Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (12 page)

"Oh, I didn't realize you guys talked much." She glanced at Chloe. "When do you talk to him? I never see you on your phone."

Chloe laughed. "You do realize you’re asleep during the daytime hours, right? I don't just sit around doing nothing."

"Right, I guess I forget not everyone runs on my schedule." Abby turned back to Lucas and offered up a smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Chloe has told me," she paused and thought for a moment. “Well, to be honest, she hasn't told me much. She's very cryptic about you."

Lucas glanced at Chloe and laughed. "She's just protective, that's all." His attention turned back to Abby. "What’s it like being the most unique vampire on the scene?"

Abby cleared her throat. "Is that what we are calling me now? Unique? Well, besides the ex-priest who up until recently wanted to kill me and, of course, the ex-nun who is now gunning for my smiting, being the key to opening Hell, having to drink blood to survive, and having no memory of who I really am, being unique is just swell."

Lucas nodded. "I meant no offense. I gather you are referring to Nico as the ex-priest? For the record, those of us who serve the Host of Hosts still do consider him a Holy man. But who is this nun you are talking about?"

"Her name is Rosalie and she's a —" Abby shook her head. "Never mind what she is. She is trying to convince Nico to kill me even though he's told her it will open the Gates of Hell. She refuses to believe it and says it's all just a lie the Striga made up to trick him."

Lucas offered a bemused smile. "Nico should see through that. He's smart. Just give him time to figure it out for himself."

"You know Nico well?"

"Nico and I go way back, to before he was cast out of the church, back before he was even a priest."

"But Nico would have been a child then and you, you look..."

"Like I'm twenty-something?"

"Yeah"

"Multiply that age by a couple hundred."

Abby's eyes went wide as she let out a low whistle. "Holy shit, you're really old."

He nodded. "I'd say age is just a number but coming from someone my age it sounds a little creepy."

"I'd say so. You're dating a twenty-year-old."

"Chloe is old in spirit."

"Is that a joke?"

"No, it's..." Lucas shifted a bit. "It's just a saying. She has an old soul."

Abby glanced over at her beaming friend and nodded. "Yeah, I guess she does. So, big plans for the two of you then? Wedding, kids, the whole nine yards?"

Chloe shook her head. "Marriage, yes. We are planning to run away and get married." Lucas cleared his throat, but Chloe waved him off and continued. "Well, I'm planning on running away to get married, Lucas wants a traditional wedding. But as for kids," they exchanged glances for a second before she continued. "Probably not, we don't know if we can have kids."

"Why?" Abby blinked. "Is it because of the age difference?"

Chloe was shaking her head as Lucas answered. "Because I'm not human."

"Given your age, and how old the Striga can live to be I kinda already guessed neither of you qualify as human.”

Lucas squared his shoulders. "I'm a Virtue."

Abby tilted her head. "Nico mentioned something about that, but what does it mean?"

"I act as one of the hands of god, a Heavenly Virtue."

Abby took a step. "You're the opposite of the Seven Deadly Sins, right? But..." She clasped her hand over her mouth remembering what Chloe told her earlier about the girl behind the bar having the souls of the Seven Deadly Sins inside of her. "Does that mean there are seven of you out there trying to tempt all of us to be virtuous? No offense, but you guys really suck at your jobs."

Lucas laughed. "It’s not our job to police humans and make them act righteous, we can help them see their higher purpose but we can’t make them reach for it. Some people are just evil. But they have free will to choose. And there are more than just the seven sins, just like there are more than seven virtues." He nodded towards Neffie. "What she has inside of her are Sins who crossed a line that should never have been crossed and they were imprisoned for their crimes. But there are other Sins wandering around for every vice you can imagine and some you probably didn’t even know existed. There are Virtues, Sins, and Personifications. We are all similar, but still very different.”

“Dare I even ask what a personification is?”

He smiled. “Exactly what it sounds like. We are all brothers and sisters, born out of the unifying need for balance.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re born? I figured someone called the hand of God would be chosen after committing some great selfless deed or something like that.”

There was a gleam in his eye and his shoulders pulled back. “It can happen like that, but more often than not we are born, just like anyone else. It’s rare, but sometimes when twins are born they are blessed with the power to maintain the balance. One is born a Virtue and the other is born a Personification. Get it?"

Abby shook her head. "Not even a little bit. If it’s about balance, why wouldn't one be born a Sin?"

“Sins are born in the same fashion but specifically from the mating of two demons.” His brow drew tight. “Unfortunately none of us really know the ins and outs of a Sin’s birth. As you can imagine, they don’t frequent the same places as the rest of us.” Lucas paused and cleared his throat. “In the case of Virtues and Personifications, one is born of pure light and the other is born of neutrality. Now, neutral doesn’t mean indifference, it means balance. That’s how we get Virtues and Personifications. And don’t get me started on Dark-Souls, that’s a whole other bag of messed up lore.”

“Dark-Souls?”

Chloe chimed in, “They’re Nephilim- half breeds- the offspring of angels and humans, humans and demons, or angels and demons. Most of the time they’re abandoned, orphaned, or given to the church to be raised as warriors for the Order. Those are the ones we call Dark-Souls. Or the church keeps them as servants, or worse.”

“Worse?”

Lucas whispered, “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

Abby conceded with a nod, she probably didn’t want to ever find out what could be worse. “And if they aren’t abandoned and raised by the order? What are they called then?”

Chloe frowned. “Then we just call them what they are, Nephilim, half demons, Rephaim. The list goes on and on, just like humans races, they have many names. The bible is full of names for the various
Children of Sin
.” She winked. “That’s what the writers used to call half-breeds. It was sinful for angels to mate with humans and, of course, with demons.”

