Ruined (The Seraphim Series Book 1) Read online

  “Yes. I want someone to keep an eye on her.” He turned, his face returning to an emotionless mask.

  “So, now we’re protecting her?” Benedict asked, confused but instantly understanding whom Azrael was talking about.

  “For the time being.” Azrael shrugged, acting as if this was completely normal for him. “Make sure she doesn't die.”

  Chapter 3

  She had a different dream that night, but just as vivid. This time she was falling. The panic hit her fast, and she tried frantically to grab hold of anything, but there was nothing there. Even if there were, thick black smoke made it nearly impossible to see anything. Then came the burning. It started in the pit of her stomach, spreading slowly and burning hotter the faster she fell. Within seconds, it felt as if her entire body was engulfed in flames, the pain quickly becoming too intense. Lilliah couldn’t handle it anymore and let out a glass-shattering scream.

  “Lilliah. Wake up!” Sebastian’s face was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes, and she had never been so happy to see it in all her life.

  “Are you . . . are you okay?” he stuttered, his eyes wide and panicked.

  Not sure if she could actually speak, Lilliah just nodded her head and tried to get her breathing under control. It was then that she realised she was on her floor and not in her bed, with Sebastian kneeling next to her.

  “Why am I on the floor?” she asked after a moment. The husky voice that came out sounded nothing like her own.

  “You passed out!” Sebastian stressed, still panicked. “I just got in, and I heard you screaming from downstairs, like really screaming. Lil, I thought someone was fucking attacking you or something. Mum’s still out and—” He broke off, his eyes wide. “I woke you. You seemed fine, but like out of breath and like you were in physical pain, and then you just passed out!”

  I passed out? She had never passed out before in her life. Looking down at her pyjamas, Lilliah noticed how damp they were from her sweat, and grimaced.

  “I need a shower,” she said, trying to stand. “And don’t tell Mum about this. Please?” she begged, wobbling slightly when she got to her still unsteady feet.

  With his arms still outstretched in case she needed catching, Sebastian looked doubtful. “You’re not telling Mum?” he clarified, following Lilliah into the hall. “You need to tell someone about this, Lil.” He sighed, still unsure of what to do. “This isn’t normal. And I’m worried about you.”

  “I'm fine. Promise,” she assured him, already heading into the bathroom.

  Everyone who didn't know Sebastian thought he was a dick. He was the kind of guy you wouldn't want your daughter dating or your son hanging out with. Lilliah could see where this perception came from, and sometimes she agreed. But to her, Sebastian was solid and reliable. No matter what she did or where she went, Sebastian would be there for her. Possibly with a sarcastic comment, but he'd be there.

  Lilliah stood in the shower, silently begging the water to wash away the memory of the dream. She could almost feel the pain still burning her skin. Whatever was happening to her was getting dangerous, she acknowledged, climbing out of the shower and wrapping herself in a big fluffy towel. Was it her? Was she getting dangerous? Or going crazy? Did she just hallucinate the dark figure from yesterday? She knew deep down she hadn’t, that it had been real, just unexplainable. And the guy who had saved her? Mike? She knew that wasn’t his name, but why would he lie?

  She threw on a warm pair of pyjamas and grabbed her laptop from under her bed and fired it up. Mike was young. He couldn’t be any older than twenty-four, and yet he owned the club. There had to be something about him on Google. Typing the words “Purgatory club” into the search bar, nothing came up apart from another club in Spain with the same name. Frowning, she started typing again, this time more slowly to make sure she didn’t misspell anything. She added “London” after it, trying to broaden her search. Still nothing.

  “Who the hell doesn’t have a website?” she asked herself, rubbing her temples. Unless it’s super-exclusive? Switching to Google Maps, she tried to zoom in on the area, but according to the page, there was nothing there, just an old derelict shop and warehouse. It seemed the closer she looked, the more questions she had.

