by Krista Walsh
Molly’s eyebrows rose, but before she could retort, Gabe laughed again. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
“Well, are you going to stand for it?” Daphne demanded. “You’re accused of lying, too.”
“I am. And I did. I won’t try to deny it in the face of someone who knows what she’s talking about.”
His admission left Daphne staggered, but she only needed a moment to find her footing.
“Well, I’m not lying,” she said to Vera. “Make him tell you the truth if he admits to it. Save us all a lot of time.”
Vera looked to Gabe, her expression exuding patience.
He shrugged. “I don’t mind telling you. But I know my lie, so that’s boring. I’m more interested in hers.”
“I’m not lying!” Daphne shouted.
Allegra winced. “Shrieking will not convince us, my dear. At this point no one believes you, so you might as well come out with it.”
Daphne’s green eyes grew round with panic, and she picked at her fingernails as she scanned the room, searching for a friendly face. When she found none, her shoulders slumped, and the haughty expression she’d worn since her arrival faded. Without it, she looked small — like someone trying hard to be somebody and never quite making it.
“Fine, I lied. But I didn’t kill him.” At the quiet anticipation around the table, she puffed out a breath and shoved her fingers through her hair. “I knew what Jermaine had planned, all right? I knew he intended to use human sacrifices for his spell, and I still agreed to help him.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.
“I’ve worked so hard for so long with nothing to show for it, so when Jermaine approached me with his idea…how could I turn away?”
She looked pleadingly to Vera, and then to Allegra, then Gabe — as though they might reassure her they would have made the same decision.
When no one said anything, she wiped her eyes on the edge of her sleeve and raised a shoulder.
“But at the last minute, I couldn’t go through with it. They looked so scared and helpless, and I imagined the pain they’d feel once the ritual started. I couldn’t do it.” She snorted. “Turns out I have more empathy than ambition. Just my luck, huh? Anyway, the rest of the story is true enough. We fought, he got away, and I ended up with a bit more power than I had when I went in. So I guess I did win in the end. In a way.”
She fell silent and focused on her nails, her left thumbnail nearly torn to the quick.
“Molly?” Vera asked.
The girl tilted her head, considering, and then nodded. “I’m not a human polygraph or anything, but it sounded like she told the truth that time.”
Daphne sniffled, and Allegra handed her a handkerchief from her handbag, cringing slightly when the other woman blew her nose into it.
Vera shifted toward Gabe. “Your turn.”
“Anything you command,” he replied with a bow of his head and a sweep of his hand. “Like I said, I have nothing to hide — I just didn’t want to raise suspicions against me if I didn’t have to. I confess, I didn’t leave Jermaine’s place quite as quickly or quietly as I claimed. I tried to kill the son of a bitch.”
A few gasps rose up from the table, but not everyone appeared surprised. Vera’s stoicism remained intact, and Antony’s smile turned smug.
“Of course I would,” Gabe continued. “It would have been stupid not to. That guy had come after me more than once, and I doubted he had any intention of giving up. My attack was perfectly justified.”
“How can we believe this version of your story?” Allegra asked. “As you said earlier, if you had wanted him dead, you could have turned him to stone. So I think you are leaving out one or two important details.”
“Sure,” Gabe agreed. “Could have turned him to stone and had everyone know it was me. Give me a little more credit than that.”
“So you attempted hand-to-hand combat and lost?” Zachariel asked.
Gabe slapped his hand on his chest as though his ego had been wounded. “Alas, it’s true. My fisticuff skills were not enough to outmatch his. So I bolted before I had the indignity of losing to a cow patty like him. And there’s my crazy lie. Hardly worth the retelling, am I right? What do you say, kid? Did I nail it this time?”
Molly’s smile gave away not only that she believed him, but also how far his roguish charm had won her over. She nodded. “Again, you could just be covering your lies better this time, but I’d buy it.”
Another hush fell over the table as everyone’s attention returned to Antony. A crease of annoyance appeared on his brow.
