Page 32 of Resurrection (Daemons & Lumens #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Seraphina

M y Princes kept the Kings occupied while I snuck up to the stage, contemplating which song I should sing. A few good options for the occasion came to mind, but the likelihood of me having time to sing more than one before the stupid Kings ripped me off the stage was slim.

My insides were buzzing with energy. Somehow, I knew it was almost time.

The latent power hiding somewhere in my blood was pulsing, eager for whatever was coming next.

The tenebrite stone on my wrist seemed to respond to my power in kind, a steady thrum of energy growing within.

I couldn’t wear it on my neck and have Laszlo rip it off when he noticed the missing collar, so I wrapped the slim chain around my wrist like a bracelet instead.

The band members eyed me suspiciously when I walked on stage, heading straight for the lead guitarist.

“Hey. Laszlo Blackbyrn has requested I sing a song before, the uh, ritual stuff.”

I was prepared to give a speech, or fight, but the guy just shrugged.

“If you say so. What’ll it be then?”

The guitarist’s British accent sent a pang of need for my best friend to my chest. I whispered the song to him, and he and the others got into position.

A microphone waited for me, and I stepped up to it, looking out at the crowd.

I could see my father’s cage from here, his beaten body dangling from that fucking cross.

I closed my eyes, centering my mind, my heart.

We were at the precipice. Everything I aimed to do for nearly a decade was coming to a head.

This was an ending and a beginning. A new path was opening, but what would be on the other side, I wasn’t sure.

The music began, and I opened my eyes, ready to sing.

Dozens and dozens of creepy cult people stared up at me.

They were so gross. I searched the crowd for my Princes and found them instantly.

They stood together, and heat flooded my body at the sexiness of that foursome.

I smirked. Oh yeah. A fuckfest was coming.

Ty’s grin turned wicked, and he whispered something to Levi, who also grinned. My men were being filthy. Even the stoics, Dev and Andras, turned heated gazes my way. My body shivered, and I gripped the mic, preparing to sing.

“This one goes out to our fearless leaders, The Obscuritas Kings,” I murmured the words, dropping my voice low and humming with the music.

I sang out the first words of the song. Tonight’s performance was for them.

And for me. I chose “I am the Fire” by Halestrom.

As I sang out the defiant lyrics, my blood heated and my skin tingled with power.

The necklace wrapped around my wrist pulsed in response to the magic waking within me.

It was coming. My reckoning. My resurrection.

I would claw my way out of this hell, one way or another, and this stupid cult would see its fucking end.

The gazes of several angry pricks peppered my skin as I swept my own across the crowd.

My eyes locked with Laszlo’s furious ones.

I smirked, singing out the chorus once more.

His lips set in a hard line. My eyes searched the crowd for my Princes, feeling their hungry gazes watching every sway of my hips.

The endgame was the same, revenge to all who wronged my family, but now I had several someone’s to live for, dying in the name of that goal was less appealing.

The final words of the song rang out to a symphony of whistles and thunderous applause. That latent power in me continued to pulse, and I knew it was time for the ritual. My guess was on point, as per fucking usual, and dozens of guards entered the ballroom, blocking all the exits.

My Princes were forcefully escorted to the center of the room, but it was Laszlo Blackbyrn’s casual gait I tracked. He walked up to the stage, and I glared down at him.

He offered me four slow claps. “What a lovely performance. I see your voice is as enchanting as your mother’s. Did you know she could sing?”

Angry tears threatened to fall when memories of my mother flashed in my mind.

I did know she could sing. She would sing us to sleep nearly every night.

Her voice was soft and delicate where mine was lower and rough around the edges.

I used to imagine us singing together when I grew up, but Laszlo took that dream from me, like so many others.

He smirked at the turmoil written on my face. “It is time for you to meet your end. The infernal pain in my side that you are will be no more. And your essence shall be mine.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Don’t say essence. It sounds perverted. Although, you are in fact a fucking pervert, so I guess that makes sense.”

“Bring her to the circle,” Laszlo snarled and turned away.

Several sets of hands latched onto my arms, and I resisted the urge to commit murders. Blood would get all over the band members, and they were cool, so that would be rude.

