Infernal Father of Mine (19 page)

"Nothing like brimstone-scented body
spray."

"Yeah. Our attempts at possessing Seraphim
ended with the annihilation of the demons who tried it."

"Seraphim sound like the perfect meld between
physical and spiritual."

"Not perfect," he said, "but darned close. The
only demons powerful enough to possess someone like Daelissa are
afraid to try."

"So they decided to use humans and demon spawn
as cannon fodder," I said.

"You hit the proverbial nail on the head,
son."

I opened my mouth to protest his use of the
word "son", but the word actually sounded kind of good right
then.

I felt a tremble in my body, and thought it was
fatigue at first. My mind ran in circles with the information I'd
learned. My father was the first demon spawn. I already knew my
mother was the first angel to set foot in the mortal realm. But to
find out even demons were afraid of Seraphim scared the padooky out
of me. I shuddered grimaced at the pain it caused in my
back.

My nerves knotted. My stomach tried to twist
into an origami swan. This wasn't just exhaustion or aftereffects
of the painkillers. The future terrified me. Daelissa was gathering
her old allies, the vampires. She wasn't stopping there. Now she
was going so far as to draft the Arcane Council into her lineup
through Cyphanis Rax, the man running in the special election to
replace Shelton's late father, Jarrod Sager. If the demons were
afraid of the Seraphim, what hope did the rest of us have for
defeating them?

"You're right," I said. "I wasn't ready for
this."

"And I haven't even told you half of it yet,"
David said with a rueful look. "I was the first demon to meld with
humans, but I wasn't the last."

"Who are the others?"

His lips curved up. "You've already met two
other originals."

"I have?" I hadn't met many Daemos in fact, the
only ones I remembered were—I felt my eyes widen.

David gave me a knowing look. "Your sweet Aunt
Vallaena and my soon-to-be bride, Kassallandra."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Aunt
Vallaena and Kassallandra are originals?"

He nodded. "Mine and Kassallandra's mates were
killed in separate battles during the war. Two other houses of
Daemos were annihilated by Seraphim assassins. Kassallandra came to
me and demanded I marry her to unite our houses or she would defect
to the Seraphim."

Why would she do that when the Seraphim are a
threat to humans and demons?"

"Kassallandra didn't merge with her human. She
had the woman poisoned and took over the body at the moment of
death." His lip curled into a snarl. "The melding of human and
demon souls tempers our demon edge. Even after all this time, she
doesn't have a shred of humanity in her, though she's good at
hiding it."

"What did Vallaena think about this marriage
proposal?" I asked.

"Like me, she is also a scion of Baal and my
true sister, but he actually has some small respect for her." He
looked away. "She told me it was my duty."

"Obviously you never went through with
it."

"No. I met Alysea, fell in love, and the
Desecration ended the war and tore her from me." He ran a hand down
his face. "I thought she was gone forever."

"She's back," I said.

His eyes diverted from my gaze, and he spoke in
a whisper. "I know."

I still didn't understand. "Then why do you
insist on marrying Kassallandra?"

"When the war ended, House Slade was reduced to
a handful of members. Vallaena and I decided it would be best to
hide my identity as the Paetros, and assigned two of my offspring
as the patriarch and matriarch of House Slade. I pose as their
son." He chuckled. "You ask me why I'm marrying Kassallandra, and
the answer is very simple. If I refuse her hand again, if I don't
agree to unite the two most powerful Daemos houses and declare her
my right hand, she will enter negotiations with Daelissa and create
an alliance with the enemy."

His words sent a shock into my heart. "That's
crazy! Why would she help Daelissa?"

"Power, Justin." He blew out a long breath.
"She has no concept of love, nor does she care for others. All she
wants is power."

"At any cost?" I couldn't believe how
short-sighted she was. "Daelissa will betray her the minute the war
is won."

David nodded. "Kassallandra's demon sire is
second only to Baal in Haedaemos. She sees herself as having less
power than me, and is obsessed with proving to her sire that she
can be the most powerful spawn in Eden."

I face-palmed. "Good lord. Does everyone in the
universe have daddy issues?"

He burst into deep throated laughter. "At least
she didn't become a stripper."

A snort burst from my nose, followed by a
chuckle, each jolt of laughter sending knives of pain into my back.
"Oh, ow, ow, ow." I gritted my teeth to stop the laughter. "You're
an asshole, but at least you have a sense of humor."

He knelt next to me, pulled up my shirt, and
looked at my back. "The skin is red and swollen. Maybe I should get
you some antibiotics."

"Some anti-bacterial cream would be
nice."

"You should take a painkiller. You're pale as a
ghost." He grabbed the bottle of pills, took out one and gave me a
bottle of water.

I popped the pill and swallowed.

My father arranged some blankets on the floor.
"Lie down, and I'll be back in a jiffy, okay?"

I nodded, lying on my side, and resting my head
on a bundled blanket.

My father placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're
going to be okay."

His words sent a calming comfort through me.
The world blurred as the painkiller kicked in. I tried to say
something, but my lips no longer wanted to move.
Thanks,
Dad.

Once again, strange dreams of floating orbs
haunted my sleep. I woke up face-down on a small mattress. I felt a
warm smooth hand caress my cheek. It reminded me of another amazing
dream I'd been having. I looked up and saw Elyssa smile down at
me.

"Hey, baby," she said, and kissed me, her lips
soft on my skin. "Sleep well?"

