Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
PAN
“Just like him. Sleeping on the job. What an absolute tosser,” my little hellion, Catherine, said. Disapproval was thick as honey in her voice.
“Maybe he’s dead,” another voice said, this one male and distinctly unfamiliar. Unexpected pressure on my chest had me peeling one eye open to find a grotesque face peering down at mine.
A low snarl ripped out of me. But when I spoke, my words were slow and precise. “Who the fuck are you? And why the fuck are you standing on me?”
“The name’s James, my lord Pan. But you can call me JJ.”
“I don’t know why you’re bothering to introduce yourself. He never gets anyone’s name right.”
“Camille isn’t wrong,” I admitted. “Get off me. For a tiny imp, you’re surprisingly dense.”
“It’s Catherine,” she groused.
“Whatever. Aren’t you supposed to be dead? I’m quite certain I killed you.”
She made a face, her tiny hands propped on her hips. “Didn’t do a very good job of it, did you?”
“A mistake I’ll be sure to correct.”
“Hey now, that’s my wife you’re talking to.”
I arched one eyebrow before sliding my gaze back to my formerly loyal hellion. “Wife? My, my, Calliope, you’ve been busy.”
Jimmy jumped off my chest and I moved to sit up, a surprised grunt leaving me when I discovered that I’d been bound to the floor. “What is this? Some sort of revolution? Restraints are only fun when consented to, you know.”
“This isn’t supposed to be fun. We’re here to exact revenge,” Jack said.
“Revenge? What in the bloody hell for?”
Candice moved in close, her grumpy face right next to mine. “Hannah,” she growled.
“Hannah?” I wrinkled my nose. “Who’s Hannah? Oh! You mean Hester? Wait, no . . . Henrietta?”
That tiny bitch bit my nose.
“Ouch! Bloody hell. Release me at once, you cretin.”
Joseph moved to stand beside his wife, a surprisingly sharp dagger dangling from his hand. “No can do, my lord. You know what they say. Happy wife, happy afterlife.”
Afterlife?
Surely I wasn’t dead? I would’ve known, wouldn’t I?
I wriggled under my restraints, breaking free and springing to my feet, ready to tear his head from his body and use it as a bowling ball. Instead of finding two angry imps, I was face-to-face with a red-headed siren with the visage of an angel.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt.”
I squinted at her. “Are you here to try and murder me as well?”
Her eyes widened. “No. Quite the opposite, actually.”
A gusty sigh escaped me. “Well, that’s a relief. I promised my Rosie I’d cease all acts of villainy.”
“You remind me of him,” she mused, but then shook her head. “We don’t have much time. I’m here to deliver a message from Gabriel.”
I rolled my eyes. Fucking Gabriel. He was getting awfully lazy in his old age, using a proxy to do his job. “And what does the angel most high and mighty have to say this time? I already gave up my horns. Does he want my dick now?”
Shock crossed her face, followed by a huff of laughter. “I don’t think I’m allowed to talk to you about your dick. I’m pretty sure that crosses some sort of line.”
Before I could ask her what the fuck she was talking about, she continued.
“So, as you may have realized, we’re in a dream. I’m a succubus, and I was sent here to—”
Instinctively, I reached down and cupped my second favorite appendage. “So it is about my dick.”
“It is not. I could not be less interested in it, I promise you.”
Now I was mildly offended. “Why? It’s perfect.”
“I’m sure it is and your mate will attest to that. I’m here because we are trying to rescue you and Sunday.”
“Rescue us? From where?”
“From wherever they are keeping you.”
“It was War. She took us.”
The succubus nodded. “We suspected as much. The horsewomen have their hands in every pie.”
“They just won’t stay dead.” I sighed and lamented my missing tail for a moment before looking her in the eye. “I don’t know what you expect me to do. I practically neutered myself to save the world and win Rosie’s heart. I’m powerless.”
“Actually, that’s what I am here to talk to you about. You’re not.”
“Not what?”
“Powerless.”
I scoffed. “Excuse me, but I’m pretty sure I would know better than you.”
