Chapter 7
Seven
Sebastian
Making light of what could possibly be a very big problem, I looked to Payne and taunted him. “Is your dad trying to gain more power again?”
Payne swore. “Could you not? This isn’t a joke.
” He ran his hand through his hair and glared at me.
Ah, I somehow felt better now. He had to go and bring up the whole falling asleep during sex…
if only it weren’t true. It’d happened before one time, and I had made it up to her once I woke…
two weeks later. “Besides, that wasn’t him. He wasn’t Fear yet.”
“Wait, your dad’s an entity too?” Izzie gasped. “So you’re one too?”
Payne shook his head. “I’m not.” His parents found him when he was a newborn, and it was because of that he had the pleasure of growing up with us. “The only two entities that it can be are either Harvest or Jackal, which one?” he asked her.
Unlike my parents, entities created by God, Payne’s dad was one of the Devil’s creation.
Fear along with Harvest and Jackal belonged to him.
Me and my siblings were the only ones inheriting the designation by it being passed down.
All of us were immortal, never aging or dying.
Each one of us had our own capabilities too.
Unfortunately, none of us knew anything about Jackal or Harvest—not what they looked like, their gender, or were they simply monsters.
Our parents told us stories about the trouble Fear caused before he merged with Ryan, Mom’s best friend.
The entity unleashed demons on the town and was obsessed with wanting more power—including gaining my mom’s power.
But he failed and found redemption when he merged. Yep. The Underworld was a fun place.
If we were dealing with an entity, it could be a problem. Dad spoke of the body counts he’d find killed by Jackal long before he even met Mom, and Harvest was no different. He’d yet to see either of them, but he’d spent many moons cleaning up after them.
“He always wanted me to call him Julius,” she whispered. “Only demons call him Harvest.” She exuded fear as she spoke of him. “… It seems he’s finally making his move,” she whispered.
“Move?” I asked. “Do you know what he’s planning?”
She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. Her spitfire personality was dimmed now, replaced with a haunted grimace. “He’s obsessed with being a king.” She shook her head. “No, he believes he is one.”
Payne snorted. “Well, he fits right in down in the Underworld. Most demons believe themselves to be lords or kings—some are, by species if you wanna be precise.”
She sighed. “You don’t understand. He doesn’t imagine small.
He doesn’t want to be terrifying the way Fear is, or known like the Grim Reaper, or the alpha of a pack, or a leader of a cult—he wants to rule.
” She never took her eyes from Payne’s as she spoke to him. “He wants the Underworld, then more.”
We were both quiet as we processed her words before we burst out into laughter. “He wants to rule?” I said in a childish voice.
“Wants to take his creator’s world and make it his own?” Payne piped in still laughing.
Izzie face turned apple red as she huffed and puffed. “Don’t take him lightly. He’s so much worse than you could possibly imagine! He’d make even the Devil look nice in comparison.”
I stopped laughing and straightened up. “You’re afraid of him.”
She scowled. “I’ve been running for a reason…” She dropped her arms and gripped her hands, flexing them in and out, before opening her palms and studying them. “You wouldn’t understand.” I didn’t, but I wanted to.
“Let him try to do whatever he wants with the Devil,” Payne interrupted. “I’m sure he won’t get far. Even for an entity, the Devil is still the Devil and his very creator. He reigns over the dark. He ain’t about to let it be stolen.”
“But… If he’s the one killing the children,” I muttered darkly.
Payne cracked his knuckles. “He’s gonna wish he could die.”
“Children?” Izzie’s face slipped into a horrific shock.
The alarms went off on both Payne and mine phones. We glanced at each other. It was Grim. “Think he’s got something already?” Payne asked.
I sighed. “He is the Grim Reaper after all.”
Payne looked down at his phone oddly. “You go see him. I’ll check the places we’ve found.” And then he smacked his hand over his pants pocket where he kept the portal chip and ported from the kitchen.
I slipped my phone in my back pocket and looked up. “So, Izzie,” I tilted my head at her. “You never told me how you know Harvest…I mean Julius.”
“You act like we haven’t just met.” She rolled her eyes. “You want me to go into detail about my past after a couple hours of knowing you?”
“After the zapping of our bodies?” I curved an eyebrow. “We might as well start picking out our kids’ names.”
