by Jasmine Walt
The lift pinged open, and I ran through the trees and burst into the clearing.
Carmella enveloped me in her best squishy hug. Her shoulders shook. “Aria…I’m so sorry…”
The ache of loss filled me again. I rubbed her back. “Aria was…amazing.”
Carmella pulled back, her face wet with tears. “She saved my life.”
“And now we need to make sure it stays saved.” I scanned the clearing. Mother was cradling a sleeping Sarani, and Vinnay was playing some kind of game that involved throwing stones with the triplets, but there was no sign of Aaron, Ajitah, Drake, or Loki. “Has Loki been back?”
“I’m here.” Loki strode into the clearing, Velocity in tow. Her hands were bound and her mouth was gagged. “She was throwing down all kinds of mojo. We had no choice.”
“What about Ajitah, Drake, and Aaron?” Garuda asked.
“Out on the streets doing damage control. They took the van, intent on linking up with what’s left of the IEPEU.”
I walked over to Velocity. “We need your help.”
She glared at me through blazing eyes.
“Kosmos tried reasoning with her, but she won’t talk. Just keeps babbling about the eternal garden. Spells won’t work on her, either. She’s shielded.”
I reached for the gag, but Loki grabbed my hand. “Are you sure you want to do that? Her magic is dark. It’s drawn straight from the void.”
“I can’t question her if she can’t speak.” I undid the torn fabric.
She stared at me levelly.
“Velocity, can you tell me where to find the Daughter of Chaos? Please. We need your help.”
She began to sway and sing. The tune was familiar, and her reedy voice rose to fill the room. “Around and around the shimmering threads, the darkness chased the light. The darkness wanted to be the one, bang goes the light.”
“What the heck is she on about?” Carmella asked.
Velocity zeroed in on her, the whites of her eyes bleeding into black. “So this is it. This is the haven, the place where you hide. This is your Garden of Eternity.”
Shit. I pushed the gag back into her mouth, and Loki tied it. Velocity’s eyes fell shut, but the Daughter of Chaos’s laughter rang in my ears. Dammit. She was our last hope to find the entity, and she was bloody useless.
Garuda gently gripped my elbow. “I have to go,” he said.
“What? Why?”
He smiled, his eyes crinkling. “Can’t have the big bad Garuda cowering while everyone else fights.” He brushed a tendril of hair off my face.
“I’m coming with you,” Loki said. “Malina can work on Velocity.”
“I will go, too,” Vinnay said. “I will fight to protect the innocent.” My mother reached for the hinn, and he gently took her hand in his large ones. “I will make you proud.”
“Oh, Vinnay, you always have.”
“Will you stay with us, Malina?” Danny asked with a wobble to his voice.
Poor kids. They were probably scared shitless. I smiled reassuringly. “I’ll stay for as long as I can, but Carmella and my mother will keep an eye on you if I have to pop out, ’kay?”
They nodded in unison.
“Will Daddy be back soon?” Jimmy asked.
There were no guarantees, but kids didn’t need to know that. “Yes.”
Garuda pressed a kiss to my forehead, lingering a moment. It took everything I had not to grab hold of his shirt and beg him to stay. The boys could let go of their father to fight the good fight, and I was a grown-ass woman, for god’s sake. We were at war, and we were warriors.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “What you said earlier…I want to hear you say that again. Over and over.” He swallowed. “I want to be saying that to you for years to come.”
I nodded, my eyes misting. “I—”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “Tell me when this is all over.”
Garuda stepped back, turned on his heel, and walked out of the clearing, leaving me with a terrible ache in the pit of my stomach. Shake it off, woman. I turned back to Velocity.
Our final link.
Our final hope.
“Okay. Mother? Carmella? You two want to help? Let’s see if we can find a way to get her to tell us what we need to know.”
Indra had said that time stood still in the clearing, but it felt like we’d been working on Velocity for hours. I’d taken the gag off warily, and the void hadn’t spoken through her yet, so that was a plus. But Velocity wasn’t talking either. Just that damned song to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel,” again and again. Sarani was still fast asleep, curled up in a ball on the far side of the picnic blanket. My bones ached, my neck felt stiff, and I could feel the rush of blood through my veins. This wasn’t good. The double dose of power in my body was taking a huge toll. Would being in this clearing slow its progress? Maybe it was time to ask Indra? No… I’d wait it out a little longer.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I wish I could say I give up and be done with it.”
Carmella squeezed my shoulder. We were sitting cross-legged on the picnic blanket, Velocity between us.
My phone rang, shattering the silence. “Hello?”
“The Daughter of Chaos is too strong,” Indra said. “Her hold on the shaitan is too strong. We need to cull their numbers. We need plan B.”
“What is plan B?”
“Ajitah.”
Oh god. “But…”
“He’s the only one who can break her hold, maybe shake some sense into the shaitan. They were his minions, his guards of the lower depths of the underworld. They may listen to him. We found his wives, and I’ve sent him back to the clearing with them. He knows who they are, but not how they relate to him. I’ve charged him to protect them and deliver them safely to the clearing. When he arrives, you need to say the word mukti. It will release his essence from the shell we crafted for him.”
