The Bathrobe Knight: Volume 3 Read Online Free Page A

himself. That’s when our title of angels was stripped. We had fallen from our heaven, cursed by humanity to suffer the carnage of war. Our people had gone from being peaceful, perfect beings to demons, and our god was damned as a devil by his own kind.”
    “So . . .” Darwin began adding up pieces of the information. “We came from a different world?”
    “It’s the easiest way to explain it, but yes. It became a world where we demons were almost non-existent. We did our best to hold on, but a lot of things were hard. The humans hunted us, year after year, wearing away at our dwindling numbers. Then, as if it wasn’t hard enough to keep our numbers up already, reproduction also became very hard. When our men hit thirty, the hunger would take over, and they would kill indiscriminately. They had to be exiled so that they wouldn’t butcher everyone in the tribe-like groups we were living in. It was like an unspoken race to have males father as many children as possible before that happened.
    Sometimes, out of every few thousand men that were kicked out, one would turn into a special kind of crazy: He’d grow horns, his skin would strengthen over time to the point that bullet wounds would only slow him down, and he’d hunt us down like an animal hunts prey. He wouldn’t go after humans at all: he’d only come for us. Your father, Darwin . . . he almost killed half the neighboring tribe . . . or so we heard.”
    “I’m a genetically-altered immortal that was modified to transform into a bloodthirsty murderer sometime after I turned thirty years old just so that I can take part in a war that my ancestors apparently lost horribly?” Darwin suddenly wished that his soda was actually something stronger--like a scotch and cola. On second thought, however, he decided he didn’t need the cola. He had never seriously drunk alcohol before, yet this somehow felt like the perfect time to try it out.
    “That’s about the sum of it.” Stephanie nodded her agreement.
    “But if the genetics were changed to make me into a killer, couldn’t they also be undone? Couldn’t the change be reverted?”
    “Well . . . theoretically? Absolutely. The problem is that the one who first initiated the change is dead, and no one else knows how he did it. That’s exactly why I’ve been working with Charles for the past few decades: to develop a way to study your brain, figure out exactly what was changed and how we can save you.”
    “Can one of these guys bring me a handle of bourbon?” Darwin asked, finally giving into the sudden allure of liquor.
    “Won’t do you any good. We don’t get drunk. It’s kind of a health problem, and we don’t suffer from those, remember?” Stephanie laughed as Darwin’s face fell. Immortality without the ability to enjoy alcohol. Despite never having thought booze was necessary before, he somehow felt like this was a huge downside to the entire being immortal thing.
    “So going back to one of the earlier topics of the conversation . . .” Darwin dragged out his pause. The mood had been a little too heavy for him to lift, so he felt the need to make a joking attempt at lightening it. “Stephanie, since you’re so old, do I have to call you grandmother?”
    “Hey! You better not! You’re the old man, remember? Ignore the age. I’m a woman. It doesn’t count,” Stephanie immediately protested Darwin’s line of inquiry. “Darwin, I’ve been around longer than most people will ever live, and I’ve never met a nice demon guy . . . Well, not until now, anyway.” Stephanie took a moment to coquettishly wink at Darwin before continuing. “So while Charles and I can’t force you back into Tiqpa, I’d really like you to give it a try,” Stephanie pleaded, stretching out the word ‘really’ a few more counts than necessary. “After all, when you go insane up here, and we have to kill you, the death will be for real.”
    “And if I lose it in the game, what’s to stop me from staying