Sin Undone

It struck her that not only did she feel the need to go to them, but for the first time, she truly acknowledged what they were. Yes, she’d known they were siblings, but at some point, they’d actually become family to her. And crazily enough, her first instinct was to go to them.

And didn’t it just figure that the first one she ran into at UG would be Wraith. “Smurfette!” He grinned as she stepped out of the Harrowgate. “Where’s Con? Some warg was just here and he said Con left the sanctuary with you.” When she didn’t reply because her throat had closed up, Wraith’s smile faltered, and his voice gentled. “Lore’s here. I think he’s in E’s office.”

She started down the hall, and Wraith fell into step beside her, his silence both surprising and oddly comforting. When she got to E’s office, though, Shade was there instead of Lore. Shade pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning against. “Where’s Con?” Why was everyone so freaking curious about him? She wanted to scream at them to shut up, but the moment she let loose, the waterworks would start and all those emotions Con had wanted her to feel would lay her flat. “Not important,” she said crisply. “What’s up with the vaccine?”

“Initial immunizations have begun,” Eidolon said from behind his desk. “A lot sooner than I expected. So far, the two males I vaccinated and then exposed to the virus are fine.”

“You actually got volunteers for that?”

“Heh. Volunteers. Funny.” Wraith’s grin was pure evil. “They were both on Carceris death row. By volunteering for the testing, they got their sentences reduced to life in prison.” Personally, Sin would rather have death, but whatever. The fact that death row in a Carceris jail lasted only a week probably scared the poor bastards enough to make them volunteer. Well, that and the fact that the Carceris’s main means of execution was to toss the victim into a pit as bait for the hellhounds.

If you were lucky, they only tore you apart. If you weren’t lucky, and they were horny… She shuddered. Little frightened her as much as the unholy canines. But she did find it amusing that the souls of evil humans who had tortured animals and were sent to Sheoul-gra got to spend a lot of time in the pits with the beasts. She’d always loved the whole an-eye-for-an-eye thing.

Shade shoved a stick of gum in his mouth. “Now, what happened with Con? Raynor said—” The only thing I’ve ever wanted from you is sex and blood. Dammit. She didn’t want to talk about it. And yet, her mouth opened up and words came out. “He’s at his apartment.” The tears she’d been holding back finally erupted, but she dashed them away before Eidolon could hand her a tissue. “He tried this… bond thing—”

“What do you mean, he tried? Against your will?” Shade’s voice degenerated into a dark rumble. “And what the fuck happened to your finger?” “I had to get the assassin ring off so I could go to…” Con. She’d done it, in part, so she could be with him. What a freaking idiot she was! Anger and misery tightened around her chest, making it hard to breathe.

A snarl from behind her startled her. “I’ll kill him,” Wraith said.

Shade tossed his gum wrapper into the trash. “I’ll help.”

“We’ll make it a family fun night,” Eidolon drawled, his voice calm, cool, and serious as shit.

Gold flecks peppered the blue of Wraith’s eyes, and he flicked his tongue over the point of one fang. “I told you I won’t let anyone fuck with my family, Sin.” At the time, he’d said those same words to her. Meaning that he didn’t want her fucking with his family. And now… she was the family. “Don’t. Please.” Somehow she kept her voice from cracking. “I just want to forget.”

They stared at each other in silence for a while, and then Eidolon cleared his throat. “I discovered how you came into existence.”

It was an abrupt shift of subject, but a welcome one. Eidolon was good at that. “Do I want to know?” Shrugging, Eidolon leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers over his chest. In the short time she’d known him, she’d learned that when he settled in like that, he was gearing up for a medical lecture.

“You told me your mother used a demon herb to attempt an abortion,” he said. “The most common plant used for that purpose is skullwort, but it’s meant for demon physiology, not human. When ingested by most demon species, the mother’s body becomes hostile to the fetuses. But in a human it does the opposite. It strengthened the demon halves of you and Lore instead of destroying them. And because it’s a demon chemical compound, it reacted… badly… with your human half. I suspect your mother ingested the herb immediately after conception, and likely a couple of times after that. The herb is loaded with hormones, and it apparently retarded the normal progress of gene development that should have turned you into a male.”