“I don’t know who it is, but I knowwhatit is,” I answered. My jaw clenched, and I heard the arms of my chair creak under my grip.
“Enlighten us?” Venom’s frustration bled through his question.
“It’s a cacodaemon,” I spat. “If my ‘people’ were the guardian angels, they were the demons. Vile, evil creatures that exist to create pain, turmoil, chaos, and upend humankind at every turn. It’s what they feed off of.”
“Shit. So, what are we looking for? What should we watch for? Because I can promise you, no one threatens one of our brothers without us raining hell down on them,” Venom adamantly promised.
A humorless laugh broke free from my chest as I shook my head in disbelief. “I honestly have no idea because they can look like anyone. They’re essentially like a reverse skin walker or a human shapeshifter. Except in order to appear as a human, they have to actually use a real human—well, their skin,” I solemnly explained.
“Like, they possess humans?” Angel asked as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the tabletop.
“No. Like they wear their skin and essentially become that person—well, they look like them and sound like them,” I explained before placing my hand over my mouth to massage my jaw that ached from clenching it so hard when Chains was explaining what he’d seen.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Blade muttered. “Why couldn’t we just deal with normal bad guys? I mean, yeah, we obviously know people like us exist, but now we’ve got vampires, shifters, witches… and these things. What else is there? Fuck, man.”
“I’m sorry. I would’ve never knowingly brought this to you. Never in my over a hundred and fifty years on this earth did I have any idea I was dealing with something like a cacodaemon. Fucking hell,” I rasped, practically choking on my words.
Leaning forward, I dropped my face into my hands. If one of those malevolent bastards had a grudge against me for some reason, they’d never let it go. They were relentless and held onto their hostility forever. I just didn’t know when or where I’d pissed one off that bad.
A firm grip landed on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Hawk at my side. He squeezed and gave me a pointed look. “We are family—brothers to the death. Whenever that may be. When you spent a year of your life showing us how much you wanted to be a part of this, you proved to us that you were loyal and had what it took. We patched you because you earned the right to be called ‘brother.’ Don’t think that because some stupid asshole cock-demon is fucking with you that it means we’re gonna shitcan you or let you walk away.”
Though it wasn’t a laughing situation, I couldn’t help the little huff of humor that escaped when he referred to my new enemy as a “cock-demon.” His reaffirmation of our cohesive loyalty humbled me, and I counted myself lucky again that I’d found them that day outside of the crappy bar.
“We need to come up with a plan. What Chains saw tells me the cacodaemon knew someone would search her memory. Which means it’s likely he knows exactly where she is and who she’s with. Or he was anticipating this was where she’d end up, and he’s simply toying with us. If what Sabre says is true, he could be anyone,” Venom solemnly mused.
I hated that I had no idea what his endgame was or how long he’d had her, nor did I know exactly what he’d done to her while he had her. Granted, on the other side of the veil, time existed in a different manner, but that only meant he could’ve had her for days, or years. I also didn’t want to contemplate what he planned to do to her in his attempt to torment me.
“Do you need me and Phoenix to stay for a while longer?” Raptor asked. They were set to leave in the next couple of days. It seemed so strange that I had packed my few belongings in preparation to go with them. If Soleil remembered me at all, I’d pack her up too and go with them. I certainly couldn’t expect her to up and move across the country with me without knowing a damn thing about herself or our history, though.
“No, you need to be there. You made a deal,” Venom insisted.
Raptor glared. “It can be delayed.”
“Thank you, but we’ve got this. You have a long trip and a business to get up and running. Phoenix has a woman that he needs to get back to—that is, if he can convince her to keep him. I can’t and won’t ask either of you to stay,” I assured him. Venom nodded in agreement. Raptor rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Sabre, you’re on Soleil duty. You take her to the shop to work with Faith. You bring her back. I’m assuming that in your mind, she’s yours, right?” Venom leaned back, tapping the dark wood with the fingers of one hand.
“Roger that,” I confirmed.
He gave me a slight chin lift in acceptance and understanding. “Better figure out a way to get that through to her. If she doesn’t regain her memory and she’s not interested in you with things as they are, you may have to accept that you will need to let her go.”
I clenched my teeth and gave him a reluctant nod.
Not that I was complaining about being in forced proximity at all. And it wouldn’t be the first time I was on babysitting duty. A while back, when I was still a prospect, Angel had assigned me to Jasmine for a while when their dad was up to his shit. I’d known she was hooking up with Chains, but I kept my mouth shut. Angel had instructed me to ensure her safety—he didn’t ask me to report her every move. Not that I would’ve lied to him if asked outright, but I wasn’t going to rat out Chains and stir up trouble. The way I looked at it, he and Jasmine were grown-ass adults, and what they did was their business. It all worked out for the best in the end.
This time, the job was definitely personal. Over my dead body would anyone, including a cacodaemon, separate Soleil and me again. So, I wasn’t bitching one iota.
Except Venom was right. I needed to find a way to tell her about us without scaring the shit out of her.
“We’ll all stay vigilant for the time being, and we’ll adjust fire as needed. Anyone have anything else?” Venom asked, and I could see he was feeling the weight of being president.
“We’re down to ten active members now. I know at least a couple of the prospects are getting close to their one year. What do we think of patching them?” Kicker asked as he shoved a wad of tobacco in his lip and settled it where he wanted it with his tongue.
“Two are getting close. One still has about three months left, but with the way he’s going, I’m hopeful. He’s a good guy. Strong, loyal, a little crazy—but aren’t we all?” Voodoo replied.
“We also have three hang-arounds that have potential for prospect status soon,” Angel added.
“Let’s watch the two prospects that are coming up on their year mark. Maybe we can patch them early if they’ve completed the necessary tasks,” Venom conceded. “Same with the hang-arounds. We might be able to get them going on the prospect time.”