“I’m so sorry we dragged you into this.” Lilliah sat on the bed next to Iris. “It was supposed to be a quick drop-by. You’d talk to the angels and we’d get some answers—that was it. Now you’re in danger and your face is on TV. It’s only a matter of time before they realise who you are. Everything’s just turned to crap.”
Iris laughed—really laughed.
Lilliah stared at her, a little bewildered. Had she knocked her head in the crash? “Are you okay?” she finally asked once Iris’s bout of laughter had died down. “Are you hurt in any way?”
She gave the girl a quick once-over, but she didn’t see any obvious damage. Sebastian stood in the far corner, looking at everything but Iris. Lilliah gave him a dirty look that said, “Thanks for the help, brother.”
“Only a matter of time before they find out who you are.” Iris wiped her tears, still laughing a little bit. “That’s what you said.”
Lilliah nodded.
“Well, yesterday I wasn’t anyone. I was just plain old Iris Walker. No family, not many friends. I don’t think Twitter friends actually count as real friends. Then today, I met an angel—the daughter of the Archangel Michael, no less—and a demon. I’ve been in a car crash caused by two werewolves, and I found out I’m a psychic.” She put her hand over her chest and beamed. “It all sounds so crazy, but it means that I’m not crazy. Does that make any sense?”
“Yeah, you’re not crazy.”
Iris was full-on beaming, and Lilliah couldn’t help but smile back. Something big had happened to Iris. Not the finding out she was a psychic, Lilliah guessed—Iris didn’t even fully understand what that meant yet. Something had changed on the inside, and she seemed more alive, almost.
Rebecca walked out of the bathroom, dressed and tying her hair back. “So what’s the plan?” she asked, and then walked around the room, picking up a few items.
“No idea,” Lilliah told her honestly. “Benedict’s doing another spell to find the Keeper. Until then, we just need to get out of Vegas.”
“The Keeper? We know what that guy actually does yet?” Sebastian asked, quickly pulling his T-shirt over his head and changing into a new one.
Lilliah heard Iris’s sharp intake of breath and Rebecca did too.
“Did you have to do that in front of everyone?” Rebecca asked.
Sebastian looked around innocently. “Why not? I don’t have boobs!”
Lilliah and Rebecca shook their heads while Iris giggled.
“I’ll be ready in two seconds,” Iris whispered, clearly a little embarrassed, and headed into the bathroom.
“Remember what we spoke about earlier?” Rebecca turned to Lilliah. “You know, that thing you can’t control and that you just feel.”
Lilliah smiled at Rebecca’s way of saying she was jealous of Iris.
“Dipshit there needs to keep his clothes on.” Rebecca motioned at him with her head.
Sebastian looked at her with a slightly irritated look on his face.
“Sorry for showing off my belly button!” He lifted his arms in the air and then dropped them. “You know, if I hadn’t changed and I was wearing the same clothes as I had on the plane, you’d say I was dirty.” He pointed to Lilliah and Rebecca. “Both of you. I just can’t win.”
He headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Rebecca called after him.
“Me and my belly button are going to have a smoke, in private, away from judging eyes,” he joked and closed the door behind him.
Lilliah was still staring at the door. “That boy just isn’t normal.”
“Tell me about it,” Rebecca said. “I like Iris, though. She’s cool.”
“Yeah, me too.” Lilliah finally stood and grabbed some of her clothes from her small bag on the floor. “I just feel bad. We waltzed into her life and messed everything up. Who does that?”
“She seems okay with it, and she’s handling it well. Even after the car accident, I was everywhere. I couldn’t think straight or see straight. Iris was just”—Rebecca snapped her fingers—“on it, you know?”
“She’s okay with it now,” Lilliah reminded her, “but things have just started. We don’t know how long this will go on for. We need to tell her how dangerous this really is. We’re dealing with Lucifer. Lucifer.”
“Yeah, I know the guy’s name.” Rebecca looked at the closed bathroom door. “Tell her everything and then let her make up her own mind.”
