Chapter 9

9

" Y ou want me to do what?" Gabe asked me, looking at me as if I'd lost all reason.

"I need you to bring Abby and our grandfather here," I told him. "Then Rose. I know I'm asking a lot, but..."

Gabe sighed and rested his head in his hands before turning to look at me. We were sitting on the couch, and I was getting the impression I'd just asked too much of him. "Since when is our sister 'Abby'?" he asked me.

"Um, since yesterday?" I gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged. "Sorry. It kind of just happened. It's a long story. But she needs to know, and she needs to be safe. Our father hit her."

"He what ?"

I sighed again, gave Gabe the rundown on what had happened and what Abby and I had talked about, and then segued into how I'd spoken to Rose. "So I need all of them here. I think we'll have to figure out a safe place for Abby. She's just turned seventeen, so she's got another year before she can simply disappear. I've got less than a month, so it's different for me."

Gabe mulled over what I'd told him before nodding. "You're not wrong," he said. "She needs to finish school, though she may want to try attending a public school. Or we could have her home-schooled if she wants, but it seems she could do with the opportunity to be around kids whose parents aren't members of your father's church." He sighed and got up from the couch, stretching. His wings spread as he did, and I had to duck to keep from being accidentally hit in the face. "Okay," he agreed once he'd straightened himself. "I'll go get them." He looked around the living room. "You might want another couch in here."

Without waiting for a response, he walked out the front door. The view beyond the entryway still showed only darkness on the other side when I tried to look, and I huffed in irritation before returning to the living room. Gabe hadn't been wrong; we needed more seating if he was bringing three more people. I should have asked him to get Stan, too, but it was a bit too late for that.

The seating, though, was a thing I could do something about. I concentrated, and a couch identical to the one I already owned popped into existence, facing the one I'd already placed. Then I realized that the new couch had its back to the fireplace and had to rearrange things. I did it by hand because it would keep me busy, and by the time there was another knock on the front door, the couches had been arranged in sort of an L configuration, giving everyone a full view of the cheerfully roaring fire.

"It's open," I called in response to the knock and grinned when I saw who Gabe let in first. "Oh, thank goodness," I said as Stan walked in. "I was just thinking how I wished I'd also told Gabe to bring you along."

I stood up and was immediately enveloped in my brother-in-law's crushing hug. "I was kind of irritated he came without me in the first place," he admitted. "Gabe figured I needed to be here when he realized this was turning into a full-on family conference." He brushed my hair back out of my face and looked me over. "How are you?"

"Scared," I admitted.

He nodded. "We've got your back. But in the meantime, would you care to introduce me to the charming young lady who bears more than a slight resemblance to you and Gabe?"

I looked over to see that Abby had entered the room, looking vaguely terrified and slightly bewildered. "Abby, come here."

She moved to stand next to me, eyeing Stan. "Is this real? Or is this just a bizarre dream?"

"This is a dream, but also one hundred percent real," I assured her. "This is our brother Gabe's boyfriend, Stan. Um, we grew up being told his name is Satan."

Abby lurched back, the color draining from her face.

"He's nice," I assured her quickly. "The church got a lot wrong."

"That book you all seem to think is law was written by a bunch of humans who didn't know their asses from their faces," a familiar growl came from the direction of the door. Beelzebub stomped into the room and dropped onto one of the couches with a scowl.

"He's harmless," Stan assured Abby, who looked like she wanted to run away.

"Also, he's..." I paused, wincing a little. "He's kind of our maternal grandfather." I looked at Beelzebub. "Shouldn't our grandmother be here, too, if it's a family meeting?"

"She wasn't allowed," my grandfather grunted sourly.

"What?" I exclaimed, sorely disappointed. I still had yet to meet the woman, and this meeting would have been the perfect excuse.

"It's her own fault," Beelzebub admitted. "The powers that be still haven't forgiven her for the phallic art she drew in the bathroom stall in Eden. You'll have to wait to meet her in person."

Abby stared at me, then at our crimson, horned, winged grandfather. "I'm so confused." She gestured at Beelzebub and scowled at me. "How is that our grandfather?"

"Did you seriously just call me 'that'?" our grandfather asked.

"Does it make more sense if I tell you we're part demon?" Gabe asked, ignoring Beelzebub as he came into the room following a woman who looked roughly his age. She wore her red hair in an asymmetrical bob and had glasses that I vaguely recalled were referred to as cat-eye glasses. She also looked bewildered, but less so than Abby.

