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“Enough, don’t make me gag you too!” Desmond snapped at her. Bash’s jaw was tense, and he cracked his neck. He was about to rip Desmond’s head off.
“Why is she beside herself and bound like a bloody prisoner?!” he yelled.
Desmond rubbed his temple as he exhaled through his mouth, trying his hardest to keep his patience. “As soon as we got to the front door, she started crying and claimed she was injured. Ares put her down to check, and she blasted him with a concentration of magical energy. Then she hightailed it toward the edge of the property near the gate, with superhuman speed. She froze the reptilian shifters in the club too. Until we know the extent of her powers, how they work, and whether or not she's masking them, she needs to be subdued. I either had to bind her magic, or knock her out. This seemed like a moreconsiderateoption.”
“Little Goddess is already turning out to be a fighter!” Ares exclaimed proudly. “I gave her a head start for funsies, but I didn’t hunt her too harshly. Don’t worry Bash, I wasgentle.” Ares winked at Diana, and I could practically see the steam coming out of Bash’s ears.
I rolled my eyes, internally wishing she had never crossed Bash’s path. Then she would be dead right now and not our problem. We wouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves over what seemed to be subpar pussy.
“Diana, there are some things you need to be aware of, and choices you need to make.” Desmond spoke in a calm, business-like tone, as if he didn’t have a girl bound against her will at the dining table.Such a Daddy move.“Somehow you pissed off Satan, Dark Ruler of Hell, enough that he ordered a hit on you. We’re the hitmen he sent to kill you–but because of your prior relationship with Bash and our dislike of the current Satan–we’re looking to make a deal instead of executing the hit.”
“Hitmen… What are you, the Magical Mafia enforcers? Current Satan…The Devil?!Like Lucifer Morningstar?” she asked incredulously, sarcasm and exhaustion heavy in her tone of voice. “You know what, after finding out I was a witch today and what I saw tonight, this doesn’t seem too far-fetched.”
“No, Lucifer was the first Satan. Every time Satan gets offed or steps down, he or she is replaced.Magical Mafia?” Bash guffawed. “I guess you could call us that. We do wear suits regularly, but we function more like fixers or assassins than enforcers.”
“My favorite customer at work, Nick, is an actual mobster. He’ll notice I’m missing and come find me. You better let me go!” she screamed.
Bash and Ares’ narrowed glares were hysterical. They had to be kidding me, jealous of one of her customers? I could tell they were about to launch an entire interrogation over it, so I pushed on with my questioning before they could interrupt me. We had to figure out more about her.
“Found out?You claim you only found out that you have insanely powerful magic today?” This bitch had to be kidding me. Those bluish-gray eyes sized me up. Seems she wasn’t fond of me either, which again, wasn’t my problem. I couldn’t give two shits less about what she thought of me.
“You’re a real ray of sunshine, aren’t you? You don’t even have the manners to introduce yourself.” I didn’t appreciate her sassiness toward me.She shouldn’t even be alive right now, let alone disrespecting me in my own house.
“I don’t think she’s lying,” Bash interrupted before I could respond. “Diana, we’ve been debating exactly what you are and whether or not you knew for a while now. Can I go through your memories of today, so we can put this to rest once and for all? I can see them and Ares can share them with everyone using his gifts.”
“I don’t understand, how can you search my memories? How can Ares show them to everyone?”
“Oh, because I have the power of memory recall. Sebastian visits people in their dreams for sexy time, but he can also search through their subconscious and see their memories, dreams, fears, and things like that. He can manipulate them too, it’s insanely impressive. I can only find memories if the person is actively thinking about them.” Ares talked a mile a minute, but Diana seemed to be keeping up with him. “Anyway, he’ll share what he sees with me, and then I can project it to everyone here if we hold hands. I promise it won’t be invasive. Bash will be extra careful becausehe likes you.”
She nodded hesitantly. Her big eyes locked on Bash’s and he gave her a tender, comforting smile. This new Bash was something else. I’d never seen him give a shit about anyone before, aside from the men at this table. He’d hunted down targets and killed them in their sleep before. One time we were hunting magical traffickers, and he manipulated their thoughts until they killed themselves.
He reached out for her hand, and tugged her to sit on his lap. She resisted at first, but eventually plopped down on his left knee, with her legs over his lap. He wrapped one arm around her back and put the other hand on her forehead, like he was checking her temperature. His eyes closed in concentration, and for several moments we all sat there in silence. Regardless of how many times I had watched Sebastian use his powers, it never got old. His brows furrowed, his mouth flashed to a frown. He promptly relaxed his face and opened his eyes, grabbing Ares’ hand to transfer the memory over.
“Kumbaya, boys and girl. Let's all join hands!” Ares announced. Diana snickered, smiling at him.
Great, she was encouraging his foolishness. We all held hands, sharing in her memory. Long story short, her grandma and sister cornered her and read her cards. She got quite the ominous spread, all major arcana cards.Witches rely too much on their tarot cards, put too much stock in a deck and some superstition.Then they dropped the bombs that not only was she a witch, but they had manipulated her precious memories to hide the truth from her. Seems the idiot apple didn’t fall too far from the dumb bitch tree. They expected her not to freak out. A dramatic fight ensued, and she stormed out after saying something truly awful about how they betrayed her.How sad.At least she wasn’t a liar, although that didn’t make our job any easier.
Now we have to train her, catch her up on years of magical education, teach her about the community, and keep her safe. Her powers are unpredictable, as you experienced firsthand. She could easily hurt herself or others.I linked Desmond privately.
I didn’t sign up for this, and sure as Hell wouldn’t babysit her. Bash gave me a dry expression as if to gloat in his self righteousness.Yeah bro, be really proud of yourself.You impulse-claimed a witch who couldn’t even do magic correctly.
“Thank you for sharing, Diana.” Desmond leaned back in his chair, raking his hand through his messy, ginger hair while he lost himself in thought.
“Sucks that your last conversation with your grandmother and sister was a huge fight,” I said, side-eyeing her from across the table. She raised a brow at me in question. “You know, since you're dead now.”
“She’s my aunt, not my sister.Excuse you?” she said, her Brooklyn accent thicker than before and laced with attitude. “You’re gonna be dead soon if you keep assaulting me with that little dick energy. I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but just because you obviously have self-esteem issues, doesn’t mean you get to be a snarky little bitch to me. Sebastian, what is he talking about?”
Bash tightened his grip on her, wrapping his other arm around her to keep her fixed to him. “Birdie, part of keeping you safe from Red–Satan–was faking your death. To be able to train you and attack him, we had to make it look like we carried out the hit.”
Her face paled, and thanks to my superhuman hearing, I could hear her heart thumping inside her chest from here.
“All of that attitude from earlier melted away, leaving an angry, sad little girl behind,” I chided her.
The magical bindings around her wrists started to glow violently as she shook on Bash’s lap. Her face and chest flushed a vibrant red as anger consumed her. He rubbed her back in what were supposed to be soothing circles, but she wasn’t having it. She hammered her bound hands into Bash’s stomach, trying to get out of his grasp. She was no match for demonic strength though, and he only pressed her tighter against him.
“My family thinks I’m dead?!” she screamed. “You all KIDNAPPED me, faked my death, and didn’t give me a choice?! I need to see them. Now.”
“Nuh uh,Princess Di,” I taunted her. I loved getting a rise out of her, feeding off her sadness and fear. It tasted delicious, like little bursts of citrus exploding on my tongue. The angrier she got, the more tart it tasted. “You can’t contact them, because as far as the world is concerned, you don’t exist anymore. Give them a couple of years, they’ll forget about you unless it’s your birthday or the holidays.”
