“Fucking hell, this is hard.” He buried his face in his hands, pressing on his closed eyes with his fingertips, then let them fall as he rested them on the bed next to his hips. “Because of my selfishness, I failed in my duties. Your brother was killed returning from the village outside of your family’s castle. The gods found out, and I was punished.”
“I had a brother?” I choked out as I bolted up into a sitting position, uncaring of my own nudity for the moment. My pulse raced and whooshed in my ears as my hands trembled. For reasons unknown to me, I actually believed his crazy story.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Then I remembered the scars I’d seen on his back when I walked in. “They ripped your wings off.”
It wasn’t a question, but more of an observation. The thought that God or whoever Sabre had answered to could be so brutal made me sick to my stomach.
He nodded.
“They sent me to live an eternity on earth as a mortal. Well, sort of. Since I can’t die and I can’t get old, maybe I’m not really a mortal, but I have to live as one and live with my regrets.”
“Not mortal… not a demigod… what?” I was obviously having trouble keeping up.
“To set your mind at ease in regard to the condom situation, I can’t get STDs because I heal quickly from damage to my body. I doubt I can get you pregnant because I’m not actually a mortal, nor am I still a demigod. I’m simply a husk of my former self. Soleil, I had no idea they would send you here now. I think your memory is gone because they wanted to punish me by having you not remember who I am or anything about us.”
Unable to further process that at the moment, I swallowed hard and asked my next question. “You said you loved me. Did I love you back?” I tore my bottom lip up with my teeth as I waited for his answer.
“I would like to think you did,” he whispered as he stared blankly at the wall.
“Did I tell you I did?”
He sighed and looked me in the eye again. “You married me.”
My jaw dropped, and I found it difficult to breathe. The room was spinning, and I thought I might vomit.
“Holy shit. That’s why I’m so drawn to you, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Possibly,” he replied.
“Why now? I mean, if what you say is true, it’s been hundreds of years since we were together last. What is the significance with now?”
“I’m not sure, but I know it’s a punishment.” His jaw clenched.
“Why do you think that?” As soon as I asked the question, I knew it wasn’t one that I wanted the answer to.
“Because I think a cacodaemon is behind it.”
“A what?” I know I was looking at him like he’d lost his mind, but I couldn’t help it. This was a lot to take in.
Much to my dismay, he explained exactly what a cacodaemon was and how he thought the customer that had asked me out was this demon thing. I wanted to throw up.
“So, you’re telling me this thing feeds off the souls of people it kills, then wears their skin?” I was horrified at the thought. More so because that meant that poor Dirk was dead.
“Yes. There have been several unexplained deaths in the area lately where the bodies were found completely skinned. After the first body was discovered, I thought maybe it was a sick serial killer who had read too much mythology. I mean, I hadn’t had a run-in with a cacodaemon since I was dropped on earth like this.”
“But why do you think it’s using me? Maybe you were forgiven. That whole demon thing could be a coincidence,” I rationalized.
“No. Because when Chains ‘hypnotized’ you, the cacodaemon showed himself.” He stared at me with a mix of agony and rage in his now dark gaze.
“I’m so confused. You told me Chains dabbled in, but was successful at, hypnotherapy. How could this demon have shown itself in my hypnotic state?”
“Well, it didn’t exactly show itself,” he hedged.
“Then what the fuck happened?” I demanded, tired of the insanity of everything he’d just told me.
“He had you at some point. He showed what he’d done to you, and I can assure you I’m going to find a way to kill him for it.”
At that, I jumped out of his bed, ran to the bathroom, and promptly puked.