if one of them is dead.

chapter twenty-three.

Lilith.

Lilith knew that she probably shouldn't do this, but she really didn't care at this point. Well, she did care, that's why she was doing it. And she really hoped Mattheo didn't kill her for it.

He probably wouldn't have killed her for it, but he would be very pissed.

He was scary when he was pissed. But he was also hot as hell. But that didn't change how pissed he would be.

She promised him, and she was going to break that promise. She was just glad that she didn't make an Unbreakable Vow, because then she would be dead. Well, she was probably going to be dead anyway.

If Mattheo didn't kill her first, she was definitely going to be killed by someone else. And the war was brewing, and she needed people to make sure she was safe. These people would turn on her the second they could, and she knew that.

They didn't like her father much— at all. And they definitely weren't going to like her.

This old house was really— old.

Lilith knocked because that was the polite thing to do. When there was no answer, she pushed open the door. She hoped that he was here and didn't just give her the address to screw with her.

"Hello?" she asked loudly, closing the door behind her. Her hand lingered behind her on the doorknob as she looked around the room.

Most of the boards were out of place, or all over the place. There was moss on almost every board, and it looked like the house hadn't been used in decades. The door was almost falling off the hinges, and Lilith was lucky it hadn't actually fallen off when she touched it.

"All right then," she muttered, taking a step forward. The boards creaked so much that she could have cringed. Why not look around?

She guessed that they weren't downstairs, so she started up the rickety staircase. It creaked with every step she took, and a few boards were so old that they almost snapped under her weight. The moss and dirt on the railing stuck to her hands. She paused a moment and rubbed her fingers against her palm, trying to get the dirt off of her hand before starting back up the stairs.

When she got to the top of the stairs, something slithered at her feet, but she didn't bother looking down; she knew who and what it was. The door in front of her was open, and that's where the snake went. So that was where he was.

She supposed that this wasn't going to be the typical meeting the parents scenario.

"I was wondering when you would arrive," a cold voice said as she entered the room.

There, in a chair with a snake wrapped around it, in the flesh, was Lord Voldemort. Lilith stopped in front of him, not sure what to do. But she wasn't going to bow, that much was for sure.

Voldemort sat with his hands in his lap, in a black cloak. It looked like a flowy night robe that you would wear after you killed your husband— just not with the fluffy ends or the transparency.

"Hello," Lilith said, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Lilith Snape," Voldemort said, shaking his head. "Are you the girl that my son has been with?" She paused, which gave him all the answers he needed. "Yes, I know that he is dating someone. I never expected it to be the daughter of one of my formal, most loyal followers. Nor did I expect her to come to me, asking for something that I thought your father would forbit you from— and my son."