Misty

Now, you would think things change with our return. Nope, we encountered more issues than a freaking magazine.

"How the hell did I return as a chick?" Karlene asked, gesturing to her female form.

"You picked the short straw with Grammy Gray," Aiden said, arms folded.

The cousins sat around the living room while Aiden, Diego, and Karlene, aka the triplets, aka the devil spawn, argued. You remember those jackasses, right? Carson had a thing for me and almost got his ass knocked by Nash. In his lack of infinite wisdom, Caleb called me a magazine and said everyone got a turn. I broke his nose for that comment.

The same jackasses returned as three cousins. Cody drew the short straw and returned as a girl. Ha! Serves him right.

"I don't mind listening to you lose your minds, but don't," Nixon said.

Aiden, Karlene, and Diego turned to Nixon and shot him an annoyed expression.

"Explain to us how you kept your return a secret from us. We're dying to know," Nathan said.

"It's not like we realized we had returned, unlike you jackasses did," Aiden said.

The cousins got to their feet, ready to rumble, except Nash. Oh, no. My boyfriend watched their interaction, waiting for them to throw down. Emilio leaned on the back of the couch and watched, trying to figure out something. What was it? Not a clue.

The cousins faced off as my locket started to glow against my chest. Nash glanced at my locket before looking at his cousins. The lights flickered in the house before they created a strobing effect, getting everyone's attention. The cousins turned to see my locket gleaming while Nash didn't move from his spot.

"What the...," Noah said.

"I'll hazard a guess that arguing won't help matters," Emilio said from behind Nash and me.

Nixon walked toward us, crouched, and lifted my locket in his fingers while glancing at the strobing effect of the lights. You would think we had a disco ball hanging in the living room.

Nixon let my locket drop from his fingers and looked at Nash. "Well, stop arguing if you stop with the light show."

The lights stopped and returned to their normal state.

The front door opened and closed. Eden and Marissa walked into the living room.

"When did we get a disco ball?" Marissa asked.

"What?" Aiden asked.

"We saw the strobe effect from outside."

"That was Nash showing off," Diego said, pointing at Nash.

"Interesting, since we did some digging on current events."

"Ah, no. You did some digging and dragged me along for the ride," Eden said.

I looked at Eden and Marissa as they talked and spotted their eyes flashing. Wait. I stood up, moved toward them, and looked at them carefully.

"What are you doing?" Eden asked, leaning back with her arms folded.

"Oh, I was thinking about hot sauce," I said with a shrug.

Eden and Marissa's eyes flashed again as the others gathered around us.

"Sometimes, you don't always eat hot sauce." I smirked with my arms folded.

Eden and Marissa glared at me.

"Mags, what are you doing?" Nash asked me.

"Testing a theory," I said, not taking my eyes off Eden and Marissa. "I wonder what would happen if I accidentally dropped a bottle of hot sauce in your laundry and forgot to tell you."

That final push was all it took.

"You drop hot sauce in my laundry, and I won't hesitate to make your life miserable," Eden gritted out.

I leaned into Eden. "Long time no see, Paul."

Eden stared at me briefly before shaking her head and blinking. She looked at her body as her eyes widened, and her head snapped up. "What the..."

Marissa followed suit before her eyes expanded like saucers. "I'm a chick!"

"Hey, Jasper." I grinned.

Emilio moved from behind the couch and approached Eden and Marissa. "Oh, my god." His eyes raked down their bodies in shock. "You're girls!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Eden snapped.

"I'm so confused," Noah said.

"Paul and Jasper returned as chicks. Pay attention," Nolan said, patting Noah's cheek.

Noah glared at Nolan.

"Ignore the peanut gallery while they get their heads out of their asses," Nixon said.

Noah and Nolan glowered at Nixon.

"If the devil spawns, Paul, and Jasper have returned, where are Jace and Jaime?"

We exchanged glances before Nash FaceTimed another cousin.

Damien answered after the second ring. "Miss me already?"

"Where's your faithful sidekick?" Nash asked.

"If that's Tino and the others, I'm not talking to them!" Brody answered in the background.

"Yes, it's Tino and company. And what do you mean you're not talking to them?" Damien asked.

"They wanted to use me as bait. Forget that shit! Once was enough!"

Nash and I glanced at each other. "Jaime."

Everyone gathered around Nash's video call.

"No one is using you for bait again, Jaime," Nash said.

Damien's face snapped to us as his eyes flashed in recognition before his lips curled into a smirk.

"You little shit. Why didn't you tell us?" Nixon asked.

Brody came into view and stood beside Damien.

