“You ripped out her heart because she was going to kill you. You felt no mercy because you didn’t know she had a soul. I don’t think she’s turning you evil.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “After I fell, Sourial found me in a Clovian village, drenched in mortal blood, delighted with the slaughter. I was an animal, hardly able to speak. That is my future if I don’t heed my dreams.”
“Do your dreams tell you how to fix this poison situation?” she asked. “That could be something actually useful.”
I stared at the book again. “Right. Of course. I need to figure out what I’m looking for.”
“Meaning. You’re looking for meaning. And also the antidote.”
I flipped the pages until I found something called Identifying Poisons. “It’s a long book.”
With my back against the tub, I scanned the words with a growing sense of worry. Soon, my rising panic started to sharpen my focus. Because as I read each page, the primary message was that the only way to identify a poison with one hundred percent accuracy was to find the plant—or to ask the poisoner. And only by knowing the plant could we know the antidote. Otherwise, many poisons had the same properties.
In mortals, there was more variation—vomiting, seizures, muscles locking, unconsciousness. It made it slightly easier to narrow things down.
For immortal beings like Lila and me, poisons expressed themselves as a pain under the surface of the skin, a weakening of magical powers. They could erode your bones and muscles, making it hard to walk or fly. In angels and demons, poison could eat away at your brain, leaving you confused.
But since poisons always acted the same way in immortals—I had no way of knowing what the fuck the poison was.
And that posed a deep problem when it came to fixing this current predicament.
I flipped the pages faster, desperate to see if there was any kind of universal antidote, a panacea that could cure any poison. But all I could find was this:
If you cannot identify the poison, the effects can be lessened by sucking out the toxin—but that is not advised unless absolutely necessary. The person sucking it out is likely to himself become weakened by the venom.
I heard the sound of water dripping behind me as Lila stood in the bath.
“Samael? The poison is turning my veins dark beneath my skin, and it won’t stop bleeding. What does the book say about that?”
My heart stopped. I turned to see her with a towel wrapped around her body, and she was looking down at her thigh.
I had to get the poison out as fast as possible. As long as it stayed in her, it would keep destroying her from the inside out, wrecking her body. If we couldn’t find an antidote …
My blood pumped hard; I wanted to kill the men who’d shot her.
But first—I needed to take care of Lila.
With my pulse pounding, I dropped the book and stood. Lila stood in the bath, gripping the towel tight around her naked body.
“Let me see.” I turned her around so I could see the wound at her back. The skin had healed over already, but it looked purple beneath her gold complexion. Fangs lengthened in my mouth.
I brushed her hair off her shoulder, ready to sink my teeth into her now.
She frowned at me over her shoulder. “What are you doing? Are those fangs?”
I leaned down and scooped her up, my gaze roaming over the rivulets of water streaming down her shoulder. “The demon side of me is going to fix you right now, before it’s too late.”
Lila
The pain in my shoulder and thigh was blinding, and worry coiled through me. “What do you mean before it’s too late? I am immortal.”
“It may get to a point where you cannot recover.”
I pulled the towel tighter around myself as he carried me to the bed.
My teeth chattered, and I was sure my lips were blue. “And what about the poison in you?”
“Don’t worry about that.” His deep voice thrummed over me, and he lay me face down on the bed. I tugged the towel down, covering my arse.
“I will need to puncture the skin and suck the poison out,” he said.
“What?” I looked at him over my shoulder. “With your new demon fangs?”
With darkened eyes, he flashed long incisors.
Bloody hell.
I blinked up at him. “Didn’t you say you’re evil as a demon? Is this a good idea?”
“I will be careful, and it’s either my teeth, or the poison corrodes you from the inside out.”
Yikes. My heart sped up, and I faced forward again, resting my chin on my arms. Samael climbed over me, his thighs on either side of mine.
He stroked his fingers over my shoulder blade. Even just a light touch of his fingertips was easing the pain already, like he had a healing touch. I felt strangely vulnerable lying here before him, nearly naked, but I could already feel something working.
Then, he pressed his mouth against my shoulder. I expected the sharp pierce of his teeth, but he kissed me first, his lips hot against my skin. His tongue swirled over me, already lessening the pain. From his mouth, his power was flowing through me. Healing magic vibrated down my nape, moving down my chest and settling in my belly. He kissed my shoulder deeply. When would I feel the bite?
Another swirl of his tongue, and heat arced through my body. I could hardly feel the pain anymore, and my cold muscles were growing warmer, more supple. My breath sped up, thighs clenching.
Then—the pain of his teeth sinking into my shoulder made me gasp—a sharpness exquisitely painful and pleasurable at once. I heard Samael moan quietly behind me. Was he enjoying this? Must be a demon thing.
Despite the sting, my muscles continued to relax into warmth. I closed my eyes, giving in to the overwhelming sensations.
As he drew the poison from my blood, my mind started to flicker with memories. But these weren’t my own, nor Lilith’s. It was a vision of blood running through muddy village streets in Clovia. Then, a walk through a grove of sunlit sycamore trees, the ground dappled with flecks of gold. That was his beautiful memory, not mine.
