“We can’t go back there,” I warn her.
“I don’t care what you do, I have to go back.”
“She’ll only enslave you again.”
She blows out a frustrated breath. “Yeah, well. I need to do something. The police can’t help.”
“You went to them?”
She nods. “One of the deputies became her new favorite toy. I was glad, to be honest, once I saw that. She must have played with my brother for a while in that way. I think he probably liked it before she started commanding him. He acted like he was in love. Now he has blank eyes like the others.”
The more I know, the less I wish I did. Still, Grace knows more than I ever will about what’s been going on in that house. “Did you see others?”
She nods again, slowly this time. “She had a dozen of us. As far as I could tell, from what I saw. My brother, the deputy, your mom, and eight other men I caught glimpses of. She was screwing some of them. Others were beaten whenever she was pissed about something.”
I’m almost afraid to ask, but I have to. My mother might know the answer, but she has a long road to recovery ahead. I won’t find out as quickly as if I ask Grace.
“Did you see a man with my build, in his fifties? Dark hair. A faint scar on his neck...”
She locks gazes with me, her eyes widening. “Oh. Of course! I didn’t see the resemblance at first. You’re so like him.”
“Where does she keep him?”
“The kitchen, mostly.” She averts her gaze, sliding it to my mother. “Found out he was a good cook and kept him doing that work.”
He had been good at that. My mother never was.
“So that’s where I’d find him if I went back?”
She shrugs. “Probably.”
I reach out and touch her wrist. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“She keeps him close to where she sleeps, like my brother and the deputy. She likes him in the same way.”
I let go, wishing I hadn’t learned that, though it’s at least going to be less of a surprise when I see inside his head later.
“Stop doing that,” Grace snaps at me, folding her arms and shuffling out of my reach.
“Where does she sleep?” My thoughts are working overtime as I ask. I wish it were as simple as this woman being a vampire. A stake through the heart seems a fitting end for her either way. If only it wouldn’t just piss her off as a Goddess who can’t be killed in such a simple way.
“We were in the wing to the right of the house. She sleeps in the left one. I know because sometimes she likes an audience.”
Everything I hear makes it so much worse. I almost wish Eli was here. I’d even take Logan. Someone’s going to need to help me kill the bitch. I’m not really dumb enough to think I can do this alone.
“If you’re going back there, I’m coming with you,” she warns me.
“You can’t.”
“I am. Just as soon as you get me something with sugar in it from one of the vending machines outside.”
I frown at her. I can’t really trust her not to run off if I leave, but how much damage would that really do? If she heads back to that house I’ll catch up with her soon. I check my pocket and put my fingers on my wallet. “Any preference for your sugar rush?”
She shakes her head. “Candy and soda, though.”
I leave, switching my phone on and calling Sasha. This is probably a mistake, but I don’t really have another choice.
“Asher! Where have you been?”
“I can’t talk about it right now, Sash. I just need you to come pick up Mom.”
The line is silent for a minute, then she sucks in a breath. “What the hell did you just say?”
“I’m at a motel just outside Rapture. You know the one, the flight attendants at the airport use it a lot...”
“I don’t care where you are, stupid. What did you say about Mom?”
I stop at the vending machine and look up at the room. The curtains are twitching. Grace is watching me. That girl makes me nervous, truth be told.
“I found her, Sasha. She’s alive. I need you to come get her.”
“I don’t understand. Are you serious?”
“I’m serious. You need to leave now. I have to go and I don’t want to leave her out here alone.”
“You have to go? What are you talking about? Asher...”
“My battery is dying, Sash.” I hang up and switch my phone off.
I hit random buttons on the vending machine once I put a twenty in, and walk back to the room with an armful of soda, candy and chips. I dump it on the bed and Grace lets out a little squeal before attacking the mound.
“My sister’s on her way. We need to be ready to leave in less than an hour.”
“What does your sister have to do with anything?” Grace opens a candy bar and starts to eat.
“She’s just coming to pick up our mother.” Who I’m sure will be fine once she eventually sleeps enough for one lifetime.
“Oh. Right. So then we can rush back to that vampire’s house and attack her in the daylight.”
I open my mouth to set the vampire thing to rest, and then close it again. It’s one way to explain this mess, and it doesn’t sail too close to the truth. If Grace wants to believe that Goddess is a bloodsucking creature of the night, I’m not going to try to convince her otherwise.
“I’m dealing with her,” I tell her. “You’re just tagging along to help me get everyone the hell out of there.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Eden
My nerves are thoroughly rattled while I wait for the plane to get us back to Rapture. The short journey feels as if it’s taking forever. I want to keep trying to find Asher, but I’m afraid to look. To see only darkness and know he’s dead. Even if he’s coming back, I can’t stand the thought of it.
“He’s not dead,” Cupid’s voice comes from nowhere and I jump in my seat.
“You asshole!” I curse, pissed that he’s out of reach for a punch.
He perches atop the seat in front, next to Logan. I’m in between Nick and Eli and all of us are staring at the sunglasses-favoring idiot as he slides down onto the seat.
