Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-On e
In Somnia Veritas
Oliver had been quiet since they left the Jarngrens’ manor. He had seen him talking to Will Jarngren before he joined the rest of them in the garden, but he had said nothing about it on their drive back to the inn while Felipe and Gwen recounted and confirmed all they had learned. Felipe still wasn’t certain they could fully trust Will’s words or deeds, but they could at least trust his timing. They passed the mayor’s steamer in the heart of town where no one would know they had just come from their house. When they arrived back at the inn after dark, Mr. Allen’s face had been awash with relief. Part of him wanted to tell the man what they had learned about Joanna’s potential role in the reanimatings, though saying it aloud made it sound even more farfetched than it was. He would need to discuss it with Oliver and Gwen, but first, he needed to deal with that spot on his leg and make sure Oliver was all right.
Checking Oliver was still by the outhouse with Gwen, Felipe popped open his partner’s gladstone and dug through the myriad of bottles. Ever since the pumpkin vine squeezed the bite on his calf, it had intermittently burned and itched. Whatever venom the insects carried in the country, it was far more potent than what Manhattan mosquitos had to offer. Grabbing the alcohol and a square of gauze, Felipe shucked off his trousers and grimaced. The lump looked awful. It was red, hard, and hot to the touch, and while there was no boil or pus, pressing on it made his leg throb. Pouring alcohol onto the cloth and placing it over the bite, Felipe bit his lip and breathed through the pain as he put the bottle back with his free hand. He bundled the used gauze into a sock and tucked it deep into his bag where Oliver’s bloodhound nose couldn’t smell it and threw on his pajamas. He promised himself he would show Oliver the welt later when things calmed down, but now was not the time.
Crossing the room, Felipe hesitantly grabbed the letter from his mother and a notepad from his discarded jacket. His hands were already shaking despite gnawing on a piece of jerky from Oliver’s stash, but he couldn’t go another night without sleep. Maybe starting it would be enough to put his better left forgotten memories to rest. Drawing in a tense breath as he settled into his side of the bed, Felipe reminded himself who his parents expected him to be: the head of the household, a husband, a father, and an investigator who carried on the Galvan way even if he did it for people they despised. While he was technically all of those things, they would be disappointed if they knew how loosely he fit those definitions. Every letter was a slight of hand where he showed them just enough of his life to keep them from looking closer.
That had been okay when he was doing it to protect Teresa from his family’s legacy or working himself into the ground on cross-country cases, but now, he had a new life with someone he loved that he could never tell them about. Even without mentioning his death and reanimation, he knew they would never understand. That was why he had put 2,500 miles between them and hadn’t seen anyone in his family in over twenty years, wasn’t it? Because they would never accept the man he had become. Years ago, he had tried to close the gap between them through his letters. He thought maybe if they saw how happy he was, they would understand him better. When he told them a funny story about how their first dog, Bollito, got into his notes, they said he should discipline the dog better. When he told them about how daring and smart of a toddler Teresa was, they sent him advice on how to break her spirit. After that, he stopped giving them details about his life in New York, and they barely seemed to notice.
He didn’t need a letter in response to know how poorly they would react to him living with and loving Oliver. They would say they would pray for him to find the correct path, and they would write to Louisa and ask her what she did to drive him away. She would send a searing letter in return if they ever dared, but the thought of them sticking their noses into his business to fix him was far scarier than them vanishing from his life completely. A Galvan quietly fucking another man was unforgivable. A Galvan living openly with his male lover was sacrilege. Felipe ran a tired hand across his face. He envied Oliver’s openness with his nana. The woman had even made a wedding quilt for him and his future partner for god sakes. Meanwhile, Felipe had spent most of his life pretending he was a good son for his parents’ tepid approval. Shame washed over him as he stared at the blank page; he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to ask for anything else.
