Brandon tipped his head to one side and studied her small face. Dawn turned her attention back to Eve. “They’re all downstairs. People in the chapel. Spirit Demons outside.” Dawn crushed her cupid’s bow lips together. “He’s just waiting for us.”
Gabriel dropped to his knees at Dawn’s feet. Cat pressed her palm against her chest and walked to her daughter’s side. “My name is Gabriel, Dawn, you met me once. When you were a very tiny baby.”
“I know.” Dawn reached for Cat’s hand. “My mum told me about you.”
Gabriel’s mouth creased at the corners. “I see. And what did your mother tell you?”
Dawn pressed her small hand against his cheek and stroked it gently. “That sometimes guardian angels wear the devil's clothes.” Something in Gabriel’s eyes shattered, and he bowed his head, undone.
Brandon was the first to break the silence. “Not to fixate on the data side of things, but Grace and Dawn have both mentioned some sort of Spirit Demons are waiting to attack us. Could we, maybe, open that discussion?”
Lucas bit his lip and edged a step closer to Brandon. Eve clapped her hands. “Catherine, Cain, what can you tell us?”
Cain’s jaw was clenched tight enough to burst. “Very little, I’m sorry. It was Peter. He blindsided us. Told us he needed to talk to us about Dawn’s episodes, that he believed she wasn’t ill but that she was having visions. A Seer. The minute he got us into the room he erected the barrier and trapped us here.”
Eve kneeled down in front of Dawn. “Is that what happens to you when your ill, Dawn? Do you travel away from your body?”
Dawn nodded, and Sam caught my eye, both of us remembering our conversation with Lizzie. I squeezed Dawn’s hand. “Did you see anything tonight? Do you know what’s happening?”
She screwed her eyes up. “It’s hard. I don’t get to see it all. He has everyone in the chapel. He’s not pretending anymore. He’s waiting. He wants Emmanuel to show him were the black bauble is. He wants to crush it and let the Spirit Demons in. So he can take us with him, all the Demon-Born. Back to where his Spirits come from.”
I turned to Gabriel. “Another dimension? Are they like shifters? Or the vampire realm? Sucking life force from the soul instead of the blood?”
Gabriel frowned. “No. None of the Demons here have ever seen Spirits like these before coming to this realm. A world of Spirit Demons. How would they feed? How would they multiply? No. They’re something else. And he can’t intend to take you beyond this realm, the veil prevents it. Even the most powerful can’t pierce it.”
Megan kicked her foot against the door. “Doesn’t matter where they come from. That asshole isn’t going to a lay a finger on any of you. Emmanuel will never give him Danu’s heart.”
I squinted at her.
“The black globe he wants. It’s what binds the charms covering the chapel. If it breaks, there will nothing protecting the people inside.” Megan’s voice wavered. She stared down at her feet.
“We won’t let that happen, Megan. Your dad and Mark. We’ll protect them.” I patted her arm, hoping I sounded more certain that I felt.
Elijah pulled himself up to his full height and ran his eyes around the room. “So, what are we going to do?”
Gabriel flicked his hand in the air, and his briefcase appeared at his feet. “Uncle Peter wants to play games? We’ll give him a show he’ll never forget.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
I couldn’t remember a time when I wasn’t afraid. Sometimes, I think my first breath had been filled with seeds of pure terror, and the fear grew inside me ever since - like a parasite. Eating away at my soul. Leaving me hollow.
I opened my mind’s eye and surveyed the space below us. The darkness was all-consuming. Cloying tendrils of despair were packed so tightly that nothing could penetrate their depth. I shrank back. An image formed in my mind of a small, fierce face under a cloud of dark hair, and I strengthened my resolve. I had to find a crack. No more children would be harmed in my name. My energy surged forward and burst through the wall of Spirit Demons, calling for Gabriel with my essence. The world spun and suddenly my feet were once more on solid ground.
Shadow Hall’s repurposed chapel was a blend of old and new. The wooden pews had been replaced by leather couches, but the raised stone pulpit remained, rising up from the granite floor like a serpent from the deep. Peter leaned over its side to count us as we appeared. We were holding hands so Gabriel could transport us as one, facing Peter in a line. Red rover, red rover, I call Peter over.
