Hate

by Gemma Brocato

  Finn eased back without releasing Aerie from the circle of his arms. “I nearly lost my mind when I saw you tackle Lykos. That move where you snapped his wrist was a thing of beauty. Where did you learn that? From a gladiator?”

  She shook her head, resting her weight against his arms braced around her. “Last year at the Olympiad. The gym offered a free self-defense class and I signed up.” Adding the supernatural nudge wasn’t on the class list. That was all her.

  Mnemosyne shifted out of the Hollow without the traditional pressure. The diminutive woman patted her curly gray hair as her lime colored mist faded. She hustled over to Lily’s sons, and after a whispered consultation with Aphrodite, set to work on clearing the frightening memories from the sleeping youngsters.

  “Finn.” Aerie drew his worried attention from the boys with a gentle touch to his jaw. “You answered the what if. I believe the magic you quit believing in was whether true love exists. Colored by your father’s behavior. You said it yourself—he no longer has power over you. This confrontation with Lykos proved to you there are different kinds of love, but all are true. You love Scott and Sam as your own. You love Lily like a sister—”

  He stopped her words with a hard press of his lips to hers. His breath sighed out when he broke off the kiss. “I love you.”

  Aerie’s heart swelled. “I love you, Finn. With the kind of love I’ve never experienced before. Truly, deeply, passionately.”

  Mars snapped his fingers. “All unnecessary personnel can report back to headquarters. We will give these two some space.”

  Two of the partisans hoisted the still unconscious Lykos, then misted with him into the Hollow, followed by Aphrodite. Hygeia still worked on Lily and Mnemosyne was moving from Rod to Bernie.

  As the room cleared of immortals, Finn kissed her again, holding her tight against his body. This time, when he pulled away, he rested his cheek on the crown of her head. “So is that it? Challenge over? Hate was morphing back into a bird, so we won, right?”

  Aerie tensed. “I don’t know. I’m worried because Pierus never showed his ugly mug. He’s always been present at the final challenges before.” And she fervently wished it would remain so.

  Until she could consult with Zeus, she had no way of knowing for sure.

  Twenty-One

  Once Mnemosyne had completed her cleanup work, and instilled new memories of traveling to Aerie’s office in the Winsteads’ conscious thoughts, Finn helped Mars position everyone. Once Mars removed the thrall, they’d just believe they’d arrived for their scheduled appointment. Mars even went so far as to twine Rod and Lily’s hands together. Considering the guy was the god of war, he had a mushy side. Phillip took a seat at the desk across from Bernie’s.

  Mars eyed the scene, then clucked his tongue against his teeth, as though pleased with what he’d wrought.

  Finn gripped Aerie’s shoulders as he said goodbye. “I don’t want to leave you. I want this fucking challenge to be over so we can get on with our lives.” He’d already gotten three text updates from Anse. He had to get back to work.

  “We’ll be fine. I’ll see you at the house later, okay?”

  He slanted a kiss over her silky lips, silently rejoicing she wasn’t a bird. He sensed her escalating worry about Pierus, but knew they just had to wait the old bastard out. A fact that sucked worse than Lykos had when his lips were on Lily’s.

  He broke the seal between their mouths and repressed a shudder. Being trapped behind Lykos’s barrier watching the woman he loved facing the satyr had pushed him to the very edge of insanity. He’d been close to slipping into the Hollow involuntarily but had resisted. At least that was something he’d been able to control.

  Mars clapped him on the shoulder, right over the supernatural mark he bore. Tingling and heat surged at the point of contact. The entire area felt sparkly. “Time to go, son. You must report to work. Even I have a boss to report to. Zeus grows impatient.”

  “I’m ready.” But he wasn’t really.

  He couldn’t drag his eyes from Aerie as she seated herself behind her desk and flipped open a binder. Low-grade anxiety filled Finn, a sensation he couldn’t quite conquer as Mars levitated them six inches from the floor.

  Their combined mist as they shifted colored his vision cobalt. Mars’s center pulsed yellow, a shade darker than the color thrumming in Finn’s chest.

  “You did a fine job, Michael.” Mars’s deep bass voice reverberated in Finn’s head.

  If Finn had a head in the mist, he’d be shaking it. “No, I didn’t. I nearly lost my shit when I was trapped and couldn’t get to Aerie or Lily. I couldn’t do anything to help.” He punched one fist into the palm of the other, his mist seething with the violence of the motion.

  Sparkles flared again over his shoulder as Mars’s mist brushed against his. “It was a tough situation. And remember, Phillip was trapped there with you. I imagine Zeus is stripping Lykos’s powers away right now. The satyr will wake up and find himself all alone on a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea, powerless, with a need to copulate and only goats for company.” Mars chuckled, the sound evil and oddly satisfied.

  Finn made a mental note to never get on his bad side. “Will Aerie be okay now? She’s worried because Pierus didn’t show.”

  “This has me worried as well. Phillip is with her, and we have not removed surveillance on her house and office.”

  Phillip’s presence hadn’t been any more helpful than Finn’s this time. Aerie had dealt with everything on her own. Finn’s heart pounded when he recalled her charging toward the satyr. Mortal actions had stopped Lykos, but had put her far too close to the bastard.

  Rolling his neck to ease the punishing tension, he noted pinpricks of light he’d never noticed before dotting the Hollow overhead. He sensed their forward trajectory slowing. The sidewalk across from the police station solidified beneath him, but the world remained grayed out.

  Finn’s body took shape again. He jolted forward a little when the ground remained six inches below the soles of his feet.

  “Um, a bit public to just materialize here, isn’t it?” Wasn’t there some kind of rule or prohibition against startling mortals and making them aware of the presence of gods?

