Page 2 of The Monsters We Are
Wynter frowned at the elderly woman. “I don’t see why they would be. You didn’t run, you flew in your crow form. And you only completed half the race.”
“I got lost.”
Delilah snickered. “What happened to your avian navigation skills?”
Hattie shot the Latina a scowl. “I turn into a crow, not a homing pigeon.”
Wynter chuckled. The old woman hadn’t gotten lost during the race at all. Nope. She’d headed home so she could finish her book, and they all knew it.
Dancing on the spot, Delilah said, “Damn, I love Halloween.”
So did Wynter. And, as it happened, so did most of Devil’s Cradle—something she’d learned when a schedule of events was posted through the letterbox of their cottage in the underground city. The residents didn’t wait for the 31st of October to come crawling around; no, they began their celebrations on the first day of the month. All kinds of weird and wonderful events took place during the run-up.
Well, preternatural beings tended to like Halloween. It was a day for monsters, after all. And Devil’s Cradle was full of various species of preternatural, which was why it was also known as “the home of monsters”. Not a comforting nickname, no, but it didn’t stop people regularly coming here to seek the Ancients’ permission to stay.
Wynter and her coven—all of whom had a price on their head—had done that very thing. It wasn’t at all unusual for Ancients to give refuge to fugitives and outcasts. The seven immortals were outcasts themselves. They were banished from Aeon many moons ago after another breed of immortal they resided among had slaughtered their kind and dumped the only survivors here.
The price for sanctuary at Devil’s Cradle was steep. Residents had to sell partial rights to their soul to one of the Ancients, who would then brand them and provide them with shelter and protection.
Wynter wore such a brand on her palm—a “C” surrounding a triangle that had a snake slinking through it. The “C” stood for Cain, an Ancient who not so long ago marked her a second time when he claimed her as his consort. The seal looked as if it had been stamped on her inner wrist with a hot iron, so there was nothing subtle about it.
As of late, Cain no longer owned only partial rights to her soul. She’d sold all rights to him in exchange for immortality so that she could live a full life with him. It also meant that her soul was now once more anchored to this realm.
She had lost said anchor when she’d died as a child. If a deity hadn’t back then turned her into a revenant—a sort-of-undead witch that hosted a monster and was essentially an instrument of vengeance—Wynter’s soul would still be in the netherworld. Otherwise known as purgatory for preternatural beings.
“Apparently, there’s a crazy build up to Halloween every year,” said Xavier. “Some residents considered skipping it this time round, since things aren’t exactly great between the Ancients and the Aeons right now. War could be declared on us at any moment. But the majority of the townspeople figured that that was all the more reason to take the time to celebrate everyday stuff.”
“I half-expected people to resent that we’re all stuck in the middle of the immortals’ bullshit, but they don’t,” said Delilah. “They’re wholly pissed at the Aeons for invading their town. Twice. Our side won, sure, but people still died. Everyone’s pretty much hoping that Adam will retaliate so they can get rid of the threats once and for all.”
It would indeed be beyond wonderful if Adam met his doom like the other three ruling Aeons had recently done—it was a long time coming, in Wynter’s fine opinion. “I think he’ll come. He’s got to bepissedthat not only is Abel dead but he was returned to Aeon in pieces.” Ha.
Cain had almost killed Abel once before long ago, but it wasn’t so easy to end the life of an immortal, and a healer had gotten to Abel in time to save him. It hadn’t worked that way the second time round.
“If he doesn’t come, do you think the Ancients will storm Aeon?” asked Anabel.
They likely wished they could, but the truth was that they were stuck here. The four ruling Aeons had formed an invisible cage surrounding the previously barren land that was now known as Devil’s Cradle.
The Aeons were actually Cherubim, but most people weren’t aware of that. Similarly, they weren’t aware that the Ancients were Leviathans. Both breeds were—along with the now-extinct Behemoths—the first creations of God. He’d assigned the four lesser deities Kali, Nyx, Nemesis, and Apep to watch over them. But . . . the deities had taken their eye off the ball, and many deaths had followed when the three breeds of immortal turned on each other.Twice.
The result? God turned his back onallof them, including the deities. And so he’d done nothing to free the Ancients from their jail. And why had the Aeons imprisoned them in such a way?
Short answer: They were assholes.
Long answer: They didn’t like it when people were more powerful than they were, and so they’d find all sorts of reasons to justify why they might then erase their existence.
Their main motivation was that they believed Cain had no right to exist. His parentage was . . . a dark matter, to say the least. He wasn’t merely a Leviathan, he was the son of Satan. Yup. She was the consort of the honest-to-God’s Antichrist.
Words he’d once spoken to her flitted through her mind . . .
“I am in fact one of the biggest monsters that will ever live. That, baby, is the Curse of Cain. And you, pretty witch. . .you now share in that curse, because I’ve claimed you as mine. And I’ll never fucking let you go.”
That was fine with her, though, because she didn’t want him to.
“I’m not sure what they’ll do,” Wynter prevaricated, unable to share much of the information that Cain had trusted her with.
Once, she’d believed that the Aeons and Ancients were the same breed of immortal because they were not only all part of the first civilization but were similar in many ways. They lived underground, were weaker if out in the sun, possessed impressive abilities, could sleep for long periods of time, and had long ago lost the ability to procreate.
But she’d recently learned from Cain that although the two camps of immortal were similar, they were actually two very different breeds. Hence why the Aeons didn’t share the Ancients’ ability to purchase souls. Though most people tended to believe the false rumor that the Ancients only possessed the ability because they’d sold their own souls to the devil.