Chapter 50 #2
Yesterday, I might have welcomed us getting kicked out.
Technically, I’d sworn I was going to leave today.
But the more we planned, the more I realized getting to Azazel and Abadon while they were on high alert might not be possible as a one-woman job.
Besides, Rui Xi and Marve had valuable information I needed.
There were many changes that the guild hadn’t been made aware of recently.
I might not have wanted anything to do with Rui Xi, but couldn’t I take advantage of him now?
After all these years, he owed me way too much.
I’d be a fool not to cash in on it a bit.
It was long past dark when Astrid finally yawned and threw both hands into the air. “I’m going to bed. I can’t think straight enough to make any more valuable contributions tonight.”
With that, the whole table dispersed as if Astrid’s announcement had pulled a plug. Everyone hummed and sighed after a full day of poring over maps and documents with very little progress toward a concrete plan. They all offered excuses for adjourning and promises of better progress tomorrow.
I didn’t bother announcing my own departure and slipped away with the rest of the crowd. As I climbed the stairs, the only people still at the table were Rui Xi and Soren.
I barely managed through a shower before crashing onto my mattress. I fully expected to slip right into a dreamless sleep that would carry me through the whole night.
Unfortunately, that night was not as peaceful as the previous one. There wasn’t a dream.
But there was a beep.
Beep.
When I woke, the room was completely dark. I blinked, trying to get my bearings, but all I could see were imagined shadows.
“Soren?” I whispered, just in case.
No response.
Beep.
This time, a notification flashed before me, the only visible thing in the pitch-black room.
Incoming Call: Abadon
I pulled the covers up under my chin.
“Eliana.” His voice was in my head again. That smooth, sure voice.
What do you want?
“You already know. All I want is you.”
My breath snagged in my chest, saliva clogging my throat as I forgot to finish swallowing.
Why isn’t Soren spying on me in my sleep when I need him?
Crap.
I’d forgotten my Visex was on, that my thoughts were broadcast to the enemy. I’d gotten too used to the freedom of not being attached to that tech.
“You think Soren could keep me from you?”
No. I admitted it before I could stop myself. Why do you even want me?
But where is he?
“You are more powerful than you could imagine, My Darling. And I’m the only one who could make you truly happy.”
Yeah, right. And how’s that?
“How about I start with the thing you’ve been chasing all these years?”
My breath stuttered.
Azazel?
“Bingo. I’ll hand him to you personally. You can kill him however you like. Torture him. Keep him as a pet for all I care.”
My mind twisted into a darker place than I’d ever known, imagining slicing open Azazel’s abdomen, removing each organ one by one.
My breath quickened, and I looked around the room again. My eyes had started to adjust to the dark.
I was alone with the devil and his honey-glazed promises.
And then what?
“Only your companionship. Be with me as I make all your desires come true. You’ll even find some of your friends here so that you won’t be lonely.”
What does that mean? What friends?
“Not everyone you’ve surrounded yourself with has been truthful about their intentions. Do you think I wouldn’t have been watching over my little treasure from the moment you appeared at Babel with that mark on your chest?”
I only noticed the sheen of sweat forming on my skin when I wiped my palms on my bare thighs. I knew about the spy. At one point, I’d been very conscious of it. But it had honestly completely slipped my mind after we landed in the sewers.
Had he had someone following me since I first started at Babel?
Names exploded through my mind.
Zade? Astrid? Adriel? Marigold? Soren?
“Some of those, yes. And someone else you haven’t thought of yet.” His laugh was quiet and cold. “Decide quickly. I want you here for the blood moon. Come willingly, or I’ll slaughter every single member of your new little family and take you anyway. Regardless, you’re mine.”
Call Ended
Family.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Some of those…and someone else…
At least three people I trusted were working for the most evil creature in the universe. And said creature just threatened the lives of everyone else I cared about.
The memories of that vision I’d had at Chapel and then Riaan’s voice coming from a mimic flushed through me with a torrent that ripped out a sobbing gasp.
My family. My chance at belonging.
“No!” I gasped aloud. Then, with more steel, “I can’t be responsible for their deaths.”
I shoved the covers back, bare feet hitting cold wood. I needed to find Soren. He’d know what to do. He’d help.
But what if it was him? The one Abadon claimed had been working for him? Soren wasn’t good. He’d be the first to say so. He’d proven himself an asshole plenty of times. And he admitted to watching me. He was a nephilim for crying out loud! His own father was a Fallen.
Yet, every cell in my body yearned to go to him.
I eased the bedroom door open without a creak and padded into the hallway. The only sounds in the house were my bare feet on the floor and my too-loud breathing. My pulse felt so heavy, I was sure someone could hear it.
The living room was lit only by a faint track light near the baseboards. It was just enough for someone woken by a call from the Dark One to creep through in a fog.
Soren and Rui Xi were nowhere in sight. They must have gone to bed as well. I glanced back up toward the balcony and wondered for a moment which room Soren was in and why he hadn’t come to mine.
Stop. It.
I found myself wandering around the living room in a long sweeping circle, examining the books in the shelves and imagining Rui Xi reading Truths of Ancient Beliefs while handing my mother over to her death.
I couldn’t muster the curiosity to learn more about the man who contributed half my DNA, and found my steps taking me straight to the piano bench, slow but sure.
I needed to tell someone what had happened. I should have been alerting the others. If not asking them for help, I should at the very least have been warning them.
That’s what a good person would have done.
Instead, I took a seat on the black leather-topped bench. My fingers ghosted along the sleek edge of the fallboard. Then I lifted it and stared at the black-and-white keys as if they might open the right door out of this mess.
I wanted out so bad.
Almost as bad as I never wanted out because I’d just begun to understand the concept of staying.