Chapter Seven
Sheoul-gra, and all its ancient Greek glory, was
teeming with activity when Hawkyn arrived. It took a minute to figure out why
colorful paper lights had been strung up between trees and buildings, food and
drink had been set out on dozens of long trestle tables, and music was being
streamed via magical conduits that dispersed sound evenly throughout the entire
realm.
It was The Celebration of Angels Day,
a holiday he figured had been invented to let typically uptight angels release
a little pressure. Rumor had it that angels could do whatever they wanted on
this day and there would be no repercussions.
Hawkyn wasn’t going to take that chance.
“Hey, man.” Cipher, his long blond hair tied back with a
strip of leather, clapped him on the shoulder and drained a cup of mead. The
Unfallen angel loved his nasty ancient beverages. “Where’ve you been?”
Journey flanked his other side. “Dude, you were gone for
days.”
“Days, dude,” Maddox agreed as he stumbled alongside
Journey. Hawk had known Maddox for over a hundred years, and although his
brother was older by twenty years, he still acted like a delinquent teen human.
“What, you guys are my babysitters now?”
Cipher snagged another cup of mead off a nearby table. “You
missed game night.”
“And movie night,” Journey chimed in. “We watched John
Wick.”
“The second one,” Mad added. “It was awesome. If that
character was real, he’d totally be Primori.”
“I’ll bet Keanu Reeves is,” Cipher said. “He’s had a big
impact on society.”
“I heard he’s a vampire. Or a demon.” Maddox gestured at the
nearby gazebo. “And speaking of demons, you just missed Idess. Well, you missed
her by a couple of hours, I guess.”
Cipher braced his shoulder against a marble column, propping
the heel of his boot on the snout of a demon carved into the base. “Who’s
Idess?”
“Of all my father’s children,” Hawkyn said, “she’s his favorite.” He waved to his half-brother Emerico,
who headed their way.
Journey snorted. “You could have fooled me.”
“What do you mean?”
“She came to see him with her demon kid, but he barely spoke
to her. Totally ignored her demonlet, and then he took off. Left Idess with
Lilliana. Our father can be a dick sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” Emerico joined them, his spiky black hair
looking like something out of a cartoon. “He’s a fucking career dick. I asked
him why we can’t enter the Inner Sanctum and he said he doesn’t trust us. Like
we’re children. Bastard.”
“Shh.” Mad looked around wildly and lowered his voice.
“He’ll hear you.”
“I don’t give a shit,” Journey said, all puffed up like a
rooster. “I’ve told him the same thing to his face.”
“To his face?” Hawkyn was more than a little skeptical.
“Well, I’ve said it on the Memitim message boards,” Journey
muttered, and yeah, that was more like it.
Maddox hiccupped. “You’re a bully.”
Cipher shook his head. “Bullying requires a power imbalance,
real or perceived, in favor of the bully. Azagoth has all the power. Journey
has none. Plus, Azagoth doesn’t know what Journey says on the boards. Hence, no
bullying.” He punched Journey in the arm. “I think you mean he’s a troll. An
idiot troll, but not a bully.”
“Okay, guys, can we get serious for a second?”
Abruptly, Journey lost the swagger and cocky grin. The guy
could switch into duty mode faster than anyone Hawkyn had met. “What’s up?”
“You watched over two serial killers in your life—”
“Three.” Journey ticked off his fingers as he spoke. “Plus an assortment of rapists, sadists, mass murderers, and
even an emperor who regularly ordered the executions of entire villages of
people.”
Yeah, Hawkyn had been assigned a variety of monsters too,
but for some reason, serial killers like Drayger seemed extra monstrous. The
time they took to plan and execute their evil put them ahead of the rest, in
his opinion.
“How do you deal with it?” Cipher asked. “I know you’re not
allowed to interfere in your Primoris’ lives, but fuck that, man. How can you
just let someone be tortured to death by one of your Primori?”
“Those people are dying for the greater good,” Journey said,
reciting the official company line like a good little soldier. “It’s why they
were born. They have a purpose to serve. And it helps to realize that their
suffering is temporary. A drop in the bucket of time. They go to a better
place.”
Maddox jammed his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “It also
helps to avoid your scumbag Primori. Don’t even check on them unless their heraldis
activate.” He shrugged. “Ignorance is bliss, you know.”
“Preach it, brother.” Emerico bumped fists with Maddox.
It was way too late to be ignorant about Drayger. Besides,
Hawkyn wanted to learn about his charges. The more he knew about their
lives and their personalities, the easier it was to understand why they
required angelic protection and from where any danger might
come. Hawk had never understood why people like Maddox and Rico treated
their jobs so casually. Hawkyn had always been dedicated to a fault, an all-in
kind of Memitim.
