Revealing the Monster by Amelia Hutchins
Chapter Thirty
A fae, a demon, and a monster walked into the guild—it’s not a punchline. It’s our reality. ~Lena
We stared down at a map that sat on a large round table in the middle of the club. Drinks were distributed while Synthia and Ristan explained the layout of the guild to everyone inside the room. Ristan had played an intricate part in rebuilding the guild, which he’d pointed out when Lucian had asked why he was barking out orders instead of Ryder.
Ryder scoffed and turned to Synthia. A silent look passed between them, as if they remembered something private. I smiled at the look on Synthia’s face as Ryder tugged her closer, placing a soft kiss on her forehead before turning her toward the map, hugging her from behind, his hands resting on her swollen belly.
Lowering my eyes to not appear like some creeper watching their every move, I shifted my attention to find Lucian studying me. A small, knowing smile tugged at his lips as Ristan pointed to the map.
“That’s the secondary doors. If the demons got past the first doors, the second ones should have sealed, locking them out. Erie helped us place runes here, here, and here.” He indicated several places on the map, slowly lifting silver eyes to Lucian that swirled much like Vlad’s. “If the demons bypassed these securities, then we need to worry that something bigger helped them get inside.”
“And by something bigger, he means Lucifer. When we built the guild, we didn’t add the fucking Devil to the list of shit we needed to ward against,” Synthia stated, tapping her fingers over the markings of the catacombs. “We did, however, reinforce the tunnels to withstand anything, and I mean anything.”
“Not anything,” Lucian corrected. “I can easily bypass wards, and any other protections that Erie can place,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, well, had I realized you were an actual thing, I would have added it to the list of shit to prepare for,” Synthia grunted, shaking her head while staring at the spot her fingers traced.
My gaze slid to her abdomen as her other hand absently stroked an area of her stomach that moved. The babe within her quickened, and a small smile touched her lips before she caught me looking at it. Synthia’s hand landed on the table, and I locked gazes with her.
“He’s really active,” she explained. “It calms him when I rub where he is.”
“How do you know it is a boy?” I asked.
“I know I carry a son,” she stated firmly. “Mainly because someone I lost said I would carry his soul into the new life and be his mother.”
“Dristan,” I swallowed, remembering how hard his loss had hit them.
“Yeah,” she grinned. “I’m really hoping the babe has his wild hair. He had the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen.” Both Ryder and Ristan chuckled at her words. “What? He did.”
“So the plan is to go in expecting the worst and hope for the best?” Vlad asked, leaning over the table. “Lucifer could be the one who smashed through the front of the guild. After all, he’s aware of Lena’s fondness for Alden. It would be one way to draw her out.”
“I don’t think he counted on a full assault team of creatures coming to the rescue,” Zahruk stated, forcing my eyes to where he stepped out of the shadows.
“Holy shit, what happened to you?” I gasped.
He had huge black wings that looked soft, yet deadly. Thick black and silver brands pulsed over his shoulders, pounding audibly inside the room. Vibrant blue eyes held mine, the thin black surrounding the blue expanded, filling his eyes until it swallowed up the whites. On his shoulders, beneath the wings, were blades held by a harness with several other weapons secured to the leather. He now looked like sex had met and had a love child with desire, and Zahruk was the child left behind from the affair.
“Remember those inky shadows that crept from the portal in that alleyway Alden took us to investigate? It seems that when they latched onto me, they liked what they saw and enhanced me a bit,” he snorted. “The better question is why the shadows didn’t like you, Lena?”
“Because I protect her, and no one would think to fuck with anything attached to me,” Lucian answered, pulling me back against his warmth. “How’s the hunger, Zahruk?”
“Endless,” he replied, tsking his tongue against his teeth. “I also occasionally shriek instead of making words.”
Asher snorted and jumped down from where he’d been sitting on the bar. “I told you, it’s how we speak. It’s also how the Unseelie communicates. You’re evolving.”
A high-pitched shrill ripped through the bar, and I clapped my hands over my ears for fear they’d begin bleeding.
A dark-haired female with iridescent eyes was facing Zahruk, shrieking in an earsplitting noise that had my brain pounding. Zahruk shook his head, responding with the same sound.
I screamed the moment the noise became too much to bear, and all eyes turned to me. Lucian growled in their general direction, and it was enough warning to make Zahruk and the female switch into actual words.
“Why did you scream?” Synthia asked, the only one catching on that it actually hurt my ears for them to speak as they had.
“It was splitting my head apart,” I admitted.
“You shouldn’t have heard it, though. Did anyone else hear it?” Synthia asked, searching the faces around the table before zeroing in on me. “Didn’t think so, but you did.”
“I don’t know why I could hear it. It sounded like shrieking. It vibrated inside my brain and hurt.”
“It’s because she’s in a human form,” Lucian explained. “She may have died, but her body remains human, fueled by the furies for their immortality. Without them, she’s just a human. Humans aren’t immune to the fae, which includes the Unseelie and Seelie. No matter which god or goddess crafted the species, they’re all creatures who prey upon her race.”
“Which is why my compass is pointing me to her to feed,” Zahruk admitted before holding his hands up, palm exposed. “I didn’t say I would, only that I craved to feed on her, Lucian. Believe it or not, I don’t want to taste that forbidden fruit. Lena has enough men trying to snack on her already.”
“Remember that,” Lucian growled, tightening his hold on me before placing a soft kiss against my throat, sending a shiver rushing through me.
“That shit isn’t helping me, asshole. Everything is heightened right now, including smell and knowing when a woman is responsive to a male.” Zahruk glared over my shoulder as Asher snickered beside him. “Fuck you, rainbow boy,” he snapped.
