Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) (22 page)

Derek didn’t smile. “Because, Lilliah, I owe Azrael. This is me paying my debt.”

Her body jolted at the sound of Azrael’s name.

Then the name clicked. “You’re Kristy’s husband.” She pointed, her eyes widening as the memory slowly came back. “I met her. We went to her restaurant. Don’t hurt us. Please, Azrael has gone a bit weird. He’s not himself!”

Derek turned his back to her to speak with another man. The others looked at her as if she’d gone mad.

“He knows Azrael.” Lilliah dropped onto one of the spare sofas, avoiding looking at the men lying on the floor with guns pointed at their heads.

Azrael trusted Derek. Of course, that could mean Derek was working with Azrael and Lucifer. She stared down at one of the guns the men were holding. No. If Derek were with Lucifer and Azrael, he wouldn’t have been fighting against the people keeping them hostage. And there would have been no need for guns. The warlocks would have handed her over willingly. Breathing a little easier, Lilliah looked around the room and motioned for the others to join her. They were still standing in the doorway, all of them looking hesitant and unsure.

“What the hell is happening?” Sebastian asked, staring at a man with a gun. “How do you know these people?” He lowered his voice. “Are they with the CIA or something?”

Rebecca sat next to Lilliah. “This is crazy, Lil. How did they find us?”

“Derek,” Lilliah called out. The panic that had subsided started creeping back up. Harold had said Lucifer was coming, which meant he was still on his way.

He looked over at her, his face devoid of any emotion. “Yes, Lilliah?”

“How did you find us?” She scanned the room. Harold wasn’t here. She stood. “Where’s Harold?”

“Harold?” Derek turned to the man standing next to him, who was also wearing a blue suit. He leaned forward and whispered something in Derek’s ear. “Oh, yes. The old man. Benedict wants him. He’s already been loaded onto a helicopter.”

“Benedict’s here?” Rebecca stood, her body sagging with relief.

“He’s not in the building,” Derek explained as if he were talking to small children. “But we will take you to see him.” He walked towards them, his hands clasped in front of him. “What did Azrael tell you about me?”

“Not a lot.” She tried to remember the conversation. By the time Azrael had told her about Kristy and Derek, she’d been quite drunk. “He said he helped you out with something a few years ago.”

“Yes, with the Mexico incident.”

Lilliah tapped her finger in the air and nodded. The more he spoke, the more she remembered. “He said you worked for the government or something like that. Real top secret stuff.”

Her eyes drifted back to the men holding the guns. Everything was starting to make a little more sense.

“I do work for the government,” Derek confirmed. “I can’t tell you the name, though, for obvious reasons.”

Lilliah nodded as if she understood what the obvious reasons were. She didn’t.

“As you can probably imagine, we can find anyone.” He rubbed his hands together, clearly very proud of himself.

“I think we should leave,” Iris said, speaking for the first time since they’d met Derek and, well, his army. Her skin was pale and clammy.

“We will,” Derek assured her. He looked a little perplexed by Iris’s appearance. “We’ll get someone to check you over as well. You don’t look well.”

“Lucifer’s here. I can feel him.”

She spoke the words softly, but the room sprang into action. The men with guns grabbed Iris and Rebecca by the arms, pulling them towards the door. Derek pulled out his phone and started walking with Lilliah and Sebastian.

“We have a code blue,” he reported, “A code blue. If you see the target, fire, then get out.” He slammed the phone shut and picked up his pace.

“You can’t fight them,” Lilliah tried to reason. “Your men will be killed.”

“They know their mission.”

Derek pushed open a door that led into a garden. A helicopter was waiting.

“Our mission is to get you four out of here,” Derek shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

Gunfire resounded from inside the house. Lilliah looked back, seeing the building for the first time. It was huge, with red brick and massive windows, where she could just make out the flashes of light as guns fired.

“Hurry.” Derek pulled her to the helicopter, the others running next to her.

