5. Ansel

Ansel

H ealing deep wounds like the ones I received in the Catacombs always takes me a few days. When I woke up in my bed, the first thing I did this morning was check the phone, which was on the nightstand. Two and a half days had passed since demons ripped out two of my wings, which wasn’t strange to me. Even the intense hunger I felt was normal. Healing requires a lot of nutrients and other shit I never bothered to learn.

My demon is snarling in anger, the loss of two of our wings is a sore spot for him. Having four wings always made him feel superior. He was like a peacock, proud of his wings. I was proud of my wings.

While I’m not happy about the situation, there’s nothing I can do about it, and moping around will only distract me from my duty as a Guardian. Olivia’s powers are finally awakening, and no doubt the enemy will be looking for her.

After a quick shower and an inspection of my back—which is still tender, the muscles not yet fully healed—I go to the kitchen to wolf down some food. On my second plate of bacon and eggs, I pause, finally realizing something is wrong.

Who the fuck got me home?

I don’t think Olivia can drive since she always used a bike as a teenager, and I doubt she learned while she was a pornai for Carlos or Jason. Maybe she called the others? I hope she didn’t get in trouble because of me.

When my hunger is sated, I finally notice the state of the kitchen. It’s an absolute mess, with piles of unwashed plates next to the sink while empty boxes of pizza are stacked next to the trash bin. We might not be the cleanest guys ever, but we managed to maintain the house pretty well. I can’t imagine a reason why chores are not being done.

The house is also quiet. Too quiet.

I use a towel to wipe the grease off my fingers, then stand.

“Olivia?” I call out as I leave the kitchen.

There is no reply, so I go room by room, yelling the names of my blood-brothers, but it doesn’t take long to realize there’s no one here. Where the hell is everyone? Could they be in the Lair?

They wouldn’t fucking dare get Olivia all settled in without me.

I go to the stairs at the end of the hallway that lead to the top floor, and climb two at a time, ready to blow up on my blood-brothers that they didn’t wait for me to wake up to be present when Olivia took her first steps into the Lair. But the top floor is as quiet as the rest of the house, with no evidence that someone has been up here recently.

Maybe they are out on the pasture, getting Olivia acquainted with her new horse. I wonder if she already chose a name for the filly.

After I grab my coat from my room, I make my way to the pasture. There’s no one here, but what makes me stop in my tracks is the dark red snow. There are also tire tracks all over the place.

I crouch and examine the snow. Is this blood? What the fuck happened here?

Dark thoughts rush to my head. What if someone attacked us while I was asleep? The link with my blood-brothers and the bond with Olivia are still in place, so I know they are alive, but where the fuck are they? And all the blood in the pasture….

Before I let the panic settle in, I take my phone out from my pocket and dial Tyson’s number. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for the blood. The forest is close to the farm, and maybe a wild animal got on the property, and the others killed it. But the tire tracks?

Tyson’s phone is out of range, so I try calling the others but it’s the same with Jasper and Mose, while Rueben doesn’t pick up.

I yell in frustration before I return to the house to grab the car key so I can look for them in the city. On my way to the garage, I stop by the armory closet to grab some long-range firearms. On the knife shelf, I see Olivia’s daggers. I run my fingers across the blades, making my demon purr in delight. He is as strange as ever. Even after years of having one, I can’t get used to it.

The day Olivia figures out how to use the daggers will be joyous indeed. She still has no clue what she can do. Neither do I, but I can’t wait to learn. Of all the hellstars, she is the strongest. Or at least that’s what Ladybug told me. A crease forms between my brows, trying to remember my lessons with Ladybug.

She who wields the Twin Daggers of Power is the strongest of her sisters; her war cry will call the Outcasts and their allies to face the Nephilims and all who stand with them when Armageddon begins.

Unfortunately, Ladybug disappeared before she could teach me everything about my duty as a Guardian or about Armageddon. I was supposed to protect Olivia when I didn’t understand the consequences of my actions, which led to her being abused for years. Failing her again is not an option.

The armory closet is next to the stairs, making it hard to hear people entering the house, and Diva’s barks coming from the living room take me by surprise.

“Thank fuck they are home.” I let out a huge breath of relief before leaving the closet.

The sound of my boots on the wooden floor makes Rin come out of the living room with his handgun pointing at me.

“You’re finally awake,” Rin says before putting his gun away. “We were starting to get worried about you, especially with your back all torn open. I’m glad to see you are better.”

