by Cole, Tillie
“And which Diel did you speak to?” Sela asked Gabriel, eyebrow raised. He knew his best friend better than any of them.
Gabriel sighed. “His monster.”
Michael was leaning against the table, staring at the grandfather clock and the pendulum that swung from side to side. Gabriel’s younger brother was as silent and distant as always.
“We’re going to get him.” Gabriel checked the time. “Get ready. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”
“Is this the Brethren?” Sela asked, and the brothers halted in their tracks. “Are we being played by those fuckers right now?”
“It was a woman we spoke to,” Maria said. “The Brethren might use women in their plans, but they wouldn’t allow them to be organized or be leaders in any way. The woman we spoke to, Dinah … she certainly wasn’t meek like I used to be. That gives me faith that she is not involved with them. She sounded strong. She sounded bold.”
Maria sighed, likely remembering her previous life as a nun and how she unknowingly became a pawn in the Brethren’s wicked game to lure in Raphael and kill him. How easily Father Quinn and Father Murray manipulated her into believing she was doing God’s work and that it would benefit the wider church by having a killer such as Raphael contained in their custody.
But Gabriel felt his heart plummet when he saw a flash of doubt in Maria’s gaze. “We don’t believe this is a trap.” He sighed. “But we prepare for anything and everything.” His soul screamed in dismay at the thought of being drawn into another fight with the Brethren. Of more blood being spilled and more lives being lost. It went against everything Gabriel’s pacifist heart believed in. “But we get Diel back,” he whispered. “Above anything, we get our brother back.”
* * *
The wind whipped around the dark graveyard, and the moon was full and high in the dark sky when Gabriel, Maria and his brothers got out of the van and stepped onto the cold grass that surrounded the sea of aged, wind-battered gravestones. The gravestones belonged to Gabriel and Michael’s ancestors … and some of the victims of their serial-killer grandfather that had never been discovered. Bare-branched trees cradled the graveyard’s outer edges. Gabriel, Maria and his brothers gathered near the ornate mausoleum that held his grandfather’s body, and they waited.
Gabriel exhaled in preparation for whatever was about to transpire. Minutes later, he heard the sound of tires on the gravel road leading to the isolated graveyard.
“Get ready,” he said quietly to his brothers. Raphael pushed Maria behind him, his golden eyes fixing on the shadow of the dark van that turned onto the long driveway to the cemetery.
Gabriel’s brothers were silent behind him, thanks to the years of training to be stealthy, to blend into the night and become living, breathing shadows. Each of them held weapons, concealed from sight, and he could feel the pulsing air whipping around them, his brothers itching for a fight, excited for the chance of killing.
Gabriel briefly closed his eyes, a silent prayer sailing from his mind into the sky. Please let this not be a Brethren trap. Please let Diel be safe, and save my brothers from shedding even more blood.
The lights of the black van were off as it came to a halt several feet before where Gabriel stood. He wore a long black jacket over his priest’s uniform, but nothing hiding his face. His blond curls shone like sunbeams in the gloomy, gray cemetery. He didn’t want to scare away whoever was in that van; he wanted them to see his face and understand that he meant them no harm.
The door to the van opened, and he felt his brothers readying for an attack. Gabriel squinted in the darkness as someone, dressed in all black, got out of the passenger side door. They wore a hood that covered their head and some kind of scarf that covered all of their face but their eyes. They approached, and a few others followed behind, dressed in exactly the same way.
“Diel was right,” Bara said for only his brothers and Maria to hear. “This is something to see.”
Gabriel stepped forward, his hands up so they could see that he held no weapon. “Welcome.” His voice carried like thunder around the empty graveyard, joining the midnight call of the resident owls.
A final hooded person stepped out of the van— in total, there were six of them. As his eyes focused on them, he could see that they were shorter and slimmer than him and his brothers.
Women, he realized. They were all women.
Confusion wrapped around him. Who could they be? The one at the front, who he assumed to be Dinah, studied Gabriel and his brothers. Her dark eyes landed on Maria behind Raphael, and her eyebrows pulled down.
