“Tiny machines. Size of flies,” I said to Brennan as we walked forward, the group behind the barrier starting to look nervous at my presence.
As they should.
“See them?” I asked.
“Yeah. See you in a sec.”
Within an instant, Brennan had shifted from tall, blond, bearded man to enormous black panther. He gave the nearest insect-like machine a swipe of his paw and it fell to the ground. The barrier held, but wavered at the assault.
I gave him a nod, and he streaked around, destroying more of them. I kept walking forward, my eyes on the two camo-clad assholes in front, giant machine guns pointed my way.
Brennan was nearly around the side of the dome-like barrier, destroying yet another machine.
The barrier fell just as I was within sword’s reach of the leaders.
They started shooting, releasing a barrage of bullets in my direction. I put a hand up, and the bullets froze in mid-air. They kept shooting, and those bullets joined the others, all of them floating harmlessly in front of my face.
It took a few more seconds, but they finally ran out of ammo.
“Telekinesis, motherfuckers. It’s like you don’t even know me,” I said. I swept out with my sword, catching one at the back of his leg, another across his back as he tried to run. Not killing blows. I take no pleasure in slaughtering Normals, even when they’re asking for it.
The zealots behind the leaders started running, and I raised my voice. “Don’t fucking move,” I said, my voice reverberating off the nearby cliffs. Every one of them froze, and I rolled my eyes. The two I’d cut writhed on the ground, and I turned to see Brennan with his jaws clamped around the throat of the asshole I recognized as the leader. He was always online, publishing videos about how I was the great evil in the world and shit like that. He’d pissed himself and was crying, begging Brennan not to kill him. I glanced at Brennan, meeting his eyes, and even in panther form, I recognized that familiar roll of his eyes. I took my time, bending and picking up one of the little machines. They were unlike anything I’d ever seen, roughly the size of a bumblebee, encased in some kind of shimmery, bronze-green metal.
That metal, though… I’d seen that metal once before, several years ago when a rogue vampire had attacked Nain with a blade made of it. Hephaestus had spent years trying to figure out what kind of metal it was and where it had come from, and we hadn’t seen a sign of it since.
I held the robot or whatever it was in my hand, holding it up over the leader’s eyes. “Where did you get this?” I asked him, pushing my power into my voice, willing him to answer me.
Once upon a time, I was ashamed of my mind flaying powers, the ability to not only read thoughts, but take them, twist them, force a being to do my bidding.
I was more human then.
The leader started to shake his head, then whimpered when Brennan’s teeth pressed more firmly into the flesh of his throat.
“We can do this the easy way, where you just tell me what I want to know. Or, I can make it hurt,” I said quietly. His eyes widened. “Where did you get it?” I repeated.
I waited a few more seconds, then sighed. “I feel filthy every time I do this shit,” I muttered to Brennan.
That’s a sign that you’re not what this asshole says you are, he thought at me. He’s not telepathic, but he’s spent enough time with telepaths, between Nain and me, to know how this works. I met his eyes for a moment, then focused on the piece of shit he was restraining for me. I closed my eyes and focused on him, on his essence, his thoughts. It’s easy to break into the minds of humans. They have no training in how to protect against a mental attack. Very few even know they can guard against something like that, and that’s usually because they have a telepath in their life who teaches them how to shield their mind. Of course, every sin he’d ever committed was already seared into my mind. There were a lot of them, but right now, I needed something specific.
I focused, and soon his thoughts swam before me like a million disjointed sounds and images. It was always chaos at first, swimming in a sea of the detritus of someone’s mind. But the things that they fear, the things they love, the things that excite them or keep them up at night always seem to shine a little brighter than the rest. I sifted through those thoughts that seemed most important, which were a combination of how much he hated me and how much he wanted to screw his best friend’s wife.
I sifted haphazardly. Sometimes it takes a little bit of patience, and this guy was crazier than most, so his thoughts were all over the place.
I delved into one particularly bright memory and the image of a hulking… monster or something, with skin of a dark purplish-black, like a bruise, covering bunching muscles. He wore metal armor, the same greenish-bronze metal the little shield generator machines were made of, and he hefted an ax made of the same.
His face was feral, his lips stretched over sharp black teeth. His eyes glowed red, and two black horns curled at each side of his head, like those of a ram.
I swore it felt like he was looking right at me.
I pulled myself out of his mind, feeling like a coward, running from a memory. My hands were shaking, and I balled them in my lap as I crouched beside the AntiTheist leader. “What the fuck was that?” I asked him.
His only response was laughter, at least, until Brennan bit down harder. His laughter cut off, and he looked at me with absolute hatred in his eyes.
“You need your watchdog to take care of an insignificant little human like me?”
“Dumbass doesn’t even know the difference between cats and dogs,” I said to Brennan, and I felt a hint of humor from him.
“What was that thing?” I asked.
He laughed again. “He’s your end, you monstrous bitch. You and all of those so-called gods you surround yourselves with. The return of the reign of mortals is at hand!”
