By the time we passed the fourth coffee stand, I gave up. Pausing only to signal that I was stopping. I motioned for the guys to wait for me as I stood in line. What I really needed was a good three hours in the practice ring with Seth as my target. I didn’t know why, but his behavior was irritating me, as well as Adonis’s little jaunt with insanity.
Must be the water or something else that had both of these men acting like idiots. The barista asked for my order. Blanking out for the second time that day, I smiled and desperately tried to remember what to order. It wasn’t normal for me to get coffee. I’m more of a chocolate milkshake type of a girl, but I needed something to keep my mind occupied. Drinking something seemed the best way to get rid of my aggravation, plus, caffeine tended to have a calming effect on my nerves.
“She’ll have a black coffee,” Adonis’s smooth voice tickled the hairs on the back of my neck. The barista’s mouth dropped open. But she didn’t make a sound. Instead, hands shaking, she lifted a cup and filled it with coffee.
Irritated, I elbowed him in the stomach. “Did you have to entice her?”
“I did nothing of the sort,” he murmured, taking the coffee from the besotted girl and giving her a hefty tip. “Here’s your coffee. Can we go now?”
Right, because I was the one acting odd and annoying. “Sure.”
Seth was waiting by the straws, judging, or appearing to judge, every single person who walked by and added cream into their coffee. Not wanting to be the object of his pensive glares or judgments, I said, “I’ll pass on the cream.”
“We don’t gain weight,” Seth said, shaking his head at the lady lifting the large container of half and half.
“Whatever,” I mumbled and pushed past them, but not before Seth quickly dumped the half and half into the trash and followed.
“What?” He lifted his hands as if offended. “I’m doing society a favor.”
“How’s that?”
“Easy.” He smirked. “I’m saving them from obesity.”
“Right,” I mumbled and turned away so he wouldn’t see me lift my eyes heavenward in response to his egotism.
I scanned the gate numbers and exhaled with triumph when we reached our destination. Few people were scattered about, which wasn’t at all surprising considering our destination was Fairbanks, Alaska. Who willingly travels to Alaska? Granted, I’ve heard it’s beautiful, but it’s not exactly the Caribbean.
I motioned for the guys to follow me to the back corner of the waiting area, where we could sit and go over our plans without people overhearing us and openly gaping like the eighty-year-old woman to my left was doing. If she didn’t watch it, her fake teeth were going to fall on the ground, embarrassing everyone in her vicinity.
I gave her a tight smile and pushed Adonis to go faster, though I could tell by the tension in his back he was trying desperately not to laugh as the elderly ladies’ companions also turned to look.
They must be going on some sort of Alaskan cruise together. It’s the best I can think of for why so many elderly women would be traveling all at once.
“Sit,” I commanded both guys.
Seth immediately followed my direction and sat directly on the floor. Idiot. Adonis winked and sat on the chair, all the while patting his knee for me to take a seat.
“I’m not sitting on you.”
“You probably should, for the effect. People are going to wonder why a hot supermodel is traveling with NBA basketball players.”
“So now I have to be somebody’s girlfriend?”
Seth piped up, “Well, I would offer, but I know you’re probably five minutes away from pulling a knife on me, judging by your grip on your bag and your overall stern expression. I think it’s safer for everyone if I stay on the floor. That way I don’t end up on it later.”
“Point taken.” I turned to Adonis. His dimples molded right into his perfect cheekbones. White teeth and beautiful eyes stared back at me. “Oh, all right.”
I sat as close as possible to him without landing on his lap and pulled out the map. Seth closed his eyes, and Adonis leaned in as close as he could get to my face without kissing me.
“So, how long of a journey once we land?”
“Uh…” I shook my head. “We…” My thoughts were not coming together, neither was my ability to string sentences. His hand moved until it was basically resting where it’d never rested before.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, trying to keep my voice at a mere whisper. I realized that me whispering anything was a huge stretch of the imagination for anyone.