“You all turn to me as though you’ve already made up your minds. I can’t say I appreciate that you’re all so keen to blame me.”
“Then prove us wrong, brother,” said Allegra. “If we have to extend this interrogation to a second round of stories and evidence, then tell us the truth so we can move on.”
“It has to be him, right?” said Daphne. “He’s the only other one who lied.”
“The girl has said she is not infallible,” Allegra argued.
“I don’t need you to defend me.” Antony’s words came out in such a soft, venomous hiss that everyone’s attention jumped back to him. “You of all people.”
“What?” His sister’s gold-brown eyes flew wide, filled with confusion.
“You had to have him for yourself, didn’t you? A whole world of men falling at your feet, and you chose him.”
Allegra’s confusion morphed into incredulity. “Antony, you cannot be serious. Obviously, I had no idea you were interested in Jermaine.”
“You taint everything, you foul witch,” he spat. “You always have.”
She laughed. “Antony, really.”
But her laugh fizzled out and her amusement faded at the sight of her brother’s eyes glowing gold with fury.
“Tell us what happened, Antony,” said Vera.
Antony growled, refusing to tear his gaze away from Allegra, and said, “We were going to take over the underworld. We had it all planned out, and then you —”
“Start at the beginning,” Vera interjected, and this time her soft voice drew his attention.
The glow faded from his eyes and he collected himself, smoothing his pant leg and crossing his hands on the table as though his restraint had never slipped.
“My story was entirely truthful,” he said. “I just chose to end it at the most important part. Jermaine and I met years ago, and I believe I knew him better than any of you. Not that there was much sentiment between us, but we were both strong. Ambitious.” The corners of his lips curled upward. “You all believe he was the sole mastermind, but I was there for all of it. Behind the scenes. Moving the game pieces so Jermaine might have more room for success. You six might have gotten away temporarily, but you have no idea how far our reach was. A few more months, a few more rituals, and we would have had all of you eating out of our hands.”
He curled his hands into fists and returned his focus to Allegra. “Then you had to show up. My dear, sweet, spoiled sister.” Each word was spoken with slow, enunciated rage. “What we had was a perfect partnership, until the day he told me about you. Had no idea you were my sister, of course. Just thought I’d be interested in what you were and what you tried to do. I admit, I didn’t handle it as well as I might have. I accused him of being careless, of risking everything we’d worked for. I threw all of his old mistakes in his face, and the more I accused him of, the more he confessed. Murders I hadn’t known about, other plans he had in the works behind my back. He’d betrayed me.”
He dropped his gaze to his fists and straightened his fingers, the joints popping with tension. “I hit him. He fought back. I couldn’t even tell you how it happened. His window was broken, we got too close, and he fell. That was that.”
Belying his attempt to appear calm, his fingers wound back toward his palm, and when he raised his head again, the golden glow in his eyes had returned. Zachariel and Gabe raised t
heir hands in reaction to the burn of Antony’s anger.
“And none of it would have happened if not for you,” he hissed at Allegra. “I had a plan. We could have succeeded in everything. If not for you!”
He lunged across the table toward his sister, his fingers out like claws, his lip pulled back in a snarl. Allegra jumped to her feet, her chair clattering to the floor, and Daphne stood beside her to grab her arm and pull her away. Zachariel grabbed his ankle and jerked him back.
Molly rose to her feet and ran her hand over the table, grabbing her arrow. Her head twitched to follow the sounds of the fight, her eyebrows raised in alarm.
Antony kicked out his free leg, catching Gabe in the jaw and jarring off his sunglasses.
The Gorgon swung his head away, his eyes squeezed shut, while Zachariel pushed Molly clear of Antony’s flailing legs. She backed away until her hands hit the wall and then dropped into a crouch, her face pinched with fear and uncertainty.
Antony flipped onto his back and sat up, hands clawing at Zachariel’s eyes until blood streamed down the daemelus’s face from the scratches. His foot caught Gabe’s cheek as he bent to retrieve his sunglasses.
