Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
MALICE
“What the fuck are we waiting for? He’s bleeding out in front of us!” Remington screamed at anyone who would listen as he tore his twin out of Drystan’s arms.
“Remi?” a posh and pregnant British woman cried, rushing into the room. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“He’s dying. I need . . . you have to . . .” Remi spluttered, unable to finish his sentence as emotion took hold. “Gavin, tell her.”
“He needs your blood, petal. It has to be you, and it has to be now.” This came from the vampire who’d remained mostly quiet until now.
Without question, the woman dropped to her knees beside who I was beginning to assume was her mate. Hades mentioned there were others in pods similar to ours. I suspected this was one of them.
In a quick move, her fangs flashed, and she tore open the skin of her wrist before pressing the bloody appendage to the dying wolf’s lips. The slight nod Grim gave me when we made eye contact as he pulled his gloves over his bare hands confirmed my suspicions that Ben would survive.
“Where are we, Lilith?” Grim asked, calm but pointed at the same time.
“That I can’t tell you, Grimsby. It’s not only for our own safety, but because it technically doesn’t exist in any realm.”
Hades rolled his eyes, arms crossed as he muttered, “I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of pocket dimension or realm.
It can be anchored to multiple realms—regardless of whether they are connected to each other—and accessed only by those given permission.
” He flashed a little black card. “We will get some made for you.”
Lilith, who’d begun a slow stalk down the hall, turned on us. “I will get them made for you, as it is my realm.”
“What was the name of our little society, darlin’? The Lilith Society?” He tapped his lip as if considering before his eyes flashed with wicked delight and he smirked. “Oh, that’s right. We’re the Hades Society.”
“Careful, you let it get any bigger and your head won’t fit through the gates of the underworld.”
He smirked but followed along as she resumed walking her original path. “That’s a real spitfire you’ve got there,” he murmured to Drystan as we all fell into step.
“I’m aware.”
“How many creatures does this realm house?” I asked, dubiously taking in the narrow corridor.
“As many as are required.” Lilith flicked her hair over one shoulder, not sparing me a glance as she answered. “All of the horsewomen’s progeny and their mates. Save Merri, of course.”
My stomach dropped, a pit of apprehension forming as her words registered.
Pan. Pan was here.
My son was here.
I stumbled, only staying upright because of Chaos’s firm grip on my shoulder.
“You okay?” he asked, voice pitched low.
No. I decidedly was not. In all the madness of the battle and trying to find Lilith to get a lead on Merri, I’d forgotten Pan was linked to this band of rebels.
It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I might see him.
Would he recognize himself in me? Would he even have a clue who I was? Would he hate me?
“My son is here,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
Hades turned his head, locking gazes with me. “I haven’t told him who you are. He believes his father is a demon cast off by his mother before he was born.”
That was half correct. She cast me off as soon as she got what she wanted, but I was no demon.
Technically, neither was my son, despite his preference for that hulking purple form.
In truth, he was the only one of his kind, the first being ever created by two horsepersons.
But that was a conversation for another time.
“Where is he?” I asked.
A low groan from behind us pulled our focus to Ben, who stirred in his brother’s hold. Vampire blood stained his lips, but the wound in his chest was slowly knitting together.
“Rosie will know. She’s his mate.” Hades jerked his chin back toward the slight woman. The sight of her swollen belly took on new weight. She was carrying my grandchild. If not biologically, at least in name.
“Are you sure you’re ready to do this right now, Mal? That’s a big step. Maybe we save the world first?” Sin asked, one hand landing on my shoulder.
“No. I need to know him now. I’ve waited too long already. Pan is my son.”
“What about Odette?” Grim asked.
“What about her? She’s a cunt.”
“We’ve established that. They all are,” Chaos agreed. “I think he was more concerned about her threats to harm him if you made contact.”
“She’s not here. They defeated her.”
My brothers exchanged hesitant glances before Sin cleared his throat. “At the risk of being Captain Obvious, you know nothing keeps our kind down for long.”
A handsome fae swanned into the hallway. “Did someone call for a captain?”
“No. If we call for you, you’ll know it. Where’s Sunday?” the vampire with an Irish accent asked, irritation sparking in his tone.
“Gone.”
“What?”
“She’s gone. Off on a walkabout with Pan.
She left Rosie the walkie-talkie, but then the sweet girl gave it to me to take over once Remi started shouting in her head about needing help.
” The pirate held up a small handheld radio and waved it back and forth.
“Crickets so far, so I’d wager all is well. ”
“Give it to me,” the vampire snarled, dashing forward in a blur of speed and snatching the device from his hand. “Sunday, report,” he demanded, holding it up to his mouth.
There was nothing but deafening silence.
Knowing that my son was with her, that there was no answer, sent my head swimming. I can’t have gotten this close only to lose him again.
“Try again,” I snapped.
The vampire glared at me. Fair enough, he had no idea why I’d be so invested.
“Sunday? Talk to me, darlin’.”
He was met only with more silence.
“Where did she go?” he asked, rounding on Rosie, which only served to make the other vampire and Remi bristle.
“Aurora Springs. There was a problem with two of the patrol groups. She and Pan went to guard the portal, nothing more, Caleb, I promise.”
