Chapter Eighteen

"Why the fuck is our prisoner curled up under a heated blanket watching Jimmy Fallon and eating goddamn shrimp?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers before looking up to see Cain standing in the entryway to the small private dining room Hades and I often used to take our breakfasts. Cain was decked out in a brocade corset over a charcoal turtleneck with black skinny jeans and spiked heels that made him taller than his twin by another inch. If anyone had a complex about being short, it was Cain.

"We went over this. Torture doesn't work as well as we think it does. Anyone will say anything to make the pain stop. Even if it's a lie," I explained flatly, picking up my coffee cup and taking a huge gulp. I paused to look into the blackness of it, smiling as I knew for a fact Hades always took his with cream and sugar. The male had an outrageous sweet-tooth. Cookies, cakes, tarts. I'd seen him eat most of a cake we bought once for our anniversary. When I'd asked him about it, he'd blamed it on Niki, one of his servants, who proceeded to assure me he wasn't very fond of cakes, especially those belonging to other people.

"So what," Cain demanded, cutting into my thoughts as I rolled my eyes, "You don't pamper the asshole who came here to kill your fiance. That's total bullshit! And how can you just sit there while Hades is probably having his entrails torn out?" I took a deep breath and counted to five to avoid reacting instantly to his words. His fears were warranted, as I'd been having nightmares since Hades had vanished.

However, panicking wasn't going to bring Hades back. I reminded myself how Hades would react if our roles were reversed. He would know exactly how to stay level headed and focus on the task at hand. He'd also hit me if he knew I was panicking instead of planning.

And right now, we were at a loss with what to do.

Drekari refused to say anything at this point. He was so angry, so bitter.

On top of that, everyone was crowded at Hades's palace. All of our children were in the palace, bickering or pacing, trying to come up with some kind of plan. Yhwhwa and Michael were spending an ungodly amount of time together. Rowan was with Yiuwa and Xiphrus, trying to make a plan as well. Yet everyone was coming up ended handed. What were we supposed to do without any information to go on? We couldn't go barreling in after the Shifter without knowing what we were getting into. We were as good as dead, the universe as good as destroyed, if we didn't tread carefully.

So all we were left doing was playing a horrible version of the waiting game.

"Cain, sit down, grab some tea," I said, taking a sip of coffee. Cain made a noise of supreme disgust, but he didn't argue. He grabbed coffee from the pot in the kitchen before he came back and sat down, folding one leg over the other and glaring across the room at the wall.

I looked at him, taking a moment to admire how much of Hades I really saw in him and his brothers. Cain had Hades's temper, his sarcasm, and also his fear. Though Cain's blue eyes were sharp and fierce with anger, there was a flicker of fear in those crystal depths. He was terrified for his father, and for his brothers, terrified of everything that was happening. And his lack of control was driving him insane, something I knew was vital to someone who suffered from the level of anxiety that Cain did.

The running joke in the family was how Cain was the absolute worst of the worst, but when I'd spoken to Hades, he said the truth of the matter was that Cain was actually the most fragile of all of his sons. Cain was smart, but emotionally stunted. Hades was convinced Cain was at least somewhere on the autism scale, in that Cain didn't quite pick up on social cues the way other people did. He was temperamental as well when things didn't go his way. When he lost control, his anxiety flared up and he'd lash out. He was scared of being abandoned, scared of losing those around him, scared of change.

Cain may be a few thousand years old, but at the end of the day, he was still a child and he was scared of losing his family.

"Are you sleeping?" I asked, noting the dark circles under his eyes. Cain shot me a dirty look.

"Do I fucking look like I've been sleeping? I bet you're sleeping just fucking fine," he sneered, then started to look away before his eyes landed on the ring on my finger. He stared at it for a moment, then curled his lip and looked away.

"I'm not calling you my dad or some shit," he added. I smiled at that.

"You don't need to."

"Good. Cuz I'm not."

"How have you been coping with all of this?" I asked. Cain glared at me.

"What does this look like? A therapy session? The only reason I sat down for some coffee is to wake my ass up so I can go downstairs and rip the head off that werewolf," he snapped, taking a huge gulp of coffee. I shook my head.

"You can't do that, Cain."

"Like fucking hell I can't. You're letting the guy have access to fucking cable and Internet and rich people food while my dad's out there getting his ass whipped by the fucking Shifter. You're a stupid idiot and I don't know what the hell Hades sees in you," Cain said angrily, getting to his feet and grabbing his coffee. I shrugged.

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, Cain. Your father's taught me this," I replied, making Cain hesitate now, "And, I am a stupid idiot. I don't know what Hades sees in me, but he's the only one in the world who sees it." Cain frowned at that, then looked down at his coffee, drumming his fingers on the mug for a moment before sighing in frustration.