“Dammit, Gabe, just look him in the eye!” Daphne cried. She raised her hands, but no magic came. She lunged at Antony to pull his attention away from Zachariel, and he swung his fist at her. She fell over Allegra’s chair, blood sliding over her cheek where his ring had cut through the skin.
Antony hooked his fingers around the opposite end of the table to continue his attack on Daphne, and Zachariel’s grip on his legs slipped. He lost his balance, tripped over his chair, and the leg snapped under his weight as he fell to the floor.
Vera finally stood up. Her face blank of expression, she closed her fingers around Antony’s throat before he had an opportunity to launch himself in Allegra’s direction. His sister stood frozen in shock. Her hand rested on her chest, her breath quick and shallow.
“That is more than enough,” Vera said.
The glow in Antony’s eyes flared, enough heat simmering off his skin to create a haze around him. He inhaled slowly and Vera flinched, pressing her lips together. She squeezed his throat harder, ignoring the burns and blisters marring her wrist where he wrapped his hands around it to pull her away.
His clothes began to smoke. Tears streamed down Vera’s face, her knuckles white as she increased the pressure. But it had no effect. He struck his fists against the table and left charred stains behind.
Zachariel threw his weight over Antony’s legs, his own skin turning red and scaled at the heat.
His strength clearly growing in his anger, Antony wrenched himself free of Vera, jerked one of his feet free and slammed the sole of his leather shoe into Zachariel’s nose. Then he threw himself off the table toward Molly. They rolled onto the floor and he wrapped his hand around her chin, trying to force her face toward him to press his mouth over hers. She flailed against him, but he was too strong, and with every deep inhale Antony took, she screamed in agony.
The daemelus let out a chest-deep growl and his red-scaled hands reached for Antony’s waist. But before he had a chance to fulfill his debt, an arrow plunged through the incubus’s jugular, the sharp spike tearing through his throat and out the back of his neck. Antony’s eyes flew wide, his lips parted with a breathless exclamation, and then he rolled over onto his back.
Allegra released a cry. She rushed to his side and knelt down, the hem of her green dress dipping into the blood pooling under Antony’s head. His hand twitched toward her, but she didn’t take it. A series of expressions crossed her delicate features, but surprise won when her brother used his last amount of energy to jab his hand toward her throat, his own face twisted with loathing. She jumped to her feet to dodge the strike, and he gurgled his despair. His arm went slack, and his skin wrinkled as his heat evaporated. The glow in his eyes faded to nothing.
In stunned silence, the others stared at the fingers gripping the arrow, their gazes traveling up the arm toward Molly’s face, her fair skin ashen, her lip wobbling with panic. Blood spattered her arms and stained her shirt. There were burns on her neck and around her face where Antony had grabbed her.
A sudden flash of light blinded everyone in the room, and by the time it faded, five people stood in a brightly lit, spacious apartment, with a sixth person on the floor. A white leather couch sat on one side of the room, a broken desk in the opposite corner. A smashed domed window overlooked the fire escape.
Vera bent to help up a trembling Molly and draped her arm around the girl’s shoulders. Zachariel shifted closer, moving between them and Allegra, as though anticipating the sister to avenge her brother. But Allegra stood staring where Antony had lain a moment ago, her expression full of sadness. Daphne stepped toward her with a box of tissues she’d grabbed from the end table. She offered it to Allegra, but the succubus shook her head.
“There were twenty-five of us in the family,” she said, her voice hollow. “Of all my brothers and sisters, he was the only one I never tried to kill. In all those years, I never knew how much he hated me.”
“I don’t know if I would take it so personally,” said Gabe. He leaned back against the dining table and adjusted his sunglasses, making sure the bent frames kept his gaze guarded. “Jermaine had a way of messing people up inside.”
“I think Antony cared about him a lot,” said Molly, and although her voice sounded calm, tears spilled over onto her cheeks. “That’s why the betrayal hurt him so badly. At least, that’s what it sounded like to me.”
