TWENTY-THREE
Lilith
Groaning, I turned on my side, ignoring the tingles of pain shooting through me from the small motion. A whiff of cucumber and coconut hit my nostrils, but it went away as fast as it came. Maybe it was all in my head. I wasn’t sure what was real or hallucinations anymore. Not being able to tell what was reality made it impossible to know when I was in imminent danger.
The only thing I could do was focus on breathing and on my heartbeat as the rate dropped lower and lower the more time that passed. I was running out of time, I was sure of it.
If I could just move. My toes wiggled, but pain followed through my feet to my ankles.
A desperate scream ripped from my throat as tears clouded my vision. “I’m fucking stronger than this.”
“Yes, you are, Lilith,” Regalia’s potent voice rang out in the room, and I could make out the beaming symbol on her forehead that branded her a seer. A rather large crystal ball was nestled in her arms, flashing images of death and calamity. “But if you don’t realize your strength, it’ll be too late to stop this future.”
“I’m sorry,” I rasped. “This bracelet is sucking everything out of me. I can’t use my powers.”
“Nonsense, girl,” Contessa shook her head, her black locks waving back and forth in sync with her purple crystal earrings. “That’s a truculent bracelet. It blocks your body's pathway to your powers. The bracelet seems to be enchanted with a spell that drains your essence and power, but only if you believe that’s what it’ll do.”
What? My pulse jumped.
“In other words,” Beatrice stroked the gecko on her shoulder without glancing my direction, “You can stop it from draining your life force if you believe it.”
“But—”
“No buts,” Regalia snapped. “Lilith, I’ve known you a long time. Even before your creation. I need you to listen to us. The fate of the realms depends on it.”
I pushed out a ragged breath. “What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to imagine sucking back your essence from the bracelet.”
Blinking at her, I hesitated. That sounded way too damn easy for comfort. Her sharp eyes narrowed at me, so I took another deep breath and closed my eyes to focus.
Glistening red energy intertwined with murky red flowed like raging water within the bracelet while my body only trickled with a light pink thread. The essence was leaving my body and cycling around the bracelet in a constant rush.
Nausea spurred in my stomach as my face heated and sweat pooled in my hair line.
“Pull it back into your body,” she instructed.
“Nothing is changing.” I huffed, watching my essence continue to flow into the fucking thing.
“Focus,” Contessa urged. “Think of your lovers. You want to see them again, yes?”
“Of course I do!”
“Then make it happen,” Regalia said. “You have the power, but for you to use it, we need you to be able to get up and move.”
“Claim your essence back,” Beatrice said through the haziness of my comprehension.
This energy, this essence, this power was all mine. I was the one capable of controlling it, and I was fucking stronger than the shell of what I’d become since I arrived in Heaven.
I wasn’t a damsel in distress. No, fuck that. I was the mother of demons, the Crimson Demon, and I wouldn’t lay down and wait for anyone to come save me when I could damn well save myself.
Inhaling a deep breath, I called what was mine back to me, focusing on redirecting the flow of the siphon. Moments after, the spell on the bracelet cracked, and my essence poured back into my body as the floodgates opened.
The pain dissipated, and my muscles screamed in joy as I pushed up off the bed and got to my feet to face the seers. “How did you find me? How did you even get in here?”
Regalia smirked. “You really think a blood witch can hide anything from us?”
“Of course not,” Beatrice scoffed as her gecko stepped closer to her face. “And we’re not actually here. We’re astral projecting.”