He wasn’t Auguste. He wasn’t the Witch Finder General. In fact, from what she could gather, he was as far from Father Auguste as he could possibly get. He was a Fallen. He had been deemed a sinner and an enemy of the faith.
Diel was already watching her. Bright blue eyes were fixed on her every move. His body vibrated where he sat, and his head ticked from one side to the other, his eyes blinking dramatically. She was once again witnessing the fight for dominance between monster and man. His collar crackled, pulling Gabriel’s attention to him.
“Diel?” Gabriel said. “Are you okay?”
Diel closed his eyes and breathed. Gabriel watched him closely, but the other brothers talked among themselves like it was something they’d seen a million times before—they probably had. When Diel’s eyes opened again, he seemed calmer, but by the excessive ticking, Noa knew that not to be true. “I’m fine,” Diel growled.
Sela’s gaze slipped to Noa’s. It narrowed, as if he suspected she was the evil heretic she had been raised to believe she was.
“We seem to be missing some of your sisters,” Gabriel said, a hint of a question in his voice.
“Beth’s feeling unwell. Naomi is staying to watch over her,” Dinah explained.
“Do you need a doctor?” Gabriel asked.
“No need,” Dinah said, protecting Beth as fiercely as she always had.
“It wasn’t something we said, was it?” the redhead, Bara, asked, a cold grin on his lips.
“Not at all,” Dinah said.
“Then please, sit down,” Gabriel said, and the Coven pulled out chairs. Noa made a casual beeline for the seat opposite Diel. She sat down and met his harsh stare head on. The air between them seemed to thicken, crackling with tension. Jo shifted beside Noa, darting worried eyes between her and Diel. Noa slipped her hand under the table and squeezed Jo’s, silently telling her not to draw attention to them.
“So,” Gabriel said, as a middle-aged woman began bringing out plates of food. Noa’s stomach growled. “How’s the house?”
“Perfect.” Dinah cast a subtle glance at Diel. The ire on her face was plain and clear, but she refocused her attention on Gabriel before he could suspect anything.
The door to the dining room opened, and Maria, the woman with the abnormally long hair, slipped through. Raphael, her Fallen partner, entered behind her. Raphael’s shirt was half-open, exposing his chest—a chest that was coated in a light sheen of sweat. Maria was combing through her hair with her fingers, smoothing some flyaway strands. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright. Noa smirked to herself, completely aware of why they were late.
“I’m so sorry,” Maria said, flustered, and took her place beside Gabriel. Raphael slipped beside her, his hand reaching out to run through Maria’s hair. His golden eyes never moved off the woman, as if she were a living goddess. Noa frowned when she caught a line of red around Maria’s neck. Strangely, no one but her seemed disturbed by the sight.
“Raphe,” Bara said, shaking his head. “Don’t you know how uncouth it is to fuck your woman so long you almost miss breakfast?” Michael, Gabriel’s vampiric brother, sat next to Raphael, sipping on his blood and staring at the tabletop once again, apparently not even paying attention to anything happening around him. Even as Uriel and Sela began stacking their plates with pancakes and bacon, he just sipped on his glass of blood like it was OJ.
Noa thought of the glaring irony. Michael was contentedly consuming blood as his morning sustenance, while Beth was back in the housekeeper’s home voluntarily expelling it from her body.
Raphael smiled, and even Noa could see the glaring attraction of the man. He was like a Renaissance oil painting—golden eyes, dark hair and complete facial perfection. “I’ll never apologize for being with my little rose, Bara. I’d fuck her on the table right now if she wanted me to.”
Bara rolled his eyes as Uriel scowled beside him, his piercings glinting in the sun that shone through the vast bay window overlooking the expansive gardens. Bara turned back to the sisters. “You see, ladies. We’re very free with our affection around here.”
“It wouldn’t be welcome,” Dinah said with a curt laugh.
“Ouch,” Bara said, hand over his chest. “You wound me, head witch.”
“Don’t be offended.” Dinah shrugged. “I’m on the ace spectrum. I don’t find anyone attractive enough to want to fuck them.”
“Ace?” Uriel questioned, eyebrows drawn down in confusion.
“I’m both asexual and aromantic,” Dinah explained. “I have