Sighing, Felipe reread his mother’s updates and started replying to those. Pleasantries and feigned interest about his cousins’ lives were the easy part. He had just finished that paragraph when the door opened, and Oliver slipped inside. The knot loosened in Felipe’s chest as Oliver leaned against the door and gave him a slow smile that felt like home. Leaving the letter behind, Felipe rose to meet him with a kiss. His fingers snaked along the buttons of his waistcoat as Oliver moaned softly against his lips. He knew Oliver would never go further than kisses and caresses with the innkeeper around, so while he was certain the infected bite was safe from discovery, he undressed Oliver with barely restrained hunger. He worked his way along Oliver’s jaw and down his neck, relishing the way his lover’s fingers groped at his back and hip. When Oliver gasped in his ear as his shirt fell away and teeth skimmed skin, the blood rushed from Felipe’s head to his cock, and the tether pulled taut between them. He had to stop. Pulling back, he admired the expanse of his partner’s square shoulders and the dusting of black hair peeking out from the bottom of his rumpled undershirt. When his trousers finally fell and pooled at his feet, it was clear Oliver wanted Felipe as much as he wanted him. For a long moment, Oliver held Felipe’s gaze, his eyes dark with arousal, but with a shake of his head, they softened.
“If I didn’t know Mr. Allen was awake and puttering around right below us, I would promise to pleasure you as quietly as possible, but we can’t,” Oliver whispered, resting his forehead against Felipe’s as he ran his fingers through his walnut curls and held him close.
“I know.”
“Besides, I don’t think you would be very quiet.”
Felipe’s lips quirked into a smile, relishing the low rumble of a laugh that reverberated through Oliver’s chest. “I’m not loud.”
“You will be. I plan to do a very thorough job,” he said, pulling a pained groan from Felipe. Kissing him once more, Oliver stepped back with a self-satisfied grin and reached for his pajamas. “The walls in this place aren’t that thick, so Gwen would certainly hear you, even if Mr. Allen doesn’t. And I don’t think I can survive the mortification of her giving me a look at breakfast right in front of Mr. Allen. I hope you don’t mind taking a raincheck until we get back to the Paranormal Society or Gwen and Mr. Allen go out, whichever comes first.”
“I can wait,” Felipe replied as he sank back onto the bed with his letter and watched Oliver put on his pajamas. As Oliver settled in beside him, the lingering arousal sluicing across the tether gave way to something far more pensive and heavy. Slipping his fingers between Oliver’s, Felipe gave them a squeeze. “You all right, love?”
“Yeah, just thinking about this whole mess. My parents tried to break free of the cycle my ancestors created, and in the process, they made things worse for everyone but me.” He let out a laugh that was barely more than a breath and stared up at the ceiling. “I didn’t do it or even ask them to do it, but I feel guilty that it was done in my name. Whatever we do to fix it, it needs to be something that will help Will and free my mother if she’s still in there.”
“Oliver, I’m not certain—”
“ No , we’re going to find a way to do it. We have to. I can’t leave knowing nothing has changed for him. He doesn’t deserve to be locked up like that.” As if sensing what he was thinking, Oliver put his hand over his and added, “You’ve had Louisa with you for most of your life and then Agatha and Teresa, but I know what it’s like to have no one. My nana died when I was nineteen, and until I came to the Paranormal Society and met Gwen, I had no one I considered family. Will might share blood with nearly everyone in that house, but they aren’t there for him. He has no one. I know— I know you’ll say that doesn’t mean I have to do it, but I want to. He’s been trying to fix things for years, and he’s losing hope. The least I can do after everything is try and help him.”
Oliver stared into Felipe’s eyes and held his hand, silently pleading for him to understand. He did. He truly did, but he didn’t want Oliver to be disappointed or hurt because families did that more often than not.
Felipe sighed. “I get it. I do. Just don’t let your guilt cloud your judgment. Even if Will is your cousin, we don’t know him or where his loyalties lie.”
A spark of anger flashed across the tether. “I’m not asking for his loyalty. I don’t want Will to feel indebted to me, and I’m not doing it out of guilt. It’s— it’s about responsibility. Our ancestors left all their descendants with the repercussions of their bargain, and then, my parents died and left us, Will, and Aldorhaven at large to clean up the mess. It wasn’t right, and before you say it isn’t my responsibility, you’re right. It shouldn’t have to be, but I went into the Dysterwood and triggered this mess,” Oliver said, gesturing toward the tree-covered road. “What they’ve done and what we do while we’re here has real consequences on everyone who lives here. We can just go back to Manhattan, but they can’t. If nothing else, I want to leave Aldorhaven better than we found it, even if that means getting rid of the Dysterwood and the Lady. ”
Felipe’s heart pounded in his ears at the thought. “ Oliver .”
