Page 80 of The Monsters We Are

Abaddon snapped his mouth shut and ground his teeth. After a few moments, he cursed. “You justhadto word it like that, didn’t you?” he grumbled. “I know that you are right. I do. But I do not care to be rational.”

“For you, the war happened only yesterday. Your anger and grief are still fresh—I understand. But you’ve never been a slave to your emotions before, Abaddon. Will you change that now?”

A long sigh slipped out of the Ancient, who then grabbed his seat and retook it. “Continue,” he bit out.

So Cain picked up where he left off. His uncle didn’t interrupt again except to ask for elaboration on this or that. Finally done relaying everything, Cain leaned back in his seat. “I know I’ve given you a lot to process in a very short time—”

“It is best that you did. I would prefer not to be ignorant to the facts.” Abaddon exhaled heavily. “It did not occur to me that I might have slept this long. I suspect it will take time for me to become fully accustomed to the world as it now is.”

“The other Ancients and I will help you with that.”

“At present, I am more interested in dealing with Adam. While I am glad to hear that Abel, Lailah, and Saul are long gone, I regret that I was not able to witness their demise.” Abaddon tipped his head to the side. “How did it feel? Killing Abel?”

“In all honesty, I felt no great triumph. Not on a personal level. More satisfaction crept in as the days went by, though. But that was more due to the fact that another of our jailors were dead. Really, imagining the rage Adam would have felt when I sent Abel back to him in pieces made me feel far more victorious than the kill itself.”

Abaddon’s lips twitched. “I suspect his reaction to your package was a sight to behold.” He paused. “You truly believe we can destroy this cage?”

“Now that you are awake, yes, I do. And then we will storm Aeon.”

Abaddon gravely nodded, bloodthirst glittering in the depths of his eyes. “They must all die, Cain. They took much from me. From all of us. As for Abel’s brats and your mother . . . I will leave them be.Unlessthey betray us. If that happens, I will end them.”

“You won’t get the chance. They’d be dead before you got near them.”

Abaddon’s brow pinched. “You would wish to kill them yourself? Even your mother?”

“My consort would get there first. She is . . . protective. Not to mention vengeful—but then, revenants always are.”

Abaddon nodded. “Very true. And I will be forever grateful for how she cursed Aeon just as its rulers cursed us to remain in this godforsaken place. I truly do not recollect ever reaching out to her while Resting.”

“It’s highly possible that you didn’t. I’m more inclined to think that it was Kali who repeatedly tried leading her to the temple. After all, it was Her who woke you.”

“Really?”

“Wynter confirmed it.”

“Hmm. The deity did say that you and Her had similar goals. Waking me might have been one of them. Though I am unsure why She would want that. Perhaps She wishes to help us escape our cage. She may hope to right wrongs in some gesture that God would so approve of that he’d end Her punishment.”

“Maybe. I wouldn’t have thought that She could have unlocked the grotto gate. That came as a surprise. It was secured closed using the sacred chant. Only another of our kind should have been able to break its hold on the lock. Kali is evidently more powerful than I thought. At least I can be sure that, immensely powerful as She may in fact be, the deity won’t abruptly snatch Wynter’s soul from me.”

Abaddon rubbed at his jaw. “You really told your consort every one of our secrets?”

“Yes. You cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for her to accept everything. Given that people of all species have been raised to believe that the Antichrist will day one come and seek to destroy the world, there is a lot of fear based around who and what I am.”

“Perhaps the guardians saw to that.”

“Perhaps.” Cain gave him a pointed look. “Don’t forget that we do not call them guardians anymore. We call them Aeons, as they call us Ancients.”

Abaddon sniffed. “Back to what we were saying, the matter of your parentage means nothing to your consort?”

“No. She is more bothered by the fact that I have cherubim blood. She somewhat detests them.”

A chuckle rumbled out of Abaddon. “Then I suspect I might rather like her. Though I am already inclined to like her, given that not only did she kill Saul but Aeon will soon be a wasteland thanks to her.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You know, despite all you have told me, I find it hard to truly grasp that Wynter is a revenant. Not that Idisbelieve you. Only that it is difficult to imagine a situation in which a revenant could be so singular.”

“I initially had the same struggle.”

He shook his head in wonder. “I can understand now why she did not look nervous around me earlier. She quite simply has no real reason to be wary. She could destroy me in a heartbeat.”

Cain couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, she could.”