“Welcome, welcome, one and all. Not quite what we were expecting but I, for one, feel exhilarated by your timely arrival.” Peter looked exactly as he had on every occasion I had seen him. His dark hair was neatly combed, and his three-piece suit was charmingly disheveled.
He tilted his head to one side, running his gaze over each of us like a bird choosing which worm to devour first. Jasmine crushed her fingers around Elijah’s wrist. The muscles in Elijah’s neck strained and bulged, but he held his position between his sister and Megan.
“Please, children, find your place.” Peter swept his hand over the hall magnanimously. He beamed at a tall brunette standing alone beside a window. “Splendid news, Maria. They have brought another Human to keep you company.”
The woman’s face remained unchanged, but her eyes flickered for a moment toward a group of people huddled against the adjacent wall. They landed on a teenage girl with a strong jaw and her mother’s hair. The anger inside me burned as I surveyed Peter’s work. Human, Angel, Half-Born, Demon-Born. He had divided the residents of Shadow Hall by race. Mothers torn from their children. Lovers ripped apart.
Lydia and Frank stood on the edge of their respective groups, as close together as the segregation would allow them. Jabol stood alone in the far corner, his face bloody. In my mind, I went through a mental roll call, the pain in my chest easing with each face accounted for. Only one name left.
“Emmanuel!”
Megan’s wail tore through my thoughts. I followed her line of sight to a crumpled heap at the base of the pulpit. My stomach lurched. Peter skipped down from the raised platform, stepping over Emmanuel’s body gingerly.
“Ah, yes. A messy business, trying to extract truth from those who wish to conceal it. Terrible stuff. Very base.” He nudged the prone bundle with his cane, and Emmanuel gave a shuddering groan. I dug my fingernails into my palm.
Peter surveyed our motley crew. Cain’s expression was impenetrable, but Cat’s face was white. The color had drained from her cheeks as Gabriel had laid everything bare upstairs, filling the gaps in knowledge for those who had not been present earlier to hear the story. Cat had fallen at Eve’s feet, shattered by the magnitude of her sacrifice for us. The burden she had carried alone.
Peter wasted no time examining his former family members, unperturbed by Elijah’s black glare or Jasmine’s drawn face. When he reached the end of the line, he halted. “Gabriel. The bad penny. We meet again.”
Gabriel’s lips thinned. He shot Eve a loaded glance, half warning, and half apology. “It’s been a long time, Charles. Or is it Peter? Impossible to keep up. I see you’ve taken to beating your elders instead of your wife in this incarnation?”
Eve stiffened beside me. Sam released a low hiss. Peter’s smirk didn’t budge, but his knuckles whitened as he gripped the handle of his cane. Gabriel’s voice was quicksilver. “Wonderful to see you again, Charles. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I do hope to gut you and feed your entrails to my dogs before sunrise.”
Peter’s smile twisted into a sneer. “I never beat Clara. Whatever lies she told you so that she could creep back into your bed are between you and her, but you will not defile my character in front of my daughter, Devil.”
Eve blanched, refusing to meet Peter’s probing stare. He sighed. “I see that you are displeased, Eve. No matter. There will be plenty of time to reconcile once we have returned home together.”
He stepped closer
and tipped her chin upward with his fingertip. “I see a lot of myself in you, Eve. And in my granddaughter.”
Eve didn’t rise to the bait, but her fingers trembled against mine. Rage boiled in my blood. “She’s nothing like you. You’re a monster. A devious liar.”
Peter twisted his neck to peer into my face. His expression was mildly amused. “But you don’t believe that, Grace.”
“Don’t delude yourself. You’re an abomination. Who are you? What are you? You’re not Uncle Peter, and you’re not that Angel whose family died in the blitz. A fraud and a liar. How many other people have you pretended to be? You’re a leech. Sucking the happiness out of other people’s lives because you don’t deserve any joy of your own.” The words exploded from my lips like bullets, pushing me further away from him with each syllable. The others moved with me. Floating across the floor like a row of paper chain children.
