Page 37

Lilith

W hile Dad and Striker head inside, Leli takes me to sit on the bench in the garden. I sit there silently as I see the little herb garden is still flourishing. Some of the names look familiar. It finally dawns on me that Brenna has been keeping these around because she either knew Elara and I were witches or… she is one herself. They are common enough that unless you knew the magical properties, you’d assume they were for cooking. I let out a chuckle as I wipe away any remaining tears.

Callum is on the phone. It sounds like he is talking to Ulfric. “Yeah, Yeah. We made it to the orphanage. Go ahead and start heading down. We will be leaving for the warehouse tomorrow.” I see Striker come out of the house without Dad. He looks slightly horrified, but not in a way that makes me worried that something is wrong. I give him a strange look as he walks up to us. “Where is Dad?” I ask.

“Uhm…” he says, tilting his head slightly as he tries to find the words. “So… he just saw Brenna. They apparently have a, um, history. They haven’t seen each other since before Mom died.”

“Okay? I knew that.”

“They’re also mates,” Striker says almost cautiously.

“Oh, that’s amazing!” I say happily.

“Yeah… I am fairly certain they are in there fucking like teenagers,” Striker says. Daemon, Kael, and Callum laugh heartily.

“The poor guy has held out for twenty years, and he is literally a demon that fucks things to death. Of course he is fucking her. Twice, probably,” Daemon says, still laughing.

“Well, I think it’s great,” I say. “He deserves to find some happiness.”

“Yeah. I just wish I had not heard him say that,” Striker says with a deepening frown.

“What did he say?” Kael asks.

“Uhm… basically that he was going to fuck her to death, and she needed to speak up if she wasn’t down for that,” Striker says, and I laugh this time.

“You and Leli have been teasing him incessantly about me and the guys and this is what horrifies you? I hope you know he’s going to throw this back in your face,” I say.

“Yeah,” Leli says. “I don’t have shit to say. He can live his life, and as long as I keep my mouth shut, he won’t try to embarrass me.”

“I think you are all babies,” I laugh.

“Meh,” Vash says. “Let the man live. We have some time. Let the man get his dick wet with his new mate.”

“Vash!” Leli gasps, slapping his arm.

“We would’ve had an issue if I had felt that,” he says with a smirk. Leli frowns at him, and Vash laughs before kissing her. “He’s a sex-deprived incubus, Leli. Even only being half-succubus, you would be just as feral if you went 20 years. Shit, one week and you would be like that. All of you would be like that.”

“Yeah, your sister gets pretty feral if you make her wait,” Daemon says nonchalantly, and I narrow my eyes at him.

“I’ll remember that,” I say with a threat in my tone.

“Oooh. Are you going to try and prove me wrong, little witch?” he says, his voice low and husky and making promises I know he can deliver on. He knows whenever he talks to me like that, it drives me insane.

“Shut up,” I say, trying my best to keep my composure and not smile.

We begin making plans for when we reach the warehouse. Dad still hasn’t come out, and I am willing to bet it may be a while. There is no sense in wasting time. Lately, Fermin hasn’t been giving much advice. It seems like he’s trying not to step on anyone’s toes and has been keeping to himself more. The closer we get to the warehouse, the more reserved he appears. “What do you think, Fermin?” I ask him, trying to get him involved with the discussion. “These are your people.”

“Uhm… I think you and the guys should go around back and come in that way. You can sneak in before anyone sees you as they will be too busy looking for you to fight us.”

“That could work,” I say. “That will keep his ultimate target out of the front line.”

“Yup,” he says simply.

Thuly comes bouncing back over to us after having gone to find himself some food. Fermin and the others disperse as we see Dad and Brenna walk out. They look put together, but Dad’s entire attitude is different. It’s like he has a bounce to his step. Striker chuckles to himself and shakes his head.

“What?” I ask.

“See his eyes?” Striker asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “They’re like… bright teal.”

“That means he just fucked,” Striker laughs. “Learn what the colors mean, and you’ll be able to read him like a book. Just like anyone who learns about a succubus and how they change could read you like a book.”

“Well, that’s disturbing,” I say.

“So, you guys know every time she fucks the guys?” Vash asks.

“Vash, man, they are louder than skeletons fucking on a tin roof. I don’t need to see what her eye color is to know. Although, I wish I didn’t,” Striker says, and I laugh.

Dad and Brenna stop in front of us, and I just can’t help but pick fun at him. “Feel better?” I ask.

“Funny,” he deadpans.

“Hey, sweetie,” Brenna says as she moves to embrace me in a hug. “How have you been?”

“I’d say I’ve been better, but I haven’t,” I laugh as I hug the woman who has helped raise me. “I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m good. Better now,” she smiles as she looks over at Dad.

