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A wild wave of relief flooded my system. Fen didn’t act like he’d been told his sainted mother had once tried to end herself. He had a goofy grin on his face, and it looked like he’d gone through a bag of chips after he’d stolen my cheese sticks.
Liv’s memory was faulty. “I didn’t go into the vampire club that night. Marcus did invite me politely, and Gray showed up and was an asshole to him. I didn’t go to the vampire club with Marcus until after Gray and I tried to sneak into Ether and Dev had him thrown out. I was working on a missing persons case and I needed into that club, so Marcus took me.”
“Dev threw Pops out?” Fen asked.
“Right on his keester,” Liv said before tipping back the beer and nodding my way. “That’s right. Gray showed up and whisked you away, and then the king sent Chad to test you that night. You were coming into your power.”
“And you knew he was testing me,” I pointed out.
Some of the joy of the room fled like I’d popped a balloon.
Liv’s eyes seemed darker than before, and I wished I hadn’t said it. “Yes, see. I was evil back then, too.”
“Okay, and this got awkward.” Fen grabbed his soda. “Liv, thanks for talking to me. I appreciate it.”
Liv simply sat there as Fen stepped out and I followed.
“You have to be careful,” I whispered. “I thought all you kids were cautious around Liv.”
“She’s got a million wards on her, and honestly, I had questions no one else can answer. Especially you. I would never, ever know about the Great Toilet Paper scandal of your sophomore year if I hadn’t talked to her.”
I was pretty sure my face went blood red. What had she done? It wasn’t my fault I’d walked around half a day with toilet paper stuck to my ass, which would never have happened if Liv hadn’t talked me into wearing a mini skirt.
I never did again.
“It was not my proudest moment,” I replied. “But you should still be careful. I need time to figure out how to get to her.”
Fen winked my way. “Talking works. I’ve found being charming and awesome sometimes makes my enemies not want to murder me. Not all the time, but sometimes. Sometimes people are just looking for a reason to change. You have to give them some space to make that choice. And don’t get that look on your face. I can be patient. Goddess, can I be patient. I learned that from my dad. The one who didn’t get kicked out of Ether.” His jaw dropped. “Dude, did Dad bounce Pops? Because Dev couldn’t do that himself.”
“That was your Uncle Zack,” I corrected. I didn’t mention that Trent and Gray had an odd relationship back then. Gray had pretty much loathed Trent, and Trent had an inkling that Gray was important to him. On a couple of levels.
Fen nodded. “Ooo, I haven’t talked to him today. I’ll go see what I can get out of him while Evan’s yelling at her mom. I try to stay out of that. You want me to take Puff?”
Puff was in a marking phase. My house was protected, but the minute he trotted into another house the peeing started. I didn’t think my uncle needed that. “He can stay with me.”
I was surprised when Puff didn’t try to run after Fen. He stayed at the door until I walked inside and then carefully followed me.
“Did you have to tell him about the toilet paper?” I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I’d kind of avoided seeing her. I’d thought it would be easier to talk to her when I wasn’t actively imprisoning her. She would totally be watched while we were in Hell, but she would be able to move through Gray’s cabin because it was his safe space. Gray had become the head of House of Sloane, and as Lucifer’s favorite focus, no guest could harm him or a member of his family while on his land. His demesne, as Eddie put it. It was a safe place to keep her for the time being.
“Well, it was that or tell him Mommy was a freak who couldn’t handle her own supernatural status and tried to off herself. Would you rather I had started with that?”
So we were choosing violence. I simply glanced up and down, giving her my most judgmental look.
She shrugged and took another drink of beer. “This is not about my supernatural status, sister. I handled that fine.”
“No, but losing it made you lose your damn mind.”
“Or it freed my mind,” she countered. “When I lost my magic, I figured out who was there for me and who had merely been using me.”
Yes, this was one of the reasons I’d been avoiding her. “I didn’t use you, Livie.”
“I disagree. You used my magic on many occasions.”
“And my Hunter skills saved you just as many times.”
A humorless laugh huffed from her chest. “Sure. That’s what you tell yourself. I needed you to save me because you put me in danger in the first place. You’re the one who dragged me into your world.”
Oh, no. She hadn’t chosen violence. She’d selected hypocrisy. “You have rewritten a whole lot of history. You are the one who dragged me into this world. I had a perfectly good detective agency, then you sent Helen my way and you did it because the king told you to. You obeyed his orders over our friendship. I guess that’s kind of a thing with you. You like following orders, don’t you, Liv? You can’t think for yourself. First it was Donovan, and then Myrddin.”
