Sister looks to me, then back to L, still not fully trusting him, yet there’s less murder in her glare.
“Fine. Go. We’ll talk later.”
Before she changes her mind and goes to grab Brenda the bat, I grab L’s hand and lead him back to my bedroom, locking the door behind us.
“What was that?”
“Tell me everything. I need full descriptions, names, locations.” He’s pacing. I’ve never seen him this keyed up, especially not over me. “What did they say to you? What do they want?”
“Slow down, ok? They didn’t want anything.” I can’t tell him what Crysis requested. Not now, anyway. “They just wanted to introduce themselves.”
He stops pacing long enough to turn to me, his expression indecipherable. “The Alliance?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“It’s their M.O. They’re organized—highly trained. They scramble our cameras around the city to protect their location. We haven’t been able to successfully infiltrate without risking exposure. And that guy you were with…I feel like I know him yet…I don’t know. Did you get a read on him?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“Nothing at first. Look, L, I know you’re pissed about what happened…”
Then suddenly, he’s right in front of me, cupping my face in his massive palms and engulfing me in heat. He runs a thumb over my bottom lip and silences whatever I was prepared to say. “Shit, Eden, I could have lost you again. If they would have hurt you…” His voice is so painstakingly desperate, as if every word is a tiny tragedy. “I would burn this city to the ground. I would hunt them down, one by one, and unleash a billion years a vengeance on every last soul that laid a finger on you. Hell would be too kind for them.”
I don’t even blink as I take in the anguish painted on his face. When he speaks to me like this—like I am more than a speck of dust in his world of myth and fantasy—I almost believe him. I want to believe him. Surrender would be so much easier.
“I’m ok,” I whisper against his thumb. “I swear, they just wanted to talk.”
He releases me yet still stays close. “Why?”
“Well…” I take a deep breath, and wet my lips, tasting the ghost of his skin. I have to give him this, if not for his sanity, then for mine. There’s no way I could tell anyone else. “One of the leaders of the Alliance is…my father.”
“What?”
“Reverend Joshua Harris. He’s part of the Alliance of the Ordained. According to him, that’s why he left me and my mother before I was born. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her, it was that he knew she was telling the truth. And he didn’t want to have to turn me in.”
“That is…” He brushes a hand through his dark hair, searching for the words to describe this shit show.
“Totally fucked, I know. I’m still digesting it, myself. All this time I’ve hated him for abandoning us. Now I don’t know what to feel.”
“Shit. Are you going to see him again?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. He had a lot to say about you, too.”
“Like what?” he frowns, taking a step back.
“Like how you pulled some freaky supernatural marking shit on me, and that’s why you could control me at that bar. Seriously? How could you do that and not tell me?”
He turns away from me, and resumes his pacing. So it’s true. “It’s not like I could control it, Eden. It’s more of a mating ritual—a way to keep others away from the ones we’ve claimed. And for it to happen between a demon—a fallen, at that—and a human is virtually unheard of. So I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know if…”
He stops and gazes at me, an unspoken apology in his eyes.
That look…
I know that look.
It’s the same one he wore in that damp, cold basement as Lucifer recited the sins that got his wings ripped away. It was how I last saw him before I took Lucifer’s hand and let him take me to Hell. Guilt. The face he wears is painted in bold shades of guilt.
“You didn’t know if you were claiming me or Adriel.”
“No, it’s not like that.” He shakes his head, but it’s already too late. “I would have claimed her before if it were meant to be. I just…nothing like this has ever happened before.”
I stride over to my dresser and yank out some clothes to throw on. I feel L approach, but he doesn’t touch me. I don’t think I could hold it together if he did.
“Eden, I don’t think you understand how dangerous the Alliance is. Now that you know their leader is your father, they could try to use it as leverage…manipulate you. I want you to be smart, be safe. You can wear the sensor that you wore at the Watcher’s house whenever I’m not around. At least we can track your movements.”
“No need,” I answer stonily, still rummaging through dressers.
“I’m serious, Eden. If you insist on living here, I need to know you’re out of harm’s way.”
“No need, because I won’t be.” I turn around to face him with an armful of clothing. “I’m moving back in.”
“What?” L breathes, a shock of uninhibited hope in his eyes.
I heave out a resigned breath. “I’m moving back in.”
Crysis asked me to consider it, and I told him I wouldn’t betray the Se7en. Two minutes ago, I still felt that way.
It’s funny what just a look can do.
It was even harder trying to leave Sister again, but after I explained that she and Ben would want their space, and straight up lied about moving in with “Lily” (barf) after getting over our spat, she seemed to hate it less. She still wasn’t totally warmed up to L, but she did suggest we double date. Which brings me to my next hard question…
“Why did you tell Sister you were my boyfriend?” I blurt out, cutting through the soft hum of the engine. L is driving the Jag Cain had let me borrow. I don’t ask how he got to Sister’s apartment.
“Is that incorrect?” he retorts, looking at me out the corner of his eye.
“Well…for one, I wasn’t aware we were together. Like together-together. Isn’t that something you discuss with the other party?”