“So, you two are mates?” Leli asks.

“Leli,” Dad says with a warning in his tone.

“Chill. I wasn’t going to talk about you two fucking each other‘s brains out in there,” she giggles. “I’m glad you found a mate.”

“Same. It’ll be nice to see you happy more often,” I say.

“So much for keeping your mouth shut,” Striker says to Leli.

“Good luck with that,” Dad laughs.

“She’s trying to avoid you fucking with her the way she fucks with you,” I say.

“Oh? So, you two can mess with me and make jokes about your sister having sex, but hearing about your old man having sex is weird?” Dad asks, and Leli frowns.

“That’s different… Old people sex is gross,” she says, teasing.

“I mean… not really,” I shrug.

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” Leli laughs.

“I’m uncomfortable either way, so I’ll just run interference,” I say. “So, anyway. Brenna, did Dad ask you about the foxes coming here?”

“He did. We have plenty of room,” she says. “Tell them to come this way, and I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

“Okay. I really appreciate this,” I say. “We will get them to the Capitol as soon as we can. They have all been displaced and are now homeless, so we are going to have to figure out a more permanent place for them. I don’t want to move them all around too much. It’s not fair to them.”

“I understand,” she says. “They can stay as long as they like. We don’t get many orphans, since the birth rate is down severely for foxes anyway. We can house up to 500, and we have ten right now.”

“Wow,” I say. “That reminds me. I need to get that stupid birth control taken out.”

“I just cut mine out and healed myself,” Leli shrugs.

“I’ll do that when people stop raping me,” I say, and Brenna frowns at me. “Oh yeah. Apparently, that’s everyone’s new favorite thing to do.”

“Not everyone, thank you,” Kael says.

“Like I said. Skeletons on a roof,” Striker says, and I laugh.

“I’m going to wait until after everything settles,” I say. “We should get going, though.”

“Yeah,” Dad sighs and turns to Brenna.

“Be careful, please,” she says softly.

“I will,” Dad says, cupping her cheek. “After we take care of everything, we will come back through here. You are coming to the Capitol with us. Bring the kids if you want, but you’re coming home with me.”

“Okay,” she smiles and nods. Dad kisses her softly. It makes me smile to see him like this, to imagine this is how he was with my mom when she was around. He looks so happy, which makes me happy. He hugs her tightly and whispers something in her ear before pulling away. “Looking forward to it!”

“Gross. Is it old people sex?” Striker asks.

“Want me to repeat it for you, Striker?” Dad asks with a smirk.

“No. No, I absolutely do not need to know,” he laughs.

“Alright, kids. We need to go,” I say. “Dad, you are more than welcome to stay here.”

“Very funny,” he says before kissing Brenna again.

“Go. I’ll be here,” Brenna says.

Once Dad is finally able to pull himself away from her, we get back to walking towards the warehouse.

We walk as close to the buildings as we can, but there are mangled bodies strewn about that cause us to have to maneuver around them. This is my vision turned into reality. The faces on these bodies are the same ones from my vision of the war.

Thuly growls and stops abruptly, blocking me from walking forward. I put my hand up to let everyone know to stop and stay quiet. We start hearing screams coming toward us, and everyone instantly springs into action and branches out so that we cover more area. Thuly remains glued to my side while the guys hover close by.

As the cries get closer, we start to be able to determine what direction they are coming from so whoever is closest can be prepared. “There,” I say as they come around a corner and head straight for me. Thuly bumps me so that I will move out of the way. When the group sees all twenty-nine of us standing here waiting for them to approach, they come to a stop, and you can see the mix of fear and relief written all over their faces and eyes.

“Fox shifters?” I ask. I know they are because I recognize some of them.

“Y-yes,” a man says.

“Get to the old orphanage up the street,” I say. “Keep moving and don’t stop until you get there. A woman there is expecting you.”

“He’s g-got the people that freed us,” a girl stammers.

“Who?” Striker asks. “What did they look like?”

“The one who took the chain off me looks like you,” she says.

“Fuck,” I snap and pull out my phone. “Were you followed?”

“I-I don’t know. We were hiding out in nearby buildings, but some of the shifters were sniffing around trying to find us to kill us. We just panicked and started running when we saw one of the wolf shifters come in,” she says.

“Okay. Get out of here, hurry.” I say, waving them on. “Take as many people as you can. She has room. Stay safe.”

I try to call Volis, but my phone isn’t making outbound calls. Striker and Dad are doing the same thing, but no one’s phone is working.

“What in the hell was he thinking? Why in the hell would he go ahead without us?” Striker asks, his emotions running high.

“I don’t know, but we need to hurry,” I say. “Zypher will kill him just to hurt me.”