XIII
Sauda stands in front of the large conference table, wrapping her arms around her father’s arm. Andras wasn’t usually the type to allow skinship, but La Muerte was gunning for his favorite child, so he comforted her.
Sauda wiggles her toes in her fuzzy bunny slippers. Her warm fluffy pink onesie pajamas out of place in the serious military conference room but matching everyone else’s pajamas. Adorna said she wanted a movie night sleepover, and she meant it. But first, they needed to discuss some very serious shit.
“First things first,” Sauda says, leaning her head on her father’s shoulder. “A Demon whose master has teamed up with La Muerte possessed Kettlewell, yeah?”
“Yes,” Andras sighs. “A lowly Demon lord. Easily killed and replaced by one of my own. But the issue isn’t about who is on La Muerte's side, but how many. The lower Demon Lords may not be as powerful as us, but they outnumber us, and it’s easier for them to form alliances than us bigwigs. The only way to keep them in place is to kill them and make the usurper on our side. Which either scares them the way we like, or gives them a reason to rebel.”
“Um… I don’t mean to interrupt.”
Specialist Smith sits near the end of the table, wearing a simple plain shirt and sweats. “And I don’t mean to be offensive but… that means for sure it wasn’t Katya doing that stuff?”
“Hey! Watch it plain grits!” Katya stands up, knocking her chair away.
Smith instantly throws his hands up. “I don’t know! You knew when the Shade was first there and then only you knew what was going on with Kettlewell. But this clears you, right?!”
Sauda sees how scared he is, as Katya glares at him. Katya pulls her chair back up and sits back down, anger still marking her face.
“That’s understandable,” Katya says, “but I didn’t do this. I was really just trying to help. Does any of this clear me?” She asks out loud.
Sauda stands up straight and sits down in the chair on the side of the table. “No. It doesn’t clear you. You could be working with La Muerte. I don’t know if the mole he mentioned was that Demon or if it’s still someone here. But I believe you, Katya.”
Katya shakes her and deflates into her chair. “I hate this. I know I didn’t do this. I was using my casting to help. I was born like this, I didn’t choose to be. But people see me and see death and think I’m evil. Being a Black woman in America is hard enough.”
“Yeah.” Sauda’s chuckle is sad. “Alright, enough blaming each other without evidence. What’s really important is why La Muerte is back, what she wants, how she came back, and why does she want to skin me?”
Adorna turns in her chair, one hand on Ashleigh’s leg and the other on behind Malik’s neck. There was no way to describe her besides absolutely deadly adorable. Sauda’s pink onesie was cute, but Adorna’s small body was draped in an oversized llama suit. The ears on top of her head sealed the deal. Everyone loved it, but she glared at anyone who even smiled at her. “What do you remember from that night when you were three?” She asks Sauda.
“Nothing,” Sauda shrugs, “only what I’m told. Which I think is just an exaggerated story. Why would you even bring a three-year-old there anyway, Baba?”
Everyone turns their attention to the tall figure standing in his tailored suit, ruined with splatters of blood.
“I did not bring you along. You were a stowaway. I left you at home with the Nanny—”
“Which you killed—”
“Which she deserved. So I don’t need a bunch of outsiders judging me. I raised you to be a perfectly horrid Demon.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
He nods at his daughter.
“Andras. No more beating around the bush.” Adorna’s eyebrow raises, and she smirks at her ex-husband. “It’s the only way we can figure things out.”
Sauda notices most of the Demons either stiffen up or fidget. All but Adorna.
“Fine.”
Andras grabs the chair at the head of the table, but then moves and sits in the open chair on the other side of the table from Sauda. “Everything we’ve told you is true. You hitched a ride, you saw your sister die, and you tore everything apart. Now… you know about the prophecy, right?”
“Right,” she nods, swirling in her chair. “A half angel will rule hell. But what's that go to do with this? Doesn’t everyone think it meant half Angel, and half Demon? I’m half Demon, half human.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. I’m technically an Angel. A fallen one, but still an Angel.” Andras puffs up his chest and tugs on the lapels of his suit jacket. “But you are right. We all assumed that it would be the child of an Angel still in heaven, and a Demon, which is why said unions ended in death. Until that night, when a three-year-old destroyed a Demon that even the Princes of Hell could not. A three-year-old who is half human, and half fallen angel.”
“That’s reaching.” Sauda shakes her head.
“Why do you think you’ve had so many marriage proposals?” Adorna smiles. “You’re the chosen one.” She winks at Sauda and laughs.
“They think I'm the one who will rule Hell? So they all want to marry me? Including the Fae Kings?”
“Now that you mention the Fae Kings…”
Sauda looks to her father, and for the first time, she watches him fidget.
“I made a deal--”
“For what?”
“Stay out of grown folks' business. The point is, I got information in return. It seems that three-year-old you didn’t kill La Muerte, but took a part of her inside yourself.”
Everyone faces their Captain as she stares at the wrath Demon. He looks back at his daughter and shrugs his shoulders.
“And the Unseelie King told you that?” Sauda asks, “Told you we were on some ‘Harry Potter’ type shit?”
“Technically He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named tried to kill Harry—”
“Dad, that’s not the point!” Sauda sits up in her chair, slipping her feet free of her bunny slippers and feeling the ground beneath her toes. Adorna was right, they needed to call this meeting to decide what to do next, but all this extra information was clogging her mind.
“As for the prophecy…” Andras crosses his arms. “Every Demon assumed you were the half angel from the prophecy because, as a three-year-old, you took down a Demon that even the Royal Princes of Hell could not. And now that you have so many Demons blood tied to you, your power has jumped up a level, and that woke La Muerte up. Such a powerful Demon is gunning for you personally, so of course, we all think that the prophecy is about you. It’s only natural that you have this amount of marriage proposals.”
Sauda rubs the bridge of her nose while she tries to process. Everyone else is still and silent. She looks at their faces and can see that all of them knew all along. Raum seems excited, and Kang Dae can’t keep his eyes off of her.
“Well,” Sauda says, straightening up, “Marriage, and the prophecy doesn’t affect this base and my personnel. La Muerte possessed my Shifter and killed too many of my soldiers. She’s our biggest threat, so we deal with her. She wants her power back, and she’s going to keep at me, and that endangers my people.”
“What are you thinking, Cap?”
“We take the fight to her.”
Andras stands up, hands nervously buttoning his suit jacket. “Too dangerous.”
“I did it when I was three,” she says, “and I’m not waiting for her to get me. If you’re worried, Baba, back me up.”
Andras looks at his daughter. The only spawn that spends time with him just for the hell of it. The offspring that causes the most wrath for him to feed on. “Fine.” He nods.
“Any other favors you can call in? Or other Lords that want to take out La Muerte?” She asks.
“Korea—”
“And that’s our cue!” Adorna stands up, grasping both lovers' hands. “It’s movie time, people. Hop to. Out. Out. Out.” She claps her hands around to get everyone to move faster. “This melodrama is private.”
Everyone, lower and higher ranking, all in their various forms of comfortable pajamas, grab their snacks and file out. Smith salutes her before leaving. She watches all of them, and looks towards Raum and Kang Dae as they stay seated. Raum smiles at her. Kang Dae looks everywhere but at her.
The door shuts as the last person exits and Sauda can feel the bad news coming. She wants to leave with Adorna and pretend nothing else is going on but she can’t, so she braces herself while sitting in the room with her father, ex-boyfriend, and the man who loves her.
“Shit.”