Page 29 of Illusory

“The Sisters of Roderick,” I answered, my eyes still locked on Morgan as all the blood in my body rushed away from my head. As in the three little bitches who’d tricked me into spilling my blood to release Lucifer from his tomb before shoving him into Trace’s body. They’d set this entire nightmare in motion and now they were coming here to what? Celebrate their hard work?

“Are you sure it was them?” I asked, not willing to take her vision at face value—for obvious reasons.

“I saw them gathered around the baby. Allthreeof them,” she answered grimly.

“Three?” I firmly shook my head at her. “Well, that’s obviously not possible.”

“Hold up. Didn’t you kill one of them?” asked Ben, still trying to catch up to the conversation.

“Exactly.” My eyes remained fixed on the unpredictable Seer before me. “I watched her die with my own eyes, Morgan. Your numbers aren’t adding up here.”

“My visions don’t lie,” she stated definitively and then caught my wrist when I tried to pull away from her. “I saw them, Jemma. All three. Clear as day.”

“Then maybe you need some Seer glasses,” I suggested coldly and then yanked my hand from her grasp. “It wouldn’t be the first time you came out with some wonky half-assed vision.”

Her lip curled up over her teeth. “My visions can changeover time, small details here and there, but they don’t conjure up dead people that don’t exist. I’m telling you I saw all three of them. If you don’t want to believe me, that’s your prerogative. It wouldn’t be the first time you willfully ignored what was staring you right in the face,” she bit out, making sure to hit me back where it would hurt the most.

Morgan was nothing if not an eye-for-an-eye kind of girl.

I couldn’t really argue her point, though, since willful ignorancehadbeen my MO on more than one occasion. Hell, I could admit my faults just as well as the next person. “Okay.Fine. Let’s say for argument’s sake that the sisters really are heading back here, and your visionsaren’tcomplete horseshit. Does that really change anything? This town has been crawling with demons and Dark Legion fanatics ever since the baby news hit the underworld. They’ve been springing up from all over the place for weeks in the hope that they’ll catch a glimpse of his unholiness’ birth.”

The way I saw it, it was just three more thorns to pluck from my ass. And that wasifher vision was even legit. Which I still highly doubted it was.

“It’s more than that. They’re not just coming to witness his birth.”

“Thenwhatare they coming here for?” I asked, growing exceedingly more annoyed with every second that this conversation dragged on. “Spit it the fuck out.”

Her brows puckered together as she shook her head softly, like she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. “It looked like some kind of…summoning ritual? They were gathered around the baby and chanting, but it was more than that. I’ve seen dark magic before, Jemma, but not like this.” She swallowed noisily and then reared back in her chair as though trying to put distance between herself and whatever the hell she had seen in her vision. “What they were using, it felt dangerous.Forbidden.”

“Forbidden?”

“Like the kind of ancient magic that doesn’t belong in this world.”

Oh. Well, isn’t that just terrific. I blew out a ragged breath and sagged back into my chair. Dangerous ancient magic.Just what this town needed.

“If the prophecies about this baby are true—if he really is meant to be the harbinger of the end of days…” She shook her head as she met each of our gazes, her own shrouded in terror. “I think they’re here to make sure it happens.”

10. WAR OF THE BLACKBURNS

Morgan’s impromptu visit had left me with a phantom tug at the back of my mind that stayed with me long after she’d gone. After clearing out the dining room, I’d spent the rest of the day training within its cramped quarters, alternating between combat with Tessa to being a magical charge station for Caleb while also finding time to work on my Nephilim abilities with my mother.

The latter of which mostly consisted of us trying to figure out a way to control the wings.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, I was completely spent and nowhere near closer to figuring out how to get the damn things to make another appearance let alone to produce and retract them at will.

My combat training with Tessa, however, had gone a hell of a lot better, probably because I was still infuriated with her and had relished every opportunity to strike out at her without repercussion. And judging by the way she’d glare back at me with murder in her eyes each time I knocked her to the ground, she knew exactly how much I was enjoying every second of it.

“We should break to eat something,” she rasped sometime later, her breathing coming out fast and labored. A clap of thunder reverberated off the windows, making the chandelier lights flicker in the dining room as an evening storm rolled in over the coast to greet us. “You haven’t eaten all day,” she pointed out as she pushed up onto her knees and paused there to catch her breath.

She was spent and it was showing.

“I don’t need a break,” I answered coolly, resuming myfighting stance with ease. “But if you do, then by all means, take one.”

Her glare deepened as shadows plunged her charcoal eyes into darkness. “I don'tneeda break either. I was suggesting it for your sake,” she bit back as she staggered back up to her feet.

We both knew she was gassed right the hell out, but of course, Tessa would never admit that out loud. She was far too stubborn to ever do something like that.

It was no skin off my back. If she wanted to keep going, I was more than willing to continue delving out the hurt.

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