Chapter Twenty-Six • Crossover Episode • Damien #3
I linger a little longer, just out of spite. When I brush my nose against Lillith’s, her pale skin is dusted with the most charming pink.
I sit back and give Wren a challenging look.
“You’re such a little shit. I hope you know that,” she says.
I grin. “I do.”
Lillith slips the ring off my thumb and places it in front of the dressed candle. My phone buzzes and I take a moment to look at it.
“Roxie and the rest of them are on the way—ETA is ten minutes,” I say.
“We’ll only need five,” Wren says, holding her hand out toward me.
I almost recoil from it. I’m not holding some girl’s hand who isn’t my girlfriend. Lillith lets out a warm little giggle. “We all have to hold hands, Damien. It’s okay.”
Lillith takes my left hand and I take Wren’s hand with my right. Then Lillith and Wren complete a circle by joining their hands on the other side of the candle in front of us.
“Anything I need to do?” I ask.
“Just believe,” Lillith says, closing her eyes.
When I look at Wren, her eyes are closed too.
There’s no weird Latin chanting, or even a gust of phantom wind that displaces my hair. I just watch the unlit candle as I sit between the two witches. The wick suddenly sparks with flame, the little light of it dancing gently before it flickers and grows and—
Lillith’s fingers tighten around mine, and when I glance at her, her brow is shiny with sweat. Wren looks a lot more at ease, but there is a faint wrinkle between her well-shaped brows and a focused purse in her full lips.
The candle pops and blazes, bright and hot as a damn emergency flare.
Instinctively, my hands tighten around the girls’ hands and I jolt back.
In seconds I watch the candle wax melt into a puddle, devouring the paper and the thread and all the herbs.
The wax coats the ring in a thick layer and then hardens right before my eyes.
When the smell of burning paper and herbs and wax finally fades, Wren extricates her hand from mine, still holding onto Lillith’s and brushing the thumbs of both hands over her pale knuckles. “You alright, Lilipad?” she asks.
I look at Lillith, finding her faintly pallid and sweaty. She’s breathing a lot harder than Wren, but she nods, opening her eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she says.
“Babe, you didn’t need to put that much into it,” Wren says, concerned. “I told you I could swing most of it on my own.”
“I’m not going to be using that energy anyway,” Lillith says with a wan smile. “I’ll sleep better if I know where it went.”
Wren’s lips press with disapproval and she flits her eyes over to mine. There’s something in the glint there that makes me look away and pick up Lillith’s hand to kiss her knuckle. “Thanks, sweetheart,” I say. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”
Lillith nods and kisses my hand too. Every knuckle, sweet in a way that makes my heart ache. “Peel back the wax,” she says. “Keep that on and it should protect you.”
I look at the circular shape coated in candle wax and reach out for it, plucking it off of the table with just a bit of effort. When I peel back the wax from the metal within I’m... Frankly, I’m blown away.
When she’d brought out the ring, it was just a simple silver band.
But inexplicably—perhaps magically, if you will—the ring has completely changed in appearance.
The metal has blackened, and inlaid in a channel through the center is a swirl of violet and gold…
something. As I shift it in the light, it twinkles.
Not like glitter—like blinking stars. One even flies in an arc like a comet.
“Nice,” Wren says. “Good job, Lilipad.”
“Thanks,” Lillith says, her smile going toothy with pride. “I wanted to make sure it looked good.”
“Holy shit,” I say, slipping it onto my thumb. It’s perfect. Beveled in way that makes it unobstructive. It fits like a glove and looks sick as hell against the blackout I have on my right arm. “I love it, Lillith. Thank you.”
I pull her tighter against my side and kiss her temple, slow and lingering.
Then a honk sounds from outside.
“No,” she whimpers plaintively.
“I know,” I say, wrapping both arms around her and kissing her all over. “Come downstairs and say ‘hi’ to the guys. It’ll buy us some time, and I want them to see your shop.”
“Mnnn—but I hate pants,” she groans.
“Then don’t wear any,” I tell her. “Your sweater’s long enough to cover your ass.”
