by C. M. Owens
His eyes dart around nervously before peeking under the napkin and then he slams it back down to the surface of the bar as his face goes ashen.
We have the worst covert operatives in history because we have no subtle finesse. His mouth is almost gaping open in disbelief and horrified shock.
“You’re sure about this?” he strains in a whisper.
“Positive. I’ve intentionally left them out of the loop on certain things because I had suspicions, and then earlier the blurred images I received in the volcanic prison became clearer.
“My mind and body are getting stronger by the minute, and now I’m certain. They’re at the house now with Devin, and they’re listening to every strategy the team is laying out. They’re looking for their opportunity to launch another ambush, and I’m about to give them one.
“I’ll call Devin in just a minute, and I can assure you they’ll be listening in on our conversation. I’ll give them the opportunity they’ve been dreaming of, and they will take the bait willingly - so will Rhea. All you have to do is play dead,” I whisper.
He takes a deep breath, and the bartender walks over to proffer a Slash a new drink. He smirks as he stares me up and down, and his salacious eyes give me a peek at his disgustingly dirty fantasies.
“You want anything, babe?” he cockily inquires.
“Vodka. I’ll take the whole bottle,” I murmur dismissively.
His eyes almost cross in complete disbelief.
“Sorry, but I’m not allowed to do that,” he snickers out, and now I’m the one smirking as my eyes flash their controlling green.
“Now,” I order with a chimed tone, and his humor dissipates instantly as he trips over his own feet to hastily obey.
He almost drops the vodka in my lap, and my hand flashes to catch it while turning it up to guzzle it down.
“Do you mind getting me the bottle of whiskey?” Slash chuckles out.
I grin a little as my eyes flash green to force the silent command, and Slash’s whiskey is in his hand promptly. He clanks the side of my bottle with his in a cheers motion, and then he shakes his head before grumbling.
“Here’s to your crazy as hell plan,” he toasts with a trembling tone underlying his defensive humor.
I laugh a bit nervously before joining the clanking motion, and then we devour the liquid courage without further reservation.
Chapter 15
Venus Flytrap
I pick the phone up to start the call that will only bring our anxiety to a new level.
“Adisia, is everything okay?” Devin worries, and I can hear the voices in the background becoming distant.
I have to speak while they’re still in range.
“I just called to tell you I’m on my way to destroy Athena’s garden. I found it, and I’m going to make sure no one can ever use it against me again,” I quickly spew out.
“What?” he gasps. “I thought you were going out for fucking air,” he growls.
“I was, but then it dawned on me where this wretched thing was. I want our daughter to be safe, and Athena’s garden will be a threat to her one day. It’s not too far away, and I should be there in twenty minutes or so,” I say without trying to sound too obvious.
“Adisia, that’s way too dangerous,” he counters. “Tell me where it is, and I’ll come help you.”
“I’ll only be a minute. I plan to burn it to the ground. It’s very cleverly disguised to the outside world on private property, and it’s discreet enough for me to make it in and out without arousing concern from the mortals.”
“Damn it, Adisia. Tell me where you are! You could fucking trip and barely graze a thorn and that would be enough to seal your fate. Tell me where the fuck you’re at right now!” he blares, and I shiver a little.
He’s terrified, and I feel horrible for using him like this. I have to though. This has to happen, and this is the only way to do it without risking his life.
“No. I want to do this on my own. I need to do this on my own. I promise I’ll be safe, and I’ll call you the second I’m done,” I adamantly reply.
“No the fuck you won’t. You’ll tell me where the hell you are right now and I’ll come there. You’re not doing this alone,” he blasts with more fury fueled by his fear.
“I love you, Devin. I’ll see you at home,” I choke out, and I can only hope I’m not lying about the last part.
“Adisia!” he scolds, but I hang up and toss the phone into the small koi pond of the nefarious goddess’s garden that has been hidden from all.
