by April Zyon
Chapter Six
They’d been driving since seven that morning. Hector had gotten her up early, fed her, and they’d hit the road. Only twice did they stop, and only so she could use the facilities. In the last twenty minutes both Hector and Gaius had become increasingly tense.
“We’re in the home stretch,” Gaius said. His words sounded like a warning. But the look Hector shot her was definitely cautionary. Which meant they were getting close to the Mountain and a possible attack.
Riley moved so that she could place her hand on Hector’s shoulder and squeezed. She was in the backseat now, both men loaded with weapons. “Whatever it takes,” she whispered. “I trust you. I know you’ll get us there.” There was a question she was dying to ask, but she didn’t know how.
He turned in his seat, a hand coming up to cup her face. “What? I can see the question in your eyes, Riley. Ask it, sweetheart.”
“Why is it that they haven’t attacked you guys before now? Why didn’t they attack you and Gaius on your way out? Why haven’t they attacked anyone going out, just when you are coming back in with a VV?” She had been told the entire story about the vestal virgins, about how they completed the men and so on.
“As I said, our numbers are few now. We’re hardly a threat to them anymore. Oh, we can still put up a damn good fight, but they’ve been whittling away at us for a long time. The vestal virgins, though, there’s a prize worth having. To turn something so pure, the protector of a guardian’s soul, to their side. Power, pure and unadulterated power.” Hector shot her a look and shrugged as he continued, “They know that without our vestal virgin, we’re fucked. While there were a few in the early days who got a pairing with a human, it petered out after a while. We figured the Fates had rearranged the game board, and now we know it to be true. The problem is—the monsters and evil all know that if they can turn a vestal virgin to their side, they are many steps closer to full, world domination.”
“That’s terrifying.” Riley shook her head and bit her lip. “I would never turn to the darkness,” she promised. “I would never let you either. I need you here in the light with me. You’re my guardian, my warrior, but I’m your protection from the darkness. I’m the soft to your hard, and I’m taking that to heart. Especially now. So, chin up, bucko. You got me now.”
Hector kissed her. “It’ll be fine. They can’t have you. Not now, not fucking ever. Sit back, Riley. We still have a ways to go before we get to the Mountain. Sit back, buckle in, and be ready just in case.”
“Okay.” She did just that, closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she shifted slightly, opened them again, and watched the passing scenery. Feeling the joy from Hector that she was in his life, she smiled. She was happy too. Very happy.
“You see it?” Gaius barked suddenly, about ten minutes later.
“Yeah, I see it,” Hector muttered. “Mercury, it’s Hector,” he said into his phone. “Looks like the welcome party’s rolled out the red carpet. Yeah, that would be a good idea. We’re slowing down so they don’t hit us like they did Gaius. What? Okay, sounds good.”
He hung up and looked to Gaius. “He wants you to stop and see if they keep coming. Anything to buy time. He’s coming with whoever’s hanging around. He thinks Jason’s there, but he hasn’t got a clue if there’s anyone else, given the number of incidents cropping up.”
“Jason works,” Gaius said with a nod. “Fucker’s been looking for a decent fight for a while now.” The vehicle slowed until they came to a stop. Gaius threw it into park and leaned forward, his arms braced on the steering wheel as he stared out the window. He gave a snorted chuckle after a moment. “I think we’ve confused them.”
“Good, we need to give Mercury time to get here. Given how they had their asses handed to them the last time, they likely brought more muscle with them.”
“Gods, I sincerely hope not,” Gaius said.
“What do you mean you hope not?” Riley asked with a frown and leaned up in the seat. “I don’t understand—wouldn’t you want more people rather than not enough?”
“Not when it’s the bad guys bringing more to the playing field, sweetheart.” Hector turned to look at her and smiled. “We kicked the bad guys’ asses the last go around. Which means they’ll be bringing more with them. Remember when I mentioned that we’re low in numbers? Well, I wasn’t kidding. If they ever actually got all their forces in one place, we’d be fucked.”
“Unless we nuked them,” Gaius muttered.
