“Oops, did I not mention that?” Lilah shrugged. “We have been taking a few of your scales for some funding reasons.”
“What?!” I exclaimed.
“Hey! They grow back! They are also worth a ton. Besides, we couldn’t give them your blood, even though it does go for more. But,that’smine.”
“You were selling parts of me on the black market?!”
“Oh, you are so dramatic,” Lilah rolled her eyes. “It’s Aran, not some seedy merchant. If it makes you feel any better, he has exhausted his usefulness.”
Aran’s smile fell immediately, and his head swiveled to Lilah for the first time since he had entered. “What? B-But, I helped you find her! You wouldn’t know she existed if it wasn’t for me!”
“Mhmm, you hear thatpasttense? We do appreciate you being our patron and funding us. It’s been great.”
“No! You can’t kill me! You can’t do this! Not for as long as I have known you and your mother! I won’t let you!” Aran said, dropping all of the facade he had worn up to this point. Now, his black eyes were wild. His movements became panicked as he raised his arms to summon his magic. Shadows appeared, surrounding him as a shield before tendrils materialized, snapping at Lilah like a whip. He was prepared to not go down without a fight, but Lilah just smiled at him like he was the furthest thing from a threat. Even Cooper just kept his sharp gaze and gun on me as if his—what would you call them? Booty Call Turned Partner in Torture? Accomplice with Benefits? Evil Booty Buddies?—faced off against a fae backed into a corner.
“You know, people keep saying what I can’t do today. You are helping to prove my point. Thank you for being an example. Now,die,” Lilah said, raising a single finger to point at him.
Before Aran could move to attack Lilah with his shadows or the venom of his words, his mouth suddenly went slack. Out of nowhere, his shadows evaporated like they had been hit with a burst of sunlight. Alongside the sounds of the forced air, I could hear a series of tiny wet bursts. If they didn’t go on for so long, I would have thought that I had imagined them. But then, hiseyes widened. It was just a little initially. But then, they bulged unnaturally as the blood vessels in his face darkened. Thick lines rose beneath his skin like poisoned roots of a tree rising from beneath the ground. A wet, gurgling noise escaped from his throat.
His nose was the first to bleed, the stream thin from one nostril before rushing out of both. His eyes followed soon after. Then, his ears. Finally, out of his open mouth and down his chin. Blood poured in rivers down his face, dark and violent. It soaked the collar of his luxury shirt and dripped down onto the shaggy carpet below. His body trembled briefly before jerking only once.
He didn’t scream. I don’t think he could do much of anything at this point.
Lilah watched with a tilted head and what seemed to be a mild, almost academic curiosity, like she was observing a science experiment.
Cooper’s eyes remained on me like there was anything I could do but watch and swallow my nausea as my stomach twisted.
When Aran finally collapsed, it was like a wet sack of meat hit the floor. I could hear the blood within him sloshing from what I could only guess were his blood vessels popping and drowning him from the inside out. He fell backward, the blood from his face changing directions to run toward the floor. I watched the blood puddle grow toward the bed where Cooper sat. There was no dignity. There was no ceremony. Just blood and silence.
Aran was an asshole.
But he didn’t deserve that.
No one did.
I stared down at Aran, blood still pushing from him and my heart jackhammering in my chest. I didn’t even blink. Not until Lilah came into view in front of me. She grabbed my chin between her sharp black nails, pinching it hard enough to sting,and pulled it up to make me look into her eyes. They were such a bright red that I almost had to squint to look into them.
“I think you believe me now. I can summon any of your little found family that you have left and do that to them. Picture that griffin-shifting uncle of yours. Maybe his kitty-witchy boyfriend. Or, I could do your fitchy aunt and her little girls. The guardians from the library, the mermaid princess, or Aran’s baby girl. You know, Cooper doesn’t give a shit about his siblings so I could pick any of them off. Or, perhaps I would just cut straight to your heart and bringherhere. We could start small. I would simply make some tiny cuts between her knuckles and pour lemon juice in them, just so you can hear her screams. Then, I could build up to clotting her legs. I hear that’s painful. Oh, maybe giving her a heart attack and healing her and then giving her another one until she begs for me to make her heart explode?—”
I reared back before I head-butted Lilah right in her nose. My forehead stung from the impact, but I felt and heard the crunch of her bones breaking.
So fucking worth it.
As she stumbled back, I roared so loud that the television screen shattered like a spider web. “You just signed your death warrant, bitch. You should just kill me because I’m not telling youanything, especially if you threaten my family.”
Lilah clutched her nose, her eyes the color of angry lasers on me, but I could see the blood dripping from behind her hand. I could see bruises already forming around her eyes and cheeks. I smiled.
So, demons do bleed and bruise.
Beside me, Cooper was on his feet in an instant. He pointed the gun straight at my head before unclicking the safety. “Be careful what you ask for?—”
“No!” Lilah declared, her voice coming out more nasally as she waited for her powers to heal her. “We still need her alive!”
“But—”
“If she won’t give us what we want,” I watched something click for Lilah then. A wicked full smile broke out on her face. “I have another way. Honestly, it will be more fun than even torturing her little found family. I didn’t want to expel that much magic anyway. Oh, Byrdie, you are going to love it. Just you wait.”
Before I could ask her what the hell she was talking about, Cooper clicked the safety back into place on his gun before cocking his arm back and hitting me with the butt end of it.
