by C. M. Owens
"Not yet," a voice commands.
No!
It's the daughter of Athena I killed during my tantrum when Persia died. She's here, and the sirens are under her authority against their will.
The vines restrain them, and Devin twists against the vines gripping him down. This all seems too impossible to be true, and horrid memories revisit my mind. We've been here before - both of us restrained by these fucking vines just before Safina stole his life and I destroyed the world… only this time, I don't have any power.
His cousin screams at them, "Let us go. I'm the daughter of Poratia, he is the son of Poseidon, and she's just a sick mortal we're trying to save. You have no reason to invite a war with us."
"You're right. You're completely unimportant, but he's not. Someone needs him, and I need their help in order to find that Aphrodite bitch that escapes us every time we're too close. Sorry, but you're just collateral damage," she insults.
No.
"Actually, you're collateral damage," Jace pops off as energy bolts whirl through the air at her head.
She barely dodges the first one, but the second one rips through her side before she can wrap him up.
"You! You're supposed to be dead," she growls.
Jace laughs as suddenly everyone else appears at once.
"Release them," Hale orders.
"The sun? Well isn't this delightful?" A new voice sounds off as a wave of black-haired bitches emerge along with a band of possessed mortals.
Safina is possessing them, and she's talking through one of them. The last time she did that it was my brother.
"What do you want?" Hale answers coyly.
"You don't remember me? You're the one who held me down while all the others helped Deidra encase me. I came to find her, and here you are instead," she chuckles out. "Sometimes I love my luck."
The vines release Devin and his cousin suddenly as Gemma steps up. I can't move, but there's nothing restraining me besides my destroyed mortal body.
Devin starts to flash to me, but fire blazes between us, and a girl grabs me up instead. As her eyes connect with mine, I feel something terrible growing inside of me, consuming me… possessing me.
I get sick at my stomach, lightheaded, and then my mind turns into a thick fog I can't see through just as I'm shoved out of the way.
I start walking around as though I'm completely unaffected by the fragile state I was just in - the only problem is, I'm not in control.
"Uh-uh," my voice rattles off mockingly as my finger twitches.
"No," Devin gasps as he lunges toward me, but my hand flies up and starts spiraling the deadly around it as a warning.
My mind cries as it's pushed into the corner and forced to watch helplessly.
"Oh, isn't this sweet. You'd do absolutely anything to save her, and now she's mine. You've hidden her away, gotten rid of her parents, friends, and her brother. It's as though you knew how dangerous it was to fuck a mortal, but you did it anyways. You just didn't plan on me," she taunts.
I cry inwardly even more, and Devin's eyes drip with tears. Persia can't free me, Theia can't save me, and Devin will have to watch her rip me apart if I can't break free.
'Fight her, baby," Devin begs. "Fight her."
My mouth laughs viciously at him.
"Fight me? You're such a romantic. Your girlfriend will live if you die," she says bluntly.
"Kill me," he prompts without hesitation.
I smile a wicked grin that is not my own, and then my body casually struts with triumph too effortlessly obtained.
"Oh, now. You're making this all too easy. Momma always said to never accept a gift too willingly given," she snickers.
"Let her go, and you can have me," Devin promises.
"Your mignons have to stand down, and I also need to find the Aphrodite you've been hiding away," she quickly retorts.
"We don't have an Aphrodite, but my people will stand down if you let her go," he offers.
"Don't lie to me. I can smell her on you. I've been in this dying girl's mind for minutes, and I know the Aphrodite is near."
Devin takes a step toward her and the ash begins to spread again. I feel something happening now, something powerful is starting to stir, rumble, and nearly erupt.
"Devin stop. She'll kill you," Gemma begs.
Devin suddenly smirks at the bitch possessing my body.
"No she won't. Adisia won't let her," he says with smug assurance.
Safina scowls through me as she uses my body to take a step toward him to assert her fury for his insolent remark.