I nodded. "I was having such a bizarre
nightmare. My father and I were captured by these crazy Exorcist
people, and then we had to run from dinosaurs and vampires through
the Gloom."

"You're home with me now."

"I'm so happy," I said, and rolled over to pull
her into my arms and kiss her. Dull pain raced up my back and
snapped me fully awake. Elyssa's raven hair hung like a curtain
over me.

"Baby?" she asked, as her face started to
melt.

I stifled a shout of surprise as I remembered
where I was. Wincing, I pushed myself upright, and told the dream
Elyssa to give me some space. My eyes caught the face of my mother
and the flash of blonde hair as she vanished into the darkness
around our circle of light. David's guilty eyes met
mine.

"You certainly dream of your girlfriend a lot,"
he said with a smile that failed to hide a hint of sadness in his
eyes.

A lump caught in my throat. Here we were, two
men trapped in purgatory, both dreaming of the women we loved. "You
miss her, don't you?"

His lips pressed tight, erasing the smirk.
"Every minute of every day."

"For the first time, I think I can say I know
exactly how you feel."

A nod. "I think this is one of those father-son
bonding moments. Maybe we should share a beer to commemorate the
occasion."

I shuddered at the memory of the last time we'd
shared a beer. "Maybe you should stop using humor to deflect real
emotions."

"You took that page right out of my
book."

I groaned, and with great effort, pushed to my
feet. "Guess you could say I'm a chip off the old demonic
block."

"More than you know, son."

A stab of pain hit me in the gut. "You can't
just throw that word around casually. It used to mean something to
me, you know."

"It still means something to me."

I shook my head. "Remember the whole, 'he will
serve and die' convo?"

"Of course, but—"

"Yeah. I don't think the word 'son' carries any
weight with you." I shrugged. "Then again, the universe is full of
daddy issues."

"Don't forget dad jokes," he said.

"Like the time when I was five and you
convinced me roaches were aliens, and when I tried to talk to one,
you squished it and said we'd just started an intergalactic
war?"

He beamed. "Gotta admit it was
hilarious."

I pinched my eyebrows. "I lived in constant
fear of roaches for months after that. I thought they were all out
to assassinate us."

David roared with laughter.
"Really?"

"Yes, really, you jackass. Worst dad joke
ever!" I looked around for something to throw at him but a glimmer
of light caught my eyes. I looked up as the space between the
columns of the Obsidian arch rippled and undulated. A thin line
split the air, and I saw people standing across the
room.

"What the—" my father stood next to me. "Isn't
that the Grotto way station?"

"Yes," I said. "And those are people. We can go
home!" I watched as a man riding an elephant guided it toward us
and the arch. "Let's go."

"Hang on," David said, and stepped toward the
portal. He stopped in front of it, and reached out a tentative
hand. His palm pressed against the air. "I don't think we can go
through."

I limped over, each step sending sharp pains
into my body from the slice across my back. My fingers probed the
glimmering gateway to freedom, and found solid resistance. "No,
this can't be."

"What a tease," David said, and pounded a fist
against the invisible barrier. "Son of a—"

"Remember, use that dad humor to deflect the
anger," I said, unable to resist curling my lip with frustration. I
shouted out the worst curse words I knew, and started waving my
arms at the man on the elephant. "Help! Send in the Templars, we're
trapped in the Gloom!"

Neither man nor elephant seemed to hear a thing
as they walked straight toward us. In fact, I couldn't hear them,
even when the elephant curled its trunk upward as if trumpeting.
Just when it looked like man and beast were about to hit us, they
vanished.

"It's like looking through a mirror," I
said.

The looking glass vanished, leaving the room in
a still dimness. As if to put an exclamation point on the
depression blooming in my chest, the aether fog rolled in on us,
thick and suffocating.

A moment later, another portal winked into
being, and we watched helplessly as a family of laughing people
floated toward us on a flying carpet until they vanished. Judging
from the line of people waiting across the room, I had a feeling
the portal would be opening often. Sure enough, we witnessed
everything from a pack of werewolves to vampires dressed in
business suits go about their travel in the real world while we
could only sit by and watch.

There was at least one positive to the torture.
It was daytime in the real world. The Exorcists had tossed us in
the Gloom in the late afternoon. We'd been here less than
twenty-four hours, but it felt like days.

Once I got over the bitter taste in my mouth, I
decided to be productive, and analyzed the situation. As a young
girl wearing a sari rode a Bengal tiger the size of a car toward
the arch, I realized something interesting. Each time the arch
activated, the aether fog retreated, leaving a bubble of space
around the traversion zone within the large silver
circle.

A metal spear whistled past, bounced off the
portal, and sent a ripple across it. I flinched, and grunted in
pain thanks to the wound in my back. I looked back at David. "Did
you really think a spear gun would work?"

He snarled, teeth flashing fiercely, picked up
a ten-pound weightlifting plate, and hurled it at the portal. It
bounced off and clanged to the ground. "This is really pissing me
off."

"I'm not happy about it either," I said. "It's
like the frigging Gloom is taunting us."

The faint echo of laughter reached my ears,
followed by voices.

David and I looked at each other.

"Sounds like a group of real people," he said.
"I don't think they're dreams."

David's eyes ran over our little campsite and
widened. "Go hide," he said, bundling my mattress and throwing it
into the fog where it vanished from view.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We don't want them to know we're
here."

"Why are they coming here?" I asked.

He jabbed a finger at the place where the arch
usually stood. "What do you think?"