The brilliantly colored carp curiously inspect the sloshing intruder as it sinks to the bottom, and I stare into the perfectly filtered water, free of all debris, discoloration, and despair.
This place would be tranquil if it wasn’t for the hate for my blood that built its power.
Slash is staring into the reflective water as he feels up his breasts, which exactly match mine.
“Seriously?” I growl, and I feel so weird as I talk to myself.
It feels as though I’m staring into a mirror rather than a body double, and I’m watching myself be violated. He smirks a little before grabbing the ass that is also a perfect replica of mine.
“Hey, this could be the last time I get to feel a woman’s body. I’d prefer to feel the real thing, but I assume that offer isn’t on the table,” he murmurs leadingly, and I feel as though it was actually supposed to be a question.
“Not a chance,” I roll out with a sardonic scoff.
He laughs a little, and then his face changes to a more concerned, protective expression.
“You need to stay back. I can smell her poison in almost everything here - not just the thorns. It’s completely anti-Aphrodite here,” he murmurs, and my eyes fall on the dangerous beauty of the garden.
It’s essentially an elaborate Venus flytrap, and I’m the only Venus prey it’s salivating at the stems to sink its hidden teeth into. The lush, vibrant colors collide in a cascading flow of breathtaking beauty, and the infallible greens of the never fading beauties offer a strength I know will soon be a stronger threat than I’m fully appreciating at this moment.
The old stones imbedded into the ground guide one through the treacherous beauties draping over the narrow path with an itching desire to force their petals on me. This garden almost feels alive, and that makes me feel all the closer to death.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just burn this place to the ground? We can always go about this a less dangerous way,” he suggests hopefully.
“No. This is our best chance of ending this now instead of letting it drag out for centuries while they try to weed through us one by one. I won’t let my daughter live in fear when I could stop the madness now.
“They have to feel like they have the upper hand, and they won’t be able to resist such a tempting opportunity to show their triumph to their goddess of choice - their true Emperian; the only one they’ve ever really been devoted to.
“Besides, I can’t just summon the fire like I can the wind. Kaos’s power is harder to control than Prometheus’s - which I can’t seem to control anymore either. I need Devin to summon the fire usually, but I should be able to draw it out once Aphrodite senses the undeniable danger upon us,” I answer, and I’m a little too casual in the, given the dire circumstances.
“Should be able to draw it out?” he squeaks, and I see the new terror in his face. “Why didn’t you mention that a little sooner?”
“Because I need your help. I need you to feel confident, but I also want you to know the tiny risk involved,” I say with an understating tone.
He grumbles and growls lightly as he kicks a loose pebble into the thick of the savage garden still waiting for an awakening force to aide it in its fatal taste for my blood.
“Get ready. They should be here soon,” I instruct softly, and then I start walking toward the plant-free hiding place I’ve found.
“What did Devin say when he found out about you coming here?” he asks, and
I know he’s trying to distract himself from the possible impending disaster ahead.
“You didn’t hear?”
“No. My advanced hearing is impaired when I’m in a morphed state. Aside from the fact I’m too damn sexy to keep covered up, it’s the reason I don’t stay changed more often.”
I let out a small laugh at his humorous candor, and then I roll my eyes for his smug stance.
“He freaked the fuck out,” I sigh. “For once he acted more like my husband than a loyal follower of the Emperian. I’m glad I got to hear him that way again in case-”
“In case nothing,” he scolds. “You have to survive. I dedicated myself to the Emperian’s realm centuries ago when I was almost executed for crimes I didn’t commit.
“It’s amazing what a scorned woman’s grudge can lead to in our world, and if it hadn’t been for Deidra, I would have been buried under plants as creepy as these instead of standing here right now. She helped me even though I had never pledged allegiance to either side of our world, and she didn’t expect anything in return.
“I’m not only doing this for you, I’m doing it for her. You’ll live through this. Anything less is unacceptable,” he adds with a confident conviction that almost brings tears to my eyes.
