Thea

“What do you mean, Lilith is missing?” Esme asked. “How long has she been gone?”

“We got a message about half an hour before you arrived that Wrynn was at the quarry and was in danger,” Rosie answered. “Lilith rushed to fetch him.”

“How far is the quarry? Is it possible that she was just delayed by something?” Bryce looked really concerned, which just made me that much more worried.

“It might be possible?” I responded. “The quarry isn’t far, maybe a twenty-minute walk. If Lilith went, she would’ve flown, which would take her like five. But that’s not the problem.”

“Then what is?” Esme seemed like she was getting impatient, or maybe she just really had to pee. “You know as well as I do that rescuing students can take time, and while Wrynn is a good kid, trouble follows him.”

“Gee, thanks, and who are you exactly?”

“Dammit, Wrynn!” I shouted at the young demon standing in the kitchen doorway. “You were supposed to wait for my signal, so that we could make the reveal super dramatic.”

“Sorry Ms. Thea, but I’m not going to just sit there while some rando talks shit about me.”

“Some rando?” Esme took a step towards Wrynn with her arms crossed. “I was there when your mother was born, little man, and I’ve known you longer than anybody else alive.”

“Ms. Esme?” Wrynn’s eyes went wide as he rushed across the room and glomped onto the annoyed succubus. “I thought you were dead.”

Esme sighed as she wrapped her arms around Wrynn. “It’s good to see you, and I’m glad you’re safe. But if you’re here, then where’s Lilith?”

“We don’t know.” Rosie shook her head. “Thea didn’t think Wrynn would go to the quarry, so we went to ask Felix and found him lying on the floor in her room.”

“Fee was scared and wanted me to stay with her until she fell asleep,” Wrynn explained. "So, I snuck into her room after curfew."

“The timing here worries me,” Bryce interrupted. “You said it was a message that warned you Wrynn was in trouble?”

“That’s right,” Rosie confirmed. “There isn’t any sort of child services or official avenue to rescue children in danger, so we have an anonymous line where people can raise concerns.”

“Rosie is usually the one who investigates the tips,” I explained. “But if it’s dangerous, then she sends me or Esme and if it’s really bad, then Lilith handles it.”

“But both of you have been missing for months,” Rosie continued. “Which means Lilith has had to handle all the dangerous investigations on her own.”

“So the tip was anonymous?” Bryce asked.

“That’s right, and since Wrynn was missing from his room, we took it seriously.” Rosie paused for a moment. “You think somebody wanted to get Lilith away from the house?”

“I don’t know…” Bryce trailed off in thought before continuing. “Wrynn, why was Felix scared? And how often does she ask you to sleep in her room?”

“Ms. Esme, who is this?” Wrynn asked.

“That’s Bryce, Thea’s girlfriend, you can trust her. Just answer the questions.”

“Seriously?” the little shit asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I glared at the kid. “And you’re going to want to choose your next words very carefully.”

“I’m just saying she’s way out of your league, and definitely a step up from ‘he who shall not be named’.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s super true.” I gave him a high five for complimenting Bryce while also insulting my ex-boyfriend. “Now, answer her questions.”

“Right, Fee said she saw something outside her window, but she didn’t know what it was and I didn’t see anything when I checked.”

“And how often does she ask you to check on things like that?” Bryce asked.

“Not often.” Wrynn shrugged. “Well, not recently anyway. Fee is still just a kid, but she’s mostly grown out of having to call on her big brother to save her from nightmares.”

“What are you thinking, Bryce?” I asked.

“I think Felix probably saved Wrynn’s life, I think Lilith is in actual danger, and I think the whole idea of ‘leagues’ in relationships is complete bullshit. Even if it wasn’t, then Thea would be the one out of my league, not the other way around.” We all just kind of stared at her for a moment before she continued. “I also think I’m still being affected by that tea.”

“Aww babe!” I rushed over to give her a hug. “We’re both in a league of our own.”

“What could possibly threaten Ms. Lilith?” Wrynn asked. “She has to be one of the oldest demons in existence. It’d take at least a demon prince to hold their own against her, and honestly, she’d still probably kill them.”

“There are ways of subduing a demon without fighting them,” Bryce pointed out. “And if somebody is actually after Lilith, then I can’t imagine they’d be interested in a fair fight.”

“You think they’re using a binding circle?” Esme asked.

Bryce shook her head. “A binding circle would be too risky. In theory, it could imprison her, but in practice, they aren’t reliable, and even a minor mistake would mean dealing with a very angry Lilith.”