“Dinah?” Gabriel stepped forward away from his brothers. The women immediately stood ready for an attack. Gabriel held up his hands higher. “No one will hurt you here,” he said, and she stepped closer.
When she stopped, she stood only feet from Gabriel. “Your collared man attacked us while we were rescuing a child from a Brethren priest’s basement.” Gabriel blanched. The blunt statement hit him as efficiently as any bullet to the gut ever could.
Gabriel felt the tension from his brothers behind him. He heard the sound of agitated feet moving on the ground.
“The Brethren?” Gabriel said.
Dinah rolled her eyes. “Let’s cut the shit. Your man told us who you were. The Fallen. Brethren-branded sinners who were taken away as kids and exorcised for years under the Brethren’s fucked-up hands. Ring any bells?”
“And what do you know of the Brethren?” Gabriel said calmly.
“About as much as you, I’m guessing.” Dinah shrugged. “Maybe a little bit more.”
Gabriel studied her. “The child?” he asked, his mind sticking on that one piece of information. “You freed him? Where is he now? Is he safe?”
Dinah was silent for a few seconds, then said, “You kill them? The Brethren? That’s what you do? That’s how you get your revenge for what they did to you?”
Gabriel looked across at the six hooded women. “Where’s Diel?” Almost as if his collared brother had heard Gabriel’s question, violent thrashing came from inside the van.
Gabriel knew that Dinah smiled under her scarf by the way her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’d say he’s just woken up.”
“You drugged him?” Gabriel said.
“He told us to.”
“How do you know the Brethren?” Gabriel asked directly, feeling his brothers’ patience growing thin behind him.
Dinah spread her arms wide and gestured to her sisters. “We are the Coven. A sinful band of heretics. Witches, occultists, pagans and, best of all, the devil’s favorite whores.” Gabriel’s stomach rolled as the confession spilled from her mouth. “Raped, tortured and tried by the Brethren Witch Finders for most of our childhoods.” She paused. “Sound familiar, Goldilocks?”
Gabriel’s eyes closed, and real, disabling pain cut through his body. In that moment, his greatest fears were realized.
There were more of them.
The Fallen … Holy Innocents … It wasn’t just happening at their old school and parish like Gabriel had hoped. A one-off band of depraved and disillusioned priests. A small sect whose reach was limited and resources few.
Gabriel looked back at Maria and met her eyes. Her gaze was shining with tears. But Gabriel could see they weren’t tears of sorrow. Maria would be feeling that, too—she was empathetic and kind-hearted—but these tears were scalding with anger, fast with fury.
The sound of Diel thrashing harder came from the back of the van, and one of the hooded women broke from their grouping to walk over to it.
“Let us,” Gabriel said. “Despite his rage, he won’t hurt his brothers.” The sound of the van doors opening was followed by Diel’s false promise of, “Let me out of the van, Noa. I won’t hurt you.”
Dinah glared at Gabriel assessingly. She finally nodded her permission, and Gabriel walked past her and the other women. He realized that Diel had grown quiet, and when he reached the back of the van, he saw why. The woman who had opened the van had
removed her hood and scarf, revealing her true self. She had a long pink braid that fell to the middle of her back, and dark brown eyes. She flicked a glance to Gabriel, but then refocused on his brother inside the van. Gabriel followed her attention and found Diel inside a heavy-duty cage. And he didn’t even acknowledge Gabriel. His monster’s blue stare was firmly fixed on the pink-haired woman.
Gabriel reached into his pocket and retrieved the collar’s remote. “Diel,” he said. Diel whipped his head in Gabriel’s direction. “You’re okay?”
But Diel ignored him, refocusing on the woman, his nostrils flaring and a deadly smile spreading on his lips. Gabriel frowned, but when he looked at the woman, she was staring back at his brother, not an ounce of discomfort in her gaze.
Their attention on one another seemed obsessive, somewhat possessive.
“You’re coming home,” Gabriel said to Diel, trying to break through whatever strange connection was building between them.
“Let him out, Noa,” Dinah said, coming to stand beside Gabriel.
