I frowned, mulling over her words.Hell wasn’t a place for close friendships—as evidenced by me and Deidre.No one down there fit the description of someone my father would care enough about to punish in my place.She was trying to get under my skin.I wasn’t about to let her.
“No guesses as to who?”she taunted, her grin growing sharper, more wicked.
Snarling, I pressed the blade harder against her throat.A thin line of blood trickled down her skin, but she didn’t so much as flinch.“Enough stalling.Out with it.”
Her eyes gleamed with triumph, her smirk triumphant.“Rathiel.”
The name hit me like a slap.I blinked, stunned.Then a sharp, disbelieving laugh escaped me.“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”Deidre’s smirk deepened.“Your father got his hands on him not long after you disappeared.Poor Rathiel—he never saw it coming.”
Her words made no sense.Rathiel was one of Lucifer’s favorites, a fallen angel who had cast Heaven aside to join my father and the eight others who fell alongside him.But he wasn’t just a fallen angel anymore—none of them were.My father had turned them all into something far worse.Because that was what he did.He took things that were pure and beautiful and twisted them, corrupted them beyond recognition.
Under Lucifer’s command, Rathiel had merged with a sanguinarias demon and become the progenitor of all bloodsuckers.The first bloodsucker.That darkness had cursed him with a relentless thirst for blood, a hunger that made him one of my father’s deadliest—and most devoted—creations.Rathiel was my father’s weapon, his soldier, his loyal enforcer.Why would Lucifer turn on him?
I shook my head, trying to piece it together.“Nice try, Deidre.But that doesn’t track.”
She tilted her head, her smile widening.“Believe what you want, Lilith.But I’ve sat through a few of your boy’s torture sessions.I’ve heard his screams myself.Watched your father rip him apart again and again.I’ve seen parts of him no one should ever see.Heard sounds no one should ever hear.”Her tone was light, conversational—completely at odds with the horror she described.“And do you know the best part?It’s all because of you.”
Her words struck a nerve.I clenched my jaw, refusing to let her see how they rattled me.Rathiel and I weren’t friends—not by any stretch of the imagination—but I wouldn’t wish that kind of torment on anyone.No one deserved to be torn apart like that.
This had to be another one of Deidre’s games.A lie meant to unsettle me, to throw me off balance.It was what she did.
But… what if it wasn’t?She sounded so certain, so assured, and the image of Rathiel screaming under my father’s wrath clawed at the edges of my mind.My pulse quickened, and a weight settled in my chest, twisting my stomach in knots.
I refused to let her see it.
Deidre’s sharp gaze scanned my face, her smirk faltering when she found no reaction.“Really?No threats?No tears?Nothing?”She studied me a little longer.“You’ve changed, Lilith.The Lily I knew would never let someone suffer because of her.”
“Youdon’tknow me.Not anymore,” I growled through gritted teeth.
Deidre laughed again.“Sweetie, no one here knows you better than I do.”
As much as I loathed to admit it, she wasn’t wrong.
“You forget, old friend,” she continued, “I canhearyour heart racing, smell the fear on you.Even now, you’re wonderingwhat if.Maybe I’m lying, or maybe I’m telling the truth.Guess the only way you’ll find out is if you return home.”
Ah, there it was.The trap.Her entire game finally laid bare.All of this—every word—had been a ploy to lure me back to Hell.Why she thought Rathiel was the right bait, I couldn’t say.Maybe because there weren’t many that I cared about in Hell—if any.
“Nice try,” I said, congratulating her.“You almost had me.But we both know my father would never harm anyone in his inner circle.”
“Except, he is,” she said.“Your father takes your punishment out on Rathiel’s flesh every single day.”
I narrowed my eyes, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.“Do you honestly think I’d believe a word that comes out of your mouth?”I asked.“You’ve been messing with my head this entire time, and I’m done listening.I shouldn’t have listened in the first place.”
Deidre’s smile faltered for the briefest moment as I pressed my blade a little harder against her throat.Eliza’s instructions were clear—the bounty was dead or alive.And guess which option I was leaning toward?
I readied myself to end her miserable existence.
“You can kill me, but that won’t stop your father from getting what he wants,” Deidre said, her words stopping me cold.
“What are you talking about?”I demanded.
Deidre laughed, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.“I have something for you.”When I didn’t move, she jutted her chin toward her front pocket.“Go on, have a look.”
I hesitated, weighing my options, but that damn glint in her eye had me questioning everything.I slid my unarmed hand into her pocket, my fingers brushing against something eerily warm.
Slowly, I pulled the object free, revealing a small, obsidian orb.
