Of Humans and Monsters

by Candace Blevins

“I fought the bad guys long before I met Kirsten,” Cora told him.

  “Yes, but you’ve been paid well to do so.”

  “And you aren’t paid well to kill them?” I asked.

  “Touché,” he said as his eyes went cold and icy once again. He turned to me and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to his dead expression, and wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  “If you should need my services in the future, you can reach me at 800-555-RYAN. You can’t afford me, but I’m willing to work for a favor. I’ll help you, and then you’ll owe me should I have something you can someday help me with.”

  “I could never kill someone on an order. Don’t expect a phone call.”

  “If I introduced you to a dozen kids some guy had raped and brutalized, and another dozen sets of parents who no longer had their children because the guy killed their kids while raping and savaging them, and if the guy was a supernatural so the police will never be able to do anything about him — are you telling me you couldn’t help me kill the bastard?”

  “I’d have to be damned sure of his guilt, but yeah — you found a situation where I’d possibly agree to kill someone in cold blood.”

  He lifted his chin, met my gaze with his empty eyes, and said again, “If you need me, call me.”

  “You once asked if I believed in soul mates, why’d you ask?”

  “Call me, and perhaps we’ll have time to discuss it while we work a job.”

  “What’s the plan for this evening and tonight?” I asked as he walked out of my office.

  “Still working on it. I’ll let you know when we get it finalized.”

  When my last patient of the day left, I still didn’t know where we’d be spending the night. I assumed I’d find out when Ryan came striding into my office, but he said, “I’ve made reservations for a penthouse suite in a downtown hotel. Mordecai believes Striker’s planning something, so I’m the only one who knows the specific location. Nathan and Adonis are waiting for us downstairs.”

  “It’s believed Striker can listen in on conversations and even thoughts from other realms,” Cora told me. “He doesn’t have to step into the room, he can focus on it from afar. If he knew to watch Ryan, he may know the hotel.”

  “I made the reservations online in hopes he won’t have figured out how to work complex computer systems, but if he’s in my head…” Ryan shrugged. “I told you I’m not equipped to guard you from gods. I’ll do my best, but there’s no guarantee we aren’t walking into an ambush.”

  “So we’re taking a lot of people with us?” I asked.

  “Just Nathan and Adonis,” said Cora. “Mordecai was called away for something he says is more pressing. It’s doubtful any of our other available daytime guards will be effective against Striker or his people. Kendra will come to us after sundown.”

  “Okay then. We do the best we can and we deal with shit as it happens,” I said as I held Ryan’s gaze.

  Chapter 22

  Everyone was on edge as Nathan drove the five miles to one of the nicer hotels in town. Most supernaturals wouldn’t dare cause a scene in the middle of downtown for fear the Concilio would step in, but Striker wouldn’t be worried about Apollonius and his contemporaries.

  Nathan used the valet service so we could all go in together, and I felt a shift as we walked into the hotel lobby. My heart sank into my somersaulting stomach as the walls dissolved around us and we were transported to rough terrain — boulders and rocks strewn around a rushing stream and surrounded by a rich, green forest.

  Nathan stepped in front of me as my gaze locked with one of the lizard-monsters, but this one was so much bigger than the others we’d fought.

  “Striker,” said Adonis from the front as Ryan stepped beside Cora, who was just behind me. “A wormhole to your lair, how unimaginative.”

  “You’re free to leave, Adonis. The others are mine, but I have no cause to involve your kind in my battles.”

  “What has this small human done to make her your enemy?”

  “You don’t intend to leave?”

  “I find I feel somewhat protective of her. I need to understand why you feel she’s your enemy, if you don’t mind.”

  I knew Striker’s men had kicked Adonis’s ass last time, but now he stood and challenged him so politely, as if he could easily wipe the floor with him if he didn’t like the reptile-creature’s answer.