Abby, for her part, stared at Gabe, who'd just casually changed into his human form. Then she eyed me before turning her attention back to Gabe again. "You have to be a relative," she finally announced.

It seemed he hadn't bothered to tell her who he was before dragging her here. "He's our dead brother," I told her.

"What gave away the shared bloodline?" Gabe asked Abby with a grin. "The fact that Zeke is my mini-me, maybe?"

Abby snorted. "What, you think? And if you're only part demon, does this mean I can have wings, horns, and a tail too?"

I could only stare at her in disbelief as she practically glittered while asking the question. "How are you less bothered about being part demon than I was when I found out?"

"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "This is the coolest thing ever. Our father would have a stroke if he knew."

I rubbed at my face and sighed. "Why don't we all sit down and talk about the important things, like how we make sure Abby will be safe and what needs to happen?"

I ended up on a couch with Gabe on one side of me and Beelzebub on the other while Abby took a seat in between Stan and the woman who had to be Rose. As if to confirm this, she cleared her throat and said, "I'd just like to point out that I'm a mandatory reporter," she started. "I can't not report that your father is abusing you and others."

"Oh, it's not just our father," Abby piped up. "Our mother helped him beat Zeke into unconsciousness. In fact, she was the one who started it." Then she helpfully told Rose the entire story of what she'd witnessed our parents do to me that night. Rose very obviously tried to stay professional through the whole telling but occasionally let the horror she was feeling slip onto her face before schooling her expression again.

"What I need is for them to be put away for what I found in the study," I noted once Abby had wound down her dramatic retelling, then proceeded to launch into that little series of events. "There was local law enforcement in those photos," I said. "The sheriff and the chief. Others, too, probably, but those were the ones I recognized. I didn't feel I could risk calling a national hotline that probably works with local police. I can't trust that they won't involve someone who's a part of it."

Rose nodded. "Okay, I can understand why you feel that way. Here's what I'd like to do: I'd like to report everything I've been told here to state and federal contacts that I know and trust. They'll start an investigation on your parents. I'd also like to see about someone you trust being available for emergency custody."

"Well, Gabe," I said. "But he's dead, so he can't do that."

Our grandfather let out a sigh. "I'm not dead according to the human legal system," he admitted. "I can do it.I suppose this means Byron needs to rejoin society."

I wrinkled my brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"How else are you going to be able to do this?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've told Gabe your paternal grandparents are just as bad, so you can't trust them. The courts can't really complain if you say you tracked down your maternal grandfather, and he offered to take you and your sister in." He frowned. "I'm not taking the other two, though. Those little monsters can go live with their other grandparents."

"Do you have a place to go up there?" Gabe asked, clearly understanding the plan far better than I did.

"Nah, but that's easy to fix," Beelzebub said dismissively. "I'll find a house and have the locals 'remember' I've been there forever. It's easy to do. I'll just be sure to clear my absence with all the appropriate parties this time, so I'm not dragged back."

"Buy a place," Gabe said firmly. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, then gave our grandfather a look.

Grandfather blinked, then answered. "Ah. Yeah, you're right."

I frowned. "What are you two talking about?"

Beelzebub smirked and patted me on the head. "Your brother loves you and is telling me to buy a house you and your sister like so that, should you decide to live out your natural life instead of immediately joining us, you have a place to stay. We can just pretend I died and leave it to you and Abby or something."

I gave him a horrified look. "No! That would cost a fortune, and we can't put you out like that."

Stan laughed. "Money isn't exactly a problem in the underworld, and you deserve to catch a break. If only one of you decides to stay with us, you can give the house to the one who decides to live out their mortal life. Everyone wins."

As I gaped at them, our grandfather continued. "I suppose this means I have to return to my human form for a while. What a pain in the ass. I look like shit in that form."

"Grandma thought you were handsome enough when she was under the impression you were human," I pointed out as I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.

"Gin has shitty taste in men," he grumbled.

Gabe snorted. "No argument there."

Our grandfather gave him a withering look, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, seeming to concentrate. I leaned close to Gabe. "Shouldn't he be able to do that kind of instantaneously?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Gabe whispered back. "I think it's more he's trying to psyche himself up to do something he hates."

