Only the Devout

by Amanda M. Lee

  Titus had been so distracted by the fallen revenant that he didn’t see me coming. It was too late for him to react by the time he realized what was happening. “No!”

  Braden ripped the gun from his hand as I poured magic into him, demanding answers for the questions that had been plaguing me for days. “What is this?”

  Titus’s mouth opened and shut repeatedly, but no words escaped. His breath tore from his mouth in raspy gasps as I opened his head like a tin can. I plunged inside his memories so I could absorb them.

  I saw faces, both those I recognized and those I didn’t. I saw blood-letting rituals, including the death of the one girl I’d been searching for since meeting her in front of the aquarium. I saw groups of people praying to gods that were really monsters. I saw monsters walking among the living.

  On my own, I wouldn’t have been able to understand the story no matter how many times Titus reluctantly showed me the information. Now, though, I saw everything ... and I knew.

  “You.” My eyes were accusatory as they landed on Emmet.

  He was furious. His gaze never left the fallen revenant, a muscle working in his jaw. “You’re ruining it,” Emmet screeched. He sounded like a petulant child, a whiny prince trying to play at king. “We planned so long, so hard, and you’re ruining it.”

  “Good,” I fired back. “I know what you were planning. I know all of it.”

  “Oh, really?” Emmet’s eye roll was withering. “How is that possible?”

  “I just squeezed every bit of knowledge your friend had to offer,” I replied, releasing Titus with a hard push that was strong enough to have him stumbling backward and tumbling over the dead revenant. My power was building to the point the magic was difficult to control ... and the bruja mask slipped into place. “I know all of it. I’ve seen all of it.”

  Emmet gasped and reared back when he saw the change. “What are you really?”

  “I’m the one who is going to end this.”

  Mary pleaded. “If you saw, then you know why we had to do it. You know why we had to try.” She was begging for understanding.

  “No, I don’t.” I turned back to the gate, a plan forming. “There are other revenants over there,” I explained to the others. “At least two, maybe more. There was one for each of them. They believe they need a counterpart to take over, to pass for. We can’t let them carry this out.”

  “Oh, they’re going to cross,” Emmet seethed. “They’re going to come over here, just as we planned, and fix everything.”

  “Fix everything?” Aisling didn’t understand. She couldn’t. “They’re murderous monsters.”

  “He doesn’t care about that,” I said, my eyes back on the gate. I knew what I had to do. It was a bold move, one that might actually cost me my job, but it was the only option I could see. “He only cares about himself ... and your grandmother. She’s dying. He made a deal with the revenants to turn on his own if they would save her.”

  Aisling was incredulous. “And how are they going to do that? They’re not omnipotent and all-powerful. They take over people, consume them from the inside out. They don’t save them. They’re not gods.”

  “They might as well be,” Emmet shot back. “By turning her into one of them, they can help her live forever.”

  “Not without burning out her soul first,” Aisling challenged. “Don’t you understand? Without a soul, it’s not the same person. It’s an empty shell.”

  “How would you know?”

  “That’s what happened to Mom. She was a half-wraith, but the outcome is no different. I’ve seen what happens when the revenants infect humans. It isn’t pretty — and it isn’t some key to everlasting happiness. It’s ugly and brutal. Nothing is worth your soul.”

  “Aisling.” Griffin grabbed her around the waist when the gate sparked again. “You have to get out of here. I can’t risk you disappearing again. Please, baby, I need you out of here.”

  He was going to break down if she didn’t acquiesce, and she was too furious to look away from her grandparents. I knew what needed to be done.

  I straightened and turned my eyes to Oliver. He’d edged away from his desk but obviously hadn’t decided on a plan of action, because he hadn’t committed to one direction over another.

  “Throw the switch,” I ordered, the words sounding hollow and alien as they escaped my mouth.

  “What?” Oliver’s eyebrows drew together as he met my gaze, confusion etching across his handsome features.

  “Throw the switch,” I repeated.

