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He hopped off the table and returned to the cabin. The wood burning stove blazed and the space had warmed. Saint stood at a bookcase, rifling through the selection of books, while Jayden clanged around the open-plan kitchen space, probably making cocoa.
Octavius paused by the door, stuck silent by the scene. In this brief moment, everything felt… good. Jayden poured hot water into three mugs, and Saint ran his finger down the page of a reference book. Octavius didn’t hate them, he realized. He felt comfortable here. He’d spent his life pushing people away, but these two? He didn’t mind being around them. What did that mean?
Nothing, it meant nothing. Just that they needed to make progress.
“We can’t keep running,” Octavius announced.
Saint placed the book on the shelf, and with a weary sigh, he faced Octavius. “Agreed. He will kill us both, as he seems to believe we’re working together.” He scratched at his neck and took a deep breath. “So, here’s the thing, Mikalis thinks we’re in cahoots and as there’s no changing his mind, we should work with it. You’ve had your heart broken by the Brotherhood, and frankly, Jayden and I are all you’ve got. So I believe now is a great time to reveal a few fun facts that will get you killed. Are you game?”
“What facts?” Octavius asked carefully. He perched on the arm of the couch and waited.
“Mikalis is not nyktelios,” Saint blurted and then winced, as though expecting a backlash.
But that didn’t make any sense. Hehadto be nyktelios. They all were. What else could he be? Saint was wrong, but he’d listen. “Go on.”
“So, you’re sitting down, which is good…” Saint paced in front of the fireplace, with the flames blazing behind him. “Mikalis is a First. One of two warriors Nyx created to protect her.”
“First what?”
“TheFirst.”
“The first…? Wait, the first nyktelios?”
“No. Pay attention, Octavius.”
Jayden offered Octavius a mug of hot cocoa. Octavius scowled and took it, then went back to studying Saint’s pacing and agitated hand gestures.
“All things began with Nyx and Erebus, Chaos and Darkness, correct?”
“According to the legends, yes.”
“Erebus got out of hand, bullied Nyx, and to put him in his place, Nyx created two warriors. She made them hungry and fierce so they wouldneverstop protecting her.”
“Yes, the first nyktelios.”
Saint stopped and looked up. “They weren’t nyktelios. They were The First. They look like us, mostly. The same as we look like humans, but we’re not, and they aren’t nyks. They’re gods. Mikalis is a First. He’s a god, as old as Time, literally.”
Octavius had been about to bring the mug of cocoa to his lips, but paused. “So, wait, Mikalis is a god and Nyx’s… son?” That seemed a little far-fetched, even for Mikalis. He was powerful, and definitely old, but beginning of time old, worshipped as a god old?
“You don’t believe me, that’s fine, I don’t expect you to.”
“Good, because no, I don’t. He’s powerful, but he’s a nyktelios. The fangs, the hunger—”
“Have you ever seen him feed?” Saint asked. “Or drink blood from bags, however the Brotherhood does it now?”
Octavius thought back through the many, many centuries he’d known Mikalis. He’d never fed in front of him, but that wasn’t conclusive. “No, but it’s only recently the Brotherhood has gathered together. We used to stay apart for much of our lives. He gets blood like the rest of us.”
Jayden sat on the couch with his cocoa, enjoying story time.
“Run with it,” Saint said, still pacing. “Let’s see where it gets us, hm. The First, god-warriors made by Nyx to protect her from her brother, grew curious and learned how to create.”
“All right.”
Saint stopped and glared. “So intelligent, yet so slow. Mikalis and the other First created the nyktelios, as we know them, and they didn’t stop at one. They made more and more. Why do you think Mikalis is all about the Brotherhood every single living, breathing moment he exists? This nyktelios plague is all his fault. All of it. And he knows it.”
“He created the nyktelios? It’s an interesting theory, but why wouldn’t he just tell us, if that’s the case?”
“Because you all believe he’s like you, so you follow him blindly into the dark. Nyks are bad, the Brotherhood are better, etcetera etcetera. If you all learned he’s a god, and he began this eternal war, are you going to march into battle alongside him, or are you going to look at him, see a god who messed up, and continues to mess up, and go your own way?”
