Page 15 of Unbroken
ChapterNine
TY
Rodyn paces in front of me as I lounge on the sofa of our shared room. He's been like this for the past hour, and I have lost count of how many times he's circuited the room. Since we arrived back in the Underworld he's been off. I’m not sure what has caused his sudden change. Wait, that’s a lie. I would be off too if I watched my kitten die in my arms, felt her last breath. It was hard enough when we reached the clearing only for our connection with her to be ripped out from our chests.
It's unlike Rodyn to be so quiet; he’s pensive even, less aggressive despite our Demonic sides hulking out lately. He’s definitely handling it better than me and my other half. If I hazard a guess, it has everything to do with our girl. There are so many things they've yet to resolve, and I fear when they do it’s going to be cataclysmic.
But honestly, I will probably breathe a sigh of relief. Those two need to fuck and get it over with. Kiss and make the fuck up. I know Micah isn't going to reject him, not now, not after he held her in his arms when she died.
Nope. I won’t let my mind drift back to that night. The night I thought I lost my kitten forever and we lost our connection to her. No, those thoughts make the beast beat at my psyche, making me feel murderous, and the last thing I want is to take it out on another Demon here in the palace. Yeah, I regret that. The poor little Demoness was just trying to help braid my hair. Thank goodness for Esme thinking quickly and coming to her aid, healing her up as Trys clapped in excitement. We are so screwed up without our kitten here. I almost don't remember what my life was like without her in it. It was dismal and bleak as fuck, I was so lost in my own darkness, so busy doing our mother's bidding, I wasn't living, just existing.
"You need to stop pacing before you create a ravine in the middle of the room," I say nonchalantly, picking at my fingernails with one of my knives. Trys hums from the shower, his voice deep and off key as he yells out the lyrics of Rihanna's"Bitch Better Have My Money", making me roll my eyes. He's in a good mood, I don't have the heart to tell him he's making my ears bleed.
Rodyn stops and looks toward the bathroom and a smile lifts the corner of his lips. "I guess now that Micah's awake, we don't have to worry about him too much." He gestures behind me as Trys attempts an impromptu high note, making us both cringe.
"I’ll never stop worrying about Trys. You know this. He's fine now, but Trys straddles an unstable line more often than not. Unpredictability is his middle name," I say with a one shoulder shrug that gets me an eye roll from my brother as he goes back to pacing. Okay, clearly I need to appear concerned, ask questions, get to the bottom of all this anxiety-riddled pacing.
"You want to talk about it? Or should I not give a fuck?" I try to make the question sound as if I’m mildly interested but fail miserably. Rodyn stops mid-stride, stretching out his arms, his black and gray plaid suit coat strains more than usual from the additional muscle he’s gained since being down here. He takes a seat right in front of me, planting his ass on the coffee table, invading my personal space and taking me completely by surprise. I shift back in my seat, yeah, this is some invasion of the body snatchers type of shit. We don't have this kind of closeness, but ever since that night in the hospital, we've been slowly orbiting closer to one another. Well, Trys and I fit together, but after years of separation by our mother, Rodyn is our triplet, but he is on an island on his own. It's not like I hate it per se, it's just weird this slow-forming bond.
He leans in resting his elbows on his knees and looks me straight in the eye. Yep. Weird. "Do you trust him?" he asks, leg bouncing restlessly in anticipation of my reply.
"You need to give me more than that, Ro," I say as I toss my knife, catching it between my fingers and repeating the action.
"Lucifer. Our fucking father." He buries his head in his hands and blows out a breath of frustration.
"Do we have a choice? If this is the only way to help us stop climbing the walls all the time, then we take his blood and move on with our lives. We’re too damn old for dear ole Daddy to try to parent us, Ro. We’re grown-ass men with a Soul Tether to take care of. I don't have time for a family reunion or any of that shit." I wave my hands, unbothered.
"And our mother?" Rodyn wipes his hands down his face and steeples his fingers against his lips. I realize then that my brother has never had to defer to me or Trys before. He has always been so confident. He is no stranger to giving orders, sending us to do his dirty work, so sure of our mother’s lies. He followed her blindly. Without her pushing him he seems less certain and now I feel the tables turning. We are all on equal footing, finally.
"What about her?" Trys asks as he stomps out of the bathroom, towel around his waist, hair perfectly wild and tousled, thanks to his Superwoman shower cap he wears with pride. I think my twin swooned when kitten presented him with it. It feels like a lifetime ago, not a few weeks. So much has happened. I look over at him, his timing is perfect as he goes to the large walk-in closet to get dressed.
