Chapter One #2
Then, he shared what he could remember.
Our woman carries the Nephilim who will be the namesake. That’s likely why she has the gift. I didn’t intentionally give it to her, Jacques. Maybe it’s the little one calling to her powers. Like with your children, they are already beginning to have some of their gifts.
He wasn’t wrong.
Only, this was bad.
The baby was INSIDE Jolie. If Fate was gunning for her, she’d die too.
Now, Jolie was curious.
So we have another antiquity out there that can do bad shit like this, and we have to find it too?
Jacques nodded.
QUICKLY.
When they heard something scurrying across the floor, Jolie knew what it was before she even saw it. There was only one sound that freaked her out.
It was spider legs on tile.
That was going to be six too many legs for her liking. Immediately, she jumped and landed on the island to get up and away from it.
The humans freaked out too.
In their defense, it was a big-ass spider.
“Not your damn spider, Jacques! You know she’s not allowed to run around the lair! Get her the hell out of here!”
The spider moved and climbed into his arms so he could hold it.
She was carrying an egg sac, and heavily with children.
Jolie reached for a frying pan hanging from the pot rack that they NEVER used and got ready to wield it in battle against the eight-legged menace she hated.
Well, she’d be using it now.
To.
Kill.
It.
“What is it, pet?” he asked, placing Brigit onto the counter so he would not disturb her eggs.
She was chattering away.
Her legs were going a mile a minute, moving up, down, and in circles as she communicated with her master.
The eyes were blinking—all one hundred of them.
And Jolie was batting up with a pan ready to knock something out of the park.
“What does she want?” Jolie asked, ready in case Brigit moved toward her.
He glanced over, his red eyes swirling. This wasn’t Jacques. This was Death and one of his minions.
“The realm is silent. She is worried that something is about to happen. The dead went quiet, and the wailing stopped.”
Uh-oh.
Aiobeheann stopped wailing?
That couldn’t be good.
His realm was full of suffering. It was never quiet when the damned were being punished for eternity.
Jolie pointed.
“Yeah, well, I’m worried too. She’s carrying something on her back.”
He patted the thick, white egg sac.
“It’s her babies.”
When Jolie went to swing, he held up his hand, stopping her so that she couldn’t move. Nothing made a giant spider angrier than someone hurting her baby egg sac. Jacques would deal with Jolie’s anger at him later.
Brigit was his to protect.
In fact, his spider was like his familiar. She was his closest ally next to the people he loved.
“Brigit, go listen for me, and let me know what you hear.”
She chattered.
It was then that he lovingly stroked her abdomen.
“No, you can’t put your babies here. You know Jolie doesn’t want them in the house. We’ll find you a better spot where they will be safe.”
She gasped.
“She’s planning on dropping them here? HERE?” she asked. “We have a ghost, and now you want a million babies running amuck?”
“It’s more like one hundred,” he admitted, as he listened to his spider.
“Do you want me to keep them safe for you?” he inquired, willing to help her out.
The spider bobbed it’s whole body, clearly wanting that.
“Jacques, if you don’t set me free…”
He ignored her.
The two humans were also not moving, and that was for the best. Brigit was a big-ass spider, and while she was tame, she could cocoon a whole person in a minute if need be. Her loyalty was to him, and only him.
While Jacques could protect himself, his spider was always watching his back.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll make sure your babies are safe,” he offered, taking the egg sac from her body, and making it disappear. “No one will find it, and I’ll let you know when they begin hatching.”
Much to Jolie’s horror, Brigit climbed onto her mate, and he hugged her. At first, she thought the spider was going to cocoon him.
Only, she didn’t.
Then, with a wave of his hand, she was gone.
Jolie was still standing on the counter frozen in place.
“Jacques, we’re going to have a discussion about that spider and your irrational love of her. It’s not going to end well either!”
He stopped her.
“I can’t just create allies, Jolie. Brigit is loyal, and her babies will be too. They can help us. Besides, Azriel loves that spider. Don’t be afraid of her.”
Oh, well, too late.