  Cora had put her hands on my shoulders as she stepped behind me, and now I reached back to touch her hips. We didn’t take any time at all to join, and I telepathed, Focus fire and heat inside Striker’s head. When I’ve done this to the strong ones in the past, they’ve vanished before I could pull it off, but with both of us doing it maybe we’ll be fast enough to take him out before he can do anything. Hit him as hard as you can, with everything you have right out of the gate. On the count of three — ready?

  Cora and I had successfully busted some decent sized boulders when we’d merged our energy, but it was hard to tell just how much stronger we were as a unit. Today’s battle still might not tell us much, because these fucking reptiles are hard to kill, but I hoped we’d have enough combined juice to take him out.

  When she let me know she was ready, I counted down and focused harder and more decisively than I’d ever managed before. Mordecai had worked with me until I could fade out of this reality enough to break contact if someone reversed it and started sucking energy from me, but I hoped we could immobilize Striker before he could retaliate.

  Striker looked straight at us the instant we began, his creepy reptile eyes wide as he focused on us in shock. He seemed frozen, and I pumped more and more energy into taking him out. Nathan figured out what I was doing and stepped to my side, rested his right hand on my left shoulder, and streamed hot shifter energy into me. It took a good ten seconds for Striker to fall, and even then his head didn’t explode, but he looked dead. As soon as he was down, Ryan was on him, slicing into his chest with a wickedly curved knife.

  Striker’s people must’ve been following orders, so while they surrounded us, they weren’t attacking. I wasn’t sure if I should be disabling them as well, or saving what energy Cora and I had left. I pulled more in from the trees and went lightheaded from the unearthly energy.

  “Cut him in two,” Ryan told me as he worked to get to the monster’s heart. “He’s a god, he’ll regenerate, but if his heart is missing out of this third of him and we can do the math so he’ll have to regenerate from his feet up, it’ll take longer.”

  I formed a serrated sword, handed it to Cora, and pointed her to him. She’s stronger than me and could saw through him easier. I already knew how tough his hide is. Ryan showed her where to cut, and she set her face and sawed through Striker’s tough hide and then gristly muscles.

  Finally, the dozen reptile monsters around us went into attack mode.

  Adonis came to my side as I formed a quarterstaff. “We don’t want any witnesses of you and Cora working as a unit. Striker’s people will stay dead, but we’ll have to take steps to make sure Striker doesn’t come back any time soon.”

  Adonis put his hands on my shoulders and pushed energy into me faster than I could take it. Instead of screaming in pain, I focused it into the head of the reptile moving towards Cora and Ryan. He went down within three seconds, and I turned to the one who’d engaged Nathan in a fight.

  When I’d taken out every one of them, Adonis said, “Cora isn’t getting through him fast enough. Try burning him with your thoughts — concentrate on a hip joint to see if you can burn a leg off.”

  It took several long minutes but it came off, and I worked on the other leg. When I finished, I concentrated heat an inch under Cora’s knife, and noted she started making more progress.

  When we finally had him in four pieces, Nathan, Adonis, Cora, and Ryan each took a piece.

  “See if you can get us out of here and back to the human realm,” Adonis said as he met my gaze. I wanted to protest, but I
wrapped us all in a bubble as he’d taught me, had everyone touch to form a circle, and held Cora and Nathan’s hands as I focused on the island Aaron had taken Josh to.

  The instant I thought of the island, the Siabhra came to mind, but I hadn’t started the process of moving us yet, so I cleared my mind and focused solely on the island. Thankfully, we arrived where I wanted without the terrifying dark nightmare making an appearance.

  Little did I know, but I’d just stepped out of Olympia, and only gods and demi-gods are capable of leaving. Striker’s home was in the valley around Mount Olympus — I’d realized we were near a mountain with huge buildings on it, but hadn’t considered the ramifications.

  Adonis looked around to be sure we were safe, handed his section of Striker to Nathan and told him to make sure the pieces didn’t crawl back together, and he left.

