wake up eventually with a headache. While I suspected she might be Benita, I wasn’t sure, as I’d never really seen her aside from her shoes when I first arrived with Ryder—and that felt like forever ago now. He’d only brought her up a few times with Damien, then mentioned to me that he thought she was passing information on to Lilith.
Which, if that was true, meant Lilith had somehow won inside.
Given the agony I’d heard from Ryder, that seemed unfortunately likely.
Swallowing, I began the process of creeping through the dead bodies again, this time with the aim of entering the building. My left hand still gripped several knives, leaving my right hand available for a potential throw or to grab my sidearm.
I moved silently—something that seemed to come naturally from my wolf side—and kept low. With all the lights on inside, it was easy to see the morbid scene in the lobby. The majority of the bodies were lifeless with only a few limbs twitching here and there. I stepped through the entrance Ryder had made rather than through the doors, then ducked behind the reception desk area. That was probably why he’d chosen this path—he knew a natural shield existed on the other side.
“…see yet?” I heard a female asking, the tone sending a chill down my spine.
Lilith.
How many films had I been forced to watch in school that featured her voice? How many tapes? How many recorded ceremonies of worship?
My throat went dry at the memories.
She presented herself as this benign, beautiful goddess. We prayed to her daily. Begged her for her precious gift of immortality. Longed for her to choose us for the Immortal Cup.
It was driven into our minds at a young age.
She haunted my dreams as a child, her voice one I both adored and feared.
And to hear her callous tone now further drove home the lies she’d fed us.
Such a small thing, but a defining trait she’d just shattered within seconds of hearing the real her.
Because that tone she’d used on Ryder a moment ago radiated malicious intent.
“Oh, Damien, how uncomfortable you must be,” she continued. “Don’t worry, sweet child. It’ll all be over soon, just as soon as your Sire opens his eyes.”
My skin rippled with electricity, that hum in my head intensifying once more and making me wince. It’s her, I realized. Something she was doing. But I had no idea what.
I forced myself to swallow, then crept out from behind the desk to survey the room again for any signs of life.
Nothing.
“Come on, Ryder. I know it hurts, but I expected you to be stronger than this,” she continued. “Where’s that rebel I’ve come to loathe? The one who thinks he can just waltz in here and dismantle every law I’ve ever created?”
Her voice was coming from the dining area off the lobby. I hadn’t been in that room since the first night Ryder and I had arrived when he killed all those vampires.
The memory warmed my blood—a reaction I very much needed with the ice flowing through my veins. It helped me tiptoe toward them.
“Do you have any idea how many centuries I’ve been planning this?” she asked conversationally. “Michael and I thought of everything. As I think you’re now learning, hmm? As I recall, you’re fond of technology, but I bet you never could have imagined this.”
Ryder growled in response, which stirred a tinkling laugh from Lilith.
I paused outside the door, waiting to see if she could sense me. A lycan would be able to smell me. What about a vampire?
Although, I was covered in the blood of that human from the ground. Perhaps that would help mask my wolf half?
“It’s based on the hive mind,” she added. “A telepathic link that disables the mind and body. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
I frowned. A telepathic link? I almost risked glancing around the corner but held myself back, not wanting to give myself away yet.
“I’ve used it to break so many of our kind.” She sounded so proud. “Cam, of course, refuses to behave.”
Her heels clicked against the floor.
“Perhaps you can share a cell with him,” she mused. “He’s gone half-mad, so that should suit you just fine. At some point, I’ll take his Erosita from Luka, merely to see what fun I can have with her to fracture him further. It’s just been more amusing for now to hold it over his head and taunt him with what-ifs and whens. You should see him try to reach out to her.