“Diel was right,” Bara said for only his brothers and Maria to hear. “This is something to see.”
Gabriel stepped forward, his hands up so they could see that he held no weapon. “Welcome.” His voice carried like thunder around the empty graveyard, joining the midnight call of the resident owls.
A final hooded person stepped out of the van— in total, there were six of them. As his eyes focused on them, he could see that they were shorter and slimmer than him and his brothers.
Women, he realized. They were all women.
Confusion wrapped around him. Who could they be? The one at the front, who he assumed to be Dinah, studied Gabriel and his brothers. Her dark eyes landed on Maria behind Raphael, and her eyebrows pulled down.
“Dinah?” Gabriel stepped forward away from his brothers. The women immediately stood ready for an attack. Gabriel held up his hands higher. “No one will hurt you here,” he said, and she stepped closer.
When she stopped, she stood only feet from Gabriel. “Your collared man attacked us while we were rescuing a child from a Brethren priest’s basement.” Gabriel blanched. The blunt statement hit him as efficiently as any bullet to the gut ever could.
Gabriel felt the tension from his brothers behind him. He heard the sound of agitated feet moving on the ground.
“The Brethren?” Gabriel said.
Dinah rolled her eyes. “Let’s cut the shit. Your man told us who you were. The Fallen. Brethren-branded sinners who were taken away as kids and exorcised for years under the Brethren’s fucked-up hands. Ring any bells?”
“And what do you know of the Brethren?” Gabriel said calmly.
“About as much as you, I’m guessing.” Dinah shrugged. “Maybe a little bit more.”
Gabriel studied her. “The child?” he asked, his mind sticking on that one piece of information. “You freed him? Where is he now? Is he safe?”
Dinah was silent for a few seconds, then said, “You kill them? The Brethren? That’s what you do? That’s how you get your revenge for what they did to you?”
Gabriel looked across at the six hooded women. “Where’s Diel?” Almost as if his collared brother had heard Gabriel’s question, violent thrashing came from inside the van.
Gabriel knew that Dinah smiled under her scarf by the way her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’d say he’s just woken up.”
“You drugged him?” Gabriel said.
“He told us to.”
“How do you know the Brethren?” Gabriel asked directly, feeling his brothers’ patience growing thin behind him.
Dinah spread her arms wide and gestured to her sisters. “We are the Coven. A sinful band of heretics. Witches, occultists, pagans and, best of all, the devil’s favorite whores.” Gabriel’s stomach rolled as the confession spilled from her mouth. “Raped, tortured and tried by the Brethren Witch Finders for most of our childhoods.” She paused. “Sound familiar, Goldilocks?”
Gabriel’s eyes closed, and real, disabling pain cut through his body. In that moment, his greatest fears were realized.
There were more of them.
The Fallen … Holy Innocents … It wasn’t just happening at their old school and parish like Gabriel had hoped. A one-off band of depraved and disillusioned priests. A small sect whose reach was limited and resources few.
Gabriel looked back at Maria and met her eyes. Her gaze was shining with tears. But Gabriel could see they weren’t tears of sorrow. Maria would be feeling that, too—she was empathetic and kind-hearted—but these tears were scalding with anger, fast with fury.
The sound of Diel thrashing harder came from the back of the van, and one of the hooded women broke from their grouping to walk over to it.
“Let us,” Gabriel said. “Despite his rage, he won’t hurt his brothers.” The sound of the van doors opening was followed by Diel’s false promise of, “Let me out of the van, Noa. I won’t hurt you.”
Dinah glared at Gabriel assessingly. She finally nodded her permission, and Gabriel walked past her and the other women. He realized that Diel had grown quiet, and when he reached the back of the van, he saw why. The woman who had opened the van had removed her hood and scarf, revealing her true self. She had a long pink braid that fell to the middle of her back, and dark brown eyes. She flicked a glance to Gabriel, but then refocused on his brother inside the van. Gabriel followed her attention and found Diel inside a heavy-duty cage. And he didn’t even acknowledge Gabriel. His monster’s blue stare was firmly fixed on the pink-haired woman.
Gabriel reached into his pocket and retrieved the collar’s remote. “Diel,” he said. Diel whipped his head in Gabriel’s direction. “You’re okay?”
But Diel ignored him, refocusing on the woman, his nostrils flaring and a deadly smile spreading on his lips. Gabriel frowned, but when he looked at the woman, she was staring back at his brother, not an ounce of discomfort in her gaze.