Eliza faltered, then whipped around to stare at him.“Hellspawn?”Her voice was barely a whisper, her face a mask of shock.“Like…from Hell?Are you serious?”
Mason’s slow nod confirmed it.
Her jaw dropped.“The eyes,” she murmured, almost to herself.“Blood-red.Just like the vamp we killed earlier this week.Shewas a hellspawn too?”Her voice wavered, confusion and hurt mingling in her words.“Then you…”
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came.I wasn’t ready for this conversation—not here, not now.My grip on Rathiel tightened, and I started steering him toward the street.“We took care of it,” I said curtly.“Now, if you don’t mind, we’re leaving.”
“Oh, hell no,” Eliza said, before bursting out into manic laughter.“You don’t get to walk away this time.There are hellspawn here?On Earth?”
“Say it a little louder, why don’t you,” I sniped.
Eliza had the grace to appear chagrined, but she didn’t back down.Instead, she stepped in front of us and blocked our path.“Not so fast.He’s hurt,” she said, gesturing to Rathiel.“You won’t get very far in his state.Let me give you a ride home and you can pay me back by giving us some answers.”
I gritted my teeth, glancing at Rathiel, who remained silent, his face a mask of stony endurance.Guess he had no opinion on this.And from the looks of it, Eliza and Mason weren’t about to let us off so easily.The secrets I’d held close, the ones I’d fought so hard to protect, were slipping through my fingers.
Eliza raised an eyebrow.“Enough hiding things, Lily.I think we’rewaypast that point.We deserve to know what’s going on.”
A dozen excuses sprang to my lips, but they all felt hollow.Eliza and Mason already knew more than I’d ever intended to share—too much, in fact.Thanks to Mason, Eliza now knew Deidre was a hellspawn, and someone I had once considered a friend.Paired with Mason’s knowledge of the portal, it wouldn’t be long before they put two and two together.They weren’t innocent bystanders anymore.
I could keep running, keep trying to dodge their questions and brush them off, but the walls I’d built around my life were cracking, no matter how tightly I clung to them.And the more I pushed them away, the more they would pry—until one wrong step ended their lives.
With a deep breath, I met Eliza’s gaze, my voice low and weary.“Fine.But you’re right—this isn’t something you can just walk away from.If you want answers, you’ll have to accept all the consequences that comes with them.”
Her expression softened, just slightly, as she caught the gravity of my words.Mason gave a curt nod, and together, they waited, the weight of the unspoken hanging between us.This was about more than revealing secrets.I was inviting them into a world from which there was no turning back.
I only hoped I was making the right choice.
ChapterSixteen
We satin Eliza’s car in the lot outside my apartment building, the engine turned off but the cold creeping in.Eliza sat in the driver’s seat, her hands still resting on the wheel as if she wasn’t entirely sure what to do now that we’d parked.Beside her, Mason stared straight ahead, his eyes unfocused, lost somewhere between disbelief and grim acceptance.Silence filled the car—heavy, stifling silence—the kind that said everything and nothing at the same time.
Rathiel sat beside me, his eyes closed and his head resting against the window.He needed the rest, though he’d never admit it.His injuries weren’t healing, and that scared me more than I wanted to admit.The hellspawn’s claws had done more damage than I’d realized, and the gashes embedded deeply within his back seemingly refused to close.If a hellspawn had injured me, I would have healed by now.So why hadn’t Rathiel?
I tore my focus away from him, and instead leaned forward, the leather seat creaking under my weight.“You both okay up there?”I asked, trying to keep my voice light, though the tension was suffocating.
Eliza let out a shaky breath, her knuckles white from gripping the wheel.She nodded slowly, though her eyes never left the windshield.“Yeah.Just…processing.”She finally glanced over her shoulder, her eyes locking on mine.There was no accusation in her gaze, just a mixture of exhaustion and disbelief.“So you’re…”
“Lucifer’s daughter.”
She gave another slow nod, as though that was something she heard every day.“And he’s…”
“Lucifer’s right-hand.Or was.”
A third slow nod.Clearly, she wasn’t processing this very well.“And you’ve just been living your best life up here until recently when your f-father”—she stumbled over that word—“sent that hellspawn vamp to bring you home.”
“That’s the gist of it.Except, as I said, now he wants me dead.It’s a whole thing.Look, if you’re done asking questions, I need to get Rathiel inside.”
Mason turned, irritation flaring in his eyes.“It’s a lot to take in, Lily.You could give us a few minutes.”
“You can take it all in on the drive home,” I said.“I really do need to get Rathiel inside.”
Eliza’s brow furrowed, her gaze softening.“You know, this explains a lot,” she murmured.“All the secrecy, the way you never seemed quite like other paranormals.It makes sense now.”
“Great,” I muttered.“Glad my lineage clears things up.”
Mason turned in his seat, his eyes narrowing.“And the portal—that’s the same one you came through?”
I nodded.“Yeah.Ten years ago.Iit’s closed right now, but that could change.And if it does, I’ll handle it.This isn’t your fight.”Maybenowthat they knew my connection to the portal, they’d understand.