“Are the others back?” he asked, stalking off in the opposite direction.
“No, not yet,” Rosie answered.
“At least she didn’t go alone,” he grumbled, adding under his breath, “I’m still going to pinken her arse for scaring me though.”
In a blur of motion, he left, and before we could discuss anything further, we’d entered a large common area filled with shifters, witches, vampires, and more.
The low hum of their pockets of conversation held a tension I remembered feeling during times of plague, when people stayed consistently on edge, waiting for a cough, a sneeze, or complaints of fever.
We neared an empty sofa, and Lilith stopped, leaning her hip against the back of it. “Do the four of you have anything you’d like to tell me?” she asked, voice deceptively soft.
I knew a trap when I heard one.
“Besides go fuck yourself for getting us into this mess?” Grim shot back.
Drystan lost his shit, and thunder growled, causing everyone in the room to glance around uneasily. “Watch your fucking mouth.”
“You had one job. Protect her.” Lilith stood to her full height and stared hard at us. “That was all.”
“Technically we were supposed to knock her up too,” Sin offered.
“And did you?” she hissed.
“Well . . . no. Not for lack of trying.”
I nodded. “He’s right.”
“We gave it our all,” Sin said. “We fed our succubus every chance we got. Even Grim.”
If that was surprising news to the others, no one indicated so. For the most part, the group we’d arrived with had stayed back, allowing Lilith her interrogation without interference.
Lilith squinted her eyes and held a hand up to her forehead as if searching for something. Or someone.
“I can’t help but notice Merri isn’t with you, Grimsby. So where is she?”
Her voice was so filled with icy rage that I felt as if she should be the one named Malice.
“If we knew that, we’d be there right now bringing her home.” Chaos’s growl was so low I felt it in my chest.
“She’s with Lucifer,” Sin answered, bravely—or stupidly, depending on how you looked at it—placing himself in front of War.
Lilith’s eyes were little more than slits. “This is very bad news, Sinclair.”
“You think we don’t fucking know that?” I snapped, too emotionally wound up to give a shit about upsetting her further.
“How long has she been gone?”
“Too long,” I admitted. “But we have been able to reach her when she dreamwalks. She hasn’t been able to tell us where he’s truly keeping her.”
Gabriel, who’d barely spoken a word since joining our demon fight, finally stepped forward. “He’s likely holding her in a realm similar to this one.”
He stared at us like that was supposed to be helpful.
“And?” Grim growled.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Lilith. “What happens to this place if you are weakened?”
“All protections cease to exist.”
“Meaning what?” Chaos asked, eyes flaring bright with interest. “Spell it out for us.”
He was smart enough he likely already guessed the answer, but he wasn’t about to take any chances. Not with Merri’s life on the line.
“Meaning it can be found and accessed.”
“That seems like a real security risk,” Remi mumbled behind us.
My brothers and I shared a look, several unspoken messages passing between us.
“That’s great and all, but how can we weaken someone we cannot locate?” Grim asked.
Lilith heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Honestly, do I have to do everything around here? All the clues are in front of them, and yet they still need me to hand them the answer.” Then she leveled her gaze at Grim.
“Dreamwalks are better than reality. Whatever happens there happens here. Merri controls the dream realm. And she isn’t limited to one partner at a time. ”
“That’s true! I’ve been in her dreams with Lucifer twice now,” Sin piped up.
“So, we convince her to pull more than one of us in . . .” I began, trailing off as I couldn’t fully connect the dots.
“And bring her into her full power so she can weaken him in a dream,” Chaos finished for me.
“Now you’re getting it. Well done, boys.” Lilith brushed her hands off as though washing them clean of us. “You should probably find somewhere to sleep. You’re all looking a little . . . tired.”
Sin winced, but it was Remi who spoke.
“Oooh, that’s the kiss of death. Everyone knows when someone says you look tired, they really mean you look like shit.”
“They don’t sleep. They fuck her in the dreams, Remington,” Gavin muttered. “She’s a succubus.”
“Nice!”
I was about to infect him with a case of laryngitis when Caleb rushed into the room, eyes panicked, face even more pale than before he left. “They’re gone. The patrol group is all dead, and Sunday and Pan are fecking gone.”
The ground seemed to drop out from beneath me.
No.
Chaos was at my side, his arm wrapped tightly around me, keeping me upright.
“We’ll find him,” he promised.
“We can’t even find Merri,” I muttered, before my fury broke free and I kicked over the table next to me. “What fucking good is it being a horseman when we fail at every fucking turn?”
Chaos turned to me and let out a pulse of his power, the rage coming from him rattling me enough to pull my focus.
“Whoa, nelly,” Remi whispered. “Did anyone else feel that?”
“It’s l-like f-fight club on s-steroids,” Ben said, speaking for the first time since he nearly died. Now he was standing with one arm slung over Rosie’s shoulder, using her for support, but just barely.
Chaos ignored them, choosing to put every ounce of his attention on me. “We will find him, Malice. It’s all connected. If we find Lucifer, we find your son.”
The room had grown so quiet in the wake of my and Chaos’s outbursts that you could have heard a pin drop. There was a soft gasp, and then Rosie straightened, taking a step toward me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, already knowing what was coming.
“Wait a second. Pan is your son?”