NINE
Lilith
Another day passed with no word from Gabriel or Corbin...or anyone. It was fucking tiring. I didn’t do solitude well, especially when I was being fucking starved. The longer I went without feeding, the worse my body reacted. I could barely keep my eyes open from the hunger pains. I was used to going a week in between essence feeds, but I’d had blood twice, if not three times a day. It’d been two days without blood. My throat was scorching and my stomach burned hotter than hellfire inside.
Shivers racked my body as a cold sweat veiled my skin, and I laid curled in the fetal position on the cool floor beside the bed. Every small movement I made sent ripples of pain through my muscles, so every fucking shiver radiated pain. I needed blood and essence.
My weakened state was only making the pain worse, and that pissed me off. Gabriel was going to pay for this with the end of his pathetic, malicious existence.
The blinding light that encased the room told me Gabriel had teleported in, but I didn’t move.
“Lil?” Dean’s voice carried over to me, and I groaned, straining my muscles to pick my head up and lay it to the other side so I could see him.
“Dean?”
His eyes widened as he closed the distance and placed a hand on my back. “I’m going to get you up, okay?”
“Don’t move me, please. Where was that brotherly concern before?” I rasped my sarcastic question, and he dropped his hand from my back.
“You’re freezing.” His lips pursed as he glanced at Gabriel. “Aren’t you a demon-vampire-angel hybrid?”
“Ask your angel friend over there. He put a voodoo bracelet on me that made me practically human.” My throat burned as I spoke. “Pretty sure I’m weaker than a human now though.”
“To protect her from herself,” Gabriel said, his gaze finding the bracelet that seemed to have sunk deeper into my skin. The skin around it was inflamed and almost unbearable, but my hunger was blocking out that pain. “At least, that’s what I was told it would do. If I had known how fragile you’d become wearing it, I wouldn’t have put it on.”
Dean relaxed, but my temper flared.
“Yes, you would’ve. You like me weak, don’t you?” I spat the words he’d told me in the past.
“Lil, stop,” Dean said. “It’s in the past.”
I winced at the pain throbbing in my throat as my fangs descended. “Have you talked to Corbin since he came to see me?”
Dean’s jaw tensed. “I didn’t know he came to see you.”
“Maybe you should talk to him before giving me suggestions on how to treat your friendly angel.” I could barely hold on to my attitude with this pain shackling me down. A bead of sweat trickled off my chin to the floor, and I trembled.
An irritable sigh passed his lips before he stood up. “I came to ask you to give that friendly angel a second chance, Lil. Everyone deserves them.”
“A second chance?” A bitter laugh fell from my dry lips. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew the full story.”
“I do know the full story. Gabriel told me why he had to kill you, and how much it hurt him to do so.” Dean’s gaze hardened.
Horror whiplashed through me. “Gabriel isn’t one of your clients, Dean. He’s a fucking angel. He’ll sweet talk your ear off. Don’t let him feed you lies.”
“He sought us out to tell us the truth when you used powers to mess with our minds and hide things.” He shook his head, stepping back toward Gabriel, who stepped forward with a smirk.
“I told Dean everything, Lilith. I told him how we were engaged, together, and how you cheated on me with Aziel, just like you cheated on Corbin with the Draven clan.” His smirk faded as he forced a pained look on his face. “We know you’re capable of becoming a better being.”
“A better being?” I winced from the pain that ebbed through the lining of my stomach. “You’ve got to be joking.”
“Not at all,” Dean said. “You have a freaking angel in love with you. Why can’t you see that he’s so much better than the manipulative vampires and the evil demon you’ve been...consorting with.”
A bubble of laughter exploded from me, and my body shook from the laugh, mixing with the pain. “Are you fucking joking? If anyone is manipulative or evil, it’s Gabriel. Now, can you get the fuck out so I can continue to starve and see how long it’ll take for me to die with this bracelet on?”
Gabriel’s lips twisted into a sneer before he flicked his wrist and teleported Dean out of the room. I blinked from the brightness, hating the burning in my retinas. It was fucking pathetic how weak I’d become from this damn piece of jewelry, but he wasn’t going to win. He wouldn’t break me again.
I had to stay strong for Aziel, Thaddeus, Blaise, and Kai. They were my motivators.