“Fine. Let’s discuss,” he suggests casually.
“Wait, what?” I say, tripping over my words.
“Let’s discuss the prospect of you and I being together. Boyfriend and girlfriend, for all intents and purposes.”
“Can you please stop saying that? Boyfriend, girlfriend…it sounds ridiculous coming from you.”
“Isn’t that what humans call each other when they’re in a relationship?”
I cringe. Just the sound of the words on his tongue makes me uneasy.
“Can we…not?”
He raises a brow but keeps his eyes forward. “I thought you wanted to discuss this?”
“Yeah, but…” I suck in a breath and exhale my exasperation at this whole ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing, conversation. “Why do we have to label it? Boyfriend? L, I don’t think you’ve ever been someone’s boyfriend in your entire existence. It just doesn’t seem right. Come on, you were an archangel, then a demon—the demon, at that. That word is too insignificant to ever describe who you are.” To me. That last bit is just a little more truth than I’m willing to share.
He’s silent as he mulls over my words.
“You’re right,” he utters after nearly a minute.
“About what?”
“I’ve never been someone’s boyfriend. I’ve never been anything to anyone, aside from…”
“Adriel.” I want to rip my tongue out even as I say her name.
He turns to me, completely disregarding the traffic in front of us, yet somehow seems to navigate the road with ease. I’m bracing myself—one hand clutching the leather seat while digging my nails into the door with my other. The last time we were in a car together, it didn’t end so well.
“Eden, you have to believe that my feelings for you have nothing to do with Adriel. My interest in you existed long before I even knew
she inhabited your body. And what grew between us from that point on was born from something much greater than anything I could have ever imagined. You did something that your mortal world has failed to for centuries: you surprised me. And just that simple, human act has invoked emotions that had lain dormant since my fall from grace. What this is…what we are…it’s bigger than the both of us, firecracker. That is why I claimed you.”
His expectant eyes are still on me, shining bright against the moonlight. I don’t know what to say to that. But the earnestness in that silver gaze, and the conviction of his words, I want to believe it. I need to believe in him.
As underwhelming as it sounds, I whisper a quivering, “Ok.” Two letters is all I offer, yet it seems to be enough for him to turn back to the road. However, he reaches over and pries my hand from the leather seat, slipping his palm against mine until our fingers are intertwined. And once again, I am taken in by heat and fiery passion and a sensation in my chest that feels like it may rip me open with searing light.
I may be lying to myself, but goddammit if it’s not a beautiful lie.
“Amen.”
We lift our heads in time to see Phenex climb to his feet.
“I want to make a toast,” he announces, tapping his wineglass. “To our first Thanksgiving together. And to Eden, who has chosen to join our little dysfunctional family.”
“Thanksgiving?” I quietly question, not wanting to disrupt the rare joyous vibe. “But it’s December. It’s nearly Christmas.”
“I know. But you see, we never felt the need to celebrate it before, considering it’s a human holiday. And now, we have a human here to celebrate with us. Plus, it gives Jinn a chance to show off a bit.” He shoots a glance at his brother and roommate, and I swear, I see the bronze demon blush.
“Well, I hope you didn’t cook all this on my account, Jinn,” I say, my wide eyes taking in the feast before us. “It all looks incredible, but you shouldn’t have gone through the trouble.”
And it does. Roast turkey, pineapple-glazed ham, mashed potatoes (homemade, not those cardboard-tasting flakes), stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberries, honey-roasted carrots, and of course, macaroni and cheese. Not to mention, more freshly baked breads and pies than we could possibly eat in a week. Jinn had been working non-stop since last night, and when I asked what he was up to, I was quickly shooed out of the kitchen. Now, I see why. I’ve never seen such a feast before, and if it was shock value he was going for, he certainly achieved it.
“We knew that this was something you were deprived of as a child,” Phenex explains, a somber smile on his full lips. “And as an adult, you always settled for a microwavable turkey TV dinner, since your sister always worked holidays for the extra money. We all agreed that it’s never too late to create those memories that were robbed of you. And we’d be honored if you created them with us.”
With fresh tears shining in my eyes, I whisper, “All of you?”
“All of us,” he affirmed with a nod of his head.
I can feel her eyes on me from the other side of the table, but I don’t look. When I came back to live with the Se7en two weeks ago, they were reluctant to allow Lilith and me to be in the same room together. I was fine with that arrangement, honestly, but I could tell it took a toll on the others. So I assured L that I wouldn’t take any more swings at her as long as she stayed in her lane and kept out of my space. And he assured me that she would never be alone with me, nor have enough privacy to enact any more plans to get into his bed. Apparently, they believed her when she said she was truly sorry. And while I probably would never be at that place, I tried my damnedest not to make it awkward for everyone else. Even if I wanted to gouge her eyes out whenever I had to look at her perfect fucking face.
“Thank you,” I manage to whisper through the huge knot in my throat, my eyes falling on everyone but Lilith. Jinn had worked so hard to make this special for me. No way was I going to ruin it with cattiness, but that didn’t mean I was going to be fake. “Truly, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“Yeah, yeah, you fucking love us,” Cain groans from his seat, opposite of L. “Seriously, can we eat already?”
