Grave Decisions (Hellgate Guardians Book 3)

by Ivy Asher

  “Make sure she’s actually out. If it runs in the family, she might be faking it,” another deep voice states dryly.

  “That was one time,” Delta defends hotly. “And I just needed a fucking pause.”

  Someone snickers.

  “That’s my progeny. I demand that every last one of you move so I can tend to her,” Tazreel orders regally, and I hear a bunch of snorts sound off around me.

  Progeny?

  My mind plays with that word, battin’ it around until the meanin’ floats up. I snap up from wherever I’m lyin’, sittin’ up so fast that my head spins. Flint rears back in surprise, his eyes wide.

  “Wait. You’re my father?” I demand of Tazreel, completely dumbstruck.

  “See? Called the faking it,” the normal lookin’ blond demon announces, and the pale one with movin’ tattoos chuckles.

  “Shut it, Crux,” Delta says, smackin’ him lightly with the edge of her wing. Instead of bein’ annoyed, his grin widens, and he grabs hold of the bottom of her wing and strokes it.

  “Are you okay?”

  My eyes drag over to Alder where he’s kneelin’ beside me. He’s holdin’ my scythe which has reverted back to its fancy broom handle state. I’m in the same room as before, but someone laid me down on the fancy loveseat thing.

  Like she’s readin’ my mind, Delta gestures to it. “It’s the fainting couch. It actually comes in handy a lot, huh, Taz?”

  Taz scowls at her before bringin’ his gaze back to me. His chest puffs up under my scrutiny. Watchin’ him carefully, I swing my legs over so my feet are planted on the floor. I need to sit up for this conversation.

  I look between Nefta and Taz, takin’ in every damn detail of them. The shapes of their faces, the size of their noses, heck, I even take note of their earlobes and hairlines. It’s the weirdest damn thing to look at two people and be able to pick out your own features.

  “You’re my...birth parents?” I ask, and Nefta gives a terse nod while Taz glares at her.

  With a hard swallow, I shift my sights over to Delta, and the truth is plain as day on her face. I don’t know how I didn’t see it right away. We have the same lips. The same color eyes, the same face shape. I see her pickin’ apart my own features too, as the two of us catalog everythin’.

  “We’re sisters.”

  It’s not a question, because the truth is right in front of us.

  “It appears so,” she answers, movin’ her attention to Nefta. “How could you not tell us?” she asks with anger. “And just as important, how many damn times did you sleep with this asshole?”

  “Hey!” Taz snaps, offended.

  “Just the once,” Nefta replies, givin’ Taz a scathin’ look. “That’s all I could stomach.”

  He scoffs. “Oh, please. I’m the best fuck you’ve ever had.”

  Delta and I both make a grimace and groan at the same time, our expressions and noises matchin’. Our six collective demons watch us with wary awe.

  “Stop,” Delta snaps, effectively cuttin’ Nefta and Taz off before they can start to bicker about how good or bad their...relations were. “No one wants to hear about the two of you hooking up. I haven’t eaten yet.”

  Despite this messed up situation, the corner of my lip twitches.

  “Shit. If your hair was purple like Delta’s, you two would look just the same,” the dark-skinned demon says.

  Delta lets out a deep breath and then focuses on me again and holds out her scythe-free hand. “Let’s start over. I’m Delta Gates. And apparently...your twin sister.”

  She snaps another glare over at Nefta before returnin’ much softer gray eyes back to me. I look at her hand before slippin’ my palm against it and shakin’. It’s weird shakin’ the hand of a sister I never knew I had.

  We drop our hold, and Delta gestures beside her to the pale demon with the movin’ shadow tattoos. “This is Echo,” she tells me. “The blue dude is my Iceman—Rafferty. The guy who looks like he’s always ready to go surfing is Crux. And the one with the fire hair is Jerif. Don’t worry, he’s not mad. His face always looks like that,” she says with a smirk.

  He rolls his smolderin’ eyes at her. “I’d watch that mouth if I were you,” he says with a pointed look.

  Delta’s eyes light up with excitement.