“I don’t think so.” Lucifer appeared behind them. He grabbed Derek first and threw him to the ground.

“No!” Lilliah screamed, diving at him.

She landed on Lucifer’s back but he grabbed her arms and tossed her on the ground.

“Get to the helicopter,” she choked out to Derek, who was fumbling with his gun.

“I can’t leave you. This is the mission.” He aimed at Lucifer and fired. The bullets punctured his skin. Lilliah held her breath as Lucifer stood still, blood seeping from his wounds. Could bullets kill angels? Her hope crashed and burned when Lucifer smiled.

“Nice try.” He ran for Derek, moving so fast Lilliah could no longer see him, but she knew his destination and ran too. They collided and hit the hard grass together.

“I don’t want to kill you, Lilliah!” Lucifer shouted like a madman as they rolled on the ground, hitting each other and screaming.

“I want to kill you.”

Someone was shouting her name from behind, but all she could focus on was Lucifer and how she was somehow gaining the upper hand.

“Lilliah, watch out!” Sebastian shouted.

She looked up in time to see Azrael approaching them. His black hair danced wildly with the wind the helicopter was making. His grey suit was immaculate, even despite the fighting. Though injured, Sebastian ran at him, screaming and punching the air. Azrael deflected him easily. Lilliah watched in horror as Sebastian hit the ground. Azrael didn’t fight to wound; he fought to kill. Getting off Lucifer, Lilliah got up and ran for Azrael.

“No!” she screamed.

Azrael looked up at Lilliah as she ran towards him. Lilliah saw it immediately, though it was brief. His blood-red eyes dimmed and turned blue. Without thinking about her safety, or even that of those around her, she flew into his arms and crushed her lips against his. He didn’t respond. She pulled back, anxious. His eyes were now a dirty grey. Not his usual clear blue, but not the blood-red, either.

“I love you,” she blurted out, her eyes anxiously holding his.

“No!” Lucifer grabbed her arms and yanked her away from Azrael. Lilliah fell, hitting her head on the hard dirt. When she opened her eyes and looked up, Azrael and Lucifer were gone.

They were all sitting in the helicopter, none of them speaking. Iris looked as if she might faint.

Lilliah reached for her hand. “Are you okay?”

She managed a stiff nod. “I’ve never flown before, and I can see everything.” She let go of the seat for a second to point through the window. “I’ve never been in a helicopter before, either.”

Lilliah rested her head back. With the adrenaline wearing off, her jaw and stomach were starting to hurt.

Rebecca and Sebastian sat opposite, holding hands and staring out the window. Sebastian looked awful; his whole face was nearly covered in bruises and one eye had swelled shut. Derek sat next to Lilliah, typing furiously into his phone, but he hadn’t said a word to her since the helicopter took off.

“That was really crazy,” Iris said, her voice breaking. “I thought we were all going to die back there.”

Lilliah didn’t admit it, but for a moment, she’d thought the same. Despite all the agents with guns, Lucifer had managed to reach them without breaking a sweat. The thought petrified her. No matter where they hid or who was guarding them, Lucifer would find them.

“How did you move so fast?” Iris asked.

Lilliah turned her head and frowned.

“I’ve seen you fight before. You fight amazingly well, but at human speed. Tonight, you were so fast I couldn’t really see you.”

“It was crazy,” Rebecca chimed in. She looked worn out, but she still managed a smile. “I’ve never seen you move that fast. I’ve never seen
anyone
move that fast.”

Lilliah stared out the window. She couldn’t even really remember the fight. She just remembered the feeling of wanting to hurt Lucifer more than anything, and she had hurt him. Well, she’d gotten a few hits in at the very least.

“Why did you kiss him?” Sebastian demanded, not even trying to suppress the harshness in his voice. “He’s not your Azrael anymore, Lilliah. He’s a different guy completely, and he could have killed you.”

Rebecca grabbed his hand. “I don’t think now is the right time.” She motioned with her eyes towards Derek, who was sitting in the corner, watching everyone.

