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Bloody great. Diana’s psychotic brother decided to come out of the woodwork and stir shit up. A very typical Morningstar move. I closed my eyes, grounding myself in complete silence. The bond Diana and I shared was still intact, and I felt a strong sense of confusion through it. “Diana isn’t dead, or scared. But she does feel out of her element.” The read I got didn’t do much to ease my worries about her safety.
“I swear to Zeus and the entirety of Mount Olympus, I don’t care who the fuck he is or who he’s related to. If he hurts my Little Goddess, I will take his organs and hang him with them, just enough to almost cut off his air supply and keep him suspended between life and death for all of eternity!” Ares exploded.
His blood-red face scowled as he ripped a shutter off the window and hurled it into the house, taking out an entire wall. If we didn’t find a solution quickly, Ares would start a rampage and turn half the Underworld upside down looking for them.
“Okay, instead of freaking out, we need to figure out where he’s taken her. Does anyone know where he usually hangs out?” Mal suggested. He still had Diana’s lipstick all over his face, and the sight was making me salty. She didn’t want to sit on my lap and made me look like an ass at the table for trying to help her, but she’d kiss someone who almost killed her? The whole situation stoked the flames of my ire even more. “Azazel latched onto her at the last minute, so at least she’s not alone.”
“Does it look like I know where he fucking lives? He isn’t exactly the social type. He was his father’s assassin for Darkness’ sake! The man is a living shadow,” Desmond shouted.
He was getting so worked up that his skin was turning red, and his horns were sprouting from his hairline, corkscrewing back and out from his head. His control-freak tendencies were reaching a breaking point. I tried to mindlink Zaz, but couldn’t establish a connection. It was very possible Oisín faded them somewhere in Hell, where the link didn’t always connect if you were still upstairs.
“I have a coven member who hooked up with him a few centuries ago. I could ask him if he can contact Oisín,” Judas suggested.
“Yeah, see if you can track him down that way. I’m going to see if any of my supplies inside of the house are salvageable. Maybe we can summon Diana?” Desmond thought aloud.
He spent about ten minutes rummaging through the house and found a half piece of chalk, salt, and Diana’s tarot deck. Not a promising combo, but enough to work with. Right as he was about to spring into action, Diana, Azazel, and Oisín faded back to the house, a shield with an emerald glow surrounding them. Ares rained fire down on top of the shield, hitting it from all sides, but the flames died on impact. Diana’s magic was iridescent, and Azazel’s was silver, so the shield was Oisín’s doing.
“Guys, stand down, please. He isn’t dangerous,” Diana said in a controlled voice.
Oisín had his hands up, as if that did anything to ease our guard. He was aMorningstar,older than Judas. He could probably cast magic without even using his hands as a conduit. I weighed my options… Maybe we could take him out without Diana or Azazel getting hurt.
Diana, are you being coerced? We can take him out through the shield if all four of us make a targeted attack,I linked her.
Bash, seriously, we’re fine. He has a good reason for posing as a cat. Just hear him out,she replied.
I tugged at our soul bond again. Even if she was being coerced or possessed, her soul would tell me the truth. It showed no signs of distress or any emotion in contradiction to what she displayed. If anything, she felt the calmest out of all of us. I raised my hand, getting the guys’ attention.
“Okay, stand down. Don’t attack,” I said calmly to the crew. “Oisín, can you lower your shield? We can all go back to Judas’ and talk.”
“Sure, Sebastian.” Oisín’s voice was oddly detached, void of emotion. Something about it felt off to me, but I had to trust Diana. I urged us all to join hands, and faded us back to Fortuna’s Garden.
When we arrived back at Judas’s compound, we searched for Charlie. We had left him behind for his own safety, but we didn’t expect to find him in the middle of the dance floor, grinding all over Judas’ second in command, August. I tapped August on the shoulder, effectively breaking up their little party of two.
“Both of you, meet us in the boardroom. We have new developments on Project Divine Star,” Judas ordered. Even when he was giving orders, he was still the definition of eccentrically laid back. He walked away, his boa trailing behind him.
The project was a play on Diana’s name.She may not realize it yet, but she was a Morningstar now; part of the most powerful, fucked up family in the Underworld.For better or worse.
The ten of us found ourselves sitting around a large table in a closed board room. We explained everything to Charlie and August, and when we got to the part about Oscar actually being Oisín, Charlie’s jaw dropped.He sat in stunned silence for five minutes, the longest I’d ever heard him stay quiet since his arrival a day ago. Oisín took time to explain himself, answering our follow-up questions in the process. He then agreed to one of my vigorous mental scans. Diana insisted she witness it.
Are you sure you want to see inside his mind? Oisín is one of the most dangerous, cutthroat beings in Hell. He may not be the spitting image of your father, but he matches him in depravity, debauchery, and brutality,I warned Diana.
That’s funny, he said something very similar about you, Ares, Desmond, and Mal. He felt relieved that Azazel was the member of the Penis Parade that tagged along for the ride, because he was the only one that wouldn’t try to kill him on sight,she replied.
He seriously called us the Penis Parade? Heisan asshole, even as a human.I marveled at how fucking ridiculous the man was.
He made a point though. All of us, including Azazel, have done some fucked up shit.
Fair point. We have more in common with your half-brother than I realized. Just follow my lead, and be observant.
Diana, Oisín, and myself joined hands. He dropped his mental shields, giving us a clear pathway through his mind. As I flipped through his memories, I found the meetings he had with Damon over the past two years. The first meeting took place in a retro pizza shop around the corner from Diana’s house. Damon wasn’t an intimidating man in size or appearance, but what he lacked in physical prowess, he made up for in cunning. His escapades were known far and wide. He was one of the most ruthless, vile demons I had ever had the misfortune of meeting.
Damon asked about Diana, and Oisín gave a very concise summary. “She shows no signs of magical abilities, and she has zero clue who she is. Her own family is lying to her, passing as a normal mortal family. I doubt she’ll get in our way.”
“Good,” Damon hissed. Damon’s mother was a Greed Demon, and he had obviously inherited her need to possess everything. “That little bitch will be dead and carved into pieces before I see her sitting on Hell’s throne. You are to keep the same post and check in with me weekly.” Every word out of his mouth dripped malice and negativity.
Much to Oisín’s dismay, he followed Damon’s orders. They met in the same pizza shop for nearly a year, although nothing had changed. Even after we kidnapped Diana, he stuck to the same story, telling Damon that Diana was going about her daily business, still woefully ignorant as to her true identity.
At their last meeting, about two weeks after we had abducted her, Damon and a merry band of reptile shifters tried to take him out, forcing him to leave Diana’s house and go into hiding, but not before setting magical alarms around their home to alert him if myself, Desmond, Ares, or Mal came to the property. He hadletme catch him and bring him back to the safehouse.