  “Don’t throw the switch!” Emmet snapped. “You’ll ruin everything if you do.”

  “That’s why we need to throw it.” I didn’t move my eyes from Oliver’s face. He was the only one close enough to do what I was asking.

  “No one has ever thrown the switch,” Oliver argued. “We don’t know what will happen if I do this.”

  “We don’t have a choice. We can’t let what’s on the other side of that gate cross over. We can’t risk it. You know that as well as I do.”

  “But ... .” He licked his lips and looked to be having some sort of internal debate. Finally, he nodded and moved back toward his desk.

  “Don’t do it!” Emmet started fumbling with his coat pocket and I knew without a doubt what he was doing. I couldn’t allow it.

  “No.” I shook my head, the bruja mask solidifying as I engaged my magic again. This time, I was taking no chances. “Vinculum.” The spell was a hiss on my lips, and when the magic was dispatched, it flew straight and true.

  Emmet was still trying to wrap his hand around his gun when the spell hit him, full on, and he went rigid. He was paralyzed, unable to control his own muscles or mouth. I meant for him to drop in that spot, but that didn’t happen. I realized that when it was too late to stop it. Things were in motion and there was no turning back.

  Emmet couldn’t control his velocity, and even though I’d ordered his extremities to be magically bound, he still had momentum from the spell. He was ramrod straight when he tumbled through the opening.

  It was as if it was all happening in slow motion. Mary screamed and made to follow him. Oliver was typing on his computer. Just as the Grimlock matriarch tried to launch herself through the opening and follow her husband, the gate stopped humming and winked out. The power that had been fueling it suddenly ceased flowing, and all that was left was Mary’s anguished cry as she hit the ground where the gate used to be.

  It wasn’t the ending I saw coming, but it was done. Now we had to live with the consequences.

  There would be many.

  Thirty

  Mary was still sobbing when Cormack rushed through the door with Cillian, Redmond, and Aidan. He looked shocked.

  “What is my mother doing here?” he demanded.

  “Is that a revenant?” Aidan barked, his eyes immediately tracking to the creature on the ground.

  “Is that guy dead, or does he just wish he was dead?” Redmond asked as he focused on Titus.

  Cillian, though, recognized the biggest problem. “What happened to the gate?”

  I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I was too overwhelmed. I sank to the floor and rested my cheek against my knee. Thankfully, Aisling wasn’t feeling shy.

  “Grandma is evil,” she announced, showing hints of the glee she obviously felt. “Grandpa was evil, too, but we’re not sure if he’s even alive.”

  “What?” Cormack’s mouth dropped open and I felt bad for him. Sure, Mary and Emmet were horrible — and caught up in things that would take weeks to sort out — but they were his parents.

  “They’re evil,” Aisling repeated, patting her father’s arm. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. They’re just all kinds of awful, like we always knew. Now they’re murderers to boot — at least that’s what I think.” She flicked her eyes to me. “Izzy seems to know more than we do.”

  Cormack followed his daughter’s lead and looked to me. The confusion he’d obviously been feeling moments before disappeared as he took in
my weary frame. “Are you all right?”

  Braden dropped to the ground next to me and drew close, his arms automatically slipping around me. “She’s okay,” he answered for me. “She just ... did something inside Titus’s head. I’m not even sure what, but she’s okay.” He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself.

  “Great. She’s okay.” Annoyance washed over Cormack’s rigid features. “I suppose that means she can tell me what happened to my father.”

  Aisling’s hand shot in the air and she bounced to the balls of her feet. “I can do that.”

  Cormack exhaled heavily. “Fine. Let’s have it.”

  “Grandpa was futzing around with his jacket — probably looking for a gun I think — and Izzy hit him with a spell. He kind of flooped through the gate.”

  Cormack arched an eyebrow. “Flooped?”

  “You know. Flooped.” Aisling reenacted the arc Emmet’s body took as it fell backward, trusting Griffin to catch her, which he did. “It was so cool.”

