Page 38 of Flirting with Death

"Your Aunt Vi went there. We had come across a prophecy in the chambers of knowledge. She didn't mean to do what she did. There was something she was looking for. We needed it to prevent a war. Instead—" she inhaled deeply as her gaze darted to mine, "Instead, she murdered an entire family that was no danger to us. I don't know why. It wasn't the plan. She was just going for the gem. I'm sorry, Raiden." Tears lined her lashes as they fell unbidden down her cheeks. "My sister came back changed. She wasn't the same woman that left. Something drove her until the day she died. She still thought we could prevent the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" Sam whispered. I knew what she was thinking. We had been told about a future too.

Mrs. Orion moved over to the couch and perched on the edge as if she was ready to take flight and run from this situation. She nibbled on her lower lip, looking completely unsure, before drawing in a deep breath and straightening her shoulders.

"Great armies of the Underworld will join forces, ruthless leaders will guide them, and our legacy will be no more. There will be no more hunters born because there will be no need for them. If we could get the gem and destroy it then we could prevent it all, but she failed." She folded her hands in her lap as she watched us.

Sam's arms dropped to her sides, and she brought her gaze to mine. It was us. We would be the end to the hunters. A silent bomb went off in the room as the shockwaves continued to hit us. I wrapped my fingers around the ruby in my pocket. The stone could stop the prophecy, I felt it down to my very soul, but would it also mean giving Samantha up?

No. Mine. My dragon demanded I take her away and make sure she was safe. Any prophecy that predicted the end of her line wasn't one I wanted to come true. But if the ruby fell into the demon's hands, would that bring about the merging of the Underworld? Or would holding onto it do that?

"Did it say our family would die or just stop hunting?" Sam's stance was wide, as if she was bracing for another blow, her arms curled around her sides again. "Did she kill a whole family because she was trying to prevent our extinction as living, breathing humans, or because hunting meant that much to her?"

"She didn't go there to kill them. She went there to find what we needed to stop the joining of evil forces." Mrs. Orion clasped her hands together in front of her, the skin pale where her fingers pressed in, giving away her tense feelings.

"Evil forces?" Sam scoffed. "Do you even know what evil is? Because I've found out that it isn't what I always thought, what I had learned. The Order drilled into me that all demons were evil, and if they hadn't harmed you yet, you just needed to give them time to do so. You reinforced those teachings, but it is obvious that you let Raiden stay in our lives. If what The Order teaches was true, why would you do that? Unless you don't believe in what they taught."

"Raiden has never been the same, sweetheart. He came here traumatized by what happened. He was scared, not dangerous, and The Order felt it was in our best interest to keep him close after we learned he was a dragon." Her gaze flicked to me apologetically, and I swallowed. "But then he saved you when I couldn't. It was no longer a job I had to do. He became like a son to me, family. He showed that with love, even something that we thought was evil could be good."

Her words conjured the memory of that day. A soft blanket of snow had coated the ground, enough for a snow day, but not enough to keep us inside, so we bundled up and dressed warm to head to the local park to sled down the hill repeatedly. Mrs. Orion demanded that we take Sam with us, back when she was like an annoying kid sister, and she inserted herself into everything we did. But this time was different. We didn't know when we left the house that our steps were being hunted. A demon had found the hunter's family and was determined to eliminate the threat in much the same way her aunt had killed mine.

As the shadows of the day got long and our cheeks and noses were a rosy red from staying out too long, he attacked. He went for her first. The smallest of the three of us, also the one that would grow to be the biggest threat. He didn't strike with his powers, no he used a knife, the red of her blood soaking her jacket as she fell to the ground, only to seep into the snow, the warmth melting it as she screamed and went silent. I didn't think. I shifted for anyone to see and sank my teeth into the demon, shaking him from side to side like a dog with a bone until he was limp in my mouth. Then I dropped him, a puff of smoke threading in a twirling line from my nose, before I burned him to a crisp.

Ty watched me wide-eyed, knelt next to his still and unconscious sister. His phone clutched in his fist, a hand on the bright red stain that had grown on his sister's jacket. His mom arrived moments later, her wide gaze going to me as I shifted back, shivering in the cold and naked as the day I was born. She wrapped a blanket around me. I hadn't understood then, what I knew now, she knew who I was back then and had thought she was letting a viper stay within reach of her kids.

But that day had changed everything. For all of us, because when Sam came to at the hospital, she knew a demon had stabbed her, but she didn't know I was the one to save her. She didn't remember what I was, and I kept it that way. She hated demons. I could see it in her eyes, and after that, she made sure Ty and I never forgot she would be the best demon hunter there ever was.

"Or maybe Rai is just a good person," Sam suggested, tugging me out of my memory.

She may not remember how I saved her, but I had been there anytime she needed me, especially after that. If a boy even looked at her sideways, I set them straight. I had convinced myself it was because I saw her like a little sister, and I was protecting her. Now I saw it for what it was. I had failed back then, and losing her had woken up something deep inside of me that needed to protect her.

She reached out to me, running her fingers down my arm to lace them with mine. "He would have been the same even if his entire family hadn't been murdered. I've met other dragons, Mom, they are wary of me with good reason, but they aren't evil. In their eyes, I'm the evil one. I think you have looked at the prophecy wrong this whole time. What if the joining of the Underworld brings harmony and peace? What if I'm the key to that?"

Mrs. Orion gasped, her eyes going wide as she shook her head. "Samantha, it is called the Underworld for a reason."

"But they aren't evil, not all of them. And as you said, with love, any of them could be good."

"That isn't what I meant," she replied stiffly.

"I guess it is a good thing you are retired then," Sam said.

"I think it is time we had a talk about The Order and our family's role in preserving it," Mrs. Orion said. "Raiden, would you mind giving me a moment with my daughter?"

CHAPTER 23

Samantha

Raiden dropped a soft kiss to the side of my head and left the room. I faced my mom, the woman I was starting to believe I hadn't ever really known, and crossed my arms.

"Sit down, Samantha," she commanded.

I glanced at the chair across from her but didn't move. She might not realize it yet, but I knew what the prophecy had foretold, and it wasn't an end to the hunters. Not really. It was my rise to leading not only the horde, but the dragon-kin with both Bellamy and Raiden by my side. Being a ruler to either wasn't something I had ever imagined, but I was certain my place was with them, that uniting the Underworld was the task that was created for me. And the demon that wanted the ruby from Raiden had found that out from the muse he had captured. I didn't have time for a long, drawn-out heart-to-heart. Cold? Maybe, but ask me if I cared.

"Just tell me," I said.

She shifted slightly. Her attention flicked to the doorway, and I knew what she was thinking, Raiden had excellent hearing and could probably hear every single word. It didn't matter because I was telling him everything she said, anyway. His leaving was only a formality, because he was my chosen family, along with the others, and we wouldn't keep secrets.

When she brought her eyes back to mine, the same blue-green reflected at me, reminding me whose daughter I was.

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