Page 10 of Dangerous Relics and the Women Who Love Them
“It was a pretty weird coincidence,” Killian said.
“No, it’s a prophecy. Why do you think the cult fled to a cabin and didn’t really fight back when the Vikings had been doing so much with their ships at the time? They could have sailed away somewhere remote and started over. They were quite powerful. They could have taken out countless people with them. By all reports, they locked themselves inside andletthemselves get burned alive. Why would they do that?”
“Because it’s the MO of literally every cult ever? When outsiders come in to stop you, everyone ends up dead,” Killian said.
“Yes, because something is sold to the members that they will ascend to a greater plain. The Cult of the Aether Sister did it because they had a prophesy that they would return when the moon goes totally dark again. At the time, no one really understood eclipses. People knowwhythey happen now, but they still acknowledge the magic that happens with the moon and the eclipses. But, unfortunately, that particular eclipse didn’t happen again for over six hundred years, and shortly before it did, their secret basement was found? I don’t like it.”
I didn’t either. It sounded like a question for Lilith and Reyson. They couldn’t tell me much about the cult, but they knew more about the Aether than anyone else I knew. Killian and Felix knew some because they remembered their time there. Reyson said souls went to the Aether until they were born again in a new body with no memories of their past life. That was until Lilith made her witches and gave some of us familiars.
I didn’t know Doctor Key. I had a feeling we could be friends, though. It was weird that he didn’t share his information, but he seemed to know more than what we found. Still, I wasn’t going to break out the god card just yet. Reyson was pretty proud of that fact, but he probably wanted his privacy too.
And I still had some doubts about Doctor Key because I had some insider information.
“Valentine said you did the rites for the cult. How did you do that when everyone says they are dark witches and Killian and I happen to know for a fact that isn’t true?”
“So, do I. They were dual natured like your friend. Honestly, I’m shocked no one has figured that out by now. I’ve heard Lilith is a cheeky little minx, but she’s not givinganyonebears for familiars. Can you imagine trying to go out in public with a bear? Where is it going to sit? They don’t make bear sized pet doors anywhere when they need to take a bear sized shit because there aren’t any bear familiars.”
How did I miss that? How hadanyonemissed that? Every supernatural establishment had pet doors for familiars when nature called. They were always big enough for a large dog. I’d seen possums and raccoons as familiars, and mine was a bat, but I’d never seen, nor heard of large dangerous predators as familiars except in the cult's case.
“How is that possible?” Killian said. “Everyone knows hybrids don’t happen.”
The cat was pretty much out of the bag on that one, but it was why everyone missed the connection and thought they were just dark witches. I would have told Doctor Key he was full of shit, but then my sister accidentally resurrected the God of Chaos, and now I knew two of them.
Doctor Key just smirked at Killian because he had somehow figured out his secret.
“Hybrids don’t happen when two supernaturals mix. Everyone knows this. Call it the gods making sure their creations were trademarked exactly as their vision. Gods can create hybrids. It’s generally considered bad taste to twist another god’s creation, but the cult isn’t the first time it’s happened before.”
“What kind of deranged fuck muppet creates bear witches and doesn’t step in when they make a cult and make even the Vikings fear them?” Killian said.
Honestly? It sounded like something Reyson would do to impress my twin. If he thought it would get her down the aisle in white, he’d totally make some bear witches. Ripley said he’d never created any magical species before and seemed to take that very seriously.
I saw how Lilith was with hers. She called them her children, and when they did terrible things like abuse an entire race, she only wanted to kill the worst of them and those that didn’t fall in line when she told them how things were going to be. If they made a whole cult, Lilith definitely would have stepped in.
“You have to admit. Bear witches are awesome in theory if they aren’t totally insane and form a cult. But they aren’treallybear witches, anyway. Not like the originals. Half of them were modeled after the two of you but created by a different god with different magic. So, they aren’treallywitches or bear shifters. They are more like mages with the ability to shape shift into bears.”
“Yeah, but who would do that?” I asked. “There are plenty of things I can do as a witch that I don’t go around doing just because I can. That’s how you end up in jail.”
“They didn’t create the cult on a whim. There was probably a logical explanation, and things went wrong. There was also a reason the god that created them didn’t step in when they got dangerous.”
“Who was it?” I demanded.
I think Reyson still had plans to do some god ass kicking since he found out one had bullied Lilith and turned Gabriel’s family into a supervillain. Maybe he knew this mysterious god and could get him in my museum. I was familiar with some of the cult’s curses people still used, but not anything they would have kept in their secret basement.
“That’s not what we need to be worrying about right now. The site was full of malevolent spirits when I got there. When I saw there was a discovery of a secret room under the floor and there were bodies found, I tried to get in touch with Valentine. I spoke to some assistant quite a lot before I finally got him. After that, it took a lot of convincing to get him to allow me on his dig.
“Valentine had alotof time to be around the spirits of the cult before I called. I warned him to keep everyone away until I could get there. He kept them away, but his people told me he spent a good bit of time at the ruins alone before and after I told him not to.
“Valentine has an entire crew of people to do rites when needed. They said it’s standard on any haunted dig and one of the first things they do before starting. It obviously wouldn’t have worked until I got there, but he didn’t want me to do it right away when I arrived. The only reason it happened was that his entire crew threatened to quit. Which makes me think he was talking and listening to the ghosts of the cult. Valentine might have ulterior motives for bringing those items here. I’ve been watching him, but he prefers the company of pretty women.”
Oh, fuck no.
“You know I hate him after what he did to me, right?” I asked.
“I don’t think anyone in this room likes him. We’re going to like him a lot less if he uses this museum to bring the Cult of the Aether Sisters back.”
Fuck my life.
Chapter9
