I thought moving Sister into the Se7en’s headquarters would be met with intense resistance from Cain, but actually, it was his idea.
And that doesn’t sit well with me.
It makes the most sense. They have a fully stocked medical facility, an in-house doctor, it’s safer than Fort Knox, and harder to find than Area 51. And of course, I want her close to me, especially after suffering such a traumatic attack and losing her boyfriend in one day.
However, I didn’t expect Cain to be so…attentive of her. Cold, brash Cain hasn’t left my sister’s side since that fateful afternoon three days ago.
And Sister hasn’t sent him away, either.
“I hope you’ll be comfortable here,” I say to her, my voice quiet. Transporting her, with her bandaged burns and broken bones, took a lot out of her. Plus, Phenex had to give her a good amount of pain meds so they could sneak her out without alarming the nursing staff. I honestly don’t know how she’s still conscious.
“Are you kidding me?” she wheezes, giving me a sleepy smile. “I might fake being hurt just so I don’t have to leave.”
“You can stay as long as you want, Mary,” Cain assures her soothingly. I’ve never heard him use that tone of voice, all soft and calming and shit. Me, he wanted to rip apart just for breathing. But for Sister, he’s as docile as a housecat.
I. Don’t. Like it.
I mean sure, I’m thrilled the Se7en have been nothing but gracious and understanding about moving my sister in for her own protection. Andras even volunteered to turn the infirmary into some Zen, luxury hospital room, making it seem less cold and sterile-looking with some richer colors, optional soft lighting and a top-of-the-line hospital bed dressed in the softest sheets and blankets known to man. The guys also brought in a flat screen TV, a mini fridge, and plenty of books and magazines to keep her occupied. Lilith helped too, and I didn’t even throw a bitch fit about it.
So while I like—even love—all the effort everyone put in to make Sister comfortable, I’m not thrilled about this newfound bond she’s forged with Cain.
It’s understandable—sure. He was there when she regained consciousness at the hospital. And once he explained everything the first time (the first few times, she swore up and down it was morphine induced) and I confirmed everything over the phone, she looked at him as her guardian angel, ugly scar and all. I know she and I have much to discuss, but until her condition improves, all I want her to do is focus on getting better.
Phenex tinkers with the lighting settings and dims them to an amber glow after checking Sister’s IV.
“Let’s let her rest,” he suggests, using his doctor voice. “The travel was probably not the best for her limited lung capacity and injuries, and I don’t want her tempted to talk.”
“I’ll be right here.” Cain flops down on the plush recliner he requested Andras include in his renovations, and picks up a magazine. Really?
Phenex shrugs, the corner of his mouth tipping up in resigned amusement. I do not share the sentiment.
“I’ll be back in a few to check on our patient,” Phenex announces before closing the door behind us. Once we’re out in the hallway, I cut my eyes at him. “Oh, it could be worse.”
“How? How could this be any worse?”
“Well…” Phenex scrubs the back if his neck. “He could treat her like he treated you.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest and snort. “Yeah, I’d like to see that happen. Sister would rip him to shreds.”
“Then you should be happy that he’s taken a vested interest in her. 95% of Cain’s attitude is born from a need to protect himself. With Mary, he doesn’t have to project those bitter feelings because he feels she needs protection. Even at the expense of his own vulnerability.”
“But…but…Cain?” I screw my face into a grimace. “Why?”
Phenex lays a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Your sister has just suffered something unimaginable that left her body broken and her skin burned. She’s lost a good bit of her hair and she may not ever look the same. Maybe her perception of beauty has changed over the past few days. You should cut them both a little slack.”
His words are like a sledgehammer to my ego, and I instantly lower my head in shame. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I can’t believe I could be so self-absorbed. What she’s going through…I understand why she would seek comfort in him. I’m grateful for him. Honestly.”
“Well, don’t let him hear you say that,” Phenex chuckles before releasing my shoulder.
“Why not?”
“You, he still enjoys taunting. It’ll just give him ammunition.”
With Cain moonlighting as my sister’s personal bodyguard, Phenex giving her round-the-clock care, and Legion, Toyol, Andras, Jinn and even Lilith working overtime to pick up the slack, I find that I have a lot of time to myself. They’ve been monitoring the city for any potential Seraph activity, while also working with Crysis to uncover the terrorist. And since I’m confined to the apartment, I’m pretty much bored out of my mind.
I head into Legion’s room and pick up the paperback I’d been reading for the past couple days. It’s a mesmerizing story of a young woman who is captured by a man who intends to kill her. However, she ends up falling in love with him, only to realize that she actually has been in love with him her entire life. Funny how art imitates life. My life, anyway. In many ways, I’ve been connected to L since the day I was born. Whether I was twenty-two or sixty-two, fighting against the inevitable was never an option.
After a few minutes of struggling to focus on the words on the pages, my head too consumed with an unending stream of what-ifs, I put down the book and huff out a frustrated breath.
“You know, you’re more useful than you think,” a velvety smooth voice says from beside me.
I gasp and nearly tumble off the bed, looking every bit like a flapping, flailing idiot. I jump to my feet, my panic-stricken eyes darting around the room.
“How the hell did you get in here?” I whisper-shriek, not wanting to alarm the others. Which is stupid. I should be overreacting. I should be screaming for help. Yet, I’m not.
Lucifer crosses his ankles and locks his finger behind his head, lazing on the bed. “I go where you go, pussycat. I’m with you. I’m in you. All you have to do is think of me.”
“I wasn’t thinking of you.” I cross my arms in front of my chest in defense.
“Sure about that? Just like you weren’t thinking about me while Legion’s dick was shoved inside you? You really are a terrible liar.”