Peter followed us, keeping his eyes level with mine. “Oh, I believe that you are horrified by my existence, Grace. I don’t doubt that for a moment. But do you really think that Eve and I are that dissimilar?”
I blinked at him.
“Did Eve ever tell you the truth about who you were, Grace? She knew about the Shadow Children a decade ago, but she didn’t bring you to them. The years of companionship and security you could have known. Instead of always running. The endless anxiety. Why deprive you of that? Do you wonder what happened to your birth mother when she went to retrieve her baby and found her gone?”
I shook my head to dislodge the shards of truth falling from his forked tongue and into my raw ears. He reached for my hand. I took a final lurch backward and collided with the wall directly beside the group of Demon-Born.
Dawn threw her arms around Oscar’s neck, whispering in his ear. Oscar grabbed Dawn’s hand and joined our chain, pulling Prya to his other side.
Peter was relentless. I could taste his wolfish breath. “Do you wake every morning with fear in your heart, Grace? Have you wondered what happened to the daughter Eve abandoned for you? What kind of mother would choose to trade her child’s life for another? This is the truth you have aligned yourself with, and yet you would judge me so harshly?”
He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, tracing its path along my neck and down over my bare arm. My skin crawled. He lifted my hand to his lips. “You may have come to think of Eve as a mother, Grace, but you mustn’t think of me as your grandfather. We could be much more than that.”
Sam exploded from his position in line and charged at Peter, but Eve beat him to it. She plucked my fingers from Peter’s grasp with icy calm. I could feel the tension radiating from the rest of the team as Eve stepped closer to Peter. She leaned forward, staring him in the eye, and spat into his face.
For a moment, rage transformed Peter. Like an awning lifted in the wind, his concealment shifted, and I saw beyond the thick lashes and the refined words into a heart that had shriveled with age and hatred until nothing remained of what once existed.
He pulled a crisp handkerchief from his jacket and dabbed his face. When he looked up again, the mask had returned. I tugged Eve and Sam back into the chain, squeezing their hands.
Peter’s voice was as icy. “I have no call to explain myself to children. You couldn’t possibly understand my motivation. The world is decaying in front of your eyes, and you don’t even see it. Rotting like a sweet fruit. If it weren’t for men like me, there would be nothing left of this realm.”
He waved the white hankie at us. “Every sacrifice has been made for the greater good.”
Sam’s eyes were full of fire. “What have you sacrificed? All you’ve done is taken. It’s easy to play the martyr when it’s not your heart.”
Peter’s face contorted. “You wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for me, boy! You know nothing of what I have offered up. I once had a life, love, family. A position. I made my choice for the greater good. And I will do it again. There is an end coming.” Peter cut his eyes in Gabriel’s direction. “He knows it. Those of power can sense it. The veil is thinning. Who do you think will save you when the Humans can see what walks amongst them? Devils and nightmares brought to life. Are you ready for a war with the Humans? Even with magic we are outnumbered ten to one. Now is our chance to shape the future before it’s too late.”
Brandon’s brows were drawn low over his eyes. “Why does it have to mean war? Because we couldn’t handle your skills? I think you might be underestimating Human capabilities, Sir.”
Peter didn’t even glance in his direction before he turned on his heel and made for Emmanuel once more. “Enough. The hour is late, and my Spirits are restless. We must let them feed before we return home. All I require is Danu’s heart, and we shall be on our way. What is it to be, Grace? Shall you bring it to me or will I extract the information from our dear Master?”
He raised his cane over Emmanuel’s skull like an ax.
“No!”
My mouth made the shape of the word, but it was Eve’s cry that rang out. She clasped both hands over her lips.
I stepped forward, and the line closed behind me. “Leave him, Peter. Let Jabol heal Emmanuel, and I will get you what you want.”
A collective intake of breath spread across the perimeter of the room, the races united in their horror. Peter grinned and beckoned Jabol to attend to Emmanuel. I turned my back as Jabol rolled Emmanuel’s lifeless form over to examine his wounds, fighting the urge to vomit on the floor. Peter’s smile was cold. “My part is done. Find me that stone.”
