32. Mammon
THIRTY-TWO
MAMMON
Glancing down at my watch, I frown.
We’re all sitting at the dining room table, our dinner piping hot and ready to serve, but Bel and Gore aren’t back yet.
“The time isn’t going to change,” Asmodeus groans, eyeing the brisket greedily. “Can we eat now?”
I growl under my breath and throw him a look that tells him to promptly shut the fuck up. We’re not starting without Bel and Gore. When we eat as a family, we never begin without all of us.
“How long ago did they leave?” Luc asks, pushing his poorly fixed glasses up his nose.
“Two hours ago.” Anxiety pools in my gut as it sinks in just how long they’ve been gone.
“Don’t worry. Bel probably had to chase down Gore with a butterfly net,” Leviathan mutters, sneaking a green bean onto his plate.
Growing antsier by the second, I shake my head. “We’re going to look for them.”
“Come on,” Asmodeus grumbles. “They’re fine . You know how easy it is for them to lose track of time. They’re fucking or something. You know them.”
I do and that’s what makes me nervous. Even though Bel likes to push my buttons, he and Gore don’t actively defy direct orders. Maybe in the past, they’ve skirted around their obligations and duties, but things are different. The rules that dictate our relationship are clear. When I tell them something, they do it.
Luc huffs, planting both hands on the table as he stands and addresses me. “If Mammon wants to go look for them, I agree.” He turns to Leviathan and juts his chin. “Get up.”
It’s almost comical how quickly Leviathan shoots to his feet. Asmodeus, although reluctant, stands as well. We leave our dinner behind and each grab our coats from the mudroom.
“Where do you think they went?” Luc asks, his breath ghosting in front of him in the chilly night air.
Asmodeus turns and begins walking. “They like the lake. Gore once thought he saw a sea monster there.”
Not even the memory of Gore’s adorable rambling when he swore he saw the Loch Ness Monster’s cousin is enough to calm me. The longer we’re outside in the darkness, the more my concern grows. I try to channel some calmness, just like everyone else, but fuck me, where are they?
When we reach the lake a few minutes later, there’s no sign of them. I snarl, snapping my head to Asmodeus. “I thought you said they’d be here.”
He holds up his hands in surrender, eyes narrowed. “They’re your boyfriends. You tell me where they are.”
My hands ball into fists at my sides. Fuck him. I’m well aware of their obsession with the lake, but they could be anywhere. The neighborhood is gigantic and Gore is known to wander, with Bel following him willingly. They probably just lost track of time and are on their way home.
But still?—
“Wait? Is that Terror?”
We all turn to look at the little creature running at break-neck speed towards us from the other side of the lake. Terror is yowling and whining, nearly colliding straight into my feet. She paws at my shins, big fucking eyes almost sad, and I swear she’s frowning.
My heart stops. “They wouldn’t leave Terror.”
Luc shakes his head, placing a gentle hand on my arm. “It could be that they just?—”
“They wouldn’t leave the fucking dog!” I shout, picking up Terror and cradling her against my chest. “Here’s the dog. Now where the fuck are they?!”
Asmodeus’s annoyance slowly morphs into something more disconcerting. “Okay. Calm down. There has to be an explanation.”
Sure, there’s an explanation. Over a dozen that pop up in my head; all of them darting to the worst-case scenario that makes my blood run cold and my heart stop.
They’re hurt.
“Get everyone awake.” When no one moves, simply staring at me with a mixture of shock and apprehension, I shove Terror into Luc’s arms and scream. “I said, get everyone the fuck up now!”
We scatter after that, with me leading the charge as I run to the gates. Everyone else spreads out as they start pounding on doors, Leviathan going as far as to sound the alarm that calls for everyone to come outside. Once I reach the front, I call up to one of the conduits guarding the tower. “Bel and Gore! Have you seen them?”
The guard stutters, almost hiding behind his post as he answers. “N-No, sir. No one’s gone in or out tonight.”
“Fuck!” I scream, clawing at my hair as I rush back toward the center of the neighborhood, where Luc and Asmodeus are explaining the situation.
“Belphegor and Beelzebub are missing!” Asmodeus shouts, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Spread out around the neighborhood!”
Luc nods and claps his hands once. “The first one to find them gets a prize!”
“A prize?” Leviathan asks, his brow pinched. “Like this is some sort of treasure hunt?”
There are whispered murmurs in the crowd, curious looks that dart around, but they all disperse after Leviathan literally barks at them.
“They can have whatever the fuck they want,” I say desperately, placing my hand over my rapidly beating heart. “They can have everything when they find them.”
“It’ll be okay, Mammon,” Asmodeus says, bumping my shoulder lightly with his. “It’ll be fine. We’ll find them.”
We don’t.
We search all night, to no avail. The conduits each come back empty-handed, facing my wrath every time I hear an apology. I don’t go back home as the sun starts to rise. I stay out, searching every corner of this fucking complex.
“There’s only one way out,” Asmodeus says in the morning when I take the car keys from the entryway and stalk toward the vehicle. “Mammon. There’s no point.”
I snap, everything that was tightening inside me finally cracking down the middle. “Then tell me where they are! Explain to me what’s happening!”
Luc pales. “I don’t know?—”
“None of you know anything!” I roar, shoving Leviathan aside when he tries to stop me from reaching the car. “I have to find them! I have to?—”
My phone rings in my pocket and I almost ignore it. Almost . I pull it out quickly and can’t explain the sense of dread that slams into me when I see a blocked caller ID.
I stare at the ringing phone—a video call—and my mind blanks. I never get calls. I never get calls from blocked numbers. The only other time I have…
“Well, answer it!” Luc shouts. He looks like he wants to grab the phone and take the call himself.
I gulp as my shaky finger swipes right.
It’s him .
The wolf.
“Mammon,” he greets, furry head looking almost haughty. “Did you have a good night?”
“Where are they?” I bark, skipping whatever fucking game he’s trying to play. “If you’ve killed them, I swear I will?—”
“Kill them?” The wolf snorts, shaking his head as he looks over his shoulder, but all I see behind him is darkness. “Trust me, when we’re done, you’ll wish they were dead.”
I push aside the threat and the way it makes my skin crawl. “What do you want? What’s the ransom?”
The wolf tips his head and his modular voice sends goosebumps up my spine. It didn’t have that effect before. “We told you to leave.”
“Is that what you want?” I yell, growing more and more agitated, more and more desperate. “We can negotiate?—”
He cuts me off as he laughs. “Believe it or not, we’re past that.”
“What the fuck do you want?!”
Then, like I can see behind the mask to the man underneath, he smiles. “Believe it or not, nothing. You started this, Mammon, and we’re going to end it.”
And with that, he cuts off the call, the screen going blank for a moment before returning to my lock screen.
To the ridiculous selfie Bel and Gore put on there as a joke. One green and one blue head of hair, two pairs of lips pursed and contorted in comical manners, naked torsos tempting me.
I thought I knew what fear was. I thought I’d experienced it during the Spring Festival shooting, but nothing compares to this—the realization that I’ve lost. The most important people in my life have been taken from me.
And I don’t know what state they’ll be in when and if I get them back.