Lilliah had no idea who this guy was, but Azrael trusted him, so he must at least be worth a shot.
“Wait. That’s it?” Rebecca called out. “Haven’t these people been in hiding for like, ever? I mean, don’t get me wrong; what happened up there”—she pointed back up the hill—“was mind-blowingly cool. But it didn’t seem that difficult for you. How well were they hidden?”
“Only I could do the spell.” Benedict finally stopped walking and turned to face them. “My grandfather created the spell, so only I could break it.”
Rebecca gave out a little laugh. “You, Benedict, are full of secrets. And you’re the bomb.”
“Thank you.”
Lilliah found that Benedict had a certain look he reserved only for her and Rebecca. It was a mix between amusement and laughter and a little bit of disbelief.
“I need to make a stop at The Cure. Call your brother and make sure your mother is safe. We’ve set up a fake competition. She thinks she’s won a three-week holiday to the Maldives.”
Lilliah was impressed. “How did you do that?”
He winked at her. “I have my ways. I’ll be back soon. Call whoever you need to call. I’ll talk to your brother and give him the details. Just don’t leave this place, okay?”
He waited for Lilliah and Rebecca to agree before leaving.
The first thing Lilliah did was call her brother.
“It’s kind of strange. I fell asleep and so did Mum. We woke up about half an hour later and that was it. I woke up really thirsty, though,” Sebastian said, explaining the effects of the spell.
Thankfully, it had gone just as smoothly for them. Lilliah didn’t tell him about her dream/memory of Azrael. He’d ask too many questions, and she didn’t want to go through it all again.
“Dry mouth, huh?” She looked over at Rebecca, who looked smug. “Rebecca brought some water just in case that happened to us.”
“My girlfriend’s a smart girl.” She heard Sebastian take a sip of his drink. “So what now? Benedict said I’m coming to meet you, but he didn’t say where we were going.”
“Vegas.”
Sebastian laughed. “This is the kind of mission I can get on board with.”
Lilliah could almost imagine her brother fist pumping the air. Vegas was every boy’s dream. The only problem was that the legal age to gamble and drink in America was twenty-one, not eighteen like it was back home, and she took great pride in telling him this.
“Lil, I’m a demon. If I want to, I can get into a casino.”
She really doubted it, but didn’t comment. “So when’s your flight?”
“In a few days.”
Lilliah’s face scrunched up. “Why not sooner?”
“Benedict said he wanted me to leave after Mum and Tom left.” She heard muffled sounds and imagined him walking around his room.
“Oh yes, the holiday. Have you met him yet?”
“Nope.” Sebastian popped the p. “But she’s crazy excited about this trip. I’m telling you, it’s pure genius to send her away.”
With her mother safe from Lucifer, it was the other part that had her worried: the questions. If she hadn’t turned up for a few weeks, her mother would have demanded answers, so sending her away was the perfect solution.
“She deserves a break.” Lilliah leaned against the wall of Benedict’s old house and peered through the dusty windows. She wanted to go inside and look around.
“Do you want to speak to Mum? She’s downstairs.”
“Yes, please.” She heard her brother walking down the stairs. “Seb? So we’ll see you in a few days at the airport in Vegas, but I won’t be able to talk to you on this phone from now on.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been told. I’ll talk to Benedict about the details. Here’s Mum.” Clearly, Sebastian couldn’t talk with their mum around.
“Lilliah?” Her mother’s overly excited voice rang through the phone’s speaker. “Did Seb tell you? I won a holiday!”
“I know.” Lilliah laughed. “He told me everything. Pretty amazing.”
“They sent over a package and the hotel looks fabulous. We’ll be staying in a beachfront suite. Oh, you should see it!” her mother gushed.
Lilliah smiled. “It sounds beautiful. I can’t believe you won it.”
“Me neither!” She was practically squealing. “Tom’s excited too. He’s gone off to pack.”
“A romantic getaway. You deserve this, Mum. You really do.”