My face goes so hot that I swear steam is billowing from my ears. “Leave. Now.”
“Don’t you want to ask me something first?” He lifts a curious brow.
“No.”
“You sure? You don’t want to know if I had anything to do with the bombing of your sister’s building?” The corner of his mouth slowly slithers upward.
“You didn’t,” I challenge, daring him to lie.
“Correct. But aren’t you curious to know if I know who did?”
“If you wanted me to know, you would’ve told me already.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’d need to be persuaded.”
“Is there a point to all this? Or are you just going to keep on with the questions?”
I roll my eyes and huff out a frustrated breath. Lucifer and his little games. He wants me to feel like I need him. Like he can give me something that no one else can. Sex. Power. Information. His ego is a fat housecat that constantly needs to be stroked.
Lucifer lithely hops from the bed, his dark suit without a wrinkle. “You should know by now that there’s always a method to my madness, Eden. Just like tricking you into going to Hell with me, nothing I do is without reason. And while I won’t tell you who is behind the attack, I will leave you with this little gift: Have them look at the footage of that day. Study it. They’re on the right track, but they’re missing a very important clue.”
“Don’t you think we have? It’s all the same,” I insist, throwing my hands up.
“Is it? Your sister lived. Her boyfriend did not. Strange.”
“Because she was inside of the apartment. Legion had enforced the walls of her unit for protection. Ben had just stepped off the elevator and was making his way to their home. If he had been inside, he probably would have lived too. But there was a neighbor…an elderly woman…he held the elevator door for her. Thirty seconds. If he had gotten to the apartment thirty seconds earlier, he may still be alive today. But he did the right thing.” I shake my head and cast my gaze to the floor. “That sounds so selfish. All those people that died…good people. Innocent people. None of them deserved that.”
Lucifer strides around the bed and stops just a foot from where I stand. He doesn’t touch me, and I don’t know how I feel about it.
“This…guilt. It is not yours to bear. By taking you and attempting to hide you, I sent a very loud message, one that was to be met with retribution. For that, I apologize. However, it was your life or theirs. And I chose you. I always choose you, Eden.”
“What?” I reel back, my face screwed in disgust. “You sacrificed all those innocent people for me? You knew they—whoever the hell they are—would seek revenge? Why? How could you do something like that?”
“Simple,” he shrugs. “You intrigue me. Why do you think you’re still alive? Had I no interest in protecting my investment, I would have let them have their way with you when they came for you the first time.”
“What?” The word is a choked whisper.
Lucifer diverts his dazzling stare and chews his lip, the first show of anything resembling reluctance that I’ve seen since…well, ever.
“Do you remember when the state took you, Eden?”
I grimace reflexively. What does this have to do with anything? “Of course, I do.”
He nods. “There was a family willing to take you in almost immediately. I made sure you were placed in a group home, and shuffled around the system.”
“Wha…what? Why?” I stammer, my words just short bursts of confusion. Why would he do that, and rob me of the chance of a real family?
“Because that family was not human. And you would not have survived the night. So I gave you just a little push—a nudge. I made you attack the counselors that tried to help you. And when they detained you, I gave you the strength to fight them off.” He turns to me, those haunting eyes the color of a star-speckled night sky shaded with earnest. “You were labeled a “troubled child.” At that point, you were just another grubby face for the state to ignore. And I could continue to watch you.”
I remember it. I had always tried to remain under the radar, if not overly docile, so people would not suspect that there was evil festering inside me. When I lashed out at the people trying to help me, I didn’t understand it. I wasn’t afraid—I was relieved. All this time I thought my irrational fear stemmed from pent up rage for my mother. I thought years of neglect had finally taken its toll on me.
“You did that?”
“Yes,” he nods. “Once they got their hands on you, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop them. It was all I could do without waging a holy war on Earth. But I couldn’t let them…I couldn’t let them have you.”
“And Legion…?” Considering how he feels about his estranged brother, I wouldn’t be surprised if he pinned it on him.
“Unaware. He was so infatuated by you that he didn’t see what was happening. His longing for Adriel had made him sloppy. You were the next best thing.”
And just like that, the mood shifts.
Adriel.
“Legion didn’t know that Adriel had invaded my body until he rescued me.”
“He didn’t?” He smiles slyly, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. “You don’t believe that, do you? Which is why you’re standing here talking to me, instead of talking to him. Why do you think you can’t tell him that you love him, Eden? It’s because you don’t fully trust him.”
I shake my head, stirring myself from Lucifer’s mindfuckery. “You’re wrong. You—you don’t know shit. I trust him. A helluva lot more than I trust you.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself. Or better yet, ask them for yourself.”
“What would they want with me anyway?”
“The same thing that occupied Legion’s thoughts. Adriel. It’s not so much that they want you dead. They want her back.”
Lucifer reads the questions flashing across my face before taking a step forward into my space. I’m too stunned to push him away. “Check the tapes. Legion knows things—just as I do. Remember, we fell together.”
I blink. “Why are you telling me all this?”
His breath is warm, his voice soothing, like the whisper of a summer breeze. “Because sometimes silence is just as dangerous as vengeance.”
With that, he takes a step back, and he’s gone.
I don’t even have a chance to take a breath to replace the one Lucifer stole when the bedroom door opens. Legion stands there, his brow furrowed in skepticism.
“The surveillance tapes,” I say without preamble. “Look at them again.”
Legion tips his head to one side. His lips part as if he’s attempting to ask what the hell I’m talking about in the gentlest way possible. I save him the trouble, and risk his wrath.
“Lucifer. He spoke to me…speaks to me,” I explain, my tone clipped. “I think I know the source of the bomb.”