Even if this went against Watcher rules.
“I need some blood.”
One tawny eyebrow shot up. “Ever heard of a blood bank?”
“I need your blood.”
The other eyebrow joined the first. “I’m going to say no, but for shits and grins, tell me why.”
Revenant clenched his teeth to keep from lashing out. He was here to be nice, after all. “It’s for someone else. She’ll die without it.”
“Huh.” Thanatos turned to the door. “Too bad. Bye, Uncle Rev.”
Revenant grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him back around. He was prepared to beg, but he’d fight if he had to.
So against the rules.
“You said I don’t know what family is,” Revenant said, “and you were right. I’ve never really known until now. This female is family.”
Thanatos’s pale yellow eyes narrowed as he considered what Revenant said. But when his mouth flattened into a grim line, Revenant knew he’d lost him.
“Please, Thanatos.” Fuck, it hurt to beg. He hadn’t done it since his mother was alive, when he’d begged the demons not to hurt her. The day Satan had granted him authority, he’d slaughtered every demon who’d hurt her. Every demon but Lucifer, who had been far more powerful than Revenant.
“She’s all I have,” he added, because damn the Horseman, he wasn’t budging.
Except that he wouldn’t have her for long. Once she was disguised, he could never see her again. There was no way he’d risk leading the king of demons to her doorstep. The reality settled over him like a death shroud, cold and claustrophobic, and he struggled to keep from breaking down right here in front of the one Horseman of the Apocalypse who would enjoy it the most.
“Bring Gethel to me,” Thanatos said, his voice softer than it was before, “and we’ll talk.”
“I can’t do that.” He would have, if it meant Blaspheme would be safe, but now that Gethel had been tethered in place, Revenant couldn’t do a damned thing.
Thanatos shrugged. “Then I can’t give you my blood.”
Panic pierced the bubble of Revenant’s control. The Horseman wasn’t going to play nice, and Revenant needed this as much as he needed air.
“Dammit, Thanatos!” Revenant’s shout brought Cujo from out of nowhere. The beast slammed into Revenant from behind, knocking him into Thanatos, and suddenly, the courtyard became a blur of steel, teeth, and claws.
Pain lashed at him from every side as the hound ripped into him and Thanatos sliced and hacked with a scythe meant to separate limbs from even the most powerful beings. Rev healed almost instantly, but that didn’t mean that every bite, gouge, and slice didn’t hurt like fuck and piss him off.
He threw a bolt of lightning at the damned mutt, reining in the intensity at the last moment to keep from killing the beast. As bad as his relationship with Than and his family was now, if he slaughtered Logan’s pet and guardian, there would be no coming back from that. Ever.
Cujo yelped and tumbled several yards before landing in a heap near a stone wall. Cursing, Thanatos swung his scythe in an arc that would have severed the top of Revenant’s skull from his head if he hadn’t ducked at the last second. As Thanatos recovered from the swing, Revenant slammed his fist into the Horseman’s face. Than’s nose exploded in a pink mist of blood, and that was all Rev needed.
He whipped the pilfered vial from his pocket, tackled the Horseman, and pinned him to the ground with his hand around Than’s throat. While the big male cursed and bucked, Rev scooped blood into the vial and capped it with one hand before leaping away.
He’d just broken a major rule. The knowledge left him dizzy, panting as if he’d run a marathon, which was probably why he didn’t sense the danger.
He barely felt the warning tingle before he was lifted off his feet by an unseen force and hurled into the same wall the hellhound had hit. But Revenant’s body plowed through it, his bones shattering along with the stones. He fell heavily to the ground, the agony of his bones knitting back together knocking him off balance as Reaver and Harvester strode toward him, their expressions matching masks of rage.
They both hit him with blasts of power – Harvester’s loaded with fire, Reaver’s a concussion wave that blew out his eardrums and turned his organs to jelly as his skin burned. He screamed with the pain of it, his vision going dark as his eyes melted.
“I warned you, Revenant,” Reaver growled. “I warned you that if you harmed my family in any way, I’d come at you in every way I know how.”
As his body healed, they hit him with another blast, and another, keeping the injuries and pain constant so he couldn’t recover fast enough to strike back. With every drop of concentration he could muster, he thought about Blaspheme, pictured her heart-shaped face and brilliant blue eyes, and flashed to her.
“Oh, bloody hell.”
“What the fuck?”
“Shit, not again!”
At the cacophony of voices, Blaspheme looked up from the pile of garbage she was sweeping off the cafeteria floor. Gasping, she dropped the broom, and stood there, stunned.
Revenant was on one knee in the center of the room, his singed wings out but not extended, blood dripping down his face and body. Wisps of smoke curled in thin tendrils from his clothes as he unfurled to his full, impressive height.
“Revenant!” She ran to him. “What happened? Are you okay?”