Rin’s tone is different, raspy, like he has been yelling; his eyes are full of rage, his face a mask of pain.

“What happened to you?” I ask.

Rin’s eyes flash red. “The Elders finally agreed to war against the Dukes,” he replies before walking back into the living room. “Unfortunately, it took yet another bloodshed for the Elders to understand that war is the only way to put the Dukes in their place once and for all.”

Some serious shit must have happened while I was asleep, I think as I follow Rin.

Jasper is sitting in an armchair, with his left leg—which is in a cast from the knee down to the ankle—propped on the coffee table. Did he fall and break it? What if Speckles kicked him? I insisted more than once to do a follow-up on his knee, but he is so stubborn about doctors, too.

The TV is turned on and Rueben and Steven are pretending to watch some random show. Diva is sitting on the couch next to them while Tyson is standing in front of the fireplace, his back to me.

Seeing their long faces, I can’t stop myself from asking, “Who died?”

Tyson’s shoulders tense. “Levi, Isak, and Gavin.”

He is joking, right? He has to be.

“You’re lying,” I say.

Right?

I look around the room. Rin, who is cleaning his gun at the table, curses under his breath while the others stare into space.

“It can’t be real,” I say, hoping it’s a bad prank. When no one answers, I ask, “What in Lucifer’s name just happened?”

Rueben snaps his head in my direction and proceeds to tell me what happened on the farm the night Olivia and I went to the Catacombs. The details are gruesome, and learning how men who I considered friends died makes my demon want to seek revenge.

The blood on the pasture belongs to Levi and Gavin and Isak.

Before Rueben can finish telling me what transpired the night Senator Deymar came here, I blurt out, “Where is Olivia?”

Rueben turns white as a piece of paper. “Didn’t you hear what I told you about Mose? Senator Deymar took him!” he tries to deflect the question, but I’m not having it.

“I heard you, but right now, Olivia is more important. And more vulnerable. Mose knows how to take care of himself. But Olivia? She’s still a delicate butterfly.”

Tyson turns on his heels—a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes, while all his fingers are wrapped in bandages. “Where the fuck is my woman?” he growls at Rueben.

Jasper—who tries to stand but falls back in the armchair—snarls, “You said she was home taking care of Ansel, and that’s why she couldn’t come to the hospital to see us.”

Rueben doesn’t reply, and a look of guilt appears on his face.

“What the fuck did you do?” I snap at him.

Steven rubs his temples. “She ran away.”

A growl leaves me, anger rising inside me like a hurricane. If I lose control and let the others see my true form, it will get me killed.

Then, who will protect Olivia? Asking myself that is enough to gain some self-control.

Jasper swears out loud.

I take two long strides to get to the couch and grab Steven by the front of his black hoodie. “Say that again,” I demand.

Rueben puts his hand on my arm. “Steven didn’t do anything. It’s my fault. I didn’t say anything because I thought I would find her by now.”

Tyson navigates his way to the couch while I turn my attention to Rueben. “What the fuck did you do to her this time?”

Rueben looks like he wants to argue, but then he says, “I took all my frustration out on her. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I failed everyone, so I wanted to blame someone else for it. Everything was still fresh, and then she entered the house. I yelled at her…. I didn’t think she would run away.”

Rin puts his gun on the table. “You told her to get the fuck out of your house. What did you expect?”

Steven exhales loudly. “We all snapped at her. I would have kept my mouth closed, but she said something about bringing back my brother, and I saw red in front of my eyes.”

I punch Rueben so hard that I break his nose. His head snaps back. “I fucking swear that I’ll kill you if something happens to her,” I sneer. Rueben covers his nose with his sleeve. I look first at Jasper then at Tyson—who stops close to the couch. “Did you two know about this?” I’ll fucking beat the shit out of them if they had anything to do with Olivia running away. If she really ran away and they didn’t do something else to her.

Tyson removes his sunglasses with the back of his hand. The whites of his eyes are pinkish. Jerking his chin in Rueben’s direction, “This son of a bitch hit me so hard in the head that he damaged my optic nerves. I had to go to the hospital so the doctors could save my vision. I can see, but most things are blurry. It will take a few weeks until my vision is fully restored. If I knew Rueben planned to kick out our woman, I would have stayed home, even if that meant I’d be blind.” Lifting his bandage-covered hands in the air, he adds, “Not to mention that Senator Deymar broke all my fingers. You think I wanted her out there, where her father or brother can find her and harm her?”