The pink-haired woman, Noa, hesitated, studying Gabriel, but then she stepped into the van and unlocked the cage. She moved back quickly, and Diel slammed the cage door open. He flew from the cage, diving straight toward Noa. But before he reached her, Gabriel pressed the button on the collar, and Diel dropped to his knees on the cold, damp ground.
Diel snarled in defiance against the crackling surge of electricity, rolling forward to slam his palms to the ground. His limbs shook, and even with the moon as their only light, Gabriel could see the dried blood of Diel’s victims still on his skin. He felt those deaths like a tornado of punches to his face.
“Breathe.”
Gabriel whipped his head to Noa as she spoke. Diel froze at the sound. Then, to Gabriel’s complete surprise, Diel began to do what she instructed. Despite the raging volts tearing through his body, the monster’s evil sinking into his battered soul, Noa’s command seemed to hit his ears, and Diel overrode it all and began to calm.
Several seconds of slow and controlled breathing passed, then Diel raised his head, and Gabriel saw the true Diel looking back at him, not the monster that often took him away from his brothers.
Gabriel leaned down and wrapped his hand around Diel’s bicep. He hoisted Diel to his feet. Diel’s head twitched, showing his inner fight against the urge to bring the monster back to the forefront. Gabriel kept the collar switched high. He couldn’t risk him attacking the women. However, when Diel looked at Noa again, he was beginning to see why Diel hadn’t killed them all on the spot when they had met.
She held his attention somehow.
Just as he turned to leave, he noticed a makeshift remote in Noa’s hand. Gabriel took in a deep, exasperated breath when he realized it could control Diel’s collar. He held out his hand. “May I take that, please?”
Noa narrowed her eyes, clearly wanting to refuse Gabriel’s request, but then she reluctantly placed the remote in the palm of Gabriel’s hand. He placed it in his pocket. He would destroy it once he was home.
Gabriel rounded the van, Diel still beside him. He saw the Coven and his brothers glaring at one another; trust appeared to be nonexistent between them. Sela came forward from the shadow of the mausoleum toward his best friend. But as he stepped into the light, one of the women broke from the Coven and ran at Sela, knife in hand.
Sela turned just as the small hooded woman pushed him back against the mausoleum wall. She lifted her knife as if to strike, not a single word spilling from her lips, but another one of the Coven raced behind her and yanked her arm back, wrenching her away from Sela.
“Naomi, no!” The one who had attacked Sela thrashed in the other woman’s arms. The frenzy pulled back both their hoods. The attacker had bright red hair, not too dissimilar in tone to Bara’s. The other woman looked to be of South Asian, possibly Indian heritage, with rich brown skin and chocolate-brown hair.
“What the fuck is this?” the brunette hissed in Gabriel’s direction. The Coven went on high alert, legs bent and knives drawn and battle-ready. Diel fought against Gabriel, trying to break from his grip and charge at the women near Sela. Gabriel kept tight hold of him. “You have the General. Why the fuck do you have the General?”
“Who the flying fuck is the General?” Bara came forward. Uriel was close behind, his gray eyes sharp. Tension built, and Bara’s attention flew to the petite redhead. He smiled wide. “A fellow redhead.” He bit his lip, the flesh dragging through his teeth. “A feisty little fire witch.”
“Enough!” Dinah rounded on Gabriel, her eyes darting around the Fallen. “Why do you have him?” Gabriel realized they suddenly believed their meeting him and his family to be a trap.
Sela stepped away from the mausoleum wall, straightening his shirt. The Coven watched him with pure hatred in their stares. Sela combed his long brown hair from his face with his hands. “From your greeting, I take it you’ve met my brother. Father Auguste.”
Dinah’s breathing audibly hitched. “Brother?”
“I’m still fucking stuck on ‘General’? What and who the fuck is the General?” Bara asked.
“The Witch Finder General,” Noa informed them, moving to her sisters nearest Sela and pulling them back by their arms. Diel’s collar hissed as she moved past him. Diel watched her again, like he couldn’t look away, like his eyes were glued to any move she made.
Noa ignored it and addressed them all. “Father Auguste is the Witch Finder General for the Brethren. He deemed us all witches and heretics as young girls and sentenced us to a life of horrific witch trials.” Noa’s eyes narrowed on Sela. “You’re twins?”
