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Damon

N ext to me, while I lay awake and tried to think through the nightmare, Kit slid into sleep. Once I was certain she wouldn’t wake, I eased onto my side and studied her face. The shadows under her eyes were as thick and heavy as I’d ever seen them, although she wasn’t having nightmares the way she used to.

No, that was all my department now.

I was glad she hadn’t asked about my dreams. I wouldn’t have been able to tell her if my life depended on it. That wasn’t anything new—on the rare occasion I did remember, my dreams were always just these random flashes of weirdness, me walking into a meeting with my top people to find them all naked or something stupid like that.

That wasn’t the case lately.

Whatever was going on was some dark and turbulent shit, and most of it, I didn’t remember. What little I did was too vague and hazy for me to decipher. I preferred it to stay that way, too.

Especially considering that conversation I’d had with Chang.

Fuck , why did I have to think about that now?

Kit snuggled in closer to me, a shiver running through her and I pulled the blanket up, tucking it around her. The scent of her hair drifted to my nose and I nuzzled her, trying to focus on her and block those memories out.

It wasn’t happening.

A week earlier

“I need to speak with you before you leave.”

Scowling at him over the rucksack I’d just finished packing, I asked, “What? We need to get moving. Daylight’s burning and that bitch is getting farther and farther away.”

“This is important.” Chang glanced over as Kit came out of the back area of our private quarters, her face strained, mouth pinched. “I wouldn’t bother if it wasn’t. You know that.”

“Is this about the Lemera?” Kit asked softly.

That threw me. I shot a look at her, then slanted my gaze toward Chang. His eyes were on Kit. If he noticed my sharpened interest, which he probably did, he chose to ignore it.

“Not really,” he said. “In all my long years, she’s one creature I never directly crossed paths with, Kit.” He sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes. A deep groove had formed there and when he glanced at Kit, the groove deepened even more. “And those years…they are more numerous than you can possibly imagine.”

“Well, I already know you were walking around during Lemera’s lifetime and she’s practically two millennia old.”

Chang’s mouth twitched and he looked at me. Folding my arms, I leaned against the nearest poster of the big bed I shared with Kit. Was he going to tell her?

“Kit, to me, two millennia isn’t even a drop in the bucket.”

Shit. He was.

The bottom of my stomach dropped out. What in the hell was it he needed to share that he was going to reveal this ?

He moved to the seating area by the fireplace, a distant expression on his face. “Most of my childhood, my youth is lost to the sands of time, the memories trapped in a dense of fog so complex, it can take me days or weeks to unwrap specific details. Some remain clear, of course. Like the day I scared my mother to death when I leaped from a rock so high, it might have knocked my head off if I had fallen—I wasn’t old enough then to live through a serious injury. I could already shift. My…kind predate the shifters who now walk the world. Even those born a generation or two after mine were different.” He glanced at me, a brow lifting slightly. “That day is so clear in my head because it was the last time I saw my grandfather alive—he left with my mother and father to go fight back creatures we called the Deathless. They were what you might call…counterparts to my kind.”

“And what is your kind?” Kit asked warily.

“We were the progenitors of every NH on the planet.” He lifted a brow. “One of the Deathless…he’s Pandora’s grandfather. And that soulless, evil piece of shit…” Chang blew out a breath and tipped his head backward as if seeking out the heavens.

“Chang, get to the point,” I said.

His eyes flashed black, then gold. “It’s complicated.”

“Give us the bare bones.” I bared my teeth as frustration roared inside me.

“How much of this do I need to know?” Kit asked, shoving between us, one hand resting on my chest while her gaze locked on Chang. “The Deathless? I’ve never even heard of them. And just how old are you —I’m not following.”

Chang studied her thoughtfully. “Do you remember when we were discussing the puck…or rather, pucks in general and the mythology that they were considered to be minor demons?”

Her brows came together. “Yes…” She drew it slowly and I saw my own confusion echoed in her gaze.

“I told you there were myths that the fey were believed by some to be fallen angels.” He cocked his head and glanced toward me.

I connected the dots.

“Yeah." Kit's brow crumpled, telling me she was doing the same. "You referenced some lore about a war between heaven and hell—Lucifer fell and so did other angels. Some sided with him, others just got stuck on earth after the war and didn’t make it back in time when the gates shut.”