“I can’t do that,” he said. “Especially now. I kind of
fucked up.”
“Ooh, do tell.” Cipher shoved away from the column, his
interest fully engaged. “It’s always good to have dirt on you.”
Cipher hadn’t changed a bit since the day, almost two years
ago, when Hawkyn had dragged the guy here against his will for fucking with
another of Hawkyn’s Primoris. Ciph was still a bit of a scammer. But he did
have a moral compass, and despite their rocky start, they’d become good
friends, and Hawkyn trusted him with his secrets.
Journey and Maddox were a little more iffy,
but they were his favorite brothers and he didn’t
think they’d betray him.
Probably.
Emerico? He’d been raised by professional con artists, and
while he was generally reliable, he tended to look for all the angles in any
situation that would benefit him.
Ah, what the hell. Hawkyn needed advice, and these four
idiots were the best source of it he had.
“I interfered with my Primori’s abduction of a victim,” he
blurted.
Journey let out a drawn out oh shit whistle.
“Dude.”
Maddox concurred. “Dude.”
Rico did a face palm.
“I know I’m not up on all your crazy Primori rules,” Cipher
began, “but even I know that interference in Primori actions is crazy bad.
Like, the most forbidden of the forbidden.”
“There’s worse,” Hawkyn said, “but not much.”
“So what happened?” Journey asked,
his dark eyes wide with morbid curiosity. Because who didn’t love a good train
wreck?
“I’m fucked, that’s what happened.” Hawk swiped a cup of
wine from the table and drained half of it. He wasn’t much of a drinker, but he
could use some alcohol right now. Good thing wine was approved by the Memitim
Council, because he was tempted to drink it by the barrel. “I caught him trying
to grab a woman. She mistook me for his partner, and she blasted the fuck out
of me with a photon torpedo or some crap before he managed to subdue her.”
“Ah, shit,” Maddox said. “So did you take damage meant for
him?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m worried about.” Hawkyn looked
at each of his buddies and wondered who was going to freak the most when he
said, “So I rescued her.”
“Holy shit,” Maddox blurted, spewing wine all over Hawk’s
boots.
Groaning, Journey scrubbed his hand over his face. “You
dipshit. You fucking dipshit.”
Rico gaped. His eyes were going to dry out if he didn’t
blink.
Cipher stood silently, his gaze analyzing Hawkyn’s words,
expression, posture... The guy was a master at reading people. No doubt he knew
exactly how much shit Hawkyn was in. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Take her back,” Rico suggested, as if Drayger’s House of
Horrors had a return policy.
“You’re an idiot,” Cipher said. “Even if Hawk did that,
there’s no guarantee that it’ll repair the fated timeline. Like Maddox said,
what if she was supposed to have killed the Primori? She never would have been
taken. He could be returning her to a killer for no reason.” He looked at
Hawkyn. “Man, you’re fucked.”
“Thank you,” Hawkyn muttered. “That was helpful.”
“You said it first.” Cipher shrugged. “So
what is your plan?”
“I don’t have one. Which is why I’m talking to you guys.
But, as it turns out, you’re idiots.”
“Well,” Journey began, “can you contact the Memitim Council
and see what they know about your Primori’s fate?”
“I tried. Talked to someone from the embassy. Got nowhere.”
“Is your Primori human?” Rico asked.
That was the question of the day. “I’m not sure. The files
and diary Atticus kept on him before he Ascended indicates that Drayger’s
human, but he can somehow track his victims once he sheds their blood. Atticus
wrote that a victim escaped, but she didn’t go to the police because she was a
werewolf and she feared being caught.” A lot of cops were secret Aegis members,
so the victim’s paranoia was justified. “Instead, she used a Harrowgate to go
from Portland to Sydney, and the bastard caught up to her within days.”
Atticus had spent every available minute watching Drayger,
documenting his every move. For some reason Atticus had been obsessed with the
bastard. He might have even admired him. The diary he’d kept had been detailed
and often complimentary.
He has a single-minded focus. He can’t sleep or eat. His
only desire is to find Lexi. He took leave from work. Spends his time hunched
over his computer and a giant map of the world. He’s looking for her.
Next entry: Jason Drayger is fascinating. Everything
I’ve learned about the man leads me to believe he’s human, and yet he can sense
supernatural abilities in females. (But not males.) And as far as I can tell,
he can track anything once he tastes their blood. I’m certain that he practiced
many times before Lexi escaped and forced him to hunt her. I think he’ll find
her.
Several entries and two days later
later: He found her.
Lexi’s death photos now took up five pages in Drayger’s
serial killer album.