Chapter Forty-Six

Adrik

“It feels different,” I said, trying to think of how to describe it. “There’s always warmth to everything I feel from you, which is why it was so easy to pick up on it when it was Viktor’s sadness. It’s like the warmth you feel when you think about how much you love me. That warmth comes with everything else. But when it’s your demon, there’s like a red-hot fire feeling to it. It’s feisty. It’s like a fuck-you element to whatever it is you’re feeling. It’s both intimidating and adorable at the same time,” I said, getting lost watching her eyes change from amber to green.

“From now on, whenever they accuse me of being extra spicy, I’m just going to tell them it’s my demon and I have no control over it,” she said, grinning at me.

God, I love her.

Stephen and Viktor were gone when we came back downstairs, but the Wonder Twins were in the back room with Ivan. They were trying to decide on which movie to watch. Sephie had asked me to make her some coffee before we came downstairs. She was still trying to get warm from being outside in the cold for so long. She ran to Andrei while she waited for me to make the coffee.

“Bubba, I don’t understand how you’re totally fine in just a T-shirt right now, but please share that with me,” she said, curling up next to him on the couch as he threw his massive arm around her to try to help warm her up. He did enjoy having something special with her; his wide smile stretched across his face as she settled in next to him.

“Wanna experiment?” Ivan asked me.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Seeing if we can make her warm again. She did say she’d never turn down a heat boost from us,” he said, laughing.

“Deal,” I said. I could feel Ivan’s anger rising, so I matched his and we both hit her with a wave of anger. I expected her to be surprised by it, but she just giggled. It was Andrei and Misha who were surprised. Andrei, especially. He was immediately worried I was mad she was sitting next to him.

She caught on to what was happening almost instantly. “Don’t worry, Bubba. They’re trying to experiment to see if they can warm me up again. You’re not in trouble,” she said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders tighter. He visibly relaxed.

“I love how extreme levels of anger just make you giggle now, gazelle. It’s enough to cripple anyone else, but you just think it tickles,” Misha said, laughing.

Sephie laughed, her smile brightening the room. “It wasn’t even that high. They both held back,” she said. She looked at Ivan, then me, saying, “It did work though. I feel much warmer now.” She was still smiling, her cheeks now rosy pink.

I made her coffee just the way she liked it and went to sit on one of the couches. Sephie hugged Andrei’s arm, saying, “I love you, Bubba, but I gotta go now.” She hopped up and quickly moved, curling up beside me. I had to admit to feeling incredibly happy that she decided to move.

“How long have Viktor and Stephen been gone?” I asked, leaning over to kiss her temple as I pulled her even closer to me. I still felt like I didn’t want to be any farther from her than absolutely necessary. She clearly felt the same as she got up and put herself in my lap, leaning back against me. She wrapped my arms around her, crossing her legs in between mine. I could feel her satisfaction once she’d arranged herself just the way she wanted.

“Only like ten minutes when you guys came back downstairs,” Ivan said.

“Did he say anything to you, Squish?” Sephie asked quietly.

“He did. He said the way you explained everything made him finally understand it from our point of view. It’s one of your best traits, princess. You always know what to say,” Ivan said, winking at Sephie.

I could tell she grinned at him when I saw his face soften. Andrei looked at Sephie, silently asking how she’d explained everything to Viktor. I could see both him and Misha concentrating on what she was telling them, trying to be quiet in case they came back out.

“You’re so smart, gazelle. I never would’ve put that together,” Misha said.

“Don’t underestimate yourself, my adorable Russian guardian. I only thought of it because of something he said to me first. You’re very wise. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you nailed why our demons were quiet last night,” she said. He grinned at her. “Now, enough talking. Somebody decide on a movie already.”

I laughed quietly, squeezing her a little tighter. I could feel how much lighter she was since her talk with Viktor. It was infectious. Our talk in the shower helped my demon calm down as well. I was much less irritated about the whole situation, which was a huge relief. I could feel the relief from the three guys as well at knowing that Viktor was finally coming around to feeling comfortable with everyone once again.

