"I'm finished!" Cleo yelled from the kitchen.

I stood up from the couch and adjusted the pajamas she had given me to wear. I scurried to the kitchen where she was placing the cake down on the counter with the upmost focus.

"Ta-Da!" She yelled as she gestured to the cake excitedly, wiggling her fingers. My heart warmed at the fact that she spent so much time making it, and I sat down on the stool across from her. I insisted multiple times that she didn't have to, but she was adamant and claimed she would've made one even if it was my birthday...

Bullshit.

But here we were.

"It actually looks really good," I said as I tapped the marble counter. It was a small pink cake, but it was decorated like a professional had done it. She told me she was a bad cook, but looking at this, I couldn't believe it.

"I'm glad you think so, I followed the instructions to a tee. Like seriously, I paid more attention to this than I ever did in school." I laughed as she scurried to the bag of groceries we got and pulled out two candles that together would say 21. She placed the candles onto the cake and lit them one at a time. When she was done she stood up straight and cleared her throat.

I raised a brow at her as she began rubbing her throat and swinger her hair over her shoulders. "What's going-"

"Happy Birthday to you!..." She began singing, making me jump in surprise. My eyes watered as I tried to hold back a laugh and she continued on. She was amazing, but her singing voice was far from melodic. When she finished she gave me a satisfied smile and gestured at the cake. "Make a wish!"

At her instruction, I held my hair behind my head and bent down to blow them out. She clapped and when I looked up at her, she had a huge smile on her face. "What did you wish for?"

"Won't it not happen if I share it?"

"Believe it or not, that's a myth." She nodded. "The entire concept of wishes is just not real."

"Oh, really?" I gasped, my voice clipped with sarcasm making her laugh and throw a napkin at me.

"Stop." She crossed her arms. "I love the whole tradition, but I wish more recognition was given to the witches and warlocks that spend countless hours trying to grant them."

"So wishes...are real?" I looked at her in shock. "There are people really granting them?"

"Technically, yes...but it's not because of the stars or God. It's because my people have good hearts and they want people to be happy. There are rules though, we can't really give you want you want...but we can lead you there or make a small incident happen that will send you along the path of what it is that you want."

"Can you do it with me?" I questioned in aww.

"Sure." She laughed, relighting the candle once again. "Try again and say it out loud this time."

"Hmm." I thought, closing my eyes. "I wish...I wish for a pair of thigh-high boots. The ones with the straps on the sides." I blew out the candles, and when I opened my eyes, Cleo was holding out a single dollar for me. "What's this for?"

"I'm granting your wish," she said. "A small incident...that will send you along the path-"

"I hate you." I burst out into laughter and her shoulders shook.

"What? I'm trying to help you, Queen. You need a few hundred more, but I...in the realm of magic and all things withes...have fulfilled your request."

"Girl." I plucked the dollar from her hand. "What if I had wished for a million dollars?"

She pointed at the dollar bill in my hand. "Small incident..."

"You're a mess."

"High class witch shit!"

"Bye." I shook my head. "Do people ever wish for things like love or success?"

"Sure...all the time."

"Do you give them a dollar?"

"No, silly goose." She pat my head before grabbing a fork from the drawer behind her. "If they want love, I'll tell them to go get laid and if they want to be successful, I'd say to get a damn job."

"Is there any actual magic involved in your wish-granting?" I laid my chin into my palms, awaiting her answer.

"I can't explain," she said. "There are some grand witches and warlocks that are capable of granting wishes of great capacity, but there's always a price with magic. Each wish they grant, chips away at their soul until they are nothing more than shells of their former selves. I love myself way too much to do that, so I stick to the bare minimum."

"So you're telling me you've never granted a wish for anybody?"

"Well no," she said, shaking her head. "I have, once."

"Whose?"

"My husband's."

"Caspian?" I asked. "What did he want?"

"Me." She said confidently with a smirk. My face dropped that I had once again fallen into another one of her jokes and she laughed. "That counts, right?"

"I meant in the magical sense- where the soul thing happens."

"No, I've never done it before. Hopefully, I never had to." I nodded and she held out a fork. "I wish...that you like this cake."

I smiled, taking the fork from her hand and raising a brow. "By your logic, me taking a bite would be one of those small incidences, correct?"

"Look at you," she drawled out, gently slapping my arm and giving me a sly smile. "You're getting it. Grant my wish, babes." I scooped a piece of the cake with the fork and she watched me expectantly as I raised it to my mouth. As soon as my mouth closed around the fork, my eyes widened at the taste. To both of our shock, I began gagging and she rushed to my side. "What's wrong?!"

I quickly grabbed a napkin and took the cake out of my mouth as quickly as I could. I drank the water beside me to get the taste out of my mouth and she looked at me with a frown. "Why is it salty?" I choked out.

She sighed and sunk down into a stool. "I don't know. I followed the instructions," she said in a defeated tone as she pointed to the ingredients.

