Page 36 of Anger

“You’ll not touch him!”

“Lamia, step down immediately!” Vampire ordered.

Lamia hissed at him, and he looked a little shocked.

“Everyone calm down. I sense nothing negative from Mac, is it?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Mac answered, turning to face Lilith.

“Why did you come with Lamia, Mac?” Lilith asked.

“Well, in truth, I wasn’t given a lot of choice. Lamia pulled me through the mirror before I knew what was happening,” Mac replied.

“Why would she do that?” Baba Yaga demanded.

“Because I offered her distressing news.”

“For God’s sake, can we cut to the meat of this matter? What did you tell Lamia that was so upsetting?” Poseidon snapped.

“Your temper grows worse,” Mary Worth groaned at him.

“I told Lamia I knew where Tisiphone is,” Mac said, and silence fell.

“Is this a cruel joke?” Wendigo demanded, rising to his full height.

“Not at all. Tisiphone is alive,” Mac insisted. “Perhaps I may start from the beginning?”

“By all means. It’s been a long time since I had a bedtime story,” Poseidon sniped.

Mac ignored him. “Around five hundred years ago, Hunters found it harder to find you. There weren’t as many of you, and the world had become a much bigger place. Instead, they turned their attention to the families who had aided you. They began wiping out what you call Saviour families, those who’d helped you in the past and would do so again in the future. We had several population bursts and so the Saviour families had grown immense.”

“Yes,” Mary said when Mac paused.

“The Hunters focused on finding and killing us all, even down to a newborn babe. My two-day-old sister was a victim of theirs. They didn’t care how old you were, if you had Saviour blood, you had to die. Several families in our community realised what was happening and banded together. In doing so, they saved the life of Tisiphone. She was captive and dying, and the Saviours raided a den of Hunters.

“They freed Tisiphone but were too late to save Alecto and Megaera. The older of the Erinyes are both dead. The Saviours spirited Tisiphone away and looked after her. In return, they informed Tisiphone of what was happening. And she created the Refuge for us. She sought out Saviour families that still existed and brought them to Refuge, and we grew up there.

“In time, further Legends joined us. I am not free to share their names, only Tisiphone. Nor can I inform you where Refuge is. I will die before that knowledge leaves my lips. My family was one of the last out in the world. We knew little of our heritage and, therefore, didn’t see the need to hide. My mother and her sister’s cousins were the last of their line. They’d been smuggled out and adopted. But Hunters still found and slaughtered them.

“Mine and Ranson’s fathers were also from a Saviour family, which had been decimated. But unlike our mothers, our dads knew what they were. They accepted Refuge and took Ranson and I there to grow in safety. We learned to fight from them. Since then, we have tried to aid those we’ve discovered. And we’ve saved two further Legends. We thought Lamia was alone. We didn’t know about this. Tisiphone knew you’d all disappeared but assumed you were dead,” Mac exclaimed.

Silence reigned.

“Who are the other three Legends?” Vampire demanded.

“I’ll not betray them,” Mac stated.

Vampire flew across the room and bent Mac backwards, his teeth at his neck. “I shall tear your throat out, boy. Who are they?”

“I shall not betray them!” Mac repeated.

“Let him go!” Lamia shrieked and her tail wrapped around Vampire and yanked him away. Lamia wound herself on Mac.

“Lamia?” Poseidon exclaimed gently, noting her eyes flashing.

“Mac is under my protection,” she hissed. “Ask him why he won’t betray them!”

“Mac, please tell us,” Banshee asked.

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