Chapter 187: Chapter Four

Timber

“It grew?” Ethan gave me an odd look, his green eyes flashing as his fangs descended like they were in danger and he needed to attack anyone and everyone. Then again, I was the one who was at the vampire’s house with his wife Genesis and kids. “What do you mean it grew?”

But Ethan was the historian of the group.

Next to Cassius, he was the only one who would know something. He wasn’t as old as me, but it was close, plus who truly kept track when you’d been alive so long?

I let out a long sigh then showed Ethan my palm. A black seed tattoo was still in the middle like always, moving, pulsing like it was a living breathing thing.

And then the small green branch had strained toward my thumb and was now wrapped like a ring around the base.

The door slammed open, Mason stomped in looking every inch the weird werewolf Watcher that he was.

A werewolf king with the blood of the Watchers running through his veins making him powerful as hell. Who could keep track of all the supernatural shit going on in that place?

Dark hair hung past Mason’s bare shoulders as he walked barefoot into the house, his wife Serenity, a relative goddess, close by.

I tensed.

Anything to do with goddesses made me want to run in the opposite direction. Mainly because it was my one weakness.

Or had been.

Her.

A daughter of Danu.

Twice a year she was allowed into this realm, twice a year I would touch her, and now… now the twelve goddesses of old were here permanently.

Because times were a changing.

Lovely.

Humans were no longer safe from the supernatural. And I had a sick feeling that it was only a matter of time before myth became reality.

“Serenity.” I bowed my head in respect, but didn’t stand. It pissed her off, which I loved more than she would ever know. She still had human blood in her body, but she was wholly goddess, wasn’t she? You could tell by the softness of her skin, the way she smiled, the sizzle of power that erupted from that same smile.

She skipped over to me and pulled me in for a hug. “I missed you.”

Mason growled.

“Sheath your claws.” I rolled my eyes, returning her hug. “I missed you too, I’ve been busy at the bar and with… whatever the hell this is…”

She released me and looked down at my palm. “Wait, did you add to the tattoo?”

“If I wanted to add to any of the tattoos on my body, do you think I would go for a tree branch? I mean honestly…”

She gave me a shove and then reached out and pressed a finger to the middle of my palm, pressing the seed as if it were a button.

A groan escaped my lips as the pulsing and itching got worse. The color faded from the green only to return brighter.

“I tried.” She gave me a forlorn look. “I mean if none of us can remove it, your only hope is Cassius, but it’s kind of cute, you know? It builds character for the big bad Demon King to have a fruit plant on his palm.”

I wiped my hands down my face. “Call it a fruit plant again…”

“FRUIT PLANT!” Alex came barreling into the room and then spread his arms wide. “I’ve been waiting for this day my whole existence, the day you go soft.”

“Does he have to be here? Right now?” I asked Ethan.

“He lives here.” Ethan sounded as horrified as I felt, that a male siren would be anywhere near any living breathing thing.

“Uncle Alex, Uncle Alex!” Ethan’s twins stumbled into the kitchen, for being half vampire they were growing at alarming speed, already walking and talking like three-year-olds at only a year. Frightening to say the least. “Come jumpy with us!”

“Yes, go jumpy Alex. Maybe you’ll jumpy so high up in the sky you stay there.” I said dryly.

He laughed and chased the kids out followed by his very pregnant wife who glared in my direction. “If he flies high in the sky you better be ready to play dad,” Her eyes narrowed in on mine. For an elf she was quite violent when pregnant.

And aggressive.

“I love you too.” I winked at Hope as she made her way outside yelling at Alex to stop aggravating the trees under the trampoline. The earth shook a bit, pebbles grumbled.

All in all, a typical day in the life of a siren.

“So?” I squeezed my hand while Ethan pulled out another dusty book and dropped it on the kitchen table. “Am I going to turn into a plant? I don’t think I could survive if I grew fruit.” I tried to joke, but inside, I was petrified.

Which was alarming since I’d never once in my existence ever been afraid.

But now? I was drowning in fear.

Fear that the monster inside was finally coming out to play.

Fear that the borrowed soul was going bad.

Fear that my actual soul, the one that had been restored to me, was somehow dying, or fighting a losing battle against all the rest of the darkness within me that was overpowering every good decision, every good part of me.

I could feel the darkness closing in, and I didn’t know how to stop it. All my life I’d wanted to do one thing.

To be redeemed.

What cruel twist of fate would make it so I could taste that sort of existence only to have it ripped away from me?

Mason grabbed another book.

Serenity did the same.

Silence ensued as each of us read dusty book after dusty book, looking for clues in the only way we knew how.

Our old texts.

Each book told a story of our races.

Like I said, everyone had a Bible, this was ours.

Ethan shook his head. “Nothing recorded for the vampires.”

Mason made a choking sound. Just as the door swung open revealing Tarek. “Sorry for barging in.”

The guy pulled out a chair and put his feet up on the table.

Mason shoved them off.

Tarek put them right back on.

Brotherhood seemed fun.

“Something you need?” Mason asked.