“I’m not sure about deserving it, but I definitely want it.” She snickered. “But what’s wrong, baby? You don’t sound too great.”
“No, I’m perfect.” Lilliah made an effort to sound happier, though even to her it sounded false.
“Right.” Her mother knew her too well. “Did you and Azrael have a falling out?”
“Something like that.” Lilliah stood straight, wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible before she caved and told her mum everything.
“You’ll make up soon. Sebastian said he took you to Rome? Your dad and I went to Rome once.”
This was news to her. “You did?”
“Oh yeah. Just before I got pregnant with you, actually.”
“Mum, do—do you ever miss Dad?” She wasn’t sure what had made her ask the question. Her mother had sounded excited and she didn’t want to put a damper on her mood.
“All the time, baby.” Her mother sounded just as cheerful. “I even talk to him, you know. I bet it sounds crazy, but I pretend he can hear me.”
“I bet he can hear you, Mum.”
“Yeah, I know he can. He wants me to be happy. He wants us all to be happy. Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious. I’ll tell you all about Rome when I get back. We’ll have dinner if you want. We could meet Tom?” Lilliah tried not to laugh at her mother’s sharp intake of breath.
“That would be amazing, baby girl.” She sounded on the verge of tears.
“Please don’t cry.” Lilliah ran her hand through her hair. “I have to go. Have a great trip. I love you lots. Take lots of pictures. I want to see everything.”
“Okay, sweetie. Things are looking up. I can feel it.” She sounded so relaxed and happy. Of course she had no idea what her children were a part of. She had no idea of the danger they were facing.
After saying their goodbyes, they disconnected.
Rebecca rounded the corner, slightly out of breath. “I found a way into the house.”
“Do you think Benedict would want us to go in there?” Lilliah asked, acting like the reasonable one even though she wanted to go in so badly.
“Did he say not to go into the house?” Rebecca folded her arms and arched her eyebrow. “Nope. Didn’t think so.”
Giving in, Lilliah followed her around the corner, to where a window had been broken.
She pointed to the shattered glass. “Please tell me you didn’t do this.”
“As if I would break a window.” Rebecca was already climbing up. “Glass is messy. I’d have gone for a door or something.”
Lilliah followed her lead, hoisting herself up.
“Be careful of the glass.” Rebecca was already safely inside the house. She held out her hand for Lilliah.
“Wow,” Lilliah breathed once her feet hit the ground. They were in the kitchen, or what had once been the kitchen. A thick layer of dust and dirt covered everything, but apart from that, the room looked pretty normal. A bowl and spoon had been left out, as though at any minute someone might walk in for breakfast.
“Dude, this is so haunted.” Rebecca grabbed Lilliah’s arm. “Come on, let’s explore.”
She had thought the kitchen was big until they entered the living room, which made the kitchen look like an outhouse. No white sheets had been laid over any of the furniture to protect it.
“This is so strange.” Lilliah walked over to a chair and patted it. Dust billowed out and she coughed. “Why would anyone leave a house like this? With everything still in it?”
; “I told you, it’s haunted.” From the other side of the room, Rebecca held up a picture. “Come and have a look at this. I think I found Baby Benedict.”
“Benedict’s a warlock. I doubt a ghost would scare him.” She took the picture frame from Rebecca and wiped it down with her sleeve. The photo was of a family portrait. An older gentleman sat in the middle, two small children sat on the floor, a woman stood with a small child in her arms, and a younger man stood next to her. Everyone was smiling. The photo looked completely ordinary.
“Which one do you think is Benedict?”
Rebecca leaned in to look. She pointed to the older child on the floor. “I think that’s him.”
“Yeah, me too.” Lilliah ran her finger over the image. The younger child had much lighter hair. “Do you think these are his brothers and sisters?”
“Maybe. Who else would they be?”
Rebecca turned and headed for another room. Lilliah took one last look at the picture before following her.