“Sorry to be the bearer of good news,” he says with a wry smile.
“Stop sneaking up on me, Fred.” You know what? I’m convinced he drops in this way to make me forget I have shit to ask him. It’s a sneaky tactic and that sounds just like his kind of thing.
“You make me sound like a jerk. I thought you’d be happy that your soul-mate is safe.”
“Soul-mate?” Logan asks, his eyebrows raised.
I shake my head. “See what you did? You cause nothing but trouble.”
Cupid’s smile doesn’t wane.
“It doesn’t mean what you think it does,” I say quickly.
“It just means they have a connection that goes beyond the physical,” Cupid decides to explain. “Spiritual connections span over a multitude of lifetimes. In this life, it’s the first time any of you have met. Eden has met Asher before, and each time they became lovers.”
Okay, that’s way more of an explanation that he ever gave me before. “Hold up! What do you mean lifetimes?”
I don’t even know what else to ask, I feel completely tongue-tied.
“You’ve never heard of re-incarnation?”
“Of course I have,” I tell him. “I just... You can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect there not to be questions.”
“Was Eden always a Goddess?” Nick surprises me with his question.
I glance at him, wondering this now myself. If I was, I never became immortal before now.
“In different ways I suppose she was,” Cupid says, shrugging. “Never like this. This is linked to her bloodline, not her spirit.”
Okay, that kind of makes sense. I guess.
“Stop distracting me,” I tell him. “Where’s Asher?”
“I was coming to that,” he tells me, his tone becoming irritable.
“Co
me faster!” I all but yell at him.
Nick laughs and I glare at him.
“Sorry, Eden. I just don’t think you’ve ever said that before.”
“Or ever will again,” Eli adds.
I realise what I actually said and roll my eyes. I guess it was kind of funny, but this is so not the time for humor.
“I told you Asher’s not dead,” Cupid says. “He’s not. But he’s attempting something foolish right now.”
Shit. I just knew there would be a catch. “What’s he doing?”
“He’s on his way to the house occupied by a Goddess of Destruction, intending to find a way to destroy her himself.”
It takes a minute for Cupid’s words to sink in. None of it makes sense. “Wait. What? Who is she? Why?”
“His parents went missing a few years ago. They were presumed dead. A Goddess had been using them as slaves. He has rescued his mother already, but he’s going back for his father and the other mortals she’s been keeping captive with her will.”
“Why Asher’s parents?”
“Coincidence, Eden. They do happen. They’re not always fortuitous.”
“Where’s he going? How can we get there fast enough?”
Nick’s fingers link with mine, Eli’s hands clasping my other quickly.
“The short answer is you can’t,” Cupid tells me. “He’s determined, and it’s not close by. He’s already halfway there. All you can do is follow him and hope it’s not too late.”
“Asher can’t die,” I remind myself out loud.
Cupid smiles tightly. “This Goddess is not one to be trifled with. She’s more than a little unhinged.”
“Stop trying to make her feel better,” Nick tells him. “This Goddess. She can’t really hurt Asher, can she?”
I hear the worry in his voice and my throat closes up.
“She will find out he belongs to a Goddess of Love the instant she touches him. I can’t predict how she’ll decide to use that information, but whatever torture she’s been putting those mortals through will be nothing compared to what she does to Asher.”
“Tell me where she is.”
He tells me, touching my wrist to show me where she lives. My stomach churns. That town is several hours drive away from Rapture. Not even close to an airport. Best chance we have is renting a fast car and driving like demons to get there. Even then, we’ll be a few hours behind.
“Where is it?” Nick asks, getting his phone out. “I know a guy.”
I tell him and he makes a phone call. Cupid hasn’t disappeared yet. This must be bad.
“I can’t understand this,” I murmur. “Why would he do this? He knows she can’t be killed. How does he think he can free those people? Why didn’t he wait for me?”
“You’ll need to ask him, when we get there,” Logan tells me.
Nick hangs up and smiles. “We’ve got an hour’s drive to the pick-up point and we might wind up being dropped close to the ground instead of landing, but we have a ride. The whole thing should take a few hours, tops. We just might need to find another way back if there’s no room in Asher’s car.”
I try to relax. We’re going to get there in time. I need to be ready to deal with the Goddess.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Asher
I make a stop for gas and a burger halfway back to the house. The gas was essential. The food was at Grace’s insistence. She’s wearing sunglasses Sasha left in the glove box months ago and she tied her hair back so she’d look less like the lost girl everyone’s looking for. The last thing we need is to pick up a tail because someone thinks they found Grace with her kidnapper.
I shouldn’t have let her come. It was a bad decision, but it’s too late now.
“Eat your damn fries,” she says, pushing the carton under my nose.
“Get that out of my face before you make me crash the car.”
She sighs and pulls her arm back, starting to eat them herself. “Two burgers and two portions of fries in one day. I’m going to get fat.”
I roll my eyes. “You were the one who insisted on lunch.”
“I know you haven’t eaten all day. Don’t want you passing out when we get to the vampire’s lair. You’re the one who can ignore her compulsions. We need you.”
