Revenant(91)

Shit. Seriously, could things get any worse?

As if she’d cursed herself, the lights in the cafeteria began to flicker. And then, out of nowhere, Revenant appeared in a maelstrom of lightning and swirling black clouds. His wings were spread high, nearly touching the ceiling, and his eyes, dear Lord, his eyes… the black irises had swallowed the whites, leaving him with oily pools of hate framed by thick, inky lashes. He was horrible and beautiful, terrifying and magnetic, and fear clawed at her.

People in the cafeteria screamed as the force of the storm surrounding Revenant lifted them off their feet and slammed them into the walls.

The writing on the gray walls, the spells and incantations that prevented violence, glowed with an intensity she’d never seen. And they clearly weren’t working.

“You lied to me.” Revenant’s rumbling voice could have been dredged from the deepest, darkest depths of hell, and sheer terror gripped her heart.

She stood up so fast her chair tumbled to the floor. “Revenant, I don’t know what you’re —”

“I trusted you. I cared about you. I fucking saved your soul, and you lied!” Tables and chairs overturned, and trays with food and dishes crashed to the floor. Anyone who was still conscious scrambled for the exits.

Oh, bloody hell. He knew. Panic frayed her thought processes, and the only thing she could do was play dumb. And wait… he’d saved her soul? She wasn’t even going to ask.

She paused, giving the last conscious person in the room time to scramble out of the cafeteria. This wasn’t a safe place for her, let alone anyone else.

“I’m still not sure what you’re talking about,” she said as the metal door clanged shut.

Thunder shook the building. “Are you honestly going to deny that you’re… vyrmin?”

A shiver of fear crawled up her spine, and Bane’s earlier words screeched through her brain. I can see death coming. It’s all around you, Blaspheme. It’s coming, and it can’t be stopped.

She was dead. The only question was whether Revenant would make her death happen quickly or slowly. Merciful or painful. Either way, she supposed she had nothing to lose.

“Do you blame me?” she asked, cursing the unsteadiness in her voice. “You’re an angel. You kill my kind for sport.” Sudden rage overshadowed her fear, making her reckless as she moved toward him. “You murdered my father, you son of a bitch.”

“Your father? Who the fuck was your father?”

“An angel named Rifion,” she snarled. “You slaughtered him.”

“Rifion?” Revenant laughed. The bastard actually laughed. “Did you even know him?”

“I never met him,” she spat. “Because you killed him before I was born.”

“Who told you he died before you were born?”

She stopped in front of him, fists clenched. Maybe she’d get in a blow before he squashed her. “My mother.”

“Then your mother is a liar.” He bared his fangs, which looked twice as large as she’d ever seen them. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Like mother like daughter, right?”

“You don’t know anything about my mother.”

“No? She’s the fallen angel you’ve been treating here, isn’t she? She’s the one who freaked out when she saw me in the hall the other day. It all makes sense now. She knew who I was. And she’s the one who texted you at my house. She’s the reason you suddenly hated me.”

There was no point in denying it. All she could do was make an idle threat or plead for her mother’s life.

“Leave her alone,” she begged. “Please. She hasn’t done anything —”

“She lied to you.” He seemed to relish saying that.

Blas clenched her teeth and ground out, “No, she didn’t. She loved my father, and she wanted me to know him, but I never got the chance because you slaughtered him!”

“Yes,” he drawled. “I did. And I enjoyed every second of it.” He flared his wings, and the storm surrounding him died down. “You’re lucky you didn’t know him.” He got right up in her face, practically foaming at the mouth. “When I caught him, he begged for his life.”

“So?” She shoved him hard in the chest, but she might as well have been trying to move a boulder. “Who wouldn’t?”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, well, good for you. But not everyone is a great and powerful Shadow Angel with a black heart.”

He snarled. “He didn’t just beg for his life. He bartered. And do you want to know what he bartered with?” He didn’t give her the chance to ask. “Your life, and that of your mother.”