Chapter Twenty-Four

Valentin

The depravity in the Erebus family is no secret. It festers in our minds like a sickness. My father was so fucking demented he drove my mother away. I haven't seen that woman since I was thirteen. But I had my Uncle Julian. He helped raise me. He was always the one who would comfort me after my father would beat the shit out of me. But Julian has his demons too. And right now, I'm looking at one of them. And I'm not sure what the fuck I just stumbled into.

"You're fucking a ghost?" I immediately help myself to a glass of his twenty-five-year aged scotch. "Isn't she a little old for you?"

He snickers and gives me that look he used to give me when I mouthed off. "Watch it, Val. I won't have you disrespect Jessamine in my house."

Has he lost his fucking mind?

"Have you forgotten about her luring Maureen into the woods so Zeke could torture her? Or how she locked Libra and Villette in the basement of the ballroom at the winter solstice? I know you like dangerous pussy, Uncle, but that chick is certifiable. And we're pretty sure she's behind every bad fucking thing that's happened between our families."

He snatches the glass out of my hand mid-sip. "It's a little early for booze, Val. Jessamine is done with all of that. I've been helping her come to terms with Silas being gone. And the fact that nothing she does is going to bring him back."

It annoys me when he treats me like a child. I'm not that cowering little boy anymore. I peer down the hall to see Jessamine lingering in his bedroom doorway. "I'd like to hear it from her if you don't mind."

He sighs and beckons for her to come forward. "It's all right, love. Come on out."

She's not what I imagine a ghost would look like. It's not like the movies where they float around all wisplike. No, this chick is as solid as Uncle Julian and me.

"Is this true?" I ask her. "Are you done going after Maureen?"

She nods sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her."

I can't believe this girl has been around for over a hundred years. She seems so childlike. "You realize Maureen is like your great-great niece, right? You shouldn't betray your own blood."

"I know. Zeke promised I'd be with Silas again. I would have done anything for him… but I see that I was wrong. Julian—I mean, Professor Erebus—has made me see how wrong I was."

This just got even weirder. I can only imagine what these two are doing. I look past her and catch a glimpse of restraints on the bedposts in his room. "So I should just take your word for it?"

"You will take my word for it, Val. Have I ever let you down?" Uncle Julian stands protectively in front of his new ghost girlfriend.

He's right. I have no reason to doubt or not trust him. He has shielded me so many times—looked after me my whole life. "All right, Uncle. But she's your responsibility. I'm counting on you to keep her in check."

"Understood." He turns toward her. "Go wait for me in the bedroom. I'll be right there."

Her eyes light up, and she skips down the hallway, obeying him without question.

I snatch the glass of scotch back and knock it down before he can rip it out of my hands again. "She looks at you like a king. Well done."

He rolls his eyes. "Don't judge me, boy. I know what kind of dark and depraved shit you and your friends are into."

I chuckle as I remember the ritual with Felix. "You have no idea."

Julian stalks over to the window and peers out. "I'm going to tell you something that could get me killed. But you have to promise me if I do… you need to make sure you win.

My stomach knots. There's a hushed, ominous tone to his voice that I don't like one bit. "Win what? I'm going to need you to clarify."

His eyes darken when he looks back at me. Between the hard lines on his face, I can see the boyish charm and youth that used to be there. "Holden Graves has called a meeting of the elders. I don't know when, but it will take place at Graves Estate."

Fuck. They haven't had a meeting in years. Mostly, they handle business on the phone or via teleconference. The ritual side of Nocturnus has become overshadowed by their greed. It's become more of a business than a spirituality.

What the fuck are our fathers up to?

"Then I'll tell you our plan, Uncle. We plan to retire them soon. To restore Nocturnus to what our ancestors intended."

"And what is that, Val? The lines are blurred more than ever now." Julian concedes and joins me in a glass of scotch.

"Power and greed are two very different things, Uncle, and yet they get confused all the time. For us, Nocturnus is about ritual and sacrifice. It's about connecting to that power that makes us nearly immortal. Untouchable. And then Holden crossed the fucking line."

I clench my fists to keep my hands from shaking. Just the mere mention of what happened that night at Graves Estate sends my temper flaring with the need to murder something. "Our fathers betrayed those vows the second they used Maureen as a whipping post to quell their own perverse desires."

