Ruthless (The Seraphim Series Book 2) (28 page)

“Do you think it’s odd that we don’t have that same reaction?” Rebecca asked Lilliah as she walked over to the side of room where she had been watching.

Lilliah smiled and watched Benedict walk over with the cup in his hands. He always handled it with such care, Lilliah noticed as he carefully put it down on the small coffee table in front of them.

“I think it’s odd that we’ve become too used to it,” she shared, finally taking her eyes off the cup to look at Rebecca. It was then she looked around and noticed that a few people were missing. “Wait—where’s Sebastian, Caleb, and Iris?”

Martin and Maliki were both crouched down at the table, keeping a healthy distance from the cup but still admiring it. Benedict was watching them both like hawks.

“Training, I think. They’re all in the other apartment,” Rebecca whispered.

Maliki stood first. “This—this is definitely something else.” He whistled. He looked like he wanted to reach out and shake Benedict’s hand. “Something else indeed.”

“It will be used with the spell. I believe The Grail coupled with Lilliah’s blood should bring your ancestors back.”

Lilliah hadn’t heard the extent of the spell, but she nodded. Her blood, her hair, her just being there. Whatever Benedict needed to get this spell moving, she’d do it. Then they’d have their own army. If everything went to plan, that was.

“This plan is good.” Martin finally stood. “But what makes you think they would fight against Lucifer? From what I heard, a lot of angels fought
with
him.”

Lilliah opened her mouth to answer, but Benedict got there first.

“All of the angels that fought with Lucifer were put in Hell. All the fallen angels that were left on Earth were the unlucky souls that were caught in the crossfire. They fought with Michael, but when he had to make a decision, they were cast out too.”

Lilliah liked Benedict’s explanation better than what she was going to say. But they both boiled down to the same thing. The Archangel Michael, her real father, was a dick.

“But there’s a chance they could just turn their backs on us,” Maliki pointed out.

“It’s a chance we’re willing to take.” Benedict spoke evenly, but Lilliah could tell his words weren’t spoken easily. His words were weighed down with contemplation and a lot of planning.

“Then so are we.” Maliki reached out to shake Benedict’s hand, as did Martin.

“We will see you in a few days, then.” Martin smiled warmly at both Lilliah and Rebecca before heading for the door.”

“Be safe, you two. Nothing crazy.” Maliki winked before following his uncle. He turned just before he rounded the corner. “Keep in touch and keep us informed.”

Benedict gave a single nod before Maliki disappeared.

Rebecca let her head hang back on the sofa and sighed. “That vampire woman was a total bitch.”

Benedict chuckled as he bent down to pick up The Grail again. “Always a way with words, Rebecca.”

Lilliah watched him walk to one of the bedrooms, the one Benedict had been occupying while they had been staying at the apartment block.

“I will need a little time to prepare for the spell,” he said. “I need to gather my thoughts and go over everything one more time. It needs to be perfect. This—this could be everything!”

Lilliah and Rebecca both nodded, even though Benedict’s back was to them. Lilliah remembered the last major spell Benedict had performed on her. It hadn’t been anything like the tracking spell they had used to find Iris. This spell had been huge, and had been performed in a special room at The Cure. Benedict had gone into a different room for a while, as Azrael had explained, to prepare himself both mentally and psychically.

This spell … well, this spell was bigger.

“Is there anything I need to do?” she asked and Benedict turned around.

“I will speak to you before the spell. I’m thinking about the day after tomorrow?” He looked at both Lilliah and Rebecca, as if waiting for their approval.

“Yeah, I mean, any time.” Rebecca shrugged; it clearly didn’t matter to her when the spell was performed.

“I’m good with the day after tomorrow too,” Lilliah agreed and Benedict carried on walking into his room, leaving just Lilliah and Rebecca sitting on the sofas.

