by April Zyon
He made a humming noise and nodded slowly. “Makes sense, I suppose. I’m totally relying on your knowledge about all this because it’s way outside my field of knowledge. Then again, I’m more of a beat-them-down-until-they’re-dead sort.”
“Well, good thing for you that I’ve been doing this for a day or two,” she said with a smirk. “Now then, finish eating so that we can go and look around and see what kind of trouble we can get into, shall we?”
“Good plan,” he said with a wink. Picking up his coffee, he took a sip before settling in to eat the rest of his meal. Once he was done he refilled his mug and sat sipping it while she finished off her plate.
It was nice, sitting at his side and simply enjoying breakfast as they were. She was happy to have him there with her, happy he had walked into her life when he had, when she’d needed him the most. This was truly heaven to her.
“You look happy,” he observed in a soft voice. “Tell me you’re happy, Krista. Or if you’re not, tell me what needs to happen to get you to that much better place.” He leaned in once more to rest his elbows on the tabletop.
“I am happy, Eric. It’s shocking that you walked into my life and I fell into your bed in one singular moment, but I’m good with that. I knew that one day I would find someone who would complete me, and I did—you.”
Reaching over, he put his hand over hers and curled his fingers into her palm to give it a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re not upset about any of this. I know it’s been insanely fast, but it’s felt right from that first moment we met.”
“It has been crazy fast, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am in love with an incredible man, and life is good. Normal people don’t fall in love this fast,” she shrugged, “but I’ve never been a normal person, so I guess this is par for the course, right?”
“I’m definitely not all that normal either,” he said. “It’s not every day that a man from centuries past is finding love in the modern day. There is normal, and then there is the life of a guardian and his woman.”
“Exactly, and I’m pretty damn happy to be a guardian’s woman.” She was beyond happy being his woman, being with him and having him loving her. “No, I’m happy being your woman,” she specified.
“Good answer, sweetheart.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers, then gave one a nip. He pushed his seat back and tugged on her hand. “Come here.”
She couldn’t have denied him anything. She moved into his arms and hugged him. “You needed me?” She always seemed to need him.
“For now, and all time, sweetheart. You are my everything,” he said quietly. Very gently he brushed his lips to hers. “For now, though, we should get ready for our day and head off for our tour.”
She rubbed her cheek to his and took a deep breath. Tipping her chin up, he kissed her, hard and fast. His tongue swept in to tangle with hers even while he adjusted his hold on her body to lift her up higher against him.
She kissed him back, her body flush to his, and shuddered. “I’m glad you’ll be close by today, especially in this place. I don’t think I will ever be able to be alone again.”
“Oh, sweetheart, don’t you understand yet?” Smiling, he rubbed his nose to hers. “You will never be alone again,” he whispered. “You are mine forever. I will be with you for the rest of our days, and you are with me. If you need me, I will know.”
“You will?” she asked with a bit of shock. “How? How will you know if I need you?”
“Our souls are bound together, Krista. You are a part of me now, and I’m a part of you. It will take a bit of time, but as that bond grows stronger we’ll be able to know if something is wrong. Rumor is if we focus enough we’ll be able to even talk to one another. No clue if that’s actually true or not.”
“That would be very cool, but very odd. And would you be able to use my abilities as well? That would be awesome, to have you able to talk to the dead.”
“That is entirely possible. One of our guardians has been able to tap into his VV’s abilities before. I know a couple of the others are working on it, but it’s not like we have a manual for this stuff.” Easing her to her feet, he stepped back to collect their dishes. “Let me tidy up a little, and then we can get going.”
“Sure. So, I think we should work on you being able to tap into mine as well. It could be a huge help for you.” She hoped that it would at least. “I want to do whatever it takes to give you any opportunity that you can use to beat Billy and kill him.”
“I love how bloodthirsty you are,” he said. Growling, he smacked her ass, then grabbed up the dishes and headed for the kitchen. “Remind me to show you where the shooting range is so that, if all else fails, you can go down there and blow some poor dummy’s head off.”
