The Apsara Chronicles Boxed Set

by T. G. Ayer

“Hit me with it,” Vee said then laughed. The vibrations sent sharp stabs of pain into her chest, and she coughed. “Ow, that bloody hurts.”

  Mac shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. The bolt split inside you. It left a shard embedded inside your collarbone. The docs don’t think they can take it out without completely removing your collarbone.”

  Vee stared at Mac, eyes wide. “Shit. I’m stuck with this?” she asked in a whisper. The fire flared again within her chest, and Vee’s breath caught in her throat. She was going to have to live with this agony?

  Mac nodded. “But it gets worse,” he said and then fell silent as if struggling to get the words out.

  Vee nodded for him to continue and when he didn’t, she reached for his hand. Though the blood was rushing through her ears, she knew she could take whatever he was going to say. She could handle it.

  Mac cleared his throat. “To answer your second question, no she’s not okay. The bolt that entered her abdomen broke off into multiple shards. The surgeons removed as many as they could, but they had to stop before they caused more harm than good.”

  Vee’s ears were ringing with the revelation. Shivani was injured far worse than Vee. “Is she conscious?”

  Mac shook his head. “They’ve placed her in an induced coma. Your mom’s using her advanced statis program to put her deeper under than a normal human. The guild thinks that she’ll be fine. Shivs is strong, has always been. But we’ll only know when she is awakened.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “Devi has spoken with the medical team. They feel two weeks, to begin with, will be a good place to start. They’ll run an MRI scan then to look for changes.”

  Vee nodded. “And her family? Have they been told?”

  Mac smiled. “Shivani was an orphan. The Guild and…all of us, we’re her family.”

  Mac’s words brought tears to Vee’s eyes, but she blinked them away. “Syama? Akil?”

  “They’re both fine, working on clean-up with Raj and Devi. Which brings up to question three.” Mac grinned. “You succeeded. All the nurseries that we know of were obliterated.”

  “That we know of?”

  Mac shrugged. “Syama insists she got all, but you know me, Vee. I don’t work in absolutes.”

  Vee grunted. “Probably means the answer to question four is also a non-absolute.”

  “Well, you learn, my young padawan.” Mac smirked.

  Vee rolled her eyes. “Thanks for your wisdom, Yoda.”

  Mac laughed, but his response was cut off by Devi as she glided into the room, Raj following close behind. “The pey queen is dead, but we all know with pey demons they can return. Whatever contingencies she had in place, she’d have been stupid not to plan for such an event. We’ve had word from our sources within the Demon Horde Assembly—”

  “We have sources in the DH Assembly,” Vee asked.

  Devi gave her a harsh glare, “—and they’ve confirmed the pey demons have been banned from the assembly until they elect a different leader. All those who participated in the attempt to undermine the assembly have been rounded up and ‘taken care of’.” Devi used air quotes to emphasize what she thought of the phrase. “Alpha and Bravo teams have coordinated the clean-up, and it seems the Assembly are leaving us to it. Rumor has it they would prefer a peaceful transition but—”

  “That ain’t happening,” Vee finished for her.

  Devi smiled and then shook her head. “We still don’t know the identity of the goddess the pey demons mentioned.”

  “How many goddesses of creation and life are there?” Vee asked wryly. She had her mind on one particular goddess, but it seems blasphemous to even mention her name out loud in conjunction with such an accusation.

  Devi nodded, her face dark with worry. “I’ve reached the same conclusion. Which is why I have a suggestion, a way for us to identify her once and for all.”

  Raj raised his eyebrows, and Vee saw Mac frown. The two men shared a glance of concern, but neither said a word.

  Vee cleared her throat. “We’ll do with me what you wish. We need to know for sure, or I’ll be dodging killers every day.”

  Raj cleared his throat appearing of the mind to change the subject. “You’ve had messages from Rossi, Monroe, Brent, and a Doctor Feldman. I counted sixteen.”

