Page 64 of Deathless
“Can we see the logo?” Val said in answer. I didn’t know if she was trying to stall for some reason or was just that damn nervous. Either way, Shadow was catching on that something was wrong.
“I really think Rori should be the one to unveil it.” He turned to me, his scarred face hardening. “Is she okay? I figured she’d be out here talking my ear off by now.”
“She’s...I...” Even though I wanted to hold nothing back, hide nothing from this man I respected immensely, what could I say? How did you tell someone their daughter was technically alive but not with us?
“Torrance.” Shadow growled out my full name in warning. “Where the fuck is my daughter?”
“She’s upstairs. In the bedroom,” I managed to spit out.
“And?” he pressed. “Is she sick? Injured? Down for a nap? You need to tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“There was a battle,” I forced out through the knot in my throat.
“Okay.” The calmness drained from his voice. “So she got hurt?”
“No, she...she got possessed.”
“Possessed?” Shadow’s eyes sharpened with understanding. “By a god?”
“Yes. We got it out of her, but...she hasn’t woken up in...” I glanced at Val.
“Today marks five days,” she supplied.
“Who possessed her? Where the fuck are your gods? And who the fuck were you fighting?” Shadow’s rapid-fire questions were the ones of a frantically worried father, and I fought to compose myself to answer everything for him.
“Our gods possessed us, Santos and I, to draw the one out of her and sever it. She was possessed by something called the Dark Mother, which is worshiped by an all-female cult called the Sisters of Bathory.”
Grudge made a sound of disbelief and shock, while Shadow’s mouth dropped open, his face going pale. “You didnotjust fucking say that,” he whispered after a long silence.
I nodded. “We’re all just waiting for her to wake up.”
Shadow’s gaze went somewhere else, focusing on nothing in front of him. He must have gone deep inside his own head, maybe even his past. Scrubbing one hand down his face, he traced the long scar cutting through one eye, the one that turned white, I assumed from said injury.
Rori had never gone into detail about what caused her father’s scarred appearance. I got the sense that she didn’t know the full story herself. Although with his current reaction to the cult’s name, I could start to make some educated guesses.
“Fucking hell!” And just like that, Shadow was back, pacing around like a caged animal. “I told her. I fuckingtoldher not to engage with them!”
“Shadow—” I started toward him, holding an arm out for...comfort, maybe? I didn’t entirely know but was stopped abruptly by a large hand clamping down on my bicep and pulling me back.
Grudge leveled me with an expression that was somehow both calm and intense. He lifted his hands and signed to me, “Leave him be. He needs to process.”
Of course Shadow’s brother would have more insight into his emotional state, so I was inclined to listen.
Abruptly, Shadow stopped pacing. His massive chest and shoulders heaved with every ragged, strained breath. “I need to see her,” he said and immediately headed for the house.
My own protective instincts surged. I was already distressed enough that I wasn’t at her side at this very moment. “I’ll come with you.”
Shadow grunted disapprovingly but didn’t argue. “Just don’t get in my way, Torr.”
What could I do but obey? Silently, I followed him through the house and up to the bedroom. The moment he entered and saw her, his whole demeanor changed. His shoulders lowered ona long, slow breath, and his hands relaxed from their clenched position. He moved quietly to her bedside, as if taking care not to disturb her in sleep.
“Hey, Rormeister,” he whispered, taking her hand as he sat next to her. With a quiet laugh, he added, “My stubborn, impossible daughter. Why didn’t you listen to me? You need to do what your old man says sometimes.”
He spoke to her softly for a few more minutes, then moved some hair off her forehead and bent to kiss her there. When he stood from her bedside and looked at me, the loving, doting father was gone. He was once again a hardened biker.
“Rori told me she made you VP,” he bit out, crossing his arms.
“That’s right.”
