Cursed (Warriors of Light Book 6)

by April Zyon

  “Or one of the guardians, yes,” he said. Setting her on the bed, he stepped between her legs and wrapped his arms around her. “I need to hold you for a moment before I help you undress. Goddess but I feared the worst when I couldn’t feel you anymore. It was like you’d been torn from my soul.”

  “It hurt. So much,” she told him with her arms wrapped around his neck. “I won’t lie to you, Eric, not even to make you feel better. I’m still hurting. I feel tons of pins and needles and I ache because I can’t feel so much of my body so, yes, I’m more than a little upset, but I’m also happy because you are holding me. Focus on right here. On holding me and feeling me, okay?”

  She felt him nodding against her cheek. One of his large hands rubbed slowly over her back. “I am so grateful you are alive, Krista. I couldn’t have gone on without you, I know that, and I also know I wouldn’t have wanted to either. You are my everything, sweetheart. I love you,” he whispered against her neck.

  “That’s good, because I love you, too. You are my world, Eric. I want to hear about the remarkable daughter that you had that helped save me. I want to hear about your life back then, and I need to have that with you one day. I want our children. Not right away. One day. Okay?” She wasn’t ready to be a mom yet and knew it. She was fine with holding James and Sophia’s baby, but she wasn’t ready to have her own yet.

  “One day,” he agreed. Finally, he eased back and began to undo her shirt. “The quicker we get them in here, the quicker we can get the hell out of here. I warn you now, though, if they insist on you staying here overnight, I’m shooting them.”

  “I won’t stay here. If they need to, they can come to our rooms and check on us. Right now I just want them to check me over, make sure that he didn’t give me more than a paralytic, and then we go home.”

  He gave her a kiss, then moved to the door. Opening it, he held up a hand. “One doctor, one nurse. Bring in what you need, and make it fucking fast. You have fifteen minutes to check her over completely from head to adorable toes, and then I’m taking her home to sleep. No arguing, either, or I create more patients for you.”

  Krista had to bite back her smile and nodded. She saw them rushing to gather what they needed and closed her eyes. “Eric, no shooting them. I mean it,” she told him with a little laugh. “When we go home will you have them bring us some lovely food for after our nap, please? I wouldn’t complain at all if we had twice-baked potatoes and steak. Okay?”

  “Once I have you tucked in bed,” he told her. The door shutting, and the lock being thrown, told her that she was about to be inspected. She felt Eric moving in closer before his fingers brushed over her cheek. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”

  “You and me together got through this, and now Billy is no longer here. Life is good. Right?”

  “Very,” he whispered. His lips pressed to her forehead for a long moment. Then he drew back, but she could feel him playing with strands of her hair while the doctor and nurse went through their checklist at a quick clip.

  Chapter Eight

  One week earlier…

  “You can’t do this. Holding one of those women captive to bring the storms is one thing, but it’s another thing altogether to throw everything you have at the one that they have in the Mountain. You know that, right? Surely you aren’t that stupid?” He was heedless at this moment in time as to who he was talking to. All he knew was that if Billy continued this madness, they would all end up dead, and dead wasn’t a place that he was ready for, not yet and not for a long time. He had too many to punish for their deeds, far too many.

  “She is mine, and I don’t take kindly to others stealing away what is mine. They need to learn they are not as strong as they believe. Those motherfuckers need to be taken down a notch, and now, before the master’s endgame truly begins.”

  “And you are willing to put his gameplay in chance for failure just to get a girl back? She’s not even one you would screw either,” the man spat at Billy. “She’s your relations, I get that, but I would slit the throats of every member of my family if it meant that I kept on track for the master.”

  “Her ability is extremely important to the endgame, you sanctimonious prick. She speaks to the dead, something that will come in very handy when the master first comes back to our realm. You know he won’t be fully in control at first, will need protection, and will need a way to communicate with those that were left behind until he regains his strength. She is an integral part of his plan, and the fact she can be a part of the key to release him is all the sweeter.”

  The man frowned. “I didn’t know that,” he grumbled. “How? How do you know what she can do? Is she why you killed Geronimo?” he tossed out there just to finally learn the reason that one of Billy’s oldest friends was killed.

  “Because I pay attention and watch before I strike. It pays to know thine enemy.” Billy’s lip curled in a sneer and he shook his head. “Knowledge is power, and the knowledge I have gained from my helpful little mole inside the Mountain is going to give us the edge we need. But not until Krista is freed from that nest of vipers. We need time to bend her to our will so she is more than willing to help the master. If we leave her in there too long, who the fuck knows what crap they will fill her head with. No, we need to strike now, strike fast, and do it in a way that leaves them scrambling. Thankfully for us all, my little mole left me several very lovely gifts before her time ended. Gifts none of those guardian assholes could even dream about.”

  “They are truly ignorant that they didn’t realize that you had a helper right there in their midst. She was such a delightful little thing, too. Too bad she only had eyes for you and that mountain of a man that runs the guardians, Mercury.” The man shuddered, the revulsion clear on his face. “How anyone would ever like something that large is beyond me.”

