Just Bite Me Already

Chapter 13

"Fuck!" Simon muttered, staring at the murderous rage in Lilith's eyes over Cain's shoulder when her gaze landed on him. He wanted nothing more than to wither under that gaze. Or maybe turn back and face her army of minions instead. It would probably be a safer option.

Something about the way Lilith looked at him, however, had Simon pausing his retreat. If he didn't know any better, he would swear that he saw no small amount of fear in Lilith's eyes.

"You can't keep him here," Simon said, a lot more bravely than he felt. His voice didn't even shake. Thankfully. "He owes you nothing," he added.

"He owes me everything, Daylighter. I brought his brother back to him," Lilith said, glaring at Simon before her gaze flicked to a silent Cain, seeing him drop his head.

"You cursed him to an immortal life out of spite and jealousy, drove him crazy to the point of murdering his brother, planted a mark on him that destroyed everything he loves then you tricked him into coming to Edom with false promises of a life with his brother. Who you brought back as a zombie. I'd say you're the one who owes him," Simon said incredulously, his outrage overcoming his fear.

Cain flinched, hearing his entire life story laid out like that. Every word of it was true. Not only that, but he had let Lilith lock him up when she had dragged him back to her castle after her confrontation with the new Kings of the realm. And he had done nothing to stop her, too busy wallowing in his self-pity.

"Why are you even speaking?" Lilith asked Simon, wanting nothing more than to strike the Vampire down where he stood. "Leave, now," she said, stepping aside on the drawbridge that spanned the dry moat around her castle to let Simon pass.

"Excuse me?" Simon asked, his eyes flicking to meet Cain's gaze when Cain looked at him over his shoulder, positive that he had heard wrong. Cain looked just as confused as he did.

"You can go but Cain stays here," Lilith said from between gritted teeth, gesturing for Simon to leave. She still needed Cain.

"You're just letting me go, just like that?" Simon asked suspiciously, trying to work out what Lilith's game was.

"Oh, believe me, if it wasn't for that infernal mark, I would grind you into dust and scatter you to the four corners of Edom," Lilith snarled, her sense of self-preservation overriding her deep desire to annihilate the Vampire where he stood. Only her fear of what Simon's mark could do had her offering him safe passage out of her castle. As far as the end of the drawbridge, anyway.

"She thinks I still have the mark of... she thinks I still have the mark?" Simon asked Cain in a whisper, barely daring to move his lips in case Lilith was able to read them.

"I never told her that you didn't," Cain replied, just as quietly. Mainly because Lilith had never asked.

Simon quickly thought back to the last time that he had seen Lilith. It had been the day he, Jace, Izzy, and Clary had summoned Lilith. The day she had brought Cain back to Edom. Had she not noticed then? The only thing that could have tipped her off would have been when he had attacked Jonathan and ingested his blood.

But Lilith had been too busy trying to convince Cain to go with her to notice.

Cain's mark had reacted to Simon's dash to stop him from leaving with Lilith but Lilith had already disappeared by then, Cain disappearing through her portal after her as Simon had rebounded.

Simon fought the grin that wanted to spread over his face. As far as Lilith was concerned, the last time she had tangled with him, his mark had banished her back to Edom.