Chapter 21 #2
But his eyes are bright with excitement from battle—pupils dilated, almost glowing. And now he’s talking enthusiastically about vampires like they’re old friends he’s excited to see.
So I sit back in my seat instead, a numb sort of calm descending over me like a blanket. Shock, probably. My brain shutting down to protect itself.
Abaddon looms over Layden in the cockpit. “Are you an idiot? Did you learn nothing from our little escapades during the Ottoman Empire?”
“They’ve become more interesting since then,” Layden says, never looking away from his beeping instrument panels or acknowledging Abaddon’s intimidating presence.
His fingers dance across switches with practiced ease.
“Plus, they’ve gone and gotten themselves a god along with some very powerful witches. Who I happen to be friends with.”
“The god or the witches?” Abaddon demands.
“Both.” Layden waves a hand dismissively over his shoulder.
“It’ll be a safe place to land.” Finally, he does look at Abaddon, meeting his brother’s fierce gaze steadily.
“As long as you trust no one and keep your glamours on at all times. I spent some time with them while I was... away. They’ll know we’re magical but can never know just how magical we are. ”
“We aren’t magic, we’re gods,” Remus grouses beside me, crossing his arms.
“That’s a matter of contention and certainly not how you should introduce yourself if you don’t want trouble,” Layden says, shooting Remus a pointed smile over his shoulder. “Or if you’d like your lovely consort to be able to leave without becoming a permanent blood bag.”
Immediately, Remus’s whole body tenses. He looks my way—really looks at me, seeing me properly for the first time since he landed back inside. Taking in my tear-stained face, my shaking hands, my wide, shocked eyes.
“I’d kill them first.” He moves closer to me, one hand reaching for mine. His voice drops to something deadly serious. “No one will harm you. I swear it.”
“Vampires, remember,” Layden mutters, adjusting the heading slightly. “They’re just as immortal as you.”
Remus’s head whips toward the front, his voice turning angry—protective and fierce. “Then why the fuck are we taking our vulnerable women there?”
His entire body hardens into a protective stance, wings flaring slightly, tail lashing once.
Another day, another time, I might have argued against the whole “his vulnerable woman” descriptor.
I have opinions about that kind of possessive language.
But considering I was almost just eaten by an actual dragon, and they’re now casually discussing visiting vampires like it’s a trip to the grocery store, I’m not going to squabble about semantics.
Especially when his arm comes around me, squeezing my shoulder firmly. When he feels me shaking—trembling like a leaf despite my attempts to control it—his grip tightens protectively.
“Because they’re the only place that’s truly guarded from the outside world,” Layden says with exaggerated patience. “Which, I’ll remind you, is currently trying to kill and or capture all of us right now.”
“That was just Russia,” Abaddon grouses, but there’s less heat in his voice now. “And they only found us because Remus is an idiot.”
“An idiot who got us out of there alive,” Remus shoots back.
Layden ignores both of them, pulling his headset back on and pushing several buttons on the communications panel. Lights blink in sequence across the dashboard.
He makes a sharp motion for quiet that absolutely no one pays attention to until he starts actually talking into the headset. His voice suddenly shifts—becomes much softer, almost gentle. A tone I’ve never heard from him before. Almost intimate.
“Hey, it’s me.” A pause. “I know we haven’t talked in a while. Okay, longer than a while.”
There’s longing in his voice. Regret.
“Do you still live at your grandpas? Can you meet me there?”
Even not being able to see his face, I can feel his wince at whatever response he gets. His shoulders tense.
“I know, I know. But I’m with my family, and it’s an emergency.” Another pause, longer this time. “Yes. All my family. The protection around the castle was breached. You know that thing we talked about? I think it’s happening.”
“What does that mean?” Abaddon demands, clearly making no pretense of not listening in. He leans against the cockpit doorframe, arms crossed.
Layden holds up one hand in a “wait” gesture and shoots a glare over his shoulder at his brother before his voice turns soft again—softer even than before.
“Okay. We’re headed there now. If you could call ahead so they know to expect us, it’d be appreciated. Call Sabra, too.”
If possible, his voice gets even gentler when he says quietly, “See you soon.”
There’s hope in those words. And fear. And something that sounds a lot like love.
Abaddon’s arms are crossed tightly over his chest by the time Layden pushes several more buttons—the communication panel lights changing from green to red—and then stands up, turning toward us.
“Shouldn’t you be flying?” Kharon demands from where he’s finally settled back onto a seat, though his eyes never stop scanning for threats.
“It’s on autopilot,” Layden says simply.
“Explain yourself,” Abaddon barks, his voice carrying that tone of command that probably moved armies. “Who were you speaking to? Why the hell do you think going to a nest of vampires is a good idea? And what is this thing you anticipated that is finally happening?”