"Because you're nothing like him," he said, making me raise an eyebrow curiously and he averted his eyes, "You're the normal we never had. I guess that makes you fucking special or some shit." I smiled. Was that his way of apologizing? I would accept that. His begrudging acceptance reminded me a lot of Alaric's or Jaques's.

"Thank you," I said. Cain wrinkled his nose.

"What thank you? I didn't say anything nice to you. Get off your ass and go find my dad," he retorted, heading out the door, bumping into Cerberus, who grunted when they collided, "Move your fat ass, Clifford! Ugh!" Cerberus rolled his eyes as Cain shoved past him and headed out through the kitchen. The elder brother shook his head, then came over to sit down across from me.

"Hey, just wanted to see how you were doing," he said, making me smile in appreciation.

"I'm alright... Struggling," I admitted with a shrug. Cerberus nodded.

"We'll figure it out. We always do, somehow. If there's anything this fucking family is good at, it's thwarting evil plots to destroy the universe. It's not our first rodeo. It's also not the first time Hades has vanished on us. And I rather him disappear on his own than know someone took him like the last few times," he explained with a nod. I could concur with that.

"Daddy," I looked up to see Dania come in as well, her long hair up in a sloppy bun and she only wore an oversized t-shirt and boxer shorts, "Oh thank god you're alive. I saw Cain leaving and thought I'd have to kill my new step-brother already." Cerberus snorted.

"Give it a few minutes. He'll give you a reason sooner or later," he assured. Dania wrinkled her nose in a smirk before she came over and kissed me on the head, wrapping her arms around my neck and I smiled, relieved to have her comfort.

"How are you feeling?" She asked me softly.

"Mostly fine," I responded. She smiled sadly and gave me another kiss.

"We'll find him, dad, don't worry," she said, then stepped back and sighed before looking at Cerberus with a grin, "Aw man, this is so cool. I've always wanted a big huge family and here I thought it was big enough. Now I have you guys." She flounced over and plopped right on Cerberus's lap, making him grunt and I arched a brow at how comfortable she was with Cerberus already; not that she'd just met him. She'd known him for ages. Still, I was instinctively annoyed at having her hang on another male, even though I knew very well there was nothing between them.

"Yeah, well, never had a sister in my life and I thought I was free of that torture," Cerberus said, taking a sip of his coffee and Dania rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the gut, making him grunt and mutter a "see" under his breath. Dania smirked, then looked at me.

"It's gonna be hell trying to explain to my kid all their different family members," she said. I started to smile at that, given that she'd been attempting to become pregnant with her husband, Alexis, for a while now, except Cerberus froze up in his seat and looked at her.

"Wait, what?" He asked. Dania grinned and looked at me now as I stared at her.

"Guess who's gonna be a grandpa? I mean, you already are, but like, even more grandpa," she said, then looked at Cerberus, "And I guess you're like an uncle or something." Cerberus still didn't move, frozen in his place and Dania scowled at him as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that my little baby girl was pregnant.

"You pregnant folk are fragile as fuck," Cerberus said through clenched teeth, "One time I bounced Blaine on my knee when he was pregnant with the twins and he nearly ripped my head off." Dania rolled her eyes, sweeping to her feet as Cerberus finally let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, please. I've been pregnant for a month now and I killed at least a hundred shadows since then," she added, which only made Cerberus and I both choke. I couldn't begin to imagine having her fight in her condition and immediately my skin prickled with horror as I remembered watching her fight, watching her protect me and Hades, her siblings, her own husband. Dania was definitely capable of protecting herself, but that was when she wasn't pregnant. Knowing she was pregnant sent my anxiety skyrocketing.

"Dania, you should be home," I said immediately, getting to my feet as she sighed dismissively and I glared at her, "Dania, you don't have to prove anything. You're pregnant. You need to sit this out--"

"Stop right there," Dania said, making a timeout sign with her hands before giving me a hard stare, "Daddy, I love you with all my heart, but I am fully prepared to punch you in the throat if you tell me I can't protect my family. If I can't even protect my family, what kind of mother would I be? And for the record, I'm a female, daddy. We were made to fight eight months pregnant with nothing but our bare hands and teeth. Knowing that I have a baby on the way, a baby to protect, makes me all the more intent to save the universe. Nobody is taking my baby away from me. Nobody is taking my family away from me. And I am not about to send my husband out there to kick ass without me. And you can ask him; he already tried to put a leash on me and let's just say he's probably not going to be ready to make anymore babies anytime soon." Cerberus grimaced, reaching down to cup himself and tuck his legs under the table. I clenched my teeth.

"Dania..." I wanted to argue with her. I wanted to remind her of Jaques's mother, who hadn't even survived giving birth to him. I'd seen plenty of births since then, but I'd also seen so many deaths caused by it, and I still felt raw from nearly losing Ambrosius forever. The thought of losing Dania, and her baby...