“For fuck’s sake, can you stop with the proclamations. What is he? Where is he?” I demanded as I slammed my way into his mind again. I wasn’t as gentle this time, and when I saw the memory of the monster, I forced myself to really look at it, trying to find some kind of clue, trying to find some related memory that might tell me something. The longer I looked at the image of the monster, the more sure I became that he could see me.
And just before I gave up and left the AntiTheist’s mind, the monster verified my suspicions.
He gave me a feral smile, a flash of those dagger-like black teeth. “See you soon, Mollis Eth-Hades,” he said in a voice like velvet, in my own language.
The AntiTheist’s memories shut down all around me and I was thrown out of his mind. I gasped, trying to get my bearings.
“He’s dead,” Brennan said grimly. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d shifted back, that he’d removed his jaws from around the guy’s neck. Brennan crouched in front of me, studying me. “Molly? What did you see?”
Chapter Five
Brennan and I spent the next two hours interrogating the remaining AntiTheists. I broke into every one of their minds, but none had seen the creature I’d seen in the leader’s mind. Not even his lieutenants had any memory of the monster.
“Let’s go,” I said to Brennan.
“What do you want to do with them?” he asked, nodding toward the little group of assholes who’d slaughtered the residents of the cliffside for… whatever this demonstration was supposed to be.
“They’ve all been ordered to turn themselves in. They’ll do it.”
“You’re sure?”
I gave Brennan a look, and he laughed. “Right.”
I shook my head and took his arm again, and in the next instant, we were standing in the loft. Any of the weirdness we were dealing with had to be set aside. Whatever this was, whatever that thing had been, we all needed to be in on this.
Okay, and I’ll admit it: I wanted Nain. I needed his rage. Not because I was afraid, but because I needed to get my head right.
Because after my initial shock and fear, I only felt one thing: ex
citement. Whatever this thing was, I’d fight it. The key was getting to wherever it was before it could cause trouble for any of the Normals. It was biding its time, and I knew today’s fuckery was a signal: he was letting me know he existed. He was ready for a battle he was sure he’d win.
When we arrived in the loft, the first thing I saw was Nain sitting on the black leather couch in the living room, head tipped back, arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed. I took a second to admire my mate, because, damn could he fill out a t-shirt and jeans. You’d think that after all the years, after all the shit, I’d stop feeling like jumping him every time I see him.
He opened his eyes and looked at us.
“Well, shit must be hitting the fan,” he said, standing up.
“How can you tell?”
“You’re both here together.” He walked over to us and leaned down, claiming my lips for just an instant before heading into the kitchen.
“That’s not that surprising,” Brennan said.
We both walked into the kitchen after Nain, claiming seats at opposite sides of the island. Nain pushed a cup of coffee toward me.
“I’m not an idiot. I know what today is,” Nain rumbled. I studied him, felt for him. No more rage than usual.
One of these days, I’ll stop underestimating him.
“We need Heph here, too, I think,” I said. “Brennan, can you see if E’s able to come, too?”
He gave me a nod and disappeared. E taught him how to rematerialize a few years ago, which was kind of the final answer to the question of whether Brennan’s an immortal or not. Nain was on the phone, and after a moment, he set it down on the counter. “Heph will be here in a minute. What happened?”
I met his eyes. “I’m still not even sure.”
He was quiet for a second, and just like the first time I ever talked to him, I felt like he could see straight through me. He’s the one person in my life I’ve never been able to bullshit. For better or worse, Nain knows me. Every part of me. Even the shit I don’t want anyone to see.
“Whatever it is, you seem like you’re ready for a fight, Molls.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, calling up the image of the monster I’d seen in the AntiTheist leader’s mind. I opened my mind to Nain, letting him see what I’d seen.
“What the fuck?” he growled.
“That’s what I said. There’s more, though.” I closed my eyes, focusing my memories, bringing forward the one where he spoke to me.
“Holy shit,” Nain muttered, and I opened my eyes and looked at him. “This is some messed up shit. How the hell did he even do that?”
I shook my head. “It was like he was using the leader as some kind of… like a conduit or something. As soon as I got his message, I was thrown out of his mind and the leader dropped dead.”
Nain was quiet, brow furrowed. I sensed for him, and there was uncertainty there.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “You mean aside from the fact that that…thing… talked to you through someone else’s mind, that we don’t know what it is or where it is, or anything other than that he’s after you? What, that’s not enough?”
I crossed my arms. “That should all piss you off, not make you feel unsure.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t feel unsure about shit, baby, except for what the hell that thing is.”
“It kinda looks like a demon on steroids,” I said, and he nodded.
“So that whole little scenario was to get you there so he could deliver his message?” Nain asked.
“That’s what it seems like. People dead, for no fucking reason,” I said.
“Did you kill the AntiTheist assholes?”
I shook my head. “I wanted to,” I said quietly, looking down at my coffee cup. “They’re turning themselves in for the murders of those people.”
