He’d grabbed my lapels and flung me from the door into a pile of slop in the street.
After landing on my back and getting up, I smelled like human feces, food scraps, and urine thrown from the window above.
The shame of that moment still lingered in my memories. I’d had to skulk home and tell a story about why I smelled so foul. I could not tell my mother I was searching for my father to get him to contribute to my mother’s well-being.
My mind revisited Balthazar’s statement:If I’d been two minutes faster, I would have been able to confront your father.
“How did you know my father?” I said, exerting enough strength to push away from the floor. I was as weak as a malnourished kitten.
“Let’s just say your father and I were old friends,” Balthazar said. His steady footfalls halted before me, and he crouched, taking my jaw between his bony fingers.
It hurt like hell to be held this way, but I didn’t have the strength to fight him off.
“Your father is one of my kind—he’s the darkness, like me. Long ago, we used to be partners together.”
I tried to reel back, to pull away from his horrible grasp. “That’s preposterous. My mother was a good woman. She would never have associated with someone like you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. One of our greatest skills is to trick, seduce, and manipulate. Your mother fell prey to Amir’s charms.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said, my voice rising, yielding to a coughing fit.
Balthazar paused, waiting for me to collect myself. Then, he said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe—it’s the truth. He and I were best friends, and he betrayed me. He’ll be a dead man if I ever find him.”
The impulse to defend my father had me spitting out words. “If you were betrayed, I have no doubt you deserved to be betrayed.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Balthazar flung my head to the side and rose to his feet. Then, he resumed pacing. “Your mother, she was a beautiful woman. I’m surprised your father didn’t kill her when he grew tired of her. That’s what we did. We’d fuck beautiful women, then we killed them and ate their souls. That’s how we grow stronger. But for some reason, Amir—your father’s name is Amir—for some reason, he didn’t kill her. Instead, he said, ‘I’ll kill for you, but please don’t touch Elizabeth.’”
Balthazar’s expression grew pensive. “And, fool that I was, I listened to him until he betrayed me.”
A horrifying thought swirled through my muzzy brain. “You didn’t kill my mother, did you?”
Balthazar waved his hand in front of his face.
“I lost interest in her when Amir stopped seeing her. I’m more interested in finding Amir and destroying him.” He looked down at me, his lip curling in disgust. “You’re such a weak man. Your mother would be ashamed of you. Your brother, Marcellious, has ten times the strength as you. The darkness runs through his blood.”
I let out an involuntary shudder. I could barely comprehend that I was conceived from the same demonic seed as Balthazar. It shook me to the bone.
But the darkness ran through Marcellious’ blood?
“We’re twins,” I said. “He’s a lot of things, but he’s not made of darkness. Neither of us is.”
I tried to sit up, but it hurt too much, and I collapsed on the floor.
Balthazar barked out a mirthless laugh. “Your brother enjoys killing. He’s just like a dog who has tasted chickens—Marcellious can’t get the taste of blood from his mouth, nor does he want to. He will always like to kill.”
He crouched in my line of sight.
I brought my arm in front of my face in case he decided to grasp my jaw between his claw-like fingers.
“I should have brought Marcellious here to help me toy with you. He’s a lot like me. We would have had fun.”
“You’re wrong!” I tried to shout, but it came out more like the bark of a dying dog. “Marcellious is nothing like you.”
“Aw.” Balthazar tried to pat my head.
I shook it to keep his touch from my skin.
He withdrew his hand and smirked. “Do you have a soft spot for your brother? Don’t bother. The darkness is too great inside of him. Somehow it affected him more than it affected you.”
