by Lizzy Ford
So far, he hadn't been forced to change shapes since Gabriel's visit. Rhyn tested the bonds of his cell again until a mage in a brown robe hurried down the hall to repair the damage. Sometimes he could see out into the hallway and the empty cell across from his; sometimes he couldn't.
Today, the cell across from his wasn't empty. A human-like creature sat in the corner making snorting sounds he assumed was weeping. He looked closely at the creature. It was from the healer's guild, one of the oldest guild's in the universe. By the tattooed bands wrapped around his arms--each one depicting a millennium--the creature was nearly as old as Andre, the eldest of Rhyn's brothers.
"Shapeshifter!" someone called from down the hall.
He watched the mage in brown scuttle away. "Yeah," Rhyn grunted.
"I'm bored. Entertain me," the male voice down the corridor said. "Can you shut that healer up by eating him?"
"Yeah," he replied.
The sobbing, slender creature tensed and covered his head, as if expecting an attack from above. Amused, Rhyn stopped pacing and sat, staring the small creature down. The healer quieted.
"Good enough," the creature down the hall, Jared, said with a loud sigh. "What shape are you now, beast?"
"The usual."
"Not much for talking, are you?"
The rest of the freaks collected by Sasha, Rhyn’s half-brother who aligned himself with the Dark One, were quiet on the cell block. They normally were, and if they weren't, their screaming was muted by the magic of their cells. Rhyn stretched out on the ground of his cell to stare at the ceiling.
"I heard Sasha's getting promoted by You Know Who," Jared continued. "Wonder if he'll be too important for his personal zoo."
"He'll make time for you, Jared," Rhyn assured him.
"I suppose. Not sure why he has a half-breed like you hanging around when he's got a full-blooded demon like me here."
Rhyn knew why well enough. In Sasha's zoo, he was at the bottom of the food chain of the otherworldly collection of creatures. He intended to keep his relationship to their zookeeper a secret. Sasha had an affinity for collecting the worst of the worst--creatures whose intentions toward humans and immortals alike were as far from the Immortal Code as could be.
Despite Rhyn’s fury and occasional diversion from the Immortal Codes, he still believed in them, a weakness Sasha was trying to beat out of him since their eldest brother--the peacemaker and enforcer of the Council That Was Seven--sentenced them both to Hell.
"Fuck you, Sasha," he whispered into the darkness, not caring if Sasha heard him or not.
Fuck you, Kris, for making me do what I did, and fuck you, Andre, for pulling the trigger and sending me here with Sasha.
When he was out of Hell, he'd already planned on kicking the ass of their eldest brother, Andre, and killing Kris. The Council That Was Seven would survive without the three of them: Sasha, who'd sold out long ago; Kris, who needed to die; and him, whom Andre'd kill as soon as he killed Kris.
As much as they hate me for aligning with the Dark One, they hate you more for our father's death, Sasha had told him smugly more than once.
It was true, and only Andre supported his petition to be recognized as one of the seven sons charged by their father with protecting humanity against the Dark One. By the time he came of age, his other six brothers had not only come of age but also had each adopted a continent of responsibility. His late birth in the immortal world landed him Antarctica, where he could do little harm with his wild powers.
As much as he hated Hell, he hated Antarctica more.
Restless, he rose and paced again, wondering why Sasha needed an ancient healer in his zoo, a place where creatures came to suffer.
He sensed what Gabriel wouldn't say: things were about to change for him, and he suspected that meant he'd soon be free. Whoever it was he was to protect, even his promise to Gabriel wouldn't stand in his way of revenge.
I'm coming for you, Kris.