Bad News
REBEL
The expressions on their faces are priceless—and it’s not just my delectable sis looking unsure how much they’d enjoy my threat.
I turn back to the stage, hiding the glee it gave me to see every one of my family members except Angelo shiver with anticipation.
I know D is experimenting with being a switch with Arch, and that’s fun to see…
But his suppressed shudder at my words reveals a lot more than intended—as did my bratty woman’s and the easygoing phoenix.
I think roles in our group might be extremely flexible.
Angelo and I should have a chat about it once we’re out of this cesspool of corruption.
Together, we’d be a perfect team to keep these eager switches in line.
Now I’m getting amped up and I have to picture the worst things I can think of to push it away.
I blow out a breath as the announcer continues his ridiculous call-outs, shaking off my horny thoughts for focus again.
“Next, we have Aetek Qax and Sciron, our honored guests from The Voiceless and Heavenly Plume.”
Frowning as no one comes out, I look at my family and they shake their heads. They don’t see these honored guests, either.
I’m about to call bullshit and laugh because two very important dickheads ‘no showed’ on Luca and his cronies when a burst of light and smoke on the stage makes me whip my head back to the scene.
The light reveals a glowing demigod dressed like a rogue, with a dark smirk on his face.
He waves, then blows kisses when a few whackos scream in excitement.
By the time he’s seated, another dramatic flare of energy and light with a cloud of sparkling dust precedes a tall purple being with tentacles coming from his back like Doc fucking Ock.
He’s—if that’s the right pronoun ‘cause I’m not sure—is wearing a weird space-inspired uniform as he strides past the screeching crowd to sit opposite the demi.
This shit is so out of control that I can’t even imagine what the hell is going to come next.
“Someone from fucking space?” Rogue whispers in shock. “How damn far… I mean, I can’t…”
“No shit,” Angelo grunts. “Our father has been really goddamn busy, and I want to know how he’s managing it without being caught. He’s not sneaky enough for this level of shit, guys. Even Lola is out of her league here, but that doesn’t mean they won’t pretend they’re not.”
Damon grins as he adds, “This will be funny. They’re obviously going last and they’re definitely not the most powerful fuckers up there. I’m sure that will rankle some of the immense egos.”
Nodding, I cross my arms over my chest as I study the current players and wait for the applause to die down, so the idiot calling the names will continue.
As far as Society lore goes, the Galactic and Astral realms are uninterested in this plane.
But two of their people are strutting around as guests for this farce, and that means even if the ‘good guys’ from those places don’t give a fuck…
their ‘bad guys’ do. Much of what I’m seeing tonight is contradicting what we learned, and that’s why it’s been able to grow into a movement of this size.
No one was looking for it.
“Reb, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out,” Rogue murmurs as her hand lands on my shoulder blade. “And we might have allies to help. That’s better than nothing, right?”
Sighing, my head drops as I consider her words.
They’re accurate, but the betrayal of our teachers and leaders is weighing heavily on me.
I simply cannot believe that not one seer or psychic or even a fucking card reader had an inkling this was possible.
And if they did, why didn’t the Society adjust their training?
Why put Guardians, agents, and all the other supes in such danger?
“Unless they couldn’t say anything,” I mutter. “Unless they were bound by the threads of time.”
Angelo looks over at me, shooting a finger gun as he says, “Bingo, man.”
“Don’t say another word out loud,” Javier interrupts before I can retort. “Trust me, my parents drilled it into me from the moment I could speak. You have to be insanely cautious about how you discuss the crones lest you change their whims.”
“Words have power, and saying them can alter the course. Great,” Archie says as he tugs on his blond locks. “When the hell is this guy going to bring the last two seats out so we can not be here contemplating the end of the damn world?”
As if he willed it into being, the announcer jerk starts up again. “And now for your most gracious, most benevolent hosts… the sexiest party-throwing demons in town… Luuuuuuca and Loooolaaaa Geminiiiiiii!”
What the hell? Who is missing from that seat without a damn nameplate?
The entrance music starts up again as the two demons who run the demon mob in Bay City flash big smiles and purposeful peeks at their ‘assets’ as they use the platform like a runway.
Angelo and Damon groan simultaneously as their parents do the cringiest things possible, the latter ducking his head and covering his eyes in surrender.
Both of the ‘hosts’ are behaving more like drunken college kids on spring break than the centuries old beings they are, and I can’t blame the twins for wanting to gouge their eyes out.
Rogue moves from my side to Angelo’s, looking up at him with an apologetic expression. “It’s not weird to dislike seeing your mother dry humping the air as people throw gifts on stage, babe. This is pretty much the nightmare of every adult kid in the known universe.”
“For real,” Javier says as he shudders. “I can’t even allow myself to consider how I was conceived, much less imagine my dad doing pelvic thrusts at screaming crowds.”
Archie snorts as he rubs D’s back. “My parents are pretty demonstrative, but shifters are touchy-feely, and this? This is more like aging rock star shit than anything else. Your folks have lost their marbles, guys.”