  Cora and I were still joined and I wasn’t sure how she was still standing. I’d landed us in the sand, and walking the twenty yards to the rocky part of the beach sapped the last of the energy from my legs. I sank onto a large rock and leaned my head into my hands as I desperately wished for a steak. Fuck, that had to be coming from Cora, so she was in bad shape too.

  “I need to recharge myself and Cora,” I told the group. “And Cora needs a steak sooner rather than later.”

  “I’m okay,” Cora told us. “I’ll need food in the next three or four hours, but I’m fine for now.”

  Then why am I craving a steak? I asked her.

  Just because I want it doesn’t mean I’m close to losing control. I’m good.

  “Is life with you always this interesting?” Ryan asked with an almost-scowl.

  “I love it when my life is boring, but sometimes people just won’t leave me alone.”

  “Too bad we’ll have to keep this quiet,” said Nathan. “If it got out you’d disabled yet another god and killed a number of demi-gods while in Olympia — it’s possible they’d be a little more likely to leave you alone.”

  “I didn’t do it alone.” I did a double-take as adrenaline shot through my system and I had to breathe in to keep the sudden dizziness from overtaking me. “Wait. Olympia!?”

  “The fact you didn’t do it alone is only one of the reasons I’m not taking you into custody until we can schedule a special court session,” said Apollonius as he formed in front of me. “You’ve let yourself grow weak enough I could get into your head and look around this time, and it’s apparent you were only doing what it took to stay alive.”

  He looked from me to Cora, and back to me with a sigh. “My compatriots aren’t going to be happy with this latest development. Humans aren’t supposed to be capable of binding shapeshifters to them. We’ll likely need to define you as a new species, even though there only appears to be one of you.”

  “I’m human.”

  “Long ago, Zeus put a block on Olympia, so only citizens in good standing could step off the island at will. Much of the populace makes use of slaves, and they also house prisoners on the edge of the island. Many of the prisoners are capable of stepping from one reality to another without need of a gateway, so the block was necessary.”

  I filled in the blanks for him. “And I stepped off the island to bring everyone here.”

  “I was her key,” Adonis said as he and Mordecai appeared at my side. “I was part of the circle, so my energy is what got us off. I don’t believe she’d have been able to step off without having access to the energy of a citizen.”

  “You don’t believe she would? So you aren’t certain?”

  “I felt the island checking credentials, and as it did, I noted she could come and go as my guest. She’ll be able to step on and off without me now, but only because I gave her access.”

  Apollonius gave an unhappy chuckle as he met my gaze. “You have smart friends looking out for you. What do you intend to do with Nidhogg?”

  Nidhogg was Striker’s original name. I knew we needed to keep him from coming back for at least a few centuries, but I wanted to talk to Mordecai and Aaron before I made any decisions.

  “I intend to ask those smarter than me what our options are. Last time, Surtr’s remains were handled without my input, but I know more this time and I’d like to have a voice in the decision.”

  “You, your wolf, Adonis, the Amakhosi, and the slayer all had a part in taking him down. I don’t have authority over Adonis, and my ability to police the slayers is somewhat limited.”

  “There are limits when it comes to me as well,” said Nathan, and I could easily see him as the King of the Lions in that moment. I can’t explain how, but it’s like he morphs even more into the role of King when he’s speaking as the Amakhosi.

  “There are,” Apollonius agreed, “but you weren’t acting to defend or shelter your lions, so I could step in with authority if I wanted to push it.” He looked back to me. “I’m glad I could get into your head, because if I hadn’t, I’d be forced to push the issue. As it is, Adonis has given me the out I needed to report your leaving Olympia, and based on the reasons for your actions, I don’t need to report anything else. We already knew you’d bound the wolf to you, we just didn’t know the extent. Still, it isn’t a new development, so I can do what’s right and still keep to my oaths of office.”

  I’d been pulling energy in from the ocean, and I managed to stand and face Apollonius as I told him, “You scare me practically senseless, but I have the utmost respect for you. Your job can’t be easy.”

