“Not in the picture. I don’t remember him. He got her pregnant with me and then left. Came back a few years later, stayed long enough to get her pregnant with Kayley, and then split again. My mother didn’t have the best taste in men.” She turned away from the view.
With his bare feet spread wide, his jeans zipped but not buttoned, his chest gleaming, and a scowl on his face, Maccus was the poster child for a pissed-off god.
Yup, in the dictionary under the word “screwed” was her photo.
“What did you do for a living?” This was turning into an interrogation. Since there was no dining table and chairs, she sat on the floor and leaned against the wall.
“I worked two jobs—a janitor in the evening and a waitress during the day. I’d planned to go to college once I had Kayley raised and through school.”
“But that didn’t happen.”
He prowled toward her until he stood over her. Since she hated being at such a disadvantage, she pushed to her feet. “No, it didn’t happen.” She’d never been able to figure out what had gone wrong. “Maybe it was her being on her own so much, or not having either of her parents, or she fell in with the wrong crowd.”
Morrigan would never forget the night she’d come home from her last cleaning job, exhausted and wanting nothing more than to get a shower and climb into bed, only to find Kayley and several of her “friends” conducting some sort of ritual in their living room.
She dragged her fingers through her hair. Sometimes it still surprised her to discover it was short. Her long auburn hair had been her one claim to beauty. And the first thing Lucifer had done was to hack it off. Keeping it short was a reminder of what she’d become. Plus, it was easier to take care of and couldn’t be used against her in a fight.
“The wrong crowd,” he prompted.
“Yeah, they were conducting a ritual in our living room when I got home from work.”
Maccus swore under his breath.
“Yeah, that about covers it.”
“They summoned a demon?”
“Oh no, they went straight for the big guy himself.”
“Your little sister summoned Lucifer?” He seemed so incredulous, she almost smiled.
“No second-best for Kayley. She was too smart for her own good. Told me after it was just a lark. They’d never expect it to work or anything to come from it.” Kayley’s tear-stained face would haunt her for eternity. “They were just kids, experimenting.”
“I don’t think so.”
His quiet statement made her bristle. He had no right to criticize Kayley. He didn’t know her. “What do you mean by that?”
He gripped her shoulders and dragged her closer. “I mean that you don’t get to summon Lucifer on the first try. That’s not how it works. You have to be adept and accomplished. You have to have several years of practice behind you, have successfully summoned lesser demons. You have to be fully into the lifestyle before you can even attempt to summon Lucifer, let alone get him to appear.”
That couldn’t be right, couldn’t be true.
Morrigan’s throat closed, her chest constricting. No air was getting to her lungs.
He had to be wrong. Her sister wasn’t like that. Kayley was good and kind and smart. She was going to be an artist.
Maccus swore and shoved her head down until it was practically touching her knees. “Breathe,” he ordered. His deep, commanding voice steadied her. The vise around her loosened its grip. When she raised her head, all the blood rushed away, making her dizzy.
“What are you saying?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper. She didn’t want to think it, let alone believe it. But he had no reason to lie to her, had nothing to gain.
“I’m saying that your sister was no innocent.” He brushed a short lock of hair off her forehead, the gesture uncommonly gentle, as if he understood she was hanging on to her sanity by a thread. “But you were. My guess is you were the sacrifice to Lucifer all