"I can hear you both," Beelzebub muttered. Then, his coloring started to change, and his form began to shift. His skin gradually faded from its usual deep red to an unattractive pink, then moved toward a more human shade. As this happened, his wings, horns, and tail seemed to sink into his body. By the time it was over, he was a pale imitation of himself.

Gabe, however, summed up the sight for both of us. "What the actual fuck ?" he shouted. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

It was exactly what I was thinking. Well, Gabe's version had two hundred percent more profanity than mine, but it was close enough. Because, in human form, Beelzebub looked exactly like an older version of Gabe and I.

"Wow," I finally said. "At least now I know what I'll look like as a senior citizen. But if you're immortal, why does your human form look old?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Beelzebub asked. "I can be any age I want, but this is what mortals would expect."

"Seriously?" Gabe asked. "We got our looks from you ? All this time, I thought we got them from Grandma's side of the family!"

"Wait," I said, coming to a sudden realization. "That's not the important part! He called us ugly!"

Gabe and I stared at each other for a moment before we turned to our grandfather, an outraged expression on our faces. "You did! " Gabe yelled.

"No, I did not," Beelzebub said quickly. "I said I look like shit!"

"We look exactly like you , you shitty old man!"

"You two weren't born as demons," our grandfather roared back. "I think I look like shit because I don't look like a demon in this form!"

Gabe narrowed his eyes. "I'm telling Grandma you called us ugly."

Beelzebub paled visibly.

The argument was halted by a peal of laughter from Abby, who looked like she'd been holding it in until she couldn't stand it anymore. She already had tears of mirth rolling down her face.

"I agree with her," Stan said, pointing at my cackling sister. "You three are ridiculous."

"Ridiculousness aside," Rose said, clearing her throat again to get our attention, "I'd like to get you both out of your parents' house as soon as possible."

I considered her point, then shrugged. "Except we need proof, right?"

Rose let out a sigh of someone who'd fought too many legal battles that hadn't entirely been won. "Well, it would certainly help, but I don't like the thought of you being with them any longer than you need to be."

"I want that proof," I said firmly, looking her right in the eyes so she knew I was serious. "I want them to go away forever and never be able to hurt anyone ever again. If they hit me, then they hit me. I know where to go if Gabe needs to save me. Abby..." I looked at her. "I want to leave you out of this part of it. I don't want them to have reason to believe you're helping me if I get caught."

"Denied," she said, all laughter leaving her tone. "I'm not letting you do this without me having your back."

"We're going to need another phone," our grandfather told Stan. "And another card. We can't leave her without protection, and I'll need a day or so to find a place."

"A day?" I asked, disbelieving. "Doesn't house buying typically take much longer than that?"

"Sure, if you can't manipulate memories or records," Beelzebub said with a rough laugh. "But I can do the first, and I know people who can do the second. Don't worry. It'll all be above board. The seller will get their money, that sort of thing. We'll just be manipulating things so it speeds up the process."

I gave him a look of distrust but let it go.

"I'll get in touch with Gabriel for the phone and the card," Gabe said. "He'll be happy to hear another of my siblings has turned out to be a decent human being."

"Can someone explain this to me, please?" Abby interjected.

That led to Gabe pulling out his tarot cards and making them glow as he explained how that would work before explaining that a phone would probably randomly show up, likely in my backpack because it was safe. That went into me telling her about the carnival and Madame Persephone and what she'd done so people couldn't see what I kept hidden.

"Wow," she said once we'd explained everything. "I wish we'd been friends then. I would have liked to go with you."

"I'm kind of glad you didn't," I said. "Not because I wouldn't want to go with you, but because Gabe's apartment building was..."

"In a sketchy part of town," Gabe supplied. "It was safer that you didn't go with him, though Madame Persephone would have also kept an eye on you. Don't worry. I'm positive you'll get to meet her at some point. She has a habit of showing up when you least expect it."

"We can go somewhere sometime," I promised her. "Just maybe not there."

"You live in Southern California," our grandfather said dryly. "I recommend getting on a train and leaving the state."

"It's not that bad," Gabe protested.

Beelzebub scowled at him. "You lived with a dead cockroach painted onto your wall, kid."

"Phred was an excellent roommate. He was quiet, and he never ate my Doritos."

Abby looked at me. "Yes," I said before she could ask. "He's always like this."

Our grandfather snorted. "I hate to tell you, but you're exactly like him. Just with less swearing."

"Fuck you very much, Grandpa," Gabe replied in an all-too-pleasant tone.