  “Did you guys not tell them what happened to me?”

  Devi shook her head. “We messaged saying you were taken ill, but we didn’t give them any further details. They are probably messaging to wish you well. It’s not a surprise they are concerned.”

  “More likely they are looking for answers,” Vee said wryly. “Rossi will be easy, but Monroe might be a different story altogether.”

  Devi cleared her throat, then glanced at Mac and then at Raj. There was an odd expression in her eyes and Vee had to suppress a grin. She’d had an image of her mother as a queen of a great kingdom living in a lap of luxury, with a harem of handsome, intelligent men at her beck and call. The ultimate reverse harem story.

  Vee schooled her features and straightened as a knock on the door opened a floodgate of visitors. Syama entered bearing a box of chocolates and what looked like bath bombs. Akil held a fat bouquet of helium balloons. And Nivaan entered with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a squirming kid in the other.

  “Sorry,” he said as he twisted his niece around and secured her on his hip with one hand. “I’m babysitter today.” He leaned over and kissed Vee hard on the lips, not caring in the least that both her dads were watching him.

  When Nivaan straightened, he passed Sona over to Syama who grabbed the child and swung her around in the air, eliciting a chorus of high-pitched giggles from her. Vee shook her head. Apparently, a lot happened when a person was unconscious.

  The door opened again, and a few new faces appeared with Syama calling out informal intros to some of the guild agents. Though they all appeared in good spirits, Vee could see the underlying worry in their eyes.

  With her hospital room filled with people, she realized that whatever happened she was surrounded by people who loved her.

  The only person missing was Radhima.

  “I’m right here, dear,” the old woman said from the other side of the bed. Today she wore a cerise peasant top, a long denim skirt, and a pair of brown leather cowboy boots.

  “Snazzy, Ma,” Vee murmured under her breath.

  “Nice pink top, Ma,” whispered Raj as he grinned over at the ghost.

  Two voices hissed at him. “It’s cerise!”

  Chapter 94

  Lord Agni strode into the large boardroom. His heart was heavy at having to perform a task which Vishnu would do with such ease.

  The members of the council shuffled around as they greeted each other and took their seats. Two places were significantly empty.

  That of Lord Shiva, whose absence was still deeply painful. And that of Lord Vishnu, whose disappearance was going to damage the solidarity he’d fashioned from this eclectic team of gods.

  When Agni took Lord Vishnu’s position at the head of the table, he heard the rumble of confusion and discontent among the gods.

  “What’s going on, brother Agni. Where is Lord Vishnu?”

  Agni swallowed and took the seat, feeling the fire well up inside him, fueled by worry and grief and uncertainty.

  He cast a glance around the room, ensuring that when he reached one particular set of eyes that he didn’t flinch, didn’t give any indication of his suspicions.

  Agni cleared his throat. “I am afraid I have bad news, brothers, and sisters. I sit here today in the position rightfully belonging to my brother Vishnu. He left instructions a while ago that should he be incapacitated in any way, that I take over the reins for him.” Agni waved a hand at Hanuman. “With the help of a handful of other gods that he elected. I am not solely responsible here and neither would I want to be, as this is a burden for one much stronger than I.”

  The gods spoke soft assurances that he was undere
stimating his abilities and Agni nodded his thanks before clearing his throat.

  “Now, our first issue on the agenda is to find out what happened to Vishnu. Brother Hanuman and I spoke to him not two nights ago. And even then, he had expressed concerns that there was one amongst us that sought to divide us, who wished to cause dissent among our family.”

  All eyes remained on Agni as he stared around the room. Vishnu had singled out Parvathi, but oddly the mother goddess did not display any form of guilt or concern that she may have been found out. Agni filed that observation away, wondering if it meant something important.

  Then he cleared his throat. “In addition, we have heard from various sources including the Guild of the Apsaras that there was an attempted uprising within one of the sub-cults of the Demon Horde. The pey demons, under the governance of Queen Ishanie, broke away and attempted to establish their own assembly in order to challenge the Demon Horde Assembly over territorial rights to New York. We are still unclear on the details, but as far as we know, Ishanie and her enclave have all been destroyed.”