The movie had barely started when Stephen and Viktor walked back in. It was obvious how much better Viktor looked this time after Stephen helped him. Not just because he was a willing participant this time either.

They both found places on the couches and settled in with everyone else to enjoy a few hours of being able to completely relax. Halfway through the movie, Sephie moved to stretch out in between me and Ivan. Her head was in my lap, her feet in his. I knew she wasn’t going to stay awake until the end of the movie. It took maybe ten minutes and she was sound asleep in between us.

He glanced at her after she’d fallen asleep, laughing at her. “Guess she’s warm enough again,” he said silently.

“I think your experiment worked. It’s good info to have, given that she gets cold so easily,” I responded. He nodded in agreement, focusing on the movie once more.

I tried to focus on the movie, but I found my mind wandering to everything else. I was anxious to talk to Dario again, worried that I’d missed something the first time. I was also starting to get impatient with the situation with the mayor and the police commissioner. It definitely helped to speak to the mayor, as well as the DA, last night but I wanted that situation over with. As much for the people of the city as for me. They deserved to have people in office who were working for them, not against them.

It might’ve been somewhat selfish of me, but I preferred the people of the city to be well taken care of. They left my organization alone that way. When the people were happy, when there was order in the city, everyone thrived. Business owners gave back to the community. People ignored more of the illegal side of things. That side would always be there, whether I was in charge or not. People would always turn to outside means to escape whatever it was they were avoiding having to face. I just wanted to make sure it was regulated.

All the dealers in the city had standards, especially those who were working for Trino. His dealers helped bring the standards up for the rest of the city’s dealers. It was a business, after all. The longer you kept your customers alive, the more money you could make off of them. The drugs that Trino would send were pure, meaning less side effects. His dealers would only sell in small amounts, to keep overdoses from becoming too common. Other dealers caught on to how much more money his dealers were making and changed their own rules.

Sometimes, the love of money could be used for the benefit of the people. I knew if Sal and Ricardo were to take over, those rules would go out the window. They didn’t care about the people. One look at Sal’s area of the city would tell you that. His area used to be booming. Now it was all but abandoned. The entire city would turn into that if I didn’t stop them.

Sephie stirred slightly, breaking me free from my thoughts. She didn’t open her eyes, but I heard her voice in my head. “You’re all over the place. What are you thinking about?”

I smiled at her, feeling guilty that I had disturbed her sleep. “Nothing important. You somehow manage to always break me free from my thoughts, even when you’re sleeping.”

She found my hand, lacing her fingers through mine. She still hadn’t opened her eyes. “You have a lot more on your mind than I do at any given point. I don’t want you to be stressed.”

I picked her hand up, kissing the back of it. “I love you, Sephie. More than I ever thought possible.”

She finally opened her eyes, revealing their deepest depth of the ocean blue. She smiled sweetly at me. “I love you, Adrik.”

I caught myself standing close to Sephie while she worked on making dinner, with Misha’s help, just watching everyone relax and enjoy a few moments of peace. Before Sephie, I rarely came to the house. Now, I find myself wanting to come here more and more. It’s become a sanctuary for us. A place where everyone could just relax and unplug from everything going on in the city.

Sephie caught me observing, with a small smile on my lips. Her smile stretched across her face. “We should make it a point to come here more often. Even just for a night. We all need it,” she said silently.

“I agree. You do have good ideas. Don’t listen to what Ivan says about you,” I said, trying not to laugh. She didn’t fall for it. She knows Ivan just as well as I do. Maybe better, at this point.

I heard her laughing in her head. “I might’ve believed that if you picked anyone but Squish. He’s a very close second to you in how much he loves me.” She glanced at him, sweetly smiling at the memory she was clearly thinking about. “We’ve come so far from me thinking he wanted to kill me in my sleep the first few days I knew you guys.”

I laughed. “He never wanted to kill you, solnishko,” I told her, shaking my head.

“I disagree. I think he totally thought I was the next Vanessa for at least the first day and a half,” she responded.