“Autopilot is—”
“Not that,” Abaddon growls impatiently, waving a clawed hand. “Don’t be obtuse.”
“I’ve been seeing some weird stuff online,” Layden sighs, running a hand through his disheveled hair. “Not just me. Some of my hacker friends have noticed it too. It’s why I don’t think it will be just Russia after us.”
At his brothers’ blank stares, Layden lets out a frustrated breath.
It’s calming somehow to just observe the brothers talk through what I absently realize is probably shock. My mind feels distant, disconnected. Like I’m watching this conversation through a foggy window.
“On my computers,” Layden continues. “There’s weird shit going on in the code. I only got a glimpse of it in the Russian government security site I was hacking before I realized they were coming after us—”
Abaddon waves a hand impatiently. “What do we care about the humans’ little technologies?”
“We care,” Layden says emphatically, leaning forward, “because I saw angelic runes embedded in the code.”
This has everyone shutting up immediately.
The silence is sudden and heavy. Even baby Raven stops fussing.
“What does that mean?” I ask, finding my voice finally. It still sounds shaky to my own ears.
Layden shakes his head, blue eyes troubled. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, I’ve been tempted to use runework with my algorithms before but never dared.”
“Why?” This from Hannah, who’s holding Raven close and stroking her feathers soothingly.
Layden laughs—but it’s not a happy sound. It’s bitter. “Are you kidding? Human AI already has enough dangerous capability to outlearn the humans who engineered it. How fast would the singularity happen if the technology could learn from and feed off of angel tech?”
“Our runes are not tech,” Kharon says firmly, his voice carrying that ancient authority.
Layden rolls his eyes. “Sure they are. Runes are an advanced form of energy manipulation and mathematical code far beyond the understanding of this plane of existence. But if humans could learn it, or their machines could...”
He trails off, letting the implications hang in the air.
“So wait,” Hannah says slowly, working through it.
She’s obviously been around all this craziness longer than me because she’s taking it much more in stride.
“You’re saying that some other angel did what you didn’t dare—fed runes into the AI—and now we’ve got an angelic AI about to take over the world? ”
“Oh no,” Layden laughs again, that same bitter sound. “I doubt we’ve gotten that far yet. That’s just the worst possible scenario.”
“Then what the hell are you even talking about?” Abaddon explodes, his patience clearly exhausted. “And remind me again why we are heading to the vampires?”
“Because there are angel runes in some of the code,” Layden says slowly, like he’s explaining to a child.
“Mostly government code so far. And not just the Russians, either. I didn’t have much time to look, but it’s out there—spreading.
I don’t think it’s the AI acting on its own yet.
I’m telling you, there’s an angel out there trying to fuck with us specifically. ”
He pauses, meeting Abaddon’s eyes.
“And it’s savvy. Using every available modern warfare method to find and track us. It’s not all cannons and swords anymore, big brother. Welcome to the twenty-first century.”
Abaddon rocks back on his heels, looking genuinely dumbfounded for the first time since I’ve met him.
Sitting beside me, I can’t help but notice Remus’s eyes glittering—almost sparkling with barely contained excitement. His grin is getting wider by the second.
Is he... excited by these developments?
My stomach knots painfully.
They’re talking about war. Actual war. And from what everyone always says, that’s kind of his whole deal, isn’t it? War and chaos and destruction.
Maybe his past isn’t as much in the past as I desperately want to pretend it is.
“Who?” Kharon demands. He’s finally handed his daughter fully to Ksenia since the helicopter has stabilized, and she’s nursing peacefully now, making small contented sounds.
Layden throws his hands up in the air. “Your guess is as good as mine. I didn’t think there were any more of our kind left on this plane.” He shoots a pointed look at Abaddon. “Got any more siblings you’ve pissed off and buried alive while I was away?”
“Are you ever going to let that go?” Abaddon growls, taking a threatening step forward.
“Probably not,” Layden says flatly. “You know we’re supposed to be the last of our kind.”
“Unlesssss,” Remus says slowly, drawing out the word. Something like a smile—or maybe a smirk—plays across his too-wide mouth. “Unless Father did something when he got dropped back into the Great Hall by brother dearest.”
He nods toward Layden, and that statement silences everyone instantly.
“Surely you don’t think Daddy would have gone down without a fight?” Remus continues, his voice taking on that manic edge I’m starting to recognize. “He could have sent back something or someone as a present for his misbehaving sons. A little parting gift.”
Everyone looks at everyone else for several long moments while the helicopter flies on in silence. The only sounds are the steady beat of the rotor blades and baby Raven’s soft nursing sounds.
And then Abaddon lets out a single, abrupt “Fuck.”
That about sums it up.