A silence stretched out until Daphne released a breath. “Well, it’s over now, at least.”
“So what’s next?” asked Gabe.
“Is there a next?” Allegra asked. “We fulfilled what Jermaine intended for us to do. We solved the mystery. Now we return to our lives.”
“Can we?” he asked. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t feel I’m the same person I was when I went into that room. Never knew there were so many other freaks like me in this city for one thing.”
“So what do you suggest?” Daphne asked. “That we exchange email addresses and keep up correspondence?”
“Don’t you feel we should do something?”
He looked around and shrugged when no one replied.
“The only thing I would like to do is go home,” said Allegra, and she started toward the door. “Soak in a long hot bath. Drink a bottle of champagne.”
“That sounds perfect,” Daphne sighed, and followed her. “Throw on my PJs and eat a full box of chocolate caramels.”
Allegra nodded. “And then go out to a bar and find a man to bring home.”
Daphne cleared her throat and reached for the door handle. “I’ll leave that part to you. I think I’m off men for a while.”
Allegra winked. “There are other options.”
Daphne’s eyes widened and they both disappeared around the corner.
“I should probably get home, too,” said Molly. “I have no idea how long I’ve been gone. My parents are probably freaking out. And now I’m going to have to come up with a good story for the burns. I’ll say I tripped over a steam grate or something.” She hesitated and then added, “Is it weird for me to say thank you? It’s been a surreal and terrifying day, and I might wake up tomorrow believing everything was a dream, but it’ll be a dream I remember for the rest of my life. I don’t think I would have survived it if not for you guys. Antony really did want to kill me.”
“It’s us who should be thanking you,” Vera replied, resting her hand on Molly’s shoulder. “You helped us narrow the stories down to him, and if he’d gotten free in the end, I believe he would have tried to kill us all. Demons are powerful and unpredictable. Rarely to be trusted. No offense intended, Zachariel. I appreciate your help.”
“None taken,” he replied in his gruff voice. He glanced at his arm in time to see the red scales fade once more into the appearance of human flesh.
“Take care of yourself, kid,
” said Gabe.
Zachariel took another step toward her. “I can see you home, Molly. Make sure you get there safely.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Did you mean what you said before? Are you really going to follow me around until you have a chance to save my life?”
“Yes.”
“You know you don’t have to do that. I don’t feel like you owe me anything. I just wanted to help.”
“Honor requires the debt be paid. Also, I admire your bravery, which is impressive for a human. It will interest me to see how well you do.”
He spoke with straight-faced sincerity, but Molly smiled. “Well, all right. I suppose life could be interesting with a — what did he call you? A daemelus following me around. Maybe it’ll help convince me that all this really happened. That this whole other world really exists.”
“And you, Zachariel?” Vera asked. “You sought Jermaine out for a reason. Will you continue your search for a side?”
The angel-demon stared at Molly, and then at the broken window. “Perhaps it’s time I created my own side. Jermaine was a cruel man, but he was right about one thing — both halves of my nature give me strength. Perhaps it would be unwise to close myself off from either of them.”
He nodded to Vera and Gabe, then followed Molly out of the apartment.
“So that was a day,” said Gabe.
“It was indeed,” Vera replied, tearing her attention away from the doorway. “Certainly not what my schedule looked like when I woke up in the morning.”
Gabe smiled. The crinkling of his cheeks shook his glasses loose, and they tumbled to the floor. For the briefest moment, his golden eyes met her gray ones. He jerked his head away and slammed his fist down on the dining table.
Vera stood frozen.
Then she bent down and retrieved his glasses. Using the strength of her long fingers, she bent the frames into their proper shape and set them down on the table top.
At the sound of the glasses hitting the wood, Gabe slowly opened his eyes, the irises swirls of green and gold. He looked up into Vera’s calm gaze and then scanned the way she stood with her arms crossed and her hip propped against the table.