“I like how that sounds, a lot,” she said with a smile. “I’m very happy to be able to have something to shoot at. And don’t forget that you are supposed to teach me how to use a sword.”
“I will. I promised you I would. I never break my promises, Krista, so it’s a little hard to pry one out of me.” Turning the water on in the sink, he stuck everything into the basin. “I’ll take you by the gym as well so you can see where we do our training and where you’ll get your training with the blades.”
Krista nodded. “I have a feeling that you take your promises very seriously. Just another of the million things that I do love about you.” Such a short time and she already knew so much about him. It was incredible, actually.
He crooked a finger at her, and when she got close enough he pressed a kiss to her lips. “I love you, too,” he whispered against her lips. “You are so much more than I could have dreamed of and beyond what I deserve. So if someone’s screwed up, too fucking bad. You are mine.”
“No one screwed up. We fit. Can you see that? Can’t you feel it?” she asked softly, leaning in to touch her lips to his. “Besides, I’m making you keep me now. Especially with as many times as we made love last night and you spilled inside of me. If—huge if, I know—I get pregnant, I’m so not doing this alone.”
“I’m keeping you anyway, with or without a child on the way, Krista. There is no turning back for me. You are my future, and one I look forward to discovering more about every single day.” He gave her another quick kiss before he straightened, then tipped his head to the hall. “Go and get ready to head out. I’m going to give these a quick scrub and then dump everything into the dishwasher for the full clean.”
“I’ll be ready in like five minutes. I just need to put on panties and jeans, and I’m stealing one of your shirts. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a computer in this place so I can order more clothes.”
“That I can definitely help you with and introduce you to one of the other VV’s at the same time.” He turned back to the sink to scrape and stack the dishes into the dishwasher.
“Who is she? Oh, better yet, who is her guardian? I want to know all about you guys so that when I see their dead I’m not shocked.”
“Her name is Holly Smith, and her guardian is Demaratus. He’s a very old friend of Alexander’s. Or you might know him better as Alexander the Great.” Giving the last dish a scrape, he stuck it into the dishwasher, put in one of the little gel packs, and closed the door. He turned it on, then faced her while drying his hands. “You’ll like Holly. She’s a complete genius when it comes to electronics, and Demaratus is pretty okay, too. A little grumpy, but that’s his natural state, so don’t think too much about it.”
“Fabulous,” she said with a smirk. “Wait, seriously, Alexander the Great is here? Holy shitballs. I wonder if I will see Cleopatra hanging around him?” She was laughing at the possibility of seeing the famous woman from history.
“I’d worry more about when I introduce you to James, or Gaius, or Jason, or even Hector. They are likely the ones to have some not-so-happy spirits hanging about. Oh, and when you talk to James, don’t mention the nickname he went by. It tends to piss him off,” he said as he came toward her. When she only star
ed at him, he chuckled. “Wild Bill Hickok, sweetheart.”
“Oh shit, yeah okay, I can see why when you have that bastard Billy out there. I pray that you guys find him soon and put him out of his misery. Well, at least put him out of my misery. Nothing like having a crazy bastard as your great-grandfather, huh?” If they could destroy his medallion, perhaps his spirit would finally be set free—or sent to hell where he belonged. They had to make sure that Billy never came back. They had to talk to Mercury about ensuring that his spirit was placed on eternal lock down.
“True enough,” he said with a nod. Putting his hand on her back, Eric nudged her toward their bedroom. “Now get dressed for meeting people. I am loathe for you to ever cover those sexy legs of yours again, but you had better so I don’t have the need to gut someone for checking them out.”
“Right, pants.” She snickered. “Well, you are the only man whose body I will ever wrap my legs around, so don’t worry so much, okay? You are it for me. I’m keeping you.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m about to let any of them ogle you.” His hand landed on her ass and squeezed. “You are mine, and only mine, to ogle.” Grinning, he smacked her bottom and gave her a tiny push. “Dressed, now. Your five minutes previously mentioned are long since gone. Besides, if we don’t come out soon, they might feel daring enough to come see if we’ve survived.”
