Page 60 of Ravaged Devotion

As if there was any chance of that working.

Whatever.

They’d broken up into little groups right away, with the Black Harts stationed in a corner to the right, an area with a stove and enough counter space for them to spread out the ingredients Ell had chosen earlier.

He’d shocked them all by offering to cook dinner, and had assigned the two workers tasks at another station, even though neither of them were part of kitchen duty. They were boiling water for pasta.

The rest weren’t free from his scrutiny.

Esti was given a pass due to her injury, but Ishleen, Penn, and Hollis were busy rolling meat balls at a round table.

Rue, Bowie, and Lenore were setting frozen rolls found in the walk-in freezer onto baking sheets, far away enough that Ryker could keep them in his sights, but couldn’t overhear what they were talking about.

He and Uriel were basically just standing around, but since Ell hadn’t complained, Ryker wasn’t about to offer his assistance.

“Stories are always rooted in truth somewhere,” Uriel said. He was standing by the rectangular window, staring out at the fog. Fortunately, there weren’t many windows in the kitchen, and they’d moved one of the cabinets in front of a similar one on the other side of the space.

That just left the one he was peering out of, and the one over the sinks, but it was high enough they couldn’t reach it, and even though fog pressed against the glass, it didn’t give off the same creepy vibes that other views outside did.

Maybe whatever was out there wasn’t tall enough to see into it either.

“Mimics are well-known,” their friend continued when neither of them argued his point. “People have been afraid of voices in the dark for eons. The more familiar and recognizable they sound, the scarier.”

“Okay, sure,” Ellery conceded. “But you can’t really believe monsters have surrounded us?”

“Why not? They don’t need a reason.”

“Next you’re going to launch into a monologue about good versus evil.” He rolled his eyes and gave Ryker a look that screamed he thought his cousin was ridiculous.

“If I did, we wouldn’t be standing on the winning side of things,” Uriel stated. “Traditionally speaking, good triumphs in the end.”

“And our hearts are black,” Ellery waved him off and finished with the onions, slipping the diced pieces into a bowl, “Yeah, yeah. Well, unlike you, I don’t believe in ghosts or things that go bump in the night. The only monsters that exist in this universe are people, same as you and me, and I’ve never met a person I couldn’t best.”

“Souvi Glass would beg to differ,” Ryker drawled, chuckling when Ellery dropped the onions into a preheated pan with more force than necessary. His humor didn’t last, however. “What if it’s not from our universe then? Would that be easier to believe?”

He tipped his head and considered. “Talking some Ares’ and Zar shit, but yeah, I suppose.”

Ares and Balthazar, two other Black Harts, could both see other worlds. They put it more poetically than Ryker ever could—or that he’d ever bother trying to—but basically, they could peer between the veils separating one reality from another. According to them, there were all types of unknown threats and beings existing on other planes of existence.

“Ares says ghosts are just glimpses into another reality,” he continued. “Lingering energy.”

“These aren’t ghosts,” Uriel replied confidently.

“No, but they’re still unclassified.”

“So let’s classify the motherfuckers.” Ellery shrugged when they both turned his way. “What? Like you two weren’t thinking it. We need to get out to the pool house anyway. May as well make the most of our efforts and take one of those things down in the process. Hell, once we get a good look at it, I bet we’ll find there’s a simple explanation.”

“Such as?” Ryker asked.

“Are there any chemical powerplants around? Maybe they’re dumping their waste in the water and affecting the wildlife.” Ellery finished with the onions and then headed away, moving to the workers cooking the pasta without waiting for a response.

“He may be onto something,” Uriel surprised Ryker by saying.

“Not you too.”

“Anything is possible.”

Considering he was talking with someone who as of a week ago had fused with a piece of machinery and had spent the past three years living in a virtual reality…yeah, Ryker couldn’t rule anything out.