Page 42 of Witch Untold
Dimitri flinches as if he’s been struck. Elijah’s barb has hit home, and it’s my turn to wrap it up.
“No…” I make a show of studying Dimitri, as if I’m seeing him properly for the first time. “He’s not just a minion. He’s a confidant. They wouldn’t have survived this long without him. They need him more than he needs them.”
Dimitri blinks in surprise.
“You know what they need.” I allow a small smile to play on my lips. The kind of smile that says,hey, I’ve been there,back story here that I might share with you if you open up to me first. “You take care of them, don’t you?”
“It’s all I live for,” he blurts.
Of course it is. “So you wouldn’t want them to be hurt. Killed.”
“They can’t be killed.” He’s smug now.
So I’ve heard. “Every living creature can be killed.”
“Not my masters.” He’s so fucking sure of himself that I’m momentarily thrown.
Maybe it’s true. Maybe these creatures are unkillable. But there has to be more, something, anything we can use against them.
Conah beats me to the punch. “What lives must die. It’s the balance of nature.”
“My masters aren’t slaves to the nature of this world.” He rears back suddenly. “You’re trying to trick me.”
What did he mean, they weren’t slaves to the nature of this world?
“Oh, fuck,” Conah says. I can see his mind working. He has something.
“What is it?”
He looks up sharply. “Lilith’s journal.”
Dimitri makes a feral hissing sound. “That bitch.”
“It wasn’t rambling,” Conah continues. “It makes sense now. An impossible task for others but not for her and Leviathan.”
Leviathan, a being who can traverse the rivers and seas of time and space. One of Lilith’s lovers. One of the original fallen. Is Conah saying what I think he’s saying?
I need to be sure. “What are you talking about?”
But Conah’s attention is on Dimitri. “Lilith brought them here from another reality, didn’t she?”
Oh, fuck, heissaying what I think he’s saying.
Dimitri goes still.
“Look, I know,” Conah presses. “She wrote about it. It’s why her journal entry and the historical records about the Sons of Adam don’t match up.” He approaches the hatch. “They were brought here and history was rewritten. Our originals are dead, aren’t they?”
There’s a long pause, and I’m beginning to think Dimitri won’t answer.
“Yes.” The word comes out on a hiss of relief.
“Lilith brought your masters here from…where?” Conah presses.
“Another reality, a parallel world.” Dimitri spits out the words. His eyes flash with indignation. “They were torn from their lives.Shedid that to them.”
“But why?” Elijah asks the million-dollar question.
“Because she made a mistake. Because she couldn’t fix her own mess.”
