LAILAH
TWENTY
When the room filled with possessed people, I knew that Mozog was trying to play to my humanity.
The problem was, he also put Parker and Phoebe in danger which triggered my protective instincts, which overruled my need to preserve life.
These people would never be free of demons, even if you knew how to save them from the demon inhabiting them now, because once it was out another could take it spot.
The kindest thing I could do was to let these people be free and to die at peace, knowing they wouldn’t be taken over again.
Bullets bounced off our shields and I was even more grateful that we decided to test that theory out during training.
Once they realized that it did them no good, they moved on to using other weapons.
Jay had been ruthless in his training with me, which helped as my body automatically did what it needed to.
Keeping space clear around myself with my shield, I could then deal with one person at a time.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Parker get taken down by a massive man, making me falter in my own battle as I called out to him. "Parker!"
It took a few moments for him to respond, but when he did I got right back to what I was doing.
A gap opened up in the battle and I grinned at the fact we were holding our own, but I couldn't do it for much longer.
My arms were getting heavy and sluggish as I blocked, swung, and stabbed those around me.
Then I caught sight of Mozog with Phoebe at the altar, and I tried to get to her, knowing that if he performed the ritual to allow Lilith into her, she would never have a chance at coming back, antidote or not.
I shoved forward, only to have someone behind me grab onto my ponytail and drag me back, slamming me to the floor.
The air whooshed out of my lungs and the world around me went black as I felt hands grabbing at me, claws digging into my flesh so I did the only thing I could think of once I got my breath back.
"Parker."
On instinct, I pulled on my connection to all the men and found that they were all here in the building, much closer than I anticipated.
Micah and Brayden were in the hall fighting to get to us, while Hudson and Jay were on the roof making their way to the skylight.
I felt them pouring into me, filling me with their strength, reassuring me that they were here for me.
Then I felt Parker's connection and as I grasped it, I watched in my mind's eye as it shattered, splintering into a thousand pieces.
Pain unlike anything I'd ever encountered before wrecked my body down to a soul level, making me scream as I was unable to hold it all inside.
The people around me got blasted across the room and I was in a bubble of protection, sobbing as the realization of what just happened dawned on me.
The Oath—a solemn promise witnessed by the angels of heaven, had been broken.
Devastation filled me, as it felt like someone just cut off my right hand, leaving me crippled and vulnerable.
I couldn't move or speak, other than to scream and cry as I curled up into a ball.
The building around me started to shake as I continued to pull power from the others, needing to feel them, to know I hadn't been abandoned by them all.
"The building is going to collapse." Someone bellowed.
What did I care—let the building fall. Maybe then I wouldn't have to wake up from this nightmare, knowing that one of my men, who claimed to love me, had turned his back on me.
I'd read the journals Aiden left behind, I knew exactly what it would take to break the Oath.
To choose evil over good, abandoning your calling, was the only action that could possibly be grounds for the angels to revoke the promise he made to me.
"Lailah, you have to let down the shield so we can get to you," Brayden called out to me. "Please, let us in."
Through our Bond, I could feel his concern and pain, as he didn't understand what was going on.
Hudson, as well as Micah, were trying to reach out to me any way that they could, trying desperately not to freak out.
I allowed them into my space, along with Jay's steady stalwart presence, and the pain began to ease slightly as they reached out to touch me.
Feeling them here with me, as I had this gaping hole in my chest where Parker used to be, gave me enough courage to open my eyes.
The room was now in shambles, my powers having blown out the windows, walls, and crushed anything else that got in its way.
The ground was littered with people, their bodies broken and dead eyes staring glassy eyed into the void as now all that remained was an empty husk.
Then my eyes landed on Parker.
He stood there staring at me, tears running down his face, making clean streaks where his skin was covered in blood and other debris.
That one look told me he knew what happened as well as I did.
Anger tore through me as I let the guys help me get to my feet.
The building had stopped trembling, but now it started up again as my fury whipped out around me like a snake going for the kill.
"Why the fuck are you crying?" I screamed. "You did this! Get out of my sight. I can't stand to look at filth like you."
Parker flinched, as if my words really did hit him the way I wanted them too.
"I should have known, when you warned me you were processing everything after seeing Phoebe again, that this would happen.
I defended you, I made them trust in the fact that you changed.
What a fool I am to believe a man whore like you could ever truly love one person for the rest of your life.
Thank god you didn't really bond with me or you would’ve been stuck with me your whole goddamn life.
Now you can go freely be with Phoebe, or any other slut you want, because you sure as hell won't be mine!
" I snarled, fighting against Brayden's hold on me.
Parker took a step closer to me, but a wall of fire shot up halting him in his steps to get to me. "Trouble—"
"Don't you dare," I screamed, collapsing to my knees on the ground. "Leave…just go…I can't, I can’t deal with this."
Sobs wracked my body, as Jay picked me up and cradled me in his arms. He rested his head on mine and spoke into my ear softly.
"Beautiful, I need you to pull back on your powers so we can get out of this place safely.
Once we get outside, where it's safe, you can burn the whole thing down for all I care, but you need to be safe first."
In my head, I knew he was right, but it took a few tries for me to collect myself enough to stop drawing from them and feeding it into my own power.
Once I did that, the oppression in the air seemed to lift, the wind stopped, and the ground stopped shaking.