Julian hangs his head. "They should not have touched her. The interest they've taken in her is concerning. It will only make things worse with Penny Blackwell."

I sigh and run my hands through my hair. "Agreed. It's up to us to fix this. Let me know if you find out when they're meeting. Atlas wants to pick them off one by one, but I think having them all in the same room will be better."

"Are you going to kill your father, Val?" Julian's eyes brim with tears.

Fuck knows I've dreamed of it since the very first time he hurt me. Every time my arm would start to heal, he'd break it again. "No… I don't know. But I can't speak for the others. And I won't stand in their way."

He nods. "It's none of my business, but did I see Felix Crane leaving Nocturnus House last week?"

The days tend to blur together now. For the past few weeks it's been ritual after ritual. Felix and Maureen have both moved into the house. The new recruits were moved to the guest quarters. After what happened with Zeke, we keep the initiates separate from Maureen now.

"He's joined us, yes," I quip. "There's not much else to say about it. It's not my story to tell."

"I'm sure his family is upset. The Cranes have always been nomads. Felix's father made it very clear decades ago that there would never be a Crane in Nocturnus."

I shrug. "That's their fucking problem. Felix is a grown man. He came here on his own and chose to be a part of this."

My uncle stalks over to his desk and pulls out a box. He smooths his hand over the top of its velvet lid. "You should have been my son, Valentin. I'm sorry that you weren't. Life isn't fair like that sometimes."

I swallow down the lump in my throat. I would give anything for him to be my father. But my mother chose the wrong Erebus. "You were there as much as you could be. That's all that matters."

He lifts the lid and pulls out a shiny gold skeleton key. "I'm giving you the estate in the woods. The deed has already been transferred into your name. It's the one thing I own that your father didn't steal from me."

My fingers tremble around the key as I take it from him. The cabin in the woods is my safe space. Which is why I was so furious when my father showed up there that day to threaten us. "Thank you, Uncle. You have no idea how much this means to me."

He pulls me in for a hug, patting me on the back. "You have to win, Val."

The affection almost brings me to tears. It's not something I've had a lot of in my life. "I promise you, we will."

He clears his throat to stifle the rising emotion in his voice. "I'll be in touch as soon as I find out when the meeting will take place. Be ready."

I stalk to the door to leave, but something else needs to be said first. I turn around and see that he's holding his composure together with a short thread. "I'm happy you have Jessamine now. You deserve to be happy too."

I don't wait to hear his response lest we both collapse into piles of sniveling sobs.

With only a week away from the Spring Equinox Ball, the compulsion to be done with all this grows. Spring means the end of the semester. And a long summer break. I'd like to spend that break between Maureen's legs and not looking over her shoulder to make sure no one is about to stab her in the back.

I text everyone to meet me at Nocturnus House before throwing Mary Shelley into drive.

We're so close now.

Once I have everyone at the dining room table, I tell them everything my uncle shared. Riot paces around. He's quiet and pensive. I can practically see the wheels in his head spinning. Felix fiddles with the tattered pages of his copy of Edgar Allan Poe's collected works. The cover is so faded he must have read that book a thousand times. Atlas's eyes glow bright like seafoam, like a deadly storm about to wipe out an entire country.

"So we wait to hear back from Julian." Maureen is the first to break the silence.

Atlas slams his fist down on the table. "And if we don't? We should retire them one by one now. Get them alone."

I shake my head. "They've been expecting that. I would. But to ambush them when they are all together? They won't see that coming. We'll catch them off guard."

"Men are cocky that way. It's always been our downfall. History has proven that time and time again," Felix drawls. He looks very much like a professor today with his tweed jacket and brown slacks. He takes his reading glasses off and rubs his eyes. "When you say retire… what does that mean? Murder?"

Riot leans over the table toward him, their faces inches apart. "Death is too easy, my new friend." He pushes up his sleeves, displaying his recent marks. "We will strip them of their sigils. Carve them right the fuck out. It's a worse fate."

Felix's eyes light up. "Like returning a canvas back to its original state… Fuck, that's beautiful."

"Yes, very poetic. And painful and messy. I'm going to enjoy every second of it," I snicker.

