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“My dear, I was dead.” Her hand left my back and she lifted her arms out to her sides. Her sleeves billowed out like formless clouds. “I was lifeless under the rules of my tyrannical mother. The laws of that dumpy little town. And I was like the walking dead living at that manor. My heart was a dead stump in my chest, craving light. I didn’t know it until they captured me. That’s when they brought me to life.”
Nothing she said made sense. “What are you talking about? Who brought you back to life?”
Luke had told me the story about her capture by feral demons. She’d been heading to town with another Nephilim for supplies. Their car broke down and they’d been ambushed by ferals on the side of the road. The other Nephilim didn’t survive.
Luke was sure she’d been murdered. They’d found pools of her blood on the highway. No one could’ve survived those kinds of wounds.
“My family brought me back to life. My true friends. The very people I want you to meet.” Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “Oh, Lizzy, we’ve waited so long for you.”
My mother had family? I’d never known anyone besides Granny. And she’d never mentioned anyone else.
“Lies.” Pain echoed in Luke’s hollow voice. His hand shifted to the ax at his side. “You’re not Elizabeth. You’re not my wife.”
She laughed, a light and airy noise that tickled my ears. “Of course, I’m your wife. I may be carrying an extra spirit than when we married, but I’m still her. We are the same. We want the same things.”
Panic clouded my eyes. I took a step backwards and tripped over a stone jutting from the ground. My head hit the ground hard, sending stars shooting into my vision. Blinking away the pain, I crawled backwards on my hands and knees, putting as much distance as I could between myself and that demon. Gabe jumped in front of me. He had drawn his sword and raised it defensively.
She laughed again and dropped her hands. “My dear, do not be afraid. I have not come to hurt you. We love you. You are our daughter.”
It wasn’t too long ago I’d faced off with someone like her. Evil of the worst kind. A deceiver—vastly smarter than the ferals and more devious. They were the masterminds behind the hordes of demons that worked their way through the Hell Gate. Hell’s war generals. They were the ones trying to gain a foothold on Earth.
And another one was standing right in front of me, inhabiting the body of my mother.
I pushed myself up off the ground and ducked behind Gabe’s shoulder. This was all happening so fast. Suddenly, I have a mother again. And now, she’s controlled by a demon.
I wanted to run away, to throw up, to pinch myself and make this all go away.
“You’re nothing but pure evil,” I spat. Margaret Thatcher had wanted me, too. Except she’d wanted to use me as a blood bag for the rest of my long Nephilim life, sucking the energy out of me. “You’re one of them.”
“Oh, my darling.” Elizabeth shook her head slowly. “My dear, dear girl. You have been misled. We do not seek to bring harm. Our leader is coming to rule those who have escaped from the clutches of Hell. You’ll see. He is pure truth and beauty. He will come to stop the killing. We only want to bring peace.”
I couldn’t help but look at Luke. What kind of nonsense was this? She was spouting lies like a cult leader—her face an unadulterated mask of joy. My father looked as helpless as I felt. His ax hung loosely at his side as his shoulders drooped. Heartbreak poured into his face, nearly breaking mine in the process.
“Oh, Elizabeth...” he muttered. “What have they done to you?”
“Nothing that I didn’t want, my love,” she replied with an empty smile.
I could sense Gabe edging forward and with a start, I realized he was readying for an attack. Part of me wanted him to drive the silver sword right through her heart, but a large part of me hated the idea. Part of this person standing in front of us was still my mother. Surely, we couldn’t kill her. We had to find a cure. A way to drive the demon out. An exorcism or something.
“Wait.” I placed my hand on his tense arm. “Don’t.”
Elizabeth returned her gaze to me and smiled warmly. “My daughter, I knew you’d understand.”
Gabe resisted against my arm. “Let go, Lizzy. You can’t save her.”
Maybe not, but I didn’t want to kill her. I still had so many questions.
“Come with me.” Elizabeth held out a hand again. This time, I stayed where I was. “Come with me, and fulfill your destiny. You were born for a purpose, my love. I can lead you to it.”
It sounded like the kind of mumbo jumbo they used to spill on the late night evangelism TV shows. The kind that Granny would fall asleep in front of, accompanied by her nightly glass of Scotch.
“And what purpose would that be?” I asked.
I wasn’t sure why I was feeding into her lies, but the longer I kept the conversation going, the longer I’d get to see my mother alive.
She tilted her head to the side. “You’re the key, of course. The key to the gates of Hell.”
Keys to what?