  Standing in front of a closed Purgatory, Lilliah wanted to cry with happiness. She wasn’t crazy! She wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs, and then ring Rebecca and Jeremy and scream it at them. Following her friends' sudden amnesia, she had worried she was going crazy and had dreamed the entire night,although her friends’ sudden amnesia did bother her.

  “What the hell do you mean you don’t remember?” Lilliah had demanded of her friends that morning, oblivious to the people staring at her.

  “I remember everything,” Rebecca whispered, dragging Lilliah by the arm, out of everyone's earshot. “I told you: we went to the poetry reading then walked to that coffee shop I like, and that’s it,” she stressed, looking worried. “We didn’t go to some club called Purgatory. There was no woman with red hair called Dena. And you didn’t see the guy who saved you. I’ve never even heard of the club.” She stressed the last part, begging with her eyes for Lilliah to just believe her and drop it.

  “It happened!” Lilliah shouted, finally losing it. “I'm not crazy.”

  “I know you’re not crazy. But I do think you hit your head yesterday when you fell . . .”

  “I'm not making this up.” Lilliah turned, already walking in the opposite direction. She knew she wasn’t crazy, and she was going to prove it.

  “Where are you going?” Rebecca shouted after her.

  “Home,” she had lied. Instead, she had hopped on the tube with only one destination in mind.

  Now standing in front of the closed club, the relief was amazing.

  The two front doors were closed. Refusing to give up, she walked around to the side alley and tried the door there. She wanted to fist pump the air when it opened into an empty back room full of boxes and crates of beer.

  Okay, now what? She walked into the room, carefully holding the door open with a box. There must be someone here, she assumed, not a hundred percent sure what she'd actually say to the person once she found them. Could they get me arrested for trespassing? Shaking her head, she carried on walking through another set of doors. She had come too far to turn back now. Looking around, Lilliah realised she was at the main dance floor, where she and Rebecca had been the night before. It looked different empty, and the eerie silence was giving her the creeps. She jumped when she heard the sudden bang of doors and two men talking. Panicking, she dropped to her knees, crawling on the dirty, sticky floor to hide behind the bar.

  “Have you spoken to anyone from The Cure?” the voice asked and Lilliah froze, recognising it straight away.

  “Yes. They want to have a meeting in New York about me re-joining. I haven’t decided yet.”

  She turned, trying to get a look over the bar to see the two men as they walked across the room.

  “Besides, I think we have enough here to keep me busy.”

  Sneaking a look at the two men as they passed, she confirmed one of them was Mike. Just like the night before, he was dressed all in black, his pitch-black hair curling slightly at his nape. She watched as they both walked into the office. Keeping low, she ran to the door that was slightly ajar.

  “They won’t wait forever, you know.” Mike smiled, sitting in the same chair she had last night.

  “So, what is the new plan, Azrael?” the guy she didn’t know asked from behind the desk, pushing his dark-blond hair back from his face and then running his hand down his thick beard.

  Azrael? Lilliah smiled triumphantly; she’d known his name wasn’t Mike!

  “I swore to follow you, and I will, but not if you don’t give me my instructions!”

  “Benedict.” Azrael sighed. “I trust you above everyone else. I just don't know how to proceed.”

  “Well, you had her, in this very club, completely at your mercy,
and yet you let her walk away,” Benedict said, frowning.

  Were they talking about her? Lilliah leant on the outside wall, a sick feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

  “I know. I know. I guess she caught me off guard.” He shrugged, looking almost bored with the conversation.

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you have developed feelings for her, you know,” Benedict said, watching Azrael closely for his reaction. “You have been following her for more lifetimes than I can count. And she is very beautiful. I guess being the daughter—”

  “Enough!” Azrael roared, springing off his chair and startling Lilliah, but Benedict didn’t look fazed. “The plan has changed. But the outcome remains the same,” he seethed, standing to his full six-foot-two height. “I will get Lilliah’s blood. One way or another.”

  Lilliah listened to the men's exchange, fear paralysing her. Slowly backing away from the door, she turned and ran.

