I looked at Casey, then back at the Dragon. “Take a moment to choose your words wisely, Brother,” I cautioned. “Some things cannot be taken back.”
Much to his surprise, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him lightly before releasing him and heading toward my room. Oz fell in beside me, the silence between Casey and the Dragon chasing us away.
“You sure we should leave them unsupervised?” he asked, his lips at my ear.
“However they proceed from here is their decision to make. I will not interfere.”
“Confident they won’t kill each other?”
I hesitated in the doorway as he walked past me, then closed it, shutting us in.
“Yes. Quite.”
Oz sat on the edge of the bed and stared at me, suspicion in his eyes. “You know something…”
At that, I smiled. “I know many things.”
“Care to share?”
“Let us just say that my embrace with Casey was more than just an act of comfort.”
It took only a moment for Oz to realize what I had done. “You sneaky little—”
“Careful now, Dark One, or I shall poke around your mind whenever you touch me.”
His amusement died in an instant. “Does he even know you did it?”
I nodded. “He let me in at my silent request. What I saw there was…promising.” Oz watched me like a hawk as I moved to sit next to him. I wondered if he even realized that he had leaned away when I did. “Rest assured, I would never presume to enter the mind of someone I care for without their permission. To do otherwise would be a violation of both their trust and their body, and such a grotesque act is beneath me.”
Oz’s shoulders eased ever so slightly. “Speaking of beneath you…” He lay down on the bed and tucked his hands beneath his head. “Feel like going another round?”
“You might have nearly died, but that does not mean you are forever excused from strenuous work.” I lay down beside him, mimicking his posture. “If you wish to be inside of me, I suggest you try a little harder.”
20
I fell into a deep slumber that night, exhaustion from all we had endured taking over. So it was no surprise when Phobos slipped into that eternal darkness without notice and took hold of my tired mind.
“Hello again.” His voice echoed like a cry in a chasm until it honed itself—grew nearer somehow. “How are you, Khara?”
“Tired. I wish to be sleeping, but you have interrupted that.”
“Did you have an interesting evening?”
Something about his tone was ominous and mocking, and my mind perked up in an instant.
“It was eventful.”
“How is the Dark One? Did he survive, I wonder…”
“Why have you come, Phobos?”
“To talk. To listen.”
“To taunt? To torment?” I countered. “I have no time for these things.”
“I feel no sadness in here, so I assume that the Dark One will live to fight another day.” He could not have sounded more disappointed if he had tried.
“He will. Kaine, however, will not.”
“He is a problem. Whatever shall we do with him?”
“He is my problem, not yours. You will do nothing.”
“What if I offered to eliminate him for you?” he asked, intrigue in his voice. “What would you say to that?”
“I would ask you why, and what the price would be, because I know there would be one.”
His gruff laugh rumbled through my head. “I would do it because it would be mutually beneficial. As to the price—I cannot say as of yet.”
“Then I will decline your offer.”
“You will reconsider,” he said with an air of assuredness that was not warranted.
“I will not.”
“They all say that,” he argued. “They all change their minds.”
“Or perhaps you change them for them…”
Another dark laugh. “Perhaps you are correct. But that seems to be more challenging with you, Khara. Your resistance intrigues me—challenges me to find different ways to get to you.”
“Like invading my mind when I sleep.”
“Precisely. Speaking of, I should leave you to that. You have a big day tomorrow. One filled with distressing news.”
His voice grew distant as he pulled away from me, leaving confusion in his wake.
“What news?” I called after him, my calm voice belying my rising anxiety.
“Hermes is looking for you,” he said before his voice drifted to almost nothing. “I shall see you soon, Khara. It’s almost time…”
This time, I felt the connection between us snap like a cord, and I shot up in bed, jostling the Dark One at my side. He was on his feet in a second, wings extended and ready for a battle that did not exist.
“He came again,” I said. Realization slowly dawned on his firelit face, and he lowered his wings.
“How is he doing it?” Oz asked, though I knew the question was not meant for me. His frustration at his inability to protect me from this unseen attacker was plain. “You pushed him out of your mind once before—at the Victorian. Why can’t you do it now?”
“I think it is different when I am asleep.”
He swore under his breath. “Well, what did the fucker say?”
“He asked if you had survived, and if I wanted him to kill Kaine—for a price he was unwilling to name.”
“Of course he did,” Oz said on an exhale as he paced the room.
“I declined.”
“Thank God for that—”
“But he said something else,” I said, interrupting his acerbic response. “He said that Hermes is looking for me—and that he would see me soon. That it is almost time.”
“Well, that sounds ominous as fuck.”
“Indeed.”
“So,” he said, turning to pin his dark brown stare on me, “what now?”
So rare was it for Oz to seek my input on tactical matters that it took a moment for me to find my tongue.
“We must summon Hermes and learn what it is he has to report.”
“And if that’s exactly what the dream creeper wants you to do?”
“I am certain it is, which means we cannot do it near here or the Underworld—or at the Victorian.”
