Chapter 2 #2
“Took ya long enough, boss. I thought you were never gonna figure it out.” Asshole’s fuzzy little face did not match the voice that came from him. He sounded like he’d come straight out of central casting for Goodfellas or The Godfather.
“I let you sit in my lap. You sniffed my crotch!” I blurted as the harsh reality of this puppy’s true nature hit me.
“So what? I sniff everyone’s crotch. I am a dog, sweet cheeks. That’s kind of our thing.”
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so scandalized, but it just hit differently when they could talk back.
“Usually that’s something I charge for,” I muttered. Sin snickered, and I instinctively elbowed him in the ribs.
“Tell ya what, dollface. I gotta bone I can give you later.”
Grim and Chaos bristled behind me, but it was Hades who spoke first. “Asshole, shut it. We’ve got serious business to discuss. You can flirt with the pretty girl later.”
“My arse,” Grim bit out.
“He’s too small to use for slippers. Could make a nice pillow, though,” Chaos added almost conversationally.
“Touch him, and you’ll be in for a world of hurt.
I can’t kill you, but I can trap you in the River Styx for a century or so.
” Hades’s eyes glowed with blue fire before he returned to the purpose of our meeting.
“As I was saying, we have much to discuss. First and foremost, the arrival of Merri, Famine’s daughter and Lucifer’s promised vessel. ”
“What’s there to discuss? Merri is here.
She is fine. But Sunday is gone. I know this is hard to comprehend since your mate is waiting in the other room, but Sunday’s kidnapping should be our top priority.
” The tall, dark-haired vampire’s eyes burned as he spoke, not looking at me for more than a second before turning his attention to Hades.
“Mr. Blackthorne, you know as well as I how concerned we are about your mate.”
“Could’ve fooled me, right, Thorne?” A heavily tattooed man who had the subtle scent of the wild about him spoke next. If that hadn’t flagged him as a wolf, the blaze of power in his eyes and the rumbling growl in his chest would have given him away.
But compared to the feral sound coming out of Tor’s twin, the tattooed one seemed positively calm.
“Easy, Alek,” Kai murmured. “Going mad right now isn’t going to help anyone, let alone your mate.”
“Or my son,” Malice interjected. “You seem to have forgotten him entirely.”
I moved until I was standing next to him and took his hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
He was keeping it together, but I knew that this had to be tearing him up inside.
To get this close to finally meeting his son only for the opportunity to be snatched away from him again must be the worst sort of torture.
“It’s actually a small comfort knowing Sunday has a demon by her side,” the handsome Irishman next to Auntie Lilith said. “Even with less power, he will be able to help her.”
“What do you mean, less, Caleb?” Malice frowned as he addressed the man.
“He sacrificed his power, cut off his horns. Gabe knows. He was there,” Asher said. I had to force myself not to dwell on the surreal sensation of seeing this man in the flesh after dreaming of him weeks ago.
Malice shot a glare at a blond man in biker leathers. This must be Gabe. “Explain yourself, Gabriel.”
The man in question let out a haughty sniff, apparently not appreciating Malice’s tone. “The Messenger of God does not have to explain himself to anyone.”
Okay, so he was the Gabriel. Because of course.
Chaos cracked his knuckles. “You sure about that, angel?”
“Best not to rile those four up more than strictly necessary,” Lilith cautioned.
“Why would Pan think he sacrificed anything by slicing off something as paltry as horns?” Malice gritted out, focus on Asher now. “His power is in his blood. In his very essence. Not in something that’s little more than the equivalent of a toenail.”
Several sets of eyes turned his way. “Pan sacrificed his power to save Rosie and the rest of us. Gabriel brought him back, but without his horns he’s basically a pretty mortal.”
Malice stared at Asher for a long beat and then laughed.
“Pandemic isn’t a demon. He’s the first and only of his kind, a pureblooded horseman.
We”—he gestured to the other horsemen—“were gifted our mantles. Pan was born. A combination of Odette and me. He might have chosen a demonic form, but he was never truly a demon.”
Asher let out a surprised huff of laughter. “Oh, he’s gonna be so pissed when he realizes that.”
“So he isn’t powerless, he just thinks he is?” the tattooed wolf asked.
“Precisely,” Gabriel said. “Or, more to the point, he is powerless because he believes it so.”
“Like the duckling!”
The vampire, Thorne, shot the wolf an incredulous look. “Kingston, what are you on about now?”
