demanded of Lucian. His dour expression was as good as any confession. “So, she killed Lior,” I said fatally. I’d known it all along. It shouldn’t have affected me so, but the confirmation of her involvement gutted me, nonetheless. Cursed was the soul I took as my beloved. My gaze, again, fell to you.
“She didn’t intend for your slave boy to be killed,” Seneser said, “only mistreated enough to rattle your confidence and question the honor of your generals.”
“Stop calling him that,” I thundered. “His name was Lior.”
The room fell silent as all eyes turned towards me. What were you thinking? That you might be next?
“Azrael sounds like a real lying, cheating scumbag,” you said at last. “What happened next, Seneser?”
“After the Romans were vanquished in that battle, the Potestas turned against Thiran, and he lost his influence in the Order of Angels. The Thrones authorized the creation of Azrael’s army. Azrael began recruiting the Nephilim straight away, often through methods of coercion. Andronicus was denied the opportunity to plead his case before the Thrones and sentenced to imprisonment in the Shade Vale he’d created. Lena had no proof of Azrael’s deceit, so she was stripped of her titles and forced to return to her ancestral home in dishonor. Thiran disappeared entirely, and I…” Seneser sighed deeply as if remembering.
“What happened to you, poor thing?” You squeezed Seneser’s shoulder in compassion.
“I was given the task of resurrecting corpses to torment Andronicus. Wasn’t that a clever punishment for knowing too much?”
I stared at him in disbelief. Could this demon truly have been the architect behind my torment in that gods-awful Shade Vale? That it might have been another’s punishment as well had never even occurred to me.
At this, Seneser said, “Now we meet again, Andronicus. Shall we continue to wage our petty, inconsequential wars against each other? Or is it time to lay down our arms and join forces against a common enemy?”
Your face shifted towards me, eyes blazing with demonic fury. “I will destroy him,” you swore.
I shuddered, fearful of what you might attempt in my name.
“This interrogation is over.”
25
Vincent
“It’s a trap,” you told me for the second time.
We were back in our hotel room. Lucian was guarding Seneser while you and I argued in the bedroom. You wanted to turn Seneser over to the Imperium, and I wanted to jailbreak our mother.
“Everything’s a trap with you,” I said, but it was more like a snarl. I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t take the first opportunity to strike back against the god who had tormented and deceived you for so long.
“It’s too convenient that Seneser would show up with this information,” you said. “That Lucian would go to such lengths to find you. Why now, after all these years?”
“You think they’re playing us?” I didn’t have enough background to know what all of this might mean. I only knew that I wanted Azrael to suffer, and freeing our mother seemed like the obvious next step.
“There are two scenarios I can envision. The first, Lena has manipulated Seneser and Lucian, either knowingly or not, to lead us into what I can guarantee will be our certain doom—trapped in this Shade Vale prison with her or hunted down like dogs by the Imperium for freeing her.”
“What’s the other scenario?” I asked.
“Azrael is testing our loyalty. By starving Lena and ordering us to capture this demon, he wants us to demonstrate our devotion or use this mission as proof to damn us eternally.”
While you paced, I considered the motivations you’d laid out for me. And the players. All seemed equally plausible, and somehow, it didn’t matter which one was true.
“Here’s what we know,” I said. “Azrael is corrupt, our mother is being starved, and Seneser knows her location.”
“If we believe what he and Lucian have said.”
“Do you think they’re working together, independently of our mother?”
“It’s possible.”
“But it doesn’t seem that way?”
You shook your head. “No, it doesn’t.”
“If Seneser is lying,” I began again, “it would mean that Azrael is a god of his word, and Mater enjoys tormenting you for no reason. Does that seem more believable to you?”
“No,” you said, dejected.
That was good. It meant you weren’t in denial.
“So, we have this opportunity to rescue Mater, and it might be our only chance. You’ve told me before she has influence over the other Grigori. Wouldn’t we be in a better position to defeat Azrael if we had her powerful allies on our side?”
“There is no defeating Azrael,” you said with infuriating certainty.