Howler's Night (22 page)

I nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. So far as Grace can figure, only top-level personnel even knows that. Lust, Wrath, and Envy. That
is
the Triad.”

Bubba’s frown was deep. He looked around at the faces of friends and family. “And the rest of us, the demons that live inside us, we’re your enemy?”

This time Asher stepped forward, shielding me somewhat as he shook his head vehemently. “No. That’s not what this is. There are no enemies here. We are family. She”—he pointed to me—“is your sister. What the high lords do can never change that.”

Vyxyn and Kane both shook their heads.

Kane stood before Vyxyn could and glared hotly at us all.

“I am Greed, you are Lust.” He pointed to me. “Your kind is out to kill mine, or at least that’s what you’re telling me.”

Suddenly there was an eruption of voices as everyone tried to speak above everyone else, some of them coming to my defense, others claiming they no longer knew who to trust.

“Stop, listen,” I said in an even, authoritative voice, but no one did. They were angry and they were scared, and if we didn’t get the rabble under control soon we’d have a full scale demon showdown on our hands.

“Enough!” Asher’s voice was a booming sound full of power that instantly quelled the excited chatter of angry voices. “How many times do I have to tell you all that it isn’t about taking sides? Today it’s the Triad. Tomorrow it could be a Quadrangle. There is just no way to know. What none of you understand is that the fight is for the HCD alone. Pandora and I have come to you because there is more to this story than just picking sides.”

Bubba stood, but he was more in control of his emotions this time. “How can you say that to us? What if our demons decide to activate us too, force us to take sides? What then?”

“They can’t.” Ash shook his head, balling his fists.

“Yeah, but how do you know?” For the first time since we’d started this conversation Luc finally spoke up, coming slowly toward the front of the tent. “It’s not such an unreasonable question to ask. We know so little of our fathers. How do you know, Priest, that this family won’t implode because of this?” His keen blue eyes gleamed like hard, glittering diamonds.

Asher tossed me a quick look, and I knew what he was about to do. He would reveal who he really was to them. Twining our fingers together, I gave him a small nod of affirmation.

Inhaling, he said, “Because I’m a demon too.”

There were cries of shock and even some that sounded like fury. This time I stepped in front of him.

“It’s true. The priests do not descend from angels, as we’d once believed. The blood that runs through their veins belongs to none other than Lord Greed himself.”

“Exactly.” Ash nodded. “In the hundreds of years since I’d learned the true identity of the Triad, my feelings for Pandora have never wavered. Greed may be against the Triad, but his will doesn’t influence my own and neither will any of your other demons’.”

Kane’s eyes went wide, his brows twitching. He was obviously noting the differences between himself and Asher.

Asher had wings, Kane didn’t. Kane’s eyes glowed, Asher’s didn’t. Kane was a slave to his needs, Asher wasn’t.

I answered his unspoken questions.

“The priests were not created from the lusts of the flesh, but from the transference of power. Asher has learned a lot about this false prophecy, and we would all do well to take the time to just shut up and listen and stop running so damned scared, because I swear to you that’s exactly what they want. They want us in chaos.”

The rustle of a warm Texas breeze blew through the tent, and, hot as it was, it seemed to help cool some of the tempers. Everyone but Vyxyn took their seats again.

“Then if you are to open the Gates of Hell like you said, Pandora,” Vyxyn said, wrapping her arms around herself, “why did they take you? They must have done something to you. Changed you in some way. What did they do?”

Finally we got to the point in the story that I’d been dreading telling. Silence descended like a heavy cloak around the assemblage. I opened and closed my mouth several times, willing the words to come out, but all I could do was shake my head. They already hadn’t liked what I’d told them, and that was nothing to the rest of this story.

I hadn’t expected my family to take the news as they had. Honestly, I’d thought they’d realize that we were as free now as they’d believed they’d been just an hour ago. That the Lords were at odds with one another certainly had nothing to do with us, but convincing them of that was another matter entirely.

Everything hinged on my family remaining a strong unit. Without them to back us up, Asher and I didn’t stand a chance of bringing Creatus down.

I kept hoping for Asher to take the lead. I know that made me all sorts of a wimp, but I really didn’t want to tell them what’d been done to me by the man in the white lab coat.

