Even more fucked up was the fact that, when I bit down on my lower lip, I could taste her skin, and that sent a bolt of oh-yeah straight through all my happy places. Not that it took much. A breeze could get that same kind of effect, and Josie…she wasn’t the kind of girl I’d go for. I tended to go for more of the in-your-face kind of hotness. Not pretty girls who existed somewhere between plain and sweet.
Her hair wasn’t plain, though.
Neither were her lips. Pouty. Bow-shaped. Soft-looking.
Or her eyes. Even though she clearly got them from her father’s side, there was always something…sexy about a pair of deep-blue peepers.
And she looked like she had a body under the chunky sweaters.
Fuck. Now my happy places were really happy.
I’d just crossed the midway point in the long stretch of lawn when I felt a sudden, oily heaviness slinking over my skin. I stopped, my narrowed gaze swinging over the trees and the students hurrying back and forth in the chilly night air. My attention landed on a middle-aged guy holding a briefcase. Glyphs raced across my skin in warning, but even without them, I would’ve known something wasn’t right about the dude.
He was standing in the middle of the lawn, staring right back at me. In the pale moonlight, his lips pulled back in a sneer.
Interesting. Looked mortal, but I’d bet my punching arm that he wasn’t—at least, not anymore.
The man pivoted, walking off quickly in the opposite direction. I glanced quickly to where Josie’s dorm rose in the distance, but then wheeled around. It took no time to catch up to the guy as we passed under a cluster of oaks. Dropping her bag on the ground, I reached out and clamped my hand down on the man’s shoulder. A jolt traveled up my arm, and the murky and thick feeling increased.
Yeah, something was not right about this dude.
I spun him around and stared into watery eyes, a washed-out color devoid of life. Inhaling, I caught a stale, musky scent that reminded me of when I’d been in the Underworld. Not a very pleasant smell.
Slamming my hand into the center of his chest, I pushed him back against the trunk of a thick oak, moving us out of the path of unsuspecting bystanders. My lip curled. “You smell of death.”
The thing inside the man cocked its head to the side and laughed a high-pitched wailing sound that most likely caught a bit of attention. “Funny that you know the smell,” it said, its voice distorted as if standing at the end of a long tunnel. “Since you reek of death yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wow. That was a clever comeback.”
“Fuck you,” it snarled.
“Even more ingenious. I bet you can carry on a real deep conversation. Let’s talk about the shitty economy next.”
The thing wearing the man smiled. “And I bet Hades is going to enjoy shoving every imaginable item up your ass when you finally get down there and become his personal chew toy.” It laughed as my hand tightened around the collar of its shirt. “What? Everyone knows about the deal you made, Apollyon.”
My eyes narrowed as my gaze drifted over it. There had to be a reason why it smelled like it’d rolled around in the Underworld and spritzed himself with cologne of death with an extra side of River Styx. My gaze shot back to his face as I remembered what Apollo had said about when the Titans had escaped. “You’re a fucking shade.”
It arched a brow, and those washed-out eyes turned all-black. “And you’re too late.”
The thing threw its head back against the tree with such force that the man’s skull cracked like a clap of thunder. It opened its mouth and pulled a Supernatural—the TV show Deacon always seemed to be watching whenever I was within a ten-mile radius of him. Black smoke poured out of it, whirling up into the trees, blacking out the branches before it disappeared into the night. I dropped my hand, and the guy hit the ground, dead on arrival.
I glanced down at the body. Next to him was the fallen briefcase. There was a name engraved—something ending in Ph.D. “Well, shit.”
Spinning around, I snatched the bag off the ground and picked up my pace. Shades were on campus, and there was no doubt in my mind that they were the ones that had escaped with the Titans. Which meant there was a damn good chance that the Titans were aware of Josie’s location.
I kept to the thicker shadows, moving faster than the mortals could track, becoming nothing more than a burst of wind until I hit the paved walkway leading up to Muse Hall.
Slowing, I jogged up the steps and threw open the door while I hoped Josie had calmed the hell down. The last thing I needed her to do was freak out and run screaming into the hills while I had damn shades roaming the campus, and worse yet, a possible Titan or two or five.
As I headed toward the elevators, a dark-haired brunette swung around from where she sat perched on the arm of the couch. Her glossy lips turned up at the corners as her gaze tracked my progress across the lobby. I got an eyeful of her chest as she bent over, folding her arms under her breasts. The low-cut sweater showed more than enough to get my notice.
Damn.
By the time I stepped into the elevator, I felt sort of molested. A grin tugged at my lips as I turned, facing the closing door. The girl was still staring. I wiggled my fingers at her, and then I got down to focusing on less interesting—but sadly, more important— topics. Like how to convince Josie this was real and neither of us was clinically insane before another shade—or something worse— popped up.
From what I knew about shades, they could possess mortal bodies and will them to do just about anything. And they were dangerous in their shadowy, spirit form, too. They could kill mortals easily, so that begged the question—why was Josie still up and walking around if shades were already here? Why hadn’t they taken her out? Unless that meant their orders weren’t to kill the demigods.