“No,” Sebastian pulled his hand away. “I want to know. Why would you put yourself in that situation?”

“His eyes changed.” Lilliah closed her eyes to rein in her emotions. All she wanted to do was cry, but right now crying wouldn’t help anyone. She opened her eyes once she was certain tears wouldn’t spill out. “For a second, his eyes weren’t red. For a second,
my
Azrael came back.”

Sebastian fell back in his seat. “Well, what does that mean?”

She shrugged. “No idea, but I saw an opportunity, and I took it.”

They flew the rest of the way in silence. Lilliah didn’t even want to make eye contact with anyone. She stared out of the window, ignoring Derek’s stares. He wasn’t hiding it, either. She occasionally spied him out of the corner of her eye. His face was blank and his sunglasses sat at the top of his head, nestled in his hair, even though the sun had started to set. His dark green eyes watched her, assessing her.

“We’ll be landing soon,” he said, still staring.

“Where are we going?” Sebastian sat forward, looking out the window.

Lilliah still had no idea where they were. Were they still in Vegas? The weather was warm, so it was possible.

Derek pulled his sunglasses off his head. “You need to get away. There’s a plane waiting.”

“We can’t fly,” Lilliah reminded him. “They can track us.”

“Not this plane, they can’t.” He pointed out of the window at the same time Sebastian whistled.

“Now that is a nice-ass jet.”

A plane was waiting not too far from where they were landing. Sebastian was right. The jet was huge. She squinted as a man stepped out of it and her breath hitched. Benedict.

As soon as she could, Lilliah got out of the helicopter and ran towards him. “We saw him.” She sniffed, stopping when she was close enough that she could have touched Benedict if she had wanted to. She didn’t—just his being there was soothing enough. “We saw Azrael and Lucifer.”

Benedict nodded, his eyes sad. “I know. I’m sorry.”

She crossed her arms. “Why are you sorry? I think I saw him, the old Azrael. My Azrael.”

She bit her lip, thinking about her fight. She’d fought the Devil again, and was alive to tell the tale. The question that had been swirling around her mind ever since Iris told her she’d moved faster than normal was
how
? How had she lived and how had she gotten faster?

Benedict must have seen the change on her face. He reached out touched her elbow. “Lilliah? Are you okay?”

The others joined them, giving her the perfect distraction. She didn’t want to analyse that here, on an airfield.

“Oh, Benedict, this is Iris,” she introduced. “Iris, Benedict.”

Iris looked intimidated and gave a small wave as she took in Benedict’s tall stature and broad shoulders.

Benedict, ever the gentleman, took Iris’s hand in his. “It’s great to see you, Iris. I’ve heard so much about your family.”

Derek walked up to them, his sunglasses back on.

“We need to leave,” was all he said before walking around them and onto the plane.

Lilliah followed first. She stopped once she was inside. “Oh, wow,” she sighed, taking in the length of the plane. It was huge, bigger than Azrael’s plane even.

“These private planes just keep getting better.” Sebastian hobbled past her, grinning.

The main area had three different seating sections. Everything was covered in cream-coloured leather and dark wood. She really needed to get the name of the agency Derek worked for, Lilliah decided as she dropped into a plush leather seat.

“There’s a bedroom back here,” Sebastian called back. “There’s an actual double bed back here!”

Rebecca laughed and sat next to Lilliah. “Who would have thought that after waking up tied to a chair, we’d be here now.” She made a point of sniffing the air. “Can you smell the richness? Our lives are so crazy.”

“I’ve been kidnapped, I’ve seen the Devil, I’ve been on a helicopter, and now I’m on a private jet. All firsts for me.” Iris sat next to Rebecca and nervously folded her arms.

Rebecca draped an arm over Iris’s shoulders and pulled her closer. “You can totally drop out, you know. All of this is batshit crazy and not for everyone.”

Lilliah rested her elbows on her knees and leaned forward. They’d asked Iris the question before, but that was
before—
before the attack and before the kidnapping.