I nod and then pull off the rings I hold so dearly to my heart.
“You’ll need these. They know I never go anywhere without them,” I almost whimper, and he frowns as he slides them onto his designated finger.
I quickly flash away and disappear behind the wall. I can hear the vines stirring, and I only hope I haven’t overlooked anything that will give me away.
I pray I wasn’t too obvious while on the phone with Devin, and I can only hope I didn’t miss a step they strategically laid out to force a stumble out of me.
The footsteps rattle out from a distance, and I peep through the tiny hole left by the wearing from the weather over the centuries. I see Slash acting as though he’s just stepped into the garden, and then I see the faces of the enemies who have spent centuries in a far better disguise than Slash could ever master.
They bore the most deceitful disguise of loyal, trusted friends when in fact they were nothing more than wolves for the other pack.
I can’t believe I didn’t catch on sooner. They were never around when we were safe, and they were almost always there or close by when we were caught.
During the second battle with Safina, they had been left out of our scheme until the last second. Only our closest, most dedicated circle knew of our great plan. They just followed along.
They only knew we were summoning her, and Safina even told us she knew we it was a summoning. I’m so stupid for not catching on sooner. She shouldn’t have known it was a summoning. She should have believed it was simply Gemma speaking to her plants as usual.
“Well,” the first traitor murmurs as she steps over the threshold. “I’m glad I found you. Devin’s been worried. Have you called to tell him where you are yet?” she asks pryingly.
“No,” Slash answers vaguely in my voice. “I’ll call him when I’m done. I only just got here,” he lies, and I see her wry smile emerge as her husband steps out.
My stomach turns when I realize how justified I’ve been for suspecting the friends of the Cole’s for such a horrific treason. It’s them. It’s Ava and Edgar - Gemma’s parents.
“How did you find me?” Slash asks as he plays along.
“Your phone of course. Devin traced the location, and he sent us to bring you back,” Ava lies.
They’ve known where this garden was for centuries, and they’ve been waiting for their chance to get me here - or sting me in my sleep from something they took from here.
I’m grateful my husband never lets me out of his sight now. They would have probably killed me sooner. I’m even more grateful for the fact Gemma doesn’t have the type of relationship with her parents that would have prompted her to tell them the secrets she had privy to… such as our daughter’s birth or our immortal bonding.
“Why didn’t he come?” Slash presses, and I see the narrowing eyes that look chillingly just like mine.
He’s better at playing me than he at playing Devin.
“Because we couldn’t do this,” she snarks, and the vicious plants snap free from the entanglement of the garden.
The savage petals slap his wrists like cuffs, and the creeping vines shackle his feet. Ava smirks as she forces in the poison that will bear no true consequence to Slash, but he starts acting weak.
I only hope he doesn’t exaggerate the reaction for the ham performance I’ve seen him put on in the past.
“Why?” he murmurs as if he’s actually dying.
“Why?” Edgar snaps. “Because Rhea kept us on a pedestal. Since then we’ve been bumped down to nothingness. Our power is overlooked by all and underwhelming in the eyes of all the others, but Rhea saw us as the powerful creatures we truly are.
“She saw us for the brilliant masterpieces we’ve always been. She didn’t treat us as servants. That’s what we feel like under the reign of the damn Emperians since - Deidra and you. We should have told Pyrrha you were the Emperian, but you were supposed to die. Safina, the spoiled brat from her womb, was supposed to kill you. But no matter. Now we don’t have to share our glory with the witch seeking your child for her own gain.”
“I’ve done nothing to make you feel like a lesser power,” Slash counters while showing physical fatigue as his mock languid despair begins dragging him down.
“As long as you rule, we’ll never be anything but the vine wielders. I refuse to bow any longer when Rhea will make people bow to us!” Ava blares.