Adonis grinned, holding my eyes in his gaze. “There are things, things we need to talk about, that you need to know, Thena. I’m just waiting for the right time to tell you about them. But sometimes I wonder,” his hand moved up to caress my face, “if you’ll ever be ready.”
“And as fun and not awkward as these types of conversations are for third party representatives, we need to get a game plan into action,” Seth piped in, annoying the snot out of me.
“The map,” I said.
Seth cursed. “Adonis, could you wait before you two have your little talk, please? She’s hardly able to concentrate on anything longer than five minutes, as it is. And you’re not helping with all your… touching.” He pointed at Adonis’s hands and shook his head in distaste.
I gulped. “The map.”
Seth rolled his eyes again.
Pulling it out, I laid it on the seat next to me. “It says here that we have to take the flight into Fairbanks and then either take a bus or drive the one-hundred-forty mile singular road to enter the park.
Seth snorted. “Or we could fly.”
“We are flying.”
He laughed. “Not what I meant. You just get us to Fairbanks, and let me take care of the rest, okay?”
I looked at Adonis, but he seemed just as intrigued as I felt. “Okay, deal.”
We sat and waited for another hour. The time seemed to tick by agonizingly slow, but it could have been because I was dying to know what Adonis had to talk with me about. And it wasn’t helping that people kept staring at us as if we were aliens from outer space.
Close, people, your assumptions are close.
“We will now begin boarding first class and families with children, or people who need assistance.”
Seth laughed. “Ten bucks says if I approach the flight attendant and tell her I need assistance, she’ll oblige me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ten bucks that I’ll smack you if you even try.”
Adonis looked between the two of us. “I would take my chances. That flight attendant does look like she could use a compliment today.”
We all looked in her direction. Whatever had happened to airlines? They used to outfit their employees in designer clothes. Now they looked homeless!
“I retract my earlier threat. Have at it, Seth.” I patted him on the back and prodded him on.
Not surprisingly, he approached her, stuffed his hands in his pockets and managed to look quite humble.
“However did he manage that emotion?”
“Humility?” Adonis guessed.
“Yup, that exact one.”
“Must be some sort of heavenly power. God knows, I don’t possess it.” He winked and nudged me.
I couldn’t help but smile back. Oh, how true it is.
“Hey, you guys coming?” Seth motioned for us to join him. Apparently his compliment had paid off, considering we were boarding ahead of everyone.
I groaned. “Do I even want to know what he said to her?”
Adonis smiled, blinding me for a second, before responding, “Probably something she needed to hear. Let’s go.”
We shuffled onto the cramped little plane and took our seats. Only one aisle was present, making me regret the fact we actually had to travel via public transportation.
Our duffel bags fit nicely into the compartments and I sat, knowing the next few hours were going to be filled with torture.
Riding
with hundreds of other humans in cramped quarters, when my senses were heightened? Ugh. It had to be worse for Adonis, considering he could smell pheromones on people. His poor nose.
I gave him a little pat as he took his seat next to me. His eyes immediately started watering.
He rubbed his eyes and groaned. “Just how many women are we flying with? It’s like an estrogen factory in here!”
I kept the laugh inside as I looked around the cabin. Yes, slightly more females than males, most of them over the age of fifty, and wearing their fair share of perfume.
“Can’t you just hold your breath?” I whispered, buckling my seatbelt.
“I could, but do you really want me to use all my strength holding my breath, when we may need it later?”
“Good point.” I grabbed a magazine and handed it to him. “Need a distraction?”
He didn’t even look at the magazine; instead he pushed it away with his hand. It dropped to the floor and suddenly he looked at me as if I was… well, as if I was just as beautiful as Aphrodite.
“A distraction, you say?” he mumbled as his finger caressed my jaw. “Why yes, I could go for one of those.”
Not exactly what I had in mind, but who am I to leave my partner with tears in his eyes. I leaned forward, thinking a kiss was exactly what he had in mind. As my breath hitched, I noticed him pull back.
Laughing awkwardly, he grabbed my hand. “So about that talk?”
