Of Blood and Monsters

by D. G. Swank

  Hudson probably knew me better than anyone, so he knew how much I’d agonized over their deaths. He would never have turned down the chance to protect me in whatever way he could from hardship. But what would it ultimately cost him?

  A sob escaped from my chest. “Hudson.”

  “Pippy, please don’t cry. This was my choice. You know I’ve wanted to help you, and now I can. He’s assured me I’m not trapped by the bargain. I can leave any time I choose.”

  “But you can’t be sure of that. What if he lied to you?”

  “I can trust him in this. I know it.” His face turned somber. “Just like I know that you and Abiel are meant to be.”

  My breath caught in my throat. “What does that mean?”

  “Don’t be so dense, Pippy. You know what it means. Soul mates.” His gaze turned to Ellie. “Just like you’re soul mates with the other keeper.”

  I couldn’t hide my gasp of shock. Although I’d sensed Collin’s feelings for her, it was obvious Ellie was in love with David.

  “Some of us defy more than the gods,” Ellie said in a hard tone. She lightly brushed my hand off her shoulder. “I’m interrupting your private time with your friend. I only came down for a glass of water, but I can get it upstairs.” She bolted from the room before I could stop her.

  “I upset her,” Hudson said, sounding worried.

  “You didn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know,” Abel said.

  It felt intrusive to discuss Ellie’s love life, so I changed the subject to a far more pressing matter. “We need to keep the crescent moon from appearing on my hand, Hudson. Do you know how to keep it from appearing?”

  He hesitated, then said, “No.”

  My heart sank. “Are you sure?”

  “No one has forever, Pippy,” he said quietly. “Not on the earthly plane. Just take what you’re offered, even if it’s only for a short time.”

  “Our souls are bound,” I said. “Abel’s worried he’ll drag me to hell with him.”

  Hudson shook his head. “Your soul is yours and yours alone. While you and Abel have a bond, he can’t determine your soul’s fate. Only you can.”

  “Did Ahone tell you that?” Abel sneered. “Demons can drag their victims’ souls to hell. How can you be certain that I won’t do the same? Forgive my cynicism, but why should we trust your mysterious voice?”

  Hudson held out his hands in surrender. “I know certain truths without knowing why or how I know them. You don’t have to take my word for it. There is another way to be sure.” He turned his attention to me. “You warded the staircase to the attic against demons.”

  My mouth dropped open. “I didn’t tell you that.”

  “You didn’t have to. I could feel it as I walked by. Only someone powerful could make such a strong ward. She can make sure your soul is yours and yours alone.” He paused. “And possibly help you with other things.”

  I glanced down at my hand. The mark. “We need to talk to Deidre.”

  “You have to think bigger than saving Abel, Piper,” Hudson said. “The demons are coming for you and for Okeus’s son. They’ve found a new gate. A larger one that allows more of them to come through.”

  The army Okeus had mentioned. “Where?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I do know they will be emerging soon.”

  I turned to look at Abel. His jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

  “What’s in the attic, Piper?” Hudson asked.

  My lips parted to tell him, but for some reason, I felt the need to keep Tommy a secret for a little while longer. I had to be certain that Hudson hadn’t been compromised by his connection to the voice, especially if it did belong to Ahone. “I can’t tell you now, but I will later.”

  I’d expected him to protest, but he nodded then disappeared.

  “Did I upset him?” I asked, more to myself than Abel.

  “No,” Abel said. “I suspect he had nothing more to say.” He wrapped an arm around my back and steered me to the door. “Now you need to go get some sleep.”

  “Sleep?” I said, digging in my heels. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You heard what he said. We need to see Deidre.”

  His eyes darkened. “I’ve yet to see a ward that can protect someone from their fate. Besides, I’ll take his recommendation with a grain of salt. For all we know, he’s an unsuspecting pawn. I meant what I said earlier. We have to prepare for the army my father is sending, which means you need to be at your best.”

