Page 78 of Priest

“I mean, it’s just as likely you’d be capable of creating a bond as I would. I’m half human, and you’re full Hellhound.”

“Your parents—” Jeremiah began.

“What if my dad isn’t actually all human? I mean, if Oliver never noticed he was part Angel, what’s to say there’s not some sort of supernatural line in my dad’s family? It’s not like they took DNA tests.”

Jeremiah sat back in his chair with a slight thud. His face looked the way Priest’s must have when he realized Oliver had a point. There was something happening. Something was wrong about everything they thought they understood.

“The journals I took are beyond my education,” Jeremiah admitted. “But I have Caspian looking over them and trying to transcribe the information in more layman’s terms. What I could understand is that they’ve come up with a way to trigger what they call the Genetic Awakening. Vampires are like Nephilim—they only come from human lines.”

“And?” Priest asked.

“Maybe we need to—” Remi started, then blushed when Priest looked at him. “Sorry, I was going over the journals too.”

“Don’t be sorry. Obviously, we need all the help we can get,” Priest told him.

Remi nodded, then looked torn. “It would help if we could find Oz. He used to talk about this stuff all the time when we were dating.” Jeremiah growled, and Remi rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him. “I didn’t always understand it, but I absorbed some of it. He thinks that there was a… divergence in history, when the continent was being divided. A war that didn’t involve humans, and a lot of the records were lost. There’s some in stories. But everyone assumed they were myths.”

Priest leaned forward. “Like what?”

“A war between Gargoyles and Sirens in the Oceanus Tales,” Remi said.

Priest had no idea what that was, but Oliver nodded along.

“They made an alliance to fight an army full of Hellhounds who were eventually defeated and enslaved. But so far, there’s been no actual evidence of that happening.”

“So what does that have to do with this?” Jeremiah asked.

Remi bit his thumbnail for a moment. “Well, in the Oceanus Tales, the Sirens subjugated the Hellhounds and basically sterilized them to keep them from breeding. They decided the most humane thing to do was to let them die off without mass killing them all.”

“Charming,” Jeremiah growled.

Remi cast his eyes down. “Yeah, it doesn’t make my people look great.”

“I just don’t see what that has to do with anything,” Priest cut in. “I mean, I get it. Sterilize them and let them die off, but that clearly didn’t happen.”

“Well,” Oliver said softly, “the thing is, you can’t really mass sterilize an entire population. The army, sure, but what about the others? The average citizen? The children? How do you subjugate them all?”

Priest lifted a brow, waiting for the answer.

“Create a massive lie. A myth rooted in some truth. Tell the world that Hellhounds are different—that they’re not like us because they don’t have mates. They live and die alone. They’re weaker and mostly infertile. Work laws into the system that prevent them from being welcome on most continents. Slowly, over time, that becomes public knowledge.”

Priest felt like he’d been punched in the gut. “We have no evidence that’s true.”

“No, not really.” He glanced at his mate. “Except you. And the notes saying that everything everyone has believed about Vampires is a lie. And if they’re lying about that—and if both of you can have a mate bond, then it’s possible that’s a lie too.It’s possible that other Hellhounds and other Demons who have found their mates have kept it quiet for fear of what might happen to them if they told anyone.”

Priest swallowed heavily. “What would be the point?”

“It’s hard to say,” Remi answered. “Maybe something to do with the war. Maybe it’s about power.”

“It’s usually about power,” Oliver says, a haunted look on his face.

“And if we can find your friend, he might know more, right?” Priest said.

Remi hugged his middle, and Jeremiah pulled him close, smudging a kiss over his temple. “Yeah. I think he would. He’s dedicated almost all of his life to ancient history, long before he decided to attend Hillsland. And if this is true—if we’re getting close to something—it’s probably why he was taken.”

“You’re so sure he was?” Oliver asked.

At that, Jeremiah looked up, and his expression was far from happy. “We found something in that security footage.”

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