She was.
That ship had sailed a while ago.
There had been one too many times the beast had popped into their bed, dropped down on a silken thread, and hovered over her.
PASS.
Waving his arm to release his mate, he focused on the two humans as his wife hopped down.
“Mr. and Mrs. Brogan, I’ll explain this to you the best I can. Yes, you’re confused. The reason is you’ve been dead a long time. Mrs. Brogan, you died of cancer over a decade ago, and Mr. Brogan, you died because you stopped taking care of yourself and chose to follow your wife into the darkness.”
They looked at each other.
“Then, how are we here?” Flynn’s father asked. “If we were dead…”
That was a tough tale to tell.
Only, they deserved some response.
Normally, he’d compulse them and call it a day, but these were Flynn’s humans. They made him, and he loved them. So, Death would take that into consideration.
Plus, the father looked like his mate.
Greatly.
What wouldn’t he do for his mate?
“Let’s just say it was an accidental raising of the dead.”
They both stared at him.
Then, Flynn’s mother was curious enough to ask questions. Well, they knew where Flynn got it from, now didn’t they?
“Who are you?” Barb asked for the third time, hoping this time, they’d answer.
Only, this was not their introduction to make.
“VANTH!” Death called.
The lair rumbled, but she showed up.
She shimmered into the room and appeared beside him. Oh, and Vanth was smiling, and a little too happy. They knew what she’d been doing.
Lucian.
As of late, that made her the happiest, and the last thing they wanted to discuss was the demoness’ sex life. She was a little too willing to talk about it.
“Yes?” she asked. “You called?”
Death did the introduction.
“These are Flynn’s parents.”
The second the words were out of his mouth, her eyes went huge.
“Uh-oh.”
Yeah, no kidding.
If a clusterfuck could have a pinnacle, this would be it.
It was clear that she understood the ramifications of what happened.
Of course, she did.
She was older than Jolie and Flynn.
Now, Jacques had to find a way to undo this. There was no way he could let them stay when they had been dead. This broke all the rules.
Plus, they weren’t all there. They were, likely, at one point, going to be vampy, and Flynn knew them as humans.
That he was off hiding…
This damaged him.
Jolie and he both knew how much he missed them. That wound to his heart had healed, for the most part, and now, it was a weeping sore all over again.
That made him want to do anything to protect the man he loved.
ANYTHING.
“Well, this is a problem,” Vanth said. “Should I eat them to make them go back to wherever they were? I don’t mind. I worked up an appetite.”
Jolie slapped Jacques on the arm. Then, she gave him the look, and he knew what that meant.
There would be no eating of Flynn’s parents.
EVER.
“Death!”
He laughed.
“No, Vanth. I need you to babysit them. I need you to keep them company while I figure this out. I need to go handle this, and when I come back, we’ll work it out.”
She sighed.
“I was hungry after sex too.”
Both humans moved into a corner—well, not humans—whatever the hell they were. To figure this out, that would mean touching them and going into their minds to find out. Clearly, they weren’t like a vampyre since they didn’t immediately fear him.
This was definitely a mystery—one they couldn’t keep repeating.
Vanth knew she needed to help.
“I’ll keep them company.”
Jolie laid down the rules, and after ‘no eating them’, there was only one more.
“No licking them, Vanth.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and didn’t look happy that Jolie was ruining her fun.
“Why am I not shocked? You know that Daddy won’t stay married to you if you’re mean to me. I came first. You should keep that in mind, Stepmother.”
She laughed.
Why?
This whole thing was insanity.
There was a demon in the kitchen standing beside her dead in-laws, arguing about shit like this.
“Yeah, I’m terrified,” she said, pointing at her midsection to where the unborn Nephilim was. “Let’s just say I have an ace in the hole. She came before you if I’m not mistaken.”
Her reaction said it all.
Vanth pouted.
Well, that was a win for Jolie.
That was a rarity.
It appeared everything would be okay, for now. Well, with the exception of Flynn refusing to surface to talk to them.