The next room was a dining room. A huge table sat in the middle, set as though awaiting dinner. A vase of dead flowers decorated the space.
“So are you going to ask Benedict about this, or am I?” Rebecca asked as they climbed the stairs.
Lilliah shook her head vigorously. “Nope. We’re going to have a quick look around and then leave. Benedict will flip if he finds out we’ve been in here.”
They opened the first door and scanned the room—a large, very nice bathroom that offered little to see. The next room was a bedroom. A woman’s dress had been laid on the bed.
“Trust me. Anyone who leaves a house like this doesn’t want people poking around.”
“Then why are you up here?”
Lilliah and Rebecca spun around. Benedict was standing in the doorway, not looking the least bit happy.
“We just …” The words died in her throat. She had no excuse; she was just being nosey.
“We were being nosey bitches,” Rebecca said, voicing what Lilliah had been thinking. “Sorry.”
Shaking his head, Benedict stepped back, giving them enough room to leave. “Come on.”
They walked out of the room like schoolchildren heading for detention. The fact that Benedict didn’t even say anything made her guilt worse.
“We really are sorry,” Lilliah tried again once they were all outside.
“It’s fine.” His harsh tone screamed that everything wasn’t fine. He was pissed.
“I’ve got a car waiting for you.” He handed Lilliah an old phone. “Use this once and then get rid of it. Either buy a new one or call me on a different phone. Be creative.”
Lilliah took the phone and then handed her phone over.
“This should be enough to get you by.” He handed Rebecca an envelope. “I’ll tell Sebastian to bring more when you meet up. Don’t use your cards, okay?”
Lilliah and Rebecca followed him to a used red Toyota Corolla that was a little beaten up, but it blended in, which was the whole point.
“Here is the map. You’re looking for a girl called Iris Walker. She’s around nineteen years old. Ask her as much as you can. Does she know about Azrael? Have the angels said anything? Do the angels know what Lucifer is up to?”
“What Lucifer has done to Azrael? Yeah, I get it.” Lilliah took the map. “You sure you can’t come with us?”
Benedict shook his head. He was still wearing his blue baseball cap. “I need to stay here.”
“Yeah, the place would go up in flames if you left.” Only part of her statement was her sucking up. The other part was the truth.
His small smile told Lilliah that he saw straight through her. He laughed a little and she took it as a sign that he had forgiven them.
“Go and find Iris. Ask her everything and then come back. Sebastian will meet you at the airport in Las Vegas in four days. He’s scheduled to arrive at three o’clock in the afternoon.”
Lilliah took a mental note.
“Keep your heads down, remember what I said, and I’ll see you soon.”
Lilliah reached up and hugged him tightly. He tensed for a second, then relaxed and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’ll see you soon,” she whispered and pulled away. “And thank you. Thank you so much for helping me.”
“You and Azrael are family. I’ll always be there to help you.”
“And Rebecca’s family too.” Rebecca had put on a deep voice, mimicking Benedict’s. “Oh, gosh.” She laughed. “Benny, I didn’t know you felt that way.”
Shaking his head in amusement, he leaned in and gave Rebecca a quick hug.
“Never call me Benny again,” he said, breaking the embrace, though he looked amused. “Stay together and stay safe.”
Chapter 11
They had been driving for nearly four days and Lilliah had had enough of it. “We must be coming up to it now.”
She sat forward, still gripping the steering wheel. Her eyes were tired and all the streets were blurring together. She hated road trips. They weren’t like in the movies. They were long and boring. She had mentally crossed out truck driver as a possible career path over what felt like a hundred miles ago. They had only stopped at night, staying in whatever motel they could find. The beds had all been too hard to get a real night’s sleep. She’d had no idea that Las Vegas was so far from New York. If she’d driven for four days in England, she’d be in a completely different country.
“Yeah, I think so.” Rebecca squinted at the map on her lap, stifling a yawn. “Honestly, I have no idea where we are.”
“What?” Lilliah wasn’t in the mood for getting lost. “How can you not know where we are?”
