Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry,” said Jolene. “I can see this is difficult for you to speak of.”
Opening her eyes, Abiela licked her lips. “We had to find another demon with the power of necrokinesis to intervene for us. Enoch almost killed him in retaliation. In Enoch’s view, we forced him to relive the loss of our parents.”
“Did your Prime banish him?” asked Khloé.
“No,” replied Abiela, her mouth tightening. “But he threatened to do so if Enoch ever used his gift again without the Prime’s consent.” She inhaled deeply. “Enoch swore revenge on me and our other two siblings, and he had it.”
Khloé tilted her head. “In what way?”
“He killed people we cared for—my boyfriend, my sister’s best friend, and my brother’s roommate. We couldn’t prove Enoch had done it, but we know he did. Worse, he resurrected their bodies and sent them after us. He didn’t succeed in killing us, obviously, but he killed every bit of our love for him. Our Prime then banished him, and I haven’t heard or seen anything of him since.”
Well, fuck. Khloé had originally thought he’d only reanimated Molly because he was lost in grief. But, yeah, it would appear that Enoch had been riding the crazy train for years. He’d done a good job of hiding it from their lair. But then, people like that often were good at pretense. She supposed they had to be.
Jolene’s lips thinned. “I contacted your Prime when Enoch first applied to join my lair—I like to make enquiries about the demons who come knocking at my door. Your Prime failed to tell me about your brother’s crimes. He never even mentioned that Enoch was banished.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he promised Enoch he’d keep it all quiet so long as my brother left quietly,” said Abiela. “Our Prime’s done such things before.”
Jolene’s eyelid twitched, and Khloé knew her grandmother wouldn’t let this shit slide.
“If you haven’t spoken to Enoch in some time, you probably weren’t aware that he had a mate and child,” Jolene said to Abiela. “I’m sorry to tell you this but, unfortunately, both are dead. We suspect he killed his mate, but his daughter—Molly—died in a car accident quite recently. It was a terrible blow for him, and he wasn’t ready to accept that she was gone.”
“He resurrected her body, didn’t he?” Abiela guessed.
“Among other things, yes,” confirmed Jolene. “We were able to break the psychic connection he had with Molly, so her body has been returned to its grave, but he is nowhere to be found. I fear that he’s not in his right mind at the moment.”
“I don’t think he’s been in his right mind for a long time, if ever.” Abiela patted her tight bun. “It’s likely that he’ll seek revenge on you. Ensure that all those you love are protected.”
“Do you have any idea where he could be?” Khloé asked her.
“No, I’m sorry. You could speak to my siblings, of course, but I don’t foresee him seeking their aid. They’d tell him to go fuck himself. Do you have their contact details?”
Jolene nodded. “Yes. I do. Here are mine.” She handed the other woman a card. “I would appreciate if you’d call me if he does reach out to you. I won’t lie, he’ll be punished for the things he did.”
Abiela took the card from Jolene. “Oh, I certainly hope he is. Enoch’s not a person who can be helped.”
“Do you know of any friends he had in your lair?” Khloé asked.
Abiela slanted her head. “His closest friend was David Shore. Well, I wouldn’t say they were truly friends. Enoch used him. Manipulated him. Even bullied him, in some ways. Like an alpha might toy with a weak omega.”
God, Enoch was such a piece of shit. “What breed of demon is David?”
“A familiar,” Abiela replied. “I always felt bad for him, because he’s pretty low on the power spectrum—he doesn’t even have the ability to telepath others. I think it was why he put up with Enoch’s bullshit. My brother was powerful enough to protect him from others. David left our lair some time ago, and I have no idea where he went. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, we’ll hopefully find that out for ourselves.” Jolene gave her a slow nod. “Thank you for your time, Abiela.”
Outside the bakery, Ciaran turned to Jolene and puffed out a breath. “Well, it’s safe to say that Enoch’s a whole other level of ‘twisted.’ I always found him kind of odd, but there’s no crime against odd, so I never thought to look deeper. I’m pissed I didn’t.”
“Same here,” said Jolene, her face hard. “His old Prime described Enoch as ‘a little weird but harmless.’ Harmless. It didn’t occur to me that the Prime might have lied.”
“You had no reason to think he would,” Orrin pointed out. “There’s no point in us getting upset with ourselves for not seeing the real Enoch. He was very good at pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Maybe if he’d mingled more with the lair, we’d have seen that it was an act, but he mostly kept to himself.”