  “I wrote you off as an insignificant human when I first met you, and you still trigger as human to me. I smell Olympia on you, as well as the primordial void, but your underlying scent is human, despite your abilities.” He looked to Nathan. “She has ancestors of merit, but they’re so far removed I don’t believe they can take credit for her powers. Please make sure this information reaches your dragon friend.”

  Nathan nodded and Apollonius looked to Mordecai. “As a firstborn, you can get away with some interference in human development. The same might not be true of your cohort.”

  I breathed in relief when Apollonius disappeared, but then tensed as I realized he’d hinted that Adonis might be in trouble for helping me. I looked to Adonis, but he merely gave me a rakish grin. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in trouble. Had to fake my death the last time, but I don’t think this’ll require anything quite so drastic.”

  “Why would you take a risk for me?”

  “You aren’t falling all over him,” said Nathan. “He gets pretty much everyone he wants, so you’re a challenge.”

  I shook my head. “No. He likes that we’re friends and I’m not—” I started to say using him for awesome sex, but I figured that might not be something he wanted everyone to know. “He likes the friendship we’re forming.”

  “I do,” he said with an affectionate smile. “Female friends are rare in my life, and I value your friendship enough to want to keep you alive. I’ll continue to train you, because the more you understand what you’re capable of, the better chance you have of staying alive.” He looked at Mordecai and back to me. “I can get away with three weeks, since that’s the longest I spend with human women. Beyond that, we can see each other occasionally, but our formal training will have to come to an end.”

  He’d stepped to me as he talked, and now I stood and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around my torso after mine were around his neck, and he gave me energy as he held me.

  “I can never thank you enough for the things you’ve done,” I told him. “I can’t imagine what you might need from me, but you know you only have to let me know and I’ll do what I can for you, right? I can’t walk away from my daughter and patients on a whim, but I can squeeze a lot of action in between my obligations.”

  “The denizens of Mount Olympus were happy to get rid of Surtr without having to do it themselves,” Mordecai said as he stood between the pieces of Striker. “But Nidhogg and his people served a valuable purpose in the valley.”

  “Why didn’t his soldiers attack rig
ht away?” I asked as Adonis and I pulled away, but he kept one arm around my waist for support. “Is it some kind of hive mind?”

  “No, but they followed Striker’s orders to the letter or faced dire consequences, so they didn’t react until they saw he wasn’t going to bounce right back up and fight as normal. He’s never down for long, but once they saw he couldn’t take care of himself, the second in command would’ve started giving orders telepathically.”

  “Am I going to have more of the creatures coming for me, to try to get their leader back?”

  “Yes, which is why Mordecai will know where some of the pieces are,” said Nathan, “I’ll know where some are, and the rest will be scattered throughout the Gulf Stream, East Australian Current, and Brazil Current so no one can find them.”

  “How will we chop him up even smaller?” I wasn’t up to burning him into pieces again. I wouldn’t even be standing if Adonis weren’t supporting me.

  “With a saw designed to cut granite,” said Nathan. “Mordecai and I can handle it, but we need to discuss whether we might want the option of easily reanimating him at some future time.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to keep the option. Also, I need you to make sure your part of the information isn’t lost should something happen to you.” I shook my head. “I’d love to tell you I need you to make sure nothing happens to you, but I need to be practical.”

  “You do, and I’ll make arrangements. You and Cora should go around the corner to a cove, strip, and get as clean as you can in the ocean water. You’ll find towels and robes in the hallway closet of the hut, and you already know how to work everything in the kitchen. We’ll make sure it’s stocked by the time you’re clean — put three steaks on for me and I’ll be up when I smell them cooking.”

  Ryan had moved away from us and was standing in the shadows. I hadn’t forgotten he was there, but hadn’t seen a way around him hearing everything we said. Now, I told him, “If you want to get clean somewhere else and meet us up there, you can help with dinner.”