“Would you like to wager?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” she said, cutting her eyes at me while she washed a dish in the sink. She waited for a lull in the conversation between everyone else, then looked at Ivan. “Squish, we need you to settle a dispute.”

He chuckled. “What about?” he asked.

She put her hands on her hips, looking at him like this was a very serious matter. “Did you or did you not want to kill me in my sleep for at least the first day and a half that you knew me?”

They all laughed. Ivan thought about his answer for a few moments, then said, “Okay, so how technical is this dispute? Because I wouldn’t have waited until you were sleeping if it came to that,” he said, grinning at her. His cheeks were slightly red as he was somewhat worried his answer was going to piss either her or me off.

She crossed her arms across her chest, looking at me triumphantly. “Told you!” she said, matter-of-factly.

“To be fair, it only lasted for that first day and a half. Once you stitched me up in your kitchen, my murderous urges subsided,” he said, grinning at her. “And not just because you’re handy to have around.”

I walked toward her, unable to hide my smile. She really did know him better than I did at this point. It did not surprise me in the slightest. She was still proud of herself for winning our little wager as I pulled her to me. “We can discuss what I won later,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head against my chest.

“I like where this is going,” I told her.

“What brought this up?” Ivan asked.

Sephie giggled against my chest. “He was being cheeky. He told me I had good ideas and that I shouldn’t listen to what you say about me,” she said. “I told him I might’ve believed him if he’d picked anyone but you. Then I thought back to how far we’ve come,” she said wistfully, as she looked at him longingly.

He grinned at her. “I definitely did not make it easy on you, but I’m very glad you’re as stubborn as you are.”

“I don’t know, Squish. I saw how you acted around both Tori and Vanessa. I think you actually did make it easy on me,” Sephie said, turning around so she could see him, but still leaning back against me. She took both of my arms and pulled them across her stomach as she talked to Ivan.

“She’s not wrong there,” Misha said. “There was literally only one time you tried to intimidate her and even that was half-assed compared to what you normally do.”

“When was this?” I asked.

“The first night we watched her. She had fallen asleep on the couch, so she didn’t know that me and Ivan switched places with Viktor and Andrei. She was expecting them when she woke up, so she made a sarcastic comment before she saw us. She was scared of both of us initially, but then more sarcasm came out of her mouth. Ivan tried to intimidate her because she made a joke about Viktor being on meth. She was scared, but the sarcasm didn’t stop. I saw him trying to hide his smile when he left the apartment,” Misha said, laughing at Ivan.

“See? You totally took it easy on me. Clearly, my soul wasn’t the only one that recognized this relationship,” she said.

“Maybe a little,” Ivan said.

Sephie pulled my arms around her tighter. “Not as quick as this one, but you were a fairly close second,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice as well as feel her joy at this conversation.

We ended up talking and laughing through dinner, then for a few hours after dinner. It was nice to talk about other things. We made bets on whether Ilya would call Jessica and how that potential relationship would work out. We also made bets on whether Vitaliy would try to recruit Viktor’s other brother at some point, given that he was so happy with Ilya.

“How is Trino coming with finding a new security team?” Sephie asked.

Viktor chuckled. “He wanted to do it himself, so it’s going quite slowly. He’s trying to recruit from his dealers, but none of them have adequate training. That’s not going to end well.”

“Is he seeing the error of his ways yet?” she asked.

“Maybe. Chen said he had heard that Trino was thinking about coming back to me for help since he was struggling. He’s kept Gus and Oscar with him the whole time he’s been in the city. Everything’s been quiet enough that I haven’t worried too much, but now with the possibility of Niko and Vito coming back, he needs a security team. A real security team,” Viktor said.

“What about Chris and Keith?” she asked, looking between Viktor and Ivan.

“I talked to both of them about it already. They’re interested. They both speak enough Spanish that they could get by to begin with. But then Trino told me he wanted to find his own people, so that was the end of that,” Viktor said, still amused by the situation.

Sephie frowned, trying to think of a solution. Misha had been working on being more subtle when he tried to find outcomes, so no one noticed him searching for the solution. “It’s okay, gazelle. He’s going to come back to Viktor, like Chen said. He’ll take Chris and Keith too. Chris is going to move his mom to Colombia, even. Once everything is settled, of course. That movie got fast-forwarded quite a bit, apparently,” he said.

