most careful of movements, his eyes open.
I swallow and steel myself, ready for him to fling some pithy innuendo at me, or worse, command me to touch him again, but he does neither. He just looks at me with those wide eyes.
The tension seeps out from between my shoulder blades. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
I remember his words when we first met in the flesh. That love is a human foible. And he looks so very human in front of me, lonely and strong at the same time, gazing at me as if he can’t believe this is really happening.
He’s right.
It’s not.
The world is dissolving around us.
I’m waking up.
Chapter Five
There is no story humans believe we know better than that of Adam and Eve. But the truth, buried within the ancient Greek and Latin, is quite different.
In the ancient werebeast texts, instead of being created, Adam and Eve were angels who descended from heaven to earth in order to seek out new lands. But they weren’t alone.
Lucifer, a demon, rose up from hell, and, in the interest of capturing earth, seduced Eve. Some say with an apple, some say with a kiss, others say with something else entirely: knowledge. Not knowledge of the heavens or the earth, but knowledge of herself. Of her desires. And the potential of what she could be if she only gave up trying to construct Eden and allowed for mistakes. For tragedy. For sin.
Whatever the reason, Lucifer and Eve made love and begot the child, Eth. Unlike Adam and Eve, who could only use their magic to tame the world around them, not themselves, Eth could change his shape. And it was this that was his undoing.
Because one day Adam found the boy playing by his favorite tree and startled him. When he did, Eth turned into a snake out of fear, revealing his identity instantly.
Enraged at Eve’s betrayal, Adam burned paradise and used his last reserves of power to banish Lucifer back to the demon world.
But unlike Lucifer, Eth was not cursed.
While the children of Adam and Eve lost their divinity and power over time, until they became humans, the children of Eth kept their father’s power to change forms. They were also blessed with chosen mates, so that the tragedy of their grandmother’s betrayal would never happen again.
- Beasts, Blood and Bonds by Dr. Nina M. Strike
Returning to reality feels a little bit like trying to latch onto a weak cell phone signal. The world flickers between the white walls of Orion’s prison and the equally empty walls of my childhood home.
When I finally awaken fully, I lie on my half-deflated air mattress for a moment, reveling in the clearer details and most of all the blessed summer warmth. Even if the plastic of the air mattress is sticky against my skin.
All too soon thought follows sensation. We may have returned to reality, but nothing is fixed. Lawrence is still missing. Cooper is still dead. And Orion isn’t half the monster I thought he was. He’s suffered just as much as I have.
And speak of the devil. He’s looming over me. He must have awoken a few seconds ago. His naked, sculpted torso and overgrown hair coupled with his flashing eyes are even more out of place in my childhood home than they were in the dream.
I pull my tangled sheets up to my chin, even though I’m dressed underneath them. “Hi.”
I mean to sound resolute, as if I’m ready to move forward and forget about the dream. But it’s impossible when he’s looking at me as if it was my nightmare we emerged from, not his.
He offers me a hand. “We’ve got to get moving.”
The covers bunch up around my fingers as I clench them, the rough, artificial fabric a contrast to the softness of his hair I felt only moments ago. He’s right, I know. But I don’t even know how to start finding Lawrence, let alone how to deal with the dead body downstairs. “I—”
Orion bends over and gently but firmly pries my fingers from the