“I’ll be back,” Jacques said, needing to handle this mess before it escalated.
He had to start digging.
And fast.
And Jolie, if they start acting weird, put them down. They might not be the people Flynn remembers. I know how hard that is to hear.
There was a wail of pain, proving Flynn could hear them.
I’m sorry, Mon Amour, Jacques whispered back into the void. I really am.
She stared at him like he lost his mind even thinking that, let alone asking that of her.
Jolie stared at him, but said nothing out loud.
You want me to kill Flynn’s parents? Are you insane, Death? He’ll never forgive me if I do that, and I kinda like having a HUSBAND.
He was honest.
And that might be what’s going on. Fate is a bitch. She might be trying to cause shit between you and Rinnon. If he loses you, he’ll be weak. Rinnon won’t fare well, and his vessel won’t put up a fight.
He was right.
Damn it.
“Got you,” she said, as Death walked through a wall and out of there. Jolie tried to reach Flynn, but he wouldn’t let her through.
Now, he was really locked down.
As she watched it happen, Flynn’s mother gasped.
“What the hell is he? And what the hell is going on?” she asked. “I’m getting tired of asking that over and over again. Who can answer it for me?”
Lordy, but it appeared she was going to be having this conversation with Flynn’s mother.
She never expected to have to do this.
Now, here she was.
Because she assumed they were going to be more vampyre than human, Jolie went to the stove and turned on a kettle of water.
Yes, she could have just waved her hand, but she was trying to keep the two people calm. This was normalcy, and she knew her husband.
So she knew them.
Well, as much as she could.
“We’re going to have to sit down and have a little talk,” she said, making cups of tea. “How about I make us some tea, and we get to know each other?” she asked.
Jolie was pumping the room with calming energy to keep this situation handled.
The older version of her husband moved closer.
“Can I have coffee?” Flynn’s father asked. “I don’t like tea.”
Ah, like father like son.
Only, if he was a vampyre, and drank coffee, it might just kill him—if he could die.
Yeah, this was a slippery slope.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have any here,” she said, lying her ass off.
Flynn drank coffee all the time, but he was not fallible to it.
This man might be.
No one wanted to make him sick.
“Then, tea it is,” he said, calmly and nicely.
Yeah, it was clear where Flynn got his manners from, and when he held out the chair for his wife, they also knew where Flynn learned to be a gentleman.
This man.
“Clearly, something is up,” he admitted. “Why don’t you just tell us?” he asked. “I can tell that something is going on.”
And there was Flynn’s gut instinct.
God.
She hoped Jacques didn’t have to kill them.
Jolie had learned a big lesson.
‘Be careful what you wished for. It might come true.’
Instead of worrying about them dying, Jolie tried to give them what she could. They were about to get a crash course on what went on right beneath humans’ noses.
“There’s a whole other world out there, outside of humanity,” she said. “Things exist that humans don’t know about.”
They listened, as she made them tea, and prepared to bring them into a reality that few humans ever knew.
Where to begin?
Well, the beginning, and that began with their son.
“Flynn was a cop.”
Before she could continue, his mother beamed.
“He was a good cop. I am so proud of him. My baby does good in the world.”
Yes, yes, he did.
Only, here was where it got tricky.
“The good news is that in a way, he’s still a cop,” she said, trying to figure out how to do this. “Well, of sorts. He has a very important job.”
Jolie placed the cups in front of his parents, and sat down across from them. She hoped that they didn’t fear her. She really wouldn’t hurt them.
They were sipping their tea and staring at her. Jolie opted to just pull the bandage off on this one.
“Your son had to retire from the police force,” she offered.
“Why?” his mother asked. “My son would rather die than give up police work.”
Oh, the irony.
Been there.
Done that.
It was time.
“He’s a vessel.”
His mother blinked.
“A vessel?” she asked, clearly confused by the context of the word. “I don’t understand,” she admitted.
Yeah, this was difficult.
Jolie needed help.
Rinnon, how do I explain this?
There was silence for a minute, and then, The Big Scary answered.
