Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Theo stops in the doorway, looking at Leo who is passed out on Antonio's bed. “While I support your having a hobby,” he starts, shifting his gaze to me. “I’m not a fan of collecting washed-up invalid hunters.”
“Hilarious,” I deadpan, rubbing my eyes.
Antonio and I have been babysitting Leo since we got home several hours ago.
I did give Xavier a heads up, but it doesn’t seem like he shared the info with his brother, probably so we could both see this reaction out of him right now.
Xavier steps around him and comes into the room.
Stretching my arms out in front of me, I let Xavier pull me to my feet.
I lean against him, burying my face against his firm chest. He’s still in his suit, looking impeccable.
It’s not fair, really, how good he always looks.
I haphazardly removed my makeup, but I know there is still some mascara smeared under just one eye.
I’m in PJs, but my hair is still in the fancy up-do, only it’s super messy now. What a contrast we are.
Xavier’s hands run down my back, stopping on my waist. “Come to bed, darling. Theo can look after him,” he says seriously but is smiling at me.
“I’m not a fucking babysitter,” Theo snaps and lets out a dramatic huff before zooming away.
“I can do it,” Mabel says, appearing out of nowhere. “I like to watch humans sleep.”
Antonio, who’s been dozing on and off like me, sits up in the armchair that’s opposite the bed and eyes me. I give him a look back hoping he gets what I’m saying, which is basically: yes, it’s really weird, but yet not creepy when it’s Mabel.
“I got it,” Antonio says.
“Do you think having him wake up and see you is a good idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Mabel asks. “He’s your brother.”
“Well,” I start and let my hands rest against Xavier’s chest. “Vivian told a few hunters that Antonio is a vampire now. Which means he’s evil and she has to do the right thing and kill him.”
“They have no body,” Xavier notes.
“That’s exactly what I said,” Antonio says. “Do you know if anyone has been into the warehouse?”
“It’s been kept under police surveillance,” Xavier starts. “Though that doesn’t mean there isn’t someone on the Charlotte PD who would sell information.”
“Good point,” I say. “Even reporters can buy info. Were some of the bodies identified?” I ask because I actually don’t know.
“Yes,” Xavier tells me. “About half so far. Most had military-style dog tags that weren’t official military."
“Order issued,” Antonio says. “For literally this reason.”
“Right,” I echo. “Being maimed by monsters isn’t uncommon. Maybe I should wear one.”
Xavier glares at me, not liking my dark humor.
Mabel sits on the edge of the bed, holding her hand over Leo’s face so she can feel him breathing. “I don’t get it. Why would the Order say you’re a vampire?”
“The last time they saw me, I was dead,” Antonio tells her casually and then widens his eyes at words that just came out of his mouth. “In our line of work, you need to see a body to believe someone is actually dead. Plus, there’s a ritual we do for a hunter’s funeral.”
“Ohhh, and vampires turn to goo when they die.” Mabel slowly nods. “They could kill any vampire to get goo and no one would know the difference.”
“Exactly,” I tell her.
“And then what?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I reply honestly and look up at Xavier. “They have a demon. It’s only a matter of time before they use it and come after us.” My throat suddenly feels thick and it’s hard to swallow. My heart speeds up and Xavier can sense it.
“By the amount of alcohol I can smell,” Xavier starts, “he’s not waking up for quite some time. Get some rest, and I will let you know when he wakes up.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“I’ll stay,” Mabel tells me. “I’m knitting jackets for the ducks that come to the pond sometimes.”
“Oh, cool,” I tell her without missing a beat. “You’ll have to show me when they’re done.” I cast my gaze to Antonio, silently telling him to just shut up and compliment whatever Mabel makes. “You should get some rest, too,” I tell him.
“I’m fine, actually,” he says, stretching his neck side to side. “Maybe we can keep the blinds open in this room?”
“I can make an adjustment on when they close,” Xavier says and gives Antonio a curt nod. Then he takes my hand and we go into our room.
“Morning, sunshine,” I say, sitting up in the armchair across from the bed. Leo groggily sits up, looking around. I hand him a glass of water and sit back down in the chair. “You’re safe, don’t worry.”
“Wren?”
“Yeah. It’s me. I take it you don’t remember much of last night?”
He puts his head in his hands. “I feel like death.”
“You’re alive.” I push my hair back. “Just like Antonio is.” Right on cue, the door cracks open and Antonio comes in. It’s around seven AM and the blinds are still open. It’s cloudy today, but enough sunlight is coming through the window to prove none of us here are vampires.
Leo looks at Antonio, lips parted as if he wants to talk but no words come out.
“You smell like puke and cheap whiskey,” Antonio says, making a face. “Heard you had a fun night.”
Leo blinks once. Twice. He looks at me and then at Antonio again. “They said he was dead.”
“They said he was a vampire,” I counter.
“That's the same thing,” Leo says.
“It’s not the same thing,” I go on, speaking slowly as I try to control my emotions. “Undead. But not dead.”
Leo sits back and takes a sip of water. “Why would they lie?”
“Because I was dead,” Antonio tells him and shows him the scars on his wrists. “They used my blood to paint the sigil on the ground then left me to bleed to death.”
Leaning forward, Leo runs his fingers over one of the scars. “These aren’t fresh.”
“Yeah, it’s complicated,” I reply nervously.
“What the hell happened?” Leo’s eyes widen and he looks at us nervously.
Deciding it’s best to just get the truth out there in a rip the band aid off style, I take a breath.
