He flinched, looking down before bringing his eyes back to mine. The depth of his feelings scared me, scarred me, ruined me.
I was struggling to hold it together. I wanted to reach across the table and sink my claws into his flesh, rip his head from his shoulders. My power simmered and felt dark, like what Lucifer was saying had awoken a part of me that wasn’t there before. It scared me, but if I wanted to, I could have killed AK and walked away without a scratch.
I could feel Lanier glaring daggers at the side of my face, no doubt angry about the obvious connection I had to Alias.
“Anna,” AK pleaded.
“Enough, you can suck her tits later,” Lucifer growled, the first sign of his true nature coming out to play. Then he cleared his throat. “As I was saying, there will be war, and you five will lead it. Though I’m serious about the fifth. AK, you should work on getting her now. Be gone.”
Just like that, AK disappeared, leaving empty air where he was just standing.
“Where did he go?” I stood up, despite myself, not liking that AK could be in trouble. “Bring him back!”
“No, he’s got things to do,” Lucifer bit out, annoyed. “Now sit.”
Invisible hands threw me into my seat, roughly. I quickly turned my head to look behind me but found nothing there.
Voice hard, I said, “No, fuck this! Are you saying that we were created for war? That we have no choice?”
“Of course you have a choice,” Lucifer mocked, smiling. “You could always choose to let Lilith take over the Human territory and watch as you, your mates, and all the Humans die.”
I sucked in a breath, what the fuck?
“Oh, did I forget to mention that Lilith wants to get rid of the Nephilim so that she can rule the Human territory? I think I did.” He nodded to himself and snapped his fingers before banging his hand on the table, making me jump. “Yes, that’s the plan. She’s working on making her own set of Elite Demons, and when I say making…I mean making. She’s a crafty one, my daughter. You five surely have your work cut out for you.”
“This has to be a fucking joke, right?” Quint questioned, standing up. “How the fuck does she think she can get away with that?”
“Who is going to stop her? Me?” The Devil laughed again, the sound grating on my last fucking nerve. “Certainly not. She wants access to the Humans, wants to create an open door for all her minions to do as they please. My only joy comes from things like this. Plus, if she wins, I win too. If she loses, well, that’s on her, no harm done to me!”
He was saying that we were created specifically to win this war, and I had no idea how to feel. Betrayed, confused, sick to my stomach?
Numbly I said, “You called me Queen.”
“Ah, yes,” Lucifer yawned, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up onto the table. “There is Hellfire, which holds my daughter’s favorite creatures. She reigns supreme as their Queen. Now, of course where there is evil…there is also good. Angelus. A realm created for Guardian Angels, Nephilim, upper and lower level Angels, and of course, The Elite. You guys. Lilith rules over Hellfire. And you, my darling little hybrid situation, are the Queen of Angelus.”
All the blood drained from my face.
“What?” Lanier questioned, his hand coming to squeeze my thigh.
My head was spinning. No way.
“Prove it,” I demanded.
“Gladly.”
Before I even knew what was happening, a dagger was flying toward me. In the blink of an eye, I saw Cabe stand up, his chair flying back, a scream ripping from his throat. Lanier’s fangs came through his gums, his eyes changing as the beast took over, and Quint, who for the first time, looked like he was a Demon, wrapped his hands around his father’s throat and squeezed, his eyes wide and panicked.
And then the blade flew straight into my heart.
I roared.
Loud enough to shatter the stained-glass windows, my power sweeping the room, the candles blown out under the strength of my pain.
Annalise crashed to the floor before I could catch her.
“She won’t die,” Lucifer sing-songed, throwing his son off of him easily, as if he were an unwanted bug on his shoulder. “Not if you all Accept the bond.”
I paused, looking down at Annalise, motionless and dying on the floor of the Devil’s lair. Cabe grabbed Anna’s face, shouting, hands shaking. “Annalise, no. Annalise, please!”
“WAKE HER UP!” Quint screamed at his father, his hands in his hair, a manic look on his face. I was losing him quickly. I closed my eyes, thinking over everything Lucifer said, everything that we learned.
He said that Annalise was the Queen of a realm that none of us knew existed, and somehow, our Accepting the bond would prove it. I had two choices. Let her die, let Humanity die, or Accept this bond. I’d be letting go of my father—who would forever remain my father, no matter what the Devil said—to save Annalise.
To keep her with me, with us.
My heart pounded against my rib cage, sweat poured down my face, down my back. My hands were shaking, my mind a mess of emotions. The power within me was darkening quickly, making what the Devil said even more real. I was losing control.
Earlier, at the penthouse, I assumed that Lucifer wanted Annalise dead…only to find out that she was Death. That we all were. We were created to bring death to those who wronged The Kingdom, but none of us wanted that role. We were going to deny this bond…
“DO SOMETHING!” Quint shouted. “I ACCEPT!”
He was openly sobbing, tearing at his hair, his chest. There was no priest, no true ceremony, but Lucifer was powerful enough to confirm the bond as Accepted.
Accept or Annalise dies.
It wasn’t a choice.
“I Accept.”
The whole room paused, my brothers going still at the sound of my voice. I looked Cabe in the eye as he sat on the floor with Anna’s head in his lap, unshed tears floating in his eyes. His pain was everywhere. I could fucking taste it, burnt and bitter on my tongue. It hurt to see him hurting, to see Anna’s lifeless body on the ground, blood spilling from her back. The scent didn’t make me hungry but instead, I felt a new wild possessiveness kick my body into motion. I looked to Cabe. “Accept, damn it!”
“I ACCEPT!” Quint shouted again, his voice tearing as he hit a new octave before he dropped to his knees next to Cabe. “Fuck, please.”
“I Accept,” Cabe whispered, defeated and broken, “I Accept, just bring her back.”
Anna’s raven hair was floating in blood, her skin pale, her chest not moving.
She was dead.
I turned to Lucifer, who sat smiling in his chair.
I took a step closer. “Bring. Her. Back.”
“Look behind you,” he laughed.
Then I felt it, the mating bond. Annalise gasped as the bond turned solid between us. No longer floating useless, fragile and unwanted, it became like a tight rope—sturdy, unbreakable. Power raced from all three of us and flew into Anna, her body shaking under the force.
I saw the subtle signs of the shift flit over her features, the slight tremble of her limbs. “Fuck, her wings, get her up!”
Cabe flew into action, standing up and holding Annalise in his arms, her body limp and lifeless though her chest had started rising and falling again. Blood dripped down to the floor, her hair matted to her face.