Samael’s tongue moved over the puncture wounds his teeth had made, and I saw his memories from even further back, before the fall. I felt how it was to soar through the heavens, the head of a legion of angels. Samael said he didn’t remember his life before the fall, but his buried memories were there somewhere.
Then, I saw through his eyes the first time he encountered Lilith. He drew his sword, and he watched her flying toward him, her dark hair streaming behind her. Her sword gleamed with blood. Samael was awestruck, stunned by her beauty.
I was in his mind, seeing things that even he didn’t remember, until they disappeared again.
My entire world now was just the feel of his mouth against me, and desire started to build in me. My blood pounded, and I breathed fast beneath him. Erotic tension coiled tight, driving me insane until every brush of his lips and tongue over me was a kind of torture, driving me insane. My nipples brushed against the soft towel, sending a thrill through me.
What I wanted now was to throw off the towel completely. I wanted to pull him on top of me and feel his body against mine. I wanted him to lift that towel higher and touch me.
But that wasn’t what we were doing here, was it? This was about poison. Of course this was about poison. This wasn’t love. Our relationship was over, and this would be the last time I’d ever feel his mouth on me.
He gripped one of my shoulders, then rolled me over onto my back. His black gaze penetrated me, and his fangs dripped with blood. For a moment, I saw bronze horns flicker above his head. Coppery swirls moved over his cheekbones, his chest. A wicked smile curled his lips as he looked down at me.
My chest flushed, and I tugged the towel down, covering myself.
His dark power hit me like a wave of heat, and he gripped me by the thighs, pulling me closer to the end of the bed so my legs hung off it. Then, he knelt down on the floor between my legs. He grabbed my thigh in one hand, an
d my hip in the other, pinning me in place.
And as soon as I felt his mouth on the top of my thigh, that unease melted right away. Now it was just the heat of his tongue moving over my skin, his hands gripping my thighs hard. And God, the ache between my legs was unbearable, and I wanted him to move his mouth to the right, to lick me where I was wettest. The sharpness of my desire was excruciating.
But this wasn’t about love—this was about poison.
Same thing, child, Lilith whispered.
I gripped his hair anyway, feeling his power rush through me from his mouth, skimming up my thigh into my belly.
Then, I felt his fangs break my skin. I hissed at the pain twining with pleasure.
His hands were keeping me still and his tongue lapped at me. I tried to suppress a moan, but it came out anyway—a guttural, half-strangled sound. I twined my fingers into his hair. Pleasure rocked through me in waves.
A deep need robbed me of all rational thought, and I threw back my head, my back arching. When he pulled his mouth away, looking up at me from between my legs, I caught my breath.
God I wanted him. I just would not be telling him any time soon.
He stood, eyes drilling into me. “Your heart is racing.”
Still catching my breath, I tugged the towel tight around me. As I sat up, I looked down at my thigh, surprised to see that it was healing already.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, I traced my finger over the red scar on my thigh. “Was that all it took? Is the poison gone?”
“No, unfortunately.” He crossed to his wardrobe and pulled it open. “Both of us still have some poison in our systems, and neither of us will be able to fly until we fix that. And your magic might be a bit weaker until you rest for a while. But you don’t have to worry about permanent damage anymore.”
He pulled out a sweater from his wardrobe, and I watched him pull it over his bare chest. A worrying red stripe marked his shoulder blades where he’d been hit.
Did he have to worry about permanent damage?
Lila
When I was dressed, I sat down on the edge of the bed. Samael had given me a long, charcoal-gray dress made of cashmere, with an elegant wide collar. Along with it, I had a black scarf and red wool cloak to keep me warm.
Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on the Mysterium Liber.
It took me a few minutes to feel it—the tug from the center of my ribs pulling me toward the book, making me feel hollow. It was moving fast, zipping through a snowy countryside.
A train?
Then, I heard their voices whispering in my mind, speaking in the magical Angelic language. Belial … Belial … The angel is your enemy. Leave him behind, or he will kill you. Join us for the power you crave.
An image burst into my consciousness—a moonlit hall of golden stone. Tall windows were inset into round walls, and several floors of towering, curved balconies rose high above. It was a round palace of books. Desperately, I wanted to be in that place, to consume the knowledge within its walls.
The angel is destined for another. You must leave him behind, and join us. Become the Iron Queen you must be.
I felt a rush of Samael’s power over my skin, and the image disappeared again.
I opened my eyes. “It’s hard for me to focus when you’re here.”
A slow smile crept over his lips. “Why would I distract you if I’m boring?”
I loosed a sigh. “Just give me a minute alone. Its pull is stronger when your magic isn’t interfering.”
As he crossed out of the room, a powerful hunger slammed into me. I needed that book. The book would solve everything, wouldn’t it? The book had made me, and we belonged together. Those pages had brought Lilith to the surface, and they would crown her as queen.
