Chapter 10 ~
Luc ~
I'm such a jackass. I cannot believe I yelled at my Butterfly like that.
The way her eyes immediately left mine, pain instantly emerging in them makes me feel sick. The way she sat there until Alec pulled her out of it…fuck.
I am a complete dumbass.
Dominic doesn't bother knocking as he barges his way in. The others follow with Alec shutting the door behind him.
Here we go. Intervention time.
"You don't have to tell me. I already know," I tell them from my desk chair, turning to face them.
"We'll come back to that," Maverick snaps. "You're going to tell her about you before you ruin this."
"What?" I turn to Jace. I give him an incredulous look. There's no way he's okay with it.
"They're right, Luc. She needs to know what she's in for." Jace crosses his arms.
"I'm confused." I drop the pencil I'd been fiddling with on my desk. "You agreed she wasn't ready." I argue with Jace.
"That was before you snapped at her for no fucking reason, Lucifer." Jace scowls.
I immediately bristle at the use of my full name.
“Look,” Jace exhales, deeply, ”I didn’t want to tell her yet because I thought she’d need time to deal with all the changes in her life before we added onto it.”
“You mean you being here?” I interrupt. I immediately regret my words.
Jace’s stern look and tenseness deflates. “Yeah. I wanted her to process me being back in her life before we added onto her plate,” Jace snaps.
"If,” Alec gets between us, ever the mediator, “if she's going to be here, she needs to know she could be in danger."
"If somebody comes looking for you…" Mason lets the threat dangle. That alone is enough to make my stomach churn. I cannot put Rory at risk.
"I know." I stare out my bedroom window. I turn my gaze to the group.
"I'll tell her."
. . .
Rory ~
There's a hesitant knock on my door.
I’ve been reading—more so hiding—for a while now.
Despite my love of this series, I’m having trouble disappearing into the characters and storyline like I normally would. I’m good at leaving the ordinary world behind for an extraordinary one but today? My brain just isn’t having it.
I bite my lip before responding. "Come in."
I lower my book to my lap as the door handle turns and Luc walks in.
"Hey, Butterfly," he murmurs awkwardly from the door.
"Hi," I whisper. My eyes flick down to my book, feeling uncomfortable.
I hear Luc sigh before my bed dips. He sits beside me, his back against the bedhead.
"Rory, I'm sorry." I can see the pain in his eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."
"It's okay," I tell him quietly.
"I'd like to tell you why." Luc swallows, looking like he's about to be sick.
"You don't have to, Luci." I put my bookmark in and move my book to the bedside table. I watch as struggle wars inside his head.
"I want to." Luc exhales deeply. "The guys wanted me to tell you yesterday but I was afraid of your reaction."
I don't say anything, just put my hand over his in the space between us. He smiles shakily.
"When my mum met my dad, it was a classic bad boy meets good girl situation.
They met in high school and were married soon after.
A few years later, they had me. Mum was convinced she could change his way of life.
That she could force him to settle down so they could be a real family.
The first few years of my life she kept me away from everything, didn't want me brought into it but once she was in, that was it.
My father's not a good person, Butterfly.
He was charming and charismatic, at first. That's how he sucked her in.
She tried not to get involved. But that lifestyle… it's addictive."
Luc stares at our hands like he can see everything. Torment swims in his green seas.
"What lifestyle?" I ask softly.
He sighs and meets my eyes. His beg me to understand.
He swallows before sighing. "My father is Knox Cross. Most people know him as Hades."
My eyes widen. "The president of the Death Reapers?" Shit.
I’ve heard Drake talk about the son of Hades. Never a name though. Hades’ son has a reputation. Some of it is good. Most of it’s bad.
I should be sprinting for my life knowing this. But him being Luci…after knowing Dec knew him…I don’t move.
"Yeah," he scoffs and I focus on every word.
"She thought she could change him and when she figured out she couldn't, well, she changed for him.
She started using drugs, drinking all the time, cheating on him.
I'd only met my grandmother a few times over the years when Mum came to visit.
Every time, she would ask Mum to let me stay with her.
She knew my father was a bad man and she wanted to help me but I couldn't leave Mum. "
Luc absentmindedly rubs his thumb over the top of my hand. He takes a shaky breath, struggling to continue and I grip his hand.