I chuckle. A month ago, the crass demon whose beauty was marred by a vicious scar that ran from his lip to his ear downright terrified and annoyed me. But after what he did—letting me leave with a little security in my pocket—I had grown to appreciate his brusqueness. And while I totally believed that whole encounter was orchestrated by L, he won’t admit that he put Cain up to it. So maybe the demon that boldly told me he hated my guts had warmed up to me. Let’s face it, L knocked me out and choked me within the first twenty-four hours of meeting me, and look where we are now. That, or I just make really shitty first impressions.
I look to Legion, who gazes at me with a glimmer of what I can only describe as adoration. While the others dig in with exuberance, he doesn’t seem to be swayed with the scrumptious spread before us.
“Aren’t you hungry?” I ask.
“Very,” he growls, his voice low. “But not for anything on this table.”
I bite my lip to contain my smile. I know what’s on his mind, and it doesn’t have shit to do with turkey.
“Unless you’d like to sit your pretty ass on this table,” he tacks on, moving in close to tease my ear with his warm breath.
I giggle.
Giggle.
Holy shit, what is happening to me?
“Lame,” I shoot back playfully. “And seriously ill-mannered. People eat at this table.”
“Which is exactly what I plan to do.”
Oh hell. This dude is really trying to corrupt me.
“Excuuuuuse me,” Cain calls from down the table, his mouth full of food. “There are young, impressionable ears present. Stop being gross. People are trying to eat here.”
I actually feel like my face has just burst into flames. Like legit fire coming out of my ears. Damn their supernatural hearing! Legion and I look at each other and share a sheepish chuckle.
“Potatoes?” he asks, scooping up a helping of white, fluffy clouds.
I hold out my plate. “Please.”
He takes the task of serving me until my plate is literally overflowing. He still hasn’t gotten used to human sustenance requirements. Either he forgets that I need to eat regularly, or he thinks I eat like him and his demon comrades—like it’s going out of style. There’s a good chance they’ll clean the entire table in one sitting.
“I was thinking we could watch a movie tonight,” L suggests, cutting into his turkey.
“No patrol?”
“Not for me.” He slides a tender morsel onto his tongue and chews slowly. “Any suggestions?”
This is a treat. Ever since L attempted the dreaded boyfriend-girlfriend conversation, he’s made it a point to try to date. Weird, considering that we’ve slept in the same bed since the day we met, but I appreciate the effort. Courtship, he explained, is a purely human practice. Most supernatural creatures know right away if they are destined to be with another, be it purely for physical gratification or more. And while our bedroom activities are hot enough to melt the paint off the walls, I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed dating him. It’s new, but it’s nice. At least with him it is.
“Hmmm… how about Stigmata?”
He narrows his eyes at me, while I playfully bat my lashes.
“What? Isn’t that on Netflix? Or Constantine? Fallen? Oh! End of Days. The Governator is in that one,” I suggest, complete with really bad, really cheesy Austrian accent.
“Very funny, firecracker,” he grins, his gaze darkening. “How about we 86 the movie and just binge watch a series. Lucifer work for you?”
I grimace. “Nah. But there’s a movie called Legion I’ve been dying to see.”
He gives me a pointed look before shaking his head and digging back into his food.
“What?” I ask coyly. “Prophetic apocalyptic flicks are my jam.”
??
?You just want to pick my brain on what’s fact and what’s fiction,” he accuses, pointing his fork at me. “We couldn’t even get through an episode of Supernatural without you looking at me with glee in your eyes every five minutes.”
“Oh, come on! That glee was totally for Sam and Dean. Besides, don’t you want me to be well-informed?”
“You’re more informed than most humans.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Informed, period. I want to know everything. About you. About your world.”
“Eden…” He sets his fork down before taking mine as well. Then he gathers my hands in his. “You are my world.”
I blush, and when uncontained elation becomes too hard to hide, I look down from his intense stare. “You can’t mean that. You barely even know me.”
“I know everything there is to know about you,” he replies, letting me have my hands back. “And I didn’t even have to watch some ridiculous sitcom about impossibly self-indulgent women trying to balance love, success and family, riddled with exhausting quips and pop culture clichés.”
He resumes eating his food, but my pointed gaze is glued to his head, my mouth screwed into a knowing smile.
“You’ve been watching Gilmore Girls, haven’t you?”
He doesn’t even have the nerve to look up when he demands, “Eat your dinner, firecracker.”
“So what am I supposed to wear to this thing?”
I pop my head out of the bathroom, a flat iron still attached to my hair. “Something nice, but not too nice. No cargo pants or thermals.” Although he looks damn delicious in his assassin black.
Legion screws his lips in contemplation and picks up two shirts, studying each one with a furrowed brow. “No tie required? Tell me I don’t have to wear a tie.”
I unravel the sizzling iron from my hair and damn near skip to where he stands. After plucking the hangers from his hands and setting the garments back on the bed, I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Relax. It’s just dinner with my sister and her boyfriend. Not a job interview.”