I closed my eyes and let my senses roam through the old chapel. The very walls were alive with memory. The fresh agony of betrayal, the ancient sweetness of a couple tying their lives together as one.
My body twitched as I struggled to break through the incessant waves of emotion that beat against me as I wandered along the edges of the room. I could sense bodies moving out of my way, clearing a path, one by one. Sorrow, loss, fear, regret, satisfaction. I froze for a beat in sudden illumination as I passed the Angels, horror spreading through my blood, tinged with bitter disappointment.
I shook myself off, searching for Danu’s stone until I heard its call. A surge of power unlike any I had felt before. The bricks pulsated under my fingers. I reached for Danu’s heart, drawing it to me, and effortlessly it appeared on my palm. A smooth, egg-shaped object.
I closed my fingers around it. It was warm in my hand, and although its appearance matched that of a thousand stones on the beach a few hundred meters from where I stood, I could tell it was unique. A delicate power.
I looked around the room. The groups had shuffled away, leaving me alone. Every eye was trained on me. Peter called to me. “Come, Grace. Hand it over. You cannot control the strength of Danu’s heart, let's not be foolish.”
Like a marionette doll, I began to move toward him with jerky steps.
Frank’s voice rang out across the room, breaking Peter’s focus on me. “You won’t get away with this, Peter. We won’t let you take our people. You might be powerful, but you are still alone.”
I released a breath and ran back toward Sam and Eve. Peter’s face twisted in irritation as he watched me scuttle across the room. He glared at Frank and opened his lips, but I spoke first, my words tinged with sadness. “Peter’s not working alone.”
The air itched. Eyes darted in every direction, searching out the traitors. My voice carried across the chapel. “Peter couldn’t have done it alone. He didn’t. He had help. Opening gates. Passing on information. Sending people to Eve’s room to arouse suspicion and keep the focus off Peter. Not helping to unlock my power. Telling me to keeping my seeking ability secret. Pretending Eve had sent Cat on vacation.”
Faces around the room winced in disbelief as I ripped off each layer of deception. Deirdre didn’t even bother to protest her innocence as she crossed the floor to stand by Peter’s side. “Well done, Grace. Too little, too late. I suspect that’s going to be the story of your life, my dear.”
Deirdre’s round face appeared calm as she spoke, but her eyes reminded me of the water out past Old Head, both beautiful and treacherous at once.
Jabol looked up from where he was tending Emmanuel’s wounds. “No. Deirdre, no! This cannot be. Peter, he has corrupted you.”
Deirdre met his eye, and Jabol’s shoulders drooped. Emmanuel’s blood dripped from his hands onto the floor below, splattering as it fell. “Deirdre. You were loved.”
“Don’t be a fool, Jabol. There is no love for us in this organization. All it does is take. What life has it given me? Alone and barren? Is that what I deserve?” A sneer spread across Deirdre’s face, and she raised her hands into the air, summoning a vicious wind. It blew through the room, upturning furniture and straining at the joists of the roof. “I gave the Shadow Children my life, my power, and they gave me nothing. Peter can offer me a new life. An eternal life.”
The wind ceased. Deirdre’s voice was a whisper. “He can give me the chance to birth a child.” Jabol closed his eyes, and Deirdre’s voice took on a seductive tone. “You could come with us, Jabol, with the Demon children. There are Demons on Peter’s side, too. There is a war coming. We could be together.”
Jabol lifted his stare from Emmanuel’s broken form, and his brow creased. “I feel the change, Deirdre. Six hundred years in this realm. I have felt the veil moving. I chose my side long ago. It is not with men who feed on innocents and beat their elders with sticks.”
Deirdre flinched, and her sneer reappeared. “In that case, let's hope our paths don’t cross again, old friend.”
Jabol bowed.
Peter banged his cane on the floor. “Enough. Time is slipping away. Grace, hand me the heart.”
I hesitated. “Why didn’t you just take us? Before now? We’ve been here for weeks. Why didn’t you take all the Demon-Born as soon as we arrived?”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 27