"See?" Beelzebub asked us.

"You said finding a residence would take you a day?" Rose asked my grandfather, obviously trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Yes," he said. "I have people who can help me find a place."

"Can you get word to me when that happens?" Rose asked, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. "I'll report this..." She paused. "Well hell, how can I tell them I'm reporting something I heard in a dream?"

"Can you meet us at the library?" Abby asked immediately. "When we wake up, I'll ask our father if we can go again."

Rose thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, that works. Which library is it?" She nodded again after Abby rattled off nearby landmarks for her. "I know that one. They have a conference room that I've used before. I'll reserve it. Zeke, send me a text message letting me know you'll be there. The number you called is also my cell phone."

"Sure," I said, glad we'd come up with a solution so quickly. I was lucky Abby was here. Honestly, I was lucky everyone in that room was there. I finally had people who wanted to help, which I hadn't had before. "And Abby, I think you should have my phone on you when you ask dear old daddy about us going. We can set it to record audio while you do. If he hits you again, we'll at least have proof that he does that much."

"That would be helpful," Rose admitted, "though I can't agree with the choice, given what I do for a living. Obviously, the best-case scenario would be neither of you getting hurt." She rubbed at her face, her expression one of emotional and mental exhaustion. "You'd think I'd be used to this, both because of my own experiences and the things I've seen during my career."

"I think it's probably better that you've never gotten used to it," I said. "It's dangerous when horrible things are treated as normal occurrences. Be horrified. It means you're still human."

She thought about that a moment, then gave a humorless laugh. "You're right," she admitted. "Better to still have my humanity intact."

"If you'd like, I can take you back to your own dream," Gabe offered her. "I'll make sure it's an especially nice one so you get real rest. Besides, I'd like to apologize in private."

Rose let out an honest chuckle that time, shaking her head. "Oh, Gabe, are you still beating yourself up about that? Don't you realize you did me the biggest favor anyone's ever done for me before or since? Because of your childish prank, I was freed from the abuse my father put me through. You didn't hurt me. You saved me, Gabe. So thank you, and I'm sorry that's been haunting you for so long." She paused, then laughed again. "Maybe 'haunting' isn't the best word to use in your case, hmm?"

Gabe let out a little chuckle. "Don't worry about it. I make jokes about death all the time. It's kind of fun." He smiled, looking like he'd lost a weight he'd had to bear for years. "About the other thing, though?"

Rose stood. "Can you put me in a dream on a secluded tropical island where I'm waited on by beautiful men and women?"

Gabe grinned and joined her, offering her his arm. "Of course, dear lady. Consider it done." He looked at the rest of us. "I'll be back, but if the rest of you wake up before then, I'll see you soon." Then he escorted Rose out the door.

The room was silent for a moment, then Abby interrupted. "Can I ask you a question?" she asked, aiming the query at Stan.

"Of course," he said. "If it's something I can't answer, I'll tell you so."

She nodded, then hesitated momentarily before blurting out the thing she'd probably been pondering for days. "Were Naomi and Ruth real? And were they just mother-in-law and daughter-in-law?"

Stan looked taken aback by the question for a moment. Then his expression morphed into one of fondness. "Oh, sweetheart," he said. "Yes, they were real. But do you think a daughter-in-law would make such a passionate declaration?"

I woke before Gabe came back, but that was okay. I had a feeling I'd be seeing him soon. I got out of bed, got dressed, and was about to open my backpack when there was a soft knock on my door. "It's me," Abby said quietly.

"Come in," I told her.

She shuffled in, shutting the door behind her quietly. We were both awake relatively early, even for our house, and waking up our parents would just end in more lectures at the very least and physical punishments likely. "I had a weird dream," she started hesitantly.

"It happened," I told her. "I was there with Gabe, Stan, our grandfather, and Rose. All in the living room of the house I hang out in when I'm asleep."

"It wasn't...?"

"Oh, it was a dream, but that doesn't make it less real," I told her, opening my backpack and looking inside. "Hey, what's your favorite color?"

"Purple," she answered, sounding confused. "Why?"

I grinned and handed her a phone case similar to mine, only in a deep purple color. "Then I think this is yours."

She opened the case only to have a tarot card identical to the one Gabe had given me to fall out. Abby picked it up, and it began to glow softly. "Well," she said, grinning, "it looks like things are getting very interesting."