They were once catholic before they died, as was Flynn. Lean into that. Surely, you know a little Catholic religious history.
She did.
Thankfully.
I know plenty. I posed as a Catholic many a time when we were hiding.
Of course you did. No one posed as a follower of me, now did they?
Really? At this moment, Rinnon? Do you think that this is a good time for you to be upset over that? Flynn’s heart is on the line.
Her stern answer seemed to shut him up.
Jolie focused on his parents, and tried to explain.
“You know how in the Bible, it says that God will send down angels and put them into human forms to help people?” she asked.
Flynn’s mother nodded.
“Yes.”
Well, here went nothing.
“Well, Flynn has taken on a mightier task than just being a police officer. He’s a vessel to a God. He’s one of those people, but instead of an angel, he’s got a higher power.”
Yeah.
A DEMON God.
This was going to be bad. She could already tell by the silence.
It sat there between them.
It took his mother a good ten seconds to get that comment to register, and when it did, her face showed confusion.
Well, even more confusion.
“Pardon?” Barb asked. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
There was no easy way to do this, so she just said it in terms they might get.
“He has a God squatting in him.”
Rinnon wasn’t amused.
Little one, must you make it sound so trashy like I was some deity on the side of the street, and he picked me up like an empty soda bottle?
Rinnon, do you want to come try this? They missed the last decade of their son’s life. I’m working with very little here. How do I tell them he died twice, and came back to marry a vampyre, and now he’s trying to keep the world from dying?
I mean, did he come back in three days or was it faster because I don’t mess around?
Jolie wasn’t letting him go there.
STOP. Don’t even, Rinnon. Let the Jesus thing go for a moment.
There was laughter from Jacques who had left just in time, so he didn’t have to be part of this.
Thanks, Jacques.
I owe you one, Mon Amour.
Oh, he absolutely did.
“I don’t understand,” Flynn’s father, John, said. “Are you saying he’s unwell and possessed?”
It was Rinnon’s turn to go there.
Jolie, do not!
Jolie tried not to laugh. Instead, she was honest. There was no way to sugarcoat this.
“Flynn is carrying Rinnon, a Horseman of the Apocalypse, inside him. He’s not just your son anymore. He’s a demon God’s vessel.”
And that went over as well as it could.
At the word ‘demon’, Flynn’s mother, a Catholic, started crying.
Flynn’s father just sat there.
“Oh, God. He got into drugs, didn’t he?” his father asked. “He had this one cop friend, Tommy, who was sketchy as hell. Aren’t drugs the gateway to Satanism?”
Vanth laughed from where she stood.
Why?
Well, first, Jolie was having a rough time, and second because Tommy was still his friend, and a hybrid human-vamp like Flynn had once been.
Jolie was frustrated.
Clearly, Flynn didn’t get his ability to read between the lines from either of them.
“No, not drugs. Me. He got into me.”
Rinnon was in her head.
And that’s the best place to be, Little One. Trust me. I could get into you all over again and never be bored.
Jolie stopped that.
Rinnon. Get Flynn to come out. This isn’t easy. I was an expert in deviant behavior, not a family counselor. I don’t know how to deal with them.
Rinnon was honest.
I’m trying. If I can’t, you might have to come help me. He’s dead silent, and I can’t get behind his one mental wall. I’d have to blow through it, and that would kill all his memories.
No one wanted that.
NO.
ONE.
Okay, don’t do that. Please? I want him to remember me and his children.
Instead, Jolie kept trying to help Flynn’s parents the best she could.
“Flynn is still the same man, but he’s retired from police work, and now runs his own company,” she added, trying to connect with them.
That didn’t seem to help.
At.
All.
Apparently, the demon part had been the wrong route to take.
You think? Jacques whispered into her mind.
Flynn’s mother wasn’t having it.
“I want to see my son!” Flynn’s mother ordered. “I need to see what has happened to him! Who did this to him? I need to get him help!”
Flynn’s father agreed.
“Get me to my son!” he said. “I want to see him immediately!”
Vanth stared at Jolie and just shook her head in all kinds of amusement.
