Chapter 3: Council of Creepiness and a Slightly Exploding Car
Ari woke up to Lucifer's tail smacking her face. The blood-red message was gone, the mirror clean like nothing had happened. Typical horror movie stuff.
"Cowards didn't even leave a jump scare," she muttered, hopping off the massive bed. She opened her closet and — who needs fifty black outfits? What was this? The emo mafia collection?
Ten minutes later, she stomped into the council chamber in ripped jeans, a red crop top, and Zayne's jacket she'd "borrowed" without asking.
The council room was even darker in the daylight, the old men glaring like a pack of wrinkly wolves. Zayne sat at the end of the table, licking a red lollipop like the hot, sinister villain he absolutely was.
Ari yawned loudly. "Sorry, did we schedule a villain convention I didn't RSVP to?"
"Girl, you test my patience," growled the grump from yesterday.
Before Ari could snap back, a scream echoed from outside.
Everyone rushed out — and there was Ari's fault.
See, turns out when you press random buttons on a sports car parked beside a weapons shed, sometimes the car blows up. Who knew.
Smoke poured from the wrecked car, bodyguards running everywhere.
Zayne stalked up to her, his jaw so tight it could crack steel.
Ari winced. "So, um… your car had commitment issues?"
Zayne grabbed her wrist, pulling her aside. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Listen, I didn't plan for it to blow up. I was trying to adjust the seat."
"It's a bomb-armed getaway car."
"Oh," Ari blinked. "Well, poor design flaw."
His eyes burned into hers. "You're impossible."
"And you're dangerously hot, yet here we are."
For a second — one tiny, fleeting second — his lips twitched upward. A smirk. Actual proof of humanity.
Before either of them could say another word, a pale, shadowy figure appeared behind them.
Ari spun around. No one was there.
"Who the heck was that?" she demanded.
Zayne frowned, suddenly serious. "You saw it too."
He pulled a gun from inside his jacket. Ari groaned.
"Really? That's your answer for everything?"
Then, a voice whispered in the wind:"You'll be dead before midnight, princess."
Lucifer's ears flattened. Zayne tensed. And Ari, naturally, rolled her eyes.
"Original," she muttered. "Heard scarier threats in a group chat."