Oz gave a tight nod. “Where to, then?”
I climbed out of the bed and walked over to him, my state of half-undress an obvious distraction.
“Where the majority of our chaos has played out in the past,” I said, stopping only inches before him.
He let loose another curse. “Heidelberg Project?”
I canted my head at him and smirked. “It is the perfect backdrop, is it not?”
His hand drifted up to my jaw and ran along its edge to twine in my hair. He gave a slight tug.
“We do have unfinished business there,” he replied, leaning his head to mine. “That flutter-footed asshole interrupted last time.”
“If you behave, perhaps I will let you take up your grievances with him—after he relays his message about my mother.”
“Ugh,” he groaned, releasing me. “Mentioning parents during pre-sex talk is a hard no, new girl.”
“That is why we are going, is it not? To find my mother?”
“It is now…”
“Then let us go,” I said, pulling a black sweater off the floor and slipping it on, much to Oz's dismay. He grudgingly followed me to the door. “There is no need to pout, Dark One. If all goes well, you shall have your chance to finish what you once started.”
“But it never goes well,” he replied grimly as he stepped out into the main living space.
I opened my mouth to argue, then realized I had none to offer. Things often did take a turn for the worse, the previous night’s events an excellent example. And as we walked through the empty space, the others either out or sleeping, I pondered all the possible ways our mission could go wrong.
It was not until we were well above ground that our op
tions began to dwindle.
Hermes appeared only moments after I finished summoning him. Oz and I stood outside the spotted house near the porch so we could keep an eye on our surroundings. An ambush by Phobos was not out of the question, though I could not help but feel that it was not yet time for him to come. As insidious as the fear god was, he had not proven himself a liar—not yet, at least. I was certain we had time before he would show himself.
But not much.
“How serendipitous,” Hermes said, his angry expression plain even in the dark of night. “I’ve been looking for you.”
His gaze shifted to the Dark One at my side, as though he were the only threat present—as though the former god had already forgotten that I was the one who sucked the soul from one of his brethren and harbored it inside of me.
“So I have heard.” His brow furrowed at my reply, as though he did not understand. “What message have you to deliver?”
The crazed look that so often filled his stare waned for a moment, leaving a hint of pity in its wake. Not sympathy—the former god was surely incapable of that. But pity was built on a sense of superiority, a better-than-you implication that he seemed capable of grasping.
“I have searched high and low for your mother, Celia of the Light, but could find no trace of her.” Oz’s wings twitched with agitation, and Hermes took a step back from the weapon that could end him. “You know what this means, do you not?”
I steeled my expression, careful not to let the fear I felt at his words show. “I do.”
“She is either dead or held hostage somewhere I cannot go, but I suspect it is the former. There was no trace of her to be found or followed. In my experience, that means only one thing.”
I said nothing in response, so Oz, sensing my distress behind my wall of indifference, did so on my behalf.
“You’ve delivered your message, so you can fuck off now,” Oz said, pointing his wing at Hermes.
“A question for the Princess of the Underworld before I go?” he asked, his dark gaze fixed on me. “Why do you wish to find her at all?”
“Because she is my mother.”
“But did she not abandon you as a child?” he pressed. “Leave you to be raised by a goddess who neither loved nor wanted you?”
“I’d tread really fucking carefully if I were you, Hermes,” Oz warned as he stepped closer to the former god. “I was supposed to be getting laid right about now, but instead, we just had to call you first so you could show up with this mood-killing news. Don’t push your luck, or I might just take out my aggression on you.”
“I’ve already expressed my interest in joining you two. That hasn’t changed.”
“My reasons are my own,” I said, interrupting their posturing.
He nodded as his maniacal expression fell back into place. “A word of caution, Khara, if I may.” I stared at him without reply and he continued. “Do not tempt the god of fear. He is not like the rest of us. He cannot be made to see reason.”
With that, he winked and took to the air, winged feet fluttering as he flew out of sight.
“I really hate that little fucker,” Oz growled. I turned to find him watching the sky where Hermes had just disappeared.
“What do we do now?” I asked, my voice more full of sorrow than I had expected. Oz’s eyes turned to me, his expression a mask of neutrality.
“We don’t give up on her until we know her fate.” I gave a tight nod and let my eyes lift to the stars above. “She might not be dead,” he said, stepping closer. “Hermes is a lying shit. He has no clue where she is. He said that to get to you, and you’re letting him.”
“Because he could be speaking the truth in this matter,” I countered, “and if he is, then I have sealed her fate by balking at the information that Ares dangled in front of me.”
“That’s based on the presumption that Ares wasn’t full of shit, which is a bad bet any day of the week, new girl. And even if he did know something about your mother, what were you going to do? Round up Sean and chuck him in the Oudeis? I thought you were dead set against that.”
I slowly turned to face him. “Your poor choice of phrasing aside, yes, I was dead set against that—though I reconsidered for a moment when he was willing to let you die on the roof.”