“With the way our luck’s been running, that would only make them more indestructible,” Hector said with a glare to his friend. “I really don’t want something harder to kill than what we already have to deal with.”
“Shit, good point. Maybe just some bombs … non-nuclear ones, I mean. Blow them all to smithereens. If we ever got them all in one place. Wipe out the evil ones all in one go.”
Riley rubbed her temples and laughed. “You guys are too much. I like it, though. The way you both bicker with each other and so on. It’s nice to feel such a familial bond, even when I know that the two of you are very far from being siblings.”
“Thankfully,” Hector muttered. He shot her a look and winked, one corner of his mouth kicking up for an instant. Facing forward once more, he stared out the window. “Well, the good news is that they’re still confused and aren’t moving yet.”
“They likely have a trap set up and are trying to figure out how to get us over there where they can kill us and make off with Riley,” Gaius said before Hector’s phone rang.
“Yeah?” he answered. “No, they’re not moving. Gaius figures there’s a trap set and we’re screwing with their grand plans. Uh, we’re about a mile up the road from them. Okay, sounds good.” He turned to Gaius. “Mercury’s close. He said to start easing forward. If they make any move toward us, we’re to stop immediately. He needs a sense of what they’re up to and also wants to see if we can taunt them away from that spot.”
Gaius shrugged and threw the truck into drive, easing them forward at a whopping three miles per hour.
“We’re moving, Merc. No, nothing yet. They’re definitely paying more attention, though. Got it. Yup,” Hector said into the receiver. Hanging up again, he tucked the cell in a pocket. “He’s two miles out. He says to keep playing with them a bit, and maybe we’ll pull them away from whatever they’ve got going on up there.”
“I’m all for puttering along in grandma mode,” Gaius told him. “Hopefully, Mercury gets here before we all doze off out of sheer boredom from our high-speed race to safety.”
Riley burst out laughing, despite the situation. Once more, she leaned back and watched everything. Then she frowned. “Wait,” she said sharply and put her hand on Gaius’s shoulder. “Up ahead.” She tilted her head to the side. “There’s something that isn’t visible to the naked eye, but I see it because it’s wrong. It’s like a thin thread, across the roadway, just about here. It’s wrong. It’s a lie. An optical illusion.”
“Holy mother of the gods,” Hector said on a hiss of air. “What is that, Riley?”
“What? What are you seeing?” Gaius asked.
“I don’t know.” Hector frowned. He was blinking rapidly and shaking his head a little now and again.
Riley leaned closer, her cheek to Hector’s. “Pull on our bond. See what I see,” she whispered. “See through my eyes.”
He sucked in a deep breath, his hand coming up to touch hers, pressing her palm to his skin. Hector closed his eyes, took another couple of deep breaths, then let his lids come up. Tilting forward, he pulled her with him a little as he squinted. “Fucking hell. Stop the truck. They’ve rigged up one hell of a surprise for us. In fact, back us up again and call Mercury. If they hit that, they’ll be chopped in half before the explosions kill them.”
Riley wasn’t a fighter, but she could see things that weren’t natural, weren’t right, and she was very glad that she could, in that moment. “Keep the connection to me open. I don’t know what to look
for, but you’ll see it. Draw on what I can do, draw on the truths that are out there,” she urged Hector.
“Will it hold if we’re not touching?” he asked. Turning in his seat, he looked at her. “Because I have to say—that’s one hell of an ability you have, Riley.” Lifting her hand, he pressed a kiss to her palm, nipping gently at the skin.
“Mercury’s one minute out. He knows about the trap and will swing out wide. He’s got Jason with him, no one else, though. The Mountain was empty except for Emily,” Gaius said.
Riley focused on Hector. “I don’t know if you can draw on my ability without touch. This is all new to me. I just assumed that you would be able to draw on what is mine through our bond. I’m hopeful that you will be able to use it often.” She wanted to do anything she possibly could in order to keep him safe.
