Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dom sprinted for the being that was most definitely not Ian Lanzo. It took form like…a demon. Not any demon, though. This one didn’t exude the putrid energy of the hundreds he’d eliminated over the years. This was something else. Something stronger.
The creature used its shadows to capture Evie.
It shot a grin in his direction when he slung her over a shoulder and disappeared.
It hadn’t disappeared into the middle realm like he traveled.
This being disappeared into mist. Demons could vanish, but they usually couldn’t take organic objects with them when they did so. What was that thing?
The creature wouldn’t kill her. It wanted Dom to chase after them.
He dialed Marik. No answer. He left a voicemail message for Brik. “Did you find out anything from the one who was possessed?”
Brik claimed he could get the demon, once exorcised, to talk.
He stalked to the house.
Efrem crossed his arms, blocking Dom’s entry. “Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“To where?”
“Who’s gone?” Flynn asked behind her.
“Flynn, gather your brothers,” Dom ordered.
Flynn cast a skeptical double eyebrow raise at him. “You know I’ve only realized who you are in the past half day. You’re a real shit to—”
“Now!” Dom thundered. “Whoever is masquerading as Ian took Evie.” His phone rang. He put it to his ear without answering.
“They’re dead, Dom. They’re all dead.”
“Who is this? Dojin?”
“Brik is…I can’t tell if he’s dead. All the others who sat at the table are dead. The Conclave is no more.” Dojin’s fast breathing came through the phone. “What do I do? It’s a massacre of parts like a…like would be done by a…”
“Demon?”
“Hold on, it’s Brik. He’s barely alive.” There was a pause.
The break went on so long Dom asked, “Are you still there?”
“He said Levi. I think he means the Leviathan. What the…” A thunk as if the phone dropped. “He disappeared.”
“Brik disappeared? Or Leviathan disappeared?” He hoped Brik had gone underground to recover in safety.
“Who’s Leviathan?” Flynn asked.
“Brik’s gone. What do you make of Leviathan?” Dojin asked on the phone. “I only know the bad 80s horror film.”
Dom met Flynn’s gaze before turning around to give him his back. Low into the phone he said, “Leviathan is one of the demon princes.”
“Leviathan is a prince?”
“It’s a serpent demon. The prince of envy.” There were seven princes in hell who worked for Satan, but this particular fallen angel specialized in encouraging human envy. “Did you find Marik?”
“There’s so many random body parts. I don’t know. No, I don’t think he’s here.”
“Sort what you can there. I will take care of this.” He hung up despite Dojin’s continued questions.
“What did you do with my mother?” Roman asked.
Dom stared at his shaking hands. How could he have been so blind? “She was taken by the demon Leviathan.”
“I don’t understand.” Roman moved closer.
He fisted a hand. “Fool me once, shame on me. Won’t fool me again.” He pulled back his fist, prepared to punch the wall.
Roman grabbed his hand. “Mom gets cranky when we destroy her stuff. Maybe you could romance her out of punishment, but I’m just giving advice here. I recommend you not put your fist into it.”
“He’s not kidding,” Flynn added. “She made me scrub all the bathrooms the last time I punched a mirror. Like, on my knees scrubbing until they sparkled. There were five bathrooms in that house.”
All the brothers chuckled.
Dom balled up his fist but did’t hit anything.
“This demon must’ve disguised itself as my brother to infiltrate the Mage Conclave.
More recently, he’s been masquerading as Ian Lanzo.
” The mhis must’ve been a distraction. Perhaps, a demon prince was too powerful for a simple reveal spell.
He must’ve been posing as both Marik and Ian, but to what end?
“You have a brother?” Roman craned back. “There’s more than one of you?”
“It’s not as if he’s my twin. He’s more than likely been dead for a long time.” A wave of regret hit hard. “Deep down, I knew that wasn’t him.”
“I can’t tell if you’re sad about it.”
“He must’ve gotten into something he should’ve known better than to mess with.”
“Why would this demon take her?”
“I don’t know yet. This creature has tried to get me imprisoned and then killed more than once.
I bet he gave the curse to the monarch of England.
That means he’s after all of you as well.