  I stared up at Abel, searching his eyes. “I’m not going to be at my best if I’m worried some stupid mark will appear on my hand and force me to kill you.” Flustered, I shook my head and huffed out a breath. “Why are you fighting me on this?”

  Emotion flickered in his eyes, making me wish I could slip on the ring without him noticing. “I don’t trust the seer.”

  No shit.

  “Then who do you trust?”

  “I only trust one person. You.”

  I sighed in frustration. “We have to trust someone, Abel. I don’t know how to stop it and neither do you.”

  He stared at me for several long seconds before nodding. “We’ll go to the seer.” A sardonic grin lifted his lips. “But may I suggest a phone call first?” He held out his phone, a number preloaded.

  “Why do you have her number pulled up?”

  “Surely you’ve figured out that I don’t like surprises. I suspected you’d insist on visiting her, and I like to have contingency plans for everything.”

  I made a face as I took his phone and pressed send. “Then you must hate me. I’m nothing but one big fat surprise after another.”

  He tilted his head, studying me. “To my consternation, I find you to be a breath of fresh air.”

  “You just needed someone to shake things up,” I said as the phone began to ring.

  The call picked up, but silence hung over the line. For a couple of seconds, I thought we’d been disconnected, but then Deidre said, “What do you want, son of Satan?”

  My brows shot up to my hairline. How did Deidre recognize Abel’s number? Had they been in contact before? Abel had told me she couldn’t be trusted. Did he know that from personal experience? On the flip side, had Deidre known Abel was the mystery man she’d seen in my fortune reading and purposefully hidden it from me?

  “Deidre, it’s Piper. I need your help.” I glanced up at Abel. “We need your help.”

  There was a pause before she said, “You’re with the demigod.” Another pause. “So you trust him.”

  She’d told me the mystery man was using me for his own purposes. Another part of the reading had indicated that someone close to me would betray me. Abel may have considered betraying me in the past, but I did trust him now. “The answer to both of your questions is yes, and I need your help.”

  “No.”

  It took a second before it registered that she’d refused. “Deidre.”

  “I’ll help you, demon slayer, but I won’t help the demigod.”

  “Can we at least come in to discuss it?”

  “Do you know what time it is?” she snapped.

  I honestly didn’t, but the layers of pink and orange sky in the distance suggested the sun was starting to rise. “I’m sorry. I promise we wouldn’t be calling right now if it wasn’t important.”

  Abel grabbed the phone from my hand and hit the speaker button. “Seer, agree to meet with us, and I’ll give you an ounce of hart’s-tongue fern.”

  She was quiet for a few moments, then said, “I can see you at noon. Don’t be late.” Silence punctuated her words—she’d hung up.

  I handed Abel his phone. “How did you know she’d want hart’s-tongue fern?”

  “It wasn’t hard to figure out. She’s a seer who makes wards. It’s an endangered plant.”

  “Then how do you have it?”

  He gave me a pointed look. “As I mentioned, I like to have contingency plans.”

  “How’d you know we’d need help fr
om a seer? You planned for me to kill you, so there’s no way you could have anticipated you’d want to stop the mark from appearing. Besides, you were against me asking Deidre for help.”

  “I’ve visited seers before, Kewasa. I know how to bargain with them.” A grin played on his lips. “How do you think I found you?”

  That caught me by surprise, but I didn’t see the point in pursuing the matter. I yawned, suddenly overcome with exhaustion.

  He wrapped his arm around my back and led me to the living room. “You need sleep. We need to be at the top of our game if we want to deal with the seer.”

  I needed to be at the top of my game for a whole lot more than that.

  Chapter Eight

  Ellie

  In the beginning, Collin had tried to convince me that we’d restored the natural order by opening the gate. Demons and supernatural creatures were supposed to roam the earth with us. Ahone had upset the balance when he’d tricked Collin’s ancestor, Manteo, into locking them up.