  “It’s the unattainability of the man, you moron. He plays it aloof, cold even, and it’s like catnip to the women. When you are too easy, too open, and too forthcoming it sends up warning flags with them. They need a bit of a challenge. Not too much, but definitely enough to make them work for it and enjoy the effort.”

  “You forget that I’m married,” he said to Billy. “No, it’s the size of the man.” Mercury was very close to seven feet tall and was built like a Mack truck. “How are you going to get him to fall? He’s as big as a damn rhino.”

  “Really?” Billy sent him a look, then rolled his eyes. “How do you make any of those guardian pussies fall? You take away the one and only thing they have been longing for since they were reborn. You kill their mate. Or turn them to the side of evil. That’s always fun, too. But in his case I think I’ll string his bitch up and use her for target practice. Blindfolded and standing on my head.”

  “I like how that sounds,” the man said with glee. “In fact, I think I’ll enjoy watching that. Are you going to do that with Krista?” The man already knew the answer to that question, but he asked Billy all the same. “If you can’t get to her, I could use my latest tool of the trade with a nitrogen bullet and ensure that she’s dead before she hits the ground.”

  “You need to start thinking ahead of the moment,” Billy told him. “The guardians are always reacting to what is happening in the moment. We have to anticipate all possibilities while still keeping the master’s endgame in sight. It’s why we’ve been so successful in whittling away at them. It’s how Helen was able to stay undiscovered for so long. Sadly, her hatred of Sophia was not something I’d anticipated, a definite glitch in my forecasting model. But it is also a lesson well learned, and truly she was an exceptional help while she was there. The fact she was able to send me so many files prior to her incarceration will assist us in finding the final pieces needed to free the master. Right after I get Krista back. We’ll need to find an isolated location to keep her until she comes to terms with her true destiny. Remind me to have Marvin check our real estate holdings later, if you would.”

  “Hatred comes in all sorts of forms. People always sho
w the worst of themselves in the worst of times. Perhaps that’s what you need to do in order to turn Krista to your flock. Give her the worst of the worst. Kill her guardian before her eyes.” There was a bit of laughter behind the words.

  “That is definitely on the table for plans down the road, but first she must be broken. And tearing her away from the falsely advertised safety of the Mountain is step number one. Letting her suffer through the separation is step number two. Becoming her friend, giving her a way to ease her pain, is number three. And then when the master is free and he can sever the link between them, that fucking red-headed bastard will die at her feet by her own hand.”

  “That is a fabulous idea.” The man preened and touched his fingers to Billy’s cheek. “You and I could have been good together, if only you would give in. You know that you have an ache for another man fucking you, or fucking one.” The words came out like honey, came out without censorship.

  Billy’s hand whipped up to grab on to his wrist and squeezed until the bones began to grind together. “Never fucking touch me again, you freak. You do and I’ll put you down slowly and very painfully. Now get the hell out of here. I have blueprints to review and codes to go over.”

  Holding his hand tightly to his chest, he walked away from Billy, grumbling the whole time about how he was going to make sure that slimy bastard got his. He would make sure that the master knew who really helped release him, and it wouldn’t be Billy the fucking Kid.

  Chapter Nine

  Two days after the attack on the mountain…

  “I’ve found another one, Mercury.” Holly’s newest quest was to ensure that she found all of the VV’s as quickly as possible. She had to find them before Billy’s gang did. They might have killed Billy, but the simple truth was that there was still danger out there. There were still monsters that would band together in order to destroy them one and all. They had to find the VV’s before anyone else could. “She’s on the West Coast, not far from here, actually. She’s maybe a two-hour drive,” she told the large man who had been beyond still and quiet since all had gone down with Billy.

  His only acknowledgment of her words was a low grunt. Shooting him a look, she found him staring at the screen where she’d pinned the VV’s location, but she couldn’t be sure if he was actually seeing it or not. In a sudden burst of movement, he got up from the chair and began to pace. It was the most action she’d seen from him in the two days since Billy had pretty much exploded inside the Mountain.

  Stopping, he tipped his head slightly to the side. “Send Edward,” he ordered. “Robert can back him up, but I want them in and out in four hours max. No more messing around. We find them and bring them home fast. Start on the next one, Holly.”

  “Will do, boss,” Holly said as she turned to the computer and went full force in trying to find the next one. She wouldn’t be lax any longer. It was far past time for her to do what Mercury had pulled her in for. She needed to ensure that no one else died.

  A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Mercury staring down at her, and she noted how exhausted he looked. About how she was feeling, truth be told. “You don’t need to call me that, you know,” he said quietly. “I never chose this position, but while I’ve done my best I know I’ve also failed in my task too often. All I can ask of anyone is to do their best, and you are already exceeding that. Thank you.”

  “You deserve the title and the respect.” Holly knew she was blushing now and bowed her head. “We are doing what we can. We all need to find them. We need to make sure that this monster is never set free.”

  “That we do,” he said with a nod. He let his hand fall so he could return to his chair. After settling back down, he got that pensive look back on his face as he stared at the screen. Holly could feel the worry and tension pouring off of him in waves.