Or, unless the shade’s taunt that I was already too late meant Josie was lying somewhere in a bloody heap.
“Shit,” I hissed, tempted to wing the bag through the elevator walls. I doubted Apollo would be thrilled if I were already too late. Unease stirred in the pit of my stomach, and admittedly, I’d be less than thrilled myself. Hysterics and calling me Pollyanna aside, she seemed like she could be a cool girl.
But she was a pretty, cool girl with a short life expectancy, since she had Titans after her.
When the doors opened, I moved into the hall, heading for her room at the end. I might’ve been a handful of steps away when I felt the coiled awareness of something packing a whole bunch of aether—more than a pure would carry in their blood, even more than what I had.
That meant somewhere on this floor there was something very godlike. Not a pure or a half, and definitely not another Apollyon, since I was the only one currently topside. And it wasn’t the same feeling I got when I’d sensed the shade. The sensation increased as I reached Josie’s door, and as I gripped the handle, I swore under my breath. Yep, something packing a whole lot of aether was in her room. And dammit if I didn’t feel that hollowing in my stomach, that emptiness that begged to be filled with the power only draining aether could fill. I usually could ignore the urge whenever Apollo was around, because his general dickheadedness overshadowed everything else.
But fuck. I was like a damn daimon jonesing for a fix.
And that pissed me off.
Twisting the doorknob, I tapped into the element of fire and melted the internal gears. Open Sesame. There was a shriek from inside the room as I stepped in, kicking the door shut behind me. Took no time to find Josie, since the room was the size of a shoebox. She was sitting on a bed to my right, her back pressed against the wall, eyes wide and the odd, multicolored hair hanging down over her shoulders, past her breasts. Her face was as pale as a daimon’s.
“I brought you your bag,” I announced, tossing it to land on a skewed blue mat on the floor.
“Holy crap,” she whispered, blinking several times. “You’re not real. You’re not real.”
I sighed, widening my stance. “Not this again.”
&
nbsp; She opened her mouth, but then the narrow door near the foot of her bed opened. I would’ve thought it was a closet door, but it couldn’t have been, unless a half-naked chick had been hiding in there.
If so, this was my kind of dorm.
But the moment I got a really good look at the tall girl wearing shorts that barely covered what she had going on and a sports bra, I knew I’d found the source of all that aether goodness.
The girl looked to be Josie’s age, which based on what Apollo had said had to be around twenty. Her head whipped toward me, the movement very snakelike.
My muscles tightened. Our eyes locked like two bulls ready to knock horns.
“Do you see him?” Josie asked, clutching fists full of the blanket. “Do you see him, Erin?”
“Yeah, I see him.” Squaring off with me, a wall of red-hot fury radiated from her, practically coating the room.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
Her features sharpened as she pulled back her lips, baring shark-like teeth. “You killed one of my sisters.”
“What?” squeaked Josie.
I squinted at the girl. During the time I was with Ares, I…I’d killed a lot of people. Some were pures. Some were halfs. Some were even mortals. Basically, anyone who’d gotten in his way. Not too different from what I did now for the remaining gods. “You’re going to have to narrow that down for me.”
She drew back as if she’d been slapped, and yeah, maybe I could’ve been a little more sensitive about my request for additional info, but I was a jackass—and apparently everyone else knew it too.
The smile that appeared on her face was almost nice, except for the jagged teeth and barbed-edged quality to it. Then the girl who called herself Erin stepped forward, shedding her mortal façade.
Her flesh turned a murky gray, washing away the deep hue of her skin. Gray wings sprouted out of her back, reaching at least six feet—a huge-ass wingspan that was sort of impressive. Her fingers elongated, forming claws that could disembowel someone with a flick of the wrist. Her black hair thinned all around her head, forming a thousand tiny black snakes that snapped at the air around her. The dark eyes disappeared, and all-white ones appeared.
“Oh my God,” Josie whispered, looking like she was trying to become one with the wall behind her. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”
“Furie,” I groaned. “Seriously?”
Erin—the name was so funny now, considering the actual Greek word for furie was Erinyes—rose up off the ground. “Yeah,” she spat. “Seriously.”
Whatever guilt I’d felt inside me for killing her sister had washed right away. Godsdamn furies. Yeah, I’d taken one of them out when I’d been all juiced up on the aether, but gods, those bitches had been gunning for my ass long before I’d done that. Furies were used by the gods to search down those who’d escaped justice, and they were a sign of a very unhappy pantheon. There could only be one reason why she was here—to protect Josie—and I had to remind myself of that.
“Okay. So I did kill your sister. But how many more do you have? Hundreds?”
She let out a low rumble of warning. “I should rip out your intestines and string them around the ceiling.”
My brows rose. “That paints a pretty picture.”
“This isn’t real,” Josie said, scooting along the wall. One leg made it over the edge of the bed. “This cannot be real.”
