Chapter 13
13
Ramone
The angel had been sitting there relatively quietly, unreactive to the assault after his initial shock. I waited, unsure if the curse was designed solely for demons or if it would affect angels in the same manner. Demons were essentially angels—cursed angels. It was debatable whether or not that particular curse was justified.
From what I had heard, Matthew’s antics had at times put my own to shame. There’d been talk in the past about his possible involvement in a few devasting plagues that scoured the earth. Those diseases had been before my time so I couldn’t confirm the rumors.
I didn’t want to think about any of this, what I really wanted was to go home and study or go out and rape and pillage. None of that was a possibility at the moment, seeing as my kind faced an existential crisis. There was also the unusual physical and emotional reaction to my dinner the other night. I couldn’t, in good conscience, feed on anyone but Samantha now, it would seem.
Tired of waiting, I sent the angel a pointed look. “Nothing is different.” He scowled at me. “Other than an intense craving for demon and vampire blood.”
“Has it occurred to you that you’ve crossed over already? Perhaps you’re one of them now or some half-breed.” Alastair glanced up from his cell phone and waited for the angel’s reply. “You’re not known for honesty.”
He scoffed at the words and ignored the insult as I pondered my friend’s cryptic statement. “I’d never lower myself.”
Finally, Alexander spoke up. “Nobody trusts you, Matthew. Nobody expects you to admit if you feel a change, but time will tell us all we need to know, you fucking asshole.”
“Enough,” I cut in. “He won’t be able to hide it for long if he’s changed, as Alexander said.”
A surprising but not unwelcome silence descended over the room while my colleagues rifled through the files. Stefan plugged the thumb drive he’d been given into a laptop he’d pulled from a messenger bag while Alastair returned to his phone. The vampire had his own businesses to run, and I’d forced him to take on more responsibility. A pang of concern crossed me that was swiftly dismissed. We needed him here and he was one of the two people I trusted; Alexander being the other.
Stefan was the one to speak up first. “So, everything is divided into territories.” He nodded at his own words. “And we’re taking the company public? You two have run this under an illusion veil for decades and now you want to make it visible. Why?”
“Depending on the ultimate results of that poison, it may turn out to have been necessary. We don’t know what the effects could finalize as. We have some international recognition, but we’re not widely known. What if we lose everything that makes us, us?” Ilya continued his argument. “I still have my gifts for now, but I’d hate to find out the hard way that we lost everything. This provides insurance. Plus, the veil has thinned, and we have been beginning to be noticed, as I said, to a small degree.”
Stefan paled. “I don’t want to find that out. We can still pull energy from the atmosphere, and through hunting in person.”
“For now. That’s why we’ll still be primarily a media and software-based corporation, we know what we’re doing. Matthew is in commercial real estate, which helps. If we stop being able to feed the way we’ve been primarily doing, we’ll still have money coming in. Matthew, get out of sex trafficking and open a chain of strip clubs or something,” Ilya turned to the man alongside him.
“You owe me.” Matthew glared at him. “And who said I’d pool my resources with you fuckers?”
Ilya shoved his notes into the folder on his lap. “You’re here, aren’t you? I let you in and that includes your resources. You now have access to ours. If that wine affects you, you won’t stomach selling girls anyway, eventually. You might as well build something that lasts and feeds us. Lust is one of the denser auras.”
The angel appeared to have forgotten that the invisible to the human eye veil that surrounded everyone may disappear. It was our lifeblood, feeding us and sustaining us, giving us our power. Ilya had brilliantly devised a computerized manner of capturing and focusing the sin-based energies and frequencies, utilizing the internet, malware, viruses, and other avenues I’d never cared to investigate. It allowed our kind to feed off human weaknesses in a fashion no one had ever seen before. We’d been stronger than ever.
Without the network, we’d be back to hunting humans primarily in person every time we needed to feed, having to touch them for sustenance. It’d been a luxurious convenience to merely have to breathe the sin-drenched air. Being the beasts that we were, we still craved human contact, but the ease we’d been enjoying allowed us time for other pursuits.
“You’re asking me to dismantle a major operation,” Matthew protested.
I spoke up. “Would you rather find yourself under a federal investigation, weak and powerless, attempting to draw on your gifts and finding your resources have escaped you?”
A deep sigh left his chest. “I’ll let you know what I decide.”
“You’re going to do this; it's already been decided,” Ilya stated with finality.
“My kind has never associated with yours,” the archangel spat.
Pushing my chair back, I rose from my seat. “We all share those sentiments.”
Vampires, angels, and demons were uneasy bedfellows. Historically, the three types of beings either fought or gave each other a wide berth. Alastair had been my friend for years, but I was not ignorant of the fact that no one in the room beside me wanted him here. Adding an angel, an archangel, made this moment unprecedented. The chances of this transition remaining without bloodshed were slim.
If I was the devil’s son, Matthew was nearly the equivalent of the Creator’s. The angels considered themselves superior solely based on association, and we considered ourselves supreme because we were honest about our compulsions.
“You’re dismissed,” I announced to no one in particular. A wave of homesickness washed over me, the longing pinging back and forth between the Second and Fourth Realms before settling on the Fourth. I missed my flower garden, the clearing under the moonlight full of night blooming gardenias. I missed my collection of esoteric tomes I kept there. I even missed the infernal creek Kiara had been so fond of.
After I poured a generous helping of more whiskey, I turned around. “I said you are dismissed.” A thin iridescent strand of ether wound around the angel before retracting. I had to wonder if he could see me in the same manner, see my tells and emotions. He must’ve been able to. His eyes met mine, bitter and full of anger, his irises crackling. He spun on his heel and stormed out of the office, with everyone except Ilya following him out seconds later.
“Why are you still here?”
Ilya pressed his lips together and then answered, “We should have fed on Matthew.”
“Is that possible? I’ve never read an account of that.”
He leaned against the doorframe. “Something to keep in mind.” He pulled the door shut behind him.
Would Matthew have an advantage over us? It seemed unlikely he’d cease the riskier ventures he was involved in, and due to Ilya’s bargain with the man, we’d had to bring him into our inner circle. We were all ignorant to the extent of his power, though I’d had some insight from Alastair.
The vampire had informed me that Matthew’s trafficking victims were willing, due to manipulation magic, but that fact wouldn’t dissuade authorities even if it could be explained. Also, it appeared it may not have been trafficking but rather something else involving women, and he’d allowed others to believe it was the worst possible situation, for some reason. Too many factors were outside of my direct control for my comfort.
Dumping the remaining liquid in my glass, I decided to go shopping. Changes had to be made in my life and they would start with formally asking my love out on a date.