Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I got tagged with one,” Lee said with a huff. “I thought his wings were separate though.”
“His heavenly wings are,” Gray conceded. “He cut them off after he fell. He grew demonic wings that are still on his body, but that doesn’t mean he won’t guard the angelic ones. Having a piece of Lucifer means having a bit of power over him. He doesn’t like that. Not at all, and I worry what will happen if he catches you.”
“He won’t,” Lee promised. “I’ve checked and the Mantle of Arthur works here on the Hell plane. I’ve been skulking around a bit, and no one knew. Tix watches more than reality shows. The dude gets real spun up about Outlander. Oh, and if you don’t know, Liv and Casey are totally doing it again. I did not witness that with my eyes. I heard it as I was doing a sweep of the mansion with the mantle. Casey didn’t sense a thing.”
Well, he probably wouldn’t have stopped even if he had. I knew I should be pissed about it, but he’d had to test it sometime. “Have you followed Liv at all?”
Lee’s face went blank. “A bit. I wanted to make sure it was okay to have her around Dean. Most of the time someone’s with her, but when I find her alone, I do watch her. She’s struggling.” Lee turned toward the door. “Isn’t she, Casey?”
Sure enough, my academic friend stood in the doorway, a frown on his face. “Well, knowing you’re following her around won’t help. I suspect you know why she’s struggling. You know you really should run a plan by the elders.”
Lee’s lips curled slightly in an arrogant grin. “Plan? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was my turn to frown his way. “Yes, you do, and I suspect Evan does, too. What is the demon blood for? There’s no way Evan simply decided to give it to her so she could slow her transition. That demon blood should make Liv strong.”
“Only if you feed her the right blood,” Casey said, walking into the room. “It’s a trick I’ve learned Myrddin uses on his inner circle. I’d heard rumors about it before, but I had it confirmed a few hours ago. I asked Henri to test the blood we took from Liv right after we captured her. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t carrying anything that could hurt us, but looking at it again, he managed to ID the actual demonic blood that was in her veins after her last use.”
“And what did he find?” My heart ached for my friend. She was right there, but it felt like there was a wall between us.
“Myrddin has been feeding her the blood of what is essentially a worker-bee class of demons,” Casey said, his tone even, but I could tell from the hard set of his jaw that he was angry.
Gray’s eyes closed, and there was sympathy in his gaze when he opened them again. “Damn it. I know exactly what you’re talking about. They’re bred for being easy to work with. They don’t question orders or feel any need for physical autonomy. They’re naïve and trusting of their overseers, and loyalty is bred into them. If Liv has been on that blood for years, she hasn’t had much of a choice in what she did.”
“I suspect Myrddin’s been using her body,” Casey added. “She doesn’t remember things she should, or rather she remembers them completely different than what actually happened.”
“Okay, if that’s what this bee blood does, what would Eddie’s…” The revelation hit me, and I knew exactly why Liv was having trouble, why she’d started to have moments of clarity. “Satan blood. Eddie is a satan, and a satan must be ruled by reason and logic.”
“And that is why Rhys, Evan, and I came up with the idea to feed it to her. Don’t blame Eddie. We convinced him it was for your good, too, but we didn’t want to risk you saying no,” Lee admitted. “Although I will say Evan changed things up at the last minute. She was supposed to exchange it for Liv’s help with Dean.”
“I don’t think Liv could have helped more with Dean,” I replied.
“Still, I’m worried about my sister. She’s fighting the inevitable, and it’s going to bite us all in the ass.” Lee sat up. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you, Kelsey, but we’re used to being on our own and making hard calls without asking permission. I didn’t know if it would work, and I rather thought you and Casey wouldn’t want us experimenting on her.”
“I’ve known what you were doing since I figured out she was still getting dosed,” Casey said with a sigh. “I studied up on demon blood when I realized Liv was on it. I genuinely thought she was taking it to improve her powers. I never imagined he would use her like this. I feel sick.”