“Well, at least we know things will eventually settle,” she said, smiling at him.

“There is the larger question of how much we tell him about everything going on,” Ivan said.

I groaned quietly. “I’ve been thinking about this as well. As much as I don’t really want to tell him everything, I think we need to tell him everything. His new guys too. We need to vet them before he hires them. Chris and Keith included. They don’t know even a fraction of what’s been happening.”

Sephie looked to Misha, silently asking him to confirm what I’d just said. Misha nodded, rubbing his arms after he’d checked. He grinned when he looked at her, then pointed to me. She turned to look at me, her purple eyes telling me everything I needed to know.

Once we finally made it upstairs, I was exhausted. I didn’t even need to tell Sephie I was exhausted. She felt it. She didn’t waste the opportunity to tease me about it, though.

“You definitely got new level zapped. Fighting it never ends well either. I know this from experience,” she said, her sweet smile across her face. She walked back to me, unbuttoning my shirt for me.

“Is this from being able to feel all of them the same way you do? That doesn’t seem like it should’ve zapped me,” I said as I watched her undressing me.

She chewed on her lip, her mind trying to come up with solutions. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s more and we just don’t know it yet?”

I put my hands on either side of her face, gently pulling her to me. I kissed her softly, wanting so much more, but I had zero energy. She smiled against my lips as she pushed my jeans off my hips. She pulled back, pointing to the bed. “Go to bed,” she said sternly.

I gladly climbed into bed, waiting for her to turn off the lights. She climbed in next to me, after stealing my shirt to wear. She lay across my chest in her favorite spot. I might’ve lasted thirty seconds before I was out completely.

I found myself completely awake in my own darkness. Haven’t been here in years . I rarely remembered my dreams, if I even had them. I assumed I had them, but because I never remembered them, I couldn’t be totally sure. I looked around, trying to see if I could see anything, other than my own body. I could still feel Sephie, just as strongly as I always did. I knew she was still happily sleeping on my chest.

Gradually, the darkness gave way to a path ahead of me that led to a small house. I’d never seen the house before, but I decided to explore anyway. When I opened the front door, I could hear someone playing the piano. I recognized the song as one of Sephie’s songs she regularly played.

I walked further into the house, trying to be quiet so as not to disturb whoever it was playing the piano. After a short hallway, there was a large room where I saw a man playing the piano. I looked around the room, trying to find clues as to who he was or why he’d be in my dreams. I also wanted to know why he’d be playing one of Sephie’s songs. I was so busy looking around, I didn’t notice when the song ended.

“I can play her song because I’m the one who gave her the melody,” he said, as he stood up from the piano. He turned to face me, a pleasant expression on his face. There was something familiar about him, but I didn’t feel like I’d ever seen him before. He watched me, watching him for a few moments. Finally, a smile stretched across his face. That’s when I knew.

“You’re Sephie’s father,” I said. He nodded. “She has your smile.”

“That might be all she has from me, but I find it’s one of my favorite things about her,” he said.

“Mine too.”

He chuckled. “We had extra angels on standby when you two first met because your heart threatened to stop every time you saw her smile. Did she ever tell you?”

I laughed. “No, not about the extra angels. She did tell me she knew my heart threatened to stop each time.”

“She found out that little detail early on in your journey. She was still worried you would think she was bonkers if she revealed too much. I don’t know why she would think that about you. You’ve handled everything like a champ. Better than anyone expected. Seriously. You cost quite a few of us quite a bit of money in the beginning when you didn’t freak out about things we were sure you were going to freak out about,” he said.

I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Clearly her smile is not all she has from you.”

He grinned. “I can’t really take credit for her love of the wager. She discovered it well after I was gone. But it does seem to run in the family.” He paused for a moment, contemplating how to proceed. I knew if he’d brought me here, there was something important he needed to say.