“The ugly one. He thought he was ugly because he lived with ducks and was told he was a duck his whole life, but then one day he learned the truth. BAM! He’s a fucking swan!” Kingston looked at Gabriel expectantly. “Right, leather feathers?”
“Actually, that’s not far off.”
Kingston nodded, looking pleased with himself. “Ergo, Pan acted like a demon because that is what he grew up believing. His power and, consequently, his perceived weakness, were always just in his mind.”
“Wow. That might be the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Celibacy agrees with you.”
Kingston glared at the tiny witch with acid-green curls. “I’m gonna tell Sunday you said that, Moira.”
Moira blinked at him, slowly and obnoxiously. “You think my bestie is going to disagree just because she likes riding you like a pogo stick?”
“We’ve established that Pan will help keep Sunday safe, but how are we going to get them back?” Caleb asked. “Miss Belladonna has already attempted two locator spells with no success.”
Moira nodded. “It’s similar to the reaction I got when searching for you, Merri. A block keeping me out.”
“Well, who has them?” I asked, finally confident enough to speak out.
“Lucifer, obviously,” Alek snarled.
“It can’t be him. I was just with him. There’s no way he’d have had time.”
That seemed to bring everyone up short. I flushed under their combined scrutiny.
Clocking my discomfort, Sin wrapped his arm around my waist and silently lent me his support.
In a similar fashion, Grim’s hand ghosted down my back.
I knew it was him because his touch was so different from the others.
“If not Lucifer, who?” Moira asked.
“The horsewomen.”
Gabriel’s words took the attention off me but sent a pit to my stomach.
“We banished Death. She got sucked into her own spell.” Kai’s body all but vibrated with rage as he glanced at my horsemen. “You four were there. You saw it for yourselves.”
“We did, that’s true. But a spell can’t do much more than delay us for a while. We are beings made for a very specific purpose.”
“And what’s that?” Kingston asked, glaring at Grim.
“The apocalypse.” Grim’s fingers trailed up my spine until he rested his palm on the nape of my neck.
“They’re like bloody cockroaches. They keep coming back,” Thorne grumbled.
“Okay, fine. But what do they want with their kids?” Kai asked.
“Their power,” a man I didn’t recognize answered. He’d remained in the corner, a bit removed from the rest of the group. There was an aura about him that marked him as incredibly powerful, but I wasn’t familiar enough with it to identify what type of supernatural he was.
“Evander’s right,” Lilith said with a nod.
“They’d really do that? To their own children?” the woman behind the portal asked. At some point, she’d scooped Asshole up and was currently snuggling into him.
“You’re surprised?” Asher’s tone held nothing more than disdain.
“Their children weren’t created out of love. They are nothing more than a supply to them.” Sin’s voice was uncharacteristically cold.
“We’ve always been their pawns,” Asher added.
“Don’t take it too personally. They did the same thing to us,” Malice said with a bitter twist of his lips.
“They did?”
Grim’s energy turned violent before he spoke. “How else do you think they freed Lucifer and started this apocalypse?”
“It took us weeks to return to full strength,” Chaos grumbled.
“I’m sorry if this is a stupid question,” the woman behind the portal started.
“Usually those are reserved for me,” Kingston said with a snort.
“But what good is power if the world’s already ending? Didn’t they complete their mission?”
“Yeah. I thought this was Lucifer’s show.” Asher stood and began pacing.
“It is. The four of them are working with Lucifer to ensure their place at the top of the hierarchy once he claims his throne.” This from Gabriel, who looked exhausted.
“Well, why didn’t you say that?” Sin asked.
The expression on the Messenger’s face could only be described as barely concealed rage. “Father save them because I have not the strength,” he muttered, eyes to the ceiling.
“He gave up caring a long time ago,” Evander said.
“Clearly, or none of us would be sat here,” Thorne muttered.
“He’s leaving it up to us,” Caleb protested. “It always comes back to free will.”
“No matter which way you slice this shit sandwich, it’s all bullshit.” Moira rubbed at her temples.
“Oh, for the sake of all that is holy!” Gabriel shouted. “If you’d stop your infernal chattering and just let me finish, I could tell you exactly what is going on.”
Everyone shut up and stared at the fuming angel.
“Thank you.” He ran a hand through his hair and took a long breath. “The horsewomen are in league with Lucifer. The only way we will find our missing compatriots is to use our one connection to my fallen brother.” His attention zeroed in on me.
I’d never felt more like a bug trapped under a microscope than in this moment. “Me?”
“You just spent the last handful of days with him,” Lilith prompted. “Surely you picked up on something.”