I peeked over his shoulder and found that the altar was indeed shattered into dust, so that no one else could use it.
The others remained silent as we picked our way out of the room and down the hall to the stairs.
Not wanting to deal with anything right now, I hid my face in Jay's neck as he held me together in his arms. Soon enough, we were outside and the sun was still high in the sky shining brightly, as if my whole world hadn't just come crashing down.
"Lailah," Dylan's voice called out.
Lifting my head, I saw him along with Kyle and Cami, running over to me. When they saw me though, they came to a screeching halt, eyes wide with horror.
"Lala…what happened?" Cami gasped.
"We need to get her to North Western, where the Elementi hub is," Hudson explained. "They will have doctors there that can look over her and assist, without having to deal with awkward questions about how she got hurt."
"Why are you so calm? Where is Phoebe and why is Lailah covered in blood and look like she's been tortured?" Dylan growled. "I'm not letting you take my sister anywhere until you give me some answers."
"Phoebe's gone," Parker stated his voice cold.
Dylan let out a strangled sound as he dropped to the ground. "She's dead?"
"In a manner of speaking. She's the conduit to Lilith, the Mother of All Demons," Parker announced. "She disappeared with another conduit by the name of Mozog when Lailah's power started lashing out."
"Care to share why that was, fuckface?" Micah demanded getting right up in Parker's space.
"I don't have to tell you shit," Parker snarled, grabbing the front of Micah's shirt.
Hudson stepped up and grabbed Parker's hand, stopping him from decking Micah in the face. "You were the only one there, Parker. We need to know what happened before we got there."
Parker shook off Hudson and shoved Micah away from him as hard as he could, almost knocking him to the ground. "I fucked up, alright! Is that what you all want to hear? It finally happened, Parker the idiot, the frat boy man whore, finally lived up to your expectations."
"You're not making any sense," Brayden interjected.
Parker turned to me, holding my gaze as he told them all. "I broke my Oath when I chose to save Phoebe over Lailah."
I thought I'd seen Micah mad before, but the wrath I saw on his face was almost as terrifying as the Dark Lord's expression when the ritual didn't work. "I'll fucking kill you!"
Micah tackled Parker and started to beat the shit out of him, pummeling him in the face while Parker did nothing to stop him—nor did the others.
Hudson's face was hard as he watched what was happening and Brayden came to stand in front of me, so my view of what was going on was blocked.
Parker had dug his own grave and the others were going to let him lay in it.
Brayden reached out and brushed some hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear, giving me a soft sad smile.
"I'm not going to ask you how you feel, because I know it's not good, but do you have any injuries we need to look after right away?" Brayden asked gently.
Reaching out, I grasped his hand. "I don't know, right now all I feel is numb.
The pain of the Oath shattering was the worst thing I've ever experienced, even surpassing what the Dark Lord did to me.
Can we just go home? I don't want to go to the Elementi hub, I just want to go back home, crawl into bed and never come out again. "
"Okay, we can go home," Brayden answered as he looked up at Jay.
"He's not coming with us," Jay announced. "I don't care where he goes but it won't be back to the house."
Brayden just nodded his head and looked over his shoulder. "Micah, leave him, Lailah wants to go home."
The sound of fist hitting flesh stopped as a pitiful groan came from Parker. "Fucker’s lucky all he gets is a broken face for now, since we need him alive long enough to end this shit with the Dark Lord."
"Wait, you're just going to leave him here?" Kyle called out after us. "Sis, where are you going?"
I couldn't face my little brother right now.
I was too hurt to be anything but selfish.
Wrapping my arms around Jay's neck, I let the tears fall as he held me tightly, he didn't even try to get me to let go as he climbed into the car with me.
He put us in the very back of the SUV and let me cry, stroking my back soothingly as we drove back home.
As much as I wished that I could just pass out, with how tired and drained I was, all I kept doing was running through the whole thing in my mind.
When had Phoebe been turned into a conduit?
Had we been too late from the very beginning?
Was she Lilith the whole time and I just couldn't sense her for some reason?
No, there was no way that could be the case.
It had to have happened today at some point.
When I was in Hell, with the Dark Lord, he'd told me that she was being punished for trying to free all her children. How is it that she is awake already, or is it more of an echo, since Phoebe is connected to her? Fuck, I mean she’s the Mother of All demons, why put it past her to have been storing up energy herself to get free?
What if the Dark Lord fell into her trap, but how does Mozog fit into all of this? Who is he a conduit for?
"Lailah, I can feel your mind working like crazy trying to reason out what happened," Jay whispered. "No matter what you think, you have to know it's not your fault. Parker is the one responsible for what happened back there, it was his choices that broke the Oath, not yours."
Oddly enough I didn't feel any of this was my fault. Jay was right, Parker is the one who fucked up, making a blatant choice of Phoebe over me. "I agree."
Even if Phoebe hadn't been connected to Lilith, this still would have been a huge red flag to me that Parker was not ready to commit to me.
I never wanted to rush any of them into the Bond, which is why I only accepted his Oath.
I believe we both knew he was nervous about being connected to someone forever, and even though I trusted him with many things, I don't know that I really did trust him with my heart yet.
If seeing his ex-girlfriend threw him so badly, then I don't really trust that he loved me the way he thought he did.
So where did that leave us now…?
That problem would just have to wait for another day, because I didn't have a flying fuck to care right now.