  Who the hell are these guys? she thought, frantically running into the storage room and falling over a crate of beer on the floor.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, limping up and panicking when she heard voices following her.

  Running out the exit and into the alley, Lilliah had never been so pleased to see daylight. Knowing they would follow her, she carried on running until she was on the street, looking back when she heard Azrael shout at her from the exit.

  “Lilliah!” he shouted, starting to run after her. Ignoring the pain in her knee, Lilliah carried on running, out into the busy street, her tears burning her eyes as she slammed into the pedestrians in her path.

  The words “I will get Lilliah's blood” swirled around and around in her head.

  “Lilliah?” Turning, startled, Lilliah stared numbly as Rebecca ran up the street towards her. “Where have you been?” She frowned, noticing Lilliah's tear-streaked face. “Have you been crying?”

  Not even sure where to begin, Lilliah just shook her head, knowing that if she spoke, she'd cry. She didn’t remember taking the train home or even walking from the train station, but somehow, she was outside her house, and she had never been more grateful to be home in all her life.

  “You cut your leg?” Rebecca asked, snaking her arm around Lilliah's waist. “What the hell happened?”

  How can I ever describe what just happened? Lilliah thought, letting Rebecca lead her to the front door. No one will believe me. She would have fallen into the house had Rebecca not been holding her up. It wasn’t until she was inside that she noticed the door had already been opened.

  “Wait, why was the door . . . ?” Her mother’s high-pitched scream ringing from up the stairs stopped anything Lilliah was about to say.

  Without thinking, Lilliah turned and ran into the kitchen, ignoring the pain in her leg, and grabbed the sharpest knife from one of the drawers.

  Rebecca followed, shaking. “I'll call the police!” With clumsy hands she reached for her phone.

  Knife in hand, Lilliah turned, ready to face whoever was in her house, a small part of her guessing it was Azrael. Was he here to kill her? To take her blood like some psychotic killer she had read about in books.

  “There's someone in my friend’s house. The door was open and her mum just screamed!” The words spilled out of Rebecca's mouth in such a rush, the person on the other end did well to understand her. “Please hurry,” she stressed, squealing loudly when the phone was knocked out of her hand.

  “What was that?” Lilliah's eyes darted around the empty kitchen before something hit her so hard that she flew across the room, crashing into the wall and dropping the knife.

  “Lilliah!” Rebecca screamed, running towards her as she lay semi-conscious on the floor. “Are you . . . ?”

  Lilliah watched from the floor in a daze as Rebecca was lifted as though someone were holding her by the throat. Her feet no longer touched the ground.

  “Help,” Rebecca choked out, running out of oxygen as she tried to claw at the thin air in front of her.

  Reaching for the knife on the floor, Lilliah blinked, trying to focus her blurred vision. Slowly, the figure of a man appeared to her. He was tall, with his nails biting into Rebecca's throat. A sick smile lit up his face; he was enjoying every minute of it.

  Taking a deep breath and using all her strength, Lilliah pushed herself off the ground and lunged at the man, plunging the knife into the side of his neck. The shock made him release Rebecca, dropping her to the floor in a heap. She gasped for air. The man turned around to face her, his purple eyes darting over her features, not looking like the knife in his throat affected him at all. She watched the small smirk cross his pale features as he reached up and pulled the knife out, not even flinching as blood squirted out of the wound. He threw the blade across the room, the sound making her flinch.

  “Big mistake, darlin’,” he drawled, slowly raising his hand to stroke her blonde hair. “So you can see me?” he asked, a wicked smile slowly crawling over his mouth. “Well, I guess you’re the one I’m looking for.”

  Frozen in fear, Lilliah stood there, staring at his purple eyes. Can this be possible? He moved so quickly that Lilliah hardly noticed he had hit her until she was flying through the air and had landed hard on the hall floor. She tried to drag herself towards the stairs.

  “And where do you think you’re going, princess?”

  Slowly turning her head, Lilliah looked up at the man, her whole body trembling with fear.

  “They said to bring you back alive,” he picked her up from the floor by the tops of her arms. “I don't think they'll mind that you’re a little damaged.”