“Tell us about it.” Angelo growls his response, but it’s not for us. His ire is at the gross spectacle his asshole parents are making of themselves because it’s forcing him to see things he doesn’t want to. “Someone tell me when it’s over?”
I chuckle as he claps his hand over his eyes like his brother, accepting that I’m going to have to—
Wait a minute. Who the fuck is that?!
Squinting, I watch a sharp-eyed man with the gait of a predator emerge from backstage and quietly take a seat in the spot with no placard.
He looks human, but clearly is not, and his strawberry curls are partly held back with a black ribbon.
His clothes are from our realm—simple dress pants and an unremarkable blue oxford—and he’s wearing thin, oval frames over his eyes.
The effect is clearly to make him go unnoticed, to blend into the background with such vibrant supes nearby.
But I can sense a threat and whoever the hell this son of a bitch is, he’s one of the biggest problems on that platform.
“Rogue. Look at him, not the Geminis.”
She heeds my whispers, and I watch as her head tilts.
The crowd is still going nuts over the antics of the twins’ parents, but my partner and I are watching the real show.
Rogue licks her lips, then turns, frowning darkly.
“That dude is powerful—enough so that he doesn’t give a shit if people know who or what he is or even where he came from. ”
I grin. “Exactly. That’s who we need to identify. The others, especially the guests, are priorities, but that one is the big cheese, sis. He’s neck deep in this bullshit; I can feel it in my bones.”
Javier makes an odd sound, and we blink. The phoenix flushes, surprise flittering over his features. “Uh, that… that doesn’t happen often, guys.”
“What does it mean, Javi?” Rogue asks softly.
His features scrunch up and he radiates conflicted emotions as he stares at the stage. “That’s… it’s one of the things we’re not supposed to… Shit.”
Uh-oh. We’ve run into some big species secret for the phoenixes.
Every species has powers and abilities they keep from the public, particularly mythicals.
They’re the tightest lipped of all, and Javier’s parents follow insanely rigid protocols in relation to phoenix and mythical laws.
They raised him in that atmosphere and he’s never had his loyalties brush against one another quite so profoundly.
Or, that’s what I think, because I’ve never seen the guy look like he’s going to barf if he finishes a sentence.
“You don’t have to tell us if you can’t,” Damon says from where he’s still hiding from the Gemini nonsense. “We’ll understand, man.”
Rogue moves to the bird shifter, lending her strength to the next of us to have an issue like its second nature. “Damon’s right, Javi. If you can’t tell us, you can’t. No pressure.”
Running his hand through his hair, I watch quietly as Javier sorts himself out.
He shakes his limbs out like a duck emerging from the water, and it makes me grin.
Shifters are always shifters, no matter how human they appear.
Once he’s settled, my old friend crooks his finger, so we all move as close as Rogue.
His expression is serious as he murmurs low, “Several people on that stage have been… dead and brought back.”
I blink, giving him a skeptical look. “Well, there’s an Astral chick…”
“Not her. They’re… I don’t know, but it’s not the same.” Javier rubs his hands on his arms and shakes his head in agitation. The bird is obviously riding him hard as he mutters, “It’s hard to explain, but you know how we…”
The gesture he makes confuses everyone but the twins. Angelo nods, and Damon snaps his fingers before saying, “Rise from the ashes?”
“Yes.” Javi’s eyes dart around and I wave my hand to increase the surrounding bubble.
It won’t stop everything from hearing, but it might muffle what they hear further.
“That leaves a mark on you. Phoenixes can sense those marks in one another—how many times you’ve been born and died is correlated to your power level and place in the flock. ”
“Okay,” Rogue says slowly. “But you can read it in others, too? Like that’s what we’re not supposed to know?”
My friend taps his nose, looking relieved that he didn’t have to voice that information.
“Usually it’s just someone who was in a bad accident or had a medical issue or whatever, you know?
But this? It’s not that. The people who have been dead and come back up there…
it’s not zombies or specters because they’re not dead now.
They are alive, just like my kind—and as far as I know, only my kind—can be. ”
Hol-eee fuck-knuckles.
I bury my hands in my hair, tugging on it in frustration as I process that statement.
Javier is saying that not only do we have a glut of combined evil on that fucking stage, we have people who might have conquered death.
How much worse can this shit get? Did one of us break a goddamn ancient vase I don’t know about?
“Reb, stop.” This time my sister is back to me, pulling my face to look directly into her eyes. “Making yourself bald will neither help you drive faster—no matter what movies suggest—nor will it fix this giant fucking bomb that just dropped. Take a breath and push it down.”
The gentle rebuke helps me swallow the panic that flared up in my heart.
Rogue and I have always been able to mirror one another when needed because of our Fae connection.
Remembering that helps me calm as I turn back to the upset bird who imparted his big secret.
I let out another breath like she said, then reply, “How many, Javier?”
“At least three, but there’s one who has done it twice. I’ve never seen that outside of my kind… not ever.”
Just what we needed… three motherfuckers who aren’t immortal, but can cheat death.