The Serpentine Butterfly

by Addison Moore

  “He turns into a pumpkin at midnight?” Skyla yawns as she says it. She’s exhausted. It might as well be midnight. Hell, every hour of every day feels like one long, drawn-out midnight.

  “That would be too easy. More like a child killer after midnight—attempted child killer, and I’m the child in question.”

  “Excuse me?” Skyla shelters Nathan’s ears with her hand as she says it. She doesn’t want the filth of my biological father to trickle down into his precious mind. I already wish it didn’t trickle down into their DNA.

  “That day I almost bit the big one off Devil’s Peak—it wasn’t Candace who pushed me.” A grievous smile comes and goes on my lips. I don’t like to share dicey things her mother has done to me. I know deep down Skyla desires the love and acceptance of her birth mother. In a strange, twisted way, I think I want that from Demetri—for him to accept me as I am, his enemy.

  “Are you saying Demetri pushed you?” Her eyes widen, each their own pale blue globe.

  “I’m saying he might have liked the attention he received when he saved me.” I place air quotes around the word saved.

  Barron starts to fuss, and Logan hands him over to me. “He needs his daddy.”

  “He can rest assured I’d never push him off a cliff just to make him grateful to me. I fell for Demetri’s bull once, but never again.”

  “Never say never,” Skyla whispers the words almost catatonic.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means Demetri is a master manipulator. Be careful.”

  “Watch your every step,” Logan adds. “Wes and Demetri are out for blood—and I think we all know they have a pretty tight track record of getting what they want.”

  “Except Laken,” Skyla points out. “She’s the one who thankfully got away.”

  “Laken.” My wheels start turning. “Out of seven billion people on this planet and counting, Laken Stewart—Flanders, is the only person who might have a shot of stopping my brother.” I try to digest this for a minute. “I think I know what I have to do.” I get up and drop a kiss over each of the boys’ foreheads, handing Barron to Skyla. “Don’t wait up for me.” I plant a kiss onto Skyla’s lips. “This is going to be a late one.”

  Logan says good night, and we walk out together into the dismal Paragon night.

  “Do what you can to get to the bottom of this mass disappearance, and fast.” Logan gives my back a tap as he heads to his truck. “If you don’t, we’ll have to find a way to bind that Fem brother of yours. Demetri won’t have it, so we’ll have to strip him of his balls as well. You know how easy that will be.” His eyes narrow with a threat before he loosens and slaps me on the back. “We can do it—and we will.”

  I give a quick nod in lieu of words as I head toward the street to wait for my ride to the underworld, Wes.

  There are two things I know to be true: Wesley can’t be bound, and Demetri’s invisible henchmen aren’t letting anyone near his balls, with the exception of my mother-in-law.

  Logan is wrong—simply talking to air, pumping me up with useless words.

  We can’t do it. And we won’t.

  I, on the other hand, might be able to defuse two bombs that I just so happen to be related to.

  * * *

  There has never been an impotent feeling in my life like that of being human, or more accurately, devoid of my Fem capabilities. In hindsight, there isn’t a very good reason to have asked Candace to remove my powers, considering my DNA remained intact, spiraling like a nefarious stairway to wickedness. I text Wes once again to pick me up, which he’s been doing diligently, but I haven’t paid too many visits since he had Tobie and I had the boys. We’ve both had a few more pressing things—people on our minds. He’s not usually late, and I’m starting to freeze my ass off just standing at the bottom of the Landon’s driveway.

  Nevermore shows up unexpectedly in the sensible sedan he and Ezrina purchased. He kills the engine and comes around dressed in a suit, his face a charmingly handsome version of Pierce Kragger.

  “What’s up?” I slap him five, a concept he’s been working on. His arm swings at me like he’s going to throw a punch, and for a second, I’m sure he is. Nev latches on and our bodies vibrate violently until the landscape changes around us, and we’re standing in the Transfer.

  “I’m your new pickup.” He gives a cheery grin as he holds a hand out at the dismal surroundings. “Wesley gifted me the privilege to come and go as I please.”