“Because it’s a map!” Rebecca held it in the air and scrunched it. “It’s a goddamn paper, old-school map! No one ever taught me how to use this!”
“You’ve been reading it for days! Days! How?” Lilliah pulled over and turned in her seat.
“I’ve been winging it!” Rebecca also turned. “I mean I could tell the general direction that we needed to go in. I just kind of read the road signs.” She was no longer yelling, but she also didn’t look happy. “It’s not my fault there isn’t a spell to magically transport us there!” She huffed.
Lilliah didn’t say anything for a beat and turned to stare out of the windscreen again.
“Road trips suck,” she finally said, resting her forehead against the steering wheel.
“Totally.” Rebecca kicked the dashboard. “I’m sick of this car. I’m sick of these uncomfortable seats. I think I’m getting cabin fever.”
Lilliah laughed at her friend’s wide eyes and wild hair. “Same. You know what I’ve been thinking about?” She looked over at Rebecca while keeping her head resting on the wheel. “In the entire Cure, not one person had a satnav.”
Rebecca nodded vigorously. “The thought occurred to me a day ago.” She rubbed her eyes and tried to smooth her crazy hair. “Magic isn’t really that great, is it?”
Lilliah pondered that thought for a second, so Rebecca continued. “Can you name one spell that ever really helped us? I can’t think of one single spell. I think it’s all just a load of crap.”
Lilliah snorted. “That’s true. I wouldn’t want to be a witch.”
She pulled the car into gear and drove off without a single idea of where they were heading.
“Hell, no. If I could be anything, I’d be a demon.”
Lilliah leaned forward, debating whether to turn left or right. “That’s just because of Seb. Would you still want to be a demon if he wasn’t one?”
She indicated left.
Rebecca rested her head back on the seat. “No idea. I just know that right now, I’d want to be a demon. I spoke to Azrael about it once and he said demons age differently, just like angels. I like the thought of that, us aging at the same rate.”
Lilliah’s body stiffened at his name. “You spoke to Azrael? When?”
She didn’t really care about the conversation they’d had. She just wanted to tal
k about him.
“A while ago now.” Rebecca bit her lip. “He told me demons don’t live on earth, but he thinks they age just like vampires and werewolves. He thinks now that Seb knows about his past and his powers, he’ll start to age slowly as well.”
This was news to Lilliah. She and Azrael had had a few conversations about aging, but nothing like that. She’d wanted to know whether she’d age or change, but Azrael had just brushed it off.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he’d told her before pulling her to him and kissing her hard, effectively making her forget everything, including how to breathe. She hadn’t brought it up again and had kind of forgotten about the whole conversation.
“How did you even start talking about that?” Lilliah was confused.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Rebecca looked thoughtful for a moment. “You were around, just not standing right next to us.” She looked at Lilliah, her eyebrows drawn together and an amused glint in her eyes. “Why, are you jealous?”
“What? I’m not jealous!” Her voice was a lot higher than normal, so she coughed. “I just wanted to know.”
Rebecca shook her head, clearly amused. “If you say so.”
They sat in silence as Lilliah processed exactly what she was feeling. If she were being honest with herself, she was a little jealous. She didn’t know why. Azrael could, and did, talk to anyone he wanted to. Plus, Rebecca was her best friend, someone she trusted more than anyone. It didn’t make any sense, but there it was, the green-eyed monster. Of course she wouldn’t admit it out loud. She felt stupid just thinking about it.
“You remember my cousin’s party a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah?” Lilliah frowned, the sudden change in subject confusing her. “What about it?”
Rebecca’s cheeks were glowing, and Lilliah had no idea why. “I saw Seb talking to my cousin Sissy.”
Lilliah had no idea where Rebecca was going with this.
“I got so jealous that I went over to them and made this massive show of grabbing him and kissing him.” She stopped speaking, her face now bright red, but she was still smiling. “Sissy is thirteen years old.”
Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) Page 12