“You gave your life in the first battle with Safina,” Slash objects, and I’m proud of how well he’s acting surprised while convincing them of his slow, painful death.
“We knew Theia would save her son by rewinding time. We’re the ones who told her about the last time Devin died. I never would have dreamt you’d be the one to accomplish such a feat, but then again, the damn trigger happy fools Safina had under her command had no real clue what was going on. Damn Athena bitches.
“It actually worked out in our favor you survived so that you could carry out the plan which almost failed completely. Instead, you just created a mild hindrance. Did you really think you could outsmart, outgun, and out-power the strongest of our kind?” Ava mocks.
“She’ll turn on you. In all I’ve heard, Rhea has been accused of everything but mercy, kindness, and loyalty. She watched her own daughter die when she could have surfaced and aided her in the battle,” Slash murmurs with a little too much weakness in his tone, and now I’m starting to feel as though he’s actually dying.
A slight bit of panic stirs within me as his eyes drop quickly and rise lazily over and over as if he’s genuinely fighting hard to keep them open.
“She won’t turn on us, because she’s going to need us to aide her in her reign. No queen leads an army without generals. We’ll have a higher place than the Cole’s. We’ll have the stature we were meant to bask in,” she admonishes.
“And Gemma? Is she going to join the betrayal?” he pries, and I realize I hadn’t even given that any thought.
I had only seen the two of them, but it’s possible I just missed her. She would have told them about all my other secrets though… right?
“She would have if you hadn’t forced her into the arms of Ther. Now she’ll never leave his side, but our position in Rhea’s army will allow us the ability to grant her amnesty. She won’t fight her own parents, and Ther is the last thing we’re afraid of,” Edgar growls.
Slash’s head falls back as if his strength is completely gone, and Ava’s smile burns while the earth swirls in her eyes.
“It’s done,” she murmurs proudly. “It’s finally done. Devin has no clue where she is, and it’ll be too late even if he does show up to try and heal her again. Summon her,” she orders to Edgar, and my stomach leaps into my throat as he walks over to the koi pond that had
seemed so completely harmless on my way in.
From his pocket, he pulls out a piece of black, volcanic rock that resembles a black block of glass and then throws it into the water. They both smirk as the ground beneath us begins to rattle, a warning of the power confined in the depths of the earth.
Shit. This is happening.
I stumble slightly, but I keep mum as the crumbling and cracking sound intensifies. I shiver as the sky turns a burning red and the wind stirs with a wild wrath I hadn’t been fully prepared for.
That’s why I can’t use it. It’s betrayed me and joined her.
The vines get dangerously close to my secret hiding place as the tornado winds race against them, pushing them to creep upon me. They bow until they break, and I’m forced to duck and jump while barely missing their deadly grazes.
Crap.
Slash is still lying on the ground while wearing my disguise, and I’m almost certain I’ve gotten him killed. He’s supposed to be trying to sneak out right now. I told him to get the hell out of dodge if Rhea threatened to show up.
The red sky thunders fiercely as the rain starts to pour, and I suddenly I find the literalness in what I thought to be a metaphor as the lightning slices through the sky to open its veins. The rain falls in heavy, red, bloody drops, and it splatters to paint the ground.
The bleeding rain. It’s actual bleeding rain.
The dark swirls of shadows almost rush from the cracks of the shaken earth, and once again I see literal in what I assumed to me a metaphor.
The shadow comes.
Nadia’s dreams of the shadow is real. It violently spins into a growing, monstrous storm, and then it condenses into a tight cyclone until suddenly it’s no longer a shadow… It’s her.
The long, red dress dips with a loose dangle at the chest while the haltered top is fitted with thick, golden chains. Death’s heart doesn’t compare to the black hue of her hair, and her lips carry the same dark charm in their color.
Her swirling orange and black eyes match that of Safina’s, and the long slits of her dress rise to her thigh on each side to show off her sleek legs as she struts barefoot over to what she assumes is my corpse.