Heart of the Phoenix

by A. C. Arthur

  Chapter 10

  After heading to the shower once in the middle of the night, then returning to the bed to enjoy themselves again, Thaddeus and Tayla fell into a comfortable slumber, with his arm holding her closely in a tight embrace for the remainder of the night.

  When beams of sunlight crept through the window, falling across the bed in measured slashes, Tayla opened one eye, closed it, then opened them both. It was morning, and she and Thaddeus had spent a glorious night together, but where were they? Momentarily she was startled by the unfamiliar surroundings. Then she spotted her bags in the corner and realized they were in the cabin, on the run. She sighed, relaxed again in the comfort of Thaddeus’ arms.

  “You are worried?” he asked in a sleep-rough voice.

  She wasn’t startled by his voice, because she’d felt a certain part of him awakening against her backside already. “No. Just thinking of how I came to be in this predicament.”

  Thaddeus shifted on the pillows until he was slightly upright. She turned around, still cradled in his arms with the side of her face resting against his bare chest. “Do you want to share your thoughts?”

  She thought about it for a moment, realized how much of himself he’d shared with her, and felt obligated. But more than that she felt that it was time—time she rid herself of these feelings that had hampered her all her life. “My mother was never happy,” she began, her eyes focused on the window across the room, through which she could see the bright green grass and the base of the mountain. “My father was a liar, a cheat and an alcoholic. I guess the alcoholism led the way to the other problems, but after a while it didn’t really matter.”

  “Why did your mother stay with him?” A woman in his time might possibly have poisoned her husband or turned him over to some much crueler fate. Although infidelity seemed pretty commonplace among his people, that didn’t mean that it was accepted any better.

  “He was her husband, the father of her child. She felt it was her duty.”

  “And how did you feel?” He brushed her hair absently, enjoying this level of comfort with her finally.

  “I was angry. I wanted him to stop making my mother cry. I wanted him to be like the daddies other girls had. But I guess that just wasn’t meant to be.” She took a deep breath. “He never hit us, but he yelled all the time. He threw things around when he was angry. He spent all the money on liquor and women. And then my mother had to work two jobs to keep food on the table.”

  “What eventually happened?”

  “The funniest thing, well, not actually funny, but peculiar. One night Daddy was in his favorite place, the bar, and a woman came up to him. She apparently offered to buy him a drink and he accepted. He slugged it down, I heard. Then, trying to stand up, he passed out in the middle of the floor and died. They never did determine the cause.”

  Things made sense to Thaddeus now. Someone, a citizen of Delos, he suspected, had made sure her father got what he deserved. Tayla had been pre-selected for his care long before she’d ever met her husband, and long before he’d ever known. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, purely for her benefit.

  “I’m not. I don’t delude myself often. I stopped believing in fairy tales a very long time ago. My father wasn’t a good man, and he was never going to act responsibly. His dying was almost like a blessing. Mama got the life insurance money and was able to quit her second job.”

  “So all was well.” Then how come she still sounded so sad?

  “Yeah, until I grew up and made the same mistake my mother had.”

  “Your husband was a drunkard?”

  Tayla chuckled at his use of words. Jerome would die a million deaths if he heard himself being talked about that way. Image was very important to the Raniers, hence the first reason she didn’t fit in. “No. But he was cruel, just like Daddy. He was a spoiled little rich boy who always had to have his way, and when he didn’t get it, he got ugly. I was constantly defying him, without even trying most times.”

  “Maybe you two just weren’t meant for each other.” He was tired of hearing about her hurtful past and the time that did not include him. He only wanted to do whatever he could to make her happy now and for as long as was possible. He shifted beneath her, felt a mild tingling in the base of his neck. It wasn’t strong, wasn’t fierce as it normally was when he sensed something was about to happen, so he chalked it up to the fact that this bed was a lot shorter than his at home. As a matter of fact, all the beds he’d been sleeping in these past two weeks were smaller. His body was probably all twisted out of shape.