“We may need to practice with it before I use it in the field.” He cupped her cheek, but he kept the contact light. “I love you, Riley. And I want you to stay inside the vehicle at all times. No matter what—do not get out. It’s armor-plated and, beyond that, has some unique protective spells that will prevent the monsters from getting in. Unless you open the door, which is viewed as an invitation.”
Riley nodded and licked her lips. “I trust you.” He hauled her close and kissed her hard. “Stay in the vehicle,” he ordered. Then he pulled a blade from somewhere, flipped it over, and handed it to her hilt first. “Just in case.” He stared into her eyes for a moment more before turning and getting out, Gaius sliding out the other side. Their doors slammed shut, and they both moved around to the front of the truck to stand facing what was out there, between her and them.
Riley looked down at the blade in her hands and dropped it onto the seat beside her. She didn’t like weapons. She moved closer to the window, her hands on the door as she watched Hector. She pushed as much energy and her ability through the link as possible, in the hope that he would be able to see what was off and what wasn’t.
He turned his head to look at her and winked. He must have felt something, which meant he was keeping the bond between them wide open. Turning back around, he shook out his arms before reaching up over his shoulder and under the collar of his jacket. A moment later, he pulled out a stumpy-looking sword. With a flick of his wrist, it became a very long, imposing blade.
Riley gasped. Holy balls, that’s a big piece of metal. She shifted so that she could see better. Pausing, she frowned. Hector, look to the tree line at the left. There is something there, something that people are protecting, she directed through the bond.
There are binoculars in the console. Take a look and let me know what it is. I don’t want to try and split my attention here. Thank you, sweetheart. When she looked his way again, he’d moved a little farther from the vehicle and two others had joined them.
Riley grabbed the binoculars and looked out into the shadows, shifting the vision slightly, then biting her lower lip. I don’t know who it is, but he looks wrong. He’s large but not so large that he’s bigger than you. He’s wearing a cowboy hat. Who wears cowboy hats anymore? He looks like old-fashioned pictures that I saw once of Billy the Kid.
She heard male voices then and turned to see Hector was speaking with the group. They all studied the area where she’d indicated the man was. The largest of the males with Hector was clearly cursing now as Hector continued to keep watch on what was coming their way.
He was a guardian once. That is Billy the Kid, he informed her. He’s extremely deadly and accurate with his weapon of choice. And he knows as well as anyone that they have to shatter the medallions or take our heads. Unfortunately, with his accuracy, he could do it from a hundred or more yards out with a handgun. With a rifle… Hector didn’t finish that thought. He didn’t need to.
“No,” Riley said loudly with wide eyes. You had better not get hurt, Hector, or I will not be a happy woman. She wished she could do something other than just see the truth of things. She wished she could fight. How can I help? What can I do?
Stay inside the vehicle. The glass will protect you, should he fire. Do not come out of there, Riley. I can’t be worrying about you. So please, for me, stay safe. Now, I’m sorry, but I have some monsters to destroy. She looked out the front windshield just in time to see all the men racing to meet the monsters bearing down on them.
“Oh God,” she whispered and sat back hard. The man that was barreling toward them seemed to be surrounded by light. But he was so much more than a man, that much was certain to her gaze. She bit her lip as she watched him step into the fray and the battle really began.
All four men had their weapons up, and they didn’t stop as the monsters reached them. They swung their blades—hacking, slicing, ducking, and weaving to avoid all contact. The entire fight seemed to take place in high speed.
Riley could only watch. She knew when it was over because there were likely twenty to thirty bodies lying around the men that were protecting the truck. She turned her eyes back to the shadows. The man that had been there before had not moved an inch while the others fought. Then she saw it—his hands moving to the pistols at his sides.
Riley didn’t think. She moved.
Opening the door, she raced toward Hector, knowing where the man was going to shoot without hesitation. She tossed herself against him just as she felt the burn of the bullet at her side. It would have shattered his medallion. “Crap, that hurts,” she cried out and held on to him. She saw two of the men racing for the tree line but knew that the cowboy was gone already. “Don’t you dare let me go.”
