she’s gotten to her position through care and calculated measures. I’ve always been on her good side.
Today, I choose Lorelei.
“We’re probably going to pay for that later, huh?” Bast mutters as he hurries beside me.
“I’m sure we will, but we gave that woman more than enough of our time,” I grumble. “Fuck, can you hear her?”
“I feel like I’m going crazy,” he says. “There’s screaming in my mind, and Lorelei sounds so fucking scared.”
“I don’t know what she could have been injected with, but this is going to throw Alecto because of how he lost his wife,” I explain. “We have to keep him focused, see if we can follow her wherever she is.”
“Can we do that?” Bast asks, forcing himself into a jog as I begin to run. It’s like the earth is shaking because of his hooves, but fuck it.
It’s not far, and if the world thinks an earthquake hit the university, then so be it. We’re in the middle of a crisis.
By the time I slam into my apartment, I can hear Alecto and Samael speaking in the bedroom. Closing and locking the front door behind Bast, I’m rushing across the living room to the bedroom.
“We’re too late,” Alecto mutters, gazing down at Lorelei. Her wrist is in his hands, his fangs extended, yet there’s no evidence that he’s bitten her.
“I’ll be the one to say when we’re too late,” I growl. “She’s in there, fucking screaming through our bonds. Lorelei is locked away in her mind, asleep, and terrified. Bite her, bond her, and help us find her so we can bring her back.”
“Madam Sera said Lorelei is the answer to bringing back omegas into existence because of her DNA,” Samael says. “Someone truly believes that she’s a threat.”
“Fuck,” Alecto says, leaning forward to brush aside one of Lorelei’s curls. She looks serene and calm on the bedsheets, completely relaxed. “You promise she’s really in there?”
“Yeah,” Bast rasps. “There’s hope, I fucking swear it. She can’t hear us, I’ve tried reaching her through the bond.”
“She just keeps screaming,” I add. “I think she needs us all.”
Nodding, Alecto kisses Lorelei’s inner arm, near her elbow.
“Come back to us, angel,” he murmurs, biting down enough to break the skin. It takes a moment before he lifts his head from her arm, swallowing hard. “I hear you, baby. Fuck it, we’ll come to you.”
Everything goes black at his words, and I feel as if I’m falling. Here we go.