He walked over to me and put his hands on my hips, turning my body toward his. I opened my legs and he stepped into the space between my thighs. He lowered his lips to mine, and my response to him was automatic. His lips were firm, almost punishing on mine as he tasted me, kissed me, demanded that I open for him. It’s second nature now, the way we fit together, the way we need one another. I’d thought time would temper that, that eventually, there wouldn’t be this sense of desperation between us, this sense that eternity just won’t be long enough. I kissed him back hard and clutched his shoulders, feeling his muscles bunching beneath my palms. He held me tightly, close to his body. It wasn’t enough. It never was.
He drew back slowly, leaving me breathless, hungry for the sensations that only he can give me.
“Later,” he said in a low growl. He bent his head toward mine, resting his forehead on the top of my head as I forced my breathing back to normal. “You’ve gotta stop blaming yourself, baby. You can’t control everything.”
“There are a whole bunch of pissed off world leaders who’d love to disagree with you,” I said.
“Them, you can control,” he said wryly. “Evil happens. You know that. Those people’s deaths aren’t your fault.”
“They were killed to get my attention,” I said. “It’s always the same. They can’t come at me, so they come at people who have nothing to do with whatever their problem is with me.”
“Then we’ll make the bastards pay. If we can’t save people, we avenge them.”
I nodded and he squeezed my hips.
“Also, you need to have a talk with your son later,” he muttered.
“Why is he my son when he needs a talking to?” I asked.
“Because I blame his more asshole nature on who his grandfather is.”
I sighed. “We’re sure that’s not you coming out in him?” I asked sweetly, and he flipped me off before settling onto the stool beside mine. He kept one big, warm hand on my thigh, and I rested my hand on his, twining my fingers with his. “What did he do now?”
He glanced at me. “You’re gonna kill him.”
“He’s not maiming people or anything, is he?”
“No. He was supposed to be training with your mother and aunt today.” Hades, being of my blood, of Hades’ blood, has the ability to punish souls. He’s a telepathic empath like both my father and me, which means he has all the tools he needs to carry out the punishments handed down by the god of death.
Which is me.
He’d been learning how to do that from my mother and aunts. I know from experience that you need to put powers like ours to work, or they’ll eventually drive you fucking crazy.
“Okay, so what was he doing instead?”
He glanced at me. “He had three of the college-age shifter women from Jamie’s pack in his room when I got home from patrolling. They weren’t playing cribbage.”
“Nobody plays cribbage,” I said, wisecracking to cover my anger. “He’s been told about that shit.”
“I know.”
“Their fathers are going to want to kill him,” I muttered. “He’s fourteen years old. How is he even getting these women to go with him?” I asked, getting up and pouring another cup of coffee.
“The ‘I’m a god’ line seems to play pretty well,” Nain said.
I rubbed my hands over my face and leaned back against the kitchen counter. “I’m this close to sending him to live in the Netherwoods on a more permanent basis.”
“It might be better for him, except that Zoe would be pissed. That’s her place,” Nain said.
I shook my head. “Remember how we were all worried that Zoe would be the one that would give us problems?”
“She hasn’t exactly been an easy kid,” Nain pointed out. “Remember when she tried to kill the UPS delivery guy?”
“She was seven,” I said. “She didn’t know better.”
Nain gave a little shake of his head, and I was relieved when Brennan and E appeared. It was an old argument between us. I was too easy on Zoe, blah, blah, blah. He doesn’t know what it feels like to know, deep down inside, that you’re an abomination, that whatev
er you are shouldn’t be. She’s harder on herself than I’ll ever be on her, and I will defend her from Nain or anyone else who tries to say otherwise.
I got up and hugged E hard. “Missed you,” I murmured as she hugged me back.
“We need to get together more often without impending doom spurring us on,” she said, and I nodded. E looked the same as always: tiny, together, badass. The only thing that had changed in the past few years had been the style of her clothing. She was in an all black phase again. For a while, it had been jeans, leather, and concert t-shirts. Vintage stuff. While there might be other Guardians, E alone is known as “Death’s Hunter.” My best friend, other than Nain. My right hand. And she looks every bit of the role, too.
“Okay, so what the hell did you see back there?” Brennan asked. “Your adrenaline spiked insanely before the guy died.”
I waved Brennan and E to the other two stools at the kitchen island, putting my kids, my husband, and everything else out of my mind for a while. I’d deal with it later. I quickly related, as best as I could, what I’d seen in the AntiTheist leader’s mind.
“Wait,” E said, holding up a hand. “He spoke to you?”
I nodded, and she stared at me. Just then Hephaestus appeared, stopping first to hug me, then E, then shaking Nain and Brennan’s hands.
“I hear we have another shitshow to deal with. It’s been a while,” he said with his customary grin. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a handful of the little shield-making robots or whatever the hell they were and set them on the counter in front of Heph.
He met my eyes for a moment, then picked one up, holding it up in front of his face to get a better look at it.
I could tell that he recognized the metal immediately. “Where’d you get this?” he asked, meeting my eyes. Brennan and I related the story to him while he studied the little machines, turning them over in his hands, bringing them close to his eyes, scratching at them with his thumbnail. When we finished, he was silent for a few moments.
Godkiller (Hidden: Godkiller Saga Book 1) Page 4