[Rewritten] The Family Secret - Voices of Beasts (Book 1)

Chapter 14

The venue was a giant Victorian mansion, and the ball room was huge, and three stories tall. The windows were all stained glass with beautiful images of Angels, Demons, and reapers. I noticed the three in the middle were Hel, Az, and Fate.

"Way to go for subtly, you three." I chuckled. Hel elbowed me in the gut discreetly as the four of us walked into the most elegant procession of dancing people I had ever seen. 13 couples at least we're all dancing in an intricate circle, and I noticed that both Ivan and Quinn and Jensen and Elise were on the dance floor. Maxus was standing before us and kissing the girls cheeks before sending me off to go and find Pop out back and pulling the Three right back outside. Heeding my uncles instructions, I started ducking through people to get myself outside and to find Pop. I reached the back just as the song ended, and before I could open the door Jensen and Elise were by my side.

"You're going outside already? You promised me a dance last week~" She smiled, trying to pull me to the dance floor.

"El, I gotta go find Pop, your Dad sent me to go get him." She nodded and the three of us started searching through the masks looking for him. It didn't take us too long to find him, he was sitting on a bench in a three piece blue suit wearing a basic steampunk hat that he'd gotten from my sister. He was on the phone and smoking a cigarette.

"Listen, Zoe, I know. I'd much rather be at home too, but Elise and Dante need me, this is their first ball and they should be able to enjoy and have fun without worry." He clearly hadn't seen us yet, but he was on speaker and talking to Mom. I stopped the other two and pushed us back around the corner, listening intently. Elise looked at Jensen curiously and he held a finger to her lips.

"I know Horatio, and I understand how important this event is, we just miss you like crazy and Maxus said you'd be able to skip this one. The kids have Jensen and Maxus and Ivan and Quinn and the Three there with them, shouldn't they be safe?" She asked. I bit my lip, wanting to jump in and ask if Mom was okay. She never acted this paranoid about an event before, and it worried me.

"I know but with Dante about to meet his mate, and with two of the Dunkleheit here we can't be too careful. We don't know if any of the other four are going to show."

"I hate that half our family have to be there. It's asinine and I wish I could just come pick you guys up and tell the Three to stop putting you in these dangerous situations. It was one thing when they were trying to help Dante get back on track, but bringing him there when he's so new..." She trailed. I turned right around and took off into the beautiful hedge maze, trying to get away from what my parents had just said.

I was going to meet my mate?

The two that we were talking about on the way here were called Dunkleheit?

They're dangerous enough to make MOM nervous, and the Three brought not only me but Elise here, in the line of fire?

What was going on and why had Elise and I not been informed or prepared?

I was already most of the way into the maze and completely lost when I found a small fountain with ample sitting room on the edge. I plopped down and put my head in my hands.

My life hadn't quite been flipped upside-down, but I felt like the only person I could trust I had just walked away and left with her fiance without a word. I sighed quietly and sent Elise a quick text.

-I'm fine, just in a super weird head space after hearing that.

~Well, it just got weirder and worse when you walked away.

-What do you mean?

She took a second to respond, then sent me a video.

She was in the car with Jensen behind the wheel, and the two of them had their masks removed. Dad was in the backseat, and I could tell Jensen was hauling ass. I could hear his tires squeal as he hauled ass. I could see Dad more than I could see Elise as she handed him the phone.

"Dante you need to find your mate and get the hell out of there before three AM. Maxus and I heard from a few people that they host is out for fucking blood, and that you, Elise, and The Three are their main targets." Dad handed Elise the phone back.

"We let you stay with The Three cause you have to find your mate and get her out of there, apparently the host knows she's there and knows who she is and plans to have her waltzing with him at 3, he's going to take her hostage along with the Three and demand that you come forward.n They find you an abomination that strayed from your path, and they want to kill you." Elise said quickly, holding tightly to the handle in the car as Jensen raced down the road. She flipped the camera and put it on him.

"Dude, I'll be back to help as soon as I can but you need to realize that you can't properly trust anyone but her. Not the three, not anyone from our coven, not anyone. The host is taking people over, and we just saw them snatch up Maxus and The Three. You can tell if they're affected, their eyes reflect pink the way a cat's reflects green."

"Stay safe, Dante. Good luck, we love you and Jensen's on his way as soon as possible." Elise said, and the video ended