Revelations (Bloodline Series) (9 page)

“Plenty
of time for the gossip to spread.”

“So
what do we do now then?” I asked.

“We
wait, like always,” she told me.

“Surprise
surprise,” I sighed.

I
walked out of the living room and upstairs into the games room, where I poured
myself a double vodka and Coke. When I turned around, Eligos stood leaning
against the pool table.

“How
are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like
I have to be careful constantly—still like a time bomb—but other than that I’m
okay.”

“Maybe
we should go out and try and take your mind off it all.”

“I
went out this morning and got a new car; it’s parked out front. I just need to
replace the guys’ cars now.”

He
walked over to the window and looked outside.

“It’s
nicer than the last one,” he told me. “I like it.”

“Thanks.”

“Lily
and Jake are back; looks like Jake has a new car already.”

“Really,”
I said as I made my way over to him. “I’ll have to give him the money for it.”

“Something
tells me he won’t take it.”

“He
won’t have a choice. I destroyed it, it’s only fair I pay for it.”

“What
are you going to do with yourself today?”

“I
don’t know; there isn’t much to do really, is there?”

“Then
let’s go out, just the two of us,” he said as he wrapped his arms around my
waist.

“Where
would you like to go?”

“I
don’t know. Even if we just go out for a drive it gets us away for a while, and
it gives you time to get used to driving your new car.”

“Okay,”
I smiled. “You pick a direction, I’ll drive in it.”

We
told the guys we were going out for a while, then jumped in the car and set
off. I decided to drive us into the countryside. Neither of us were really in
the mood for the hustle and bustle of town. We had the windows down, enjoying
the cool autumn breeze blowing on our faces. After driving for about an hour,
we decided to stop and just relax on the grass. It hadn’t rained lately, so
everywhere was nice and dry. He lay on his back with his hands under his head while
I lay on my side staring at him.

“You
see me every day, and yet you still take every opportunity to stare at me,” he
smirked.

“Well,
if you weren’t so gorgeous I wouldn’t look at you so much.”

“Oh
behave.”

“You
are; you may not think so, but I do.”

“I
think we need to book you for an eye exam,” he laughed.

“Shut
up. I have perfect vision, thank you very much,” I said before kissing him for
a moment.

“I
love it when you do that.”

“Do
what?”

“When
you
kiss me.”

“
Hmmm
,”
I smirked before kissing him again.

We
spent nearly half an hour just being lovey dovey before I had to talk to him
seriously.

“I
can’t wait till all this is over and the serious talks can stop,” he told me.

“Neither
can I, but until then I need to plug you for information. You know a lot more
about demons than I do at the moment.”

“What
do you want to know?”

“Who
is Vetis?”

“He
is a demon.”

“Yes,
I know that, you sarcastic jerk,” I laughed, giving him a playful dig. “But I
want you to tell me about him. What’s his story? Should we be worried about
him?”

“No,
not while I’m around.”

“I
was talking to Hecate before. She said he scared her to death that he scared
most people...but that Vetis always seemed nervous around you and watched your
every move.”

Eligos
seemed to go from being very relaxed to rather uncomfortable. He sat up and
stayed silent for a moment before turning to face me.

“I’m
going to tell you something that only Lucifer, Lilith, Vetis, and I know,” he
told me very seriously. “Although I suppose, with what’s happening now, it’s
only a matter of time before everyone else finds out.”

“I
won’t say anything to anyone, you should know that.”

“I
know,” he said, taking hold of my hand. “Do you remember when I told you why I
ended up going to Hell?”

“Yeah,
you said you killed two men and then, later in life, yourself.”

“Good
memory. Well, one of those men...was Vetis.”

“What?”
I gasped.

“
Vetis
is what people these days would call my half-brother.”

“Okay….”

“My
father had three wives; back then there was no such thing as bigamy. They didn’t
realize it was a sin to be married to more than one person at a time,” he
explained. “Anyway, Vetis was the toughest warrior in our tribe, undefeatable. Anyone
who faced him died.”

“Except
you.”

“Yeah…it
turns out the younger brother was tougher than the older.”

“He’s
your
big
brother?”

“Yes,
he was three years older than me.”

“Eligos,
why did you kill him, honestly?”

“I
defied an order from my father, and he said I disgraced him. But the other
people of my tribe didn’t agree with him. They wouldn’t punish me; they thought
I was too valuable to them and they trusted me. I had saved the lives of
several of the people there. My father didn’t like the fact that they disagreed
with him, and ordered Vetis and his friend to kill me. That’s why I told you it
was a kill or be killed situation.”

“Oh,
my God! That must have upset you a lot.”

“Actually,
it didn’t,” he said, standing up. “I expected it, to be honest. The only people
it upset was my mother; Vetis’s mother, because obviously the task cost her son
his life; my father, because Vetis didn’t succeed; and Vetis himself. I was his
little brother—he didn’t want to kill me, but he was told if he didn’t, his
wife and two children would be killed.”

“By
whom?”

“My
father; he would have gotten someone to kill them.”

“No
offense, but I really do not like your father.”

“Neither
do I…I never did.”

“Where
is he?” I asked.

“He
is gone for good.”

“Hecate
said that she saw
Vetis
rip—”

“Someone’s
heart out and decapitate him?”

“Yeah.”