"So am I," Maureen snarls. "I can't wait to see the look on Holden's face when I'm the one standing over him with a dagger this time."

Atlas's chair groans as he stands up from the table in a rush. "If we're going to ambush them, then I need to start working on a new batch of poison. I'll be in the greenhouse if you need me."

Maureen rushes over to him and grabs his arm. "I'll come with you. You can teach me some more."

The hardened look in his eyes softens the second she touches him. He can't say no to her. He doesn't want to. I can see it in the way his body angles toward her like a magnet.

Atlas takes a deep breath and presses his forehead to hers. "Okay, pretty girl. Come on."

They clasp hands, giggling as they saunter off.

I also notice the way Felix watches the whole exchange. "You will have moments with her too," I say.

He chuckles in disbelief. "She's barely spoken to me since the night of my initiation."

Riot sits down across from him and leans back in his chair, exhaustion taking over his face. "You make her nervous. Maureen doesn't trust that easily. Just give it time."

"Seduce her with more poetry, Professor," I tease.

Felix smiles, but there's a sadness that lingers in his eyes. "Yeah, I'll try that. Thanks."

Poor guy. He looks like a wounded puppy every time she's around. So different from how the rest of us were when we met her. To be fair, we initially hated her for being a Blackwell. But still, Felix might be more obsessed with her than we are.

Riot tilts his head to the side in that way that he does to appear warm and inviting. It's rare so I enjoy witnessing it when it happens. It's like his soul isn't completely black after all. "Do you have everything you need here, Felix? I want you to feel at home."

Felix smooths his hands over his poetry book again. "It's better than the graveyard," he teases.

I laugh. "How are your students reacting to you?"

"Well, some of them started eye-fucking me even harder. And others won't look at me at all. Maureen sits as far away from me as possible to avoid the gossip, but it's already out there. The only other professor who will acknowledge me in the faculty lounge is Dorian Harker."

It didn't take long for students to spot Felix coming out of Nocturnus House. And then there's the new sigils on his neck… he's not really a turtleneck-wearing kind of guy. Rumors spread like wildfire in this place. Everyone knows he's one of us now.

Riot snorts. "I'd expect nothing less. Harker's got some skeletons of his own. He's got no business judging you. Fuck the others. No offense, Val, but your uncle has about as much charm as a plank of wood."

He's right about that. "True. But he's mostly keeping his distance because of us, not you, Felix. If anyone's watching him, they need to see that he can be trusted with information from the elders. Hanging out with us is not going to do him any favors."

Felix nods. "Makes sense. Now, I don't feel so bad about him slighting me."

While I lack human empathy mostly, I can't help but feel sorry for Felix. He came here on a whim with hearts in his eyes, got dragged into a feud between psychos, and quickly became the talk of all of Tenebrose for sleeping with a student, who now barely gives him the time of day.

"Be patient with our firecracker," Riot quips as if reading my mind. He probably actually fucking can now at this point.

"She likes impulsive gestures," I add. "Try a different approach."

Felix gets up from the table. "Thanks. I'll work on it." He winks and heads upstairs. Now that guy is full of fucking charm. I'd drop my pants for him in a second if he asked me to. I can only imagine how he is in the classroom getting all passionate about poetry and fated mates and shit.

Riot snickers. "I can smell your desire from over here, Val. He's got you wound up a bit."

I tug at my collar in jest. "Fuck, who doesn't wanna be scolded by a hot brooding professor."

He nods in agreement. "I guess he's got us all wound up. Especially Maur. She's going to need to lean on his power."

"She will. I saw the way she looked at him after he stopped her meltdown in the church. She trusts him. But I think that scares her."

Maureen is our firecracker, our dark queen, but she's also a twenty-five-year-old girl with an abusive mother, a grandmother who abandoned her, and a drunk for a father. She's stronger than she once was, but she still holds onto that scared little girl. The one who ran for her life through the woods last year in Wickford Hollow. The girl who Riot found half-naked and broken in the bathroom.

Riot nods again. "He has a way with her."

We're her cage. Her ruin. But that's what she craves. Felix gives her too much space. If he can figure out how to lock a piece of himself inside her, then she will give him everything. I just hope it happens soon. We're gonna need his bond when we crash the elders' party. It's going to take all of us to win.