My stomach grew all squirmy. “Why can’t you do it?”
“He is your charge, not mine. It wouldn’t work for me.”
Right, Dad had explained that they took it in turns to watch over Ajitah, but he hadn’t explained that meant whoever had responsibility for him at any particular time had sole power over the magic bloody word. He’d been Dad’s responsibility this time around, so he was now mine.
“Will he…will he remember…things?” Will he remember the kids? Will he remember me?
“I don’t know, Malina. It’s unlikely. You may need to fill him in on the current situation. Can you do that?
I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to be the one to set him free, not if setting him free meant losing him. His wives would have their husband back, their lord, but the kids would lose their father, and I…I would lose my friend. My chest felt hollow.
“Malina, we have no other option.”
“Yes. I can do this.”
I hung up and tucked my phone back into my pocket.
“What’s wrong?” Carmella said. “You look like a sad puppy.”
I blew out a breath. “I just gotta do something, and it sucks.”
She raised her brows in query.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“Malina, I think I have an idea,” my mother said.
I joined her on the blanket in front of Velocity. “Shoot.”
“It seems to me that Velocity is trying to communicate with us, but the message is getting jumbled somewhere between her mind and her mouth. But maybe if we use hypnosis, we can ask her psyche the questions directly.”
“You know hypnosis?”
She grinned. “I’m a naga; we have certain skills. They may not work on her, but would you like me to try?”
I nodded. “Please.”
“Malina!” Ajitah strode into the clearing.
“I’ll start trying to put her under,” my mother said.
“Thanks.” I stood and walked over to Ajitah, who was busy hugging his boys.
The three women behind him peered over his
shoulder at the children, their eyes glittering with interest. So these were Yama’s wives. The three women who’d saved my life. The taller one lifted her gaze to meet mine, and her mouth fell open. Yeah, she recognized me. I shook my head slightly in warning. She frowned but didn’t say anything.
Ajitah straightened. “I have to go back out, but I’ll be back soon, boys,” he said. “Malina, Indra said we needed to take care of these ladies. They’re Yama’s wives.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Um, can I speak to you for a moment?” I jerked my head toward the edge of the clearing, where the trees cast the longest shadows, and walked over.
He joined me in the shade. “What is it? Is Garuda okay?”
“He just left to join the fight.”
“Are you all right? There’s something wrong. I can feel it.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, his thumb doing that soothing back-and-forth motion across my skin.
A sob caught in my throat. It was selfish, but I didn’t want to lose him. His love, his consideration…it made me feel safe. Even with Garuda by my side. Even while my heart belonged to Garuda, a part of me had been stolen by Ajitah. I couldn’t put the feeling into words.
“Malina, you’re scaring me.”
I placed my hands on his chest and lifted my chin to look up into his face. “Thank you for loving me.” My eyes grew hot. “Thank you for making me feel wanted, cared for, and safe. Thank you for letting me go when the time came.”
His heart beat faster beneath my fingers. “Malina, what is this?”
I ran my hands up his chest and cupped the back of his neck. “Garuda claimed my heart, but you…” My voice cracked. “You have a piece of my soul.”
His breath exploded from his lips, and my vision blurred. I stood on tiptoe and pressed my lips to his. Goodbye, my friend. “Mukti.”
His eyes drifted closed, and he hit the ground.
“Dad!” The boys ran toward us.
“Stay back!”
It was cruel, I knew it. I should have allowed him to say goodbye to his children, but would he have given them up? Would he have allowed me to release the god within if it meant abandoning them?
Yama’s wives reached for the boys, crouching to console them as Ajitah’s body began to glow, brighter and brighter until we were forced to close our eyes and turn away. A crack of lightning lit up the clearing, and then the brightness ebbed.
“Yama?” one of his wives said softly.
The boys were sobbing. Scared and confused.
I walked over and pulled them to me. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to take care of you.”
The man before us bore very little resemblance to Ajitah. He was much larger, for starters. His legs were wrapped in the colorful fabric that the gods seemed to prefer. A conch hung around his neck, sitting against his bare, muscled chest. And his face… Oh gods, he was beautiful. His dark eyes were fixed on his wives. They ran to him and fell into his embrace, sobbing and babbling.
Danny, Adam, and Jimmy shivered against me.
“Where’s Dad?” Jimmy’s bottom lip trembled.
Adam broke away from me and walked over to Yama. He stood patiently until the god noticed his presence.
Yama gently extricated himself from his wives and crouched down to Adam’s eye level. They stared at each other for several long seconds. Then Adam reached up and cupped Yama’s cheek, and the god’s eyes fluttered closed. When he opened them, they were no longer brown, but the stormy gray color that Ajitah’s had been.
Adam smiled. “There you are, Dad.”
Yama smiled back. “My boy.” He pulled Adam toward him and held out his arms to Jimmy and Danny. They ran to him, and he embraced them. “Shyamala, these are my sons. Now they are our sons.”
The taller wife stepped forward and placed a hand on Adam’s head. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Our children?”
