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“Wait, so you’re, technically, one of the firstevernyktelios?”
“Yes. I told you. I’m one of his few remaining original creations, first generation. Eventually, when he took a long hard look at the clusterfuck of a world his little project was ruining, he realized he’d made a mistake and decided to wipe us all off the map. He began hunting us to extinction. This is the reason the Brotherhood was created. He’s been on that same crusade since a little after Time and Order created the world you and humans live in today.”
Octavius glanced at Jayden, who shrugged and said, “Sounds legit.”
Saint pointed at Jayden. “Jay understands.”
“Jay barely knows the alphabet,” Octavius drawled.
Jayden laughed. That laugh’s luscious timbre clenched desire low in Octavius’s gut, forcing him to his feet and away from the feeder so he could clear his head and think about more important things than sinking his teeth into Jayden’s neck.
“You’re smarter than this. Why don’t you believe it, Octavius? Are you so in love with the idea of your perfect leader that you can’t see the truth of him?”
“Why are you so hell-bent on destroying him?”
“I’m not, I—” Saint cut himself off, then flopped onto the couch next to Jayden. “I worshipped him, as my creator, as a god. I loved him, when love was new and humans hadn’t yet claimed dominion over it. I was there when he created the Brotherhood. I was the first fucking member. I watched him track and kill the others, but he didn’t hunt me, so I believed…”
“You thought you were safe.”
“Then like that—” Saint clicked his fingers. “—he turned on me. My love, my life, he turned around and tried to destroy it.”
Octavius knew how that felt. And he had to admit, Mikalis was known for being blinkered when it came to the Brotherhood. There was the Brotherhood way, or death. All nyks must die. Never care, never make more nyks. Do not interfere in humanity. One goal. One mission. Destroy the nyktelios. Destroy his mistake?
The Brotherhood was cleaning uphismess. They weren’t doing a good thing for humanity, they weren’t saving the world. Mikalis’s motives weren’t as altruistic. He’d fucked up, and the Brotherhood was his cleanup crew. Hispuppets. If they succeeded, would he then turn on them, as he had Saint?
Shit, if the others knew this, if they believed it, the Brotherhood would collapse.
Octavius set the cocoa aside and drifted toward the fireplace, then to the window and back. His heart thumped, filling his head, drowning out a rattle that felt a lot like fear. None of this changed the fact that the nyktelioswerea plague that needed to be stopped. That was still true. But the lines had blurred. The Brotherhood was only different because Mikalis made it so. He could just as easily rip it all away tomorrow.
No wonder Mikalis was trying so damn hard to kill them. The entire Brotherhood foundation was at stake.
“I think he’s getting it,” Jay whispered to Saint next to him.
“I’m sorry, Little Wolf,” Saint said softly. “I was naïve and in love once too. I wanted you to have that a little while longer.”
“We’re all his mistakes,” Octavius muttered, pacing like Saint had moments ago. “The entire Brotherhood is in danger… from Mikalis.”
“Yes. However, he’s failed in stopping the nyks, so there’s that.”
“What?” He stopped pacing and stared at Saint. “What do you mean, he’s failed?”
“The nyktelios numbers have reached critical mass. I can feel it, and so can he. The Brotherhood cannot stop their rise. Mikalis has known it for months. The Brotherhood lost.Helost.”
“He failed, so what does that mean, exactly?”
“It means the nyktelios will spread and consume. Order will break down. Chaos will ensue. The end of the world, basically.”
While Octavius had been on the run, things had gottenthatbad? “How long?”
“A few months. Once the general public is aware the nyktelios are among them, they’ll likely do much of the destroying themselves. Humans have an enviable bloodlust, once fired up.”
Jayden nodded, agreeing, as he was the only human present.
“A few months?!”
“This world exists on a delicate balance. Tip the scales, and it collapses. Chaos destroys. It’s what She does.”
This was too much. It couldn’t be real, not all of it. Not now. Octavius couldn’t think around all of thismadness. He paced to the window and stared outside at the thick curtain of blackness. Could everything really end? “What do we do?”