  “So ... Dad went through the gate?” He turned to the spot where the gate used to stand. “What happened to the gate?”

  “We hit the kill switch,” Oliver answered, joining the conversation. “We didn’t have a choice.”

  “The kill switch?” Bafflement joined worry as Cormack glanced between his mother and me. “I thought that was only a measure of last resort.”

  “That’s where we were at,” Aisling replied. “The gate was buzzing again, like it was going to malfunction. Griffin kept yelling at me to get out of the room.”

  “Which you didn’t do,” Griffin muttered bitterly.

  She shot him a look. “We’ll argue about that later. For now, we need to explain to Dad how his evil daddy went bye-bye.”

  “Oh, geez.” Cormack pinched the bridge of his nose and turned back to his mother. “You were a part of this?” He looked dumbfounded. “I don’t understand. How could you do this?”

  “It’s what had to be done,” Mary said in a shaky voice. “I ... didn’t have a choice. Your father didn’t either. We did what we had to do to survive. I’m not sorry.”

  “That’s not an explanation.”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation,” Mary sneered. “I want to know what you’re going to do to get your father back.”

  “What makes you think I can get him back?”

  “You got her back.” Mary jerked her thumb at Aisling. “You risked everything to pull her back from the brink. You’ll do the same for your father.”

  I found my voice. “I did that.”

  Mary slowly tracked her eyes to me. “Did you say something, witch?”

  She meant it as an insult. I couldn’t see past the visions in Titus’s head, so it didn’t matter. I didn’t have the energy to argue about good and bad witches. “I crossed over to get Aisling. The gate was glitching for a specific reason then. What happened to Emmet is different.”

  “Are you sure?” Cormack pressed. “Are you certain we can’t retrieve him?”

  I hesitated. “I don’t know. The gate is ... down. It could take weeks to bring it back up.”

  “Why?” Cillian asked. “If you flicked a switch to turn it off, why can’t you just flick the same switch and bring it back? Not that much time has passed. He’s probably still on the other side.”

  “He won’t be the only thing on the other side,” Braden offered, pressing himself closer. “More than one revenant was trying to cross. Izzy killed that one with her magic, but they were trying to bring more over. Even if we can get the gate running, I don’t think we should risk it.”

  “You’re not suggesting leaving your grandfather over there to die?” Mary snapped.

  “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” Braden fired back. “He was more than willing to feed Aisling to the other revenants coming through the gate. Don’t bother denying that’s what he had planned. We’re not stupid.”

  The little color Cormack had left fled his features. “What are you saying?”

  It was time to tell them what I knew. “Your mother is dying,” I volunteered, causing his shoulders to jerk. “I’m sorry to tell you so bluntly. She has bone cancer. The doctor gave her three to five years when she was first diagnosed. She’s going into year four. They’re looking for a way to prolong her life.”

  “But ... .” Cormack’s chest heaved as he fixated on his mother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You haven’t bothered to pick up the phone in years,” Mary shot back. “You made your choice back then. We made our choice now.”

  “Choice?” Cormack was a big man, strong, but he sounded like a wounded child. “I did what I thought was best for my children. You were trying to separate them. I didn’t know much then — I couldn’t see through the pain — but I knew they shouldn’t be separated. They needed each other — and me.

  “You didn’t even want Aidan and Aisling because you loved them,” he continued. “You wanted them because you thought they were moldable. You wanted to turn them into something they weren’t. You wanted control.”

  “We wanted grandchildren we could be proud of,” Mary shot back.

  “You have them.” Cormack dragged a hand through his hair, bitterness palpable. “Tell me what else you saw, Izzy. I need to know all of it.”

  They were bold words, but I knew he meant them. “Olive Westborn is definitely dead. Titus’s wife has been posing as her for years. She’s up in the parking lot. She’s the woman Luna was trailing behind. Perhaps she sensed something about her. You’ll want to take Sandy into custody because she had a hand in Olive’s death.