Sela’s cheeks had reddened at the sharing of this information about his brother. The Fallen hadn’t known where Auguste was, or what role he played in the Brethren. Gabriel had never been able to discover anything about him, even with all his contacts.
Now they knew.
“Not twins,” Raphael said, his arm securely around Maria. “Auguste is his older brother. They just look alike.”
“And it sounds like Auguste’s scooting up the Brethren ladder,” Bara said, wiggling his fingers at the Coven. “Cleansing one little witch at a time.”
“Bara, enough!” Gabriel said firmly. Bara shrugged, then closely watched the woman who had attacked Sela. His redheaded brother was nothing if not provocative.
“You know where he is?” Sela said to Dinah, voice cold.
Dinah stared at Sela, unease rolling off her in waves. “It’s like I’m looking right at him,” she whispered. The damage and pain Auguste had clearly inflicted on her and her sisters was evident in her shaking voice.
“Genetics,” Uriel said. “Believe us when we tell you Sela and Auguste may look identical, but they are nothing alike.”
“You know where he is?” Sela pushed harder, his hatred for his brother slowly rising to the surface.
Dinah sighed, then pushed her hood back from her head and the scarf from her face. Her dark skin shone deep bronze in the moonlight, and her braided hair blew in the wind. She looked to her sisters, and the final two who still wore hoods and scarves removed them too. A small brunette with big dark eyes was revealed, along with a statuesque blonde.
Diel practically vibrated beside him, but as long as he stared at Noa, he seemed to be keeping hold of the monster who was rearing its ugly head inside. Dinah turned back to Gabriel and his brothers. Her gaze caught on Maria again, but then she sighed, lifted her shirt and revealed to them all a brand.
Gabriel’s breathing came quick as he saw a pentagram burned into her skin, and in the center an upturned cross. One just like the Fallen’s. “Our Coven’s brand,” Dinah said. “Forced onto us as children to show our sinful ways.” But it wasn’t the only mark on her. All around the brand was burned and mottled skin. Dinah turned, showing them her back. She had been burned all over, barely a spot where untouched skin remained. The burn seemed to reach the top of her neck, but her clothes hid that truth.
Her whole body. Th
ey had burned her entire body.
When Dinah turned, she dropped her shirt and nudged her chin in Diel’s direction. “When we saw his brand, we knew we were somehow connected to you.”
“They burned you?” Uriel asked, voice dripping with hatred for the Brethren.
Dinah nodded. “Among other things. Drownings were a firm favorite too. Drown and burn the witches. They were traditional in their approach.” Dinah gestured to her sisters. “We all have similar scars.” Then she smirked. “But it seems like we devil’s whores managed to get one up on them. I can only imagine how pissed our theft of their little sinners will make them.”
“The children,” Gabriel stated.
Dinah nodded. “Innocent children like we were.” She motioned to her sisters, then assessed Gabriel and his brothers. “As I’m guessing you were too.” Gabriel felt sick as he thought back to their visit to Purgatory not long ago, when they’d found seven new boys living in the quarters that had held them for so long.
It was happening again.
Apparently, it had never stopped.
And now Gabriel knew the Brethren were everywhere. How many children were they harboring in secret? Orphans, with no one to save them or even care that they were being harmed.
“Gabriel?” Maria’s voice pulled him back from his rising fury, and she walked toward him. Raphael stayed at her back, protecting her the entire way. Maria smiled at Gabriel, a reminder to him to curb his anger. Getting angry wasn’t going to help anything. He had to be calm; he had to keep emotionally steady. He inhaled a deep breath.
“Let’s invite the Coven home,” Maria said. “We have much to learn from one another, and it shouldn’t be done out here.” Although the graveyard was secure, Gabriel knew she was right. There was too much to discuss, to discover.
Gabriel inhaled once more and cooled himself down enough that he could talk. He felt the biting cilices tighten around his thighs, tearing into his muscles. The recent stripes on his back throbbed, stripes from his beloved leather scourge that rid him of his daily sins by taking them from his flesh.