“Banishing her wouldn’t work, not while she’s already in Hel.” Esme furrowed her brows. “So, if it’s not a binding circle, then I don’t know what you mean.”

“She thinks somebody learned Lilith’s true name.” Rosie’s normally pale-green skin was a few shades paler than usual, and I was completely speechless. If somebody had learned Lilith’s true name, then she’d be helpless against them, or worse, she’d be completely under their control.

“How could somebody have learned Ms. Lilith’s true name?” Wrynn asked. “She wouldn’t have given that out to just anybody.”

“There are a few people who know it, but nobody who would ever betray her,” Rosie explained. “Lilith doesn’t have many enemies. Well, not many that would be capable of doing something like this.”

“What about Malvoch?” Bryce brought up the one possibility that I didn’t want to consider.

“Malvoch? I suppose it’s possible,” Rosie said. “Orrid knows it, and he could have told him, but why would Malvoch want to hurt Lilith?”

“Because Esme and Thea stole something extremely valuable from him, and now he’s determined to ruin their lives as revenge.”

“Esme, would you care to explain yourself?” Rosie glared at the succubus.

“Wait!” I interrupted before she could answer. “Esme is still under the effects of the tea, so if you ask her, then she’ll have to answer, and this isn’t the sort of thing we should talk about with our current company.”

“I won’t tell anybody,” Wrynn said. “Besides, if Ms. Lilith is in trouble, then I want to help.”

I was about to refuse outright, but Bryce spoke up first. “Wrynn, somebody was here to attack you earlier tonight, and it’s possible that they might come back for your sister. It would make me feel a lot better if we didn’t need to worry about her safety while we went to go get Lilith.”

The boy still seemed reluctant until Esme spoke up. “Alternatively, we could always just send you to your own room before activating the wards on the estate.”

“Fine, but come get me the moment you're back. There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep until I know what happened.”

“Deal,” I agreed before Rosie or Esme could complain about him being up too late. “Grab a snack from the kitchen and tell Fee I said hi.”

“Did I mention how much I’ve missed you, Thea?”

“It was implied. Now get out of here before I get overruled.”

Wrynn smiled at me before jogging to the kitchen, and I turned back to the group once he was out of earshot. “It was an elixir of lesser immortality for Stephy, and we didn’t steal it. I won it in a poker game.”

“Did he catch you cheating?” Rosie asked.

“Y-yes, but he was cheating too. Which makes it fair.”

“Why Malvoch is after her doesn’t matter nearly as much as what we’re going to do about it,” Bryce interrupted Rosie before she could ask another question. “I don’t think he’s going to involve himself directly, at least not yet. So, we should approach the situation under the assumption that Malvoch told somebody else Lilith’s true name, likely somebody with a grudge.”

“That could be any number of people,” Rosie seemed to deflate. “We make a lot of enemies doing what we do, but that doesn’t usually matter because Lilith is powerful enough to deter them.”

“They’d need to be close enough to the quarry that they could lay the trap with a half-hour’s notice,” Bryce added. “If it was Malvoch, then he waited until Thea was in Hel before triggering the trap. Which means they were able to act within fifteen minutes of us arriving.”

“And if it wasn’t Malvoch?” Esme asked. “It’s still possible that he isn’t involved here.”

“If he’s not involved, then the solution is to wait around here until Lilith comes back,” Bryce shrugged. “It’s honestly the best-case scenario and resolves itself. Which makes it not worth planning around.”

“Oh shit, it’s Raith’s gang. It has to be.”

“The location would make sense,” Rosie frowned. “But I can’t imagine she would go so far as to actually hurt Wrynn.”

“Who’s Raith?” Bryce asked.

“Raith is Wrynn’s mother,” Esme explained. “She used to be a student here until she was recruited by a local gang. She came back a few years later to give birth, but Lilith wouldn’t let her return to the gang with the baby.”

“She left without Wrynn, killed his shitbag dad, and then took over the gang,” I added. “She has the motive. Plus, her gang’s hideout is between here and the quarry, which means she would have had plenty of time to do everything.”

“That seems like a good place to start. But Thea…” Bryce looked reluctant to continue.

“What is it?” I asked.

“If somebody is using Lilith’s true name, then you may have to fight her. And worse case, you might have to kill her.”

“We aren’t killing Lilith.” Rosie sighed. “I’m coming with you, and if Raith did somehow learn her true name, then I’ll handle it.”