Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) (30 page)

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Iris said, biting her lip but not hiding her shock. 

Expecting it? Lilliah wouldn’t have guessed that if she had been given one thousand chances. 

“You’re so different.” Lilliah already had so many questions she needed to ask, either Benedict or Caleb, she didn’t care.

“That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.” Caleb smiled, his eyes still closed.

“How can you not like Benedict? He’s the nicest guy?” Iris let go of Caleb’s hand to scratch her nose.

His eyes shot open. “No. Keep contact.”

Iris jumped and grabbed his hand once again. “Sorry. I didn’t know that was one of the rules.”

Once again they fell into silence.

“Are you going to talk about it at all?” Lilliah pried after what she felt was a comfortable amount of time.

Caleb huffed. “If I tell you, will you stop asking questions? Will you leave it?”

Iris nodded immediately, but Lilliah narrowed her eyes.

“What if I have more questions?”

“Then you go and ask Benedict.” Caleb jerked his head in the direction of the other room.

Lilliah could handle asking Benedict, so she nodded once.

“Good. A few years ago we had an argument in the family. A lot of bad stuff went down; people turned on each other and the family was torn apart. Benedict left us. He went off with his precious Azrael, and left us to pick up the pieces.” Bitterness hung on every word Caleb said. These wounds clearly still ran deep.

Lilliah clamped her mouth shut, but Iris opened hers to speak. Caleb cut her off.

“At one point I begged him not to go. Our eldest brother, Elton, had flipped. He turned to dark magic, and in our family, one of the eldest magical families there are, you don’t do that. Grandfather cast him out. Mother didn’t even look at him. I understand why they did that; what Elton was doing was wrong. But everyone just turned their backs on him. He was our brother. There was a fight back at our house. Elton had come back, demanding a share in the family business, demanding to be the head of the family.” Caleb cut off and looked away, his tongue darting out and wetting his lips.

Lilliah hadn’t expected this, any of it. But she could tell Caleb needed to get this off his chest, so she stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

He turned back to them both. “Grandfather tried to banish him again. Well, Elton, he killed Grandfather. But it wasn’t cold murder. Grandfather was attacking him; it was self-defence.”

Lilliah eyed Iris and saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

“Benedict didn’t see it that way. They fought and Elton got away. The next thing I knew, Azrael was turning up at our door with a message for Benedict. He’d killed Elton. He’d killed my brother, but it was like I was the only one mourning.” He shook his head, no longer really even talking to Lilliah or Iris anymore. Caleb was reliving his memory.

“Benedict left with him that night. He left with Azrael. The man who had killed his eldest brother, his flesh and blood. The family split. No one wanted to live in the house anymore, not after Grandfather had been killed in the living room. In her grief, Mother sealed the house so none of us could enter, even if we wanted to. She died a year ago, so the seal broke. Benedict didn’t come back—not for her funeral, not for years. And so I became the Keeper. I look after every magical artefact there is in this world. But I don’t participate in the magical one. I can’t be a part of a world where loyalty means nothing.”

And that would explain the abandoned house, Lilliah realised as things slowly started to make sense. Not everything, though; she still had more questions.

“But why is Benedict” Iris started to ask when her whole body jolted, as if a current had passed through her hand and into Lilliah’s body. She flinched and twitched. Caleb beside her was doing the same thing.

Before Lilliah knew what was happening, she was back at The Cure, in the cave where Ada Washington had tried to kill her not three months ago. Iris and Caleb were no longer with her. Lilliah took one step forward, then halted. Lucifer was here. She could see him, but he didn’t look at her.

“Hello?” she whispered.

Lucifer was staring down at a puddle of blood as it slowly dripped into the carving on the floor. Lilliah shuddered at the sight of the liquid. She knew how many people had died in that cave. She knew whose blood lay under Lucifer’s feet; some of it had been her own and her mother’s. Blood that, unknown to her, had completed the ritual. At a time when they thought they had won, Lucifer had been back.

Lucifer lifted his head, inhaling deeply. Kneeling down, he ran his fingers through the red liquid. "I can almost smell you, Michael, through her blood." He rubbed it in between his fingers. "I have been locked away for centuries. Now, I'm coming for you."

As quick as it had started, it ended. Lilliah opened her eyes and was back in the apartment. Iris had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she looked happy. Caleb looked shocked. Lilliah guessed they had all seen different things.

“Well, I think my spell worked.” Caleb chuckled. 

Chapter 25

A day later, Benedict called Lilliah into his room, a makeshift office. His laptop sat on his bed; papers were filed out over the made sheets.

“Don’t you sleep?” Lilliah folded her arms and tried to read one of the pieces of paper. She hadn’t seen Benedict in at least twenty-four hours. He’d been locked in his room, examining the spell from every direction, or so he had told her. But now it was time; people were getting ready to leave, and Benedict had called her in to go over the finer details.

“I can sleep when it’s over,” Benedict chirped while moving some papers off a chair so Lilliah could sit down. She declined.

“I spoke to Caleb yesterday.” Lilliah nervously moved from one foot to the other. Benedict was moving around, his head bent while he read some notes.

“Oh, yes? What did he say?”

Lilliah wanted to ask him so many questions. Caleb had shown her a glimpse of their past, but she knew there was more; so much of it just didn’t make any sense. But seeing Benedict now, so in the zone and focused, she couldn’t ask him now. Like he said, she could ask him after. So instead, she told only half the truth. “We practised magic together, and Iris had a vision.”