“Turns out, the Order has been in control of a demon for like half a century but it was only operating at partial strength so they wanted to bust it out into the real world but needed to open a portal to do so, and my blood was the key so Vivian and Marco let Gia run away to cause a distraction and get me out of the house and away from Xavier. They used Toni too and, like he said, they let him bleed to death after using his blood to draw the sigil which then needed my blood to unlock. Toni died and I made a deal with the demon to bring him back and instead of devouring my soul, it will rip up the contract if I can sever whatever connection the Order has that basically puts it on a leash.”
Silence falls over the room.
“Where am I?” Leo asks, looking around.
“My house,” I answer, and the look on Antonio’s face says he’s surprised at how quickly I feel at home here.
“You took me to the vampire HQ?” Leo retorts.
“I don’t think I’d call it that,” I say. “It’s the house we live in on the outskirts of Charlotte, if you want to be technical. And with everything that happened, it’s the safest place to be.”
“Safe from a demon?” Leo asks and I force myself to take a breath and not get frustrated. He’s still hungover, maybe still a little drunk, and this is a lot to take in.
“Safe from the Order,” Antonio answers.
Leo takes another drink of water and then sets the glass on the nightstand. “Walk me through exactly what happened.”
“Okay,” I say and take a breath. “Let’s start with the night Ryder shot Devon. I can prove to you this has been the Order’s plan all along.”
“Is he…?” Leo asks quietly, flicking his eyes to Alan.
Leo, Antonio and I are in the kitchen, having finally come downstairs after going over things multiple times.
I’m starting to get really fucking annoyed with how unwilling Leo is to grasp this, and now it’s late in the morning and I’m wasting time.
I need to find the sigil.
Frustrated, I had to leave my brothers for a while and go run a couple miles on the treadmill and then shower and get dressed. I don’t have much time before I need to leave to meet Delphi for lunch.
“He forgets everything he’s heard the second he leaves the house,” I tell both brothers, having just learned that myself only a few minutes ago. “So we can talk freely.”
“What if he remembers?” Leo presses.
“He’ll sound crazy telling everyone.” I shrug and refill my coffee, letting out a slow breath as I sink down into a barstool at the island.
“The demon,” I start, trying to redirect the conversation. All I know is the name, it needs a pretty powerful ritual to be freed, and it can be used in some way.”
“Why trap the demon and not kill it?” Antonio muses out loud.
“It’s not unheard of to summon a demon and then put it in a cage, so to speak,” I remind us all. “It’s super risky, because they almost always get out.”
“Tricking a witch into opening the cage is a surefire way to get out,” Leo scoffs. “You agreed to free it. At least the Order has it on a chain.”
“I’m not being tricked. I knew what I was doing. And I get it, both choices are bad. But the Order having a demon at their beck and call is worse.”
Leo’s brows go up. “Worse than a demon being on the loose?”
“We hunt demons on the loose all the time.”
“Not ones like this,” he says, and he’s not wrong.
“There’s a first time for everything. We’ll figure it out.”
Leo rolls his eyes. “Your optimism is annoying, you know. And borderline delusional.”
“And I thought your other brother was the voice of reason,” Theo says, seemingly appearing out of thin air after moving into the kitchen at vampire speed without making a sound. “Maybe I like this one better.”
Theo’s teasing is a joke, but what he said holds a truth I don’t want to think about yet. Leo has always been more on my side. He’s been reasonable and has always questioned the Order. It would kill me to come to the realization that when things got real, he picked them over me.
“Maybe you guys will be best buds,” I say, falling back on using humor as a defensive mechanism. “Theo. Leo. Your names even rhyme!”
“Doubt it,” they both say at the exact same time, making Antonio and I chuckle. Leo looks at Theo suspiciously. Oh, right. He hasn’t been around any of my in-laws yet. In hindsight, Antonio adjusted pretty quickly and very well.
I guess dying has that effect on you.
Theo turns and says something in Spanish. He’s speaking quietly, but I know he’s talking to Xavier, who can hear him from wherever he is in the house. Without saying anything, Theo speeds back out of the room.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be team vampire,” Leo murmurs.
“You don’t have to be in order to see the truth,” Antonio counters. “You gotta look at it logically, and right now, the Malus family has helped more than they’ve hurt.”
Leo looks at him like he’s insane. “They run a mafia.”
“I feel like that’s an antiquated term,” I try.
“It’s not,” Leo says back. “Everybody knows it and the hashtag mafiabutmakeitimmortal is trending.”
I snort- laugh. “Oh come on, that doesn’t prove anything. But yeah, I won’t deny it. Xavier makes sure everyone in the city gets along and follows rules.”
“His rules.”
“Look,” I start, voice raising. The light above us starts to flicker and I put my hands flat on the counter. “You don’t have to like Xavier or anyone else in this family. But no one batted an eye when I brought you here and they welcomed Antonio with open arms.”
“And mouths—full of fangs,” Leo mutters under his breath.
“That’s enough,” Antonio tells him. “Wren is right: you don’t have to like them but we need to deal with what’s at hand. We have twenty-eight days to find this demon sigil and break it so Wren’s soul isn’t consumed by the demon.”
His words hang heavy in the air.
“You’re right,” Leo finally relents. “But we can’t do anything sitting around here.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Antonio starts. “Right now, the Order thinks I’m dead and it’s smart to keep it that way. We need you to play double-agent.” He pauses and looks at Leo. “And I need you to be really honest with me: are you up for that?”