  Agni glanced over the faces who all stared at him, expressions ranging from shock to distaste. Parvathi’s expression reflected those of the other gods at the meeting. Again, Agni made a note that her reaction didn’t match that of a guilty party. Either that or Parvathi was an accomplished liar. Something he didn’t want to believe.

  “What is our next move,” Hanuman asked leaning forward.

  “We ought to gather an army, build a defense against the next uprising. Because I can guarantee there will be one. Everything Vishnu warned us of has come to pass. Our main aim is to control the Horde, to ensure they do not break the final chains that hold them at bay.”

  “How long before that happens?” asked Yama, his brows furrowed. “I am doing all I can to bolster the gate from my end, but they’ve managed to overthrow Naraka already. I am of the mind to retreat in order to save my people. But I will not do that. If you think we can hold them back long enough…just until He returns…”

  Agni nodded. “Vishnu was certain. He did everything in his power to ensure it, going to extents which I did not believe we were even capable of.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Kali. “What extents?”

  Agni smiled. “Nothing bad. It is just that Vishnu visited the human plane, lived there for a time in order to infiltrate, to uncover information, to help those he believed would be of help to us.”

  Kali nodded, her expression determined. Agni was certain that after this board meeting he would be receiving a visit from the goddess. She had that look on her face that said she wasn’t done, but she was happy to wait.

  Agni looked at the faces of the gods around the table. “In our brother’s absence, we must continue his work. I know we have all had our doubts that He still watches over us—or even that He will return to us—but it is time we stood together. The dangers multiply in untold powers if we ignore Vishnu’s words.”

  “Did you know that Vishnu has been speaking with Him?” asked Parvathi, her voice ringing out across the room, eyes flashing.

  Agni shook his head then sighed. “I suspect we all believed that to be the case. He knew too much. But I am glad for it. He was our conduit to our Lord. Now, I am uncertain as to how we will survive being totally away from Him.”

  Hanuman got to his feet, then placed his weapon on the table in front of him. The rounded head of the weapon gleamed, shedding a golden glow onto the many faces that watched him. “You have my weapons, my might, and my heart. I will do anything that it takes.”

  One by one the gods rose and presented their weapons. And Agni watched them smiling. At last, they were joining together to work as one. He stared at the weapons on the table from Yama’s sword to Surya’s gleaming scythe to Parvathi’s fragile red lotus, and he felt a surge of power run through him, and he believed now.

  The gods were ascending.

  ~ TO BE CONTINUED ~

  The APSARA CHRONICLES will continue with DOMINION FALLING

  Copyright

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  GODS ASCENDENT

  THE APSARA CHRONICLES BOOK 2

  Copyright © 2018 by T.G. Ayer

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  Cover art by Eduardo Priego

  Cover art © T.G. Ayer. All rights reserved.

  eBook Edition, License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

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  About the Author

  I have been a writer from the time I was old enough to recognize that reading was a doorway into my imagination. Poetry was my first foray into the art of the written word. Books were my best friends, my escape, my haven. I am essentially a recluse but this part of my personality is impossible to practice given I have two teenage daughters, who are actually my friends, my tea-makers, my confidantes… I am blessed with a husband who has left me for golf. It’s a fair trade as I have left him for writing. We are both passionate supporters of each other's loves – it works wonderfully…

  My heart is currently broken in two. One half resides in South Africa where my old roots still remain, and my heart still longs for the endless beaches and the smell of moist soil after a summer downpour. My love for Ma Afrika will never fade. The other half of me has been transplanted to the Land of the Long White Cloud. The land of the Taniwha, beautiful Maraes, and volcanoes. The land of green, pure beauty that truly inspires. And because I am so torn between these two lands – I shall forever remain cross-eyed.