I had to bite the inside of my cheeks so as not to chuckle. But all amusement faded the minute I felt the weight of Conrad’s stare. He had just been reanimated by one of the inquisitors. After examining the still screaming Elliot with something akin to arousal, he shifted his attention back to me. The assessing look he gave me, despite his face remaining unreadable, seriously gave me the creeps. In that instant, he was undoubtedly thinking maybe he would want to work with me so that he could indulge in his baser instincts. The fool didn’t understand that I would only reserve this type of brutal punishment for true monsters, not concoct false accusations against an innocent just to sate my twisted urges.
Thankfully, Paulus turned to Ewan to wrap up this mission.
“Go home, Prefect. Tend to your people. We will expect weekly reports about their progress and recovery,” he ordered.
“Yes, Grand Master,” Ewan replied with the appropriate level of deference before hesitantly looking at me. “Thank you for everything you have done in rescuing my clerics, Sis… ter.”
His awkward hesitation in calling me Sister, as would have been normal if not for my formal title, should have hurt. But I had made my peace with the fact that I was no longer a part of this Order. Even though no official declaration had been made to that effect, anyone could see that I was something else now.Something they didn’t understand. And people always feared the unknown.
“It was my duty, Prefect Ewan. I wish you and your Sanctum more peaceful days ahead,” I replied politely.
He gave me a stiff nod, mumbled his farewells to the others and left with his inquisitors carrying the remaining women, the others having already been brought back safely to the sanctum before we got locked in here.
“We must talk,” Paulus said in a gentle tone.
I nodded even as I gave him a sad smile. “We will. Soon.”
To my shock, he returned my smile and caressed my cheek in a paternal fashion. He had never been the type for physical displays of affection, least of all in public. My chest constricted with the realization that this was a form of farewell. Although there were countless ways for us to keep in contact, if only through messages, our days of going on missions together, training, or fighting side by side were effectively over.
He dropped his hand, turned around, and walked away. The other Templars followed him quietly, Martha pausing to glance at me with a sad smile that I also interpreted as a farewell. While she’d also had quite a few reservations where I was concerned, she always treated me kindly out of the blind loyalty she had for Paulus. If not for the darkness lurking inside me, I believed she and I might have grown very close.
As soon as they exited the dungeon, Haroth reappeared in the room—or at least made himself visible. The brat was casually sitting at the edge of the pit, admiring Elliot in the throes of agony with a bemused expression.
“He may not agree with it right now, but I’m actually doing him a favor by delaying,” Haroth deadpanned. “But you two love birds can go. I’ll keep watch over him until I take him on a trip.”
Lyall snorted and I shook my head at the Grim Reaper. He was seriously growing on me. My mate drew me into his embrace, and I melted against him.
“Time to go home, my love.”
“Take us away,” I replied, tightening my arms around him.
And away we went.
Epilogue
Lyall
As expected, within days after we liberated the clerics, the Curia gently but firmly informed Eleni that she was no longer welcomed in their Order. My initial anger at what I perceived to be bigotry quickly faded, in no small part thanks to Paulus giving us a different perspective.
Just like with politics and large corporations, appearances played a huge role in how the public perceived an organization and how legitimate they considered them to be. The Church built itself in large part on the idea of casting out demons and uplifting the divine. Having become one of the most prominent figures among the Inquisitors over the years, my mate could no longer represent the Order without undermining their image due to her transformation.
Her demonic heritage couldn’t be denied, not that she wanted to. Initially, I thought she would contemplate using some form of glamour to hide her newly acquired physical traits. Instead, my Eleni proudly displayed them. At first, I wondered if it was a kneejerk reaction, an act of defiance against those whomight try to shun her for what she was. Then I realized that she truly was at peace with herself.
In many ways, I believed that my siblings and their mates played a huge part in this smooth transition for her. We were all weird in our own rights, the sons of a goddess and powerful immortals, each unique in our own ways. They welcomed her with open arms. But the women undoubtedly had the biggest impact. Ronika and Kali both stopped being fully human as a result of them bonding with my siblings. My Eleni was never truly human to begin with. She only spent years trying to convince herself that she was. And now, through my beloved brothers’ mates, she got to see how you could still be a formidable force for good even as an oddity.
Watching the friendship blossom between her and Kali seriously warmed my heart. Now that I had embraced my divine light, my bond with Pharos significantly tightened. He enjoyed playing big brother and teaching me how to use my new abilities in the most efficient fashion. Therefore, that our mates would develop a close sisterly bond couldn’t be more perfect.
The fact that Kali was a badass blood mage and necromancer dedicated to demon hunting made them an even greater match. I actually had to worm my way into joining them when they would follow a lead about some abomination terrorizing a village or family.
That said, while the Church had officially severed ties with Eleni, unofficially, they still remained very much connected. The only difference was that now my beloved got to choose whether to take on a mission or not. They could no longer command her to do so. But some situations proved far too delicate for the Church to officially get involved but were also far too dangerous to remain unaddressed.
At first, it upset me how suicidal some of them appeared to be. I even began to wonder if it was their roundabout way oftrying to eliminate her. Eleni quickly set me straight on that front. Yes, I had a tendency of always assuming the worst about people, especially when their actions could negatively impact my soulmate’s welfare. But she made a good point that together, she and I possessed the kind of power that none of the members of their Order could rival. Although they didn’t know anything about my true affiliation, they understood that we had access to a formidable network of allies and informants.
Anyway, I loved fighting crazy shit and jumping into the type of messy situations wise people steer clear of. Divine light or not, partial angel or not, I was still a bloodthirsty fiend with a tendency towards sadism. These wild missions allowed me to channel that dark energy for positive outcomes. And my beloved matched that energy.
Fuck, how I loved her!
For all that, my mate still struggled at times adjusting to her new self. It wasn’t that she disliked or had issues with what she was, but rather the fact that she was walking blindly into all of this. Unlike me, Eleni didn’t have siblings or parents to guide her through this journey of discovery.