“But…?”
I let out a sharp exhale as I walked away. “There is no ‘but’. I just—I cannot handle all these uncertainties and unknowns. They amass around us at a rate that prohibits us from forming a proper plan.”
“That’s life, new girl.”
“That is my life,” I argued as I turned to face him. “At least it is now. Yours was far simpler before I arrived in Detroit, as well.”
“You can say that again,” he muttered under his breath. But his attempt at humor fell flat, even to him, and I soon found him storming toward me, anger edging his features. “Listen, I get that your emotions are kinda taking over right now, and you’re struggling to cope with them with everything else going on, but I need you to keep your shit together, because if your mother truly is dead, then you are the only one that can help me avenge her.”
“If she is dead—if one of my enemies has slain her—I will not stop until they have suffered a far worse fate.”
A sly smile crept across his face. “There she is. Now, try to keep that version of yourself at the forefront until we can figure this out. Got it?”
“I think I can manage that,” I replied, mimicking his expression. “Vengeance suits me.”
His eyes flared white for a moment, then narrowed. “It really fucking does.”
Silence.
“What do we do now?” I asked again, anger simmering in my gut as I tried to focus on a way to solve the mystery behind my mother’s disappearance.
He looked thoughtful for a moment, his eyes drifting toward the sky. “I’m going to track down Raze.”
“The Light One? Why?”
“Because whether or not he knew anything about your mother last time, he’ll sure as fuck want to know what we just learned—and he won’t be pleased.”
“I will come with you.”
“No,” he said abruptly. “You can’t.”
My anger rolled to a boil. “And why not?”
He took a breath and pinned his fiery brown eyes on mine. “Because you might not be a welcome sight…”
“I have been to the Hallowed Gates, Oz. Welcome or not, they have seen me.”
“Right. And look what happened last time you were there—”
“We do not know what happened—”
“And I plan to find out, but not with you at my side.” I bristled at his insinuation. “Listen, we may need them to take down whoever took her—possibly killed her. This is not the time to let your rage cloud your judgment.”
His comment all but ensured that response.
Heat crept up my back and spread through my neck until it filled my cheeks and welled in my mouth. Curls of smoke escaped my parted lips, and Oz took notice. His stare hardened as he leaned in closer. “I am not your enemy. Best you don’t forget that.” I stood defiant against his show of aggression and authority, unfazed by his words. “Now, go home. I’ll see you there.”
Before I could unleash my response, he took to the air in a blur of black on black and disappeared into the clouds. With every fading beat of his wings, my pounding heart slowed. My breathing evened. And the anger that had fueled my fire dissipated.
I stood alone in the Heidelberg Project and tried to clear my thoughts—to be the being I had been before my brothers and Oz and emotions had taken over my existence. With every breath I took, I could feel the tension in my shoulders abate, my fists uncurling. But the pang of guilt regarding my mother still tugged at my heart, and I rubbed my chest to relieve it. But the pain would not subside, and neither would the growing concern that perhaps I had pushed Oz too far. That my show of aggression would not easily be forgotten.
With that in mind, I launched into the sky to soar aimlessly with the w
ind in my face and the rush of air filling my ears. I was not ready to return to the Dragon’s lair just yet, despite Oz’s order. I was too unsettled to wait for his return. Too dissonant to answer my brothers’ questions that were sure to come. Instead, I flew without purpose until a vibration in my pocket garnered my attention.
A text from Oz.
Meet me at the Tenth Circle. Now.
21
I made my way down the familiar, dark staircase, the pounding music beckoning me. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a wave of heat and sweat and debauchery, as expected. The Tenth Circle was for deviants and misfits, human and supernatural alike. It had long been a place for my brothers to convene. It was also where I had first met the fallen angel turned Dark One I was headed to meet.
Why he had chosen to meet there and not at our temporary home in the sewers was a mystery to me.
I forced my way through the crowd, headed for the stairs that led to the upper level. Though I felt no malevolence in the air, I kept a watchful eye on the crowd as I climbed toward the balcony, scouring it for any unwanted guests.
But it was not there that I found one.
As I crested the final steps, I could see the back of Oz’s head resting against the sofa, eyes focused on the ceiling above. His arms stretched along the back, and his hands gripped the cushions hard.
“Oz,” I called as I neared him, “I need to say something before you start.” He did not acknowledge me, and I wondered if he was still angry. I took a deep breath to prepare for the impending argument. “I am sorry for—”
My words cut short as I rounded the couch to find the reason for Oz’s preoccupation. She knelt before him, face buried deep in his lap where his pants lay open. With a laziness that made my blood boil, he raised his head and looked at me. Then his hand cupped the back of her head and pushed it down further still.
“Is this why you summoned me?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral as rage bloomed in my gut. “Is this why I needed to come running? To watch you satisfy your needs with the mouth of another?”
The smirk he had given me the night we had met graced his face, and I considered all the ways in which I could remove it.
Unmade (Unborn Book 4) Page 14