"You're crazier than-"
Her sentence is cut short when suddenly the wind begins to stir, the clouds rumble violently overhead, and the rain starts its vigorous descent.
"What the-"
The words stop as the fog lifts, and I get a little more elbow room in my own mind. My body is suddenly my own again as the ashes fade away from sight, and my possessor is expelled.
Each afflicted piece of me heals, and the power courses through my veins freely with an awakening excitement. My blue eyes grow green, and I feel the ground beneath me quaking in disbelief as the scared mass of bitches gasp in surprise.
Jace's mouth gapes open, and I give Devin a wink as I turn to face our attackers.
"She's a fucking Aphrodite," a possessed mortal exclaims.
Safina is still here; she just found a new mouth to do her dirty work.
"She's controlling this shit. That's impossible," an Athena bitch screams.
The tornadoes descend, but there's no air to stop it. The lightning crashes, and there's no conductor to derail it. I smirk dangerously as they begin to scream in panic while my unkempt, merciless storm rolls wildly across the desert.
"I'm back," I murmur with the taste of badass lingering in my mouth.
"Go. Go now. It's happened. Go," Safina yells through the mortal.
The others quickly begin launching their attacks, and the sirens squeal out their shrieks as their gagged mouths are released.
Hale breaks open the sun from his body, and the sirens scream louder as they flee from its grasp.
Too many are retreating, and none wish to fight. It's the complete opposite of last time.
My green eyes flash brighter, and Hale stands beside me to send his light swirling in all directions as I use the winds to corral the shrieking monstrosities.
The sirens continue collapsing with their shrill screams of pain. The sands steady themselves as I release the storm, and Hale claps his hands together as the last siren falls to the ground.
The daughters of Athena have fled with Safina and her followers, and the ashes of the fallen slowly fall from the windless sky to creep back to the surface.
I slowly turn to face the relieved faces staring at me, but only one demands my attention.
Devin's smirk is enough to send chills throughout me, and my eyes refuse to flip back blue. The seduction is calling, the power is glorious, and the taste of immortality is radiating through me.
I saunter with a saucy strut as I gradually approach him with a slow seduction. My bare feet graze the surface of the sand without sinking, and it only adds to the lusting need he feels.
His eyes flash with mischievous and provocative desire, and my wicked grin stays intact until I finally stand just in front of him.
"Hi," I say playfully.
"Hi," he smolders, and his hand grips the back of my neck while the other one grabs me at my waist to pull me into his inhaling kiss.
My hands tangle in his hair, and he lifts me off the ground to keep from bending. My body heats against his, and the electricity begins coursing over me, offering him a pulsing desire.
His smile grows behind the kiss, and the passion is almost overwhelming as it consumes us both.
"Ah-hmm," a woman's voice interjects.
Devin doesn't release me, and our kiss only deepens despite the exasperated eyes burning against us.
"Well, Aphrodisia is definitely back in fu
ll swing," Hale grumbles.
Devin finally lets a small chuckle escape, and he draws back to brush the hair from my face. His pure elation is all the more tantalizing, and my eyes can't tear themselves away as the throbbing from within becomes stronger.
"Can I have a formal introduction?"
I turn to face Devin's cousin. She was apparently the throat clearer who was trying to gain our attention.
"Sorry Lana. This is Adisia, my fiancée and soon my wife," Devin says proudly while turning me back into his arms and kissing me with a softer touch as he continues just for me, "Very soon."
"Wow. I didn't realize how serious this was," she remarks with a startled release.
"How do you feel?" Hale asks as he interrupts Lana.
"Like a goddess," I offer with a tempting smirk pointed at Devin.
His lips reclaim mine, and he scoops me into his arms. Jace seems to be in complete shock, which is confusing to me.
"You can open the skies?" he asks with baffled intrigue.
"My mother and I both can. Prometheus," I answer while reluctantly withdrawing from Devin's lips.
"That was stronger than Prometheus. That was too strong for you to be so in control over so soon," he argues.