“Fine,” she says. “Am I a mess?”
I look at her, take a moment to adjust her vamp bangs and brush my fingers through her hair. Then I take her face in both hands and plant a kiss right on her lips.
“Nope, perfect,” I say.
“Agreed!” Wren supplies.
We head down the stairs together and I open the door to the apothecary and wave the guys in. I see them talk between each other for a few moments. Satoshi’s bitching; I can tell by the stupid face he makes and the way his shoulders hike toward his ears.
Then Wren comes to stand next to me in the doorway and I see his brain go offline for a solid ten seconds before he just opens the sliding door of the van and gets out.
“Tosh? What the fuck?” Fletch barks after him in that perfect Irish way.
“Ahhh,” Oren says knowingly from the front seat. “Our stowaway is here.”
One by one, they all trickle out of the van and spill into Lillith’s shop. She’s taken up her spot on her stool behind the counter, tugging on the ends of her hair with an awkward smile.
“Sorry I look like a thumb,” she mutters as I shut the front door. “Welcome to the Odd Bird Apothecary!”
“You could never look like a thumb,” Oren says, going right up to the counter and leaning all six foot four inches forward on his elbows. “Where have you been, anyway? I keep telling Damien to bring you to the studio while we’re recording. I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me.”
Flirtatious prick. I roll my eyes. “I told you, she has a shop to run,” I say. “Stop flirting with my girlfriend.”
“Oh, come on, you can share a bit,” Oren says without even breaking his eyes from her. “I’m just talking.”
I glance at Lillith and see her cheekbones burning scarlet. She must be thinking about that time I told her that Oren and I like to share. She worries her lower lip with her teeth. Yep—definitely thinking about it.
Could be a nice birthday gift, I guess.
“Lillith, baby, if you get uncomfortable, just tell him to fuck off, alright?” I say.
“Yes, and I promise I will fuck off when you tell me to,” he says. “So, I’m wondering if you could send me off with a book recommendation for the drive?”
“Oh, sure! What are you thinking you’d like to read about?”
“Got anything hard to find about the Tarot?”
“Have you read The Qabalistic Tarot? By Robert Wang? Great hermeticist, and the book has a ton of info on the Qabalistic correspondences within the Tarot. It’s a little dense—sort of academic, for lack of a better word—”
“Sounds perfect,” he says. “Take me to it?”
“Oh, sure,” she says—well stammers, really.
It’s cute seeing her flustered by Oren, watching her look at me for approval.
I nod just enough for her to see, and she slides off her stool to come around the counter, her milky thighs on full display as she passes Oren and heads toward the bookshelves at the back of the store.
Oren brazenly lets his eyes drift up and down her bare legs before looking at me and mouthing oh my god.
“Yeah, I know,” I say. “Go get your book, you degenerate.”
He flips me the bird and I look over at Fletcher as Oren vanishes with Lillith. The ginger looks faintly crestfallen and I hook my arm around his neck, pulling him in and messing up his hair.
“You alright?” I ask him.
“Fine,” he says, sullenly.
“Uh huh,” I say. “You know, you could just tell him.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he chuffs.
Roxie and Wren are chatting animatedly about their respective yellow sundresses while Satoshi glares flirtatiously at Wren from behind the curtain of his stupid bangs.
Wren doesn’t register it or has no interest in him, which is the best thing that’s happened today, honestly.
I can’t wait to watch Satoshi fuck himself over and over again with a woman he’s interested in.
Yeah, it’s going to be a good trip. Would have been great if Lillith could have come, too, but I’ll settle for good.
And who knows, maybe we’ll come back with some solutions for that whole thing.
I glance down at the ring on my thumb and smile at it, twisting it around my finger.
Lillith... Man, she’s doing everything she can to keep me safe and happy, keep me protected.
I see it reflected in her exhaustion, in her hesitance to see me leave, in the kindness she shows my bandmates.
I feel impossibly lucky to have her, and so damned frustrated that I have to spend any time away from her, ever.
I hope we can find her mother, and I hope that woman has answers for us.