  I feel Flint take a seat, his weight settlin’ beside me. I press in closer to him without even thinkin’ about it, groundin’ myself with the comfort of his presence.

  “The last time we saw you, we got shifted into Nihil for about thirty seconds,” Alder says, takin’ charge of the conversation. “Then you called us a few days after that, letting us know that you four weren’t dead and that you ran into trouble in the Vestibule. But that was over two months ago and that was the only info we got. Every time we’ve tried to contact you since then, we’ve gotten nothing.”

  I don’t miss the look of contrition that crosses their faces, but it’s the blue demon—Rafferty—who speaks. “I apologize. You’re right. We should’ve kept you informed. We’ve just been busy.”

  “We need to know what’s going on.”

  “How come y’all have wings?” I interrupt, lookin’ between Tazreel, Nefta, and Delta.

  Taz puffs up proudly. “I’m an Abdicated.”

  “He’s a proud ass,” Delta cuts in.

  “I am Pride. There’s a difference,” he clarifies. She just rolls her eyes.

  “And you’re a Nihil Abdicated too?” I ask Nefta. It’s strange to think of her as my birth mother. She doesn’t look much older than Delta and me.

  “No. I’m Legion,” she answers.

  “An angel,” Delta clarifies, and my brows nearly jump all the way into my hairline.

  “So we’re...half demon, half angel?” I ask, my voice higher than usual.

  “Yup.”

  I suppose that means Mama was only half wrong.

  Beside me, I feel Flint tense and let out a low whistle as he and Alder exchange a look.

  “I think you need to start at the beginning and tell us everything you know,” Alder tells them.

  So...they do.

  Two hours. That’s how long it takes for us to hear the whole story, from the moment Delta got hired as a “security guard” here at their graveyard, to right up when I heard Nefta say my name and we walked in here.

  It’s a hell of a lot to take in. Pun intended.

  Now that we have the full story, everyone is talkin’ at once. Alder and Flint are arguin’ with all of Delta’s demons, who are arguin’ right back, while Nefta and Taz are goin’ at it, shoutin’ in each other’s faces with barely restrained hate.

  “She needs to come to Nihil to get her wings and so that the fucking wards you put on her can come off,” Taz bellows.

  Nefta pokes him aggressively in the chest, but she looks like she wants to grab the sword strapped to her back and poke him with that instead. “Absolutely not. Hell is the last place she should be! I tried to hide them from all this.”

  “Yeah, and look what good that did!” he yells, lookin’ like some avengin’ winged demon ready to rain down fiery flames.

  “Please. Like you could’ve done any better. You and your army can’t even find Morax,” she accuses.

  “Neither can yours!” he roars back.

  My stomach roils with nausea at all the aggression in the room, the shouted voices poundin’ against my eardrums. I don’t like altercation, and to be honest, I’ve never had to deal with it much. My mama and daddy never fought like this. I’m so damn grateful that I was dropped off on their doorstep, far away from these two.

  “Stop arguing for a fucking second and focus!” Delta snaps at everyone. “What are we going to do? The Ophidian is a problem. He’s obviously not going to stop. He came after me and Medley. Even if Lucifer did manage to destroy the realm Morax created, along with the rest of his army, his power means that he can easily get a new horde and control them to do his bidding. We need a plan.”

  Everyone is quiet for a mo
ment, contemplatin’ this. Then Taz looks over at Nefta again, like he just can’t help himself. “I can’t believe you gave birth to twins and didn’t fucking tell me.”

  Nefta’s purple eyes dart away, and she mutters somethin’ under her breath.

  Delta leans in. “What was that?”

  Nefta sighs and then places her hands on her hips, feet spread, like it’s her own personal power pose and she’s about to face-off with everyone. Liftin’ her chin, she looks Delta in the eye. “I said, I didn’t give birth to twins. I gave birth to triplets.”

  Silence.

  Everyone in the entire room gapes at the angel. Tazreel looks about as lost as last year’s Easter egg for a moment, until what she just said seems to sink in.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” he rages, his voice so loud that I swear he makes the whole room shake.