I sigh. “I’m not hungry.”
It’s probably the adrenaline, but I haven’t felt hungry all day. There’s too much going on. I should eat anyway though. She’s right. I just don’t like the idea of taking orders from a teenager.
“So I know I can’t ask what you really are, but I’m guessing a daywalker. Cause I mean, you haven’t eaten human food so I guess you’re a blood-sucker and maybe you’re all angry-pants because I smell so good and you want to eat me but you can’t because you’re one of the good guys.”
I take one hand off of the wheel to snatch the fries from her hand and put them on my lap. That’ll be one ruined pair of pants due to grease, but if it shuts this girl up I don’t give a crap. I stuff a couple fries into my mouth as I drive, chewing them up and swallowing them down fast. Shit. They tasted great. Salty and warm. I am actually hungry, and now my stomach knows it.
“Happy, now?” I glance at her and she smirks at me.
“Whatever, Daywalker.”
“This is going to be a long day,” I murmur before I put my attention back to eating while driving.
She messes with the radio and her choices make me cringe. Bouncy pop-music fills the car that she decides to sing along to while making kissy-faces at herself in the side mirror. Kill me now. This girl was sent from hell.
About an hour later, she’s bored of the radio and switches it off.
“Pull over,” she says.
“No. We don’t have time to waste.”
“Look, I know daylight is burning but I have to pee.” She shakes her empty drink cup from lunch at me. “This much Coke is in my bladder and it’s about to be all over your sexy leather seat if you don’t pull over before I burst.”
I can’t see anything around for miles, so I pull into the side of the road.
“Be quick.”
She darts outside and I don’t bother checking to make sure she isn’t running away. If she did I might feel a little guilty about not knowing what happened to her, but I have one job today and babysitting a teenager isn’t it. I’m tapping my fingers on the wheel by the time she gets back in.
“Phew, that was close.” She closes the door and belts up. “What are you waiting for?”
I get moving again. This is it now. Another hour and we’re there. I guess I should come up with a plan.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Logan
Eden’s freaked over this whole thing with Asher. I can see why. Goddesses of Destruction can be terrifying, vicious bitches. Knowing that Asher’s hard to kill doesn’t seem to make any difference. Eden doesn’t know what’s going to happen and that shit Cupid said to her hasn’t helped at all.
I don’t know how to relax her. Nick and Eli are trying with their soft touches and gentle words. It’s not working. Her expression remains tense and I know she won’t really be okay until she sees for herself that Asher is alive and well.
We move quickly when the plane reaches Rapture, heading to a rental car Nick arranged once he was done setting up a helicopter flight to take us to the small town Asher went to. Eli takes the keys, and Nick calls shotgun. I get into the back with Eden and she tries to smile as we drive out of the airport parking lot.
“He’s going to be fine,” I tell her, taking her hand.
She rests her head on my shoulder. “I hope so.”
Then she sits up straight. “Shit. I didn’t call Sasha back.”
She pulls out her phone. It’s dead.
“Crap. Does anyone have a charger?”
“You can use my phone,” I offer as Nick turns and holds out his hand.
“I have a cable, and we can charge it up front.”
She passes it to him. “Thanks,” she says, turning to
me. “I don’t remember her number so it’ll have to wait.”
“Does his sister know about Goddesses?”
She shakes her head. “No-one but you guys and Asher. I’m not supposed to tell people. It’s not like they’d believe me even if I did.”
“Then what are you going to tell her?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. That I heard he might be out here and I’m on my way to find him.”
“I didn’t know about his parents.” The story couldn’t have made it further than their local papers. No trace of it existed online when I’d checked up on his past. “What happened?”
She shakes her head. “I didn’t know until recently. It had been on his mind, ever since he realised he could use my light. He’d thought about going back to the town where their car was found and asking around again. He thought maybe someone he’d spoken to had lied to him. I think he was convinced someone there must know something. Looks like he was right.”
So it wasn’t entirely out of the blue, I guess. “I doubt he would have expected to find them with a Goddess.”
“It’s so fucked up,” she says. “Gods and Godesses of Destruction everywhere, screwing with people’s lives.”
“That’s why Goddesses like you exist, Eden. To save the people they choose to target.” I don’t know why, but it’s as if I’m just now seeing the Goddess side of her that the world needs. She’s always had a kind heart, one of the few people I’ve ever known to possess that quality.
“Most of the time it seems like they’re targeting people because of me,” she murmurs, flinching slightly. “I’m sorry, Logan. It’s my fault you...”
“No,” I tell her firmly, making sure she’s looking at me when I say it. “Nothing that happened was your fault. You can’t blame yourself for the wrongs that others do. If it wasn’t for you those evil fuckers would still be walking around destroying the world. You stopped them. You do good. Never doubt that, Eden.”
She smiles, a weak version of the real thing, but better than the fake one she tried to paint on before. “I love you, Logan.”
“I love you too.” I kiss her briefly, just the lightest of touches, and she sighs contentedly.
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