Santiago’s face went blank, which I took to mean Azrael was consulting the Potestas. Soon enough he returned to question me further.
“If you had to speculate as to your mother’s intentions in plotting this treachery, what would be her grand design?”
It wasn’t much of a reach for me to determine it. It was all she’d spoken about for centuries. My brother had even echoed it in conversation.Parousia, I almost uttered, but it was considered poor taste, as most angels didn’t care to acknowledge the Grigori prophecy.
“She wants to unite the Grigori tribes under her direction and conquer the human realm.”
The unmentioned aspect of Lena’s plan was the dismantling of the Imperium, Azrael’s own hand-picked Nephilim army of foot soldiers. Without a corporeal presence to execute his missives, Azrael’s power was severely stunted.
There was another long silence while I waited for Azrael’s instruction.
“The Potestas commend you for coming to us with this information, knowing it was a risk to yourself and your human companion. We ask that you carry out your mother’s plan so that we may uncover the traitor in our ranks.”
“You want me to murder humans?” I asked incredulously. This was not the order I’d expected.
“Slay the demons. Injure the humans. We understand your accuracy may err.”
I felt Azrael’s attention drifting as the details of the room faded and blurred. He’d still not answered my most vital question. “What of my lover’s soul?” I pressed. “He’s an innocent in this scheme.”
“When this is over, if he survives, present him to me for judgment.”
If he survives…
“And will you bless this union?” I would not abandon you again.
Santiago’s form dissolved before me. Azrael had departed. I felt my conscience tugging me back. I’d been gone too long.
I reclaimedmy body with a shudder and a gasp as my eyes flew open and I ejaculated into a warm, slick receptacle. I sat up in bed to find your naked body bowed before me, the sheet at my ankles, and Lucian observing us from across the room. After draining me of my seed, you sat up and wiped your mouth carefully. Your focus was deadly, and your heart was racing. Terrified.
“Your brother wants to speak with you,” you whispered. “I asked him to let me wake you.”
I dragged you to me and kissed you ardently, grateful for your quick thinking. You moaned and deepened the kiss, buying us both some time.
“If you two could wrap it up,” Lucian said. I climbed out of bed and retrieved the trousers I’d discarded earlier in the night. I searched my brother’s face for any signs of suspicion, but the excitement in his eyes was of the erotic nature.
“Your human seems more than capable in the sensual arts,” Lucian commented as I followed him down a long hallway to the atrium where I assumed our mother was waiting. “His talents are all any of the servants are talking about.”
“He’s very generous,” I agreed. I didn’t care for the way Lucian spoke about you, as if you were an object and not a person with an independent will of your own. It was the philosophical divide between us that couldn’t be bridged. Demons like Lena wished to enslave the human race, as evidenced by her brothel-like, servile atmosphere. Her servants might not be bound by chains, but their souls were under her command. If I threw open the doors and told them to go, they wouldn’t.
When I arrived at the atrium, I discovered the room had been utterly transformed. The white curtains had been replaced by similarly textured drapes in hues of purple and gold. Matching in tone were a plethora of couches and cushions scattered around the room, no doubt for guests to partake in carnal pleasures. In the center of the room she had erected a raised dais to act as a stage. I presumed this would be the location where you and I would perform, each of us playing to our own strengths and talents.
“What do you think?” Lena asked, taking pride in her decorating abilities.
I took in the array of statues depicting erotic acts between gods, humans, and beasts.
All the room needed was a hundred or so warm bodies in varying stages of undress to make the tableau complete.
“A brunch would have sufficed.”
She laughed in a deep, husky tenor. “When I entertain, I make sure my guests are offered every hospitality.”
That was certainly true. From the decadent food to the warm, succulent bodies to the abundance of fresh blood, there was no bodily craving my mother didn’t seek to satisfy.
“They will come for you two or three at a time,” she told me, detailing the staging of my slaughter. “Lucian and I will seduce them. They’ll be slow to react but not unarmed.”
“Orlando must be kept safe.”
Azrael’s words haunted me,if he survives…