  He takes a threatenin’ step toward her, and my breath gets stuck in my chest, because he looks murderous. I gotta hand it to Nefta though, she doesn’t back away or back down. She stands her ground as he looms over her, and my skin prickles with the angry power that seems to waft around him, suckin’ the light right out of the room.

  “Where’s the last one, Nefta?” he asks in a lethal tone.

  Delta is watchin’ with bated breath, her eyes as wide as mine.

  Nefta blinks up at him, and for a split second, I think I see her hand shake, but then she just curls it into a fist, so I can’t be sure. She swallows hard. “I don’t know.”

  I’m not sure how it’s possible, but Taz’s anger spikes up even more, and now there’s no doubt that he’s lettin’ off some kind of demon mojo, because a shadow gathers around him, coilin’ with sinister fury.

  Every single hair on the back of my neck stands up at attention, and my hand shoots out to grip Alder’s arm where he’s standin’ next to me, while Flint’s arm wraps around my waist like he’s prepared to drag me out of the room at the first sign of trouble.

  “Triplets?” Delta snaps, her furious gaze nearly as threatenin’ as Taz’s. “How could you not fucking tell me that I had not just one sibling, but two?”

  “And how the fuck could you lose one?” Taz snarls.

  Nefta finally snaps out of her statue-still formation and starts pacin’ around, revealin’ her own anxiousness. “I know,” she hisses. “I know the implications of this, okay? I’ve always been able to keep track of Delta and Medley. I checked in on them every few years to make sure I knew where they were and that demons and angels hadn’t bothered them—made sure that their wards were holding up. But Sable...I lost track of her.”

  Delta and I both suck in a breath at the same time.

  “Sable,” Delta says under her breath, like she’s testin’ out the sound of our other sister’s name.

  “This is unfuckingbelievable,” Taz growls, runnin’ a hand through his blond locks like he’s tempted to yank out every damn strand. “So you’re telling us that you have no clue where our third daughter is?”

  “It’s not like I haven’t looked,” Nefta snaps.

  “Where’d you leave her?” Delta asks.

  “Somewhere in New York. I thought the family was good. Their souls were on the lighter spectrum. But when I went back a few years later to check in, I found out that they’d given her up right after her third birthday.”

  The tension in the room is so thick, Mama could carve it up and serve it for supper. Unfortunately, that thought makes nausea rise up in my throat. My mouth waters with the telltale sign that if I don’t calm the hell down, I’m gonna upchuck all over their expensive hardwood floorin’ and Afghan rug.

  “I...I need to go.”

  Everyone looks over at me at once, and I squirm, backin’ up and slippin’ away from Flint and Alder. Their eyes fill with concern. “You okay, Peaches? You’re looking a little green, and I don’t mean your hair.”

  I shake my head and take another step back, my fingers automatically comin’ up to touch the stones on my necklace as a form of comfort. The last thing I want is to be sick in front of everyone. “I just need a minute.”

  Flint moves to come with me, but I hold up my hands, and he immediately stops. I don’t miss the hurt that crosses over his face. “I’m sorry,” I say, my breaths comin’ in quicker than before. “I just feel like I wanna puke, and I need a moment to think.”

  “She needs a pause,” Delta says decisively, comin’ forward.

  I nod my head because, yep, a pause on life is exactly what I need right now. I need everythin’ to slow down so I can catch the hell up.

  “I got this,” she tells my demons, pattin’ Alder on the shoulder. “You guys stay here and come up with a plan for Morax. I’ll take Medley to my house. We can talk there without all the mayhem.”

  Flint and Alder shake their heads. “No way. It’s not safe,” Alder says.

  “She needs to stay with us,” Flint adds.

  “She’ll be safe,” Rafferty cuts in.

  “Yeah, we’ve warded Delta’s house up the ass,” Echo says.

  “Yep,” Delta confirms. “And I know how to shift places now, so if anything happens, we’ll be back in a wink. Besides, look at us,” she says, comin’ to stand next to me. “We both have scythes. We’re badasses.” She shoots me a reassurin’ smile. I manage to give her a shaky one in return.

  Alder’s butterscotch eyes go to me. He hands me my scythe, the blades once again gone. I immediately feel better with it in my hand. “You want to go with Delta to relax for a bit?”

