Page 10 of Anarchy
“It started out good at first. We were a little family. But I started noticing things. You were just a pup. We were bottle feeding you because they don’t even allow Hellhounds to nurse from their mothers. She kept wanting to add all kinds of crazy things to your bottle to make you special. Things that might have hurt you.
“It was like you weren’t some little Hellhound pup I’d taken in to give a suitable home. Ingren revered you like people look at Lilith. Lilith has long retired and left Hell to the people, but people still want her to come back and rule things. Ingren was talking like if we bottle fed you a certain way, that we could make you Lilith’s equal.
“I felt like you were in danger from her. That she was going to give you something she shouldn’t in some misguided notion she could give you extra gifts. I sent her away and broke off the relationship. She didn’t take it very well, and I had to up security around the house.
“Many people in the movement have elevated you to the answer to all our problems. They’ve put pressure on me to trot you out like my property and get things changed. As a result, I’ve doubted their motivation. Mine was always because the way Hellhounds are treated is inhumane. Hellhounds used to be soldiers. They worked in law enforcement and fire control. They used to be heroes until they staged a rebellion.
“Ifwe manage to change things, it’s going to have to be done carefully. All they know is slavery and abuse. If someone swoops in and says they’ve rescued them from that and want to help integrate them back into society, that’s anexcellentopportunity to manipulate an entire group rather than helping them. So, Bram, this could be anyone. It could have been one of my enemies, or it could be someone I thought was a friend.”
That was… a lot of shit to take in. I never knew I was his first Hellhound. He treated me so well. It was like he had done this before. Talvath never married or had children. I had no memories of Ingren. Talvath must have sent her away when I was a baby. He broke up with his lover to protect me. Iowedit to him to assist with this, even if I missed everyone back at the library.
“How do we find out who betrayed all of Hell?”
“Carefully. This person is clearly deranged if they gave Dorian Gray and that witch ammunition to hurt every demon in Hell when they try to collect payment. This could destroy Hell. I need someone who can look without knowing they are doing it.”
Ireallyhated to sound like a broken record, but that guy was currently at the Library of the Profane wearing a lot of eyeliner and glitter. We needed him in Hell, and it was going to take an act of Lilith to get him here.
8
Ripley
Still no word from Bram. I really hoped he happened to be a Hellhound that was really shitty about checking his phone and not trying to stop an army of demons from coming here. Weneededto take Dorian out of the equation, but I didn’t want him in my library for very long. I didn’t even want that fucker on planet Earth. I wanted Talvath to carpool him to Hell and actually do something useful with him. His soul could keep their sun going a little longer.
We had to move forward and do what we planned. I wanted to be there when Silvaria got arrested too, but I really didn’t want to piss off Kaine. I fully intended to adopt Beyla as a sister witch and teach her about her new powers since Kaine was a dragon and not a witch. That, and I just really wanted Silvaria arrested without a hitch.
Dorian’s flight was a day later than Silvaria’s. Silvaria landed late last night and, according to Balthazar, had an appointment at the bank at noon. He passed that on to Kaine, and now things were moving. Balthazar couldn’t calm down and hooked his laptop up to the flat screen.
“Hecouldhave quietly arrested her like he did everyone else at the warehouse, but he wanted to make an example of her. So he’s going to do it at the bank. I’ve hacked the security cameras.”
“We need snacks,” Felix said.
“Done,” Reyson said, waving his hand.
“I need snuggles,” I announced, taking a running jump at the sectional.
“Mine,” Gabriel growled, yanking me to his chest.
“No fair! I was busy with the TV,” Balthazar said.
“Tough shit,” Felix said, snuggling into my other side.
“You can snuggle with me since these assholes stole snuggles while I was making food.”
“Ooh!”
Balthazar hit a button on his laptop, and my flat screen lit up. He truly was a wonder. I was certain not just anyone could get into bank security footage. It had to be difficult, considering people might want to use that to rob the place.
The bank seemed to be in on it. I mean, I couldn’t even remotely afford to bank there even if I made good money, but there seemed to be a lot of armed guards milling about. I recognized a few people from my board and Ravyn’s. I’d invited my twin sister to watch. This usually would have been right up her alley, but she had to prepare the museum for a ton of cursed objects from one of the most dangerous cults in our history and was working a lot of overtime.
She asked Balthazar to record it so she could watch it with Killian later, and I hoped it was a cuddle date. I was pro getting into a relationship with your familiar who knew you better than anyone if they had their body back and was into it. I was completely against going back for seconds when the wolfy nuts archaeologist who sent you a signed copy of the book he wrote about cheating on you came back into the picture.
“Where the fuck is Kaine?” Balthazar asked, snuggling into Reyson. “He’s big brass now and has minions, but if it’s a high profile arrest, Kaine is there himself to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
“Balthazar, I don’t think you can call an agent with the Paranormal Investigation Bureau a minion,” Gabriel said. “Their academy is four years and supposed to be brutal. They don’t just let any asshole work there.”
“Okay,fine.He should be there with hisagents.This is the kind of bust that grumpy ass dragon shows up in person for. If she breaks a nail on the way out, she’s going to make a stink about mistreatment by the agents. You know some of those people want to pop her in the mouth.”
“If they didn’t before, they will once they meet her,” Felix said.
