Dangerous Creatures(68)

Something about him.

His face. I know his face.

But then Ridley’s eyes fixed again on the photograph hanging on the wall. On a different face. She could just see it over Nox’s shoulder.

The Siren family. The sister. The mother. Nox.

She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it before.

She hadn’t been looking for it.

She hadn’t known.

The dark-eyed man.

“I can’t—” she began.

“Don’t think about the hybrid. Leave him behind,” he whispered in her ear. “Before it’s too late.”

Ridley wasn’t listening.

I know that man.

In the photograph.

She took a deep breath.

Then she couldn’t breathe at all, because she knew who the man in the picture was. It cut through her like a sharper blade than Necro’s knife.

The man in Nox’s family photo—right there, with Nox’s mother and his baby sister—was a younger Abraham Ravenwood.

Abraham Ravenwood.

Dead by Link’s hand, with my help.

Abraham Ravenwood is part of Nox’s family.

Abraham Ravenwood is Nox’s

Is Nox’s

Nox’s

She pushed away from Nox, moving directly in front of the framed photograph on the wall. “It’s him.”

Nox looked pained.

Ridley was stunned. “But Abraham only had John. John would have known you.”

“Abraham wasn’t my father. He could never be my father.”

“And you know that because?”

“He’s the one who kept my mother in a cage. He’s the reason my father ended his life. Abraham Ravenwood destroyed my family, and now he’s going to destroy yours.”

Ridley wanted to rip the photograph from the wall. “I don’t believe you. I don’t know what I believe.”

Nox grabbed her hand again. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve got to get out of here before it’s too late.”

It sounded more like an order than a request, and Ridley didn’t respond well to orders.

“Too late? Is that a threat?” She took a step back.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” He moved closer. “I only want you to get away from the hybrid before something happens to you. To both of you.” Now Nox sounded as cold as she did.

“What are you talking about, Nox?” She took another step back. “Link? Delivering a hybrid Incubus to your associates? Are we back on those threats again?”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is with you.”


“I can’t explain it, but you have to trust me. Please. I can protect you. He can’t.” Nox extended his hand, but she didn’t take it.

“Actually, I’m starting to get the feeling that you’re the last person I should trust.”

“You’re wrong.”

Ridley turned away. “Exactly. What’s wrong with me? I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re a Siren. You’re doing what you do best,” Nox said bitterly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ridley didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“First you will meet the Sirens, who cast a spell on every man who comes their way.” Nox was quoting Homer, his voice unmistakably dark.

He’s starting to sound like a raving lunatic, actually.

“Stop it, Nox.”

“Whoso draws near unwarned and hears the Sirens’ voices, by him no wife nor little child shall ever stand, glad at his coming home.”

“I don’t do that to people.”

“For the Sirens cast a penetrating song, sitting within a meadow. Nearby is a great heap of rotting human bones; fragments of skin are shriveling on them.”

“Shut up!” Ridley shouted.

“Therefore sail on, and stop your comrades’ ears with sweet wax, kneaded soft, so none may hear.”

“I’m not like that.” Tears prickled Ridley’s eyes.

Nox looked up at her. “But Odysseus was only a man, and we all know how that ends. Just ask Homer.”

“You don’t have to quote The Odyssey to me. I’m not going to destroy you. I’m not a monster,” Ridley said.

Nox stared back at her, his expression unreadable.

“No. I don’t think you are. But I am.”





CHAPTER 30


Some Kind of Monster


A monster?” Ridley shrugged. She couldn’t take her eyes off Abraham Ravenwood’s face in the picture frame. “Like father, like son, I guess.” She wasn’t cutting Lennox Gates any slack. Not after he’d sprung something like this on her. No wonder I never trust anyone.

“Don’t say that!” Nox was furious. He pulled the picture from the wall, throwing it to the ground. Shattered glass flew everywhere. “I told you. He’s not my father.”

“Right. And because you’ve proven yourself to be so trustworthy, Nox, I’ll just take your word for that.”

Nox walked to the window and stared out at the Manhattan skyline. “There isn’t a Caster category for what I am. I can’t just check the Siren box on some Underground passport.”