  I love that he checks in with me, and my heart warms. “Yeah,” I answer honestly. Standin’ in this room with eight demons and an angel is intense, but knowin’ two of them are your biological parents and one your sister, is overwhelmin’ to say the least. The thick cloud of rage in the room isn’t helpin’ anythin’ either. I feel like fury and pain are slowly sinkin’ into me, and all my body wants to do is hurl it out.

  “Okay,” he says quietly, just like that, givin’ me what I need.

  Flint comes forward and places another kiss to my hair before pressin’ his phone into my hand. “Use this if you want to talk to us.”

  I slip it into my back pocket. “Thanks,” I murmur.

  “I’ll take good care of her, I promise,” Delta tells them with a smile.

  “Don’t stay long,” fire-haired Jerif tells her.

  “Don’t boss me around,” she counters. “Medley and I have twenty-eight years to catch up on. You guys figure out the shit with Morax and our missing sister. The two of us are gonna take a fucking well-deserved pause.” She turns back to me. “Come on.”

  With one more look to my guys, I follow Delta out of the room and down the stairs. I might not know her, but she’s right. I absolutely need a damn pause right about now. And to not puke in front of Flint and Alder. I can’t puke in front of them before we’ve even had sex. There’s no way they could get that image out of their heads.

  So even though I just met Delta two hours ago, I find myself immediately relaxin’ as soon as I follow her out of the room.

  Maybe it’s a sister thing.

  I guess I’ll find out.

  23

  Delta and I walk in silence all the way out of the mansion until we’re in the middle of the driveway. I wonder idly if her house is within walkin’ distance or somethin’ when I remember she talked about shiftin’.

  “Y’all can’t shift inside your house?” I ask curiously.

  She shakes her head. “Can’t shift within a mile of a portal to Hell,” she explains. Her hand comes down to hold mine. “Ready?”

  I nod numbly, tryin’ to take deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth, while my other hand grips my scythe. I felt better, lighter, as soon as we left the mansion, but I’m still tryin’ to digest the load of information that just got dumped in my gut.

  “Whoops, forgot about these fucking things,” she says, lookin’ over her shoulder. Her wings ruffle, and she grimaces. “Sorry, wings,” she says grudgingly to them. At my
curious expression, she shrugs with an embarrassed smile. “We had a rough start. I’m still getting used to them.”

  “Gotchya,” I reply, because I don’t know what else to say.

  Delta does somethin’ then, I’m not exactly sure what, but I can feel it. She closes her eyes for a moment, and a sort of haze falls over her.

  “What was that?” I ask, shudderin’ off the weird feelin’ it gave me.

  “Glamour,” she replies, openin’ her eyes. “Gotta hide these from human eyes before we get to my neighborhood, or my neighbor Maria will get an eyeful. She smokes weed, but I don’t think she smokes enough to shrug off big purple wings.”

  Alder sayin’ purple wings flashes through my mind again, and my lips press into a thin line.

  “Alright, here we go.”

  As soon as her hand squeezes mine, the breath whooshes out of me as the world bleeds out. I don’t even have time to blink before Perdition Estate is gone, and then we’re suddenly standin’ in a backyard with patches of grass and mud, encased by a chain link fence.

  “Here we are,” Delta says as she drops my hand with a smile. “We’ll walk around to the front so the neighbors see us go in,” she tells me as I follow her to a gate at the side of the yard.

  She has to kick up the bottom of it with her foot, and she struggles with the stuck latch, but she manages to yank it open so we can walk through. “I’m gonna fix that,” she tells me.

  I nod absently as we walk around the side and I take in the house. It’s cute. Just a house in the middle of a street, with other houses all around. It’s so...normal.

  “This is where you used to live? Before…”

  “Before I answered a job listing and got told I was a demon? Yep,” she answers with a smile as we step up to her front door. She makes a show of stoppin’ at the door and jigglin’ the knob, makin’ it look like she’s strugglin’ with a key, even though she’s not usin’ one.

  At the sound of a door squeakin’ open, we both look over, and Delta raises a hand. “Hey, Maria!” she calls.