“A brat?” she asked, amused.
“It’s what Legion soldiers call the recruits with an angel parent.”
“I see.” Bella paused. “Leda, I can’t tell you if both your parents are angels, but it might explain your reaction to the Nectar.”
“Do you recall the title of that book?” I asked her.
“Poisons and Potions.”
“Thanks.” It looked like I would be adding another book to my reading list when I got back to New York.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered in the dark. “It’s been too long.”
“Yes, it has.”
We closed our eyes, holding to each other, two sisters, two friends. Just like the old days. Things had been so much easier back then, so much more peaceful. I fell asleep, expecting the sweet dreams of those happy golden years.
Instead, I dreamt I stood back-to-back with Nero on the Black Plains, fighting off the horde of monsters closing in on us. It was a long battle, a hard battle, but we were finally victorious. We celebrated our survival by having sex on the back of Nero’s motorcycle.
Yeah, my life had definitely changed. And there was no going back.
5
Law of the Gods
The next morning, I woke to darkness. It was so early that not even the birds were chirping yet. It was the quietest hour of the day, before the early risers opened their eyes and after the party animals and drunks had gone home to their bed—or passed out cold on the streets.
The window was open, letting in the air. It was warm, even before the sun broke the horizon. The heat and humidity hung in the air like a fleece blanket, hot and smothering. I couldn’t help but marvel at the bizarre February weather. I should have looked outside to see ice-laden trees and snowy sidewalks—not this.
I put on my wilderness wear, thankful for the shorts and tank top. My black leather Legion uniform would have been unbearable in this heat. Even in my light clothing, a hot layer of sweat coated my skin. And it was only going to get hotter from here.
As I stuffed my night clothes into my backpack, I watched Bella sleep. She was so quiet, so peaceful. I kissed her gently on the forehead, then left the room, closing the door behind me.
The house was dark, and I didn’t turn on any lights. I crept along with softened steps, not wanting to wake anyone. I paused in front of Zane’s open door, taking a moment to send him a silent promise that I would find him. I doubted he could hear me, but just in case he could, I wanted him to know I was looking for him.
“Leda.”
I spun around, drawing one of my swords as I moved. I stopped when I saw it was only Calli. I must have been so caught up thinking about Zane that I hadn’t heard her approach. Nero would have chided me for being sloppy, and he was right. I had the heightened senses of a vampire. There was no excuse to let anyone sneak up on me. Well, except for angels. I swear they came with built-in silencers. You couldn’t even hear them breathe.
“You’re up early,” I said to Calli.
“Same as every day.”
Calli always had been an early riser. Back in the old days, she’d used those quiet hours to work in the garage, make breakfast, and to do all those small things that otherwise didn’t seem to ever get done in a household of kids who played as hard as we fought. I’d known she woke up long before us, but I hadn’t realized until today just how early her day began because I was not an early riser. As a teenager, I could have slept until noon every day of the week. I’d given up my lazy mornings and late breakfasts the day I’d joined the Legion of Angels. It was one of the things I missed—just not as much as I missed my family.
Calli looked through the open door to Zane’s room. Everything was exactly as it had been the day Zane was taken. It was waiting for his return.
“He’ll be back,” I told her, setting my hand on her shoulder.
“Of course he will. He’s a fighter.” She turned and went into the kitchen. “His mother was a fighter too.”
I grabbed a roll from the bread bowl. “You knew her?” Calli had never told me about Zane’s birth mother.
“Yes, back from my days with the League.”
The League was the world’s largest bounty-hunting company. Calli had worked there before coming to Purgatory, before raising us. Every so often, we met one of her old friends from the League, but I didn’t actually know much about the time she’d spent there.
“Her name was Cora. I hadn’t seen her in years, not since the League. She left the year before I did. I never found out why until the night she showed up on my doorstep with a young boy. Her son.”
“Zane,” I said. “He was hunted even then?”
Calli nodded, stirring her tea. “Cora begged me to take him in. She was crying hysterically, but between her pleas and sobs, I managed to piece together what was going on. The gods had learned her son was a ghost.”
Ghosts, people with telepathic powers, were very rare and highly prized. The strongest telepaths could do so much more than just read thoughts; they could see things and track people across great distances. Even angels with telepathic magic could not do this; they could only link to those they loved.
Only a handful of telepaths were born into each generation. Both the gods and the demons hunted down every one they could find to test, drug, and use as spies, as a window into their enemies’ camps.
“The gods sent the Legion of Angels to hunt down Zane and his mother,” Calli said. “They’d traveled from far away to get to me. But we all know that no place on Earth is truly safe from gods and demons.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “She knew the Legion would chase her to the ends of the Earth to find her son, so she left him with me. I saw the look in her eyes as she left, Leda. It was as if a part of her had been ripped out. She gave up her son to save him.”
“What happened to her?” I asked, my throat growing hoarse. I feared I already knew the answer.
“Cora caught a train west. The Legion wasn’t far behind her. She was trying to lead them as far as possible from Zane. So she went out on the Western Wilderness. She knew she was going to her death, but it was the best chance her son had. They found her body one week later. She’d managed to survive the monsters long enough to lead them on a wild goose chase across the Western Wilderness. To give her son a chance at life,” Calli finished, her voice shaking with emotion.
I stood there for a minute, trying to think of what to say. Cora had known the Legion had magic that could break any mind, even hers, and she’d chosen death over giving up her son’s location. There were no words to describe the harrowing beauty of that mother’s sacrifice for her son.
“Calli, why are you telling me this now after all these years?” I asked her.
“Because I know you feel guilty about what happened to Zane.”