I walked over to what she used and picked up a container with a white substance. "You put salt in the cake?"

She shook her head and gave me a confused look. "That's sugar..."A small smile forced its way onto my lips and I shook my head. "Right?"

I think walked toward her and opened the lid of the container. "Try it."

She scrunched her face as she dipped her finger into the container and licked it. A sour look appeared on her face and she shook her head. "Well, fuck." I giggled at her reaction and cleaned up her mess in the kitchen. "I hope you're not upset," she said, running her hands down her face.

I walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. "I appreciate the effort."

She hugged me back tightly and laughed. "I'm so glad Xavier and Cas weren't here to try it. I'd never live that shit down." Xavier and Caspian offered to stay back with Genesis to clean up the mess that took place in the restaurant. We wanted to stay back and help, but Gen practically kicked us out. "Ouch!" Cleo recoiled from me and her hand flew to her chest.

"What's wrong?"

"Your necklace just burned the shit out of me." She groaned, looking down at the red spot on her brown skin.

"What?" My hand moved to the necklace to feel nothing except the usual cool metal and I frowned. "It's not hot."

She gave me a confused look before reaching out for it once again, and when she made contact, she cursed and pulled her hand away. "Fuck! Queen that is burning hot, how do you not feel that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

She bit the inside of her lip and raised her palms flat out in front of her. "Do you mind if I take a look at that?" I hesitated, not wanting to hurt her again, but she gave me a reassuring smile. I unclasped the necklace from around my neck and held it out for her. She muttered a string of words that I couldn't make out, and the lights in the house flickered. The same blue smoke from earlier when she healed me began forming around our legs and I looked around in shock. "Drop the necklace," she whispered.

I let go of it as she instructed, and it disappeared into the blue haze in the floor. Everything remained silent as we stared into where it had fallen, and I slowly looked up at Cleo. "What was supposed to-"

The lights around us flickered once again, and I looked down to see Cleo's blue fog being replaced with a charcoal black one. Low growls from the floor began to echo in the room and I held a hand over my mouth. What the hell did Syn give me?

"Pick the necklace up before they come in here," she said.

"They?"

"Fast, Queen!" I bent down, letting my hands fall on the smoky floor for the necklace. My hands instead, landed on something slithering on the floor and I gasped. "Focus on the necklace!"

I reached my hand back down, fear creeping into me as my hands landed on things that didn't feel like the floor. I was sure that I touched someone's face, but that was impossible, right? My hand connected with the familiar chain of the necklace and I lifted it. Everything on the floor disappeared, leaving me the only thing on the white stainless floor and I glanced up at Cleo who was nodding her head slowly.

"Spill." She crossed her arms. "Are you cheating on Syn? Who gave that to you?"

"Girl what?" I stood up, rubbing my knees.

"Who gave that to you?" She repeated, a single brow raised.

"Syn did."

Her mouth dropped. "No way."

"What? He gave it to me today for my birthday."

"He must really love you," she said, smiling at the necklace in my hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that he was-"

"He's not." I sighed. "Syn doesn't love me. And you're really confusing me."

"I'm sorry." She winced, lacking arms with me. "Umm, have you ever heard the story of Lilith?"

"No." I shook my head as she guided me toward the couch. "I don't think so."

She sat us both down and crossed her legs as she faced me. "Considering he is Syn's father...I'm sure you know Lucifer, right?"

"I've never met him...but of course, I know about him."

"Lilith was his first love."

"Okay?"

"After everything that happened between God and Lucifer, God decided their dues resulted in too much bloodshed. He wanted a peace...or so he said...In an effort to calm Lucifer's rage, he made him a girl...Lilith. Most history books say that it was love at first sight for Lucifer. As soon as he met her, his pursuits to destroy everything his father created was put to rest."

I nodded slowly, and she continued. "It didn't take long for Lucifer to realize that Lilith was actually a curse instead of a gift. He was led to believe that Lilith would be a forever companion, but she was human. Meaning that she'd only be with him for a blip of time in comparison to his eternal life." She shook her head. "It's sad. Anyway, he did the only thing any logical person in love would have done in that situation. That may not exist though...a logical person in love.

"What did he do?"

"He created a necklace for her with his essence. A necklace that would slowly draw from his longevity and keep her alive forever."

"Is that this necklace?" I asked in shock.

"Not quite, but it is the same spell. Let me finish." She pouted. "Lilith became bored. She was no longer satisfied with watching him rule and being the subservient partner, she wanted it all. So she took it. That necklace aided in her draining Lucifer of every bit of his power and taking it for herself. Her betrayal destroyed him-broke his evil little heart, but she finally had everything she wanted."

"Wow..."

"I know." She smiled sadly. "But we're still not done."

"Go on."

"God saw what happened and how distraught Lucifer was- he couldn't bear it even though it was his fault. At the end of the day as much bad blood as there was, Lucifer was his son. So he gave him an option. If Lucifer killed Lilith, God would give him the ability to create his own version of a forever companion. A being that would truly never leave or betray him...a child."