“You’re more powerful than you realize.”
“I appreciate your faith in my abilities, but my missing horns and I are going to have to respectfully disagree.” While technically polite, there was a distinct undercurrent of patronizing disdain to my words.
She leveled an unamused gaze on me. “You’re not listening.”
“Of course I’m not. You’re a figment of my overactive imagination.”
“Pandemic, I am as real as the love you feel for your mate. Succubi can dreamwalk, and whatever happens in a dreamwalk happens in reality.”
I snorted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
She reached out and slashed sharp nails across my forearm. Jerking back, I hissed in surprise as beads of crimson bloomed. “Oi, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Proving a point,” she practically growled. “Now pay attention, because I don’t have a lot of time. Your power is not confined to your horns. In fact, you were never a demon at all. You just believed you were.”
“That’s ludicrous. I’ve been a demon since the day I was brought into this miserable world.”
She shook her head, a pitying look on her face. “You’re not. You are the child of a horsewoman and a horseman, Pan. You are full-blooded Pestilence. More powerful than either of them.”
There was a beat of silence before I laughed. “My father is a demon who abandoned me.”
“No!” she insisted, vehemently shaking her head.
“He’s not. His name is Malice, and as soon as he found out about you, he tried to go to you, but your mother threatened to kill you if he ever got close.
He stayed away to protect you, but he never stopped keeping tabs on you.
He never stopped caring about you, Pan. It’s why I’m here. ”
“I thought Gabriel sent you.”
“He did, but selfishly I’m also here for Malice.”
“Why? What is any of this to you?”
“Malice is my mate. You matter to him, and what matters to him matters to me.”
I stared at her, the implication of everything she’d just said working its way through me. Her earlier comments about my dick suddenly made sense, and I felt something akin to embarrassment. If what she said was true, she was basically my stepmum.
Squaring my shoulders, I fought the urge to ask her more questions about my father and instead brought the topic back around to the true reason she was here. Our rescue.
“If what happens in this dream is real, then can you simply take me back?”
“No. That’s not how it works. Your core self is here with me, but your physical body remains wherever it was before you fell asleep.
But the knowledge you learn here will stay with you, and you need to know something very important.
You aren’t powerless. Your demonic form was created from perception alone.
Your lack of magic is only due to your lack of belief in yourself.
And now that you know, you can be whomever you want.
You can fight back, and there’s nothing the horsewomen can do to stop you. ”
I wish I could say that my thoughts immediately went to saving the world, but they didn’t. Of course, they didn’t. My thoughts went first to the one thing I’d mourned more than any other.
My tail.
“You’re saying I could have my tail back.”
She let out an exasperated laugh. “Among other things, yes. You can have your tail back. Your horns too, if they mean that much to you.”
I considered it, but dismissed the idea almost immediately.
The lack of my horns was a physical representation of the sacrifice I’d made for my mate.
I wanted the both of us to have that constant reminder of my devotion to her.
I gave up everything to have her, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Rosie was the one thing in my life I’d ever been selfless for.
“How do I know you’re not working for them? Trapping me in my mind or something?”
“You don’t. But what is the alternative? They have you trapped already. Trusting me isn’t any greater of a risk.”
I studied the redhead. She certainly seemed earnest enough. “This is like that elephant movie Remi made me watch.”
Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “Dumbo?”
“Yes. The elephant and the feather and the flying.”
“Sure. We can go with that if it helps you.”
I nodded slowly, arms crossing over my chest as the full meaning of her confession took root. A smile stretched across my face.
Uncertainty swept across hers. “What’s that face mean? You look like the Grinch.”
I laughed.
“Oh, darling, if you’re right, I’m going to be a much bigger problem for the horsewomen than the Grinch ever was for those little Whos.
And the best part is . . . they’ll never see me coming.
” I laughed again, not stopping as the soft, menacing chuckle swelled in volume until it boomed and filled the entirety of the space.
“Watch your back, mummy dearest. Pandemic is coming, and this time there is no cure.”