  I wasn’t sure what to think of any of it back then. I’d blown off my father’s teachings, and by the time Collin grabbed my right palm on that hot July afternoon, unlocking the four-hundred-year-old curse and freeing the gods and monsters, my dad was suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s. Most days he hadn’t even known who I was, let alone the details of the curse. Which meant Collin took on the role of teacher.

  Or so I’d thought. Collin had become a curse of my own.

  When I’d refused to pledge myself to Okeus, Collin had abandoned me, leaving me defenseless against the demons intent on consuming my witness-to-creation soul. Until he’d finally changed his mind and turned his back on the god.

  Collin had saved me then, and a few weeks ago, when the Guardians had nearly killed me, he’d saved me once again—pressing our marks together and infusing me with his power as the son of the land. Before that, my body had yearned for his anytime he was near, making my relationship with David even more difficult, but that night had changed everything. As I lay bleeding out onto the grass, staring at the starry sky above the botanical gardens, he and I had witnessed the birth of creation together. I didn’t understand why, but my desire for him had burned away that night, leaving only hollowness in my soul.

  I loved David with every fiber of my being. He was the one who’d picked up the pieces of my heart after Collin’s betrayal. David was the one who’d convinced my heart to love again. He’d supported and encouraged me every step of the way—he’d even taught me the things Collin should have about Native American belief systems. But worry burrowed into my marrow, making my bones ache with a foreboding that made it difficult to breath.

  Something was on the horizon, and I feared for David. I was worried something was coming for him, and I felt powerless to stop it.

  I headed up to the bedroom Rhys had assigned us, the master bedroom. I didn’t stop to ask her why Piper wasn’t in the master. I figured it was none of my business. She’d said there were four bedrooms on the second floor. Piper’s was near the staircase, her friend Hudson’s had been across from hers (which was where Rhys and Jack were staying), and a guest room and master were separated by the staircase to the attic. David and I were staying in the master, and Collin was staying in the guest room—only right now he was standing by the window of our room while David sat on the bed.

  After hearing the ghost’s words downstairs, the sight of Collin sent a spike of pain through my heart. Hudson hadn’t told me anything I didn’t already know. What made it even worse was that David knew and loved me anyway. He stayed with me despite the fact that he would never have all of me.

  Collin’s mouth was set into a thin line. “Something’s off with those two. I feel it.”

  It took me a moment to realize what he was saying.

  “Piper and Abel?” I asked, overcome with exhaustion.

  David reached for me and I went to him, letting him pull me down to sit next to him on the bed. He wrapped an arm around my back and tugged me close.

  I saw the flash of agony in Collin’s eyes before irritation flushed it out. “They’re not telling us everything.”

  “And we’re not telling them everything, Collin, so what’s really got you worked up?”

  His scowl deepened. “I’m not comfortable forming an alliance with the son of Okeus.”

  “And I’m sure he’s not happy about working with the curse keepers who let Okeus out, so that evens things out.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Ellie,” he spat out. “You know that Okeus will do everything and anything to enslave you—and according to Piper—now kill you. What’s to stop him from sending his son to do his dirty work?”

  “He would have betrayed us last night if that was his plan.”

  “He might be playing the long game. Do not underestimate Okeus.”

  I pushed out a long sigh. “You’re right, Collin. He might be, but his concern for Piper feels genuine.”

  “And where was that concern last night when we were going into the warehouse? He let her walk right into that mess. He could have helped us from the start. You might have been able to kill the Great One.”

  I had to admit the Great One’s defeat felt hollow since I hadn’t shoved the blade into its heart. But dead was dead. At least that’s what I told myself.

  “And you tricked me into keeping the gate to hell open instead of locking it shut, yet here you are, standing in front of me,” I said, regretting my impulsiveness as soon as the words were out of my mouth. It was not only a reminder to Collin of his betrayal and my father’s sacrifice to Ahone, but a reminder to David that he was only with me because of Collin’s near-mortal sins. Groaning, I got to my feet. “I’m sorry, Collin. That wasn’t necessary.”