Oh talking, not kissing. Right.
Adonis opened his perfect mouth to speak, just as Seth plopped down across the aisle from us.
“I totally forgot how good it felt to kiss a human. They taste so…” He reached into the air, grabbing at the word. “…Luscious, like warm blood mixed with honey and spice. I swear I almost lost my mind.”
“You kissed her!” I scolded.
“Maybe.” He looked down at his hand. “But she was having a really hard day. So what if I kissed her? It wasn’t as if I used any sort of power on her. I just merely kissed the daylights out of her, ruining her for all men.”
“You have no shame!”
“No.” He laughed. “Apparently not, but I will say one thing. My kiss also got us information.”
Adonis jerked his head in Seth’s direction. “You hypnotized her?”
“Hardly.” Seth buckled his seat belt. “I merely had a little taste.”
“You did what!”
Adonis slapped his hand over my mouth. My chest felt heavy with righteous anger. “You can’t go around… drinking!”
He glared. “Not something I make a habit of. Come on, it’s not like I’m a vampire or anything. You know as well as I do how much information blood contains. Don’t hate me for enjoying it.” He popped his knuckles. “Anyway, it seems that the plane was having some sort of mechanical problems, and she was worried that it would crash. They replaced the part, and at the last minute, the entire flight crew, which seemed odd. Then I saw the pilot.”
Why did my stomach feel like it was going to heave up all its contents?
“And?”
“It appears that the captain of this lovely plane is none other than your Titan friend. Atlas.”
“But, how — why would he do that?”
A large man stepped into the aisle and leaned over our seats. “To protect you.”
“Atlas,” I breathed. Beautiful, tall, commanding Atlas.
He looked Adonis up and down then smirked at me. “Never fear, my dear. I’ll make sure you make it to your first destination. I shouldn’t even be here, but a mutual friend thought it would be worth my while to see you in action. I’m just as surprised as you are.”
“A mutual friend?” I repeated. “Who?”
He ignored me, instead he looked at Adonis and nodded then walked off.
Adonis’s mouth dropped open. “Michael. I don’t know how or why, Thena, but… I would bet my life on it. Atlas has been talking to Michael.”
“But…”
Adonis squeezed my shoulders. “Do you know what this means?”
He didn’t wait for me to answer.
“It means that Atlas trusts you. For him to even try to speak to another Heavenly is… unheard of. It’s incredible. Good work, partner. I don’t know what you said to him when you disappeared and nearly took my heart with you, but good work.”
I didn’t really have any time to bask in the goodness of what his smile did to me. The plane began to taxi, and the flight attendant started to explain the various exits, in the event that the plane crashed, which, she repeated over and over again, is highly unlikely.
It’s not as if anyone would survive a plane crash into the Alaska Mountains. I mean, if the crash didn’t kill them, the cold sure would, and if by some miracle of God they did escape, they’d most likely be eaten by wolves.
“Lovely way to die,” Seth commented.
“Excuse me?”
“Plane crash… fear is literally rolling off these old ladies in waves.” He closed his eyes in ecstasy. They fluttered open and went black as he took a deep breath. Unable to tear my eyes away, I watched as the air moved past Seth’s lips and into his body, until he burped, apologized, and hit his chest with a fist.
“All in a day’s work.” He crossed his legs and opened the flight magazine.
“Did he… ” I looked to Adonis, who smirked in Seth’s direction.
“He thought it would be nice if the old ladies were free of potential strokes and heart attacks. He ate the fear.”
“Ate the—”
“Fear,” Seth finished, looking in my direction with a wink. “Tastes awful, by the way. Like burnt flesh and hot chili peppers with a side of rot.”
“Tasty,” I said.
Seth leaned in. “We have enough fear fighting against us. It’s better not to allow any extra to seep into our already-sketchy plans.”
“And by eating it you… destroy it?” I asked.
“Somewhat.” He flipped open the magazine again. “Until it comes back.”