The door swung open and Iris stood in the doorway, eyes shooting between Lilliah and Rebecca. “I want to come.”
“Did you hear us in there?” Lilliah asked, pointing to the bathroom.
Iris nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I heard. I still want to come.”
Sebastian walked back in. “So there’s a car outside. A guy just dropped it off and then sped off in another car.” He raised his eyebrows. “It was awesome. So, where are we going?” He flew onto the bed, oblivious to the conversation that was happening.
Lilliah ignored him and kept her eyes on Iris. “I want you to really understand what that means. Lucifer’s dangerous.”
“He’s also batshit crazy,” Rebecca cut in.
Sebastian looked around the room. “I feel like I’ve missed something.”
“You kind of have to come with us now, but if you want out, I could talk to a friend. He could possibly hide you away someplace safe. Benedict could hide you again. You can still get out of this.”
Iris’s forehead creased. “No, I want to stay. My mind’s made up.”
Lilliah didn’t look convinced.
The corner of Rebecca’s lips turned up. “I told you,” she said. “The chick’s solid.”
Iris beamed.
“It’s not that I’m uninterested in this bonding experience, but I think we should head out,” Sebastian said.
“But where to?” Lilliah was the only one not ready. She darted around the room, searching for her top. She didn’t realise she’d been this messy.
“I know a place,” Iris said. “It has nothing to do with me, so it can’t really be traced or tracked. It’s totally random.”
“I’ll start loading the car,” Sebastian said, picking up a bag. He looked at Lilliah. “You need to hurry up.”
“I’ll be two minutes.” She rushed into the bathroom.
“Why do you think he keeps giving us Toyotas?” she heard her brother ask.
“I don’t know. Maybe he owns stocks in the company.”
Lilliah leaned on the doorframe, looking at the people around her. If she had to go up against the Devil, there wasn’t anyone else she’d rather have next to her than the people in this motel room.
Ten minutes later, they were on the road. Lilliah had opted to drive. Adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, and there was no way she could sleep. Rebecca and Sebastian were curled up in the back seat, both fast asleep. Iris was sitting in front, playing with the radio. They’d stopped by her house to pick up a few things. Sebastian had done a quick check around the block to make sure no one was waiting around for them. Iris’s identity was still hidden, for now.
“What kind of music do you like?” Iris asked after settling on a song.
“I like most kinds of music, from pop to rock, and a little bit of R&B. Just whatever I’m into at the moment. What about you?”
“I like rock. Hard rock music. You know, The Pretty Reckless, Metallica, Slipknot.”
Lilliah raised her eyebrows. “I wasn’t expecting that. You’re a rocker.”
“A little bit of one, yeah. I’ve never been to a concert, though. I want to go to one so badly, but I don’t have any friends, so I’d have to go by myself. I tried it once a while back and nearly had the biggest panic attack of my life. I didn’t leave my house for three days afterwards.”
Lilliah was shocked. She’d seen all the medication in Iris’s house and knew the girl thought she had issues. How many of them were real and how many had been caused by her visions?
“I don’t have t
hat many friends either,” Lilliah shared. “Just Rebecca and Jeremy, really. And Seb, of course, but I’d doubt we’d be friends if we weren’t related. We’re both very different.”
“Wish I had a brother or sister.” Everything Iris said was so sad, but she looked happy, almost giddy. “When I was younger, I used to listen to the Goo Goo Dolls all the time. I thought that maybe my mum and dad liked them and that was why they’d called me Iris.” She scrunched her face up. “It sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
“No, that doesn’t sound stupid at all. My dad used to take me to my ballet classes when I was younger. It was our thing. When he died, I stopped dancing. It just wasn’t the same. But I became a little bit of a ballet fanatic. I watched it all the time and went to see shows by myself because no one would come with me.”
