A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(63)
“Huh,” I said, punching him lightly in the arm. “Someone has a guy-crush.”
He didn’t respond, instead turning back to the rocks, but I could have sworn he’d rolled his eyes.
We were careful, pulling rubble from above the opening rather than under it, and before too long, we were able to squeeze carefully through. Lukas insisted on going first, and it was in my blood to argue, but I bit my tongue. The chivalry thing was as much a part of him as those big brown eyes I loved. Letting him take the lead was the polite thing to do. Last month, Kendra had pointed out that I’d probably need to play the femme fatale once in a while to ease Lukas’s old-fashioned brain. I was beginning to think she was right.
When he didn’t scream bloody murder or poke his head back through the hole to tell me to stay back, I assumed it was safe and climbed through the opening. Before the roof caved in, we’d been traveling down the narrow tunnel, taking extreme care to avoid touching the walls. When the cave-in started, we’d been standing in the middle of a four-way intersection of sorts. Now, the intersection was gone. And so were the walls.
The entire tunnel had changed.
“Whoa…”
“This must be what Damien meant,” Lukas said. His eyes were wide as he scanned what used to be the tunnels. We were in a room now, and in the middle was a massive wooden canopy bed complete with heavy draping and a pristine white bedspread. Next to it was a large, borderline gaudy chest with six drawers and an antique-looking mirror. “My God…”
“How did we end up here?” I stepped up to the bed and pressed down on the mattress. Soft—and solid. Not an illusion. “And more importantly, whose bedroom is it?”
“It’s my parents’ bedroom,” he said, breathless. He was looking a little pale. “No matter how much time passes, I will never forget this place. How is this possible?”
“It’s not,” I said, crossing the room and tilting his head toward mine. “Look at me. This is not possible. It’s not real. This is the cave messing with us. That’s all. Remember, Dad said this place would dig around inside our heads and muck things up.”
He nodded, and for a second I was sure I’d gotten through to him, but movement at the door changed all that. I turned to see what had caught his eye. A petite woman with long raven hair and a beautiful, but sad, smile. Her hands were clasped behind her back, and as she took a step into the room, Lukas sucked in an audible breath. “Mother?”
Hell in a hailstorm…
“My boy,” she said with a sigh. The very definition of graceful, Sarah Scott glided across the floor and over to her son. “I am so sorry…”
It was obvious Lukas was struggling with this. He tensed, and I knew a part of him understood this wasn’t real, but there was also a part that didn’t care. I couldn’t blame him. If I’d been in his situation, having lost my mother and everything I cared about, only to see her over a hundred years later—illusion or not—I didn’t know how I’d react.
With a shaky hand, he reached out to touch the side of her face, eyes widening when he found her solid. But when he went to put his arms around her, she pulled back and brought her hands to the front. In them was a small, unassuming wooden box. The one he’d been trapped in for over a hundred years. The box containing the Seven Deadly Sins.
“No…” he whispered, tripping over his own two feet in an attempt to put some distance between them.
“Yes,” Sarah said. Her voice took on a hard, cold tone, and her eyes narrowed. “This is where you belong. You have violence and rage in your heart. You don’t deserve to be free because you are a monster.”
He backed himself against the wall, head shaking and mouth forming silent words. I threw myself forward and stepped between them as Lukas sank to the ground and let his head fall forward. “Don’t,” I snapped, and sank down with him. “She’s not here. The box isn’t here. Your mother would never do this to you, Lukas.”
“How do you know?” He growled. He lifted his head to meet my gaze, and I choked back a gasp. His eyes were blood red. The same red they’d been when Wrath was close to the surface. “Before I was trapped in that box, I was a horrible person, Jessie. I planned to do horrible things.”
“You intended to protect your family,” I snapped back, taking his hands. “To protect your mom. You were a good guy then, and you’re a good guy now. This is not real.” I stood and faced off against the fake Mrs. Scott. She was smiling like she had some big secret.
She laughed. Her voice was delicate and musical, but had an odd otherworldly echo to it. The sound trickled through the room and bounced off the walls, surrounding us. “I’m very real.” She spread her arms wide and laughed again. “Everything you see is real, Jessie Darker. It is all truth. In fact, it’s more truth than you’ve ever gotten, little girl.”
Obviously, Lucifer was going to put protective measures in place to guard his treasures, but the number one rule when dealing with all things demonic was to remember they didn’t—couldn’t—lie. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that while I may not be the real Sarah Scott, my words are spoken with candor.” She gestured to Lukas who was watching us, still on the floor. “He is a monster. Stained and weak of heart. Human or demon, it matters not. He is a paradox and will only mean your end.”