The look on her face was totally worth it. “You’re…you’re…I’m speechless!”
I winked. “I can make you scream my name too.” Hell, I was even getting on my own nerves. I swallowed down the shame and said. “I’m sorry, that was a sleazy thing to say. I honest to God can’t help myself sometimes.”
Her face flushed red. “Are you always like this?”
I scratched my forehead. “All right, Izzie, no flirting with me. It’s time to get serious.” And there I went right back to being annoying.
“Just stop.” She palmed her forehead. “Does your mouth actually get you anywhere with the ladies?”
“We have a murderer on the loose and you want to ask about the ladies from my past?” I shook my head and turned away. “You coming with me, witch?”
“Do I have to? Can I just stay here?” She groaned like a child. She was short and reminded me of one of those dwarf hamsters that were as cute as a button until you tried to touch it, unleashing the gates of hell on your ass.
I shrugged. “You’re safest with me, but here is good too.”
“Sebastian.”
Her meek voice made me tilt my head back to look at her. She let her gaze slide over me with uncertainty.
“I can trust you, right? I’ve not run this long to fall into another web. I won’t hesitate to kill you or anyone that tries to use me.”
Use? I’d have to ask her about that later. Right now I didn’t have the time. And she said kill like she had forgotten I was an entity.
“You have the portal chip. You can leave,” I said even though I hated the idea of her actually doing it. I could help her with whatever this was with Harvest she was running from, but at the same time, I had to show her she could trust me. “Or stay and let me help you.”
“Why?” She frowned. “Why do you want to help me?”
“You aren’t curious about our touch?” She bit her lip, and I added, “I’m more than curious and since I’m on the subject, I really, really fucking want to touch you again.” I turned my head away. “And saving people, human or otherwise, is one part of my job.”
I turned back and winked, then left my witch to decide for herself. I hoped she’d decide to stay, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t watch out for her wherever she went. I just didn’t like the idea of not getting to her in time.
◆◆◆
I re-faded into my parents’ ballroom, then slipped into the family room where we all gathered when we were all called here at once. I was the last to arrive which was unusual since it was normally August or Prudence.
“Sleeping beauty arrives,” August said as I stepped into the room.
“You actually let August beat you here,” Prudence said nonchalantly as she stared at her black nails. With her blue eyes, dark hair, and pale skin, Prudence could pass for Dracula’s wife since she was always wearing dark makeup and nail polish. I told her that once. She killed me. Literally.
“I’m hoping this is news about the whereabouts of our heart eater?” I sighed and dropped down on the sofa between Joy and Prudence. Joy was the mild-mannered one of my siblings. No matter how much Maureen chastised her kindness, Joy smiled and shrugged it off.
Everyone was here except Kitty. Maureen and Barron sat across from me on a large sectional. August stood alone, peering out at the window.
“Where’s Payne?” Joy asked in the same hopeful voice she had ever since she was a kid when mentioning Payne.
I hated how desperate she was when it came to him.
Over a hundred years later and she still crushed on a guy that completely ignored her.
None of us even knew where Payne lived, and I had my suspicions that Joy was the reason.
All four of my sisters favored our mother for the most part.
Same round eyes and small pointy noses. It was Prudence and Maureen that favored the Grim Reaper the most with their dark hair while like me, Joy and Kitty’s hair took the lighter side from Mom.
Prudence was the quiet one. Sometimes I wondered if any of us really knew her.
“Probably paying for sex,” August joked from his spot by the window.
At August’s words, green bloomed on Joy’s arms. She pulled down her sleeves trying to hide it from us. “Probably not,” Prudence murmured, and I smiled. Prudence kept herself guarded around us, but she knew when to voice her opinion, especially if it might make one of us feel better.
“Yeah, that guy’s all work and no play.” Maureen snorted, casting a quick glance at Joy as she did it.
“Boring ass.” I had a creeping suspicion that August was smirking out the window while he said it.
“What the hell are we even doing here?” Barron growled. “Where are they?”
“Right here,” Mom said, entering the room.
All I heard was the loud thud, and I turned around to see Dad, the Grim Reaper, pinning August against the wall. Dad smirked at him. “Getting rusty playing with all those women,” he said to August.