“Best not to rile those four up more than strictly necessary,” Lilith cautioned.
“Why would Pan think he sacrificed anything by slicing off something as paltry as horns?” Malice gritted out, focus on Asher now. “His power is in his blood. In his very essence. Not in something that’s little more than the equivalent of a toenail.”
Several sets of eyes turned his way. “Pan sacrificed his power to save Rosie and the rest of us. Gabriel brought him back, but without his horns he’s basically a pretty mortal.”
Malice stared at Asher for a long beat and then laughed. “Pandemic isn’t a demon. He’s the first and only of his kind, a pureblooded horseman. We”—he gestured to the other horsemen—“were gifted our mantles. Pan was born. A combination of Odette and me. He might have chosen a demonic form, but he was never truly a demon.”
Asher let out a surprised huff of laughter. “Oh, he’s gonna be so pissed when he realizes that.”
“So he isn’t powerless, he just thinks he is?” the tattooed wolf asked.
“Precisely,” Gabriel said. “Or, more to the point, he is powerless because he believes it so.”
“Like the duckling!”
The vampire, Thorne, shot the wolf an incredulous look. “Kingston, what are you on about now?”
“The ugly one. He thought he was ugly because he lived with ducks and was told he was a duck his whole life, but then one day he learned the truth. BAM! He’s a fucking swan!” Kingston looked at Gabriel expectantly. “Right, leather feathers?”
“Actually, that’s not far off.”
Kingston nodded, looking pleased with himself. “Ergo, Pan acted like a demon because that is what he grew up believing. His power and, consequently, his perceived weakness, were always just in his mind.”
“Wow. That might be the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Celibacy agrees with you.”
Kingston glared at the tiny witch with acid-green curls. “I’m gonna tell Sunday you said that, Moira.”
Moira blinked at him, slowly and obnoxiously. “You think my bestie is going to disagree just because she likes riding you like a pogo stick?”
“We’ve established that Pan will help keep Sunday safe, but how are we going to get them back?” Caleb asked. “Miss Belladonna has already attempted two locator spells with no success.”
Moira nodded. “It’s similar to the reaction I got when searching for you, Merri. A block keeping me out.”
“Well, who has them?” I asked, finally confident enough to speak out.
“Lucifer, obviously,” Alek snarled.
“It can’t be him. I was just with him. There’s no way he’d have had time.”
That seemed to bring everyone up short. I flushed under their combined scrutiny. Clocking my discomfort, Sin wrapped his arm around my waist and silently lent me his support. In a similar fashion, Grim’s hand ghosted down my back. I knew it was him because his touch was so different from the others.
“If not Lucifer, who?” Moira asked.
“The horsewomen.”
Gabriel’s words took the attention off me but sent a pit to my stomach.
“We banished Death. She got sucked into her own spell.” Kai’s body all but vibrated with rage as he glanced at my horsemen. “You four were there. You saw it for yourselves.”
“We did, that’s true. But a spell can’t do much more than delay us for a while. We are beings made for a very specific purpose.”
“And what’s that?” Kingston asked, glaring at Grim.
“The apocalypse.” Grim’s fingers trailed up my spine until he rested his palm on the nape of my neck.
“They’re like bloody cockroaches. They keep coming back,” Thorne grumbled.
“Okay, fine. But what do they want with their kids?” Kai asked.