“I can’t believe it was that easy,” Rebecca muttered, still staring at Benedict’s closed door. Lilliah drummed her fingers against the fabric of the sofa, letting what had happened really sink in. They were going to try and resurrect the originals. The original vampires and werewolves. Actual fallen angels who had once fought Lucifer. She repeated it a few more times in her head, trying to get used to the idea.

“This is crazy,” she finally muttered.

Rebecca grabbed her hand and squeezed tight. “This isn’t crazy, Lil. This is
it
.”

Lilliah hadn’t felt anything but fear and worry in weeks; it had been so long that she almost didn’t recognise the excitement and relief fluttering in her stomach.  

“We need to tell the others. They're in the other room; want to go and see them train?” Rebecca pushed herself up and stretched her arms. “Sebastian is going to die when he hears about the spell. They’ve been training like mad, but I have literally done nothing for the last few days. I’m turning so lazy.” She helped Lilliah off the sofa and they both headed to the next-door apartment.

A man dressed all in black walked past them in the hallway. One of Derek’s men, Lilliah guessed, nodding her head in a polite hello.

“Those guys really do keep to themselves, huh?” Rebecca whispered, and then spied behind them, making sure the army guy hadn’t heard.

Ever since Derek had left them, Lilliah had hardly seen any of his men. She knew they were still around the building, but they weren’t dropping in like before.

They walked up the door of the apartment and gently pushed the already unlocked door open. They were met by the sounds of grunting and hitting.

Caleb had a hold of Sebastian’s arm and was trying to flip him over. Sebastian looked like he had a good grip on the floor and wasn’t making it easy. All the furniture had been pushed to the sides of the room. Iris was sitting on one of the chairs and watching the fight very closely.

“Oh, my gosh.” Rebecca covered her mouth with her hands. “Please do not kill each other.”

Caleb and Iris both looked at the door. Sebastian, however, used this time to manoeuvre Caleb, kicking his feet and dropping him to the wooden floor. Caleb grunted as soon as his back made contact. Sebastian stood over him looking way too pleased with himself.

“That doesn’t count as a point.” Caleb held up his hand for Sebastian to help him up, which he did.

“Why not? You hit the floor, didn’t you? I’m taking that as a point.” Seb threw his arms out, and then blew a kiss in Rebecca’s direction.

“Lovely,” Lilliah muttered, making her way to Iris. “The vampire lady and Maliki just left.” Everyone turned to look at them, waiting. “And they want to do the spell.” Lilliah threw her hands in the air.

“Yes,” Sebastian hissed and Iris clapped. Caleb looked mildly amused, but Lilliah wasn’t about to let him rain on her parade. Rebecca was right: this was huge and she was going to enjoy it.

“This is so amazing. Is Benedict happy? Has he told you about the spell yet?” Sebastian asked. Lilliah had never seen him smile so big.

“I think he was excited. I don’t know, he just kind of ran off. He's practising.” She motioned to his sweaty, bloodstained top with her finger. “So this is what you’ve been doing? Play-fighting?”

Iris smiled and rolled her eyes. “Pretty much. It started off as one fight, which turned into a championship with points and winners and everything.”

Lilliah shook her head, for the first time noticing the blood on her brother's shirt. His hair was a messy array on his head, his face still bruised from his last fight.

“Don’t you think you should heal between fights?” She pointed at her brother's eye.

Sebastian grabbed his drink from the table and gulped it down. “I don’t even feel it anymore. It just looks worse than it really is,” he answered after downing his drink.

Their mum had freaked when she’d seen his face. They had been dressed in black for Jeremy's funeral, and there was no hiding the huge purple marks on Sebastian’s face.

“Oh, my lord.” Anna had grabbed his face and angled it to a window to try and get a better look. “How could you do this to me? On today of all days!” She had practically screeched, still not letting go of his head.

“It wasn’t my fault!” Sebastian tried to defend.

Feeling sorry for him, Lilliah backed him up. After all, their mother would have seen her covered in bruises and cuts had she not healed faster.

