“I suppose that makes sense,” Malachi said softly. “Every light casts a shadow. The Grigori are ours. We are the children of the Forgiven. They are the children of the Fallen. Our purpose is to protect humanity and preserve its knowledge. They are predators who have no purpose but to gain power for their masters and indulge their own perverse appetites.”
Rhys said, “And reproduce, of course.”
Ava paled. “What, really?”
“Grigori will procreate with human women, though it generally doesn’t end well.”
“And they were after me?” Her voice held a slight note of panic that infuriated Malachi.
“They won’t get you,” he said. “And they weren’t acting normally with you. They were tracking you, but not attacking.”
“And by attack, you mean…”
“Not rape the way you’re thinking,” Rhys said. “They don’t have to be violent. Leo said you saw them in the bar. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Handsome blokes, aren’t they? Charming bastards, every one of them.”
“They seemed a little full of themselves, if you ask me.”
Rhys burst into laughter. “That’s because you’re not human. Grigori seduce. They don’t have to attack humans. Women find them naturally appealing—well, unnaturally appealing, really. They go with them by choice. When a Grigori sets his sights on a human woman, she will go willingly.”
“So…” Ava frowned. “I’m confused. I thought you said they attacked women. I mean, they sound like jerks, but that’s not really an assault.”
“It is when the women don’t have a choice,” Malachi said. “Human nature draws them to the Grigori, and the monsters take advantage. Is that any worse than drugging someone? To take away their free will? Take advantage of them?” He broke off when he caught Ava and Rhys’s shocked stares. “It’s wrong. That’s all. The Grigori use women and leave them for dead most times. Most don’t survive, and if they do, they become infatuated with the very thing that seduced and almost killed them.”
“That’s horrible!”
“Most humans legends of succubi are based on the Grigori,” Rhys said with academic detachment. “If a human woman does bear a Grigori child—it happens occasionally—they’re usually quite extraordinary. You can’t discount angelic blood, after all.”
“And are they… normal? The kids?”
“For the most part, yes. Usually very gifted in some way. Mathematics. Music. Art. Many of the world’s geniuses have Grigori blood.”
“So I could have met a part-Grigori kid and not even known it?”
“Possibly,” Malachi said. “The strongest magic is gone, but most would still have that inexplicable something that makes them stand out in human society. And the majority show no more evil tendencies than the average human.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Thanks so much.”
Rhys said, “Hundreds, thousands of years they’ve been hunting in the world. Grigori blood is laced through human biology like a dark thread by now.”
“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills,” Ava muttered, and Malachi tried not to smile.
“You’re processing all of this very well,” he said quietly. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.”
Malachi saw her reach for his hand, then pull back. And he wanted—he wanted to grasp it. Wrap it in his own. He felt like a man starved, then given a single bite of bread. She was there. She needed his touch. If he could only—
“So if Grigori and Irin are basically the same with the bloodlines and stuff, why aren’t the Irin men predators, too?”
Rhys curled his lip. “We have purpose, conscience, and discipline.”
“Don’t forget, Rhys.” Malachi watched her. “We also have the Irina.”
“The Irina,” Ava said. “What you think I am?”
“Yes,” Malachi said. “The Irina are our other halves. And they are stronger than human women.”
Ava shrank back in her seat. “I don’t have any super-strength, Mal. I think you guys are mixed up about what I am.”
Rhys laughed. “Not like what you’re thinking. And, for the record, the more time I spend with you, the more I agree with Malachi. You give off energy like a reactor.”
“What do you mean?”
“Irina channel human energy; it’s part of their own magic. And if you think about it, you’ve probably always had an excess. Humans would have called you nervous. Anxious. A bit jumpy and irritable.”
“Maybe…”
Malachi knew from the tone of her voice that his brother had touched a nerve.
Rhys continued, “But what humans think is nerves or anxiety is normal for an Irina.”
“You hear the souls of the world, Ava.” Malachi tore his eyes from hers when she looked at him. “You absorb some of their energy. That’s why crowds can be so overwhelming for you. It’s inevitable.”
“But we love it!” Rhys said. “We need it, really. Irin are only truly powerful when we’re mated. Keeps us balanced. Healthy. Irin and Irina were created to work together.”
They stopped at a small crossing to let a herd of sheep pass over the road. Rhys waved his hand out of the car window at the shepherd and continued driving. The terrain was slowly becoming hillier. They’d left the greener landscape near the coast and were heading inland, up the ancient Anatolian plain, not far from his own birthplace near the Sakarya River. The sun was hot, and the temperature was climbing as they drove. Rhys had been driving since they’d left the city, so it would soon be Malachi’s turn. Perhaps then he could think about something other than the tempting woman next to him.
Almost as if he’d heard Malachi’s thoughts, Rhys said, “I’m going to pull over and fill up. Take a turn driving?”
“Of course.”
They stopped at a small petrol station outside Ankara, and Ava went in to use the restroom as Malachi filled up the car. Rhys came back from paying the shopkeeper, giving Ava an appreciative glance on the way back to the car. Malachi gritted his teeth as his friend approached.
“So, what’s got you all broody, Mal?”
“Don’t call me Mal.”
“Only the pretty girl gets to call you that, eh?”
“Be quiet.”
“I like it.” Rhys snickered. “She’s got your number, as the Americans say. Is that why you’re in such a foul mood?”
“No.”
He narrowed his perceptive green eyes. “I thought you liked this woman. She’s intelligent. Funny. Obviously very attractive. What’s your problem?”
“She’s Irina.”
“Yes.” His friend nodded. “Hard to explain how, but she certainly bears the most common markers. That’s a good thing for you, remember?”
“But she was raised human, Rhys.”
“And?”
He lowered his voice. “She was around humans all her life. She’s never… She doesn’t know about Irin relationships.”
“What in heaven’s name are you talking about?”
“I touch her, and…” He frowned. “For the first time, she feels one of her own kind. She says I help take the voices away. I can relax her. And I feel… well, you can imagine how I feel.”
Rhys spoke as if to a small child. “Again, the problem is…?”
“What if it’s not me?”
A look of understanding dawned. “You mean what if she’d react to any Irin male that way?”
“Yes! If she’d been raised like us, her mother and father would have hugged her and held her. She would have had a normal childhood. Not one where she was starved for contact with her own kind for twenty-eight years. It’s not fair for me to take advantage of that, Rhys. How would you react, if it were you?”