Iris laughed, and Lilliah carried on. “And then I realised it bored the hell out of me. Dancing ballet was great, but watching it was a whole different thing. I was just doing it because I thought that was what my dad would do. As it turns out, he didn’t even like ballet! He just took me because he wanted to spend time with me.”
“A few years back I found out that an iris is a flower. My parents could have been huge gardeners and not into music at all!” A loud cackle of laughter that Lilliah hadn’t expected burst from her lips.
“Sleeping back here!” Sebastian moaned.
Lilliah pulled a face and they laughed quietly.
“You sure you want a brother?” Lilliah raised her eyebrows and dug into the large bag of crisps lying open between them. They’d made a quick pit stop to get snacks. Lilliah had gotten lost in translation when she’d asked where the crisp section was.
“What?” the store assistant had asked.
“We call them chips here,” Iris had informed her, dropping two large bags on the counter.
Lilliah reached for her Pepsi. “So where are we heading?”
Iris had been pointing to roads, guiding her without mentioning their final destination.
“A lady who used to work for social services went on vacation for a few weeks. She gave me her key and said that if her plane went down, I could have her vinyl collection.”
“That’s what I call being prepared.” Lilliah sat back in her seat, trying to get comfortable.
“She lives kind of far away, plus her house is in the middle of nowhere. The perfect place to hide in.”
“Or the perfect place to die in.” Lilliah tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. “A house in the middle of nowhere—it’s the setting to every horror movie.”
“Or that.”
They drove for a few more miles before Iris spoke again. “Can I ask you something?”
Lilliah nodded, wondering when Iris would ask the question. She hadn’t once brought up being a psychic or her being an angel.
“If you’re an angel and your dad’s the Archangel Michael, which dad died?”
The question wasn’t exactly what Lilliah had been expecting, but it was going in the right direction. “My dad. I’ve been reincarnated over and over again.”
“That’s so cool.” Iris breathed in, her face tight with excitement.
“Not really. I can’t remember anything. I did this spell a while back and got a glimpse. None of my past lives were pretty.”
Iris still looked excited. “So you had different parents in each life? Has Sebastian always been there too?”
“No, just this one. Lucifer placed him on Earth to kill me.”
Iris’s eyebrows shot up, her cheeks losing a hint of colour.
“I know, right? It’s all so twisted. Anyway, Seb was pulled into the spell and instead of killing me, he became my brother.”
Iris sat in silence, either processing what she had just heard or thinking of another question.
“The voices in my head, or the hallucinations—”
“The angels,” Lilliah corrected. “They’re not made up.”
“Right. Sorry. It’s kind of a habit.” She looked bashful. “The angels. They used to talk about you all the time—nothing big, just mentioning your name and stuff. Then about two months ago, things went crazy. They were mad and shouting. It was horrible. I thought it was because I’d changed my medication.”
“That was when Lucifer first started showing up. It was also when I first met Azrael.”
“They don’t like Azrael.”
Lilliah didn’t doubt it for a second. “When Lucifer and Michael were at war, Azrael fought with Lucifer.”
“So he’s a devil worshiper?” Iris grabbed a handful of sweets and shoved them into her mouth.
“No.” Lilliah reached for her Pepsi again. “Azrael always said that back then, Lucifer was fighting for free will and for angels to have the right to do what they liked when they liked. I think it was Hell that made him crazy.”
“Ironic.” Iris pointed to a sign. “Turn off here. We’re not far.”
“Okie dokie.” Lilliah followed Iris’s instructions, her eyes flicking to the rear-view mirror. Rebecca and Sebastian were snuggled against each other.
“So, what’s Azrael like? They say he’s an animal. I once heard an angel call him unpredictable yet precise.”
The question caught Lilliah off guard. She thought of how to best answer her. Azrael was so many different things. She’d be here all day if she had to list them all. Plus, which Azrael did she describe? The Azrael he was with her? Loving, caring, and funny? Or the Azrael he was with everyone else? The fighting machine that took no prisoners. The guy who could snap your neck with the flick of his wrist. The killer.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked,” Iris said, obviously mistaking Lilliah’s silence.