He would’ve had access to the curse and an understanding of its nuances since it was one of his kind that wrote it. Maybe he, himself, was the author.”
“Do you think he would kill her?”
He compressed his lips. No guarantees. They may show up only for her to die immediately. Or she may already be dead.
Roman’s face paled and his eyes went wide.
“We don’t have time for you to panic.” Dom crossed his arms.
“I’m not.”
“I need you to ask Michael to help us. He’s the archenemy of the demon princes.”
Roman pointed at Ky. “That’s Ky’s angel, not mine. We can’t order them around, though. They appear when they want.”
“Let me see your tattoo, Ky. I want to talk to it.”
“How do you know about that?”
Dom closed his eyes and tried to seek inner calm, even though inside he was the one panicking. “I’ve deep read all of you more times than I can count when you showed up on my doorstep to have me deal with things you couldn’t heal. Let me see it.”
Ky pulled his blonde hair into a messy bun. He unbuttoned his shirt and lifted it off his left shoulder. An intricate tattoo of an angel in armor kneeling while holding a broadsword in front of him spanned Ky’s biceps up to his shoulder.
Dom leaned in. The intricate blue tattoo blinked at him. “Michael, I think Leviathan is roaming freely in this realm. We could use a bit of help. You know she’ll try to fight it alone. Will you come?”
The angel shrugged.
Not the answer he wanted. “Do you think he’s after her…Mary? Do you think he wants her to show herself? I worry that might be Leviathan’s play.”
“Who the hell’s Mary?” Ky asked.
Dom’s gaze shot to Ky and then the other brothers.
He wasn’t supposed to know about Mary, but he knew every inch of Evie, and the tattoo of a Madonna wasn’t something a non-religious lycan got at random, especially not when her sons were plagued by these living angel tattoos.
He had wondered, since she kept it secret from him, if she kept it from everyone. He asked the tattoo, “Do they know?”
“Know what?” Ky asked.
The angel tattoo shook its head and dropped its inked chin.
He asked, “Is there a purpose to them not knowing?”
The angel tattoo shrugged again.
Ky asked, “What don’t we know?”
“If Evie dies, will it hurt Mary?” Dom asked the tattoo.
The angel nodded.
“That’s bad.”
“What don’t we know and who the hell is Mary?” Ky demanded.
“I’m not sure it’s for me to tell.” Dom paced away.
He hoped the angels would rally to protect the Madonna.
What if that was a part of the plan? Get Mary and four angels in one location.
Could this demon destroy them, or perhaps hurt them?
What would hurt them more than anything would be destroying Mary.
The only way to possibly hurt that entity would be to get her to appear.
How did a demon get Mary to appear? She protected children. Maybe if he threatened Evie’s children? Made no sense. They weren’t kids anymore. How would it know she was protected by Mary?
Dom searched the crowd around him until landing on the one in the back. “Efrem, did Evie visit Ian recently?”
“Yes.”
“Did she surprise him in some way?”
“Aside from telling him to fuck off, he grabbed her and then he acted as if she’d burned him or something.”
She must’ve shown her power, or he had touched the tattoo.
If he destroyed the Madonna, then that would throw the angels into chaos.
It would hurt the god that spurned that demon more than anything too.
What Dom didn’t get was why the demon had wanted him to see Evie get captured.
That implied the demon wanted him to follow.
Perhaps to punish him for something? Or to try to kill him, again?
Shit, he didn’t understand any of this.
“Roman, have you researched the angels attached to the four of you? Do you know if Lucifer or one of his top minions, say Leviathan, could destroy or mortally injure an angel?”
“Lucifer is an archangel. That means he could destroy an angel. He’s a pretty powerful dark entity. He could destroy Gabriel…” Roman looked to Flynn apologetically since that was his guardian. “Probably Zadkiel, who watches over me, but not Micheal. You’re in luck, Ky.”
Ky shook his head. “But Lucifer isn’t Leviathan, right? They’re different. Explain the princes and Lucifer thing to me.”
“This is why all of us should read the lore, not just me.” Roman opened his mouth to say more and then shut it.
