9. Twisted Blood #2
“He was in the shadows and taunting me. Saying I had lots of enemies, and I asked him to tell me who he was and something I didn’t already know.
He told me I would know him as Entity, and I was at Tzal, but it doesn’t matter.
Knots came to the rescue and killed him,” I tell everyone, smiling at how foolish this all is as I run my fingers through Reaper’s fiery mane.
“His shadow realm,” Knots explains further, “and he’s not dead.”
“What? I saw you behead him. I don’t think you can become deader than that.” I chuckle slightly, and a few others join me.
“I’m afraid you’re wrong.” Knots sighs. “Did you happen to see the mark on him, as I was fighting him?” he probes before running his hand through his hair, messing it up more than it already was from the battle.
“The one on his forehead, what of it?”
“You just met the Supernatural version of the Boogeyman, and this one doesn’t die.”
Why does that phrase sound so familiar?
I feel all the color drain from my face, and lead hits my stomach as I put the mark of his forehead and that wink he gave me together. Little Mouse. Toying with me. The mark.
“He was Cain, and he was toying with me tonight, wasn’t he?” I ask, not truly wanting the answer.
“Yes, and I assume the second answer would be yes, depending on what happened before I got there,” Knots answers, giving me a worried look.
I flop back on the sofa and groan. Why was Cain on my ass?
What did I do now to bring the crosshairs down on me from this psychopath?
What else can my life take? I finally start to understand some of my powers, just to have them start to fuck up because of the harpy of Hell, I claim Levi, only to have the Queen of the Harpies stick her twisted claws in that, and now I have to deal with the Gauntlet.
I finally find my father, only to learn that my entire life was a sham and my mother really wasn’t my mother.
Is my dad really my father? I don’t know what—
“What do you think it’s going to be like once all this is over?” Lynx asks the group, cutting into my emotional spiral.
“What do you mean?” Zeke asks between sips of his milkshake.
“You know, after school, no evil forces, just us living together, our happily ever after,” he opens the conversational floor and sends me a wink.
‘Thank you.’
‘Anything for you, Rezzi-bear.’
“Oh, there are so many options now that I’m royalty,” Moni squeaks, turning neon green, showing her excitement. “I thought I would always be stuck here in Purgatory.”
“I doubt you would be stuck anywhere, despite what your status would be,” Knots says, and everyone chuckles.
“True. I am pretty mighty. My booms are legendary already,” she says while flexing her tiny biceps.
“I know that wherever Moni goes, I’ll follow, so that’s an easy call for me,” Chester says, looking at Moni with doe eyes.
“Yep, totally whipped,” Ryker teases.
Moni gasps, turning pink.
“How did you know, Ry? I haven’t told anyone that he likes to be whipped.
I swear we made sure the doors and windows were closed.
Are you a Peeping Tom? Do you have secret super hearing, too?
” She turns to a color-drained Chester and holds out her hands.
“I’m sorry, Chestie. I don’t know how they keep finding out all of your kinks. ”
Chester, being the boss he is, simply grabs Moni and pulls her into him as he kisses her silly to shut her up.
“I never really thought about what I wanted to do after everything,” Zeke confesses.
“I don’t care where we live, but I want a big house, a chef’s kitchen with all the bells and whistles so I can cook for everyone, and I would like a designer job,” JP states.
“Wait, part-time job,” he chuckles. “I want time to pamper myself in the spa, but I can’t be doing that if I have a full-time job. ”
“Do you think I could get a computer hacker job? Or wait, those are illegal on Earth, right?” Zeke asks, his leg bouncing as he looks around the room.
“There are a lot of jobs that use computers, like Cyber Security, AI engineering, and Computer programmer. With your skills, Zeke, you’ll blow all of them out of the water, I’m sure,” I tell him just from the top of my head.
We go around the room, hearing everyone’s dream job, and some of them aren’t much of a reach.
“I never thought I would ever leave my post, but if this is permanent, I would love to teach others self-defense,” Knots confesses.
“I would like to have easy days of teaching mages how to make defensive spells to protect clothing and then come home and relax,” Levi admits.
“That sounds do-able,” I tell him, and he tries to smile back at me, but it’s more like a grimace.
Emer, I swear you’ll get what’s coming to you.
Both Ryker and Knox have the same idea, and all I do is roll my eyes at their plan.
“I just want to keep you naked, beneath me, and swollen with my child.” How do you come back from that statement? I’ll tell you how: you move on to the next, and then get hit with the same thing again, but “swollen with my pup.”
Yep, welcome to my life. That’s my incubus and shifter. Hell, that’s the kind of thing I expected from Lynx, but no, Lynx is the biggest surprise.
“I want to teach,” he states.
“Teach? Teach what? Like a subject?” I ask, and Lynx’s jaw drops, his hand going to his chest.
“Ouch, Rezzi-Bear. That hurts. I have plenty of knowledge to pass on to the younger generation.” He fakes a hurt pout and bats his turquoise eyes.
“Like what?” I challenge.
“Like how to be discreet with sexy time in the library, how to cockblock like a pro, how to sneak arou—”
“Um, No. Absolutely not, Lynx. ” I snort. “No way in hell. That’s called corruption, not teaching.”
“Actually, Rez, there are places that want classes like that,” Ryker speaks up, and I send him a glare.
He mimics zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key, but it’s too late. Lynx is up, shaking his ass to a beat that’s in his head.
“Aww yeah, I get to corrupt the youth of the next generation.”
“Fates help us,” I mumble.
“What about you?” Knots asks, gently rubbing my shoulder, pulling me back to the shit before us. “What do you see in the future? Or what would you like to have?” he rephrases.
“Well, of course, I would like for all of us to live together,” I state.
“All of us?” Knots asks, hopeful.
I know what he’s really asking: if he will be a part of our future, even though he’s the one who broke up with me, the dumbass. I didn’t want it to happen, and I still love him. It wouldn’t be the same without him.
“Yes, all of us. I hope.” He gets the biggest smile on his face, but he quickly smothers it, knowing we still have to talk about everything.
“I don’t care what plane we have to live on, whether Hell, Earth, or Purgatory.
As long as I’m with all of you,” I tell everyone, and I realize as I say it out loud that it’s true.
After last year—or however long we’ve been gone—my priorities have changed, my family has changed, and that means where I live will change also. Dad is here, Grandmother abandoned me, Mom is dead, my birth mother died years ago, and I feel complete with my family here with me.
“I would love to work with nature and the animals, either here with the Sanctuary or the equivalent to what they have in Hell, so I don’t have to be separated from my baby!” I say as Reaper gives me kisses until I yawn.
“Okay, that’s a wrap. Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day,” JP says, standing and going to a closet to grab blankets.
I’m so grateful for the change of subject from Cain. He’s just another thing I’ll have to add to my ever-growing list of shit stacked against me. I’m sure things will be better once I get a full night of sleep, Fates know I need the rest.
Hopefully, this time, I won’t get pulled to Cain’s shadow den.
‘I’ll protect you,’ Knots promises me, kissing me on the forehead.
‘Thanks.’