She pulled back from him and winked. “I will be done soon. Promise. As soon as you grab me a shirt,” she said as she pulled on her jeans from the day before.
Clicking his tongue, he disappeared into the closet. A couple minutes later he came out fully dressed, with his boots in one hand and a shirt in the other. “It’ll be much too large but should be sufficient for today’s outing at least. We’ll get you some more clothing in as quickly as possible.”
“Unless you can send someone to pack up my room at the boarding house that I was staying in? Heck, the owner probably would do it. I would just have to give her a bit of extra money, which I’m fine with.”
“We could do that, too. When we go to see Holly, we’ll get you a secure line to call her up on, and you can see if she’s willing to lend a hand. I’ll get it arranged to have everything picked up so that she won’t know where it’s coming, and we’ll get it here for you.”
“That would be perfect. You don’t think he would have anyone around that would hurt the people who came to pick up my things, do you?” She certainly hoped not. Items could be replaced. People, not so much.
“Doubtful, but we’ll see. I may see if Mercury is willing to send a guardian out that way to keep watch while your things are picked up. I’d go if I didn’t think you’d want to come with me,” he said with a knowing look her way.
“Yes, because I would want to come with you.”
“I kind of figured,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ll talk to Mercury about it. Because I’m definitely not risking your life to get your clothing and personal items. Nothing is worth your life, Krista.”
Bowing her head to him, she smiled shyly. “Thank you.” She felt the same for him. Nothing was worth risking his life for, absolutely nothing. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together, Eric.”
“That I can guarantee,” he said. Winking, he headed up the hall to the outer rooms. “We need to get moving, so get your adorable ass in gear, please.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said with a snort of laughter. “Funny man.” She teased him but moved along with him, as eager to get moving as he was.
Taking her hand when she reached him, Eric pulled her out the door. He guided her along to the elevators. Then they went down a couple of levels, up another corridor, and around a few corners before he stopped at a door with a lot more security on it. Pressing a button, he leaned in to have his eye scanned while putting his hand over a large scanner on the wall. A few seconds ticked by before the door buzzed open. Tugging on it, he urged her inside with a hand at her back. “Hope we’re not interrupting anything, Holly.”
Krista looked at the woman with the purple streaks in her hair and grinned. It was actually kind of funny. The woman was small, but she looked more than capable. “Hello,” Krista said.
“Hi there. So you’re the one who reined the Big Red Giant in, huh?”
Krista cocked her head to the side and frowned. “Big Red Giant?”
“Yeah, Eric. He’s seriously huge and has red hair that I am dying to try to mimic the color of. Him.”
“Right, okay.” Krista was a bit taken aback, but she shrugged. “Okay,” she repeated. “Well, I would like to get some clothing ordered. Eric said you would be able to help me with that?”
Holly nodded, looked Krista up and down, and shifted to once more type on her keyboard. Over her shoulder, she spoke. “Ordering you some clothes now. Eric, can you make sure that someone goes into town to pick her things up in a couple of days?”
“Of course,” he said behind Krista. He hadn’t said anything during her little conversation with the other woman, but she’d heard him snicker at least once. “You look a little shell shocked,” he said to her in a quieter voice. “What’s going through that head of yours, sweetheart?”
“It’s just a bit strange for me to hear you spoken of as Big Red Giant,” she told him with a shrug. “And you have to admit, the woman is a bit of a whirlwind. Is she always like that, or did she just have a bit more coffee than she should have?”
“She’s usually worse,” he admitted. Slipping his arms around her, Eric pulled her back to his chest and gave her a squeeze. “You should see her when she’s fully hyped out on caffeine, sugar, and the goddess only knows what else. Holly, do you need anything else from us, or are you good? I promised Krista a tour today, and I need to pop up to see Mercury as well. Unless of course you’ve managed to piss him off today, and then I’ll leave it until later.”
