“Wait,” I said, lifting a hand. “Few questions. One, and this is for Gladas. Annie was eighteen when her brother died.” I glanced at the cot. “Sorry, Andy, I just call it how I see it.” Returning my attention back to Gladas, I said, “So, if you fell in love with her, how old was she in your perverted head? And how old were you? Don’t get me wrong, you’re a beautiful man who looks incredible for any age, but that doesn’t mean eighteen and twenty-nine is a reasonable thing. I mean, I’m thirty. What if I was at a high school checking out the honeys?” I scowled. “Nope. That even sounds weird to say. But we’ll circle back to that when the vomit taste leaves my mouth. Second question. That can really happen? A Nephil can turn a human into a Demi?”
“It is extremely uncommon, for it comes at a great cost to the Nephil,” Gladas said, repeating what Dakota had said.
Maybe that woman knew more than I’d given her credit for—which scared me a little. Why would a Sheep know so much about the supernatural world? Knowing more than me was one thing, but she knew more than Xander on this.
Gladas continued. “Circe weakened herself to strengthen me. We’re both more powerful than any Acolyte, yet we’re both weaker than any Nephil. We’re Lesser Nephil, if you will.”
“Oh, I won’t,” I said. “I prefer Demi. It slides off the tongue easier.”
“After Circe’s attempt to be with Gladas,” Annie butted in, “he still refused her. He refused her for me.”
I chuckled. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s just so disgusting, I have no other response than to laugh.”
Annie licked her lips. “Furious with him, Circe sought her revenge. She found me and cursed me, though not to serve her like other Cursed—but to prevent Gladas from ever being with me, and to destroy the beauty I once possessed.”
“She cursed you to be crazy and neglect taking baths, didn’t she? That bitch!”
“No,” Annie said. “She cursed me to become a monster. If I don’t feed regularly, I transform into the tentacled creature I described to you, and I can’t control my hunger for flesh. It’s similar to Hecate’s Empousa, but as a Demi, Circe no longer possessed the power to control her Cursed.”
“Wait a second,” I said, raising an arm as the facts pieced themselves together in my head. Give me a break. It had been a long day. “You built this cabin because it’s close to all your feeding spots, right? And Gladas, that son of a bitch, he provided you with food because he’s still thirsty as shit for you, girl. When you eat, you probably return to semi-normal-looking, right? And I say semi-normal because you’re crusted in dirt and grime, and your toenails are straight disgusting. Sorry to be blunt, Annie, but I doubt Gladas is telling you this. Love is blind, after all—even perverted love.”
“I killed Andy,” she said, her eyes shifting to the cot where her brother supposedly sat hidden in the shadows. “We went hiking one or two times a month. I didn’t know about the curse, not then. She must have done it a couple weeks before.” Her lips quivered as she spoke, and tears rolled down her face. “He just wanted to get to know his baby sister. When he jumped into the river, just down there, I couldn’t control it. It was like how they show werewolves in the movies. I just went mad and I turned into a Scylla and jumped in after him.” Annie rested her head on Gladas’s broad chest and sobbed.
I thought of the monster-prison housed beneath the offices of Mather Investigative Services, and how I’d originally chalked them up to a terrible idea. Annie’s story tugged a few of my red thumper’s strings. She never asked to be turned into a monster. She never asked for a life of uncontrolled hunger. No wonder she lived in a cabin, outside of society, driven mad by the remembrances of her actions. Annie was a cursed creature who felt actual regret for what she’d done. She hadn’t even lied to the police—not really. She watched Andy get devoured by a river monster without the power to do anything about it. If Xander’s little experiment at rehabilitation could help her, then you could bet your shapely ass he would try to make it happen.
“I’ve never stopped loving her,” Gladas said. “And my hate for Circe grows more each day. As another Demi created through her own power, I can’t directly harm her. As a Cursed created by her, Annabel wouldn’t fair much better. And if we did manage to destroy Circe, we would have to face the wrath of her mother—Hecate.”
“Your tiny brain processing this, big guy?” I asked Xander. “Gladas and his serial killer girlfriend want us to off Circe, a fucking Demi. What do you think is in it for us? Our lives? A million dollars? Maybe a new home for me?”
“A chance to kill Hecate and find Mel’s soul,” Xander said.
I shifted my focus to Gladas and he nodded in agreement. “Xander is correct. If you go after Circe and you manage to defeat her, she may reveal how to reach Hecate, or the Nephil herself may seek her own revenge and find you.”
“Is this just another, more elaborate trap?” I asked to anyone who cared to answer. “I mean, you weren’t exactly forthright with us earlier at the office. Had we taken the case, had you controlled our movements toward this cabin, would we have lived this long? Or would that flesh-eating monster have been a little more prepared for our arrival? No offense, Annie. I think you’re pretty fly for a serial killer guy. But that isn’t to say that Gladas doesn’t mean to send us straight to Hecate now. I’m sure she would love a little revenge
