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Devils Weep

MICHAEL

I stood up off the edge of her bed, unable to take my eyes off of her. Those endless tumbling waves of darkness had been severed clean off, leaving a blunt curtain of black hair that slashed below her chin like an obsidian blade. The drastic change made her features sharper, her piercing eyes more intense.

It was different, so fucking different. Yet somehow, it felt like the true Emilia.

It matched the energy I’d seen billow from her that night I’d watched her from the stars.

Her lethal nature had risen to the surface now, but I’d seen the preface of it that night. The icy danger lurking within her was tangible in the air around her, gleaming from her eyes like pale candles. The way she moved, the way her stoic expression never cracked. Not even when I surprised her just now.

Before that night, she’d been like a fawn. Timid, careful, unsure. But the fawn had died amid blood, smoke, and chaos. She’d been ground to dust, her softness shattered. One girl entered the stadium that night. Another came out.

The same could be said for all of us.

At first, she had been stuck. Frozen. I watched from the sky as she had become immobilized by the violence, unable to act or fight. She’d nearly crumbled under the weight of it.

Then something in her had snapped. Or perhaps fallen into place.

She’d tilted her head back. Lifted her eyes to the stars, demanding absolution.

It shot out of her, that absolution. Vicious, vengeful magic that flash froze every vampire in her line of sight.

I suspected she was unaware of how many lives she’d actually taken.

She and her sister both.

Her eyes trailed over me, taking in my sharp Veneficus jacket. Yeah, I was one of them now. Ha . Not.

My time at Veneficus, admittedly, hadn’t been half bad. I was Michael the mortal, but I was powerful enough to have earned their respect. Even their fear. A handful of different guys had tried to put me in my place. They’d all been obliterated by the mysterious shield that loomed around me, shooting all magical attacks back to sender. I didn’t fucking understand it, but I acted like I did. Pretended I was doing it on purpose. Once they realized they couldn’t touch me, they left me alone.

That, and learning I could hijack their dreams. That I could learn their deepest secrets, their worst fears and most jarring desires. It was crazy, the shit some of them kept hidden. That , more than any element or shield, made me formidable in their eyes. The instinct to smite me died knowing I could expose the worst parts of them without lifting a finger.

I’d even made a couple of buddies. Ezekiel and Damon. Not bad guys.

I didn’t miss home. It didn’t miss me. There had been nothing for me there.

There was no denying that this city had something for me. Something that would kill me. But I’d stay and fight to the death for it anyway.

I gripped the staff I was forced to have bitterly. It was a mockery more than anything. Students of Veneficus needed to have a staff, even if mine was useless. My ‘abilities’ could not be channeled through the wood and crystal. I was forced to have this thing, though, and carry it around as a symbol of my wrongness.

I wasn’t one of them. I was an imposter.

“Hello, love.”

“What are you doing here?” she breathed, not moving from her spot by the door.

I shrugged. “Well. I never see you anywhere else.”

My words were loaded. They permeated the air between us. I’d given her that dream serum and she hadn’t taken it yet. She was afraid. Rightfully so, I suppose.

But it still fucking pissed me off. She’d shut down. Collapsed in on herself. Gave up on Nyx, gave up on Natalia. Gave up on me.

I’d been sent to Veneficus, and she had left . Left the city and all of us behind. To do what, exactly? Mope around. I’d seen her in the Dream Realm a handful of times, and she wasn’t lucid for any of them. I’d driven myself crazy trying to reach her. Both in the Dream, and through her blackmirror.

Ezekiel had caught me staring at the long, pathetic thread of my unanswered texts. My face had gone hot and I’d realized what a fucking sucker I was being. I deleted all the texts, but he’d reprimanded me for that.

“Don’t give up,” he’d told me.

“Why? She clearly doesn’t wanna talk to me. I’m done.”

He’d rolled his eyes. “You leave her alone, and someone else will catch her fancy.”

A fire had lit in my heart. I’d swallowed the smoldering coals down my throat, feeling them settle in my stomach.

“Your digital yearning isn’t gonna do it, darling. She needs action. She needs grand gestures! She needs to know you want her. Anyone can send a text. You should make a trip to her hometown. It’s yours, too, isn’t it? And you haven’t followed her back yet? Ugh, chivalry is dead.”

I’d sneered, annoyed. The guy was gay as fuck yet apparently knew way more about women than me.

“It’s a cat-and-mouse game I’ve grown tired of,” I’d sighed. “Every time I thought I’ve had her, she’s run away.”

“Uh-huh. That was when you were flightless birds. You both have wings now.”

“Things are different. We were friends before. We’re…I don’t know what we are now.”

“Not friends? Well, thank the fucking gods for that. A little fury and angst are the perfect colors for your palette when it comes to the art of romance. Friends aren’t passionate. Enemies, however…”

“We’re not enemies,” I’d snapped. “Fuck off now, mate.”

He had chuckled and sauntered off, muttering about me fumbling a baddie.

Looking at her now, in real-time, I was even more confused.