"And tell you what? That everything was topsy turvy," Damien said.

"And like it wasn't for us, tool?" Nathan asked.

"It's not like we could explain to our folks what was happening to us. My dad already thinks I'm crazy for wanting to help people. Have you met my dad? He'll beat the hell out of you after he revives Gertie's rose bushes for the billionth time."

"Jace has a point. Dyson would think he's insane," Noah said.

Nathan rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Okay. We discovered more people have returned. The question is, why?" Nash asked.

"Weren't you and your brothers close to your cousins?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Okay. Hear me out. We found out Marco was my brother in college. He married Jasper, making Jasper family. We adopted Paul since he was part of the package deal. Grace said she could only pick select family members to return to defeat this thing. What if she chose the ones who could wreak the most havoc and cause the most damage? With your energy increasing, sending the best would make more sense."

Nash regarded me as understanding dawned on him. "Grammy Gray picked Grandpa Matt's family because of the lineage."

I nodded in confirmation. If you consider the Gray lineage, Matthew followed in their footsteps, starting with Lucille and Grayson. Elias had five boys, Nate had two, and Deacon had three. It was the same with Nate, Jonas, and Cayson.

At that moment, the girls entered the house and stopped.

"What's going on?" Kat asked, gesturing to us.

Everyone parted from me.

"We made a discovery tonight," I said.

"What discovery?" Marcy asked.

I pointed to Aiden, Karlene, and Diego. "Say hello to the devil spawn."

The girls stared at them as they held up their hands and wiggled their fingers.

I placed my hands on Eden and Marissa's shoulders. "Paul and Jasper."

The girls' eyes widened.

Nash walked toward the girls and turned his phone screen to them.

"Oh, and we found Jace and Jaime," I said, pointing to Damien and Brody.

The girls gaped at the phone screen as Damien and Brody waved.

I turned to the others. "We're going to need help with this matter."

Everyone looked at Nixon as Nixon rolled his eyes. I picked Nixon as a tribute to help us solve our current situation.

*******
Valentino

Nix couldn't talk to his advisor until the next day to figure out this new information that had dropped in his lap. After dissecting this recent revelation, we came up with a game plan. Aiden, Diego, Eden, and Marissa would work on Uncle Marty's design. Karlene would help Emilio with his demon extractor 1000 or whatever the hell he called it.

After we ended the FaceTime call, I sat on the couch, and everyone dispersed. Mags cuddled beside me while we let everything settle down.

"Is it me, or is everything getting screwier?" I asked.

"Pft, this is normal for us," Mags said.

I glanced at Mags as she grinned up at me. I shook my head and chuckled before bringing her lips to mine.

A knock at the front door interrupted our kiss, irritating me. I got up and answered it as a hysterical, half-naked girl threw herself at me. Mags walked to the door and noticed me holding the half-naked girl in my arms and knitted her brows.

"You need to help me," the girl choked out.

Mags helped me with the girl. We led her to the couch, set her down, and stepped back. The girl sat on the sofa in her underwear, trembling. Her makeup ran down her face, and her hair was a mess. My eyes traveled from her face and landed on the fingerprints on her arms.

"Stay with the girl. I'll grab a blanket," I said.

Mags nodded, sat down beside the girl, and comforted her. I grabbed a blanket from the hall closet, returned it, and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders, covering her. The girl gripped the blanket and shook while rambling. She wasn't making any sense.

I texted Nix and told him to come to the living room. Within a few minutes, Nix and Kat came downstairs and halted when they saw the shaken girl sitting on the couch. I looked at Nix, shrugged, and shook my head.

Nix walked over and kneeled in front of the girl. "Hey, sweetheart. Can you tell me your name?"

"A-Allie," the girl said, eyes darting around.

"Can you tell me what happened, Allie?"

"H-he, uh, h-he...."

"He what?" Nix coaxed her.

Her eyes snapped at me as she whispered. "Rape me."

Our faces snapped to each other as we got one hell of a bomb dropped on us.

Nix closed his eyes and swallowed the lump as I reigned in my temper. "Who did this?"

Allie lowered her eyes to the blanket and whispered. "Chet."

Mags stared at me with wide eyes while Kat was speechless.

If Chet was attacking girls, this demon's rage was increasing. Let's not forget the trail of bodies it was leaving in its wake.

Great.

I bet you weren't expecting that twist. Well, expect things to get crazier in the upcoming chapters. Now, the demon has turned things up a notch. Like Azrael said, the kids will endure tests before they receive their reward. That's if they survive.

Happy Halloween. 🎃