  Tayla lifted off him, stretched, then turned back to face him. “Enough of that depressing talk. How about I fix us some breakfast?”

  Thaddeus traced a finger down her back, marveling in its smoothness and her ability to turn him on no matter the circumstances. “That sounds fine.”

  She dropped a quick kiss on his lips, then scooted off the bed. She grabbed her bag and headed to the bathroom. Thaddeus tucked his hands behind his head and lay back against the pillows. Things had definitely changed between him and Tayla, but he couldn’t help wondering, considering his fate, if that were for the better.

  His mother had fallen in love with his father even though she knew they could never truly be happy. She’d given herself to Poseidon completely and from that union he had been born. She lived only a few short years after that, then returned to the ashes, as their kind did. Thaddeus had been young then; he did not remember if his father had even mourned the loss, for Poseidon kept many women. The loss of one would merely instigate the acquisition of two or three more. Still, sometimes Thaddeus thought he sensed some emotion in his father when the subject of Lythica came up.

  Of all the traits he could have inherited from her, he’d had to inherit her fate. In a short time, probably a few weeks at the most, Thaddeus would go home; he’d build his own death nest and settle himself there until the time was absolutely right, then he’d ignite the nest and disappear from this earth.

  “Don’t think about it, Son.” The voice permeated the room. Thaddeus wasn’t surprised that his thoughts were being listened to. Nothing his father or uncle did surprised him anymore.

  “I could not help it,” he sighed.

  “I know. That was the way it was with your mother and me.”

  Thaddeus frowned. “And you and Medusa?”

  “Why do you call her name? She is long gone.”

  “I think not.” Thaddeus stroked at the new growth around his jaw. “The snakes appeared in the school, there was something not quite normal about them. They burned with the fire, but their hissing turned to laughter. Laughter I heard long ago.”

  “That has nothing to do with this, and besides, Medusa is long dead.” His father was insistent. “But I do recall her having a child,” he said thoughtfully.

  “So if it has nothing to do with Tayla or me then it must be about you and her. Morvana wanted revenge against Medusa for seducing you, and she got it. But what if it were now Medusa or her offspring who wanted the revenge?” Thaddeus had been considering this connection since the snakes in the school.

  “There is no connection here. I would have known.”

  “You don’t give a woman a second thought once you’ve had your way with her. You and Zeus are alike in that regard. Admit that what I say is a possibility.” Thaddeus was sitting up in the bed now.

  The floor beneath him shifted ever so slightly.

  “Tell Zeus it will do no good to get angry. I’ve told you both for years that your conquests would soon catch up with you. It appears now they have, and they’ve put me right in the middle of it.” He gave the situation some more thought. Were it only himself and his meddling family that he need be concerned with, he’d do whatever was necessary; Olympus was the home of betrayal and vindictiveness. But now they’d involved her. “I can battle her husband sure enough, but with this, this change in circumstances—I’m just not sure.”

  “We would not have sent you if we did not think you
could handle this. And we are always close by. I will try to find out who among the immortals could be involved. You just concentrate on the woman. Danger is near.”

  Thaddeus perked up then, zoned in on his own feelings and realized that tingling in his neck had subsided since he’d first felt it—not increased. “Danger is already here,” he said solemnly.

  Poseidon was quiet for a long while. “You will complete this job and then everything will be just fine.”

  “I will complete this job, then I will go away to die.”

  “I will not talk of that.”

  “It won’t stop it from happening,” Thaddeus said with resignation.

  “I don’t have to accept it.”

  Then the bathroom door opened and the conversation was finished. For a brief moment Thaddeus sat stone still thinking of his father’s words. Was denial the way he’d handled Lythica’s death? Was that why he rarely spoke of her?

  “You still in bed?” Tayla came through the door with definite pep in her step. She was more energized, more happy, than she’d been in a long, long time. She was in love with Thaddeus, a magnificent man who she was almost positive loved her right back. All was right with the world, and whatever wasn’t, she didn’t give a damn. “That’s okay, you can lie in bed if you want. I’ll just get breakfast started and bring it in here.”