I decided to go first. “I need to thank you for all the times you’ve helped us. You’ve proven to be a very valuable resource for us through all of this and I’m very happy that Sephie has you.”

“You’re not the only one who’s grateful. It’s because of you that she has the right people around her now. I owe you thanks for that too. Between you and Ivan, I really have nothing to worry about. I mean, I still do. Fathers gotta father, you know. But you two will always make sure she’s protected and safe. The others too, but you and Ivan have very special roles in her life,” he said.

“Is there something new happening to me? Is that why I’m so tired right now?” I asked.

He inhaled deeply. “You’ve felt your connection get stronger with everyone lately, but especially with Sephie?” I nodded. “And you’ve also felt your demon getting restless, so to speak? Especially when Sephie was gone with Viktor earlier?” I nodded again. “Your demon is growing stronger, which means you’re growing stronger. You’ve demonstrated you have complete control of it.” He paused again, looking at me like he was somewhat nervous to tell me the rest.

“Why does that make you nervous?”

“Much like Viktor, I want no part of Hell. My wings are white as snow for a reason. It’s an unavoidable side effect of getting news delivered this way. Not to worry, I can manage,” he said, giving me a weak smile. “Adrik, when Stephen joked about his gift leveling up, he was really telling you what you’d be able to do.”

“Ripping the demon out and crushing it?” I asked, completely surprised.

“Well, not crushing it. But because your particular demon is as powerful as it is and because you are who you are, you now have the ability to condemn souls, both human and demon, straight to Hell. You can take both from a body and send them to Hell.”

“What happens to the soul then?”

“It spends eternity in Hell. You’re the only one who can grant it reprieve once you condemn them.”

“That doesn’t sound like something I’m going to use very often,” I said.

He smiled at me, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “This is exactly why you were granted the power.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your new gift is not something to be taken lightly and it’s only meant to be used in very extreme cases. Namely, Ricardo and Martin. Those two have made such powerful deals with their demons that Stephen’s gift would be completely ineffective on them. He could break them, but the soul is eternally bound to that demon. Even after coming back, it’s going to be forced to live out the same life over and over. You’re what can break that cycle. Send the demon back to Hell, along with their souls, and those souls never get the chance to come back.”

“There’s no chance at redemption for them?” I asked, suddenly not sure I wanted the responsibility of condemning someone’s soul to an eternity of suffering.

“It’s a heavy decision, Adrik. You’re right to be wary of it. You have to remember that both souls made their own choices. They knew the consequences. They might not have known the full extent of those consequences, but they knew there would be consequences, nonetheless. You are what will keep future generations safe from those two demons. Think of it that way. It’s easier to digest.”

I was quiet for a few moments, thinking about what he’d just told me. “How will this affect Sephie?”

“Yes!” he said quietly. He quickly looked back at me, trying to look serious once again. “Sorry. I knew you would ask that,” he said, grinning at me. “Because you and she are so connected, your strength will also become her strength. However, you’re the only one who can condemn souls and deliver them to Hell. But she’s going to see an increase in her power just as you will. Her demon will also grow stronger. Ivan will get a boost from her, but not as much as what she’ll get from you. The other three will become connected to their demons quickly, once you realize your full power. They’ve already drawn considerable power from both you and Sephie. You’re what unlocked Stephen’s extra gifts. That’s when it became apparent you could handle this responsibility. Nobody expected you to go full nuclear and then just turn it off like a switch that quickly. Especially not when it came to Armando.”

“I have Sephie to thank for that. She showed me how to control it,” I said.

His smile lit up his face, much in the same way that Sephie’s would light up a room. It was evident that he was proud of her.

“What about Viktor? How is he going to handle all of us being so connected to our demons?”

“Yes! I’m on fire!” he said quietly again, making me laugh. I was happy to make him some money, or whatever they were betting with, while we talked. “Viktor will come around. You’ll see. Kostya talks to him nightly. This last time that Stephen helped him worked much better than the first time. He’s going to need it one more time, but then he should be good. Sephie helped him understand how his actions have come across to everyone else. He feels much better about everything, which means he’ll be much more comfortable around everyone very soon.”