“Oh, it’s real. Your roomie here is a furie.” The creature drifted to the side, blocking Josie as she came to her feet, forcing her back, away from me. Suspicions confirmed. “And Apollo sent you.”
The furie snapped at the air, baring those attractive teeth. “Boy, you’re a smart Apollyon.”
Akasha zapped over my skin, appearing as a shimmer of golden light along my right forearm. “Do you want to join your sister?”
She hissed. “I’d like to see you try.”
“What’s happening?” Josie whispered.
A pulse of energy rolled out from me. The overhead light flickered. Loose pieces of paper rattled. The furie flew forward, swiping out at me with razor-sharp claws. I spun out to the side and dipped under a wing, coming up with my back to Josie and the furie in front of the door.
“Oh, you are really starting to irritate me,” I warned, dodging her leg as she kicked out. I snapped forward, catching hold of her ankle. I let go with akasha, enough to send a friendly little buzz through her. She growled as she swung her arm toward me. Releasing her ankle, I caught her hand before it connected with my face. “Knock it off.”
Rage poured off her as she aimed her other arm at me. Catching that one, too, I yanked her down so her feet were on the floor.
“What is happening?” Josie shrieked.
I dipped and kicked out, sweeping the furie’s legs out from under her. Wings folded in as she hit the floor on her back. I sprang forward, dropping down so my knees held her legs immobile. Grabbing hold of her wrists, I pinned her down, keeping those damn claws away from my face. “You must be young, if that move took you down.”
“I am the youngest of my sisters, you dickhead,” she spat back. “But that won’t stop—”
“Dammit.” I kicked my head back as Josie darted around us, stumbling over as the door flung open. She skidded to a halt.
Underneath me, the furie used the distraction to her advantage. Rolling her powerful hips, she flipped me off her just as the heavy scent of death and decay entered the room. A shade.
I landed on my side and rolled as Erin’s claws came down, digging and ripping through the carpet. Gods—she really didn’t like me. Flipping to my feet, I jumped back as her razor-sharp nails caught the front of my shirt, slicing it open over my abs. Hot pain flared across my stomach.
I was so done with this shit.
Throwing my arm out, I let go with of a bolt of akasha. The shimmery blue light crackled like lightning as it smacked into her leg, spinning her up and back. She hit the wall beside the bed. Plaster cracked as she recovered, pushing off. On a hunch, I ducked as I pivoted, and the furie flew over my head.
“Josie!” I yelled, seeing her going toward the thing that had walked through the door like it was her own personal savior.
“No!”
She whirled toward me as the guy, who looked like an average student, grabbed for her.
“Come with me,” it said, wrapping his hand around her wrist. He twisted her arm hard, his eyes going completely black, and she cried out as she yanked back against him.
I launched forward as Erin finally realized the change in the situation. She spun, reaching for the shade as her wings roared through the air at the same moment Josie pulled herself free. A wing hit her in the chest, lifting her up off her feet. I lurched toward her, but it was too late. She smacked into the blinds covering the narrow window. Glass cracked, and then she was falling forward. Cursing, I slid across the floor, catching her around the waist before she ate the carpet. I turned her, pulling her to my chest. Lowering her to the floor, I slipped a hand under her neck as I straightened her body out.
Thick eyelashes, a dusty brown, fanned the tops of her cheeks. Her skin was pale as I pressed a hand above her breasts. Her heartbeat was steady under my palm. I quickly skimmed my fingers over her chest, ignoring the soft swells as I checked out her ribcage. Maybe the keyword was “trying” to ignore the curve of her breasts, which appeared fuller than I’d expected.
I was a total fucking creep sometimes.
Grinding my teeth together, I reached up and brushed the thick mass of hair back from her forehead. Nothing appeared broken. Out cold, but still alive—for now.
I looked up just as the furie caught the shade in the stomach. Blood squirted, and gore erupted. The shade threw its head back, releasing itself into black smoke that slammed into the ceiling, rattling the walls.
“Oh, I don’t think so.” The furie shot up, opening her mouth. Her chest rose as she inhaled. The black smoke stilled, its center bubbling and wiggling as tiny, finger-like tendrils whipped out.
“Yeah,” I murmured, my fingers stilling in Josie’s hair. “That was…gross.”
She whirled toward me, but her gaze landed on Josie’s prone body. Immediately, she shifted back into her mortal form as she dropped down on the other side of her. She reached for Josie, but for some reason that was beyond me, I moved one hand to the back of Josie’s head and the other to her hip, guiding her into my lap. The look I sent the furie must’ve been read loud and clear, because she withdrew her hands.
Our stares held once more, and then she sighed, her shoulders shuddering, and dipped her chin to her chest. “They’ve found her.”
CHAPTER
7
I KNEW I was dreaming, because I was back home, sitting at the golden oak table in the old, country-style kitchen in my grandparents’ house, and I was wearing a grown-up version of the red cowgirl outfit that I’d loved dearly and had worn almost every
The Return Page 6