  She wore jeans and a simple white t-shirt and had pulled her hair back into a ponytail that swung gaily at her back. Her face looked flushed with excitement, and her eyes danced merrily. This was the way he would always remember her. Beautiful and carefree.

  “Thaddeus, are you okay?” She went to the edge of the bed. He’d been sitting there simply staring at her. She reached out, touched the stubble on his chin, then lifted his face up to hers. “What’s the matter?”

  He snapped out of it quickly. It wouldn’t do to upset her, to take away her joy. He curled his arms around her waist, pulling her close as he planted his face against her belly, inhaling her sweet scent. “Nothing’s the matter. You just loved me so good throughout the night that I’m having a bit of a slow start this morning.”

  Tayla smiled. “Then maybe I should take it easy from now on.”

  He cupped her buttocks and grinned back up at her. “Don’t even think about it.” Playfully slapping her backside as he pushed her away and stood, he said, “I will take a shower, then come help you.”

  Tayla watched his tight butt meander into the bathroom. She fanned herself with her palm. “Wooo lawd, that is a fine-ass man there!” She shook her head from side to side and made her way to the kitchen.

  * * *

  They had breakfast, then climbed right back into bed. They rose for lunch, then at Tayla’s insistence, walked out to look at the mountain again. Thaddeus had not been amazed by the mountain. Olympus was three times its size and more beautiful, but he didn’t tell Tayla that. Throughout the day they carefully avoided the subject of who and what he was and his ultimate destiny. They even skirted around the reason for being in the isolated cabin in the first place.

  For a few hours they allowed themselves to believe it was a lovers’ getaway and they were making the most of it. But after dinner, while they sat in front of the fire, Thaddeus felt a little tingle at his neck again. This time, even though it wasn’t fierce, he paid attention to it. His father had confirmed that the danger was near, even if Thaddeus’ warning system seemed to be failing him. Tayla got up to get hot tea and he took that opportunity to go to the windows, to peer out into the darkness.

  Thaddeus saw nothing, but then he wasn’t looking for what he could see. He was trying to feel, trying to assess Jerome’s proximity, for he knew he would come. He would use the cover of night because he was a coward. Thaddeus had tucked his athame into his pants the moment they’d stepped outside of the cabin and he hadn’t removed it since. He would even keep it close when they went to bed. The time was definitely near.

  Tayla came up behind him, snaking her arms around his waist, laying her face on his back. “I’m glad you came into my life, Thaddeus.”

  Thaddeus braced his hands on the wall surrounding the window and dropped his head. He wasn’t all that sure he felt the same way. “It was inevitable.”

  “I don’t care what it was, I’m glad. I want to ask you something.” She’d been thinking about this all day, thinking of how she’d broach the subject with him. Finally she’d decided to just spit it out.

  “What is that?” Please don’t let it be about what I am and why I must do what I will do.

  Tayla took a deep, steadying breath. “Do you love me?”

  If she had reached in and touched his heart with her fingers it wouldn’t have pierced any quicker. Her words, her simple, soft-spoken question had pushed that last piece of restraint on his feelings away. He could not lie to her, yet he could not give her what she wanted either. “Yes,” he answered gruffly. “Yes, I love you, Tayla.”

  She let out a whoosh of breath. “Have you loved many women?” She’d taken a few books from the library at school and, while Thaddeus was either sleeping or had left her alone, she’d read a bit about these Greek gods that he was related to. They were a randy bunch, slipping into any available bed whenever they could—whether or not the woman agreed or the woman already belonged to someone else. She wondered if Thaddeus was the same way, if he was only using her for the time he was here. But a bigger part of her didn’t believe that.

  “Trust your feelings, Tayla. They are usually right.” He turned to her then because he’d dipped into her mind and wanted to immediately apologize. “I’m sorry.”