A whirlpool of feelings churned in Felipe’s chest as Oliver gently cupped his cheek. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t let Oliver walk into danger again. He had nearly lost him twice, and the thought of Oliver taking on a god or demon, or whatever the Lady was, filled him with a soul-crushing dread. Oliver was capable—more than capable—but Felipe learned early in his life that you didn’t put something precious in the hands of those who would destroy it without a second thought. Oliver stared into his eyes, and something between love and hurt crossed his features at what he saw there. His thumb stroked Felipe’s lip and cheek as his gaze darted to the papers clenched in Felipe’s fist as if that somehow held the answer to a question he needn’t ask aloud. Gently pulling the pages from his hand, Oliver set them aside and put his hands on Felipe’s shoulders. Their knees touched beneath the coverlet as Oliver’s lips brushed his.
“I love you, Felipe, but you can’t change my mind about this,” Oliver whispered as he wrapped his arms around him and hugged him close.
As Felipe pressed his face into Oliver’s shoulder, Mr. Turpin’s words echoed through his mind. There were far more important things at stake than the dead, and Oliver needed every resource at his disposal to fulfill his role in all of this. Felipe tightened his grip on his partner and listened to the steady beat of his heart on the other end of the tether. More than anything, he hoped that role wasn’t what he feared it was.
***
Felipe looked across the rolling hills of scrubland toward the setting sun. In the distance, he could make out the familiar silhouette of Se?or Quintero’s ranch. His heart sat in his throat at the thought of a demon or creature being anywhere near Louisa or her father. They had enough problems as it was; they certainly didn’t need dead cattle or worse, but he would make sure that didn’t happen. He and Alfonso had been tracking the creature for almost two days as it stole chickens and wreaked havoc at nightfall. During the day, they slept in small doses, searched for the creature’s hiding spot, and tried to catch up to it while talking to each other as little as possible. After the way Alfonso pounced on him the other day, Felipe had expected him to throw him in a ditch or heckle him the entire time, but he had been oddly civil.
Probably to impress the Patrón , Felipe thought with a roll of his eyes. That way, if his grandfather asked him how Alfonso treated him on his first mission without his father or uncles, he could find no fault with him. It hadn’t been long after Alfonso’s father returned that a man from the village spotted the demon and reported it to the Patrón. When his grandfather declared that Alfonso and Felipe would be the ones to track it down and kill it, he had been shocked. Demons moved fast, they killed indiscriminately, and the longer they were physical, the more dangerous they became. He remembered times when his father, uncles, and cousins had gone out together to chase one down and still came back worse for wear. They were incredibly hard to injure, let alone kill, yet his grandfather sent only two of his best novices. This demon didn’t seem to be inhabiting a human and had only been loose for a few days, so maybe that was why their grandfather thought they could handle it. If they couldn’t, they could always return home for help, though Felipe knew their pride meant they never would.
The night the Patrón announced Felipe and Alfonso would track down the demon the entire family went to the church for a special mass. Every Galvan boy sent out on his first mission was blessed by the priest, and a feast would be held in his honor if he returned victorious. It was as much a celebration of reaching manhood as his confirmation. As Felipe knelt before the priest while he performed the blessing in front of the whole family, he had expected to feel the rush of adrenaline and power so many of his cousins had described after their first missions. Instead, he felt nothing.
Felipe’s steps slowed as he and Alfonso skirted a cluster of low trees and brush. He smelled blood and organ meat before he saw it. Half hidden beneath a bush lay the carcass of a dead coyote. He wouldn’t have known it was a coyote if the tail hadn’t been left behind along with two half-gnawed legs. A rope of intestines hung out of it along with more glistening offal the demon hadn’t managed to eat. If there was a front half, Felipe couldn’t see it. Only a few years earlier, the sight and smell of an eviscerated animal would have turned his stomach, but he had grown numb to it. He sniffed again. The coyote was definitely fresh.
“Alfonso, I think we’re getting close,” Felipe said, raising the branch enough for the other man to see.
