Ruined (The Seraphim Series Book 1) (4 page)

“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.

Is 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?”

“No, he said to stay together . . .” she hissed.
Am I really going to listen to the words of a murderer?
Images of her mother were swarming her head. She could be hurt. “I’ll go.”

“What? You can hardly move. I'll be a second, okay?”
Before she could protest anymore, Rebecca was already tiptoeing up the stairs. The house suddenly became freakishly quiet; the only sound was Lilliah’s heavy, uneven breaths as she waited anxiously for Rebecca.

“They’re coming back down,” Rebecca whispered, quickly running down the stairs.

“Are you okay?” Lilliah asked a little loudly, needing her friend to actually say the words.

“Yeah. No. I don't know.” Rebecca almost fell on the floor beside her. “I’m not sure what I’ve just seen.”
Before Lilliah had a chance to respond, Azrael walked down the stairs, his troubled expression worrying Lilliah.

“My mum?” she asked, fear once again gripping her as her eyes darted from Azrael to Rebecca.
What is upstairs? What did they see?

“We have to go,” he stated, ignoring her question.

“Is my mum okay?” she demanded more forcefully.

“Your mum isn’t here, but your brother’s badly hurt. We need to get you out of here.”

“Sebastian?” she squealed. “How is he hurt? What happened to him?”

Benedict walked into the room and over to the dead body lying on the floor. “He's definitely a night-walker. I’ve seen him before.” He spoke loudly, not looking the least bit affected by the dead man on the floor with blood still draining out of him.

“Take care of this,” Azrael instructed.

“I heard my mum scream,” Lilliah cut in, her eyes on Azrael, refusing to cower, even though every muscle in her body wanted to.

“I will explain everything, you have my word.” He knelt to look Lilliah straight in the eyes. “But right now, we have to get out of here so I can get you to safety.”

“No. You need to tell me what’s going on. Has someone called an ambulance for Sebastian?” Her eyes flickered from Azrael to the dead body on her kitchen floor. She could feel the hysteria building inside, increasing bit by bit until it burst through her all at once, and she was inconsolable.

“Lilliah, breathe, try to breathe.” Azrael grabbed her tightly, holding her to his chest.
It was no use; Lilliah couldn’t seem to hear anything, as if she were spiralling deeper and deeper into a dark pit of depression and darkness. “You're a murderer,” she choked out.

“Benedict!” she heard Azrael command. Before she could even open her eyes, her world went dark.

“What are you doing to my friend?” Lilliah could hear, recognising Rebecca’s voice. She sounded frantic and scared. She wanted to reply but couldn’t. She couldn’t even move.

“She'll be fine. Benedict just put her to sleep. She was letting her emotions take over,” she heard Azrael reply softly.

“Sleep? She just fainted. You . . .” Lilliah didn’t hear the rest as everything went dark again.

Chapter 4

Lilliah felt safe, well rested, and content. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She had just had a better night’s sleep than she’d had in months. So instead, she snuggled in her bed, pulling the sheets more securely around her. Then, as realization dawned and the memories came flooding back, her eyes shot open.

“You’re awake!” The voice startled Lilliah, but she relaxed as Rebecca almost skipped across the room. “I was so worried, but Azrael promised you'd be okay.” She sighed, coming to sit on the side of the bed.

“Where are we?” Lilliah ran her hand over her knotted hair. She expected to be sore, but she wasn't.

“At Azrael’s house in the country. We’re about forty minutes from London. This place is huge!” Rebecca explained, still smiling, as if they had both known Azrael for years.

“Azrael?” Lilliah repeated, her body stiffening. “The Azrael that murdered a man in my kitchen?” She shot out of the bed. “Are you kidding me? What happened to my house? My mum? Sebastian?”
Rebecca still sat on the bed, her calm, chirpy composure annoying Lilliah. Didn't she understand they were both in danger?

“Don’t worry. Azrael will explain everything. I would try, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.” She stood up. “Seb's next door, recovering. Your mum wasn’t at the house.” She stopped to gauge Lilliah's reaction. “Benedict mentioned that he thought they had already taken her, and that they were going to find her. But I haven’t seen either of them since yesterday. You've been out cold for like four days.”

“Recovering?” Lilliah shrieked. “Recovering from what?” Her instincts kicked in. She needed to get her friend and her brother out of this house and away from Azrael.

“Please, stop and breathe,” Rebecca said, running to stand in front of Lilliah before her hand reached the doorknob. “Calm down. You can’t get yourself worked up again.”

“Rebecca, we are in a stranger’s house. My mum is missing and my brother is hurt and a few days ago we witnessed a murder. But for some reason, you’re fine with that?” she questioned, staring at her friend. Had she lost her mind? Had she been drugged? Why wasn't she panicking?

“Look, everything will be explained, I swear. Seb's recovering. He is. I’ve seen him. They'll find your mum. These guys don’t mess about. And the guy they killed, well, I don't think it actually classifies as murder if the person’s already dead,” she finished, frowning slightly.

“Already dead?” she repeated, her mouth agape. “Listen to me. They are
not
good guys. I heard them talking about me. Something about Azrael wanting my blood,” she stressed, begging for Rebecca to believe her, or even acknowledge what she was saying.

“I trust them. Honestly, I do,” Rebecca said, taking Lilliah’s hands in hers, the same pleasant smile still plastered on her face. “Please, just listen to what they have to say. Benedict has explained everything to me and trust me, when you hear it all . . .” She broke off, trying to find the right word. “It’s just amazing.” She sighed.

“I want to see Seb,” Lilliah demanded, realising there was just no getting through to her friend and getting more irritated by the second.

“Yeah, that’s cool. I'll take you there now,” Rebecca chirped. “But first, you might wanna get dressed.” Puzzled, Lilliah looked down at the old-fashioned nightdress she was wearing. “What the hell?” she muttered, scrunching her face in distaste. “I look like Wendy from
Peter Pan
!” She looked to her friend for an explanation.

“I know. It’s the only thing they had.” Rebecca chuckled. “But someone went out and picked up a load of clothes for us. They’re over there.” Walking over to the pile of brand-new clothes, Lilliah couldn’t help but be a little bit impressed.

“Who brought these?” She pulled on a pair of skinny black jeans. Whoever it was had style.

“I don’t know, but they rock!”

Lilliah followed Rebecca out of the room, watching her closely. “Aren’t your mum and dad worried about you?”

“They’re going to be away for a few months. Dad’s recording a new album and all that,” she said, waving her hands dismissively. “No one knows I’m gone,” she finished lightly, too lightly for Lilliah's liking.

“What about us?” she asked. “People are going to notice my family has suddenly disappeared, and my house? It was completely destroyed!”

“Benedict made it look like a gas explosion,” Rebecca informed her. “I’ve texted Jeremy and told him we're going away for a few weeks. I was pretty vague, but he bought it.” She smiled to herself for a minute. “I think they have it all covered. They even called your mum’s work.”

“How do they know where she works?” Lilliah asked, confused.
Or where I live?
she added silently. She had so many more questions but decided to hold on to them. She could bombard Rebecca later and get real answers. Once they’d reached a large wooden door, Rebecca stopped, turning to face her.

“He's just in here.”
Lilliah pushed the door open, needing to see her brother.

“Hey, there, sleepyhead.” Sebastian tried to sit up, his face scrunching up in pain, the phrase instantly reminding her of their mum.

“You’re awake,” Lilliah stated, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

“Yeah, woke up this morning.” He tried to smile, but the pain was easy to read on his face. “But then again, a stab wound knocks you out cold,” he joked.