Chapter 11 Orfeo
Orfeo
In the basement of Hades House, I stand over Kat’s limp body as two healers work to nurse her back from the edge of death. One focuses on stitching the shredded flesh and veins of her neck; the other casts spells across her broken bones, speaking rapidly in an ancient tongue.
“Remind me why we care about this human again?”
“Shut the fuck up, Nisos,” Leo spits. His face is drained of any color, green eyes glowing with rage.
He sits on a keg with his face in his hands, pulled up beside Kat.
He only moves to stroke her hair away from her face.
I knew Kat was his friend, but I didn’t realize there was this much affection between them.
“For every dead human body left to rot in the gutters of this town, there will be an entire family looking for justice,” I say to Nisos, pushing off the damp wall and pressing a cigarette between my lips. I snap my fingers to light it.
“Let them look! Fucking idiots.”
“Nisos.” Alfo growls his name. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet, letting us argue amongst ourselves.
“If we want to bring more demons and vampires here, fine,” I say. “I am in no position to stop you, but you cannot really believe that the consequences will go unnoticed.”
Nis’s eyes darken. “Fucking bloodsucker scum, you think you have any power here?”
“Nisos, out.” Nis straightens at Alfo’s command, turning and thundering up the stairs to the club.
Alfo takes a drag of his cigarette before tossing it to the ground and crushing it with his heel.
For good measure, he spits on it. “I’m not sure why you even care what these humans think, but whatever happened tonight is already done.
There’s no use wasting time worrying. I will deal with the vampire myself.
Leo, you and Nis head into town and clean up anybody you find.
I want them driven to New York and thrown into the Hudson. Now, enough of your fucking crying.”
“Brother.” Leo shoots to his feet and takes a tentative step forward, head bowed.
“I believe we need to take stronger precautions. We need to find a witch to cast a spell of insulation or a protective circle. Orfeo can handle the communications, since he will not be in any danger. He can tell them it’s a vampire bar, backed by demons. ”
Leo towers over his half-brother, but his body language betrays his sense of inferiority. In the supernatural world, it’s the loudest idiots who hold all the power. I know that firsthand.
Alfo grunts, mouth contorted into a lipless grimace. “I’ll consider it.”
Left alone with just the healers and Kat, Leo and I smoke in silence, the thump of the club rattling the beams around us. Dust falls, and Leo reaches out periodically to drag a damp towel over Kat’s face. He looks more than angry—he is hurt.
Eventually, I say, “You’re a better leader than him.”
Leo eyes shoot up and he glares at me. “Don’t fucking start.”
“It’s just a fact. Even Alfo notices. Why do you think he’s so cruel?”
“It’s his nature.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s working. You know that. We all know that.”
Leo ignores me, disappearing into the dark depths of the basement only to return with a growler. He hands it to me. “Blood. Very good blood. From two thousand sixteen. French.”
Blood procured from willing donors is always the best. I pop the cork and take a long, slow slug. It’s like every cell in my body has been turned on, supercharged by sunlight and good sleep and delicious food and copious orgasms.
When I finally pull the bottle away from my lips, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and rasp, “Thank you, Leo.”
“Don’t mention it. I think we all owe you something tonight.
” He keeps his gaze fixed on Kat’s sleeping body, connected to an IV drip of human blood and buried under a blanket and Leo’s jacket.
She looks so small and weak. I try to remove the image of her torn and bloodied throat from my memory, but at this moment, it feels like I may never forget.
“Tomorrow…I will speak to someone I know. Someone who can help us protect ourselves.”
Leo’s eyes jump to mine. “You know a witch?”
“I know someone who is powerful,” I correct him.
“And I don’t know if they even can or will want to help us, but…
” I can’t believe I am about to admit this out loud, to a demon—of all species.
“I will be here in Echidna, working for Alfo, for the foreseeable future. And if I’m trapped here, I want to at least make sure other trapped beings—like Kat—are not continuously sacrificed at the altar of his idiocy, capito?
I will not allow the soulless to take away our last scraps of dignity. ”
He stares at me for a long while, and in that gaze, I see a shift. Whether we like it or not, we will need to work together. Leo nods curtly.
I drain the last of the blood from the bottle and disappear back up the steps, into Hades House.