“Yes, those are the Grigori.”
“They sound scratchy.”
Rhys laughed. “What? I’ve never heard that before.”
“You Irin guys sound different than humans. Your voices are… bigger.” She glanced at Malachi from the corner of her eye. “More layered, somehow. But you all—well, most of you—sound similar. And the Grigori voices sound the same, except scratchy. Like they’re out of tune.”
“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.”