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“Yeah, and I still would if I thought it would save me from having to deal with you three idiots for the rest of my life. Let me tell you something Obeah Man, the only person you should ever look out for is your godsdamned self. Want to know how I learned that? From your piece of shit friends, the Nightshades. ” Rycon turned to me. “This will endanger us. Stay away from them.”
“I’m going to need more information,” I said blandly. “Who are the Nightshades?” I ran my hand through my hair, massaging my scalp. My headache eased a bit, and Rycon laughed out loud. It was one of those laughs that you just knew was fake. I crushed my eyes shut.
“Oh-hooooo.” Rycon sneered, “So you haven't told her?”
“Told me what?” I snapped with my eyes closed, my fingers pinching into the inner corners of my eyes.
“They haven't told you why you're being hunted? You didn’t think to ask? You really are an idiot.”
“Say what you mean, you insensitive asshole.” I snapped, finally dropping my hand from my face and forcing myself to focus.
“There’s a prophecy about you,” Rycon said, and the madness in his eyes caught fire.
33
Conrad and Meredith exchanged a glance again, and I felt a familiar finger of rage catch hold in my own chest.
“What do you mean, there’s a prophecy?” I stood up. “Why haven't either of you told me about this?”
“We were waiting for the right time. Things have been happening so fast… we didn't know how to bring it up.” Meredith said as she came toward the couch.
‘You know we don’t mean you any harm. We’re here to help you.’ She whispered into my mind. I shook my head, nausea passing over me again, but I held my ground.
“Tell me the damn prophecy.”
Conrad glared at Rycon, who returned the look with a curl of his lip. The shifter gestured to the Obeah Man to proceed.
“Di story says that yuh are di daughter of Di Origin, Aleites.”
“Yes, you’ve told me that before. What does Aleites have to do with the prophecy?” I asked, unsure if I wanted to hear about my supposed daemon underworld father that had left me to fend for myself in the human housing system.
“Tell her.” Rycon hissed, and the magick folk once again exchanged a glance. I felt a growl rise up in my chest.
Conrad buried his face in his hands and Meredith reached out to touch me. I ducked away, forcing what little strength I had to intentionally reject her efforts to soothe me. Clair’s warning about being careful who I trusted was ringing in my ears. Why were they hiding things from me? I couldn’t tell if I was being paranoid or genuinely had reason to be concerned.
“A’right.” Conrad said into his hands. “All dis is going tuh do is make yuh hate dis plan.”
“If you're hiding a detail from me because it will make me hate this plan then it’s a shit plan to begin with. Tell me or neither of you are welcome in my home again.” I wasn’t sure what rules they had woven into the magickal boundaries around my home, but the wards groaned against that command and both of them looked panicked.
“I am trying to tell yuh, please just let mi talk.” Conrad pleaded.
“Hurry up,” I grumbled. My faith was unraveling. I wasn’t sure if it was Rycon’s prejudice that was influencing my feelings toward the magick folk or if it had been Clair’s warning that had planted a seed of doubt. Either way, it made me uncomfortable that they kept information from me when they promised me the truth. Conrad pinched the bridge of his nose like Jeremy sometimes did. Remembering the happy-go-lucky Conrad I had met not even a few weeks ago, I wondered dryly if I just had that effect on people.
“First, yuh must undarstan’ who Aleites is for this story tuh mek any sense at all. Aleites was di first daemon, hence him title, ‘Di Origin.’ The story goes that he has walked the Earth since it came into being. His footprints marked the molten crust as our planet crashed through di solar system. He was alone, fah much of di beginning. Though over millennia, creatures began tuh evolve and he came tuh share di Earth with dem in peace.
“Howeva, ovah time, him silent life no longar fulfilled him. Him become lonely and created otha’ creatures in him likeness.” Conrad had taken on a storyteller’s voice, and I was enthralled. Rycon rolled his eyes.
“Don’t you think you should let a daemon tell her this part of the story?” He grumbled, “Somehow, I doubt the magick folk will get it right; it’s already way different from the version I was told as a cub.”
“The whole idea is to keep her out of the hands of the dark ones.” Meredith pointed out. “If we have anything to do with it, she will never be around a daemon long enough to hear the story.” I frowned at that. An uncomfortable swirl of emotion welled in my chest. Did I truly never want to know my heritage or learn about my kind and where I had come from? I wasn’t sure if I cared. It definitely wouldn’t help me to achieve my goal of one day leading a normal life. Though at this point, I was so far past normal, my dream felt out of reach.
“Well, can we speed it up then and get to the part about the Nightshades?” Rycon took over the story, brushing an increasingly annoyed Conrad out of the way. “So, long story short, the powerful Aleites founded the Dominion of Sin and populated it with daemons. There’s this whole part about daemons trying to co-exist with humans, shifters, and magick folk. Some versions even suggest that Aleites created them as well.
“The daemons were feared, especially by the magick folk. The daemons quickly became concerned that they would need to eradicate the magick folk entirely or live in a state of constant war. So , they cut through The Veil and set up camp on the other side.”
“Dat’s a pretty important part a di story dat yuh just glaze over-” Conrad tried to interrupt, but Rycon bulldozed on.
“In the early days, Aleites didn’t believe in muddying daemon blood with something as weak and pitiful as a human. That changed, however, the day he met Elvira.” Rycon explained. Both Conrad and Meredith looked annoyed.
