I walked the short distance to the end of the room then back, shaking out my arms.My blood was boiling. Judging by the sudden wariness on Phillip’s face, Ilooked as unhinged as I felt.
“You areresponsiblefor the death of my friend.You are the reason the gates tothe Stygianwere open for so long.That also makes youand your psycho Order of the Darkresponsible for what happened to my gran.Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you right now.”My teeth ground against each other.
Travis shot me aquestioninglook. She was human. We didn’t kill humans, but I wasn’t bluffing.I was ready to make the exception. As far as I was concerned,anyone on board with theOrder of Tenebrae should be six feet under.
“Because I can tell you what happened to your grandmother and keep it from happening again,” she said.
“Liar,” I screamed and threw myself at her. My body jerked back as I got within an inch of fox-eyes.Travis andMr.Smithhadgrabbed me by either arm,draggingme away from the woman.
Something other than cunning andannoyancewas in her eyes now though. Fear. I put the fear inside her.
That's right honey, I willtearyoulimb from limb and not feelbadaboutitfor one second.
Travis’s voice was in my earas they pulled me away. “If you kill her, we won’t figure out what is going on. We won’t be able to help others from what happened to your gran. Do you really want that?Would your gran want that?”
Staring hard at the woman, I realized she resembled a fox, which only added to my distrust of her.The need to tear the fox apart was overwhelming, but the thought of my gran’s grief over Jessicagave me pause.
“What’s your name?” Phillip askedas I was released.
Her gaze shot to him for amoment,but she went back to eyeing me warily.“Astrid.”
The fox had a name.
Phillip pressed on.“The Order of Tenebrae wants chaos, for the world to be plunged into darkness so they can rise to power.Soexplain why it is in your Order’s interest to expunge this demon?”
Annoyance flickered over her face. “The Order of Tenebrae does not want hell onearth. We simply respect the forces of chaos, unlike the rest of the Orders whohave this false beliefthey can control everything.”
“Tenebrae isn’t so special.The Order of Spiritusseems to share thatview,” Travis piped up.
The way Emma described it, the Spiritus were like a cult that had taken residence on a tropical island. Theyspent most of their time in deep meditation. More like takingpsychedelicsand tripping balls all day long.Unlike the otherpower-hungryOrders, they sat back and watched the prophecies unfold without doing a damn thing to influence them. They believed they were meant to serve as witnesses.
Astridtilted her head to the side, regarding him. “Yes, I suppose our two Orders are the closest in alignment, but while the so called enlightened ones of Spiritus sit on their laurels, watching the chaos consume the earth, the Tenebrae wish to utilize the chaos to the benefit of the Light.”
“Somore people will sign up to join your psycho death cult?” I said.
The leader of the Tenebrae, Damien, insisted that once hell on earth came about, the Tenebrae would be there to welcome all followers. They would be a strong, divinely touched Order weeding out the weak of faith. Damien figured out how to open the gate and kept it open for a good long time before Emma and Calan closed it up.Calan threw himinto the Stygian too, the sacrificeon behalf onthe Order of Tenebrae, and Ithink the twisted fuck deserved it.
The fox suddenly looked wary. “Not all of us agreed with Damien’s leadership. Those who believed plunging the world intohell would have brought our Order into power realizetheir error now.”
“Oh, they are sorry for releasing a bunch of horrific nightmares onto our plane effectively killing a bunch of people for no damn reason?”
The side of her elegant mouth twisted in distaste. “They planned to lead everyone into a better world forged from fire, but they did not garner the support they thought they would. Too many factions are vying for attention, offering solutions, that their message is drowned out.”
“What? By the news,Amazon, every Instagram account, church, andself-helpguru who has their own business?”
She shrugged and shook her head. “Many thought the Tenebrae’smessage would be the loudest. I can’t say I agreed withDamien’s estimate,and now we are left with our numbersdwindling after his failureto leadus in the aftermath.”
“Soif you weren’t buying Damien’sbullcrap, why stay with the Order of Tenebrae?”
Astrid straightened where she sat. “Damien may have been recruited as a young man, but I was taken into the fold when I was a child. I was taught that chaos and pain areessential to the reorganization of life. Pain and darkness are not to be extinguished but they are to be used to guide you to the Light.”
Now that I understood. I didn’t like how easy it was to understand what she was saying but hell if I let her know that.“That’s the same thing Damien was saying, blah blah blah, pain brings people together yaddayadda.”
“It does,” she snapped at me. “Have you not seen how people have banded together in these dark times? The Order ofTenebrae may not have been strengthened, but thosechurchesyou spoke of, those online communities, neighborhoods have created alliances to protect their own.Peoplehave learnedto live with it and make the most of it.”
“So,youarewhat?Using the monster to go kill people toinspireothers to become more buddybuddywith one another.”
Frustration pinched the sides of her eyes. “No, I don’t want anyone to die. I respect chaos, I believe it teaches us to make the most of ourlives,but I would never want to be the cause of evil or harm to others. And that is why I quietlystepped away when Damien took power of our Order.”