Now, several months removed from that prison, my memories were becoming sharper, more focused. I remembered their brainwashing, the things they’d done to me. The way the doctor had tried his damnedest to erase all knowledge of him from my memory banks. He still wasn’t a fully formed image, but I could never forget that cold, dead voice of his.

Asher rubbed my back. “It’s okay,” he whispered beneath his breath, and I knew he wanted me to do this. Asher wouldn’t rush me to tell it, but he would make me cowboy up.

Closing my eyes, I muttered, “They envenomed me.”

“What do you mean ‘envenomed?’” Luc asked.

Wetting my lips, I looked at the enraptured crowd of neph. My family. My friends.

“I mean they cracked me open, they stole my souls, and then when I was
clean
”—I laughed bitterly—“they pumped me full of every sin.”

Luc’s brows dipped. “You mean to say…”

Angry, I clenched my fists and nodded, and then I plowed through the rest of it before I could lose my nerve. “But it’s more than that. Not only am I possessed by each of the great sins, but I was crafted to become a devourer of souls.”

At their flinty, stony silence, I forced myself to make it perfectly clear what I meant because I had no intention of repeating this again.

“I am the newest incarnation of Legion, and if I willed it, I could suck you all dry. To open the gates, I need souls. Lots of souls, and that’s how they plan for me to do it, through the claiming of all of you.”

Pandora

Everyone did exactly what I’d expected them to do after that pronouncement. They got up and vanished.

Well, almost everyone.

I sat at the table, staring at my now cold cup of coffee, and waited for Luc, Vyxyn, and Bubba to say whatever was on their minds. Being the highest-ranking members of the family, I doubted they were here to console me so much as to see whether I’d come back from the dead only to destroy them.

Asher stood just beyond the tent flaps, giving me some sort of privacy. More likely he expected someone to try and do something stupid, like, oh say, bring the demon bitch down, and he was out there to ensure they didn’t. Either way, I was grateful for the time with just my family.

“Well, say something,” I finally said, clutching my paper cup so hard coffee sloshed up the sides.

Vyxyn’s gaze was cold and assessing. “You can’t drop a bomb like that, Dora, and expect us to be cool with this.”

I shrugged. “Look, it is what it is. I can’t change it.”

“So why’d you come back here then?” Bubba, who was sitting closest to me, drawled. He’d been chugging pint after pint of blood for the past ten minutes; clearly he was bracing himself for more bad news.

Thankfully, there was no more to give.

I shook my head. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not really.” Luc scratched his jaw. “You know how important this family is to me. Not even for you, Dora, will I let it topple.”

I snorted. “Oh, I got that message loud and clear, cap.” I saluted him and then said, “Look, do you really think I would come strolling in here, warn you all that I’m a Legion in the making, and then… what?” I shrugged and tapped my temple. “Think, guys. Do you honestly believe I’m so naïve? If I was gonna take you all, I sure as hell wouldn’t have warned you.”

“Then why are you here?” Vyxyn tapped a ruby-red nail on the picnic bench.

“Because I need help, and you all are the only ones I trust enough to ask for it.”

I expected them to scoff, or laugh at me and tell me to go find help elsewhere. I mean our conversation from earlier hadn’t exactly gone as I’d hoped. Not to mention there was the whole “I want to suck your souls” confession. But I didn’t, and I hope they understood that.

They didn’t laugh at me.

Bubba ran a hand across his mature blond beard, which had been braided into a style reminiscent of his Viking roots. His blond hair was twisted into a tight knot behind his head, highlighting his slashing, Nordic cheekbones and blood-red eyes.

So funny how everyone looked the same and yet looked so different. Vyxyn was totally altered—more real, less showy. Everything about her was soft, almost ethereal. Luc, who’d always been so clean cut and put together, was once again wearing torn-up jeans and a ringer tee.

In some ways I felt like I no longer really knew any of them.

It was Luc who finally asked. “What kind of help?”

Clenching my jaw, I flicked at the top of the paper cup, set to destroy the pathetic thing soon if I didn’t stop fidgeting.

“I feel too full. Too overwhelmed with power. Asher has helped me to control it, as much as he’s able. But he wasn’t raised with a living demon inside him, and he doesn’t understand how to contain and control each one. You all do. I can control Lust, I know her. But I don’t know the rest of them, and when I get angry, things go…” I squeezed my eyes shut.

