„Which part?" Lincoln asked, sounding out of breath.
„Keshet," Onyx said, looking at me.
„The rainbow," I said, distracted. Bewildered.
I just killed Judas.
Dapper, who seemed to be relaxing a bit now that Jude was gone, put down his drink. „It"s why your aura is always different," he marvelled, reminding us of his ability to identify auras.
„Kind of a contradiction - Grigori power usually multi-coloured, but Grigori auras are always just the one colour. It can be different shades for different people, but always just one and, on top of that, a lining of gold. Violet, here – she"s well, she"s like a rainbow with streaks of gold all over the place."
„I hate to ask the obvious, but what the hel does al that mean?" Spence spat out.
„It means," Lincoln started, as if saying it hurt him, „she can connect the realms.
I didn"t real y understand, but I knew he was right and that, my Mother had always known.
It was why she"d sacrificed herself, why she"d named me Violet.
Onyx moved over to the bar and motioned for Dapper to pour him a large glass of whatever he was having. Whisky, I think. Salvatore and Steph collapsed onto the chaise while Zoe made herself comfortable on Dapper"s hag rug. Griffin and Lincoln joined me on the other side of the minibar. I took a deep breath and unfurled the Scripture.
The blood drained from my face. My vision blurred.
„What?" Griffin prompted.
My eyes welled with tears of pure fright. „Does anyone know what Tartarus is?" I asked, in barely a whisper.
„The pits of this realm," Dapper said, as Onyx took a massive gulp of his drink and offered a much plainer explanation.
„Hell."
My hands shook, holding the Scripture that was not meant for us. „This is not the Grigori Scripture. It"s … it"s …"
My heart started to race, my mouth went dry. The large bold outline of a triangle in the middle with small symbols at each point haunted me to the core. Below that, two sections of text. The words were not decipherable, but they didn"t need to be. Instinct told me what this was.
„I know why Phoenix wanted the Scriptures. It was never about the Grigori list." My hands shook so much Lincoln had to take the parchment form me.
„What is it?" Griffin asked, now looking over Lincoln"s shoulder at the Scripture.
„Writing. Diagrams. It"s in another language but … I think it"s … instructions." I stared into the room, full of my friends - Grigori warriors, Steph, even Onyx and Dapper. I feared for us all and could think of only one person who would know what to do. But Mum was already dead.
„To return one of the damned," Lincoln said. „Phoenix wants to bring someone back from hell."
„Who?" Spence asked, irritated he was missing something.
Lincoln"s ghost-white face now mirrored mine and even when I looked Onyx I could see he wasn"t exactly a shade of good health either. Together, we gave Spence his answer.
„Lilith."
„And so," Griffin sighed, „we have what he wants and he has the lists."
My phone beeped in my pocket and I pulled it out with still-quivering hands. I already knew it would be him. There was no running, no quitting – he wouldn"t let me, and somehow that helped. A kind of resignation came over me.
I stood a little taller, not so tired anymore. I stared at the text message as my hands stopped shaking.
Interested in a trade … lover?
Table of Contents
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
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