“What happened to his demon?” I asked, curious.

He sighed. “He doesn’t know this, so let’s keep this between us, shall we?” I nodded in agreement. “When he asked for it to be taken away, the only choices that Kostya had were to send it back to Hell, where it may or may not ever get the chance to escape again. Or it could go to a sort of purgatory, if you will. Purgatory in the traditional, religious sense, isn’t a real place, but there is a sort of in between Earth and Hell. Kostya sent Viktor’s demon there. If Viktor ever reaches the point that he’s ready to join the rest of you, then it’ll be your jobs to fetch his demon from that purgatory.”

“It has to be that demon? Are demons like assigned to people?”

“Yes and no. For Viktor, it has to be that demon. You guys aren’t dealing with just any demons. There’s a hierarchy of demons. Every single one of you has a very old, very powerful demon with you. It had to be so. You’ve had the same demon over many lifetimes. This is the one that finally saw you each taming the demon. There have been other lifetimes where that was not necessarily the case for all of you. It had to be all of you.”

“If it had to be all of us, then how is it still working without Viktor’s demon?”

“Kostya. He’s a new addition to this lifetime. He’s so grateful to Viktor for helping him to clear his Karma that he’s filling the gap left by the absence of Viktor’s demon.”

I suddenly felt worried about Viktor’s demon. “Is it safe wherever it is? Can it be harmed?”

“Because it’s so powerful, it can take care of itself. It’s not a cake walk where it is, but Kostya keeps an eye on it. Viktor is fearful that he could tame the demon, which is why he asked for it to be taken away. Kostya is trying to help him have the confidence to be able to handle it, but it might not happen in this lifetime. His demon isn’t in so much danger that it can’t last a while. We help out when we can, but it’s really quite scrappy. It’s doing fine. So far.”

I still couldn’t help but worry about it, which sounded very strange to say. He chuckled at me. “Again, this is why you’ve been granted this power, Adrik. All this time, you’ve been worried that Sephie would love you less because of your demon. You’ve completely missed the part where your light is so strong that even your demon prefers to leave the shadows now. You’re worried for the safety of a demon just to be clear what we’re talking about here.” He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, “You’re all feeling the same way about your demons that you feel about each other now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. I know Sephie is for sure too. I’m almost positive Ivan is as well. I can feel the difference between Sephie’s demon and her now. Her demon got mad at me the other day too. It was like she was doubly mad at me.”

He laughed. “I don’t envy you in that situation. Even as a child, she had an impressive temper. We rarely saw it, but she moved the Heavens when it appeared.”

“That sounds right,” I said, smiling at the thought of tiny Sephie throwing a tantrum.

“The three of you are a shining example of the subtleties of good and evil. You can use good for evil and you can use evil for good. At the end of the day, it’s about the choices you make and what you choose to give your energy to. You’ve all seen unspeakable horrors in your short lives, but the darker your shadow, the brighter your light. You can’t have one without the other. You three, and eventually six, are the balance between good and evil.” He took a step closer to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “In order for this to work, I’m going to have to zap you, so to speak. You’re going to worry Sephie because you’re not going to wake up for a few more hours. She’s already been trying to wake you for half an hour or so. She can feel that you’re happy, so she’s not freaking out. But she will when this happens, because she’s going to see it. I can get word to Kostya, and Viktor will tell her that everything will be fine.”

I looked at him, somewhat worried. He laughed. “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt,” he said. As soon as he got the words out, all I could see was blinding light around me. I could still feel his hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see the room we were in. I couldn’t see the piano. I couldn’t see anything. It felt like I was staring into the sun, even though I know I shut my eyes when I first saw the light.

What I feel is comparable to feeling Sephie’s emotions, but amplified even more than what she normally feels. There’s an intensity to each wave of emotion that hits me that I’ve never felt in my life and I’m not sure I could handle again. My entire body feels electric, but it’s a burning electricity. My fire has a different feel to it now. It’s both a raging inferno and so cold it could burn you, all at the same time.

The light slowly starts to fade and I’m left once again in my darkness.