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Also, it feels wrong to lie to her. It has never been that way between us. We have always laid bare our truths to one another. I frown again. Mostly anyway. It’s true; I did not tell her how homicidal I’ve felt lately toward Romulus.
I wince at even thinking his name.
If I do not lie to her, what will she say when I reveal I have destroyed him with my newfound powers?
At first, my anger only sparks hotter. What should it matter what some mortal thinks of what I, a god, do? I do not bow to the whims of a mortal from this inferior plane!
But then, in my mind’s eye, I can imagine the disappointment in her eyes. Already, though the deed has not even been done, I feel her withdrawing.
My arms fall, and the light inside me seems to go cold.
Reminding me how cold and lonely I have been these many, many millennia.
What use is it to have all the power of the most almighty god, ruling the whole world or all the realms, if one rules alone? Haven’t I seen enough earthly despots make the same mistake?
I will be different!
But I’m already shaking my head.
I don’t want to be alone.
The devil’s voice in my head, which sounds very much like my Creator-Father’s, whispers, And when she chooses your brother like everyone else does and you’re alone anyway?
I roar into the silence of space and crash my fists against my head.
What if the Devourer’s fire within me goes dormant, and I lose this one chance to excise Romulus from me? I’m a fool to give up the opportunity when it’s finally within my grasp.
I lift my arms again, shaking my head as my fury rises. I cannot be weak now. Everyone knows who I am. I’ve been told often enough throughout my entire life how I’m an untrustworthy asshole. How I’ll always fuck everything up. How destructive and selfish I am.
Is it really even my fault if I prove them all right in the end?
She’ll still want me. It’s me, after all. I’m a god, more powerful than ever, and she wanted me before when I was a far weaker version of myself. It is weakness that’s even made me stall this long.
I lift my arms, close my eyes, grit my jaw, and allow my determination and fury to light the fire within me until I burn.
Goodbye, Brother. Forever.
Chapter Thirty
LAUREN
We can do nothing but wait, and I hate feeling so powerless. I pace back and forth in the vampire’s den, taking turns with Hannah entertaining her daughter, Raven. The only way to quiet the girl was to allow her out of her glamour. She flies around the room, quieter if not exactly content.
We haven’t seen any sign of the vampires since they fled to whatever saferoom or underground bunker we assume they headed to earlier.
The news plays endless footage of the Devourers flying toward space, and I’ve run out of nails to bite in nervousness. Hours pass, and still nothing.
Then the door bursts open. I shoot to my feet, but it’s just Layden. He’d left for a room with a stash of computers, saying he needed to keep an eye out, whatever that meant.
“The runes are gone!” he declares dramatically.
I look around, confused. Is this supposed to mean something? But others in the room react as if it does. “How?” Kharon asks.
“I don’t know,” Layden says, “but they’ve disappeared as if they were never there. The angelic AI is completely gone, even though that shouldn’t be possible. It was its own learning entity. There shouldn’t have been a way to scrub it, but it’s completely disappeared—”
“Look—” Hannah says, pointing to the screen. The news has just been repeating the same thing over and over, but now a banner reading “Breaking News” scrolls across the bottom. Hannah grabs the remote and turns it up.
The newscaster speaks again. “We’re now receiving information from official sources that everything we’ve witnessed today was due to an incredible coordinated internet hoax, complete with deep-faked videos of the footage we’ve been showing all afternoon. Governments and militaries all over the world remain on high alert. The British Army Reserve and in America, the National Guard have been called up. Shelter-in-place notices remain in effect in countries across the world as everyone struggles to make sense of this unprecedented event that still has many citizens in a panic.”