I caught a glimpse of my father being pulled from the cage and frowned. What did they have planned for him?

Morax seemed to think we’d have several minutes to get the fuck out of here once the ritual was in full swing, and we would know when to make our move by the arrival of his brother.

I was mildly curious about this daemon prince, Phenex.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be as dull as his brother.

No offense to my sister’s taste in monsters, but I preferred mine a little wild.

The party guests were ushered into positions around the room, leaving a large circle at the center.

Several cloaked figures poured ash from containers, creating a five-pointed star on the tiled floor.

The guards pushed me to the center of it.

A set of chains attached to a bar on the floor were quickly snapped around my wrists.

“Kinky.” I smirked.

Ty chuckled behind me, and I turned to my monster man. His laugh was casual, but the darkness in his eyes was anything but. I winked at him, attempting to ease his stress.

Levi was next to him, placed at the next point of the star.

Andras and Dev came next, forced to stand at two of the other points of the star.

Chains were pulled from the floor and locked around their wrists, like my own.

Four cloaked figures came forward and placed the Princes’ relics in front of them, within the star.

Laszlo and Samuel stepped out of the crowd, gazing at the five of us. Well, shit. Here we fuckin’ go.

“Tonight,” Laszlo’s voice boomed throughout the ballroom. “The events of that unholy night will be complete. The power we were meant to have shall be unleashed. All who kneel before us shall be rewarded. Ego Sum Tenebris. ”

“ Servimus Tenebris! ” Voices chanted all at once, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I rolled my eyes. “You guys are all so fucking lame.”

“Silence!” Laszlo snapped, his face furious.

I smiled, because it was honestly my favorite thing to piss him off.

Samuel smiled back at me, and that was actually scary. He was so fucking creepy, and I hated that he was impossible to read.

“Bring forth the sacrifice,” Samuel called out, and suddenly my father was shoved forward.

I jerked in his direction, but the chains kept me locked in place. He looked horrible, and I was glad Michaela wasn’t here to see him like this. Nausea built in my stomach, and goosebumps peppered my skin. What was his part in all of this?

Laszlo nodded for my father to be brought closer, just outside the star of ash surrounding me. “To begin, a sacrifice must be made. I was hoping to have your sister for this, but she seems to have disappeared.”

“What a shame,” I snarled.

Laszlo smirked, and I hated that he could see me getting riled. “Your dear father will have to do. Even though he’s not your biological father, surely you still care for him?”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Laszlo cocked his head to the side. “You didn’t know? Even my son knew this. How could a creature like you possibly be born of a waste of a human like Joseph Bronwen? What your mother saw in him will always be a mystery.”

I stood straight, not liking this one bit.

This was not information you simply processed and moved on from.

I could feel the truth of his words, though.

Joseph Bronwen was always good to us, but the connection I saw he had with Michaela was always stronger than what I felt.

As if some small part of me was saving space for the love of a father I didn’t even know I had.

And Andras knew this? How could he not tell me?

Emotions burned through me, but I forced my face to remain neutral. Laszlo wanted to see me break, and there was no way in hell I would give him that.

Two cloaked figures ushered Joseph Bronwen into the center of the star, careful not to touch any of the lines of ash. My father’s eyes were bruised, and one was unable to open.

His less fucked up eye opened enough to see me ,and my stomach dropped.

“Seraphina. My fierce child.” He mumbled the words, his breaths ragged. “It’s okay, my girl. I’m going to see them.”

“See who? What’s okay?” I reached for him, holding his arms as his body shook with the effort to remain upright.

“This is my destiny. I’m sorry I did it all wrong. But we made it. And I’ll be with them soon.” Joseph spoke in broken sentences that made no sense.

A cloaked figure appeared behind him and held out a dagger.

I recognized it immediately as the one my mother left for me.

It seemed foolish to give me a weapon. I took it, and the power within me pulsed, nearly making me moan.

It rushed through me like a tidal wave, rippling inside me and filling my veins with strange magic.

“You will slit his throat, and the ritual will begin.” Laszlo’s command rang out in the silent room.

“No fucking way,” I snapped. Hell no. I wasn’t going to kill my fucking father.