"She's amazing, and she had to learn her control quickly the last time," Devin inserts.
I smile at the adoring eyes gazing wonderfully into mine, and his lips cover mine once more.
"I thought I saw fireworks over here. Is that all the sirens?" a new voice questions.
I turn around to see a woman in her late thirties bearing an arrogant stare. Her soft, auburn curls bounce against her shoulders as she stalks toward us very deliberately with too much confidence for my comfort.
Devin shifts slightly and answers her with a very businesslike tone.
"It's all that was here. We had Hale."
Her eyes shift to Hale, and he seems oddly discomforted by her gaze. He lowers his eyes to the ground, and she speaks coldly to him.
"So that's where you ran off to. Typical male; never around when you need them."
"Sorry, Deidra," he humbly apologizes while bowing to her. "I came to help Devin. Serena and I have been clashing rather fiercely lately. I hope you accept my sincerest apology," he answers like a devoted servant.
She takes a deep breath but doesn't acknowledge him further as she shifts her eyes back to Devin with a bit of agitation.
"Recruiting my people without my permission? That crosses a line you don't normally stretch. Explain yourself," she demands.
"Safina is back," Devin says somewhat curtly.
He's the only one besides Theia that doesn't seem to be cowering down in front of this redheaded diva on a power trip.
"Impossible," she snorts out. "I encased her. She's not capable of returning."
"She has returned. The laws we laid out were circumstantial; obviously this is a line that we'll be crossing more often as the war nears. They just ran this time, but last time… no one survived," Theia answers as she steps up to take the lead.
"Theia, I'm disappointed in you. Since when do you rewind time without telling me?" Deidra snarks with condescension.
"I didn't rewind time, and we're keeping our phone conversations on this matter very minimal. We've been going for face time because of the secrecy of this mission. We needed the upper hand, and it's good we kept the element of surprise. If they had seen us coming, we wouldn't have been so fortunate tonight," Theia boldly dares.
"Your tone upsets me. Need I remind you whom you're speaking to?" Deidra threatens.
"I'm speaking to a titan, just as you are. Need you be reminded of that?" Theia warns.
Deidra's obvious distaste for Theia's remark is shown, but then she calms down a little while continuing.
"If not you, then whom?" she asks with a less offensive tone.
"Adisia," a breathy whisper releases, and all eyes turn to me as Theia mutters my name like a prophecy.
No pressure, Theia.
"A mere new power? Impossible. Only a titan can do such, and only a few of those," Deidra scoffs.
"She did it, and I can prove it. When I said no one survived, I meant it very literally. The world was crushed beneath her power, and everyone - including Safina- was wiped," Theia asserts.
Deidra's eyes widen in suspicious disbelief, and she comes closer to inspect me as though I'm some new breed of life. Devin stares down at the woman who looks down at me, and his eyes caution her.
"Don't look at me that way, young one. If this girl is as strong as you claim, she can handle herself in a friendly spout with me," Deidra dares.
Spout? Does that mean fight?
"No," Devin objects.
"You don't get to tell me no," she snaps.
Her tone with my man is starting to piss me off, and I can feel the goddess stirring inside me to show her the line she's crossing.
"Fighting each other is not going to solve anything," Hale interjects humbly.
"It's impossible to kill Safina. That's why I encased her. It's not likely she escaped. This is a damn good scare tactic. Safina wouldn't have retreated, and you're allowing someone to play all of you like fools. Now, let's see how strong your Aphrodite is. I've lived long enough to know Aphrodite's power didn't outshine mine, and I'll gladly prove this all to be a fallacy."
Devin starts to step up, but I push him back as the green surges to my eyes. I smirk a little at the challenge my goddess desires to take on, and then I tilt my head to the side like a lioness before attack.
"Okay."
Devin grips my elbow as Deidra struts in her long dress with samurai splits that reveal her black leather pants underneath. She acts as though she's stretching her tight muscles, and Devin begins whispering to only me.