“It’s fine, honestly. I’m just thinking. He’s really complex.” She stared out at the empty road. “If you don’t know him, he’s scary. Like petrifying scary. But once you get to know him, he’s romantic, sweet, and really funny.”
“He sounds perfect.”
Once Lilliah started to think and talk about Azrael, she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop. “And he’s so good-looking—tall, dark, with these amazing blue eyes. They were like crystals.”
“Were like?” Iris cut in. “Why were they like crystals?”
The question was like a bucket of ice water.
“Lucifer did something to him. Made him go crazy. I don’t know what it was or what to call it, but he has red eyes now.”
She left out the part about Lucifer’s attack and how Azrael didn’t help her. She didn’t need another person looking at her with pity. She needed help getting him back.
“That sucks.” Iris looked straight ahead, biting the inside of her mouth. “So is that what you wanted me to look into? See if the angels know what happened to him?”
“That’s the one. Oh, and also see if they know how to kill Lucifer.”
Chapter 15
The house was nice and quite big, with a pool in the backyard. The woman who lived there, Marlene, loved colour. Every room was bright and photographs covered the walls. Lilliah loved it. The place was homey and lived-in.
“She’s a bit of an artist,” Iris said.
“Do you think she’d mind that we’re here?” Lilliah dropped her bag on the floor. Though it was early morning, she still wasn’t tired. Sebastian and Rebecca, however, had gone to bed.
Iris walked through the house, checking the controls on the wall and making sure there weren’t any alarms on. The last thing they needed was for the police to turn up.
“Are you tired?” Lilliah asked, stretching.
“No. Not sure I could turn my mind off.” She sat on the sofa and tipped her head back.
“I get that.” Lilliah sat beside her. “So, how does it happen?” She wasn’t sure whether this was the right time to ask, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“The visions?” Iris turned her head. “Sometimes they just come. I can’t control it. But mostly they happen at night. When I’m alone and just about to fall asleep, I see them
so clearly, as if I’m standing right next to them, but they can’t see me.”
“So you don’t control them, it just happens? Sounds a lot like the fire stuff that comes out of my hands.” She lifted up her palms to show Iris.
“Have you tried practising?” Iris asked, staring down at Lilliah’s hands, as if they’d suddenly burst into flames.
Lilliah tucked her hands under legs. “A little. But I only recently found out I could do it. I mean, the first time it happened was a couple of months ago. But I just thought it was a fluke, you know? It had been during a spell and I was being attacked. There was magic flying everywhere and I thought that was the only reason I could do it.”
“But it wasn’t?” Iris asked, listening as if Lilliah was telling her a fairy tale.
“Nope, because it happened again. Lucifer attacked me and it just came out of my hands.”
Iris bit her little finger and stared past Lilliah. “I could try to use my power too. I could try and hone it. Maybe I could use it and actually speak to the angels.”
Lilliah nodded. “We could try it now, if you wanted?”
All Iris did was nod and Lilliah was up. She turned out the lights and sat back down on the floor. She crossed her legs and nervously tapped her fingers on her knees.
Iris flopped on the floor, sitting opposite Lilliah. “This is kind of exciting. You know, trying to do this on purpose.” She closed her eyes and wet her lips.
Lilliah didn’t know what to do. She studied Iris for a while, and then her eyes drifted across the room as they sat in silence.
“This isn’t happening.” Iris opened her eyes, and they narrowed on Lilliah. “Sometimes I can just hear them, you know?”
Lilliah didn’t say anything. She wondered whether that was Iris’s way of telling her not to speak.
Iris’s body slouched. “Maybe I can’t control this.”
Defeat was a feeling Lilliah knew well. “I was once told that your powers are connected to your emotions. I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but over the last couple of days I’ve had a lot of time to think. And I think that’s true.”
Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) Page 15