  His face hardened. “But it’s true, isn’t it?”

  “Collin’s right about Abel,” David said, sidestepping the rehashing of past issues. “We can’t trust him.”

  “And I never said we should. But we need to stick close to Piper and she’s attached to Abel, for better or for worse.” I lifted an eyebrow as I studied Collin. “I’m surprised you want to stick around.”

  He started to say something, but stopped and then said, “She’s your cousin.”

  “We all know there’s more to it than that.”

  He hesitated again. “Tsagasi says she’s important. He said we should stay.”

  I shook my head. “When did he say that? I was with you whenever you were with him.”

  “Just trust me, Ellie,” he said, running a hand over his head. “We need to stay with her.”

  Collin usually had some smart-ass comment when he wanted his way, so his sincerity caught me off guard.

  “I’d planned on staying with her anyway, so no need to convince me,” I said.

  He nodded, then turned to look out the window at the rising sun. “Okeus’s son is going to try to take control. We need to decide if we’re going to let him.”

  I blinked. “Piper seems to be running the show there, and he’s going along with it. She’s pretty strong-willed.”

  He flashed me a smile, but it seemed sad. “Just like her younger cousin.” His smile faded and he turned serious. “Nevertheless, there’s going to be a power struggle between our groups. The question we need to consider is whether it’s worth a fight to be in control.”

  “We’re all on the same team, Collin.”

  He took several steps toward me, his face stony. “And that’s why you need me, Ellie. You think we all want the same thing, but everyone always has their own agenda. Your naïveté leads you to overlook that.”

  My eyebrows shot to my hairline as anger exploded through me. “Naïveté?”

  “Ellie,” David said softly, gently reminding me that the others were up here and the last thing I wanted to do was let them know there was disharmony between us.

  Collin held up a hand with a sheepish look. “Naïveté was obviously the wrong word choice. I should have said optimism.”

  I shook my head, suddenly fe
eling the full effects of going a day and a half without sleep. “I am far from optimistic, Collin.”

  “It’s not a bad thing, Ellie. You just tend to see the good when I see the bad.”

  “It’s the yin and the yang of the curse,” David said with a yawn. “I’ve mentioned before that the curse is based on duality. You both need each other.” He gave me an apologetic look.

  “If I were optimistic, I wouldn’t be scared shitless that Okeus has lost all patience and plans to kill us. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take a hard pass on spending eternity chained to a throne made of bones.”

  Collin’s face tightened. “We’ve always known Okeus was our enemy.”

  “But he wanted to be my baby daddy, so we thought we had time. Now…I’m not so sure.”

  “Our options are limited,” he said. “I still say we’re nowhere near ready to take on Okeus. Even with Piper and Abel. We all saw what happened last night. Abel didn’t even try to take on his father, which means he’s either incapable of standing against him or he’s playing his daddy’s long game.” His eyes narrowed. “Which means we need to convince Piper to hide with us.”

  “Until we figure out what to do,” I said.

  “No. Permanently.”

  “That’s not an option,” I insisted in disgust. “If we hide, there will be no one to stop the demons from doing what they damn well please. Is that really acceptable to you?”

  “I don’t know, Ellie.” He sounded exasperated. “Do you think we’re ready to defeat Okeus?”

  “No.” I shook my head in frustration. “I don’t know.” I tugged on the chain at my neck and pulled out the ring hanging from it. “We need to look at all our options. We have the ring that sings.” My mother had taken the ring from the Ricardo Collection, an assortment of supernaturally powerful weapons and artifacts owned by the Guardians. That ring had gotten her killed—Collin’s father and his cohorts had shown up looking for it. I doubted they knew it had been blessed by a Croatan conjuror hundreds of years ago for the Manteo curse keeper to use at the main gate to hell.