This was all about to take place too close to Persephone, so I made my way toward the dock platform, putting distance between the two of us.
“Where’s Parker?” I asked, sounding slightly breathless and purposely clueless.
“Darcie?” Pete asked in surprise. “There’s danger down here,” he said, making himself sound concerned. “Come. We need to get out of here. Didn’t you hear the alarm?”
Getting out of here was a great idea, but I suspected Pete and I had two very different ideas about how that was going to happen.
As I walked toward him, something else occurred to me—where was Heath? Shouldn’t he and his associates have jumped out brandishing guns, after Pete’s attempted murder?
Or successful murder. Was Parker dead?
My stomach churned. What the heck had I gotten myself into? But there was no turning back now, and the evidence suggested Heath hadn’t made it down here. It was up to me to protect Persephone from Pete and whatever was about to burst through the door.
Pete seemed like the lesser evil, so I was about to step onto the open platform when the stairwell door opened. I braced myself for anything—the Greek gods had been known to appear in many different forms, hadn’t they?—but to my shock, Philip, Cyn’s date, walked in.
I was about to shout for him to run, but the burning in my chest was hotter than ever.
Philip Hinkle had been sent by the gods to kill Persephone.
Crap. How did I break that to my best friend? Uh, Cyn? You know that hot guy you were crazy about? He’s a hit man who goes after Greek gods.
Talk about the ultimate bad boy.
“Oh, hello,” Pete said in his rich accent, holding the gun at his side in an attempt to hide it from our new visitor. “Philip, isn’t it? You’re Darcie’s friend’s date.”
“Where is she?” Philip asked with an inhuman growl.
“Darcie?” Pete asked, then beckoned with his free hand. “She’s down here. Come join us.”
If Pete expected me to tell Philip to run, he’d bet wrong. He’d also bet wrong when he’d assumed Philip was the buttoned-up entrepreneur he seemed to be.
In the blink of an eye, a long black tentacle shot out from Philip’s hand. It wrapped around Pete’s throat and lifted him ten feet off the ground.
“Where is she?” Philip growled again, sounding even less human. Or maybe the tentacle made it seem that way.
Pete kicked his feet and pried at the appendage around his neck, desperately trying to free himself.
As much as I detested Pete, I couldn’t hide in the shadows and let Philip kill him. Not when I might be strong enough to do something about it.
“I’m here,” I said as I walked into the open. “Why don’t you put Pete down?”
Philip’s gaze shot to me and an evil grin lit up his face. He threw Pete across the room as if he were tossing an empty can into the recycling bin. His body slammed high up on the wall with a sick thud, then fell on top of the shelving.
So much for preventing another murder.
“Where is she?” Philip snarled as his tentacle waved in the air over my head.
My breath came in short bursts, but determination filled me as surely as the fire in my gut. I had to save Persephone. I was the only one who could.
“Hidden,” I said in what I hoped was an authoritative voice.
“You’re the weakest one yet,” he said, taking a cautious step forward, but I knew it was for show. He thought he had the upper hand.
“You knew the others?” I asked, genuinely curious and choosing to believe he was trash-talking. Jack heard it all the time on the basketball court.
“I’ve known them all. Hades sends me to watch. Observe. With few exceptions, you all do the same thing. Run. Hide. Lie low and live a quiet life.”
I released a short laugh. “Then you pegged me wrong.”
But I suspected I was predictable in another way. I wouldn’t attack him first, and he knew it.
“You don’t intend to hide?” he asked in surprise.
“No,” I said. “I’ve let men run roughshod over me my entire life, and I’m done. So I’m standing up to you and to whoever else comes after us. I’m not giving up my life, and I’m not letting you hurt a child.”
“She’s not really a child,” Philip said with a grin. “She’s a goddess who’s lived more lifetimes than you could dream of. The gods are selfish, Darcie. Why saddle yourself with a selfish goddess who doesn’t give a single shit about you?”
It wasn’t a bad question—I certainly hadn’t asked for any of this—but ultimately it didn’t matter. No matter how old she was, or what she’d done in her previous incarnations, I would not hand over a child for slaughter.
“I won’t give her to you,” I said. “So save your time and turn around and take a message to your friends.”
“You confuse me with Hermes,” he said with a chuckle. “In fact, I’m not a god at all, just a soldier for the Underworld.”
A soldier? That didn’t sound good.
“I’ll give you one more chance, Darcie,” Philip said, taking a half dozen steps closer before he stopped several feet in front of me.
I wasn’t playing along, but maybe he’d be more chatty if he thought I was open to his mind games. “Why do you want her?”
His eyes lit up with satisfaction. “She cheated the Underworld. If she survives this cycle, she’ll never have to return to her throne. The Underworld will devolve into chaos.”
That wasn’t what Vee had told me. So which one was correct? I decided to trust neither explanation.
“So you want to kill her now and be done with it?”
“Only her human shell will die. She’ll live on, only she’ll do it in the Underworld. Where she belongs.”
His explanation sounded reasonable, yet something felt off.
“What else happens?”