  “Can you feel anything more? From what Krista said, the goddess spilled the last of her light out into the being that was reborn to be her. Can you still feel her?” Okay, so Holly shouldn’t have asked that question, but she couldn’t help herself.

  Mercury cut her a sharp, hard look that actually had a chill moving over her skin. “It comes and goes,” he said, shocking her by even answering. “I can feel her the strongest when I’m sleeping. Likely because it’s one of the few times my mind is actually relaxed enough. During the day I only feel a sort of hum over my nerves. It’s faint, and light. Almost like the brush of a ghost’s fingers to my skin.”

  “Do you think that she knows about you?” Holly asked with a small frown. “There is also something I want to show you.” She hoped that he didn’t have too much of a fit. “I didn’t see it until just now. Well, found it just now at least.” She queued up the video she’d found on YouTube.

  “This was the day that she left you.” She pointed to the screen. “This was New York. Watch,” she whispered and let him watch the lightning strike the woman and what happened after.

  He shot forward in his seat and pulled himself in closer to the console and her chair. “Show me again, but slow it down as soon as the strike touches her.” His focus was intense as she did as he’d asked. “Stop. Back it up a few frames. Please.”

  She replayed it and watched. She didn’t see it, though, didn’t see what he obviously saw if the tick on his jaw was anything. “What do you see?” she asked after the tenth time of replaying it all.

  “Back two frames and freeze it,” he said, not answering her. Once she’d done what he wanted, he pointed to a spot on the screen. “Zoom in there, and then clean it up a little. You’ll see it soon enough.”

  Holly did as he requested, then jerked. “Holy fuck.” She was standing now. “Is that?” she asked as she watched the woman—and the goddess who stood before her—standing there inside of the lightning. “I have to get this down. Now.” She began to pull the video and erase it from the Internet as best she possibly could. She couldn’t let anyone else see their goddess like this, not yet.

  Mercury nodded but didn’t pull his gaze from the screen. Slowly, he traced a finger over the face of the woman wrapped in the lightning. For that one moment in time the two—goddess and woman—were looking right at one another, an understanding passing between them if their expressions said anything at all. They both were at peace. A split second before everything completely altered. “I need to know where she is, Holly. Find her,” he whispered with a thread of pain in his voice.

  “I will,” she assured the man and moved back toward him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I will do everything that I can to find her. The police reports listed her as Jane Doe, but with the way she was dressed and the briefcase she had been carrying I’m assuming she worked at that building, so I will backtrack and find who’s missing now.”

  “Thank you.” He ran his finger down the image once more before pushing his seat back. “Ensure everything is destroyed. There can’t be any trace left of what happened. If they realize what happened, the hunt for the VV’s will come to an end and they will target only her. With the power that now resides in her body, she alone can open the doorway to release that bastard from Hell.”

  “Oh shit,” Holly croaked. “Right, I will make sure I find her as fast as I can.” This woman could open the door to release Hades? Holy hell.

  “I know you will, Holly. We are lucky to have you with us on this journey. Demaratus is definitely one very lucky man. Be sure to point that out to him often. It might help get that stick he occasionally has lodged the wrong way to slip free.”

  “I heard that, you ass,” Demaratus grumbled as he came into the room. Mercury shot her an innocent look as D came toward her and handed her the travel mug. “To keep you going a few more hours. I have dinner coming by in two hours, so make sure you have time to eat it, or there will be trouble, little warrior.”

  “Thank you. You always know what I need before I need it.” Holly moved so that she could hug Demaratus. “And I kind of like when you play with your stick and my ass.
” So she was switching up Mercury’s words, but she was good with that. “I have to get back to work. Promise me that you will come back by when it’s dinner time?” She got into a project and forgot to eat and drink and sleep.

  “You know I will.” Leaning in, he gave her a kiss, then moved his mouth to her ear. “Is everything okay?” he asked so quickly she almost didn’t hear him over the hum of the servers. At his look, she frowned until he tipped his head slightly toward Mercury, who really didn’t look happy again.

  “Yes, honey, it’s all good. We found her. His.” She looked to Mercury and nodded. “Well, footage of her at least. Now it’s all in finding her.” She took a deep breath and winked. “Besides, I love when you come and have meals with me. Makes me all sorts of happy.”

  Making a humming noise, he nodded and gave her another kiss. “I’ll be back in a couple hours. I have time on the range, so I’m going to go play with some of the Marines’ newest toys they’ve brought on base. Behave yourself, and let me know if you need anything before then.”

  “I will, and please try not to shoot at the Marines. You know as well as I do that they get pissy when you shoot at them.” She licked her lips and looked up at him with a smirk. “Kiss me and then go play with the Marines.”

  “First you tell me not to shoot them, and then to go and play with them. You are handing out contradictory messages here, Holly.” Clicking his tongue at her, Demaratus cupped her face and gave her a kiss that had her toes curling. When she was able to think and started to lift her arms to hang on to him, though, he backed off with a smug look and one of those little smiles she knew he saved for her alone. “Be good, and I’ll see you in two hours. Happy hunting, little warrior.” He gave her a wink before heading out the door, leaving her to Mercury’s slightly amused stare.