His cousin curled his lip and waved for him to cover it up. “I think you’re right. Let’s go higher up the ridge and set up camp. If it’s around here, we should be able to see it.”
By the time they reached the top of the ridge overlooking the trees and set up their scant camp, night had fallen. The campfire popped and smoked, casting queer shadows on the hill as Felipe sat on the ground and half-heartedly ate his portion of salted pork. In the distance, an owl hooted, and Felipe wondered if it was the same one that hooted too loudly outside Louisa’s window. Felipe’s eyes scanned the trees below for any sign of the demon. It was too close for comfort. He hoped the flame and smell of food being so near to its den would draw the monster to them instead of the Quinteros’ place. If it hurt anyone he knew, he would blame himself for the rest of his life. Silently sighing, Felipe eyed the flames. While they were walking and searching, he had scarcely thought about putting the blade to his flesh, but as the quiet and the emptiness of night settled over him, it gave his thoughts space to fester.
When he looked up at Alfonso from across the campfire, Felipe’s whole body locked. The man sitting across from him was a stranger. The fire threw his face into stark relief. Gone was the boy he had spent his entire life beside; all he could see now was the arrogant set of the man’s mouth and the harsh lines of his cheekbones and chin. His eyes had sunken into the shadows until all that remained were twin flames burning straight into his soul. Felipe fought the urge to freeze like a deer before a wolf, but he knew Alfonso, or whatever sat in his place, had already sensed his weakness.
As the figure leaned forward to warm its hands, his cousin melted from the shadows with a familiar smirk. “What do you think of your first mission, joto?”
“It’s a lot more walking and doing nothing than I expected,” Felipe replied, releasing an almost imperceptible breath of relief. It was just first mission nerves. Anyone chasing a demon for the first time would be jumpy. “Is it always like this?”
“No, most demons don’t have wanderlust. This one’s mixed up in an animal, and sometimes, they do that. The ones in people tend to stick close to home, but it’s easier to deal with the animal ones. They’re stupider and more likely to approach a campfire.”
Felipe nodded, though he knew next to nothing about being an invocador. Where he had been all but cut-off from healing after too many failed lessons, Alfonso had been taken under his father’s wing to learn how to deal with demons and other creatures. A stab of envy ran through Felipe’s heart that Alfonso’s father dedicated time to him every day; the two men were closer than ever while Felipe’s father drifted through his life like a disapproving specter. It wasn’t fair that Alfonso got time and training to nurture his powers while Felipe’s had been left to rot when he didn’t progress fast enough. Felipe gripped the stick beside him and prodded the flames with more force than necessary. If he had his way, it would have been his hand in the fire. Anything to douse his thoughts. Their ancestors had been ordained as familiares because they had the powers and strength necessary to fight demons and the people who summoned them. Almost four hundred years later, every Galvan who could fight also had a power that was useful to the family; everyone but him.
At the snap of a branch, Felipe’s attention flickered to the trees below, but whatever made the sound was hidden by the brush. “I assume you aren’t going to exorcise the creature when we find it.”
“Nah, like I said yesterday, we’re just going to kill it and go home. ”
“Do they know who summoned it?” Felipe asked. There hadn’t been time for him to gather any information. Once his grandfather announced he would be accompanying Alfonso to track and kill the demon, he had been spirited away to pack, pray, and prepare. In the past when demons or strange creatures had appeared, there had been a flurry of speculation in the compound. If someone was dabbling in witchcraft enough to summon something, they needed to be dealt with swiftly and harshly. When Felipe looked up from poking the fire, Alfonso was giving him the same shrewd look he had outside the church. With a shake of his head and a stretch, it was replaced with a languid smile.
“Don’t worry about it. Our fathers are handling it.” Alfonso craned his neck toward the dark expanse of the hill behind him. “I’m going to take a piss. Call me if you see anything.”
Felipe watched Alfonso walk into the shadows beyond the firelight. As he listened to his steps fade away, fear sharpened his senses. Choruses of crickets and cicadas sang in the trees in time with the rising moon. Somewhere in the distance, coyotes yipped and mournfully howled, and Felipe wondered if they were calling for their fallen mate. He hoped that the coyote had been old and sick because if the demon had caught a coyote— He didn’t want to think about it. Felipe added another stick to the fire and watched the flames lick up its length.
