Page 57 of Wicked Thirst
Matteaus didn’t look away from us as he took it from Talium. He opened the paper and took his time reading it. After long, silent moments, he sucked in a deep breath and began to read out loud.“Dear Matteaus, I must say after weeks with this lot, I find them to be quite capable and impressive. Their magic grows daily, and as you and I have known each other for nearly all two hundred years of my life, I hope you don’t mind my saying I think you will find allies within this lot as they grow. I know I have. I admire their tenacious abilities, their sense of justice, and their infallible moral codes. They are a testament to all that is good and right. Yours, Grayson.” He crumpled the paper and threw it toward Taliam who caught it as though the move were planned. He sucked in a deep breath. “The Vampire wrote that to me only weeks after knowing you, Zinnia.”
Her jaw dropped. “I-I had no idea.”
“That’s right. You all have no idea.” His voice boomed in the courtyard, and I could only imagine how the students would have scurried away had school been in session at this very moment. “You are all failing him.”
His words fell hard on them, but I felt them deeper in my chest. I was failing my soulmate. I knew I was. I wanted to plead my case and ask for help, but I didn’t even know where to begin. “But the curse?—”
“—The curse has been in place for years and nothing has been done to end it.” He crossed his arms over his chest and the muscles in his arms bulged.
Mika shook his head. “One of your own has fallen. What will you do about it?”
“Your minds are also weapons. Do not forget that,” Kadeion added. Her voice was sultry and smooth with a seductive timber I did not expect.
“We are trying.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Matteaus swiped his hand down his face and the movement showed just how exasperating he found this whole thing. “Try harder.”
Another angel landed a moment later with a large sack in his hands. He stood next to Matteaus, and I leaned toward him, unable to stop myself. He smelled of blood and chocolate with a touch of wine. He smelled like Grayson. But he looked nothing like him with his blond hair and turquoise eyes. He handed the bag to Matteaus and moved to stand at the back of the group.Why did he smell like everything I desired?
“Thank you, Tristan.”Matteaus grabbed the bottom of the sack, then turned it over, dumping the contents on the ground at his feet. Demon limbs spread across the frozen grass, and I took a step back as the twitching pieces flailed. Matteaus opened his arms, motioning to them. “And now we have DEMONS!”His voice boomed on the last word, and I flinched back. He marched toward us through the body parts, and they squished under his boots. “Summoning demons is not something we take lightly. So, tell me, why isn’t Grayson here? Why isn’t he contained?”
“He’s stronger than we thought?” Beckett muttered as he shifted uncomfortably.
“Let me be clear, which of you knows how to summon a demon? And who taught him?” He seethed.
“None of us,” Zinnia answered. “Honestly.”
Matteaus glanced over his shoulder to the one who’d spoken in my mind earlier. “Aidenuli?”
“They’re not lying. They don’t know.” His eyes roamed over the line of us standing there.
“You are the most powerful of your kind.” Matteaus glared. “He should have been caught by now.”
“The curse is driving him. It’s like he’s listening to the voices in his head and can’t ignore them.” I didn’t want to argue with Matteaus, but they had to know none of this was our fault. We were trying to catch him. “He’s unpredictable and doing things I couldn’t even imagine. When we got to that field, none of us thought we’d be facing demons. None of us wanted to, but we did so no one else would get hurt. We stopped them.”
“Very well,” he grumbled. Matteaus opened his arms, and the twitching limbs all caught fire. Flames burst up between us, and I moved even farther back. I felt Kylian at my back and the others closing in around my sides. Matteaus took a step forward and walked through the wall of flames. The scorching fire seemed to almost part around him. “Atlas rises in two days’ time, and he will not be stopped. His vow is unbreakable.”
“But he’s his best friend. I don’t understand why he won’t just hold off on this.” I could never kill Dice, not in a million years.
“Because some friends understand it’s a kindness to be put out of your misery.” The flames danced behind Matteaus, and I could see the others through them like flaming shadows with their dark wings. “We will not interfere. You have two days. Piper, if Grayson kills a human, I will have no choice but to kill him myself. I will not risk our redemption on the vampire, no matter how much favor he’s garnered with us.”
I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to beg for more time or beg them not to kill Grayson. But the clock had started. I could practically hear it ticking. In two days, Atlas would wake and he would hunt. In the meantime, Grayson was running rampant with voices in his head he couldn’t resist. What if they told him to kill humans? What if he was out there right now about to do it and there was nothing I could do to stop it? Gray’s neck was in the hangman’s noose, and it felt as though it was being tightened around my own neck. If he died, there was no doubt in my mind I would want to die too.
“I suggest you hurry.” He flapped his wings and took off toward the sky.
The flames grew higher and embers drifted up into the air, then a sharp wind whipped through the courtyard and they were extinguished in an instant, leaving no evidence of the demon limbs behind.
I hunched over and put my hands on my knees and nearly threw up right there. Zinnia ran her hand over my back in slow circles. “Breathe. I know they’re a lot.”
“Did no one else hear what they said?” I straightened my stance and put my hands on my hips. “Two days.”
“We will find a way,” she tried to reassure me, but the panic was setting in.
“And what did he mean by saying he wouldn’t risk his own redemption? What does that even mean? Aren’t angels supposed to help people?” It was so hard to even process what just happened.
Astrid sighed. “The Fallen fell from grace thousands of years ago. They’ve been trying to earn their redemption ever since.”
“Redemption? They’ve been here ruling us for all that time . . . you’d think by now they would have.”
