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"Did he really kill his brother?" Thane asked.
"Oh yeah," Roarke answered, his voice amused. "Sounds like the whole fight was about a woman. Abel ruined Cain's chances, and Cain called him on it. Abel came at him, Cain fought back, but was wounded. Two days of bleeding to death in the ancient African sun, and he just happened to die at the right time and place. Bam, the first eidolon was made, and he didn't even know what he was." Then he grinned. "He's also known Dahlia for more than two thousand years."
"I can't even imagine that much time," Thane admitted. "But what does Cain have to do with you coming down here to help me?"
"Well, after you burned the shit out of me earlier, I went to talk to the guy." Roarke paused, looking like he was dragging this out intentionally. "He told me you were expected, that she trusts you, and that he's worried about her." The eidolon paused to wipe his hand over his mouth. "Now, being only a few decades old, you clearly have no idea how things work around here, so let me tell you. Cain's a cool guy. He seems pretty chill most days. He's also the most powerful motherfucker you can imagine, and you are hitting on a woman he cares a lot about. Most people call that suicidal."
"Or desperate," Thane pointed out. "I also have a funny feeling that Cain isn't that much stronger than Dahlia. I figure that so long as I keep her happy, then I should be pretty safe."
Roarke chuckled. "True. So just make real sure that you keep her happy, otherwise the monsters are going to be tearing you apart."
Which meant it was time to change the subject. "How about you?" Thane asked. "If Cain is six thousand years old, and Dahlia is three thousand, then how old are you and the rest of the people here?"
"Don't know about the rest, but I'm three hundred years old or so," Roarke said. "Died in Ireland in 1721. I was attacked on the road, late, and left for dead. Well, when I walked away from my body, I got it in my head that this must be how the black dogs were created, and so I began operating like one."
"And how's that?" Thane asked, not familiar with whatever myth he was talking about.
"Black dogs were a big thing in Ireland back in my day. They were meant to guide travelers or warn of an impending death. My version's a little different. Think werewolves," Roarke explained. "The difference is that instead of a werewolf, it's more like a hellhound shifter, and I could never make it to full dog form. In my ignorance - because we honestly believed all the myths back then - I assumed that meant I wasn't strong enough. Now?" His lips curled into a predatory smile. "I'm plenty strong. I can also shift my form a bit, which not all eidolon can do. Each of our myths gave us a guide to how to manifest our power. You? Inquisitors? You teach each other to use sound, making these Words that aren't even a real language."
Thane bobbed his head, taking that all in, but there was still one problem. "So what happened to hating me?"
"I hate inquisitors," Roarke explained. "I fuckinghatepriests. Jesus Christ, do I hate priests. You? You gave the mother of all eidolon your truck, your credit cards, and the information to let us make a home." He shrugged, the gesture looking just a little too innocent. "And the fact that you're hot doesn't hurt."
"And straight," Thane assured him, reaching for the bags because this chat was no longer going where he wanted it to.
Roarke gestured for him to pause. "I'm not hitting on you. I just figured that no one had pointed that part out to you yet. Eidolon? We fuck to survive. Being picky about it? Not a good way to live. Back when I was alive? Shit, I was as straight as you can imagine. I was also a damned good Catholic. And yet, the moment I died? Once we stop freaking out, the disgust just isn't there. Sex is survival. Any sex will do. Love, though? That's a big fucking deal."
Yeah, Roarke seemed to be getting at something, but Thane could imagine about five ways to take that little hint. He also wasn't about to beg for a clue. Roarke clearly had some motivation, but damn if Thane could figure out what. Well, unless the guy was hoping to get Dahlia for himself?
"Is this your way of telling me to back off?" he decided to ask. "Because if it is, I have bad news for you. I'm here because I need a way out of the Church. She's here because she needs to get away from the Church. That's all our alliance is built on."
"Bullshit," Roarke said. "It's built on respect. The valkyrie respects you, hunter." He lifted a brow, making it clear he'd gotten it right this time. "And you ran out of her apartment pretty damned fast when she admitted it. I figured that meanssomeonehas a crush."
Thane just grunted, not amused with the way this was going. "I also don't care who anyone else sleeps with. I spent my entire life having my religion tell me what I could and couldn't do. Trust me, the moment they made me a hunter, I realized I only had one option. It didn't matter if I believed in God, the Inquisition, or anything else about our Church. All that mattered was that I followed the rules, because if I didn't, they would definitely kill me. So, I learned to be a damn good hunter. I also learned how to leave work behind the moment I walked out that door at the end of my shift."
"Fair enough," Roarke said. "But what are you gonna do when she brings someone else back for her little afternoon snack? Will you think her having some girl in her bed is an invitation for you to get your kicks?"
Thane bit back the growl that was growing in his throat. Clearly, this guy knew nothing about Mei being killed so recently. He wasn't sure if Dahlia had kept that to herself, or if this punk had simply missed the big news. Either way, it wasn't his place to talk about Dahlia's grief. If she wanted to ignore it, then he wouldn't be the one to ruin that for her. After all, Thane was ignoring quite a bit a shit of his own.
"I'm sure you had some pretty backwards views in the seventeen hundreds," he told Roarke, "but my generation understands that women aren't toys, and their sex lives aren't for our amusement."
Roarke just lifted his hands and began to clap slowly. "Nice. Well-delivered, even. What happens when it's a guy, though?"
"Still none of my business," Thane replied, but this time he wasn't quite as emphatic – and Roarke noticed.
"Well, unlike you, I know exactly who and what she is," Roarke said. "I know what she will need to do to survive. Thane, that woman you're fawning over isn't like most of the girls you're used to. Shit, or that I am. I mean, do you know how many of us can claim to remember a life before the Renaissance? Twenty? Maybe? The two we have up there? Yeah, I'm not sure they get older. They are powerful, and to us, that means something."
Thane began gathering up a load of bags. "Okay? From what she's said, it doesn't make a lot of difference what they call themselves or when they're from. Well, except for the religious stuff and being burned by the cross."
Roarke leaned in and began picking up his fair share of the bags. Between the two of them, they emptied the bed of the truck. Hopefully, that was a sign this incredibly awkward and judgmental conversation was coming to an end. Granted, Thane had learned quite a few things, but he wasn't sure if he could trust it. Roarke was being just a little too helpful – and considering that the guy had wanted to eat him earlier, Thane was going to take it with a grain of salt.
"It makes a big difference," Roarke said, "but she's not about to give away our secrets. Let's just say that when the people who know how to survive say this is the answer, we tend to listen. All I want to know is why you're helping, and don't give me that bullshit about wanting out of the Church. You could've run. Instead, you ran here."
"Yeah," Thane grumbled, "it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Not good enough."
He turned toward the apartment, then stopped. "They killed my mother. She decided to leave my father, and they claimed she was possessed, so they staked her. They killed my younger brother because he wanted proof that the person he was told to stake was a 'demon.' Right now, they have my older brother waiting to do a test that will probably get him killed."