Cleo turned to me to gauge my reaction, but I remained silent, highly anticipating her next words. I was undoubtedly hooked on the story. When she didn't continue, I frowned at her. "What happened next? Did he take the offer?"

"I don't know, Princess," she teased. "You tell me."

I gasped. "He killed Lilith to have Syn?!"

"Of course he didn't, Lucifer always finds a loophole in everything. He managed to out sleuth God- it's a pretty fascinating time period in Underworld history." She laughed. "Despite her betrayal, he was still in love with her. For years, he kept her hidden in the one place that God would never search...Hell. He slowly regained his abilities with the necklace back in his possession and God granted him the spell that would give him a child. Now having everything he wanted, Lucifer revealed everything and you know what God did?"

"What?"

"He laughed in his face," she said. "Can you imagine that? Fighting your entire life to prove that you're good enough to your father and when you finally think you've done it...he laughed at you."

"Why did he laugh?"

"Because he had the upper hand all along. You can't outsmart God. He always has a plan, and apparently...Lucifer had played into his. Everything Lilith had ever told him was a lie...she was working with his father the entire time. She wasn't even human. He risked his life, his soul...for a being that didn't even need it."

"What was she?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I dropped out of school before I could find out." I scoffed and she smiled softly. "Are you aware of the point of this story Queen?"

"For you to somehow point out that Syn cares more than he's letting on?"

"Well yes, duh!" She threw her hands up. "You think that he gave you the ability to destroy him and he doesn't love you? If you wanted to right now, you could take everything from him, Queen. He knows that." She sighed, looking into my eyes when I didn't respond. "Listen, if you don't love him then no worries, but I'm positive he does."

"He can't," I said softly, clasping my hands around the necklace. As much as I wanted him to...he couldn't.

"Because of the no emotion shit?"

"Exactly because of that," I muttered dryly.

"All I'm going to say is everything, every spell, and every creation in the universe has a loophole. Maybe you're his."

"Cleo, it's not possible. That all sounds cool, but it's a fairytale. Is there actual evidence or proof that confirms any part of that story?" Stories were nice to listen to, but I needed hard facts to believe things like these. It had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with me.

"You're about to piss me off." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not saying you're untrustworthy," I said quickly. "It's just that-"

"Girl, not because of that. You're making me mad because you have the number one source to fact check this at your disposal."

"I do?"

"Syn!" She yelled. "He would know."

"Oh, right." I rubbed my temples.

"Also, question."

"What?"

"What are you?"

"What do you mean?"

She waved her hands in the air. "Well, I'm a witch. Cas is a vampire...Syn is whatever the fuck he is. But what are you? I'm sensing something, but I can't exactly...figure you out."

"I'm just human." I shrugged.

"Fine, bitch." She rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Don't tell me then. Mystery is pretty sexy too, I guess."

"You're losing me." I frowned.

"You're oozing human, Queen. It's like spilling from your pores."

"As I should..."

"Even humans don't ooze it like you do," she said, tilting her head at me. "It's overwhelming on you. If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. I more than anyone understand wanting to bury your past."

"Cleo, I seriously have no idea what you're talking about. What are you trying to say?"

Her eyes scanned me before she furrowed her brows and slowly sat back against the couch. Her eyes remained on the coffee table as she sighed, and I raised a brow. "After all these centuries and more digging into the past, researchers and scientists have discovered a key detail of the necklace that Lucifer completely missed. If he realized it, he could've possibly uncovered God's entire plan."

"What detail?"

"The necklace was created with Hellfire and Lucifer's blood."

"Okay..."

"I touched it and it burned me, Queen. If the necklace were to land on human skin, it would immediately kill them.

"Well, maybe Syn changed it up, right? He wouldn't give me something that would kill me."

"Maybe he knew it wouldn't." What? "Anyway, enough talks from me, I'm kind of drunk and I don't know what exactly I'm saying. Ask me in the morning."

Seeing no other alternatives or possibilities to her theories, I chalked it up to her drunken thoughts. I'd definitely ask Syn about the story if I ever got the chance, but that's where I'd stop the conversation. I knew with one hundred percent certainty what I was. I could feel my heart beating through my chest, I bruised...my blood was warm.

I was human. Plain and simple.

"Can I ask you one more question about the story?"

"Go ahead."

"Hypothetically." I cleared my throat. "If God knew all along that Lucifer was going to try to betray him and even prepared for it, why would he offer Lucifer an alternative for the first time in history? Wouldn't that be a trick too?"

"As of right now if he does, it's unclear, but you know what they say: 'God always has a plan for you'."

"Right." I nodded. That same load of crap that everyone in Heaven spewed. My phone buzzed beside me and I picked it up to see a text from Syn. My heart broke into a million pieces as I read it and Cleo laid a hand on my shoulder, concern filling her tone.

"Queen, what's wrong?"

"Syn," I choked out.

...

Syn: We're done.
1:27 a.m.