“That
was our father; it happened thousands of years ago. We knew his soul had come
to Hell, but he was serving two hundred years in the pits, so at first we
couldn’t get to him. When we found out he had been released, Vetis spoke to
Lucifer and told him exactly what had happened when we were alive. Lucifer gave
him permission to destroy him.”

“Wow,”
I said shaking my head. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s
nothing
to
say Keira. Don’t worry; it was a very long time ago.”

“So,
do you and
Vetis
get along now?”

“I
knew Vetis didn’t
want
to kill me. After the attack he was on the floor
choking on his own blood. It took him a few minutes to die. He managed to tell
me why he had done it; I told him I understood he had to do whatever it took to
protect his wife and children, and that I didn’t hate him or hold anything
against him. Then, when I died and went to Hell, Lucifer pulled me as you know,
and gave me a job role. He introduced me to people down there, and low and
behold, Vetis was one of them.”

“I
bet that was awkward,” I grimaced.

“Yeah,
just a little bit. Lucifer noticed tension and questioned us about it. We told
him we were brothers, but we didn’t tell him everything that had happened.”

“Wouldn’t
Lucifer have known already? I mean, isn’t what happened the reason Vetis went
to Hell?”

“Lucifer
doesn’t know why every person comes to Hell. He has people working in the pits
who have all that information recorded in case he ever has to refer to it. As
for Vetis, that isn’t why he went to Hell…it was because he had killed more
than sixty people in battles.”

“Are
you close now?”

“Not
really, but if one needed the other, we would be there,” he told me.

“That’s
good then, considering what happened.”

“Yeah
I guess; like I said, I don’t hold it against him…it’s
him
that’s guilt
ridden.”

“I
feel quite sorry for him.”

“Yeah,
so do I, but he knows if I had been put in that position I would have done the
same thing.” He sat down next to me again and kissed me. “Why do you want to
know about him anyway?”

“Just
with the new guys’ father trying to summon him, and knowing Hecate is worried.”

“Even
if that guy had summoned him he wouldn’t have fought against us. He wouldn’t
betray Lucifer…he has too much respect for him, and he wouldn’t want to fight
against me. Most likely, he would have just killed their father for trying to
recruit him.”

“I
can understand that, but wouldn’t he have gotten in trouble for it when he
returned to Hell? I thought demons weren’t supposed to hurt humans unless they
broke a deal or something.”

“Demons
can’t just decide to come here or any other realm and kill. But, if it’s for
the
greater good
, shall we call it, then they can,” he explained. “For
example, there have been people in the past who have summoned demons to try and
get them to attack people and fight wars for them. That’s not what we’re here
for; we don’t do peoples’ dirty work for them.”

“Fair
enough.”

“Now,
don’t worry about Vetis.”

“When
was the last time you spoke to him?”

“About
ninety years ago, maybe longer, and that was only to let on and not be
ignorant. I think the last time we held a proper conversation was over two
hundred years ago.”

“Wow,
that’s a long time,” I said, raising both eyebrows.

He
lay back on the grass and went quiet for a moment, looking deep in thought. I
stayed quiet and just lay on my side again beside him.

“What’s
wrong?” I finally asked him.

“I
was just thinking…if Vetis wasn’t aware of what was going on, he sure will be
now someone has tried to summon him. To be honest, I’m expecting him to either
request a meeting with Lucifer to find out the details, or,” he sighed, “turn
up here.”

“Maybe
he won’t do either, especially if you haven’t spoken for so long.”

“Oh,
he will definitely do one of them; he will want to know exactly what’s going
on.”

“If
he did turn up, would it bother you?”

“I
don’t know; that’s what I’m trying to work out. On one hand, it would be good
to see him, you know, have a catch up. But, on the other hand, it’s been that
long since we have spoken we may not get on at all. Then there’s the fact that
he is the older brother and may want to take charge. I don’t want that. Even
though I’m of higher status, he still thinks that because he’s the big bro,
what he says goes, and I don’t want to have to pull rank.”

“Well,
I’m not being funny or anything, but
I’m
in charge here. I’m the queen’s
daughter…he can’t really argue with that. Plus I have this angel problem, so I
think I’m the strongest of us all, and I don’t think he would want to argue the
point with me,” I said, smirking and acting tough for a moment.

“No,”
he laughed. “I doubt he would want to piss you off.”

We
stayed out for another hour or so, just chatting and making the most of our
alone time before deciding we should head back home. All the guys, including
the newbie’s, were at the house when we arrived. Lily grabbed my hand when I
walked into the living room and dragged me back out and into the kitchen.

“I
have to tell you something,” she giggled while shutting the kitchen door behind
us. “I think Tyler may have finally gotten over you.”

“Really?
How do you know?” I asked, intrigued.

“All
he has done all day is stare at Olivia…and the thing is, she has been staring back.”

“Wow,
both of them have a crush already.”

“It
would seem that way, yes.”

“Great,”
I smiled. “It would be nice to see him happy with someone.”

“I
think Eligos would be happy about it too…you know since he wouldn’t have to
worry about Tyler coming on to his fiancée.”

“I
don’t think Eligos is worried anymore.”

“Well,
anyway, I just thought I would tell you,” she said, getting all excited again. “But
don’t tell him I’ve said anything.”

“I
won’t, don’t worry. You know, it’s nice to have a bit of happiness amidst
everything that’s going on.”

“I
know.”

“How
is Elizabeth?”

“Oh
Keira, she is so nice! We got a little bored before, so she sat outside with
me. She was teaching me some amazing spells.”