Page 118 of The Monsters We Are

The breath gusted out of Cain’s lungs, and panic exploded in his gut.No. No, no, no, no, no.As the owner of her soul, Cain knew that she was alive. But he was also very aware that she’d suffer at the hands of the Aeons.

“She knew that Noah would do it,” Delilah quickly added. “Kali warned her—”

“Wait, Wynterknewshe’d be betrayed and hauled off to the city below?” asked Cain, a growl in his voice as anger bubbled through both him and his monster. Anger at her, at Noah, at Kali, at Adam.

“Kali made it clear that Wynterneededto allow it,” Xavier cut in, a crow perched on his shoulder.

Cain bared his teeth, contracting his fingers like claws. “Why?”

“We don’t know,” said Anabel, not seeming as unstable and bloodthirsty as she had earlier. “Wynter wouldn’t tell us anything more. She only asked that we watch out for the moment Noah took her so that we could follow him and find out where the other entrance to Aeon is. Then we’re supposed to tellyouwhere to find it. So that’s what we’re doing.”

“Now do you all want to see where it is or not?” asked Delilah.

Urgency thrumming through his body, Cain called out to two of his aides, both of whom were mages. “I want you both to blast this shield over and over. It won’t crack, but don’t stop.” He wanted the Aeons to think that the Ancients were still pointlessly slamming power at the shield. Otherwise, Adam would wonder what theywereup to.

Once both aides took over, the Bloodrose Coven led Cain and the Ancients to the other side of the hill. It wasn’t until Delilah pointed to a well-hidden doorknob that Cain even realized that a door was cleverly concealed by the hill’s decaying grass. Much as he yearned to try smashing it to pieces, he couldn’t afford to draw attention to his presence.

Silently cursing his need to be subtle, he tugged on the handle. Nothing. It didn’t even rattle the door, let alone open it. As he’d suspected . . . “It’s locked somehow,” Cain ground out, his pulse thudding with dread as he tried and failed to push aside thoughts of what Adam would do to his consort—because, yeah, Noah would tell his grandfather just who she was to Cain. “Did anyone see how Noah opened it?”

“I did,” said Xavier. “He sliced into his palm with a small knife, dipped his finger into the blood, and then carefully drew some symbols on the doorknob like this.” The male witch carefully replicated Noah’s movements. “The blood seemed to soak into it, and then he just pulled the door open.”

Azazel went to speak but then glanced at the coven. “We need Inanna and Ishtar before we can proceed. They’re searching for a second entrance. Bring them to us.”

The coven didn’t look too keen on walking away, but they did as asked.

Azazel then said, “Aeon blood must be needed to unlock the door. It could even be that only the blood of an Aeon related to Adam will work. It would be just like him to ensure that only those who are part of ‘his legacy’ are able to use this door.”

Dantalion nodded. “Seth might have changed in many ways when he became one of us, but the blood that runs through his veins is still celestial. More, he’s Adam’s son.”

Cain’s brows lifted. “That’s a good point. My blood has celestial qualities, but that’s not the same, and I’m not related to Adam.” He looked at his brother. “Try it.”

Seth shrugged, sliced into his palm with pure power, and then repeated Xavier’s exact movements. He leaned forward, twisted the doorknob, pulled on it . . . and the door opened.

Abaddon grinned. “Wasn’t so hard.”

His muscles tight, Cain cricked his neck and rolled his shoulders. His creature writhed and hissed anddemandedthat he find their consort. The only thing keeping both him and his monster from losing their motherfucking shit was that they knew Wynter was alive.

“She’ll be all right, Cain.” Seth quickly whipped up his hand. “I’m not being dismissive of the situation. I just mean that if Kali truly wants her down there, the deity will be with her. She’ll watch over Wynter and do what She can to aid her.”

She’d fucking better. Deity or not, he’d find a way to rain fresh hell on Her if She didn’t.

The coven quickly returned with the sisters.

Ishtar looked unbelievably put-out at the sight of the open door. “We examined every inch of this side of the hill and foundnothing.”

“Should we gather some of our people to accompany us to the underground city?” asked Inanna.

“If there are non-Ancients with us, we will . . .” Lilith trailed off, casting a quick look at the coven. “There will be a certain something we cannot do when we fight.”

Inanna’s frown smoothed out as she nodded in understanding. “Ah, true enough.”

Cain turned to the coven. “You four need to stay here.”

“Sorry. Can’t. We have very specific instructions from Wynter, and they include us being down there,” said Delilah.

“We get that there’s stuff you’d rather we didn’t know about your kind,” said Xavier. “But you have our word that we won’t talk to others of what we see.” The crow squawked, as if to back him up on that.

“Wynter told us that you’d want us to remain up here,” Anabel interjected, “so she also asked us to tell you that she literallyneedsus to be down there. She didn’t explain beyond that.”

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