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Lights danced on water and I pulled myself to my feet, shaking the cobwebs from my head. My face felt like I had put it through a meat grinder and I closed my eyes for a moment assessing the rest of the damage. The platinum chains were back, but I couldn’t feel the burn of it anymore, just the restraint.
My eyelids fluttered open and I scanned the magnificent view. If I hadn’t been on the edge of catatonic, I might have been able to appreciate the scenery. I scanned the night image and then the room.
Eve still lay crumpled where she had landed and I suspected she might actually be dead.
A burning sensation crossed my chest and I clamped my teeth together against the bellow of pain. Warm liquid scaled down my stomach and I glanced down at the cuts across my chest before raising my gaze.
“Tic-tac-toe?” I managed to rasp.
Lucifer stood with his back to me, his wings fluttered as he glanced over his shoulder. “I had to keep myself entertained,” he smiled.
“Sadistic bastard,” I whispered under my breath and it occurred to me that I’d have to expand my vocabulary where he was concerned.
“Tonight will be your last night on earth,” he said, refocusing on the scenery in front of him. “The sunrise over Candlewood Lake is breath taking.” There was no humor or mocking in his voice, just a quiet calmness that left my skin numb and meant only one thing.
“Naomi,” I whispered, the ache in my soul grew and I slumped in the chains.
“She and my brother are planning a half-assed rescue mission,” Lucifer said and swiped his finger across the empty space again.
The immediate burn made me gag, and I hitched my breath in. More warm liquid slid down to the edge of my jeans. This time it continued down, tickling through the fine hairs on my legs.
“If she doesn’t get here soon, you may end up bleeding out before sunrise.” This time he turned and stared me down, crossing the distance. “You may even miss the opportunity to witness our union.”
This was the one weapon he had to crush me and he knew it. I was beyond physical pain but the mental anguish of his intent grew through me as fast as the bloodstains on my jeans. I snarled and lunged but the chains kept me in place. My teeth made a brief appearance driven by both hunger and fury but exhaustion won out and I slumped against the chains again. I didn’t know when the last time I ate was and the smell of my own blood made my mouth water.
“How long has it been since you’ve been able to taste her,” he said, tapping his finger on his lips. “A couple of weeks? It is really too bad you couldn’t suffer longer.”
I pressed my lips together, refusing to play his game. If I had a chance, I’d rip her throat out so she wouldn’t have to succumb to his diabolical plan.
He leaned closer. “I’m not talking about her blood, either,” he said and winked.
The moan on the floor pulled both our attention away. Distaste carved into his features and he brought his gaze back to me.
“I have no idea what my brother saw in her,” he said, waving toward the semi-conscious vampire. “And I don’t understand why Lilith chose her over me, either.”
I snorted and glanced away. I could think of a million and one reasons and one of them slipped from my lips before I could catch it. “Perhaps it’s because you were a royal bastard even back then.”
The stab in my side drew a wince, and I looked down. Four fingernails were embedded between the bones of my ribcage. He tilted his head and smiled as he yanked them from my flesh. Lucifer stared at the blood streaking his nails and slipped them one by one in his mouth, tasting and raising an eyebrow.
“She was right. You do taste a little like her son.”
I could see the wheels turning in his head and his gaze dropped to my chest. The image of him drinking blood from Athena’s beating heart flashed in my memory just before his eyes flicked back to mine.
“You’re lucky,” he said and stepped back.
“Why am I lucky?”
He smiled crossing to the spot in front of the window with his back to me.
My gaze scanned the sky and I sighed at the ambient light signaling the imminent sunrise. The report of a gun snapped my head in the direction of the entryway. Naomi’s voice rang through the ruckus spouting the foulest curses, and my heart shriveled.