Abby rubbed her temple. “And why did God create all of this?”

Lucas cleared his throat. “You have to have a balance in all of this cosmic shit. We’re the balance. Virtues for the light, Personifications for neutrality, and Sins for the darkness.”

Abby scrunched her nose up trying to make sense of all of it. “You just grow up knowing you’re this instrument of God and you never know who your brother or sister is?”

He nodded. "As soon as a set of twins is born the Collectors come in and take the children away to be raised by the church for Virtues. Personifications are usually raised by Striga or another neutral faction. We have our purpose, it’s something we can feel deep within us. So we don’t really dwell on siblings. Our faction is our family. They are our brothers and sisters, but we still acknowledge that the Personifications are our kin. Sometimes we even bond with the opposite faction out of mutual respect or in extreme circumstances." He nodded towards the two men at the bar. "Bastian and Caleb are different. Bast is the Personification of Power and Caleb is the Virtue of Loyalty. Most of the time we begrudgingly tolerate our kin, but in their case they both want to protect Neffie, and they both love her and she loves both of them equally. So they make it work. It’s beautiful if you think about it. All three of them live in complete harmony because of one simple binding force. Love."

"Are Bastian and Caleb in love with each other too?"

"No. They love Neffie and they respect that they both only have two goals in life- to protect her and make her happy. They live as a polyamorous family because both of them need her and they know she needs them."

Abby blinked. "Are they brothers?"

Lucas shrugged. "No one knows, once we’re separated from our twin we never have any contact with them or even know their name. We have a natural aversion to our biological kin, to keep us separate and on our own path. Like polar opposites. So chances are they aren’t biological brothers."

"That sounds horrible, to have family and never know them." Abby gave Chloe a nudge with her elbow when her friend yawned and lulled her head back. Covering up her laugh with a cough, Abby continued, "So change of subject. What are we doing tonight?"

Chloe perked up. "Breaking and entering."

Lucas crossed his arms over his chest. "Chloe."

"No, it's okay. We’re going to break into Abby's home and find out who she is. So technically, it's not breaking and entering."

He nodded but whispered sarcastically, "I see no flaws in that logic." He gave a wave to Alex and Neffie and took hold of Chloe's hand who in turn grabbed Abby's hand. "I'm going with you two, someone's got to be around to bail you two out of jail if this goes south."

Chloe stood up on her tippy toes and lightly kissed his cheek. "That's why I love you, you've always got bail money."

The house they pulled up to was more like a mini mansion. Made of brick, with a mosaic walkway, perfectly manicured lawns and flowers. It should’ve been on the cover of
Home and Garden
magazine. From the outside alone it was the complete opposite of Nico’s house. Abby glanced back at Chloe. "This is where I used to live?"

"Yep."

"How did you find it? What's my name? Is my family home? Do they miss me?"

Chloe giggled. "Slow down. I found it with a little bit of magick and a lot of luck." She took hold of Abby's hand and started pulling her towards the door. "No one is home and, well, your real name is Jane. Jane Abigail Stine."

Abby swallowed hard. "Jane?"

"Yeah, I think Abby suits you better."

“Indeed.” Abby was who she was now. Jane didn’t sound familiar, it sounded wrong to her. She kept her eyes fixed on the path in front of her. The path to her home and her past. There was a tightening in her chest and lungs. Sweat beaded along her forehead. She couldn’t tear her gaze from the front door as if something inside the building was calling for her and at the same time she wanted to run back to the safety of Dusk and forget she ever laid eyes on the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood.

A rustling behind her told her Lucas was behind her, sandwiching her between him and Chloe. Chloe gave her strength and even though Lucas was a stranger, his presences was an added layer of support she desperately needed. Courage filled her. She stood a little taller, lifted her chin and took a step forward. The budding panic in her chest started to subside. "What about my family, what are they like?"

Chloe waved her hand over the door and smiled as it popped open. "Come inside and we’ll find out together."

In a matter of minutes they'd combed through the first of several rooms on the first floor. Her parents were well off, hardworking, and she was an only child. Upon further snooping she discovered her father was the pastor of the local church. Her brain couldn’t fully wrap itself around all of the details, and it crushed her that none of the new information had triggered any sort of memory.

Chloe seemed to be searching for something specific, but Abby was just happy to have a connection to other people even if she couldn’t remember them. The walls of the house were lined with family portraits and school pictures. Abby found a picture of herself with a young man, his arm was draped over her shoulder. Her hands shook. This man had been someone important at some point in her life. Now if she could just remember it.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her hands from shaking. Did she honestly want to remember? Remembering would mean returning to this life when she finally found a cure and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted that. Sure she might come to miss her parents, but right now the only thing she was sure of was that Dusk felt like home. And the idea of leaving Nico behind to live in this cold house left her empty and sad inside.

While she may not love the run-down hovel she lived in, it was home. She was more than head-over-heals for Nico, and Chloe was the closest thing she had to a sister. She loved this crazy demon-slaying life of hers. Well, love might be too strong of a word for it, but she had a purpose and hunting down evil felt right. Maybe she was broken on the inside, a normal person her age probably wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t find happiness in hunting down and killing demons. But having a spell put on you to turn you into a vampire kinda throws being normal right out the window.

There were no clues to tell her if she had liked college, but she knew she was good at demon hunting and she liked it. She liked the thrill that came with it. The chase, the hunt. She reveled in all of it. Clearing out demons, the rush of adrenaline in the heat of a fight. Nothing in a college classroom could compare to that. She had a purpose, protecting people seemed like a much better calling than completing midterms.