“You’re smart,” a woman said from my right. I started to panic, thinking an innocent bystander had walked into this mess, but then I caught sight of her. Her long brunette hair was woven into an elaborate half-up, half-down style, but it was her flowing white robe—drifting on a breeze that didn’t exist—that suggested she was a goddess.
Why hadn’t my inner alarm gone off for her?
“Demeter,” Philip said, deflecting his gaze to the floor.
“Did Hades send you to collect my daughter?” she asked in an icy tone.
“You know he can’t allow this cycle to complete.”
“And not for the reasons you tell the guardian,” she said sadly. Her gaze turned to me. “If the cycle doesn’t complete, then Hades will be granted access to our world.”
“What?” Demeter was the goddess of the land. She was responsible for life. Hades ruled the dead. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.
She gave me a slight nod. “I can see you’re putting things together.”
I was, all too well. Dread drenched my body. “The fate of the world depends on me keeping your daughter safe.”
She nodded again.
“Why don’t you send your own minions to help me?”
“I’ve been forbidden to give assistance in any way.”
Which meant she wouldn’t be able to personally intervene either.
That was when Philip struck.
His exposed tentacle shot out and wrapped around my neck, lifting me off the ground. He laughed as I kicked my legs. “See? Weakest one yet.”
My chest burned, and I pushed the heat into my neck, cranking up the intensity.
He cried out in pain and released me.
I started to fall, but my wings instinctively unfurled and slowed my descent, allowing me to touch down gracefully on my feet.
Smoke rose from Philip’s tentacle and rage covered his face. “Where is she?” His head whipped around, taking in the space around us. “She can’t be far from you, which means she’s down here.”
A new tentacle shot from his right hand. It wrapped around the support of the shelves ne
xt to me and shoved them over. The unit fell, its boxes and contents crashing to the concrete.
He was going to destroy everything in his path to find her. To destroy her.
He laughed. “If you bring her to me, I’ll make sure her death is painless.”
I shook my head. “No.”
He knocked over a shelf on the opposite side, and I saw a body on the floor between the shelves. At first I thought it was Parker, but this man wasn’t wearing a jacket.
It was Heath.
Philip had begun to knock the next shelf over, which would crush him. Out of instinct, I shot toward Heath. Scooping him up into my arms, I flew straight up to the ceiling as my mind raced with multiple thoughts.
Was Heath okay?
Where could I place him to keep him safe?
Was Philip immortal? If so, what was his weakness? How could I stop him?
His tentacle whipped up toward us, wrapping around Heath’s abdomen, and gave a hard yank.
I held tight and my wings flapped furiously behind me, trying to keep Philip from reeling him in. I had to get Philip to release him, but I couldn’t risk burning Heath in the process. Lifting one hand, I sent the heat in my gut to my palm and focused on a section of the tentacle several feet down. A white-hot flame shot out, and smoke wafted from his appendage.
Philip screamed, but I kept the flame focused on him until his grasp on Heath began to slip. Finally, six feet of his appendage fell to the ground, freeing Heath.
I shot an intense flame toward the loading dock door, and the metal of the entire door turned a glowing red and then melted onto the floor. I flew through the opening and across the parking lot. Placing Heath on the asphalt next to a car, I took a couple of seconds to look him over.
“Please don’t be dead,” I begged, my voice breaking with tears. I was surprised not to find any bullet wounds, but he had a gash and a huge knot on the back of his head.
He cracked his eyes open. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
I nearly collapsed with relief.
“Go fry his ass.” Then he winked.
I shot back into the air and released a loud war cry as I flew back through the melted door and charged at Philip. He’d turned over several more shelves and was now searching through them, calling out Persephone’s name.
Demeter stood to the side, fury filling her eyes. To my surprise it was directed at me.
“You dared to leave my daughter alone!” she shouted.
“I didn’t ask for this job,” I said, letting the heat build in my chest. “So don’t try to tell me how to do it.”
Philip turned his attention in my direction. “Where is she?”
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out.”
I launched myself at him, my wings helping me close the distance. I wrapped my hand around his left arm and sent my heat into his flesh.
Hate filled his eyes as he wrapped his injured tentacle around my neck, cutting off my air supply.
He screamed and thrashed, and I felt my vision fading, but I forced all of my concentration into severing his arm with intense heat.
The limb fell to the floor, but the strangling continued. He flung me across the room then, and I slammed into the shelving where Persephone was hiding. I fell to the ground in a heap, my body spasming with pain.
A whimper caught my attention, and I turned my head to see Philip dragging Persephone from the bottom shelf with his damaged tentacle wrapped around her ankle. A murderous gleam filled his eyes.
I pushed myself to my hands and knees, my body protesting. Why had they picked a woman in her forties to protect a child? Then I reminded myself I should have been reborn younger. I’d chosen to keep this well-worn body.
I was going to make the best of it.
Persephone grabbed the shelf support and hung on, sobbing as Philip continued to pull.
“Do something!” Demeter screamed.
I was struggling to get to my feet, but I didn’t need to stand to finish this. I just needed to make sure I didn’t miss.
