Page 12 of Resurrection (Daemons & Lumens #2)

CHAPTER NINE

Seraphina

G uards flooded into the room a few moments after the guard leapt from the window. I don’t know why I trusted him to take Tibby, but I did. Laszlo lay on the floor behind me, and I was honestly bummed I couldn’t turn enough to watch him bleed.

From my peripheral, I watched as he pulled the knife from his neck and began chanting. Heat radiated around him as he huffed and leaned forward to sit up.

“Go fucking find them!” he shouted at the guards as they all stared dumbly at their bloody King.

Laughter bubbled out of me, and I couldn’t stop it.

Laszlo jumped to his feet, grabbing the stupid remote, and pressed down on the button angrily.

Pain shot through me like wildfire. The electricity coursed through my veins and sizzled with enough force to knock out a regular person.

But I refused. I forced my mind to stay coherent as the electric heat invaded every inch of my body.

When it ended, I sagged against the chair, my body already trying to heal itself.

I laughed again, and Laszlo grabbed my hair, tugging my head back to look up at him.

“All powerful King. Do you still feel like you’re in control?” I laughed in his stupid face, not stopping even as he pressed the button and the electricity set my insides on fire again.

The girls screamed as I watched the gym burn. The fire was out of control. I doused the entire place in gasoline. And the girls were screaming, begging me for help. Begging me to save them. But I just stood there, smiling.

No. That wasn’t right. It didn’t happen like that. I cried when I heard them.

I didn’t try to save them. I knew I wouldn’t burn, but I still refused to save them. I let them scream.

No. That wasn’t right either. I didn’t know I could heal from that. I thought the fire was too much. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know.

Their screams grew louder and more piercing as their bodies burned. I didn’t save them. I knew I could, but I didn’t save them.

Someone was screaming. Something wet was on my face. Wait, I was screaming. I opened my eyes, and the images and sounds of the dream faded. That was just a dream. It didn’t happen like that.

A dark chuckle sounded behind me, and I tried to move but realized quickly I was chained to a table.

I was also almost naked, covered in only my black lace bra and underwear.

A man walked around the table so I could see him.

His face was passive, and his eyes were dead.

More disturbing than Laszlo or Darren. This was Samuel Delano.

I hated seeing the similarities between him and my Levi.

Levi was so full of life and emotion. His father was dead inside.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Stay the fuck out of my head, you sick fuck.” How did he even get in there?

Samuel cocked his head to the side, studying me.

“Me? I think you should be looking inward, daughter of Aurora. You’re a murderer.

They were children, and you left them to die.

” He tsked at me, shaking his head in mock sympathy.

This monster had no actual feelings. “How do you think they felt, knowing someone they trusted left them to die? Burning alive is quite painful.”

“Shut the fuck up!” I raged at him. “It was an accident. I didn’t know they were in the building.”

“Are you certain?” He walked casually around the table, running his hands up my leg, and I resisted the urge to vomit. “I think you knew. But it didn’t matter, did it? Their father was your target, but taking them all out made it easier. No loose ends. Very clever.”

I ground my teeth, seething. “That. Is. Not. What. Happened.” Rage and guilt warred inside my mind. He was wrong.

“Tut tut.” Samuel shook his head, his fingers walking lightly up my arm and across my chest. “You’re just like us, Seraphina Valdis. Ruthless. Vile. Powerful. You could be a queen here.”

Something shifted in his voice. It was soothing, forcing my rage back into its cage.

He spoke softly as he traced his fingers over my skin.

But it wasn’t revolting, it was nice. He murmured words I didn’t know between his comments of my rise to power.

My chance to join them. Rule the weaker men. Take from them.

Part of my mind screamed to ignore this, ignore him, but I was so tired. His voice was a lullaby. “You can save them all. Join us. Claim your power, your true nature. A hunter. A killer.”

“No.” I tried to shake my head, but everything felt heavy, weighed down by his words and my failures.

Seraphina. You’re stronger than this.

The voice whispered from the depths of my mind, and I strained to hear it. I knew that voice.

“You’re a killer. You will kill again. For us.”

“No.”

You can save them, Seraphina.

“You are one of us.”

Save them. Save them all.

“Join us.”

Save us.

“Join us.”

I screamed, unable to take it any longer. The voice. My mother. It was my mother. I screamed and screamed, heat radiating out of me as a power exploded through the room. Samuel Delano flew through the air, his back slamming into the wall across the room before his body dropped to the floor.

The feeling of power and warmth faded quickly, and I lay there panting, confused, angry, and wracked with guilt.

Samuel groaned, picking himself off the floor and swiping away the dirt from his suit jacket. The Kings were always dressed in suits, entirely too self-important. He smiled as his blue eyes, too much like his son’s, locked with mine. “How curious.”

“Fuck you up the ass with a hot poker, Samuel Delano,” I snapped at him. My brain throbbed like the worst hangover in the world. I needed a damn drink. And I had the strongest urge to stab someone.

“I have found that particular bit of torture to be quite effective, actually. Turns men into mewling babes.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and cocked his head at me once more.

I wasn’t even surprised by his response. “Perhaps you should try it out.”

He chuckled. “Perhaps.”

I pulled against the chains keeping me locked to the table. “Where the fuck is my sister? I demand you let me see her.”

Samuel moved closer to the table and reached out, tracing circles across my stomach. “You will see her this evening. We have much to plan before the big event. Your full cooperation will be required.”

I rolled my eyes, jerking away from his disgusting hands roaming over my skin. “Good fucking luck with that.”

His hand snapped out and gripped my cheeks hard, nearly enough to make my eyes water. Sadistic lust filled his gaze. “If you do not, your sister will be given to me next.”

“If you fucking touch her, I. Will. Kill. You.” I growled through the pain of his fingers digging into my face.

“We will see.” Samuel smacked my cheek like the jackass he was and left the room.

Guards entered a few moments later. I let them pull me along through the manor, back to my own room.

My mind was reeling. I heard my mother’s voice.

I knew it was her. How did that even happen?

And that heat. The power that exploded out of me.

I never felt anything like it, but how could I summon it again?

My back tingled and itched like my skin was too tight and something needed to escape.

There was something powerful building inside me, something hiding beneath the surface.

And I needed to find a way to let it out.