“You turn into the big green monster?” Vyxyn laughed at her poorly timed joke.

Bubba glowered at her.

Full pink lips twisting into a small pout, she sighed. “Dude, get a sense a humor.” Crossing her arms, she eyed me. “And how can we trust that if we help you, you won’t go all apeshit and suck us dry? Cause I ain’t signing up for that.”

I wasn’t sure. But there was no way I’d admit that to them. I felt stronger—much, much stronger—than I’d been since being driven from Creatus, and I hadn’t lost my head since the day of the priest’s surprise attack.

“Because I won’t. Because I love you guys.”

Everyone but Luc grimaced at those words.

I couldn’t really make out what Luc was thinking though, not the way I used to. Granted, it’d only been a year, and for creatures like us, a year was nothing more than a drop in the bucket of time.

But that year might as well have been a thousand for the two of us.

“Luc?”

Slapping his hands against his pants, he shrugged. “Do whatever, Dora. If they’re fine with it, then so am I.”

Then he got up, and I barely recognized the slouching man walking away from us. I glanced at both Bubba and Vyx with a silent question.

“He didn’t mean nuthin’ by it, Dora.” Bubba gently tapped the crown of my head. His habit had always been to give it a rub, like I was a good dog, but after what I’d told him this morning, I couldn’t say I blamed his skittishness about touching me now.

It might take some time, but I’d make them trust me again. I had to.

“So long as you vow not to use your woo woo on us, I think I might be okay with it. It’ll take some convincing with everyone else, but I think, yeah…” He nodded. “I think I can get the others to agree that we’re stronger with you than without you, at the very least.”

I turned to Vyx. “Well?”

She shrugged. “If Bubba’s in, so am I.”

Relieved almost beyond belief, I slumped my shoulders as the breath I’d not realized I’d been holding eased from me.

Getting up, Bubba looked down at me. “Dress in your most provocative outfit tonight, Dora, and you and me go in first. If you pass, then I’ll give you to the others.”

I nodded, but he’d already walked off. I stared at his broad shoulders until they disappeared behind the flap.

“I wanna know everything.”

I whirled around. “This Envy talking, or Vyxyn?”

Her lips thinned. “Both. Hell, I don’t know. But it was kind of a shit storm earlier, and I know you didn’t really get a chance to tell us everything. Everyone’s still pretty much digesting the fact that you can suck us dry.”

I laughed.

“What?” She glowered. “You think that’s funny? I haven’t forgotten what touching you that day did to me. My fucking demon went dormant for a week after that.”

“Of course I don’t think it’s funny. Well, sort of.” I rushed my words when her eyes began to swirl with bands of jade. “What I mean is, I can’t believe we’re actually able to talk without the threat of ripping each other’s heads off.”

Her eyes slowly returned to their normal color before she sighed. “Dora, things changed when you left. I don’t think any of us realized just what you’d done for this family. I know I sure as hell didn’t.”

I looked at the spot where Luc had been sitting earlier. “What happened with you and Luc?”

Her eyes took on a faraway look. “He didn’t want me. He never did. And I didn’t want him either. I just wanted—”

“What I had,” I said.

She gave me an unapologetic shrug. “Does that surprise you?”

“Not really.” I brushed my fingers across the uneven surface of the bench. “Don’t even think about Asher.” My lips twitched.

She snorted. “Even I have standards. Besides, I think that priest would gut me if I ever tried.”

Chuckling, I nodded. “He probably would.”

After a while, she said, “Nothing was the same without you. Grace disappeared, and the Order gave us a new contact. Some shit head named Max who Luc made Bubba liason with.”

“Oh jeez.” I laughed. “Bubba? What was he thinking?” I couldn’t help but imagine what the red-eyed devil would do to anyone he came into contact with. “Poor Max.”

She snickered. “Yeah, little douche wet himself about three or four times before Luc realized that pair wouldn’t work out.”

“So you’re still taking orders, killing monsters?”

“Nah.” She twisted her lips. “Not really. They’ve just got us running random, setting down the carnival in these out-of-the-way weird places. It’s like everyone’s got their heads up their asses, and they don’t know up from down. It’s all wrong.”