"Daddy," Dania said, coming up to me and cupping my face, having to stand on her toes to do so, "Look at me. What am I always telling you?"

"It's not illegal if I don't get caught?" I asked, and Dania laughed at that. I leaned down so she could rub her nose against mine before kissing my cheek.

"No. I am woman, hear me roar," she said, stepping back. I swallowed thickly, then glanced at Cerberus, hoping he could find a way to argue Dania away from this idea of fighting while pregnant, except he put his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, don't look at me. My husband is fucking spitfire. He was Gehenna while pregnant. If anything, I say we just assemble an army of pregnant fae and females and let them go to war. We'll win no problem," he said. Dania gave him a droll look, then turned to me and smiled.

"I'll be fine, daddy. I wouldn't fight if I felt I couldn't, and trust me, I can fight. I want to fight. I'm ready to fight. Let's grab our shit and kill some bitches," she stated.

"I knew I liked you for a reason," Theo said, coming into the room with Malachi coming in after him, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"And I knew I hated you for a reason," Malachi said to him angrily, making Cerberus and Dania sigh, "How could you tell Adrian I was injured? Now he's throwing a fit. Do you have any idea what I had to do to shake him off long enough to come kick your ass?" Theo snorted, then laughed when Malachi lashed out at him. Theo spun away from him and dodged behind me, making Malachi pull up short with a glare at the redheaded demon child behind me.

"Move, Lucifer, I'm going to gut him on the floor," he snapped. I sighed.

"Malachi, don't keep secrets from your lover, even if it feels like you're doing it for the right reasons. Trust me, I learned that the hard way, and, Theo, keep your nose out of your brother's business," I said, turning to look at Theo, who rolled his eyes and Dania laughed.

"Get used to it, kid, Hades may have let you run wild, but Lucifer's going to muzzle you if you piss him off enough," she said, making Theo scowl, "No, I'm serious. One time, he actually muzzled me and locked me in my room for a week. The only reason I got out was because the guard left the door open behind him when he came in to give me my meal... and I knocked him out the window."

"Horatio never forgave you for that," I added in remembrance. Dania shrugged.

"He's just pissed a thirteen-year-old girl whooped his ass," she answered. Theo smirked.

"I gotta hear more about this," he said. Malachi made a noise of supreme disgust, throwing his hands up and turning to storm out of the room. I shook my head at their behavior. Cerberus eventually rose to his feet to shoo everyone out so I was once again left alone, my heart aching.

Hades, our children need you... I need you. Where are you?

Miserable, I left the room and decided to go downstairs to check in on Drekari. Sure enough, the lower I got, the stronger the smell of food became. I resisted the urge to be angry and impatient as I headed to the living area of the bunker. I slowed down and peered inside to see Drekari sitting on one of the sofas, facing a television that was playing recordings of older shows now. He was sitting with a bottle of beer in his lap and in front of him spread out on the coffee table was an untouched buffet of food. I frowned curiously at that.

"You gonna stand there all day or come in and interrogate me some more?" Drekari asked without looking up. I walked into the living room and approached the sofa, glancing at Drekari, who stared flatly at the television, clearly not interested in what he was watching. He took a swig of his beer and set it back down.

"Have you thought about my offer?" I asked. Drekari cocked his head at that. His eyes darkened for moment before he looked at me.

"Your Hades is safe for now," he said, making me blink and look at him in surprise, "But he won't be for long. The Shifter won't do anything until it has you in custody. If anything, you should be worried about your brilliant ass than your Hades." I stared at him.

"Do you know where Hades is?" I asked hopefully. Drekari snorted.

"Like I said. Foot soldier. Don't have that information," he said, then took another swig of beer as my shoulders slumped in disappointment, "But I do know what he's after." I blinked and looked at him.

"What?" I asked. Drekari looked at me, those dead cold eyes piercing me. I felt an odd chill meeting those hopeless eyes, felt the cold put off by the infection that ran rampant through his black oily blood.

"He said something about shades, right? Well, I don't know about you, but when I think of shades, I think of colors," he said, making my eyes widen at that, "There are so many fucking colors in the universe, but there are also colors we've never fucking heard of. Colors beyond our universe and understanding. So, if he's looking for colors, that tells me the asshole thinks that this supposed chant to get rid of the Shifter isn't something that you speak straight up, but fucking colors."

"You mean..." My voice trailed as I struggled to wrap my head around something that seemed impossible. Drekari took a long swig of beer, emptying the bottle and placing it on the table along with several other empty bottles. He sat back, folding his hands behind his head as he cocked it at the TV.

"Looks like you gotta speak fucking rainbow to kill the Shifter. Good luck, asshole."