flinch, but five minutes with this group, and she goes down like a sack of potatoes,” Flint growls out, his tone accusatory.
“Make sure she’s actually out. If it runs in the family, she might be faking it,” another deep voice states dryly.
“That was one time,” Delta defends hotly. “And I just needed a fucking pause.”
Someone snickers.
“That’s my progeny. I demand that every last one of you move so I can tend to her,” Tazreel orders regally, and I hear a bunch of snorts sound off around me.
Progeny?
My mind plays with that word, battin’ it around until the meanin’ floats up. I snap up from wherever I’m lyin’, sittin’ up so fast that my head spins. Flint rears back in surprise, his eyes wide.
“Wait. You’re my father?” I demand of Tazreel, completely dumbstruck.
“See? Called the faking it,” the normal lookin’ blond demon announces, and the pale one with movin’ tattoos chuckles.
“Shut it, Crux,” Delta says, smackin’ him lightly with the edge of her wing. Instead of bein’ annoyed, his grin widens, and he grabs hold of the bottom of her wing and strokes it.
“Are you okay?”
My eyes drag over to Alder where he’s kneelin’ beside me. He’s holdin’ my scythe which has reverted back to its fancy broom handle state. I’m in the same room as before, but someone laid me down on the fancy loveseat thing.
Like she’s readin’ my mind, Delta gestures to it. “It’s the fainting couch. It actually comes in handy a lot, huh, Taz?”
Taz scowls at her before bringin’ his gaze back to me. His chest puffs up under my scrutiny. Watchin’ him carefully, I swing my legs over so my feet are planted on the floor. I need to sit up for this conversation.
I look between Nefta and Taz, takin’ in every damn detail of them. The shapes of their faces, the size of their noses, heck, I even take note of their earlobes and hairlines. It’s the weirdest damn thing to look at two people and be able to pick out your own features.
“You’re my...birth parents?” I ask, and Nefta gives a terse nod while Taz glares at her.
With a hard swallow, I shift my sights over to Delta, and the truth is plain as day on her face. I don’t know how I didn’t see it right away. We have the same lips. The same color eyes, the same face shape. I see her pickin’ apart my own features too, as the two of us catalog everythin’.
“We’re sisters.”
It’s not a question, because the truth is right in front of us.
“It appears so,” she answers, movin’ her attention to Nefta. “How could you not tell us?” she asks with anger. “And just as important, how many damn times did you sleep with this asshole?”
“Hey!” Taz snaps, offended.
“Just the once,” Nefta replies, givin’ Taz a scathin’ look. “That’s all I could stomach.”
He scoffs. “Oh, please. I’m the best fuck you’ve ever had.”
Delta and I both make a grimace and groan at the same time, our expressions and noises matchin’. Our six collective demons watch us with wary awe.
“Stop,” Delta snaps, effectively cuttin’ Nefta and Taz off before they can start to bicker about how good or bad their...relations were. “No one wants to hear about the two of you hooking up. I haven’t eaten yet.”
Despite this messed up situation, the corner of my lip twitches.
“Shit. If your hair was purple like Delta’s, you two would look just the same,” the dark-skinned demon says.
Delta lets out a deep breath and then focuses on me again and holds out her scythe-free hand. “Let’s start over. I’m Delta Gates. And apparently...your twin sister.”
She snaps another glare over at Nefta before returnin’ much softer gray eyes back to me. I look at her hand before slippin’ my palm against it and shakin’. It’s weird shakin’ the hand of a sister I never knew I had.
We drop our hold, and Delta gestures beside her to the pale demon with the movin’ shadow tattoos. “This is Echo,” she tells me. “The blue dude is my Iceman—Rafferty. The guy who looks like he’s always ready to go surfing is Crux. And the one with the fire hair is Jerif. Don’t worry, he’s not mad. His face always looks like that,” she says with a smirk.
He rolls his smolderin’ eyes at her. “I’d watch that mouth if I were you,” he says with a pointed look.
Delta’s eyes light up with excitement.
I feel Flint take a seat, his weight settlin’ beside me. I press in