“It really wasn’t his fault, Mum. Some guys jumped him, but he’s okay now.” Lilliah didn’t feel so bad about this particular lie, as some of it was the truth.

Still not looking utterly convinced, Anna had let go of Sebastian’s head. “If anything happens to you two, you tell me. Okay? I don’t care if you’re on holiday or the godforsaken moon. I need to be told these things. I need to know you’re both okay.”

She waited for both Lilliah and Sebastian to agree before looking at Rebecca, who had been hovering in the background. “You too, missy. If anything happens to you, Rebecca, you must call me, okay?”

Rebecca gave a jerky nod.

“You might not be my child by birth, but you’re still one of mine. Okay?”

Rebecca’s eyes had filled with tears and she had mumbled a soft, “Okay.”

A few days after the funeral, when Rebecca and Lilliah were in a room alone, Rebecca had brought it up again. “I love your mum.”

Lilliah had nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

Iris pulled Lilliah out of her daydream by pulling at her sleeve. “Are you going to fight?”

Lilliah took one look at the wooden floor and shook her head. “Hell, no. The only practising I’m going to be doing is the magical kind.”

Caleb walked over to them from the other side of the room, his drink in one hand and his towel in the other. His hair was messy like Sebastian’s, but there was no blood on him. Because of this, Lilliah assumed he had been winning before Rebecca had put him off.

“I heard you’re a good fighter,” Caleb said, his white top almost clear with sweat.

“Good?” Rebecca laughed from beside her. “Lilliah isn’t a good fighter. She’s an amazing one.”

Caleb arced an eyebrow while Lilliah scowled. “She’s exaggerating.”

Caleb didn’t look convinced. “Iris showed the video of you beating that werewolf on the road. You looked like you knew what you were doing.”

Lilliah looked down at Iris, who at least looked a little embarrassed. “I was telling him about the time we were run off the road. He didn’t believe me that you could fight so I Googled it.” She ended with a shrug.

“I don’t want to fight. I’ve been fighting a lot the past few days, I know how to pack a punch. It’s the magic stuff that I need to learn,” Lilliah told him honestly, but by the faces of everyone around her, she had disappointed them.

Caleb looked thoughtful for a second, his eyes going between Lilliah and Iris.

“Tell you what. You fight me and win, and I’ll help you with your magic.”

Lilliah crossed her arms and frowned. “And why exactly would I want to you help me with magic?”

“Because I’m a warlock.”

Chapter 24

“This is going to be a good fight.” Sebastian sat on the floor next to Lilliah as she stretched. “I mean, I still don’t fully get what his job as ‘the Keeper’ is, but let me tell you something: that guy can fight.”

Lilliah stopped what she was doing to look her brother in the eye. “You’re really not helping.”

She shook her head and eyed Caleb at the other end of the room. Who would have guessed that he was a warlock? As it turned out, no one had known apart from Iris, who was now standing with him.

“He’s been helping me try and get my visions back,” Iris had told her when Lilliah had questioned who knew. “He’s been a really big help.”

So Lilliah had agreed to the stupid fight because she needed help, and Benedict was busy. She had quickly run off to change into her workout gear, a tight pair of running trousers and sleeveless Nike top that she had picked up from her mother the last time she went home.

“You ready?” A chipper Rebecca came to stand beside her.

Lilliah wasn’t but she nodded. She really wasn’t in the mood for this, but if it meant help trying to use her powers, she’d do it.

“You ready, Caleb?” Rebecca called over. Caleb nodded and Iris scurried out of the way to the sidelines with the others. “Right. I want a nice, clean fight. Whosever back touches the ground first loses.”

Lilliah shook her head at her friend. “You’re having way too much fun with this.”

Rebecca shrugged and Lilliah and Caleb moved into position.

“Ready, go!” Rebecca called out.

Caleb moved in first, going straight for Lilliah’s torso. She stepped out of the way, punching him in his stomach as she moved.