  She grinned knowingly. “That’s going to get you in a lot of trouble one day.” She poked at his chest lightly, then settled into his embrace. “I just need to know that what we shared, what I’m feeling for you, isn’t just some fleeting thing that’ll be gone one morning.”

  He would be gone one morning, but not their feelings. “I have never loved another woman. I’ve never allowed myself this sort of intimacy with another before.” He touched her cheek. “I did not say that I’ve never enjoyed a woman’s body.”

  Tayla frowned. “I thought you couldn’t read my mind if I was staring at you.”

  “I did not read your mind, the thought was written clearly on your face. I am no angel. I have had my share of women. But I’ve never felt anything for them, not the way I do for you. I will love you for all time, Tayla Hampton.”

  “I think I was waiting for you. From the beginning I felt something had drawn me to this mountain and now I know what. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I’d find true happiness here. And I found you.” He was lowering his head; he would kiss her in the next second then all reasonable thought would be lost. “I love you, Thaddeus. I will always love you.”

  When his lips touched hers, she tasted heaven. His arms closed tighter around her, cupping her buttocks. She moaned and the heat gently spread itself throughout her body. When his tongue touched hers, she shivered, pressing her body closer to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, slipped his hair loose from the band and weaved her fingers through it. He was like a savage—her savage—all strong muscles, unearthly good looks and a sexuality possessed by no man she’d ever known. He conquered her with just a look, waged war on her body with one touch, and she loved it. She loved him.

  Clapping interrupted their fervor.

  “Well…well…well.” Jerome waltzed in through the front door, clapping his hands, boiling at the sight before him. “If it isn’t my runaway bride.”

  Tayla knew that voice; she turned quickly and met the eyes of the man she’d once loved but had now grown to hate.

  Behind her Thaddeus cursed. He hadn’t sensed they were so close, hadn’t thought to bolt the door or have a game plan in effect. He simply hadn’t thought past his love for her. And his senses were dulling, his power fading. That could mean only one thing.

  His athame was warm at his back as he put his hands on Tayla’s shoulders protectively. “The polite thing
to do when visiting someone is to knock,” he said calmly to the man he knew was Jerome Ranier.

  Jerome pulled out his gun, pointed it directly at Thaddeus’ head. “No, the polite thing to do would be to take your hands off another man’s wife.”

  “I am not your wife anymore. We’re divorced, remember?” Tayla did not hesitate to contradict his claim.

  His eyes fell from the giant behind her back to her jeans and t-shirt.

  “I see your fashion sense hasn’t improved.”

  Jerome had always hated when she dressed down. But Tayla didn’t flinch, didn’t even look down at her clothes. “Just as your common sense hasn’t.”

  Jerome chuckled evilly. “That pretty little mouth of yours always said the damndest things. Always seemed to get you into trouble.” He looked at Thaddeus again. “Is this why you left me?” He motioned toward Thaddeus with the gun as he moved closer to where they stood. “You left me for this freak?”

  Thaddeus was moving too, coming to stand in front of Tayla now, making himself ready to take that bullet instead of her. Jerome’s thirst for revenge was driving him. He obviously wanted Tayla desperately. But Thaddeus knew that Tayla would never commit to be with this man again, thus leaving Jerome no alternative but to kill her. His obsession would demand nothing less. Thaddeus had to kill him first. There was no alternative.

  “He is a good man. Something you wouldn’t know about,” Tayla spat at him. “You’re the freak. Tracking me down like some jilted lover when you and I both know that what we had has long been over.”

  Jerome stood about five feet eleven: he was toned, but not built. He was what some would call a pretty boy, with his ancestral Indian raven hair curled on the top and slicked down on the sides. He even wore a suit.

  “What have you done to your hair? You know I don’t like flashiness in my wife.”

  He was getting too close, and a small wave of fear rolled through Tayla as she realized Thaddeus was ready to die in her place. That’s what he’d told her. At the time she hadn’t really thought he was telling the truth; most times people just said that. But now she knew it without a doubt.