“Fine. Lucifer’s seven princes are fallen celestial beings that believed more in Lucifer than God.
They all fell to hell and changed from angelic beings to demons.
Each prince came to represent or embody one deadly sin.
These seven prince demons are significantly more powerful than any lesser demon we’ve destroyed.
They can terminate a lower demon like that.
” He snapped his fingers for effect. “However, for one of the princes to come forth from hell, it must be summoned. They’re not allowed out of hell without someone bringing them out.
Dangerous business, that type of summoning.
Expensive too. It usually requires a huge sacrifice of life.
Five deaths, to be exact. Must be done in a strange ritual.
Maybe your brother attempted it?” He looked to Dom.
He shrugged. “I’d like to think Marik was smarter than that.
Our kind isn’t great at summoning. That’s witch business.
” His mind whirled with a plan. “Here’s how this is going to happen.
I need all four of you to come with me.” He pointed at the brothers.
Then he faced Nova. “You need to stay here.”
Nova bristled. “I am fully able to take care of myself in battle.”
Dom gentled. “You carry with you the next generation. You are more precious than all of us. Unless you have an angel attached to you as well, I need you to stay far away from strong demons.”
“Roman?” Nova asked.
“He’s right.” Roman pulled her into a hug. “I’d be distracted if you came.”
“What?” Shane sputtered. “She’s…wow.” He clapped Roman on the back. “Congrats. I get to be an uncle, finally?”
“Where’s Madeline?” Dom glimpsed behind Shane to see her having an argument with Baku. He called out. “Madeline, can you call Cora and ask her to come protect you and Nova?”
“I’m already here.”
All of them startled and turned.
“Such a freaky witch,” Dom muttered. Louder, he said, “Can you get them somewhere safe where they won’t be found?”
“I’ll keep all the girls safe.” To Dom, Cora said, “I see you finally figured out what it means to be in a family.”
“Shut up,” he snapped.
“I think Madeline should come,” Shane said. “There’s no more powerful witch other than Cora. That okay, Cora?”
Cora frowned. “Is that wise? First, didn’t that Ian threaten he has another part of the curse?”
“How the hell would you know that?” Dom asked.
Cora’s gaze bounced to Madeline. “As I was saying, if there’s another page and you get all of you in one place with Madeline, he might be able to force her to enact it.
Then all of you would be bound—but to who, or what?
To him? That sounds super stupid. Second, Baku is a liability.
He might be her familiar and loyal only to her, but he is a dragon demon.
What happens if a prince of demons asks Baku to do something?
I vote no. Madeline stays here with Baku. I also recommend Vivi stay. I’ll go.”
“Maybe I should stay,” Ky frowned. To Cora, he whispered, “Do you suspect demons will come here if Vivi stays?”
“We’ve got this. She will be safe here. I promise.” Cora patted him on the arm.
“What do you think, Madeline?” Dom asked her.
Madeline twirled a runaway lock of red hair in a finger.
“Cora might be right. I don’t know what Baku would do if ordered by a higher up demon to act.
I think you four should go. We’ll go somewhere safer.
” She stepped forward to hug Shane. “You tell Jeremiel he better bring you back to me. Even an angel isn’t safe from a witch’s wrath. ”
Dom noticed Efrem whispered something to Nova and Vivi, who both looked inside. The girls looked at Madeline and all three disappeared inside quickly.
Dom asked, “What was that about?”
“Um…house minutia. We’re packing up to move.” Efrem made eye contact with Roman as if warning him about something. Something was going on that they didn’t want him knowing about. He didn’t have the energy to mind read. Later, he’d tease out what was going on.
Efrem asked, “Where are we headed?”
Cora closed her eyes. “They’re close. I sense a very old church north of town.”
“I know that place,” Roman said. “It’s about an hour from here.”
“We’ll take two cars,” Efrem announced. “Dom, are you going your weird popping-through-time way or with us?”
“I’ll meet you there.” He would always find Evie, no matter where she may be in the world.
Cora started walking away. Cora called out, “I’ll meet you there. Remember, if there’s a new witch there, they might be luring you there for a new blood curse. Watch out. If it happens, Dom, you have to trust your family. All of us.”