  A loud blast threw both her and her attacker to the ground, bits of rubble and dust flying everywhere.

  Lilliah lay on the floor, her whole body hurting.

  “Shit!” the man hissed, on the floor next to her. She could see him trying to kick away. Slowly, she lifted her head to see what frightened him so much. Azrael and Benedict stood in the doorway.

  “No!” she croaked, still unable to move. He is the enemy, she screamed in her head before realising Azrael wasn’t the one upstairs and wasn’t the man who had attacked them. She had two enemies, it seemed.

  Coming to kneel beside her, Azrael wiped her hair from her face. She flinched at his touch.

  “Get away from me,” she spat, trying to push herself away from him. He stared at her for a moment, then his features turned from worry to anger. He turned his head to see her other attacker stand and limp into the kitchen. She watched as Azrael slowly stood and walked into the kitchen, his body stiff and ready for action. She watched him pick up the bloodied knife from the floor.

  “Darius, is it?” he asked, looking at the blade in his hand. “How many of you are here?”

  “Oh, finally!” Lilliah could hear Darius laugh shakily as he moved behind a wall and out of her sight. “The great Azrael. I'm not afraid of you.” His quivering voice told her otherwise.

  “Rebecca, go and help Lilliah,” Azrael commanded without taking his eyes off the man in front of him.

  Rebecca scrambled off the floor and crawled out the door as quickly as she possibly could. Before Rebecca had even left the room, Azrael had disappeared from sight. For a second, she couldn't hear anything, and then Darius’s screams started. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but she could imagine, and the images sent chills down her spine.

  “I'm going to check upstairs. Can you move your feet?”

  Lilliah turned to Benedict, who had come to kneel beside her. She nodded, slowly lifting herself up and moaning softly as every bone in her body protested.

  “Who else is here?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know.” She tried to think. “I heard my mum and maybe my brother, Sebastian.”

  “Here.” Benedict helped her so she was leaning on the wall. “Wait here. Stay together,” he said, turning to Rebecca. “Azrael won’t be long,” he promised before heading for the stairs, leaving Lilliah and Rebecca alone with the screams from the kitchen.

  I
s Azrael here to help? She pressed her hands over her ears, trying to block out the screams coming from the kitchen.

  “How many of you are there?” she could hear Azrael's deep voice demand from behind the kitchen wall. He sounded strong and in control, and it terrified her.

  “I’m the only one here. I swear,” Darius promised in a much weaker voice than he had used minutes before. “I'll leave now and never come back. Just let me go,” he begged.

  “Why?” Azrael demanded, not deterred by the man's begging.

  “I can’t,” she could hear Darius choke out.

  “Tell me!” he commanded.

  “They’ll kill me,” he stuttered.

  “I’ll kill you!” Azrael roared back.

  “Azrael!” Benedict shouted from upstairs.

  Following one more shrill scream, Azrael raced out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time. The only evidence he had been involved in any violence were his blood-smeared hands.

  “What the hell is going on?” Rebecca shuffled so they were sitting closer. “Oh, my God. Look at your house.”

  She didn't answer. Lilliah tried to drag herself through the doorway. She could possibly guess at what Azrael had done, but she needed to see it. Her eyes widened when she saw the amount of blood on the floor. Following the trail, she gasped when she realised it led to the Darius's decapitated body. Thinking about murder and seeing it were two completely different realities.

  “Rebecca!” she choked, fear gripping her and immobilising her. “There’s blood, blood everywhere. He's dead.”

  Rebecca walked over to her and kneeled beside her. “Holy shit!” she said, staring at the red-stained kitchen. Another loud scream filled the air, this one coming from up the stairs.

  “My mum’s up there, Rebecca!” Lilliah screamed, her eyes darting towards a petrified-looking Rebecca.

  “Okay, right.” Rebecca took in a shaky breath. “I’m going to have a look.” She tried to smile reassuringly, but it looked anything but. “You wait here, okay?”