"Do you really think she's a shape-shifting Demon? I mean, it feels farfetched." I turn my attention back to Rodyn and sigh.
"I may have done a bit of research yesterday,” I say as I pick up the huge book sitting next to me on the couch and place it on my lap. After Micah went to talk to Marcus yesterday, we all found our way to Bishop’s enormous library, where I happened upon this behemoth of a book bound in human skin. I lift it and show it to Rodyn.
"Demonology of the Underworld. Every Demon residing down here is catalogued in this book. I've been skimming through it until I found the species of Demon Lucifer mentioned the other day," I say as I flip through the pages until I find the exact passage I’d read the night before. Trys joins us before I begin to read, I pause, eyeing my twin wearing all black, which is not his normal color of choice. Today is important for our beautiful girl and we all agreed to wear black as she and her brother say goodbye to their father, Kalob.
Trys flops down in black and gray argyle knee-high socks, black long sleeve turtleneck and of course his favorite black kilt with silver skulls and giant safety pins holding it all together.He looks at me and gestures toward the book, eyebrow raised as if he's been waiting for me this entire time.
"Don't let me interrupt, Ro Ro's hanging on your every word here, the anticipation is killing me." He winks, elbowing me in the side as he settles in beside me, propping his combat boots next to Rodyn’s legs on the coffee table.
I roll my eyes at his antics and clear my throat. Looking down at the page I begin:"Rakshasi, the female counterpart to the Rakshasa. Vicious, malevolent beings who derived out of Hindu mythology. Extremely powerful shapeshifters, the females in particular often appear as beautiful Human women. Their appearance isdeceptive, adept at illusion to hide the monstrous-looking beast within—goblin-like long fangs, glowing red eyes, and claws for fingernails, with an insatiable thirst for blood. Akin to Vampires, they are man-eaters, devourers of Human flesh. The Rakshasi thrive on death and destruction, extremely powerful: Invisibility, Levitation, Maya (the power to create illusions). The Rakshasi can take the shape of any creature and should be approached with caution. The most unpredictable of all Demons. Known to be extinct through the Underworld but that too could be deception."
"Well, shit. This explains a fucking lot." Trys leans forward with a haunted look on his face. I can only imagine what he's thinking about. The things we've witnessed our mother do. The things she made us do.
"So do you believe him?" Rodyn asks.
"Yes," both Trys and I say at the same time.
"Why would he lie? He has no reason to. He is the Great Deceiver, yes, but I don't think he's lying. Hell, if anything, this is exactly what Lucifer would do, find the biggest, baddest Demon in the Underworld to do his bidding. He thought he could use her. Well, look how that played out. The shit she's done. The Headmistress of HellNight Academy, all the deaths, under the guise of 'survival of the Supernatural fittest.' The amount of blood on her hands; the Gargoyles, the culling every night, the Blood Rite, all of it, that was her doing. The things she put us through. Oh, I believe every fucking word of it. It all makes sense now." I clench my fists, feeling my anger rise. Closing my eyes, I see Micah's golden ones and my heartbeat slows.
"I believe there's more to the story here. We have an entire family up top. Who is the real Lucretia Larrieux? We have an entire coven of Witches and Warlocks we are destined to lead. What the hell do we do with that? Are they real? There is a lot we don’t know yet," Rodyn says, clearly frustrated. I hadn’t thought of that myself. We were born into one of the most prominent Covens in Louisiana.
“Fuck, you’re right. This is Nancy Drew mystery-solving at its best,” Trys says in surprise, his eyes widening at the realization as he fidgets with the silver rings on his fingers.
"Then we get the information we need from Lucifer. We play the long game and wait. We are at his mercy until this ceremony bullshit is over so let's just be on guard and learn what we can," I say, placing the book between Trys and me. I pull out my pocket watch from the black double-breasted vest I’m wearing, instinctively checking the time when I know damn well it doesn’t work down here. Sliding the watch back in my pocket, I grab my jacket and put it on, smoothing my hands down the black satin. I don’t suit up often but for my kitten, I’d wear a G-string and nipple tassels if she asked me too.
"If we go into this knowing there's a possibility of getting played, we will be more inclined to recognize it and respond. I'm done with all the damn surprises. We've grown up in the shadow of a monster. We are not green boys; we've been tested and put under extreme amounts of pressure. We are fucking diamonds!!" Trys chimes in with a smile before he stands and heads toward the door.