  “Do I want to know why?” I glance around for my brother, but he’s nowhere to be found, just a bunch of Transfer poltergeists swirling and whirling their way through this hellish oblivion.

  “Perhaps not.” He ushers me toward my brother’s overgrown home. “But you’re about to find out.”

  We head inside, no need to knock since the front door sits wide open.

  Wesley is in the living room, his arms filled with a tiny pink bundle, a bottle in his hand as he feeds his precious baby girl. Instantly, I’m warmed by this. I wish that I wasn’t. I came ready to rip his balls right off his body, but seeing him as a father, holding his child, makes me feel desperately happy and sad for him all rolled into one.

  “I’m pissed at you.” I walk over and touch my finger to my tiny niece, her pink bow lips still wrapped around the clear nipple. She’s beautiful. And a part of me is relieved that I see Wesley’s face in hers and not Chloe’s.

  “No rough language around my daughter. She’s pristine—perfect, and I plan to keep her that way.”

  “Then you’ll have to give her to Skyla and me to raise because pristine perfection is the last thing she’ll find down here.”

  He lifts a brow before calling over his shoulder, “Ezrina.”

  “What’s she doing here?” I look to Nev who’s currently mesmerized by the watery globe in the center of the room.

  “My how the world has changed in two hundred years,” he muses without answering me.

  Ezrina comes and takes the baby from Wes. “There, there, sweet love,” she coos.

  “What’s going on?”

  Ezrina nods to Wes and makes a face. “Can’t speak now. I have a beauty to bathe.” She whisks off down the hall. “Come, Heathcliff!” And Nev is quick to follow.

  Wes tosses the tiny white towel off his shoulder and onto his dusty velour sofa. “I asked Ezrina to help. I couldn’t quite ask my mother since she’s dead.” He motions for me to take a seat. “Take a load off.”

  “No thanks,” I say, and he stands to join me. “Where’s Chloe?” Not that I’m interested in her whereabouts, but it might explain what Ezrina is doing here.

  “Upstairs counting Cheerios. You’d think she was administering round-the-clock care the way she bitches and gripes. She hasn’t seen her daughter twice, and she’s acting as if she’s losing her mind. Kresley offered to help, but I know how off-putting that would be to Laken.”

  “Off-putting?” I grip his shoulder and make him look at me with those familiar features I’ve grown to hate when looking in the mirror. “Do you want to know what’s off-putting to Laken? You messing with the rest of the planet. She finds that very fucking off-putting. And sadly, I still believe she’s the only one who can stop you from committing one of the biggest catastrophes to our people.” I twist his shirt in my hand and pull him in close. “Where the hell are the Videns? You and I have a deal. You’re to report to me any bullshit you’re about to pull. Do I need to drag Demetri’s ass down here to clarify?”

  “No need,” a deep voice booms from the foyer as Demetri makes his way over with the clapping of his thousand dollar Italian shoes. “Wesley, is it true? You’ve denied your brother knowledge regarding his people?”

  Wes tips his head back, his nostrils flaring with a silent rage. “They’ll be back.”

  My heart thumps wildly. Adrenaline spikes within me. If Wes isn’t keeping his end of the bargain, it must void out the covenant.

  “What are the consequences?” I look to Demetri. �
��He broke the covenant. It’s null and void. I want that curse lifted from my children.” Barron, to be exact, but I’m simply going off a feeling, off the fact I had one lone vision the moment he was born. I could be wrong. Hell, I pray I am.

  “I’m sorry, son.” Demetri looks down a moment, somber, utterly sincere, and it frightens me. “You broke faith with the Barricade, Gage. There is no one who can help you.” Those psychotic smiling eyes of his begin to glow.

  “All right.” I rake my fingers through my hair, razoring my nails over my skin. “Shit. What do I have to do? Sit on the throne? Drink your blood? I’ll drink a fucking gallon. You need me to claim dominion? What?” I shout that last word so loud, the baby begins on a high-pitched wail from down the hall.

  “Mind your manners!” Ezrina howls back.