No, we weren’t enemies. We weren’t fucking friends either. There were no words for what we were. I was pissed at her. Disappointed, miffed. After all the shit that had gone down on Hallows Eve, she’d fucking folded. All to be expected—but now she was back, and she was still doing fuck all. Natalia was trapped in magical limbo. Nyx, exiled and demonized, forced into hiding.

“Right,” she muttered, looking down. She swallowed before looking at me again. “Things have just been…”

“Busy, yeah, befriending that girl Venus. Nyx’s sworn enemy. Makes sense.” I didn’t bother hiding my venomous sarcasm.

Her posture stiffened with defense. “My alliance with Venus is strategic. She is powerful, and our motives are aligned. She’s already helped me more than I ever imagined. Plus, when people see me with her it instantly levels me up. Solidifying myself as a respected member of the Society is important,” she hissed. “If I’m a nobody, I’m useless.”

I snorted derisively, moving closer. “You’re not a nobody. You’re a Morningstar. I have come to learn that’s a pretty big deal in this world.”

Her frosty eyes gleamed. “It’s not enough.”

“It is more than enough.”

“Why did you come?” she challenged, raising a brow.

I didn’t answer that. Instead, I leaned down to be closer to her face. The urge to shut my eyes and inhale her almost took over, but I forced them to stay open and locked with hers. “I’ve seen Nyx. In the dreams.”

She paled. Her spine went rigid. For a moment, she failed to breathe.

Then, quietly, she rasped, “ What ?”

I glared at her. Offered nothing else.

She looked ready to unload on me, but then something else passed over her gaze like a dark cloud. She stalked across the room, to Destiny’s side, which looked like it hadn’t been touched in some time. Was Destiny not staying in here anymore? I didn’t have time to ponder, I was too busy watching Emilia. She pulled a bundle of sage and a lighter out of Destiny’s nightstand. She lit the burnt end of the sage and then blew out the flame, letting it smoke. She waved the sage around like a wand, coating every inch of the room in its pungent smoke.

“There. Talk. Now .” Her voice was hard, her eyes too. I couldn’t remember a time she’d ever spoken with such authority.

In that moment, it became clear. She hadn’t forgotten. She wanted to fight—she was fighting. Her flesh nearly exploded with the desire.

I raked my fingers through my hair. Blew out a breath, and chewed my lip ring. “It’s usually the same dream.”

She said nothing. She waited, her chest heaving.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She pushed me out last time, and now I can’t find her. She was reliving a memory, I think. One of her and the shadow wielder.” I spared her the details. “The night she got her magic back. Drinking with him in his penthouse.”

It was as if I’d spoken to her in Chinese. “What…? I mean—why? Why would she…” Emilia trailed off, descending into a whirling train of thought. “Are you sure?”

I nodded, a bit regretfully.

“What else? Wait—did you say she pushed you out? As in, she saw you?”

“Yeah. She saw me. I tried to see where her physical self was, through her dream self, but she wouldn’t let me close enough. I won’t lie to you, Emilia. She didn’t look good. Emaciated, almost. Like she hasn’t been eating.”

Rage coated her features like frost on a window.

She stared up at me. Silently at first.

When she spoke again, her voice was as cold as fucking death. “How many times have you seen her?”

I held her gaze. “A few.”

“When was the last time?”

“A while ago.”

“And you never thought to tell me.”

“No,” I shot back. “I didn’t. First of all, I never fucking see you, Emilia. Second, I wanted to have something substantial to tell you. I wanted to be sure of where she was. But she’s too guarded.”

Ice crackled up her arms. Coated her skin like glistening silver-blue gloves. Her chest rose and fell, her face twisting with fury and despair. The crystal earrings dangling from her ears trembled with the blunt ends of her black hair.

I found myself bracing for an attack.

But after a moment, she gathered herself. Her wrath didn’t wane completely, but she reined in it enough. “I want to go in. To the dreams.”

“I gave you that dream potion,” I growled. “You’re the one who hasn’t taken it!”

The air between us was thick and charged with something I couldn’t name. She bared her teeth at me, her eyes bright with cold magic.

I had never seen anything so magnificent.

A passage I’d read in a book at Veneficus popped into my mind as I peered down at her, in all her raw, incandescent glory.

The nature of the Morningstar women was as ruthless as the dragons they claimed. While some mastered stoic reserve, others were utterly explosive, but they all shared one thing in common. Once their ire was truly invoked, the subject of that ire would meet a fate so cruel, that it could make devils weep.

When I had first read that, I thought, there was no way this was describing Emilia’s innate nature. The sweet, doe-eyed girl I’d met in school.

Looking at her now, though…

“Drink the potion tonight. It’s safe, there are no side effects. My friend Ezekiel made it. It’s also not as potent as the one Natalia made—you can wake yourself up at any time. Drink it tonight, okay? If you drink it, I can find you.”

Emilia stared at me thoughtfully. “I need a night or two to recoup. I haven’t been sleeping well. Tomorrow or the next night, okay?”

I clenched my jaw, impatience whirling in me like a cyclone. “Fine. One more thing, though,” I said, my tone dropping an octave. “I don’t want you to make it a big thing this time. Your friends don’t need to be a part of this. Just me and you.”

Her expression darkened. “I’m way ahead of you.”