Page 167 of Memories Like Fangs
Huffing, Leah shook her head. Whether that was toward me or herself, I wasn’t sure. “That is her, isn’t it? The one who killed Mom?”
I nodded once.
Leah’s hands curled around the urn clutched close to her chest. The coral orange light behind the urn glowed brightly and seemed to shake with how fiercely it moved. “I knew it was her. Mom’s urn is so hot.”
“Girls, I need you to listen to me.” I waited until they were both looking at me before I continued. “I need you both to stick together and hide. When you can, get out of here. Run to get the others, okay? Clarkson will let you know when to go and lead you to Quinn and the others, won’t you, Clarkson?”
Clarkson barked once as an affirmative.
“Good girl.”
Betty sniffled, looking up at me with massive blue eyes. “Are you going to kick her butt, Auntie?”
Despite the knot twisting in my stomach, a smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Something like that.”
Lilah laughed sharply, high-pitched, and loud as fuck. She had leaned back with her legs crossed as if she were reclining in a chair. Now, she sat up with interest. “In herfuckingdreams?—”
“Hey!” I yelled. “Language! There are children present, you heifer!”
She rolled her eyes, unimpressed. “The trauma of watching you die like Mommy Dearest will do far worse to them than some cussing, ladybug.”
“Girls, go hide!Now!” I growled, setting them free from my tail.
They bolted for cover with Clarkson right at their side. Once I knew they were safe, I stood fully, power surging in my chest. I clenched my fists and thrashed my tail. My scales cascaded down my skin over and over, every part of me humming with rage.
“You’re going to pay today forallof your crimes, Lilah!”
Lilah sighed, almost fondly. She hovered closer to the ground without touching it. “You are just never going to get it, are you, ladybug? Look around! This isn’t just a pretty little cavern. Hell, these aren’t justcrystals.” She raised a finger and wagged it at me. I wanted to bite it off and spit it back at her. “You were soshelteredas a little bitty baby fledgling, so I’m sure you don’t know this. But, dragon enchantments like this? They pull power from the dragon-shifters that lived here?—”
I narrowed my eyes. “I know that already, you mansplaining hussy.”
Lilah blinked at me. “Did… You didnotjust call me ahussy. What is this? 1832?”
“Get to your freaking point.”
She scowled. “As I wassaying, to store their power, dragons would crystallize their blood and bury it in the caverns underground. So, that isn’t just some pretty black and red rock, sweetheart. Each of those contains blood from your ancestors. There are centuries worth here. Their magic. Their essence. All here. All ripe for the taking. Just for me.”
My breath hitched. So that was it. I was right before. It looked like dragon’s blood because itwasdragon’s blood. Specifically, my ancestors’ dragon’s blood. That strange sensation I had felt earlier was the power entombed in the crystal and still somehow alive and talking to me. Just when I thought things couldn’t get more batshit, Lilah found a way to make it even more personal and up the stakes.
At the end of the day, though, they were still crystals.
I raised an eyebrow and said coldly. “So, that’s your plan? Use my ancestors’ blood against me? This enchantment is dead, you know. You aren’t going to find much power in these crystals. That’s why they’re black to begin with.”
She smiled, so slow and wicked I felt a chill shiver down my spine. “The people might be dead, but theblood? It’sverymuch alive andveryusable, especially for a powerful blood witch-fae. Besides… I don’t needallthe blood. I only need enough to killyou.”
Lilah landed, approaching me like a predator stalking her prey. “You know what I realized in Chicago? You’re the glue holding your cute little found family together. If I takeyouout, there will be no one strong enough to stop me. The biggest hurdle will be that homicidal fated mate of yours, but she will kill mindlessly until she is taken down, so a mindless, feral brute like her is far from a real threat.”
Lilah floated forward near one of the blood crystals. The blood within the tower bubbled, rolled, and flared with her proximity. It made bile rise in my throat. “Once you’re out ofthe picture, I can trymyplan for taking down that Chicago enchantment. I can use your precious cousins to infiltrate it. I can slowly feed off each dragon-shifter until there’s nothing left. When they finally catch on—if they ever do—it’ll be far too late. People do love an encore, especially when they least expect it.”
Lilah took off her gloves and touched the blood crystal that was closest to her. The liquid within it reached a tipping point, becoming almost blindingly bright before it seemed like the fluid flowed out of the crystal. The crimson darkness circled Lilah’s arm that was connected to the stone, making her eyes blaze into a bright maroon of their own. As she smirked manically, I watched the stone darken into a deep onyx and crumble into black gravel-like stones. It hit me fully then. This was the blood of a relative who could have lived during my mom’s time or further beyond. This was likely all that was left of them. I didn’t know their name. I knew nothing about their life. But they were alive once. They had a life once and a story, and they were connected to me. They weremine. Now, they were gone, reduced to nothing but dead stone and a weapon against me.
A fracture formed inside of me. Small. Hairline. Insignificant.
“There’s one hitch in your plan, Lilah,” my growl rumbled through the entire cave.
Her eyebrow arched with curiosity. “Oh?”
“You forget that this is my literal home turf. This is my family’s enchantment and their blood. I can also control crystals. You made a critical error.” The light within the sapphires all around us flickered at first, but it quickly built up in brilliance and brightness. The cave rumbled softly as if something ancient was starting to wake up.