  “Shit.” I pinch my eyes shut. “Tell me.” There’s desperation in my voice, so raw and visceral it makes me squeamish just hearing it. “I love my wife, my life, my brand new baby boys. But, God Almighty, I don’t want them cursed. I do not want them turning from all I believe in.”

  Wes smirks. “Because you think what you believe is right. Your boys might think otherwise.”

  I pick him up by the shirt and slam him to the wall. “Because he won’t have a choice!”

  “I get it,” he whispers, raising his arms in surrender. “I would feel just as destroyed if Tobie turned her beliefs from mine—or, more to the point, if he took hold of her brain and heart and made her do it.” He glares a moment at our father, and it feels like a brief show of solidarity. A real come-on-Dad moment between two brothers.

  “What if I let the curse fall on me?” I pant, wiping down my brow. Wesley has that fucking fire turned up to hell, and the entire room feels like a sauna. Tobie might choose to live with Skyla and me simply for the air conditioning.

  “Gage, Gage, Gage.” Demetri walks a clean circle around me. “What kind of curse would that be? Of what consequence? You would feel vindicated, proud to have done something noble for your child. There is no punishment in that.”

  “Trust me, I’m plenty punished. Not to mention that I lose my wife.” It’s one thing to listen in on Wesley’s schemes, to play along and pay attention, but it’s a whole other thing to cross my heart over to the dark side.

  Wes shakes his head. “There’s no reason Skyla wouldn’t let you be your own person, let you carry out a sentence to spare her child. You wouldn’t lose Skyla.”

  “I’d lose Skyla for the same reason you lost Laken.”

  “Bullshit.” His eyes bulge, his jowls vibrate with rage as he grits the word through his teeth. “You’re married. She knows you’ve got a hard-on to please her and her people. Everyone would know you’re a fake. You think you’re going to team up with me and then go home and sleep with the enemy? How is that going to work? And, if it did, what difference would it make in our children’s lives when they decide they want to be just like Daddy when they grow up? You’ll lure them both to my side without meaning to. You don’t win at this Gage—and that my friend, my brother—is the point.”

  My head pounds, blood courses through my veins, steady as a hammer. He’s right. I don’t win.

  I blow out a mean breath and turn to Demetri. “Lay it out for me. What is the worst-case scenario? What rot and filth will enter my life once I spare my child?”

  “Just one?” Demetri toys with a demonic smile.

  “Fine. Children.”

  “You lose Skyla. You lose the boys. You lose your life.” He bleeds a black smile. “It’s as simple as that.”

  I swallow hard. Worst case is pretty damn bad.

  “And what do I gain?” A loss that magnificent in Demetri’s twisted mind is easily replaceable—I can feel it in my bones.

  “You gain my kingdom, the throne—you are the king.”

  And there you have it—the gains, the losses, all the same in value to him. I look to Wes. “You’ll give the Videns an explanation alongside me tonight as to why they lost so many damn men.” I clear my throat, trying to get my bearings before shifting to Demetri. “When does this need to happen?”

  “The binding covenant is instantaneous upon ritual rites. And your era on the throne begins when Your Grace”—he lifts a finger presumably to Candace—“decides it is your time. I’ll give you until the christening to decide.”

  I look the bastard who brought me into the world dead in the eyes. “Is this what you’ve wanted from the beginning?”

  His hand rises to my face, his thumb caressing my cheek. “Yes, my son. It is.”

  Those Long Zombie Nights

  LOGAN

  Shit. I continue chewing on my burger, trying to swallow it down while staring at Gage. I should have known something was very fucking wrong when he summoned me to Dudley’s at this late hour—invited Dudley in on this burger-laden meeting no less.

  “So he’s not done with you after all.” I toss my food back into the bag. “Why are we eating?” I suck down my water. “This is shit news.”

  “Because I need to eat.” He takes an aggressive bite before choking it down. “Skyla wanted me to pick up a burger for her on the way home. It’s been weeks since she’s had one. I want to give her whatever she wants.” His voice breaks. “A happy wife, a happy life.” He shoots me a glassy-eyed stare. “You might want to remember that.”

  “Gage.” I lean my head onto my hand like I might vomit.