He cradled her close. “Damn it, Riley! I told you to stay in the car.” Pressing a kiss to her lips, then her cheeks, he rocked her in his lap. “Gaius! We need to get her to the Mountain, now! She’s been shot, damn it.” Another round of kisses to her face, his hand stroking over her cheek and throat. “Don’t you die on me, do you understand?”
“Let’s go,” Gaius shouted. “I’ve cut the wire. We can get the hell out of here. Thankfully, they didn’t have a clue what they were doing with the explosives, or we’d have been toast.”
Hector raced back to the truck. He climbed in, with her in his lap, to the front seat. “Go,” he growled at Gaius.
“Going, I’m going.” Gaius threw the truck into drive and, with a small skid, they shot off down the road toward a large mountain in the distance.
“I’m not going to die.” Hurts like hell, though. Riley felt numb from the waist down and was starting to from the waist up, but she clung to Hector. “I think it’s in my side. I don’t want to look down because I really don’t do blood well. If I see it, I’m going to pass out.” She hadn’t been able to think about the blood that had flown while the men had fought, but now that she had, that fast she closed her eyes. “Oh God.” She whimpered. “I saw blood. If I pass out, don’t yell at me,” she muttered and rubbed her cheek to the side of his neck. “I love you, Hector, for now and ever. You were worth being shot for.”
“Damn it, Riley.” He pressed her face closer and rested his cheek to hers. “I told you to stay in the truck.”
“She saved your life,” Gaius said. “If she hadn’t smacked you out of the way that shot would have taken out your medallion for sure. I couldn’t get to you quick enough. If not for her, you’d be dead. For good.”
“Fuck,” he breathed out. She felt a shudder move through his body. “I love you, Riley. But I’m not all that happy with you right now, even if you did save my hide.”
Gaius snorted at that. “I have a feeling you’ll be sucking up to her for years to come. I can see her whipping out the I saved your life card any time she’s on the losing end of an argument.”
Riley smiled and moved to touch her fingers to Hector’s lips. “You were worth saving,” she told him quietly. “I won’t pull that out on you. I love you too much to hold that against you. We’re good. Just get me somewhere so that they can give me something for this pain. No one ever said how much being shot hurt,” she grumbled. “You guys beat the hell out of th
ose men.”
“We did more than beat the hell out of them,” Gaius said.
“Shut up, Gaius. She doesn’t need a replay of all the gory details. She saw it. Grab the med kit from under the seat. We should have some morphine in it. I definitely need some gauze.”
“Hang on,” Gaius muttered. The vehicle slowed for a moment before something hit the console. A crink of paper. Hector lifted his head. Then he grabbed the package and tore into it with his teeth.
“I’m going to press this to your side. It’s going to fucking hurt, but I need to try and staunch the blood loss. So, hang on tight and curse up a blue streak if you need to.” It was her only warning before a handful of gauze was pressed against the wound, lighting up a fire along her side.
Riley screamed. Once again, her vision seemed to go sideways. “Holy freaking hell, that hurts.” She had a massive pain now, one that was burning hotter and hotter. “Oh God, I don’t like this. I don’t ever want to be shot again. You said morphine. Where is it?” she demanded as she clutched Hector’s shirt, her teeth now chattering as the shock began to fill her body.
Hector shot her a knowing look. He lifted a hand and took something else that Gaius was holding out. A little syringe. He used his teeth to yank off the cap. A small prick to her arm, then he pulled it out again. “You should start feeling it any second now,” he told her.
Suddenly, Riley felt the morphine that raced from one side of her body to the other. She sighed, resting against him again. He rocked her gently in his arms as he brushed light kisses over her face and lips. “We’re close, sweetheart. Shouldn’t be more than another couple of minutes. We’ll get you in and into our medical bay so we can get you cleaned up and get that wound looked after.” Then he growled, “Gaius.”
“We’re coming up on the parking bay. Another minute. Two at most. I’ll get you to the elevators and worry about parking later. How’s she doing?”
“Okay now,” Hector said. He was back to stroking her cheek and hair. “She’s still losing a lot of blood, though. Damn it, the bullet could have hit anything.”