I closed my eyes to keep from scratching his out. “Please tell me it doesn’t get worse once it comes back.”
“No, course not.” Seth shook his head.
Adonis nodded his head in agreement and patted my hand.
It became quiet, and then Seth interjected, “We’ll just have to kill the little demon. No biggie.”
“Great, now I have to waste time killing a stupid little demon while the Titans wait in the giant mountain…”
Adonis gripped my hand. “Stop worrying. Get some sleep, Thena. It’s going to be a long day. At least we know we are safe in Atlas’s oh so capable hands.”
“Kay.” I gave Seth one last look of disdain before closing my eyes and leaning onto Adonis’s shoulder. The last thing I remembered was his warm hand embracing mine.
Chapter Thirteen
The jolt of turbulence made my eyes flutter open. How long had I slept? My head was resting quite comfortably against Adonis’s chest. I glanced across the aisle and noticed Seth’s long legs dangling over the seat as his head rested against the window.
“Are we almost there?” I croaked, stretching my arms over my head.
Adonis gave a little yawn. “It seems like we’ve been in the air for hours. I’m surprised the little old ladies haven’t been using the bathroom every five seconds. They haven’t even moved since we started our flight.”
Hmm… Lost in thought, I looked behind us and immediately wished I hadn’t. The old ladies, the cute little old ladies… Were all dead.
“Adonis…” I hit his arm “What’s going on?”
Quickly, he turned around, and immediately I felt his hand tighten across mine. My eyes scoured the area for weapons. I hadn’t been able to bring my daggers, did manage to hide one of them in my boots without security catching it. I’d begged Seth to make it so that we could carry our weapons, but he said he needed to save his strength.
I closed my eyes, imagining the type of creature that would be heartless enough to take out t
hat many old women and other people on the plane. My eyes burned as I pummeled my memory for faces of the people who boarded with us.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I whispered. Adonis unbuckled his seatbelt and slowly tried to nudge Seth awake. Whatever creature was on board with us, the last thing we wanted to do was to let it know we knew it was there.
My brain mentally calculated the odds of us finding the dark creature while still staying in the sky and not putting holes in the plane. The odds were not in our favor.
Blood rushed through my veins, and adrenaline seemed to wash over me in waves. I was created for this. I can do this. I felt my eyes begin to glow their purplish hue and allowed myself to be consumed with the feeling of heavenly power coursing through me.
With a grunt, I pushed myself from the seat and began walking toward the back of the plane, my stomach dropped as I saw the corpses of the old ladies. It was such a waste, such a pity. They hadn’t done anything wrong. If anything, it was our fault to begin with.
The stench of flowers and honey invaded my nostrils. I wanted to curse. It wasn’t a Phantom, that’s for sure. The smell was over-powering, like I’d just walked headfirst into the perfume department and couldn’t find my way out. I kept moving and wanted to gag as the taste of the flowery substance invaded my mouth.
A few rows from the back of the plane and still nothing; my instincts told me it was close as the hairs on my arms raised.
I lifted my dagger in air and flipped my body around coming face to face with my foe and curse.
Her perfectly shaped brows lifted. “Now, now, that isn’t at all proper for a heavenly being.” She wiped blood from her lips and smiled, revealing tiny fangs on either side of her perfectly white teeth.
I noticed Seth making his way toward us with Adonis not far behind, and I wanted to tell them to back off. I could take care of this witch on my own.
“Empusa, is it?” I gave her a glare.
With a giggle, she plopped onto one of the seats, pushing the old grandma out of it. Her long black nails scratched her head of black hair.
She looked like a Goth movie gone horribly wrong.
Seth finally made it to the party and cursed. Hmm… my exact same reaction. Though I guessed his curse had more to do with the fact Empusa was basically a female version of him. A fallen creature that had resorted to seducing men to feed on, and wonder of all wonders, she also guards the road to Denali with a vengeance. Meaning, in this case, she ate innocent passengers. Not that old ladies were a threat to any sort of Titan. We, however…
Divine Uprising Page 9