  “What is the alternative here?” Dudley says it so tenderhearted you’d think he was speaking to Skyla.

  “I die anyway, and one of my boys turns his heart against all Skyla and I stand for—in other words, to the dark side. He sits on that throne of Demetri’s and rules the demonic roost.” Gage’s mouth contorts as if he’s holding back tears, and he is.

  “Is that so?” Dudley leans back, folds his arms across his chest as if he’s contemplating this. “I’m afraid you’ve missed the point here.”

  “Tell me it’s good news.” Gage crumbles his wrapper in a wad and tosses it against the wall.

  “It is, but you won’t see it that way. What you have here is Demetri trying to demonstrate his mercy. His dominion needs a leader. Ideally, one of your sons, considering their pedigree, but since you have found that weak spot in his heart, he has decided to gift you the option to take over the throne yourself. Which is a wise move on his part, considering how violently protective a parent can be toward a child. He knows you would serve with all your heart to shield your children from his wickedness. In essence, he has you where he wants you, and, if you love those little boys nestled in your wife’s bosom, you will do what pleases him best.”

  “Or else one of the boys picks up the baton.” I sink in my seat. I love those boys as if they were my own. “If Gage doesn’t sit on the throne, if he chooses to live out the rest of his days in peace, what will happen? Does a bomb go off in the child’s mind, suddenly programming him to eschew what’s right? I think this reeks of brainwashing, a technique the Counts have spent centuries perfecting. Look at that fiasco that took place at Ephemeral? Why didn’t anyone take them to court for that?”

  “The Justice Alliance isn’t too concerned with what Demetri does. He’s kept to a different code of ethics. He knows the laws and all of its loopholes. He swims in the loopholes for the fun of it.” He looks to Gage. “I’m sorry, young Oliver. It seems you’ve been caught in a loophole the size of a throne.”

  “Don’t apologize to me.” Gage’s voice shakes with anger, his eyes set on Dudley, rife with fury. “Figure out a way to get my children and me out of this mess. You”—he digs his finger in the air at Dudley—“are my only hope, my friend. I don’t have a celestial leg to stand on, and we all know what happened the last time I went begging my mother-in-law for assistance.”

  Something in me lurches. A sick feeling weighs me down because I’m the one Candace loves, and yet, I haven’t gone to bat for Gage.

  “Run from this.” Dudley steadies his cutthroat gaze over my nephew’s. “There is a
third solution. Find it.”

  “Why don’t you get going?” I slide the bag toward Gage. “Get this to Skyla. Kiss your boys. Don’t overthink this.”

  I know for a fact she’s preparing a speech to give at the Council of the Superiors. Gage and Skyla each have the weight of their own unique worlds on their shoulders.

  “All right.” He scoops his food up and heads for the door. “I know what I have to do. It just kills me to do it.”

  “Do yourself and everyone else a favor”—Dudley calls after him—“do nothing.”

  “Story of my life.” He lets the door click softly behind him.

  Dudley shifts his sharp glare to me. “Why the eviction?”

  “Because we have places to go.”

  * * *

  Ahava winks and sparkles in pale tonal blues as if it were the only color that mattered, the only one we needed.

  “You might want to segue into the topic at hand,” Dudley suggests in a whisper as the perfect representation of Skyla looks up from her glass throne in the middle of the lake. Her eyes, her face, her entire being lights up with a shower of sparks emitting from her the moment she sees us.

  “Logan!” she says it high and clear, sounding so much like Skyla I want to cry. How could this version of my beautiful wife, ex-wife, ever want to remove Gage from the planet?

  “Segue how?” I hiss to the Sector by my side.

  “Talk shop,” he whispers sideways from his lips like a B-list ventriloquist. “You know, how the Treble is going—how the twins are doing.”

  Candace frowns and bats him away before pulling me into a long, vibratory embrace. She holds the scent of a summer afternoon and clean sheets, a scent I wish I could bottle and keep for myself. Candace is so beautiful. It sometimes hurts to look at her.

  I wince as we pull away, hoping she won’t catch on to the ego boost I’m trying to invoke.