“We can’t find Nina. This woman has been hounding her to perform domestic duties again. I cannot get through to her that Nina is not a lady's maid. She is the lady of the house, and we are here to serve her, not order her about!”
“She’s hiding because she doesn’t want to do a lick of work. She’s lazy, and I say a lady who will not work is not worth marrying. You won’t always have a demon to pick up your dirty underwear,” Mrs Crocombe says.
“Nina’s missing?”
“I haven’t seen her since breakfast. I brought it to her in bed, because I am a servant,” Crichton says pointedly.
“She could be down in Direford?” I know even as I make the suggestion, Nina is not there.
“She never leaves the abbey. She’s afraid to, poor waif. No. She’s hiding. Probably downstairs with those strapping young men so much closer to her age.” Mrs Crocombe’s tone is pointed. She cannot help it; she is still a demon, but if she was not so good a cook, I’d send her right back to Hell.
“You can go back to the kitchen, Crocombe,” I order her. “As for you, Crichton,” I add when she is gone. “You are better than this. Find Nina. I have a meeting with the Brotherhood.”
“I will search the abbey again, master.”
The Brotherhood is assembled in the abbey's dining room. I remember when I was first recruited, this room used to be full of brothers. Now there are barely enough of us to go around the long table. I have to be grateful that they are here. They didn’t just stay for the wedding. They may be here for the long haul.
“We have a chance for the first time in a long time to reaffirm our vows and make a new commitment,” I address the others. “We’ve had some successes…”
“You mean you got married,” someone snorts. This is the problem with hoods, which many of them are wearing for dramatic effect. It enables snark without attribution. “The Brotherhood cannot merely be about one of us getting his dick wet at any given time.” Cosmos throws back his hood. Edgy little arsehole. I want to give him a good beating but I know that I have to get everybody on my side if I am going to get anybody on my side. “So far, we’ve been used as an angel pussy dating service. What do we get out of it?”
“What do we get out of it?” I repeat the question incredulously. “We are the Brotherhood. We protect the blood, and if we have time, the innocent. I am offering you the opportunity to do that again. To live here, full time, to be what you signed up to be.”
“Yeah. Except she’s the only reason we were called back, and…”
“Don’t be an asshole.” It’s Thor who interrupts. Thor’s more than twice Cosmos’ size. A warning from him goes a long way. But it’s not enough. I can feel Cosmos’ reservations all around the table. The wedding was enjoyed by all, but this, what I’m trying to sell now, they’re not buying it. The angel blood corrupts with its innocence. I wonder how many of them feel the way about Nina that I felt about Ivy. I wonder how many jealousies there are, how many of the brothers think I have taken advantage… the baggage of the past has not been unpacked. It is metaphorically stacked in all the corners and is growing all the time. We have to get away from talking about Nina, and turn our attention to…
“She’s missing!”
Crichton makes the announcement as he comes barging into the meeting of the Brotherhood. “She is nowhere on the property. I cannot sense her anywhere, sir. I believe she has been taken.”
"She hasn’t been taken,” I sigh. "She's probably wandering… or used her angel speed to..."
"She's been taken,” a voice announces.
“No. She hasn’t,” I insist.
“She has been,” the voice insists. The speaker stands and throws back the hood of his robe.
It is Craig.
I, apparently, cannot count to thirteen. I did not ask them to remove their hoods. I did not wonder for a second if everybody present was genuine. I was too concerned with trying to get them all on my side, I didn’t stop to think that… fuck.
Craig stands tall, no longer clad in night robes, instead wearing the uniform of the local supermarket. He smiles at me in a way that chills me to my core.
“How does it feel to have the woman you love more than anything, the one who pledged herself to you, forever gone?”
“What have you done to her? How did you take her?”
“She sleeps heavily, she sleeps late, and none of you pay attention when someone does a menial task. There are too many of you, and none of you have real ownership in the abbey. You don’t know who should be here and who shouldn’t be. I waited until she was fast asleep, and you Bryn, were downstairs training for an evil that was already here. I covered her mouth in tape, I wrapped her ankles and wrists with more, and I pushed her out of here in a laundry basket.”