A sharp pain shot through the side of my chest, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. I wrapped one arm around my side as I crawled toward them. When his head was in full view, I lifted my left hand. A fresh wave of pain washed through me, stealing my breath, but I ignored it and sent out a stream of fire, torching his head and shoulders. He screamed and fell to the ground, but I continued blasting until his screaming stopped.
The smell of burning flesh filled my nose. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck, and I tasted metal. But I couldn’t let any of that distract me. The boxes on the shelves behind him had erupted into flames, and the fire was moving fast.
Persephone pulled free from his tentacle, then scooted the few feet between us. “Darcie!”
“I’m okay,” I lied. “Come here.”
Smoke poured from the shelves, and Persephone began to cough.
I wasn’t sure my legs could hold me, but it wouldn’t be safe to fly. Black smoke began to fill the room as the fire raced along the shelves. I knew I’d be safe, but Persephone wasn’t. I had to get her out of here or she’d die of smoke inhalation.
Using all the energy I had left, I got to my feet, took her hand, and led her out the back door into the cold night air.
Into our new life.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Perry Art Museum suffered extensive fire damage, although it would have been much worse had the fire trucks not already been on their way. The fire had been contained, but some of the artwork had suffered from smoke damage.
Once I’d gotten my senses about me, I’d called Cyn, who’d sent several more frantic texts in response to mine. Turned out she’d missed my earlier text while helping evacuate Ella from the first aid station. I didn’t say anything about Philip, mostly because you couldn’t inform your best friend over text that her date had turned out to be a murderous tentacle creature. She deserved a face-to-face explanation, and she’d get one.
Heath had a concussion. Pete had snuck up and pistol-whipped him. We all knew how lucky we were that Pete hadn’t shot him in cold blood, but Heath surmised he’d been trying not to spook Parker. Since both men were dead, we’d never know.
I wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but Heath’s explanation for my flight through the stained glass window had caught some traction. Everyone was whispering about the unexpected living art display that had gotten out of hand, and some were even claiming they’d been in on the whole thing. The fire in the basement had been pinned on Pete. The FBI theorized that he’d set the fire to cover up his crime, and for some reason he’d climbed a shelf and had fallen, explaining the broken bones in his body. They found a large pile of diamonds by his body.
If Mayor Harless had some connection to what had happened—and my new role with Persephone—I still didn’t know what it was.
I’d tried to heal Heath and myself with my tears, but they hadn’t helped him at all, and only a few of my bruises had disappeared.
“Did you lose the ability to heal after your change?” he asked.
I had no answer.
I’d resisted going to the ER—twice in one week seemed excessive—but Heath had insisted, saying we should go together. The only wrench in that plan was Persephone. Not only would they not let me keep her in the exam room, but she was scantily clothed. So I called Nana Stella and asked her to meet me in the ER parking lot, telling her what Heath’s car looked like. She arrived twenty minutes later, fear filling her eyes when I got out of the car and she saw I was covered in soot. I assured her I was mostly fine and that I needed her help with something else. Then I opened the back door.
“Nana, this is my new daughter, Persephone. Persephone, this is your Nana Stella.”
Bless her heart, Nana didn’t bat an eye, simply started fussing over her as she led her inside to change clothes and wash up in the hospital’s public restroom. They both stayed in the waiting room until it was determined that I’d cracked a rib and was b
anged up from my fall while escaping the fire—my cover story. Heath had a moderate concussion, so they decided to keep him overnight for observation.
“Hey,” I said, poking my head into his exam room after I’d been released. “I’m free to go, but I’m worried about leaving you alone.”
A devilish grin lit up his eyes. “Can’t keep me down, but I wish I were going home with you.”
“Slow down there, cowboy. I’m the mother of four kids now. I have less time for romance than I did before.”
“We can get creative.”
While I was very attracted to the sexy man on the hospital bed next to me, I had a lot of responsibilities on my plate. I wasn’t sure that romance would make the top five priority list, let alone the top ten. “Let’s take it one step at a time.”
“I can live with that.”
Nana took us home, and I texted Cyn and Ella to let them know I was fine. They’d checked in several times while I was in the ER, wanting to come sit with me, but I’d assured them that Nana was with me and I’d see them the next day.
I didn’t tell them about Persephone. Like the whole Philip debacle, it seemed like an in-person conversation.
Nana pulled into the driveway, and I was sure that every light in the house was on.
“The kids are still up?”
“You really think they were going to bed after they heard you were at the hospital?”
No. It was a wonder they hadn’t stormed the ER doors in search of me. Even after my many texts and video calls assuring them this was just a formality. That I was fine.
Was I fine? I was terrified. More monsters would come for us, which meant my whole family was in danger. But we would get through this together, just like we’d gotten through everything else life had thrown at us.
“I have things to tell you, Nana,” I said quietly. “I know what happened to your mother.”
“You can tell me later. After the excitement dies down.” She watched the house for a couple of seconds. “My mother died in a fire, but you survived.”
“It’s more complicated than that, Nana.”
She glanced back at Persephone and nodded. “I can see that.”
Persephone slipped her hand in mine, watching me with trepidation.
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