"There was no hope for me once Mum had given up. I was trained to become his second in command. I didn't want to," he begs me to believe. "Between my grandmother and a few other people, plus the guys, I knew what my father did wasn’t right. But there was always…punishments for refusing."
I slide closer to him, curling a hand around his arm. I see him try to fight being pulled under by the memories he's facing telling me this.
"By the time I was ten, I was doing drops for him. At twelve, I was paying people visits when they didn't pay up. People call me The Slayer," he tells me.
"As if the name Lucifer isn't scary enough," I murmur and managing to pull a smile out of him but it soon fades.
"I was a ruthless killer by fifteen. But I never fell in love with the game like he did. I never did innocents. He said it made me weak—tried to train it out of me. I learnt everything. I knew how far to go until someone breaks. How far I can pull an arm back until it snaps. How long a person lives when he’s found out they’ve betrayed him. He had me do everything for him."
Luc goes silent and I tentatively ask him, "How did you meet the guys?"
"School, if you can believe it. Some of the other kids knew who I was, I’d paid visits to their fathers and soon enough, the knowledge that I was the son of a Death Reaper spread pretty quick.
As for the guys…it was the twins. They latched onto me and wouldn't fuck off.
And trust me, I tried. Being around me is a death sentence but once they get attached…
they never leave." Luc chuckles and I smile.
Of course it was the twins. "They knew my father was a Death Reaper but I didn't tell them I was The Slayer until I was maybe thirteen or fourteen?” Luc shrugs.
“They put me in a corner and made me confess.
The fuckers already knew. They had Alec look into me years ago so they already knew everything.
Six months ago, the ACIC approached me. They enlisted my help in bringing my father and the club down.
If I refused, they'd make sure I went to jail too. "
"How can they do that?" I ask him, shocked.
"I'm eighteen, Butterfly. I've done a lot of bad things—they'd be pretty happy to take me out." Luc smiles sadly.
I just shake my head.
"Anyway, the raid was about a month ago. I told you I got injured," Luc reminds me and I nod. "Yeah, well, during the raid, one of my father's men shot me in the leg." My eyes widen and my mouth drops as my gaze drops to his leg. The one he’s been limping around on and climbing trees with.
Luc chuckles at my expression.
"It's fine, Butterfly,” he assures me. “He's got shitty aim—he was trying to kill me. Saw me as a threat or something like that.”
He waves it off like it’s nothing. “Anyway, my father must still have a few friends in the department because the files and evidence keep disappearing.
They're de-digitalizing the whole thing so it's harder for them to try and get the case thrown out.
The court trial is in a few weeks. Until then, he's out and he'll be looking for the snitch. "
Luc exhales deeply like he's resigned to the fact that his father could come for him. He studies our hands as we sit in silence.
"So he doesn't know it was you?" I ask.
Luc shakes his head. "They kept my name off all the paperwork so my involvement was all hush hush. Didn't want their star witness to mysteriously die before the trial." Luc says darkly.
"How does Rylan fit into this?" Luc's brother pops into my head.
Luc chuckles. "Turns out, I had an older brother my parents never told me about who ran away when he was younger. He's a detective but when the ACIC authorised a raid, he jumped on the case to get me immunity and out of the game."
"Good on you, Rylan." I smile, remembering our conversation from last night.
"Yeah," Luc sighs, agreeing with me. "Grandma's living at his place while we’re here. Until we move to our own place." Luc smiles softly to himself, thinking about it.
I hesitate before asking, "What happened to your mum?"
Luc looks up at me, pain swirling in his bright green eyes. "The ACIC said if I co-operated I could keep any money I'd made from working for dear old dad so I sent her to a rehab facility. I don't know if she'll stay there."
Luc leans his head back against the bedhead. He looks exhausted. He looked weary before but after all this, he looks ready to drop.
“Are you sleeping?” I ask him, worried.
“Not really.” He shrugs, like it doesn’t bother him.
"Lay down, Luci," I murmur and he obliges. His eyes drooping instantly. He fights, blinking and never letting his eyes close—trying to stay awake.
“You need to sleep,” I tell him softly from where I’m laying beside him.
He turns his head to face me and the fear in his eyes has me grabbing a fistful of the doona to keep from reaching for him.
“I keep dreaming,” Luc says, quietly. His bright green eyes are like oceans of pain and fear.