“Yes.” He said nothing else.

Kit’s breath hitched.

Her heart sped up.

“Are you…” She cleared her throat and tried again. “Chang, are you trying to tell me that you’re…”

Chang rose and for the first time since he’d told me, he dropped the magic he used to dampen his power and conceal his true form. His features sharpened. His hair took on a blue-black gleam while his eyes melted to pure gold.

And unfurling from his back were the golden vestigial wings he could summon when his power was at its apex.

“I was not alive for the wars, no. But my grandfather was one of the ones who fell,” he said softly. “He and several others regretted their actions—they didn’t fall because they chose to side with Lucifer. They just…preferred life outside of heaven. They’d been placed to serve on earth since before time began and after hundreds of thousands of years, it felt like…home.”

Kit sucked in a breath, a strange, choked sound escaping her.

Chang flicked a hand and once more, he looked as he always did, a slim man of Asian descent, his specific ancestry not particularly easy to pin down. Settling back in the chair, he said, “In the end, it was humanity that changed them. One by one, they all fell in love. A handful of others sided with Lucifer and later changed their minds but they weren’t particularly interested in guarding or caring for mankind—they wanted to rule—they wanted to be kings on earth.” A humorless smile curved his lips. “Why serve in heaven or hell when you can rule on earth? Only a handful of their ilk escaped the pit—and Lucifer. He was greedy with his power and those who fell with him became the world’s first demons. Many ended up locked in the pit at his side.”

Kit sank onto the chair nearest her, one hand curling into a fist where it rested on the arm. Her expression was bloodless, eyes wide with shock but I had no doubt she believed him, just as I had.

“There were some who eluded Lucifer and his minions—closing the pit wasn’t a quick thing. From what my grandfather told me, it was almost like…” Chang cocked his head, searching for the words. “In today’s language, we could say an interdimensional landslide, I suppose, taking place in slow motion. But it was a one-way ticket. They went in and didn’t come out.”

“I’m surprised they went ,” Kit said faintly.

“Oh, they didn’t go willingly .” Chang’s smile was slow but nonetheless savage. “It was made abundantly clear that they could either go—either of their own accord or through force. The only other choice was eternal obliteration. These were eternal beings. The idea of not being terrified them. But eventually, the doorway closed. Some remained. They carved out hiding places and bred with others. Each successive generation was weaker until eventually, new races were formed, like the pucks. It was the first generation that was truly terrifying. The children of the Deathless.”

Sighing, Chang met my gaze. “But they were nothing compared to the Deathless. The fallen counterparts to my grandfather and his brothers-and-sisters in arms. They wanted to remain on earth and make it their own kingdom. My grandfather and those who had served in heaven’s armies—those who regretted abandoning their posts—were charged with hunting the rest of those who fell. They’d hunt them down and end them—if they managed to prevent the Deathless from turning the world of men into a hellscape, they could earn their place in heaven back. In time, they managed to hunt down and kill nearly all of them. Like the Deathless, my grandfather and his people didn’t want to leave Earth. But their desire to remain had nothing to do with ruling. They’d found mates among humans, made this place their home. Many had had offspring. Those who accepted the charge agreed they’d pass the mission onto their children and grandchildren.”

Kit blew out a shaky breath, looking at Chang as if she’d never seen him.

I cut between them, my gaze locking with his. “I know all of this. What is it you have to tell me ?”

“It all ties into Madae.”

“Who the fuck is Madae?” I demanded. But then a memory worked free. I had heard that name. Just hours earlier. Turning, I looked at Kit.

“She’s the one who took possession of my grandmother,” Kit said woodenly. Her eyes had a glassy sheen to them and she stared at nothing. “Lemera…Damon, Lemera…her true name is Lemeraties . She lived back when the Roman Empire was still going strong. The name of her queen was Madae —and it’s possible some…entity possessed Madae during Lemeraties’s lifetime or shortly before.”

“I think it’s more than possible,” Chang said quietly.

I whipped my head around and stared at him, hard.

He lifted a brow. “I’m almost certain she’s one of Azazel’s offspring—Azazel is the very last of the Deathless, Damon. I’ve been hunting him for nearly as long as I’ve been alive. But that isn’t what I need to tell you.”