“The one who brought you into your pack knows them, too, I’d wager,” Lorelei continued, casually pouring a packet of sugar into her coffee. “Is he still around? She? Someone came into your life and started pushing you. Perhaps it was with honeyed words and a seductive, predatory grin, or perhaps it was more intimidating than that. Whatever their technique, someone taught you that it was easier to look at people as prey rather than as equals. Someone guided you down a bloody, ugly path.”
None of her audience spoke. Diana maintained a stern, patient façade, but Sally’s breath seemed to deepen as she listened. Jared continued to stare at Lorelei. She didn’t even need to look to know. Instead, she continued.
“Your sins grew worse. You broke from your family, perhaps in a gruesome fashion. Whether the killing started right from the beginning, or if it came later, it doesn’t matter: at some point, you became a killer, and you liked it. You hungered for it. The further you got from polite society and conventional morality, the better. Mercy, guilt, ethics-those are all the silly illusions that make people into sheep, aren’t they? You feel no remorse. That feeling died well before your first shift. Before the first time you ate human flesh and found that nothing was sweeter.”
“Your angel friend tastes sweeter,” Diana taunted.
“An appropriate segue,” observed Lorelei. “Haven’t you ever wondered why the one who brought you into your pack couldn’t just bite you in the first place? Has anyone ever explained all this testing and initiation as anything but ‘tradition,’ as if that’s an answer? Do you think the older ones even know?
“You met the reason why last night. Once upon a time, Diana, you had an angel. You were under the protection of Heaven. The angels can’t be around to protect mortals all the time, of course, and they can do little to protect mortals from their own choices. There must be free will, you see, because without free will there could be no faith, and nothing is so important to Heaven as faith. You can’t have faith without free will, and you can’t have free will if humanity knows the angels will intervene in every little genocide, hm? Bad things happen to good people all the time, Diana. Angels let good people suffer. They have to, otherwise Heaven’s whole scheme loses its charm.
“All those crimes, all the little atrocities you committed on your path to becoming what you are now? None of that was to condition you. None of it was to test your worth. All of that was done to drive away your angel, Diana. You may think you were abandoned by Heaven’s light, but to your angel’s thinking, it was the other way around.
“It’s the same with the vampires. You’ll never meet one that didn’t want to become what they are. Oh, some of them piss and moan about lost humanity, but pin them down on it and you’ll find the truth. Only the worst sorts of people rise again after all the blood is drained from them. The good ones? Those drained by a vampire while still under Heaven’s light? They just die. The angels make sure of that. And it’s the same for your kind.
“Evil doesn’t come from the touch of Hell, Diana. Evil invites that touch.”
Lorelei smiled sweetly at her new acquaintances. “You can’t talk to mortals about these things, you know. It removes the suspension of disbelief. It ruins that whole con of faith and free will that I spoke of before. The angels become quite cross about that. There’s no reason you can’t know, though. The fate of your soul is sealed. But don’t worry,” she smiled warmly. “I’m not one to judge.”
Silence fell between them. Lorelei noticed that Jared’s face was still set in stone. Sally looked disturbed, but held her tongue. Diana’s eyes placed her reaction somewhere between the two. “Demons lie,” she said, echoing Sally.
“That we do,” Lorelei agreed. “But sometimes we must tell the truth, too, or it would be too easy to disbelieve everything we say. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether I was lying to you just now, or if I decided to tell you the truth-one monster to another.”
“Why tell us all this?” asked Diana.
The succubus casually picked up her mug again. Her manner remained almost insultingly pleasant. “You asked what I might accept in exchange for Alex. I wanted to show you that you have nothing of value to offer me. You bargained that away for a fur coat and frightening claws long ago.”
Diana drew in a long and slow breath. “So it’s war, then?”
“I don’t know,” Lorelei replied after another sip. “Knowing what you know now, is he even worth fighting over? Do you look forward to seeing the Pit so soon?” She let the threat sink in. “Or would you rather have someone to put in a good word for you once you arrive? Because you will be there, sooner or later, and my good word is something I will offer in exchange for peace. Antagonize me further and even the rest of the damned will pity you.”
Lorelei waited for Diana to formulate a reply. Instead, the pack leader stood and stalked out of the coffee shop without another word. Her packmates rose to follow, though Lorelei caught noticeably different moods in their eyes.
Sally ventured a final exchange. “You said that Hell cannot touch a mortal who still has an angel’s protection.”
“Correct.”
“Then why does he still have an angel over him?”
“I’m not sure if you noticed, but that particular angel is quite insane.”
* * *
Matt Lanier woke up to the sound of the apartment door opening. He sat up on the couch, rubbing his eyes and feeling guilty for sleeping. He’d gone to the apartment with that in mind, but it was difficult to rest while everyone else was working.
Amber came in and closed the door behind her. “Hey,” he said, “we’ve been worried. You okay?”
“Physically? Yeah. Listen, where is everybody? We’ve gotta talk. We read this whole situation all wrong.”
“They’re all out running around,” Matt mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Doug and Paul had stakeout duty. I guess something went wrong with the surveillance gear last night, though.”
“Yeah, you can tell them to pack up the cameras and come back. Lorelei knew the apartment was being watched. She just didn’t know by who, but she had some friends of theirs do some magic to hide everything, so that’s probably a wash. What about Hauser?”
“He and Colleen are both out, too. Amber, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, y’know,” Amber said, nervously crossing her arms over her chest, “got kidnapped by vampires, shot a bunch of people, had my whole world-view turned completely upside-down. And I stood by while Alex and Jason assaulted and handcuffed a couple of cops last night.”
“Yeah, we know about that. They weren’t cops. Hauser got ‘em. Amber, listen, we all know what a crazy situation we put you in. Nobody’s about to throw any stones-“
“And I’ve been making out with a suspect.”
“…oh.”
“Yeah. So, I’m gonna tell everybody the answers to a bunch of deep questions about the true nature of the whole universe,” she said, crossing her arms uncomfortably, “and then you guys can all decide whether to put me in handcuffs or a straightjacket. Either way I’m pretty sure I just lost my job.”
Matt knew wouldn’t be getting to sleep after that.
* * *
“I’m totally about to put my foot in my mouth here,” warned Alex. He kept his voice low so as not to draw too much attention to himself in the open, brightly-lit store. Before him was a row of large white bins, each with clear plastic lids over them. He held a clear plastic bag open beside one of them as Molly scooped out some of the bin’s contents with a plastic trowel.