  “Titus and Sandy purposely arranged for a gas leak at Olive’s apartment. They wanted to take over her identity,” I continued. “Sandy is the daughter of someone named Adam Grimaldi. He’s a former reaper.”

  Cormack jerked up his chin. “He was on the reaper council until two years ago. He was fired when he was caught removing artifacts from one of the storage rooms at the main building.”

  “What artifacts?” Cillian asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “We might want to find out.” Cillian was grave. “If he’s involved in this ... .”

  “I’m sure he is,” I supplied. “There are a lot of them. Reapers, I mean. There’s a conspiracy, for lack of a better word. They’re all in on it. They think they can tap the revenants into helping them live forever.”

  “But why?” Cormack hunkered down directly in front of me. “What’s the point?”

  “They’ve seen the truth about death and they don’t want to die. That’s as far as I can get on the specifics regarding the reapers. I was only privy to what Titus knew, and he didn’t fully grasp what the reaper council was. If you want answers on that front, you might want to ask your mother.”

  Cormack nodded, his fingers automatically going to my hair to brush it from my face. He was gentle as he regarded me. “What else did you see, sweetheart?”

  “Revenants have been slipping over for years. It’s not easy, and it hasn’t been happening at this gate because of Oliver. But at the other gates, a few have slipped through. They’re trying to build an army to retake what they think was stolen from them.

  “They’re working with the reapers, communicating somehow, but I’m not sure how,” I continued. “I think this is the threat Cernunnos was talking about when he said more would come. I think this was supposed to be the first step.”

  “And that’s why you shut down the gate,” Cormack surmised, nodding. “You did the right thing.”

  He said the words convincingly, but I had doubts. “I was right about the blood rituals. Andrea is gone. Her body is in the woods behind the sawmill. They thought Caitlin was alone. Knight was quiet. They didn’t see him until he ran to Caitlin’s aid. Their plan was thwarted when he ran. They had to kill Caitlin to keep her quiet, but it was a waste because they needed the blood for their plan. She essentially died for nothing.”

  “Can a blood ritual open the gate?” Redmond asked
.

  “I don’t know.” There was so much to sift through I was confused about where I should begin. “I just ... it’s too much.”

  “You’re tired,” Braden reassured me. He forced a smile, but I could see the worry in his eyes. “You need rest.”

  “She does,” Cormack agreed. “She needs rest and we have a massive problem on our hands. My father is missing, lost on the other side. My mother is dying and can’t be trusted. We have a dead revenant ... and this guy.” He nudged Titus with his foot, causing the man to cringe and whimper.

  “There’s a dead girl in the woods and rudderless cult members in the parking lot,” he continued. “One of my former colleagues is probably involved in this, and his daughter most definitely is. She’s up there, too. We have to come up with a plan to mitigate this.”

  “No, we don’t,” Griffin countered, his arm around Aisling’s waist as he anchored her to his side. “We need to tell the truth, at least to the best of our ability. If we start lying now we’ll trip over ourselves, and that will make us look suspicious.”

  “But if we report all of this they’ll know we’re on to them,” Cormack argued.

  “They’ll know anyway,” Griffin said. “We can’t hide this and, apparently, we have a bigger fight than we realized on our hands. We’ll be battling with revenants and our own people. There’s no sense lying. They’ll know it and it will make us look as if we’re hiding something. We have to be forthcoming and act as if we believe the council will do the right thing to work this out. That’s the only card we have to play.

  “We also have to get these two out of here,” he said, gesturing toward Titus and Mary. “They can’t be part of this. They’ll squeal. The one thing we have going for us is that they think we’re open and honest to a fault. If Mary and Titus start talking ... .”

  “Then they’ll burn us,” Cormack said grimly, his gaze going to his mother. “We’ll have to find a place to confine them and come up with a lie about what happened to them.”

  “Not necessarily,” I countered, an idea forming. “Mary, yes. She’ll have to be locked up and treated.”