Benedict’s head shot up so fast, Lilliah was sure he had hurt his neck.

“What happened? What did she see?” he pressed, the papers in his hand forgotten.

“It was pretty cool, actually. She saw her parents leaving her at the church.” Saying it out loud didn’t sound cool; it sounded more like a nightmare. Iris had been hysterical at first, but in a happy way. Or that was how she described it, anyway. She had seen her parents leaving her at the church.

“It wasn’t like I imagined,” Iris had told her through sobs. “They loved me. They thought they were in danger, that something was after them. They left me to save me.”

The entire night, Iris hadn’t stopped smiling.

“I feel wanted—they loved me. I know they would have come back for me too,” she had told Lilliah so many times she had lost count.

“That’s amazing. The fact that she’s seeing more than just angels shows her powers are growing.” Benedict looked pleased and a little relieved.

“And I saw Lucifer.” His eyes widened with complete terror, so Lilliah rushed the end. “But he didn’t see me. It was another vision. It was after Ada attacked me at The Cure, that was when he came back. The spell had worked.”

Benedict seemed to process the new information.

“Caleb had one too, but he wouldn’t say what his was.”

Lilliah wasn’t sure Benedict had even heard the last part.

“He’s been back for a while,” he finally noted.

Lilliah nodded. She had spent the night with that very thought spinning around her head. Had Lucifer been following her? All those times when she had thought her dreams had been nightmares, they had been real. He had really been there.

“But at least now we know.”

“So the spell today …” Lilliah hedged, trying to get back on track.

“Oh, yes.” Benedict snapped out of his thoughts and walked towards her. “The spell. I have prepared everything. All I will need from you is your blood.”

She lifted her arm and traced her finger over her veins, feeling her pulse. “How much do you need?”

To her, the blood running through her veins was ordinary; always had been and always would be. But to everyone in the magical world it meant something. They thought it would either bring back their ancestors, prolong their life, or even open Heaven’s gates. They always wanted something from it. Now it seemed it was Lilliah’s turn.

“Just a few drops. We’ll cut your hand, pour a few drops into The Grail. Then that’s all you need to worry about. Don’t worry, it’ll heal quickly.” Benedict had put on his black trench coat, and was now waiting for Lilliah at his door.

She walked out mutely.
One more spell, and then everything is going to change
, she silently chanted to herself as they walked into the living room. Everyone was standing around waiting, the air thick with tension. This spell was huge; not only for them, but everyone. It could change everything for them. Beings just as powerful as angels would roam the earth again. And they’d have their army.

Benedict scanned the room, looking everyone up and down then nodding them off one by one. They looked the part dressed in black. Rebecca’s hair was pulled back in a high ponytail; she looked ready to kick ass. Lilliah hadn’t come quite as prepared. Her hair hung loose, but she wore black like the others, not wanting to be out of place in blue denim.

“We’ll need to go in two cars. Lilliah, Iris, and Rebecca, come with me. Sebastian and Caleb will drive behind us.”

Lilliah didn’t move. She waited for the others to agree and then watched Benedict lead the way out the room.

“Ready for this, Lil?” Sebastian winked at her, grinning the boyish smile that only her brother could pull off.

“Hell yeah, I am.” Lilliah followed Sebastian’s lead to the two awaiting cars outside. Tonight, everything would change.

Lilliah looked out of her window. Never in a million years would she have guessed Benedict would have chosen this place. Maybe that was the beauty in it; she’d bet that no one would have guessed this place. Not even after they had been driving for an hour had she guessed this was their destination.

Rebecca stuck her head out in between Lilliah and Benedict. “Azrael’s house? Are you crazy?”

Benedict ignored her and carried on driving up the driveway. The house was covered in darkness. Lilliah hadn't been back there in months, not since half of it had burnt down, which possibly could have been partly her fault. Azrael hadn’t minded; he had just been glad she was safe and alive. He had told her he’d get builders in and it would be like it had never happened. He owned other houses, of course, from the flat in London to a house in France that Lilliah was dying to go to. She’d seen pictures of his houses in Dubai, and his apartment in New York was magical. But this was where Lilliah thought Azrael belonged; surrounded by fresh air and his paintings. This mansion had been where Azrael had called home.

Looking at the house now, she saw that the new construction had stopped a while ago. The place looked derelict, even worse than she remembered. The car pulled to a stop and she got out, breathing in that crisp country air. The house, or mansion, was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields for miles and miles. No one could ever just stumble across Azrael’s house. You had to know where you were going.

“Won’t he know we’re here?” Rebecca demanded, getting out of the back seat of the car, Iris quickly following.

“No one has been here in months—not Azrael or Lucifer. Everyone else is scared to even breathe near this place. We’re safe here.” Benedict reached into the car and pulled out a box. The Grail, Lilliah guessed. “Come on, we need to set up the spell.”

Lilliah, Rebecca, and Iris followed Benedict as he walked around the house. The once-immaculate gardens were now overgrown, yet despite that, and even in the darkness, they still looked beautiful. Lilliah reached out to grab a flower as they walked. She had always wondered who took care of the gardens. In the short time she had spent in the house she had never seen a gardener, and she highly doubted Azrael had done it himself. She lifted the flower to her nose and breathed in, making a mental note to ask Azrael.

Benedict carried on walking around the house, heading for the back gardens. They rounded another corner and were met with the light and warmth of a bonfire. Lilliah squinted in the sudden light. She could barely make out four figures that were split off in twos. She could make a guess to say they were the werewolves and vampires.