“Well, Mommy Dearest, this is one hell of a predicament for you, now isn’t it?”
Honestly, Vanth was right.
It absolutely was.
And it sucked.
FOR HER.
And Flynn.
* * * T u e u r A n t i q u i t i e s * * *
New Orleans
Same Time
Saint Louis Cemetery
Ten P.M.
When Mathew found himself standing in the cemetery, he knew what he needed to do.
It was time.
Feeling that spell moving through his body, he listened to the voice. It told him exactly how to make magick happen, and he was more than willing.
This was payback, and about damn time.
What Mathew didn’t know was she was there with him. Not far away, on a crypt, Fate was enjoying the show as it went down.
“Come on, Mathew. Raise your arms and use some of that Latin. You can do it. Jolie hurt you. Make her bleed. Use your anger. Destroy her,” she cajoled, being that tiny little voice in his head.
He listened to the voice, and it was alluring.
Mathew wanted to do what he could to not only help the beautiful blonde woman, but to also get what he wanted.
PAYBACK.
“Do it,” she whispered. “Do it!”
And he did.
“Veni ad me et consurgam!” he whispered, telling them to rise up and come to him.
The wind began blowing in the empty cemetery all around him as the spell was woven.
“Hunc mundum iterum regemus!”
Fate knew the truth.
She would rule this world again.
Bet.
On.
It.
All around Mathew, the wind got wilder, and the flowers and Mardi Gras beads danced on the crypts making an eerie sound.
“More,” she whispered.
“Iterum do tibi vitam!” he said, giving them life again with those powerful words.
The ground vibrated, and the crypts on the graves shook from the Latin spell.
It was happening.
They were coming forth to do his bidding like he’d asked them too.
He was magick!
He was finally powerful.
From where Fate was perched, she egged him on, whispering even more into his ear.
“You need to offer up some of your blood. Let it drip onto the one crypt. Bring her back to life. Do it! She can help you destroy them! You will be the necromancer that undoes all of Rinnon’s work!”
Hearing her, he did what she asked.
He pulled a silver blade from his pocket and moved to the one dead woman’s crypt.
On it, there were offerings and flickering candles, marking the spot by her followers and tourists.
She was beloved after death more than anyone in this cemetery.
Now, she’d be powerful, and so would he.
With a slice to his hand, he let the blood drip over her stone, and he kept saying the words.
“Peto ut venait ad me!” he said, calling for her spirit to come to him.
Oh, he had no use for her body, but he did have use for her knowledge.
And he’d use it to raise his army and find that sword. He was never going back to being weak, broken, or dead.
Never.
Again.
He was going to be powerful as he raised the dead and destroyed Jolie Harcourte.
And Flynn Brogan.
And Jacques Degaul.
There were blood curdling screams as the crypt cracked and a skeleton hand appeared from within.
“Keep going,” she whispered, being the puppet master this man needed.
Oh, and he did.
“Tensuistis me facere iussionem meam!” he shouted, as he bound her spirit to him to do his bidding.
Mathew grabbed the skeleton hand and pulled her from the grave to rebirth her back into existence. He yanked her from the crypt’s cold concrete.
Her body morphed, and she was no longer bones as she stood before him. She had a form, and now, she was tied to him.
Forever.
“You are now alive. Welcome back,” he said, grinning as he was proud of himself.
Marie Laveau, the infamous Voodoo queen, looked around.
“Shall we begin our reign of terror in New Orleans?” Mathew asked. “You are mine to control.”
The woman couldn’t say no.
Literally.
The ancient spell locked her to him, and she was at his mercy to do his bidding.
Now, her spirit was his to use to get his revenge.
“Let’s get it, Cher,” she said, using her voice for the first time in one hundred and thirty years.
And with that, Mathew began tearing the city apart, starting with the cemetery.
Fate was proud.
Oh, bringing people back was problematic…
But it was worth it.
To see Jolie’s baby never be born, what wouldn’t Fate do?
The answer was ANYTHING.
And it began…NOW.