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“I understand. I would probably do the same thing.” She glanced at her hands. “I can’t imagine not having what makes me a witch.” Her blue eyes softened. “I’m sorry.”
I nodded, and changed subjects since I wasn’t great at talking about my problems and feelings. “Have you and Levi always gotten along?”
“In a way,” she said, her tone turning sad. “Levi and I lost our mothers when we were young, so our father took us in. But he was never there. As a higher demon, he’s as bad as you can make them, and he was like that with us. He didn’t have patience with us, and he was always yelling and punishing us for the silliest things.” She shook her head. “At least, that’s how I remember it.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“It wasn’t bad, though, because he was almost always gone, so it was Levi and me for a while. We had nannies and housekeepers, but they never lasted. When my magic manifested at nine, our father said it reminded him of my mother, and he loathed her. So, Levi suggested he send me to my mother’s coven. The witches would welcome me and raise me as their own. And that’s exactly what he did.”
“Levi stayed back. Alone.”
She nodded. “I tried to go to him. Once, I succeeded, and my father was home. Whatever his deal had been that day, it hadn’t work. In fact, I think it had gone terribly wrong because he took out his rage on me.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth. “No!”
“Levi saved me. He was seventeen at the time, almost as tall as our father and just as powerful. He fought our father, rescued me, sent me back to the coven, and told me to never come back.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Right after, Levi abandoned our father and started living by himself. Then, he allowed me to visit a couple of times each year. Our relationship isn’t what we both would like, but I know he cares a lot about me, and I care about him.”
“I know what you mean.” I had never told this to any of my friends on Earth, but I had a sister back home, and I would do anything for her.
I glanced at the window again. Levi was parking the SUV in front of the diner. It was hard to reconcile the image I had of Levi with the picture Lacey painted.
“Please, don’t tell him I told you all of this,” she said quickly. “He always says I talk too much, and no one should know the truth about us.”
“I won’t say anything.”
Relief flooded her features.
Levi slipped into the seat beside Lacey five seconds before the server came with our food. Even though she could be his mother, or at least a young aunt, she batted her fake lashes at Levi and asked if he wanted anything else.
He didn’t even look in her direction. “No, thanks.” But then he stared at Lacey and me. “Eat fast, go to the restroom, and let’s go. We shouldn’t stay in one spot for long, and we have a long road ahead of us.”
“Yes, boss,” Lacey teased.
Levi ignored her and took a bite of his cheeseburger.
“Lacey, how did you get here? Were you close by?” I asked before taking a bite of my food.
“No, Levi used one of the golden coins we spelled.” He glared at her and she shrank down. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. “Always saying more than you should.”
“Hey, stop bothering her,” I protested. “If you’re afraid people will know how you get around, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
Levi stared at me for five seconds before saying, “The coins work one way, to portal her to me. That’s all.”
That made sense. Portaling was a difficult spell and using tokens to help out was a nice touch.
Levi munched on his food fast and furious. In less than three minutes, he was almost done with his burger. He took the final bite and stiffened.
I followed his gaze. On the other side of the diner, our server talked to another one, a young brunette.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Shhh,” was all he said. We stayed in silence for a few seconds. “Fuck. They are talking about you.”
“What? Why? What are they saying?”
“That you’re the missing girl a group was inquiring about a couple of hours earlier.” I froze. He went on, “Apparently, the angels came this way and pretended to be looking for their missing friend. They gave a good description of you and me, the kidnapper.”