“The Senator made Tyson smash my left knee, and I had an emergency operation. Just like Tyson said, I would have rather lost my leg than lose her,” Jasper grits his teeth in frustration.

I run my fingers through my hair. This is a fucking nightmare. “What exactly did you say to her, and why the fuck aren’t you out there looking for her?” I ask Rueben.

It is Rin who replies. “He said that it was her fault… Senator Daymar killed Levi and the others.”

My demon growls. I growl. I’m going to rip Rueben’s tongue out and make him eat it.

“And that Tyson and Jasper didn’t want to see her. He did look for her, but so far, He hasn’t found her. He only stopped to check on you,” he says to me, “take care of some shit here at the farm, and bring Tyson and Jasper home from the hospital.”

Tyson gets into Rueben’s face. “Why the fuck do you always have to get between Olivia and me? Wasn’t it enough that you spiked her drink and kissed her by force when you knew she was my girlfriend? That you stole her panties, or that you filled my head with shit about her for years? I fucking forgave you then because you are family, my brother, but this time I won’t.”

Jasper’s eyes go wide, probably shocked to learn that Olivia and Tyson were together in the past. It’s not something he likes to talk about, and he made Rueben and I promise not to mention their relationship to anyone. I kept my mouth closed when it came to Olivia, but Rueben was always the one to point out to Tyson what a cheating whore she was or how their entire family is dead because of her. I can see why this has affected Tyson in the long run, especially since his mother was a bitch.

Rin and Steven leave the living room, giving us the space we need to sort through our shit.

Rueben opens his mouth but closes it a moment later, and I wonder who the fuck made him the group’s leader. Not even Jasper is fit for such a role. Who then? Tyson? Mose? I’ll worry about it after I find Olivia.

“How is it my fault Olivia sucked off Jason’s friends after she accepted your proposal?” Rueben finally says.

“I don’t fucking care! Didn’t I make that clear already?” Tyson yells at Rueben. “I love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I want eternity with her! You knew this, and even so, you told her that I didn’t want to see her. Can I know why the fuck you hate her so much? Apart from the obvious reason.”

Rueben clenches his teeth. Knowing he will never admit the truth, I say, “Because he’s in love with Olivia, and he wants her only for himself, regardless if the rest of us also love her.” I’m not sure if Mose is on the same page as us, but if that’s not the case, then it’s only a matter of time before he also falls in love with her. Tyson glares at me while Rueben shakes his head, still in denial. “But he is too much of a coward to admit it. At least I’m willing to share her because I know it is the only way to make Olivia happy. Since she is….” I stop myself from revealing the truth about her true nature. Not that they won’t find out tonight, but I need to make Rueben tell the truth for once.

“Share her?” Tyson snarls like he hates the idea, but there’s nothing he can do about it since Olivia belongs to all of us. To Rueben, he says, “That’s why you were always jerking off using her panties? Answer, or I’ll fucking beat you until you do!”

Rueben locks gaze with Tyson. “Yes, it’s true. Is that what you want to hear? That I fucking liked Olivia from the moment I saw her, but she was too young, and I had to keep my distance. Ansel did the same. But not you. No! You had to go ahead and seduce her and steal her from me! So yeah, I kissed her, but I never spiked her drink! And you know what? I never once regretted stealing her panties.”

Tyson trembles with rage. “No wonder you hate her. Not for what happened with Camila, that was bullshit, but because she chose me, not you. Because she loved me, not you.”

“Fuck you! You went ahead and seduced her. That’s why you started reading books, so you could use fancy words to make her think you are smart and have her fall for you. I never stood a chance,” Rueben snarls. “I really do hate her for killing Camila.”

“I started reading books because I wanted to have the same hobbies as her. And to know how to talk to her because she was fucking smart for her age!” Tyson snarls back.

I need to tell everyone the truth. I wanted Mose to be here as well, but this can’t wait anymore. Once I let my blood-brothers know what Cirro dug out for me, we will go find our woman and Mose and bring them home.

“I’m not sure what’s going on, but let me get this straight: all three of you were in love with Olivia at the same time when she was a teenager?” Jasper asks.

I fall on the empty armchair. “Yeah.”

Rueben huffs but doesn’t deny it.

“This is so fucked up,” Jasper points out the obvious.

“And this is only the tip of the iceberg.” I pull out my phone. “Some stuff might be hard to watch, but we owe it to Olivia.” To Tyson, I say, “You better sit down.”