“Nope, was just too depressed to go back to the dungeon aka the demon’s house.” He grinned at me then said, “Just in case you weren’t aware that’s where you live.”

“Thanks,” I bit out. “Because I often get confused about my own identity.”

Something sizzled against my skin and then it felt like claws were ripping me from the inside out.

I shifted to keep from bringing attention to myself, to the pain, to what was happening inside my own body.

Tarek shrugged. “What are we doing?”

“Reading.” I drew out the word. “If you want to help all you have to do is open one of these,” I slid one of the texts toward his feet and pointed. “And sound out the really hard words.”

He flipped me off.

I ignored it and grabbed another text from the pile.

Nothing about tattoos so far.

Nothing about goddesses cursing demons either.

I cringed just as the air around us started to pulsate. “I hate it when he does that.”

Cassius just appeared in a flurry of purple feathers, jet black hair, and the smell of ambrosia.

With an irritated sigh, I waited for him to sheath his wings. He tucked them back and then they completely disappeared like they were a figment of our imaginations.

But we all knew, they were there, each feather was soft with razor-sharp edges just pulsing to draw blood.

“I doubt you’ll find anything in these.” He shoved one of the texts away and stared at me, then grabbed my hand. “Incredible.”

“Thanks, I’ve always wanted to hold hands with an angel.”

“Angels and demons,” Ethan said under his breath.

It earned him another sigh.

Was that all I was capable of, then?

My mood darkened just as ice spread through my veins, compliments of the guy still holding my hand like we were minutes away from an awkward prom photo.

“Strange.” Cassius examined my hand closer. “The ice doesn’t chill the tattoo, only the skin around it.”

“So you’re saying I’ll have frostbite everywhere but where I want it?” I nodded. “Fantastic, I’d say it’s been a great day, but…”

Cassius’s eyes flashed white. “We’ll figure it out. The good news is we have time, remember? We’re at a standstill with The Watchers, and everything seems to have gone back to normal.”

The Watchers were all fallen angels. Wonderful folks with way too much magic and a huge chip on their shoulders.

Mason had given them all they’d wanted: the ability to listen to the heavens and hear the music of creation on a daily basis with the promise that if they behaved they’d be reunited once and for all.

It was a wonderful fairy tale I still had trouble believing.

Because if the worst of the worst could be welcomed into heaven.

What exactly did that say about me? About my race?

The thought haunted me.

It made me question everything about myself, everything about the world I knew, and I hated not knowing answers.

“The Watchers,” Mason said in a gruff voice. “One of them may know…”

Cassius gasped and then doubled over, the entire room dropped forty degrees. I sucked in a freezing breath as Cassius gripped me by the shoulders.

“The hell?” Ethan jumped to his feet while Cassius held me in his grasp like he was minutes away from slitting my throat. “Cassius? What are you doing? It’s Timber.”

“The sun.” Cassius’s voice shook the house. “Who houses the sun?” And then his eyes turned black, hard as stone as he whispered. “Ra.”

And just like that a memory washed over me, it was brief, it was warm, everything I touched turned to light, my armor was red and gold, I marched in front of an army all arrogance and smiles.

~“For your arrogance, I curse you!” Ramesses yelled. I only laughed and shook my head, Pharaohs, idiots all of them! A human couldn’t curse me!

“I would like to see you try!” I let out a deafening roar as my brothers and sisters raised their swords. “This earth is ours!”

So much blood.

So much death.

I lost the light.

I reached for it—but the minute I stepped away from His face, the gift was gone.

As was the warmth in my chest.

Only emptiness.

A punishment for our sins.

For following Those who Watched the humans from the mountain, for choosing humanity first, the Creator second.

For daring to believe we should have more than the idiot humans ruining the very planet we’d been ruling for centuries! ~

I jerked away from Cassius—or at least tried to.

And when he didn’t budge, I let out a roar and slammed my hand into his chest.

He went flying backward against the wall, knocking over a few chairs and creating a giant crack that went all the way to the ceiling.

“What the hell was that?” Ethan was at Cassius’s side in a second.

Cassius’s eyes returned to blue, and they didn’t leave mine as he stood, dusted himself off, and asked what was currently pulsing in my heart, in my head. “What sort of being can shove an angel and live to tell about it?”

I swallowed the dryness in my throat and hung my head. “I wish I knew.”

Mason looked at me through narrowed eyes.

Tarek seemed unfazed.

And the noise was enough for Alex to be stomping back into the house ready to kick ass with everyone else.

I had always been their enemy.

And then their friend.

Now I wasn’t sure what they would call me.

Because I’d just been able to shove away our King.

And everyone knew, demons couldn’t touch an angel in any sort of violent way without getting the shit beat out of them.

Demons seduced.

We drained.

We did not fight.

And if we did, we did it as an army so we knew we would win.

A demon and an angel.

It was laughable.

More confused than before, I quietly stood, grabbed my keys, and left the house.

Feeling darker than ever.

My palm pulsed.

My heart ached.

And for some irritating reason—I thought of her, the beautiful girl with a name like sunshine.

And for the first time in millennia, I felt my face heat.