“Cool your balls, Zahruk. Soon enough, your transformation will be complete, and you will be able to turn it down a bit. Until that time comes, you can find someone who isn’t taken to ease that ache,” Elysian snapped back, her rainbow-colored eyes holding his in a challenge. “Go find Freya. She’s about to hit a dragon heat cycle. She’ll be so hungry she could eat a village of men with her pussy.”
“Fuck that noise. I don’t fuck anyone I have to see again,” Zahruk admitted, pain entering his gaze.
“Don’t even right now,” Synthia warned.
I glanced between them, making a mental note of the tension in their silent stares. Zahruk looked saddened, while Synthia appeared—detached. It was as if she had closed off her emotions or refused to feel whatever had briefly flashed in her electric-blue gaze.
“Back to the cluster fuck we’re about to walk into, ladies,” Ristan announced in a cheery tone, even though it didn’t reach his eyes.
We were all fucked up in our own ways, I realized. There wasn’t a single person inside the room that wasn’t fighting some sort of demon, and some were bigger than others, like Synthia and the Fae. They’d lost people, yet you wouldn’t realize it unless you noticed the pain shining from within them.
Lucian’s lips against my throat had me sinking deeper into his arms, needing the comfort he offered while I listened to Ristan.
“If the demons succeeded in reaching the catacombs below, they could be holed up down there. We packed it with enough supplies to last through another cold war.”
“Our fear is, if one of the changelings, a human transitioning into an Unseelie prince or princess, is inside, well, he or she could have done a number on them. It would explain why no one is contacting us from within the guild. Alden has a direct line to Vlad, who has one to us,” Synthia informed.
“I also gave him a cellphone that calls out directly to me. He hasn’t used it or answered it, either. I had Bane calling on the hour for the first week and once every five hours after that. Alden never picked up,” Lucian stated.
Synthia’s eyes widened slightly. “Thank you for that. You didn’t have to do that, but I’m thankful you did, Lucian. It’s been a relief knowing that Vlad and Adrian weren’t the only ones monitoring him. Alden told me that you had men on him, but he assumed it was for a more sinister reason.”
“Magdalena is attached to Alden, and therefore I ensured he was never out and about without backup. Not that he needed it. He is very adept and has more survival skills than most immortals nowadays.”
Synthia laughed before an anxious sigh escaped her. “I’m counting on that to get him out of there alive. I’m worried about the amount of time that has passed. We don’t know what we’re going to find down there. He would have called if he could.” Synthia voiced our fears, shoving the truth down our throats. “Alden wouldn’t want us risking our lives for his. If any of you don’t want to do this with us, I understand. I won’t judge you if you back out now.”
“That’s not happening,” I stated firmly. “Alden loved my mother and made her happy. I can never repay him for that. I can, however, fight for him.”
“He’s been there for all of us,” Vlad entered the conversation, shaking his head as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Alden brought you and Ryder together when he suspected what you would become. He forgave me for turning Adrian because he knew Adrian’s end would be violent. He’d known it because he foresaw it happening through the aid of a seer. Alden got involved when the guild fought to murder innocent fae, and he stood between them and us when Shadowlands was bombed and destroyed by the mages. There’s not one person inside this room he hasn’t helped.” Asher coughed, clearing his throat. “Other than this asshole and his sister, even though I do believe he stepped in to help Elysian when she went in search of a mascot.”
“He told me I couldn’t bang teenage boys because it left an impression.” We all stared at her before she rolled her eyes. “He was nineteen and such a gentleman. Anyway, he showed me how emotions could be tied to humans and that they became clingy when feelings entered into fucking.” The men snorted, but Synthia’s gaze met mine, and we shook our heads at Elysian’s announcement.
“Okay, so no one wants to sit this one out? We have no idea what is waiting inside that place. It could be the Devil, or it could be Unseelie princes,” Syn continued.
“Or princesses,” Elysian pointed out. “They need to balance us, and in order to do so, they’d need to create some girls. You know I’m a whole lot of woman.” She wiggled her hips and then shoulders in an awkward move that looked like she was trying to dance. “Tough crowd. Are we ready, then?” she asked, but the door opening caused us all to turn, staring at the new face that entered.
“I’m coming with you,” Erie announced, skipping across the room until she reached the table. “So, who are we killing?”
“Anything that fucks with us,” I muttered.
She laughed girlishly, clapping her hands loudly. “That sounds like fun! Mount up, Riders of the Storm!”
Everyone stared at the Goddess of War, who wore full armor and weapons gracing almost every inch of her. She was also covered in blood, with bits and pieces of flesh all over her body.
“Erie, who or what is all over you?” I questioned.
“Everything that tried to fuck with me!” she chirped, waggling her brows emphatically.
“Oh boy,” Synthia groaned.
“And girls!”
“Fuck,” Lucian muttered. “I smell human, Erie.”
“One, but he was housing a nasty inside of him. I handled it, and a family lived because of it. I won’t be made to feel bad on that one, Lucian.”
“Agreed,” Synthia and I said at the same time. My eyes met hers, and we smiled as the men snorted. “Let’s do this.” We said together, knowing what the other would say.
It was Alden, after all. The guild elder fought for what was right. The same man who had chosen to die as a mortal because he believed he would find peace in the afterlife. Our group of immortals began checking weapons and donning armor as we prepared to exit the club. We didn’t know what would be waiting for us inside the guild, but at least we wouldn’t be left wondering if they were alive or dead within it.