“Nope. I’ll have her keycards ready when you guys drop back by. Say in two hours?” Holly was still typing rapidly, Krista noticed. “Oh, and tell Mercury that he owes me fifty bucks, do you understand?”
“Roger that, and I’m not even going to ask what for, because I likely don’t want to know. See you in a couple hours.” Pressing a kiss to Krista’s neck, he released her and moved to the door. “Come on. Tour time, and we’ll stop in the dining hall later for a snack before we come back here.”
“Food, yes,” she said with a grin. “Oh, do you think that they will have steak and steamed veggies? I want something very filling.”
“They always have large cuts of meat in various stages of being cooked down there. We tend to burn a lot of calories and are usually too busy, or just plain lazy, to cook for ourselves. We all have kitchens, but I think I’m one of the few that actually enjoys cooking. We’ll stop by Mercury’s office first, and then I’ll take you up top and we can work our way down for the tour.”
“I like to cook. I just typically tend to burn things at times.” She didn’t often burn things, but there were times when the dead would not shut up and she ended up burning her food.
“Well, I’m around, so I’ll keep an eye on anything you’re cooking.” Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her in to his side as they went to the elevator. “I like keeping an eye on you, so it won’t be any sort of hardship.”
“That’s good, because I rather like keeping an eye on you as well. I really enjoy watching you move. I could become addicted to you. Just so that you know,” she teased. “I’ll even let you cook for me from time to time, but right now I am happy to allow the cafeteria to cook for us.”
“Well, I’ll do breakfast for us so we don’t have to worry about getting dressed. The other meals we’ll go to the dining hall. Less clean up that way,” he said with a grin. He led her to a door and knocked. A gruff “come” sounded on the other side. Eric went through the door first but kept her hand in his as they went into the room. “Mercury, this is Krista Reins. Krista, this is our boss and commanding officer, Mercury.”
Krista had to step back from him quic
kly. The man had some serious ghosts surrounding him, men and women who had served him faithfully then and even now, but there was more than that around him. Cocking her head to the side, she frowned and whispered, “I’ve never seen a goddess before.” The woman’s light was fading. It was as if there was a tether between the goddess that sat at Mercury’s right and someone outside of the chamber. “I’ve never seen the dead tied to the living either,” she confessed.
When she could focus on something other than the dead, she saw both men staring at her. Eric looked confused, but Mercury looked pissed off. “Explain,” Mercury bit out in a low tone. Eric pulled her in close to him and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“The goddess.” She knew that was what the woman was at his side. “She’s tied to a living soul. Even in her death, so long ago she’s funneling her power into the one that lives. She’s giving her very essence to the one who is her reborn?” she asked, listening to the goddess as she spoke in riddles and words Krista didn’t understand. “You were always her dearest friend, and she’s giving you the gift she never could when she was alive. She’s giving you her love. When you find her?” Okay, so Krista was even more confused now than ever. “How could you have lost the woman you love?”
“I always feared the worst,” Mercury muttered. Falling into his chair, he rubbed his hands over his face before letting them drop to his lap. He looked tired, so very tired. “We recently found out that there’s likely a woman out there that is to be mine. Born into this time, so we’re not yet sure where she is. Our former computer guru apparently hid the fact she’d found this other woman, because she’d hoped to be mine instead.” Mercury shook his head. “The goddess once said to me she was breaking all the rules doing what she was to help humankind to survive the rising evil. By bringing me across and creating the medallions, she burned out a lot of the power she had. She was able to stay with me off and on for a few decades, but it soon became too hard for her to do more than communicate mentally with me. One of the last things she told me was that we’d meet again, but I’d have to look beyond what my eyes showed me to the heart of it all. At the time, I had no idea what she meant. But with the new information garnered, and what you’ve just told me, I now know she’s found a way to be reborn. At a guess, she’s still siphoning her powers into the new body. It’s not something that can be done quickly, even with those that are already gods.”