Page 2 of Illusory

His warning, of course, fell on deaf ears as we all filed out of the room one by one, eager to escape into the only thing that might make this crazy, nightmarish day a little bit easier for any of us to process.

“Alcohol it is,” he grumbled to himself and then begrudgingly followed us out of the room.

* * *

My uncle’s liquor cabinet wasn’t nearly as well-stocked as Dominic’s bar always seemed to be, but it had enough of the expensive dark stuff to tide us over. After downing the equivalent of several shots directly from the bottle, the four of us convened in the living room, with Dominic sitting across from me and Trace hanging back at the entrance of the room as though he needed to keep a healthy amount of space between us.

I tried not to feel offended by it, but I couldn’t help thinking the big black feathered wings that had erupted from my back earlier had something to do with his sudden need for space.

I took another crass swig from the bottle and then slumped back against the sofa, exhaling relief as the dark liquor fired its way through my veins and eased my nerves. While alcohol wasn’t the cure-all for all life’s miserable happenings, it certainly helped take the edge off enough to make it possible for me to sit through the conversation that was stillbeggingto be had.

“Well?” I eyed each of the guys pointedly. “Is anyone going to say anything?”

At this point,anythingwas better than the strange looks I was getting from each of them.

“Has…” Gabriel shook his head, his expression pinched. He was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest as if to stand guard in the event that all hell broke loose again. “Is this the first time that you’ve…t-that the wings…that they’ve appeared?” he asked choppily.

I shot him a scathingare-you-seriouslook. “Don’t you think I would have mentioned a couple of giant wings springing out of my back if this had happened before? It’s notexactly something that would slip my mind.”

“Well…yes.” He scratched his neck. “I suppose you would have mentioned it.”

Another round of that dreadful, uncomfortable silence weaved its way through the room, making me feel as though I were melting into the hot seat of everyone’s unspoken judgment.

I honestly couldn’t stand another second of it.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say about it?” I asked, shocked that we were all just sitting around calmly andnotscreaming out a bunch of questions and obscenities at the same time—likenormalpeople. “Howdid this happen? How is it even possible? And why now?” I asked, my gaze unintentionally flicking to Trace as though his bite were somehow responsible for the whole thing.

Of course, I didn’t actually believe that, but my traitorous eyes went there just the same.

“Well, uh, I assume it’s most likely due to, well…” Gabriel shook his head and then met my eyes with regret. “Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure whyorhow this happened.”

“Truly, brother? Is that the story you’re going with?” scoffed Dominic and then took an unhurried sip of his drink. Unlike me, he had taken the time to get himself a glass as opposed to drinking out of the bottle like a street rat. “I think it’s fairly obvious to anyone who doesn’t have their head firmly rooted in their rear endwhythis happened.”

“Really? Then by all means, enlighten us,” retorted Gabriel, staring Dominic down with raised, expectant brows.

“She’s The Daughter of Hades, brother.Thedaughter of the fallen Angel Lucifer. You said so yourself.Of courseshe’d have wings. She’s as pure and ethereal as they come,” he purred, his wolfish gaze swinging back to me on that last part. “Isn’t that right, angel?”

My cheeks warmed at his words—at the way he was looking at me. Despite the absolute mayhem unfolding around me and within me, I couldn’t help but feel comforted by him just then; by the familiarity of his perpetual adoration. In that moment, it made everything feel normal and right again. Even if it was all just smoke and mirrors.

“But whynow?”asked Gabriel, clearly unsatisfied with Dominic’s basic explanation.

“Whynotnow? It’s as good a time as any,” replied Dominic, which I translated to him not having the slightest idea either.

“It’s because she was afraid for her life,” answered Trace, his rueful blue eyes pinned on me from afar. “Most of her abilities have awakened at points when her emotions were at their highest.” My breath hitched realizing that he remembered—that his memories had returned from the dead, right along with the rest of him. “I’msupposedto be her soulmate, and I nearly killed her. Do the fucking math.” The way he’d said that last part, it was as though he were already blaming himself for this. Like he should have been able to control the frenzied bloodlust.

The notion was absurd, and it smothered my heart with guilt.

“Please don’t do that, Trace. Don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault,” I said, popping up from the sofa and onto still shaky legs, ready to take a stand for him. “None of this is your fault. You weren’t even fully conscious yet, and I was standing too close to you.Ishould have known better. I should have given you time to adjust to-to…” My sentiment died abruptly, unable to even say the words out loud. To vocalize what had become of him.

“To adjust to being a bloodsucker,” he finished for me, the unfiltered revulsion heavy in his words for all of us to hear.His eyes continued to hold me captive as a million questions churned around their stormy depths.

The need to go to him then—to run to him and make this all better for him was overwhelming. And I’d started to do just that when he abruptly threw his palms in the air and backed away from me, stopping me dead in my tracks.

God, was he scared of me or just repulsed by the sight of me?I had no actual idea and frankly, I wasn’t sure which of the two would be worse.

“Please talk to me,” I pleaded softly, fully aware of that endless line in the sand between us. It had been there since the first day I’d walked into Hollow Hills and despite working so tirelessly to erase it, to trample over it entirely, it was stillalwaysthere with us, like a cockroach that refused to die. “You must have so many questions.”

He puffed out a dry, humorless laugh as the churning grew more chaotic in his eyes. “Questions? Yeah, I have some questions,” he said, the frown never leaving his face as he pushed his hands through his long dark hair and furrowed his brows. “How inthe fuckdid this happen to me? The last thing I remember is sitting in my car getting ready to meet with my supplier and then suddenly, I’m waking up in your house with nothing on my mind except…blood,” he spat, his lips curling around the word like a flesh-eating virus. “I feel like I’m in an alternate universe because none of this makes any fucking sense to me.”

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