"Don't do this. Deidra is barely an ally. She doesn't fathom right and wrong the way we do, and she's strong."
"So am I," I murmur with my second bit of energy slowly awakening.
He tightens his lips, letting me know he doesn't approve.
"Deidra, I'm asking you not to do this," he pleads when he realizes my power is not willing to be subdued.
I feel so good… so alive. It's intoxicatingly delicious, and I'm ready to show the world I'm back.
"If you want my help, you'll stop arguing," she snarks.
"No one needs your help anymore," Theia rebuts.
"If you're facing the daughters of Athena with two from Aphrodite, then you'll need my help, and you know it. I need to feel this girl's power before I choose a side," she remarks with an icy chill.
"Choose a side?" I ask with brazen fearlessness.
"Eternity only lasts as long as you allow it."
"Safina won't take kindly to someone who encased her and her mother for centuries," I remind.
"If she ever wants her mother back she will," Deidra scoffs arrogantly.
"You can't be serious right now. You love the mortals, and you know what she'll do to them," Theia gasps.
"We've lost the strength we once had. If we're to survive, certain risks must be taken and sacrifices will be made. If your girl is truly as strong as you claim, then she'll prove herself, and none of that will be necessary," Deidra growls.
"She's not ready yet. Her immortality has just returned. She needs time to summon all her strength," Devin explains.
I smile a little as the power stirs from within a little stronger, and Deidra's eyes flash with a red glare mingling with black swirls.
"I'm ready," I release fearlessly.
She smirks as the ground beneath me quakes, and I feel the skies pouring down on us as they crackle overhead.
Suddenly molten lava oozes from the cracks now splitting the desert floor, but I don't flinch as the water crashes and cools it to a hard rock. Her eyes narrow, and the lava becomes more restrained momentarily before erupting into a torrential downpour of hell's liquid.
The wind swirls over me to act as an umbrella, and the dripping blobs are deterred from my touch.
She sm
irks just before the ground splits more, and suddenly jagged rocks begin slashing through the ground with their deadly ascent. My eyes feel a new burn, and I know who is waking up.
A dangerous and excited new smirk appears on my face as the white fills in with the green, and the others gasp with Deidra as suddenly the jagged rocks halt their ascent before fleeing back into the ground.
Deidra scrambles backwards at the feat she apparently had prepared for. I feel more power lifting me into the arms of invincibility as I taste the destruction I wish to wreak.
I drop my winded umbrella and the scorching balls of lava drip down to roll off my skin as ineffectively as water. Burns scatter against my clothes, but my body remains unscathed by her weapon of choice.
More gasps sound out, and I see the sheer terror beaming from the face that was once so eager to exterminate me like a meaningless bug.
The arrogance has fled her as humbleness curls around her eyes and mingles with panic. A chilling giggle emerges from me as the power calls me to do its will.
This bitch threatened Devin. This bitch wants to feel in control. This bitch should die.
"Adisia, no," Devin beckons while rushing toward me.
"She wanted to feel my power," my voice echoes in a taunt as I giggle more.
"I'm sorry," she begs. "Please stop."
"You threatened him," I say with a chimed tone.
"No. I wouldn't hurt Devin," she promises like a sniveling coward.
"You would choose Safina," a hollow tone expresses through my lips.
"No. I swear I won't. I swear I won't. I had no idea Asteria was part of you," she beckons.
Suddenly my lips are rushed as heaven flows into my mouth. The passion ignites and the fire I'm holding in the palm of my hand ashes from the fire I feel as my clothes begin to sizzle against the scorching heat of my body.
Devin's lips are bringing back my sanity, and I release the storm as my winded wrap comes to shield him before the acidic lava has a chance to harm him.
She drops her attack instantly while I'm distracted, and I gradually come down from my extraordinary power rush as he commands all of me - forcing the goddesses to back down.
He grips me tighter to his body, and the silence from all around finally resonates with me.
I just lost control. I didn't even feel it coming on.