Chapter 1
ONE
THING
I was created to destroy.
My Creator-Father’s heart was full of hatred. The only thing he loved was power. For so many stretches of years, centuries, millennia, my brothers and I fought to bring him the power he craved.
We competed with one another to see who was the best monster. Our Father was the judge.
I was always found lacking.
Though I am the face of Death—one who swept so many humans from this plane of existence to the next (I lost count of the millions long ago)—I was never enough.
So I tried harder.
War after war, century after century, I swept through the mad darkness of battle and snatched men’s souls away.
I took them down by the fistful—I who have so many fists.
Six, to be exact. It was a mistake in my Creator-Father’s calculation to create a six-armed creature, but it is how I came out all the same.
Six-armed and so massive, it is often more comfortable for me to lope like an animal on my lower pair of fists and feet.
I always came home to my Creator-Father at the end of each day, drenched in men’s blood, only to find him never satisfied. Or worse, to meet the angry end of his whip as punishment for his disappointment in me.
This is a cruel world, and I sometimes think I preferred the centuries when my brother chained me to the wall after my Creator-Father’s death. There at least, I had some measure of peace, or as much as a miserable monster like me would ever know. At least I could no longer bring ruin and darkness.
But now I am free once more, with the light of the cold sun upon my face.
I stand on the hard-packed snow and turn my face away from that bright star to look back upon the castle in this frozen land where my brothers and I have found our dwelling, far from the places of men.
The crystalline lake lies in the distance, snowy and ice-encrusted.
I prefer it out here, alone, to the new bustle inside the castle now that Abaddon has found a mate.
Especially since their young kit, who they have named Raven, was born three months ago.
She is such a. . . happy little creature.
She gurgles and smiles and constantly grabs things with her curious little hands.
My conjoined twin brothers Remus and Romulus delight in playing with her—well, Romulus does anyway—but I. . .
I stay back because looking at her sweet, beautiful, perfect little face hurts.
Yes, solitude is preferable. And only what you deserve.
I stalk the snowy land and gather wood for the fires or new furniture. There are so many rooms in the castle, and it is quite empty since Abaddon burned most of what our Creator-Father owned after his death.
I like the quiet out here. If not peace in the stillness of the endless snow, I find at least a kind of numbness, like the blunting cold that begins to make the feeling in my fingertips go dull, welcome.
I am relaxing into this numbness when suddenly—
Suddenly, I feel something.
A strange tugging from underneath my ribcage. It takes me off guard, and I move several steps backward. Only then do I catch a human’s scent on the wind and hear frantic footsteps in the snow.
Immediately, I step into the shadow, becoming invisible to the eyes of men. I crouch forward slowly, on alert, as I watch the narrow spaces between the frozen stalks of trees in the distance. Red flashes among the pristine white. Blood.
Immediately I go on alert and drop down on all fours as I stalk in the shadows. Shadow-walking is the other of my skills, in addition to realm-jumping.
I’m careful to stay quiet as I shadow-walk, crouched and quietly loping closer on my knuckles and feet. Thousands of years of being comfortable amongst the shadows have made me bold. I creep until I am quite close.
To my shock, I see the human is a woman.
She is not dressed for the weather. She has no jacket, instead only wearing pants and a shirt that bares her arms, both of which are covered in the bright stain of blood. The blood has accumulated on the shock of white-blonde hair and her face and neck.
She continues to run, eyes as wide and shocked as prey we chase down for food. She looks over her shoulder every few steps and continues her heedless flight forward.
Straight toward our castle. I frown, wondering if I should withdraw and warn Abaddon. He’s been so concerned and protective lately.
In addition to coming out for wood, I’m meant to be on patrol for anything out of the ordinary.
We are under threat. Someone—an angel, no less—has been watching the castle.
Romulus saw it when he scried. We do not know its intentions, but we do not need to know.
Any angel-kind who returns to this realm will not look upon us favorably.
We are abominations to them because our Creator-Father stole forbidden angel-spark from their plane to create us.
Abaddon flies the skies each morning and night to ensure the forests are clear for a hundred-mile radius around the castle. Only an angel could hide from his sight.
So this bloodied female being here is impossible unless she herself is an—
I barely finish the thought before she approaches where I stand in shadow, trying to decide if I should do something to stop her or merely follow her and see if she goes toward the castle when the impossible happens: I’m fully in shadow—invisible—but she looks straight at me.
And screams. The next thing I know, she’s yanked blades from sheaths I didn’t even see in her pants and is screeching like a banshee as she slashes at me.
I throw out my upper pair of arms to block her blades.
And roar when the sharp blades slice my skin.
Only hell-metal can do any real damage to my hide, but these still dig in a couple of inches to the sinew of my forearms. And she’s fast. She immediately pulls back and starts to attack again, with stabbing motions this time.
While she took me momentarily by surprise, I’m not foolish enough to get caught twice. I have many arms to her two. So it’s nothing to me to snatch her wrists with one pair of arms and block her next blow with another.
She squeals in shock, either at how many arms I have, my blue skin, or that she’s now wrestling with a monster four times her size. But she’s the one who attacked me.
“Who are you?” I demand. As close as we are now, my nostrils fill with her scent. And she’s no angel. She’s human.
“Let me go!” she shrieks. “Where is my father?”
I frown in confusion, shaking her wrists until she’s forced to drop the weapons in the snow. My bottom pair of hands snatch them up.
Only then do I release my grip on her, dancing several steps back. I vowed a long time ago to never cause harm to another innocent human. Even one who is a wildcat. I don’t trust her not to attack me with another hidden knife.
From the glint of a blade that catches the sunlight as it slashes my way, it was the correct instinct to be on guard. “Where is my father?” she shouts.
“I do not know your father or how you could possibly be in these woods,” I say back, holding her two knives and standing to my full height, all six of my arms out. “But if you fight me, you will lose. Now you will answer my questions.”
Her eyes widen as her head tilts back to take me in at full height. And then, tucking her blade against the flat of her wrist, she turns and flees through the forest again.
Naturally, I start to chase her. It’s an old instinct.
I should have warned her. Don’t run from a monster. We can’t help but chase you.
Especially since I know Abaddon will want answers about this little blood-covered human who somehow found her way into our woods.
She looks over her shoulder and lets out a scream when she sees me. I’m actually hanging back. I could be on her in moments, but that doesn’t seem quite sporting. Plus, I am interested to see where she goes. Are there other humans with her? Where did she come from?
She sprints forward in a haphazard path, back the way she first came. Good. Maybe she’ll give me some answers.
Except that the next time she looks over her shoulder at me, bloodied blonde hair flying out, she doesn’t turn back around in time and is sprinting into—
I see what is about to happen before she does and reach out a hand to stop her.
“Careful!” I shout. “Stop!”
She turns back too late to stop her momentum and smacks right into the tall, spindly base of a solid pine tree.
She immediately slumps to the ground, fresh blood pouring from a gouge on her forehead.
I feel sick as I crash to my knees in the snow beside her prone, unmoving body. I have caused harm to another frail human after swearing I never would again!
Immediately I gather her small form into my many arms, cradling her to my chest as I lift her from the snow. Then I turn and sprint for the castle.
My brother can heal her and undo this one last sin if I only move fast enough.