I knew what I had to do, of course. Samael was in our way. If we could get him out of the picture … If I could just grab a knife and plunge it into Samael’s neck …
In my mind’s eye, I saw the room again. Each balcony was crammed with sacred knowledge. Beyond the windows, I could see more buildings of honey-colored stone.
And somehow I knew that within them, there was only more knowledge, the magic of the stars, the beauty of poetry, the secrets of war, the keys to power. The gifts of angels, of the heavens.
This was where I would become queen.
Desperately, I wanted to consume the books. I wanted to know every spell. I wanted to know all of history from the beginning of time until now.
Knowledge was power, and this was how I could get it.
All I had to do was take down Samael.
My eyes snapped open again, and I found myself clutching the edge of the bed.
I jumped up, trying to reorient myself.
“Bloody hell.” This book was seductive, and I was going to fall under its spell if I wasn’t careful. I rushed for the door, yanking it open.
Samael turned to me, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
“The magic is powerful. When you’re not near me, it’s enough to drive me mad. The Free Men are trying to call me to them now. The Mysterium Liber is on the move, on a train going through the countryside, and they want me to go after it.”
“And can you see where it is?”
“Not only can I see where it is, I can see where it’s going. But I think you need to stay close to me. When you leave me, it feels like they’re starting to take over my mind, starting to coax me to do things for them. Contrary to what your dreams say, I think you are the key to me not turning evil. I need you near me until we can break the spell.”
He slid his hands into his pockets as he looked down at me. “I’ll gladly stay close by your side for as long as it takes. Where do you think the book is going?”
I rubbed my eyes. “I’m not exactly sure. They said the word Belial? And I saw a round hall, like a palatial library of gold stone with arches and many floors. There were more stone buildings outside.”
He nodded slowly, his brow furrowed. “The library at Belial University. There’s a train that goes there. If we leave now, we could be there in less than an hour.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I should probably warn you that they want me to cut your head off with a knife.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he muttered darkly.
We had the entire train to ourselves. The count could make things like that happen. Outside, ruddy rays of sunlight pierced the fog as the sun started to set.
I sat across from Samael, leaning against the cold glass. I’d never taken this train line before, one that went straight north through the city.
On an elevated platform, it chugged along past rooftops. From here, I could see down into the backs of brick homes. In the gathering darkness, lanterns glowed from kitchens and bedrooms. The train crossed over one of the river’s tributaries, which had completely iced over, and snowfall covered the frozen river.
This had to be one of the coldest winters in memory. This was a chill that went right down to your bones and made its home there for good.
As the sun dipped lower, the clouds started to thin. Outside, snow drifted in swirls, sparking peach in the setting sun. It landed on the rooftops and chimneys, blanketing the streets with white. Shivering a little, I hugged my cloak tighter.
Up ahead, Dovren’s crumbling walls came into view, the northernmost outskirts of the city.
Samael peered outside the window. “Dovren is so sprawling I’ve never seen all of it. What’s this part of the city called?”
“Leper Gate.”
He turned, frowning at me. “Mortals thought that was a good name?”
I shrugged. “It just describes what it was. They didn’t allow the lepers or other people with illnesses to live within the city walls, so they lived outside the gates. Lepers, criminals, people who tanned leather because they always smelled like piss. You get the idea.”
He leaned back in his seat, his pale eyes piercing me in the dying light. “Charming civilization.”
“Don’t blame me, I’m a demon
. The mortals didn’t want my kind, either. As far as I can tell, most of the horrific crimes in this city were committed by mortals, not demons.”
He leaned closer across the table. When his eyebrows rose with curiosity, I saw it again—his heart-squeezing expression of innocence. “What happened to Lilith? You said she returned to the place where the mortals had burned her. What happened to her there?”
Once, at an East End carnival, I’d seen a cylindrical machine filled with sepia pictures. You turned a crank, and the pictures seemed to move, coming to life before your eyes. That was what Lilith’s memories were like—spinning through my mind like flickering pictures that came to life. And right now, with each flicker, I felt her dark spirit rising in me. Her anger was ice-cold.
I wished I couldn’t see the memories at all, because they were horrific. “Arrows …” I said with some surprise as the memory lit up my mind—a volley of arrows raining through the air. “Poison arrows, like the ones we were shot with. That was how it started. They hunted her through the city streets, and the poison weakened her. It stopped her from using her magic. They called themselves witch finders, but they were after demons. They were the ancestors of the Free Men.”
His eyes started to darken like the falling night outside, and he’d gone completely still. “What happened to Lilith then? I want to know everything.”
Lila
My throat tightened. “They brought her to the old Roman amphitheater. In those days, it was still above ground. It was near Nico’s house …” I shuddered. Some things were too terrible to put into words. “They marveled at what she could withstand.”
I glanced at Samael’s hands, strangely delighted to find he was still wearing his gold engagement ring—the one he’d thought men were supposed to wear. His hand had tightened into a fist. This seemed to disturb him as much as it disturbed me.
Possessed (Hades Castle Trilogy Book 3) Page 7