“Yes, my love. You must take care of them until I return to take you all home.”
She nodded eagerly, and he stood and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his thumb sweeping back and forth across her cheek.
My heart cracked. That gesture had been for me. But that was over. He wasn’t my Ajitah any longer, and he had a job to do.
I cleared my throat to get his attention. “The shaitan are on London Bridge. Do you need me to show you the way?”
He focused on me for the first time, sweeping me with his gaze. “No. I recall we fought there in the first battle. Seems like only yesterday, and yet…so long ago. My shaitan are not themselves. I told the gods this, but they would not believe me. Yet, now my wives confirm my judgment was accurate.”
“The void has infected them with chaos.”
He turned to Shyamala. “Did I not say there was something beneath the lowest chasm? I sensed it, yet I was scolded for being fanciful.”
“Our fault, my lord,” Shyamala said.
“I will soothe them now. Remind them of their true purpose in guarding the souls of the dead.” He fingered the conch at his neck.
Was that his weapon? A conch?
He caught me staring and smiled. The action made my heart hurt.
“This will summon them to me,” he said. “They will follow me. My divine power is at its peak. I will be back shortly.” He strode toward the edge of the clearing.
I turned away.
“Malina?”
My heart skipped a beat, and I glanced over my shoulder.
He smiled. “I will forever cherish the piece of your soul.”
And then, he was gone.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Throat tight and pinching with emotion, I answered. “It’s done. He’s on his way.”
“Good. Have you located the Daughter of Chaos?” Indra asked.
I glanced at Velocity, stubbornly refusing to be put in a trance.
“We’re still working on it.”
“I’m afraid if you don’t find her soon, all this will be for nothing. Every human in the city is now infected. Even if Yama succeeds in driving the shaitan back to the underworld, and Parker finds the kill switch to stop the Kubera’s creation, we now have the infected humans to contend with. The void above is almost as large as the city. Malina…we are running out of time.” Someone bellowed in the background. “I have to go. It’s up to you now.”
Resisting the desire to hurl my phone across the clearing, I rejoined my mother. This wasn’t getting us anywhere. We needed to get into her head, we… Wait a sec. I’d done it before. I’d gotten into her head. I’d seen the origin of her insanity—the moment she’d allowed the void in.
Could it be that simple? I reached out and placed my hands on her temple. Phantom talons sank into the backs of my hands. Velocity’s eyes flared in delayed comprehension, and then I was falling.
28
Parker
Who would have thought that they’d end up back at the beginning? Back at the Kubera facility under Richmond Park. Melody Parker sighed. But what better place to hide the kill switches than in the first facility the IEPEU had raided. The enforcement agency had marked it as abandoned and moved on. But the Kubera, sneaky fuckers that they were, had doubled back and planted their prize, deep in the depths of the last place their opposition would think to look. Sure, the kill switches would be safe here under the earth, but just for good measure, they’d stationed a couple of mini tanks outside the lab to guard the tech that could bring down their army.
Vincent, the head of the radical Kubera group, had been quick to give up the location once he’d realized he’d been duped by the Daughter of Chaos and the world he’d planned on dominating was now going to shit. Only problem was getting past the hell beasts that guarded the doorway to their prize. Vincent had lost control of them alongside the hundreds of other monsters he’d created. He was a regular Dr. Frankenstein, and now his monsters were loose on the city, under the thrall of some force that no one fully understood.
So many operatives dead…so much blood and anguish… And just when all hop
e was lost, the call had come. Indra, the fucking man himself, had provided a solution.
The kill switch.
It was down to her and what was left of her patrol to finish this. Only Mitch, her second-in-command, and Harry, an operative from another patrol—all dead now—remained, holed up in a supply closet around the corner from the corridor being patrolled by the monsters. Parker had only caught a glimpse, but the image of the monsters was burned into her retinas.
“What are they?” Harry’s voice wobbled. He was young, barely twenty. How he’d survived the day was a mystery.
“Vincent called them chimeras. They’re prototypes. He planned to build more of them if these worked out. These have subpar intellect, or so he claims.”
“So maybe we can trick them? Lure them from the door?” Mitch suggested. “I can distract them. Lead them away while you go for the switches?”
Forever the hero. At one time, she’d hoped he would be her hero, but the timing had never been right. Then there was the whole chain of command and the mixing work with pleasure thing…it just never happened and probably never would, because her gut told her they weren’t getting out of here alive.
“Parker? What are your orders?”
She cleared her throat. “The chimeras’ primary objective is to guard that door. They won’t both abandon their post. So we sit tight for now.”
“How much ammo you got?”
She held up her handgun. “One clip.”
“Fuck. Same.”
“I have a grenade,” Harry said.
Good. If things got tight, they could blow themselves up. Better to go with a bang than be torn to shreds by the chimeras.
“Guns aren’t gonna work on them. That fucker Vincent neglected to tell us the vulnerable parts of their body were armor-plated.”
Mitch cursed.
There had to be something else. They were trained to guard the room, but the room was part of the facility, so… A threat to the facility was indirectly a threat to the room. She scanned the ceiling until she spotted what she needed.