As the branch charred, his gaze trailed to the gap in the trees where Alfonso had last stood. He should have been back by now. Felipe half rose before catching himself. That was probably what Alfonso wanted, for him to call out in panic because he couldn’t handle being alone for five minutes. Scooting closer to the fire, Felipe warmed his hands until his palms prickled with pain. He wouldn’t give his cousin the satisfaction of panicking. When Felipe pulled back just shy of burning, footsteps scuffed down the goat trail.
Finally , Felipe thought without looking up from stoking the fire. It wasn’t until all the crickets fell silent and he caught a whiff of rot over the campfire that he knew something was amiss. Swallowing hard, Felipe raised his gaze and found a monster the likes of which he had never seen standing just inside the ring of the firelight. What had once been hooves had shattered into ragged nails on feet that were not quite human, and the body atop the two too-human legs was the same grey-black as the goat he had seen his uncle lead through the gate, though its skin and bones had been mutilated by the demon’s sudden transformation. Its horns now curled forward like an elephant’s tusks, and what had once been a goat’s head had twisted into the sharp, focused face of a predator. The snout had grown longer and almost lupine with sharp canines extending past a gleaming row of flat teeth that could break bone. The creature still had the goat’s golden eyes, but the slit pupils and the intelligence behind those eyes as they tracked Felipe’s movements belonged to the demon wearing its skin.
Felipe slowly stood, his hand inching toward the wicked knife on his hip. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong , his brain screamed as he slid the blade from its sheath without taking his eyes off the creature. Suddenly, every weapon or technique at his disposal seemed useless in the face of something from another world that had caught and killed a coyote. When Felipe took a slow step back toward the ridge, the creature stepped closer to the flame as if the heat meant nothing to it.
His voice caught in his throat as he tried to call, “Al— Alfonso—”
The demon’s fingers flexed, revealing four raptor-like talons on each hand made for rending flesh from bone. Felipe slowly shifted his weight onto his back foot and called for his cousin again, this time louder, but Alfonso never came. The first strike came so fast he nearly missed it in the glare of the flame. Embers singed Felipe’s legs as the demon surged through the fire. Its talons screeched against Felipe’s blade as he met it blow for blow. He ducked under its arm and slashed. For a moment, he thought he had missed until the demon turned its head toward him and let out a rough, dry roar that rang from the pits of hell. Felipe had barely twisted away when the creature struck again. It leapt forward, catching him in the side with its claws as he parried its other hand. Felipe hit the ground hard but rolled back to his feet out of reach .
Where was Alfonso? He couldn’t risk taking his eyes off the beast to look, but he hadn’t heard screaming or the telltale sounds of violence. He knew that meant little when a demon was involved. Still, why hadn’t he returned? Felipe ducked and swiped the moment he had an opening, praying his cousin would appear before the creature wore him out. He hoped Alfonso was merely waiting for an opening to jump in, but a little voice still wondered if he was dead. He couldn’t imagine why else Alfonso wasn’t at his side.
Felipe surged forward, cutting deep into the creature’s hide. Black sludge oozed from the wound, hissing as it hit the ground and dissolved. The second the blow landed he knew it had been a mistake. The creature’s eyes sharpened as it stalked forward. Ichor leaked from its side with every step, but it didn’t seem to matter. Felipe backed up. If he made a break for it in either direction, it would grab him; he could see it in its eyes. He needed Alfonso. He needed him to pounce on the creature’s back to give him an opening. This was why they always went out in groups.
Felipe’s foot hit nothing but loose earth. For a heartstopping moment, his foot dangled in empty air before he caught himself and shifted into a crouch. The demon had walked him to the edge of the ridge. Stupid, my ass , Felipe thought bitterly. This far from their camp all he could make out were the beast’s eyes gleaming in the darkness and the warm glow of the fire over its shoulder. Felipe raised his knife and waited for the demon to fling itself at him when something stepped from the shadows of the trees. Alfonso . Felipe’s heart leapt with relief, but the other man never moved. He merely watched as the demon collided with Felipe’s chest, its talons puncturing his flesh as they went over the edge together in a tangle of flesh and fur.