  “Aerie said you suck at masking. It is why I traveled with you here, instead of returning to Olympus. We are cloaked. No mortal can detect our arrival. Just checking to ensure the coast is clear.”

  Finn pointed to the corner of the station. “CCTV cameras in place. Pretty high tech. They pick up everything.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.” In the blink of an eye, Mars moved them behind a tree. “Typically, our appearance isn’t picked up by closed circuit cameras. But still best to exercise a little caution.”

  With a tiny pop of pressure, Finn’s feet hit the ground and the remaining mist vanished. He faced Mars, but scanned notifications on his cell phone. Anse had texted again. “Well, thanks for the lift.”

  Mars halted him with a hand on his arm. “Michael, in the future, you need to remember to turn off your GPS when you enter the Hollow. It freaks out mortal technicians to have phones jump from one spot on the planet to another. As a detective, you know this is one method the police employ to find lost individuals.”

  “Yeah, makes sense.”

  “There will be a meeting later at Olympus. You will need to come with Aerie. But,” his fingers tightened on Finn’s forearm, “I ask you to remain vigilant. Pierus’s absence in this last confrontation is bothersome.”

  Finn gave the god a terse nod, then started across the street. A blast of pressure constricted around his chest as Mars slipped back into the Hollow. Finn dodged a squad car pulling out of the garage, then raced up the steps into the station.

  He found Anson pacing in front of one of the interrogation rooms. “About time you showed up. Where the hell have you been? Barber is in an uproar. And you have a couple visitors.”

  Finn nodded to a passing uniformed officer and waited to explain until the guy
disappeared around the corner. He kept his voice low. “Lykos showed at Aerie’s office. Phillip and I were stuck behind this crazy supernatural wall and couldn’t help, but Aerie beat the crap out of him.” Yeah, even Finn recognized the note of pride in his own voice.

  “That’s our girl. Groovy like a drive-in movie.” Anson occasionally said the most insane things. Today was no exception. “But I’m sensing you’re still worried.”

  “You using your spidey senses to get that?”

  “Nah, man. You’re frowning like someone put you in a round room and told you to piss in a corner.”

  The muscles in Finn’s face and shoulders relaxed, tension melting over Anse’s crazy expression. “We should stay on guard. Pierus wasn’t at the showdown. Even though Hate started the transition back to her magpie form, Aerie and Mars are both worried the challenge might not be over. But I did answer the what if question.”

  “Roger that.” Anse pointed to the door to the interview room. “I’ll cover for you with Barber if you want to talk to your visitors first. They arrived an hour ago.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Claimed to be your family. Mom, Dad and little brother.”

  Finn stumbled backward. Dread spiked in his gut. Anger followed with razor-sharp intensity.

  “What the actual fuck?” He hadn’t seen nor spoken to his parents in nearly fifteen years. That they’d show up right now felt more ominous than scary movies when the stupid college kids went into the darkened house. And about as much fun.

  Crushing unpleasant memories of his parents’ abuse and betrayal, Finn stalked to the door. Before he reached for the handle, he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, forcing a calming breath out. Why would they show now, right after Lykos mentioned them? He chanted to himself, they no longer define my world.

  Anse tapped his shoulder. “You need back-up, buddy?”

  He’d like to back this day up. Erase Lykos, erase all the supernatural shit he’d seen. Erase Stan and Teresa Finnegan’s surprise visit. Remove all traces of the day until only he and Aerie remained.

  But that wasn’t happening. He squared his shoulders. “Thanks, Anse. I’ve got this.” Body and emotions cold and controlled, he twisted the knob and shoved the door open.

  His parents were tense and unnaturally rigid, seated at the scarred wooden table. A third person, his brother, John, leaned against the wall next to the two-way mirror. Finn slammed the door shut, closing him in with the people he used to call family. Horrific memories of his father beating his mother threatened to overwhelm.

  He shoved them away, spread his legs wide and crossed his arms over his chest. His fingertips caressed the butt of his gun in the holster. “What are you doing here?”

  Teresa started to rise, but dear old Dad settled his hand on her arm, forcing her back to her seat.

  “We’ve missed you, boy.” His dad’s fingernails whitened as he applied pressure to his mom’s arm. Fading, yellow bruises marred the side of his mom’s jaw. Old, familiar anger zipped through Finn.

  “Calling bullshit on that. Maybe you missed one of the spectators at the circus you called family life. But you haven’t missed me, or even attempted to contact me.” Not once in the fifteen years since he left home. No notes, no calls. And thank God, no surprise visits. Until now.

  A grimace flickered on Mom’s face, but she masked it. “We’re your parents, Mikey. We want back in your life.”

  Finn growled, low and deep. “No way in hell. You and John picked your poison fifteen years ago. I’ve made my peace with that.” More so after this afternoon’s events. “You don’t get back in. I’ve moved on.”

  He eyed John, who hadn’t moved. The expression in John’s eyes was a curious mixture; shrewd on the left side, fearful on the right. Like two people existed inside John’s head. A smirk lifted one corner of John’s mouth.

  Finn’s innate sense of something’s-rotten-in-Denmark flared neon-bright, raising the hair on his arms. There was something so off about all of them.

  The brow over the shrewd eye lowered. John lifted one hand, fingers curled into a fist. At the table, his parents froze into a tableau of fear.

  Recognition hit Finn like a shovel to the back of his head. It wasn’t really John. Some other entity occupied the man’s flesh and bone.

  Finn tipped his head to the side, fighting the panic and anger blaring through him like a foghorn. “Pierus?”

  “Ah, son of Mars. You see through my disguise.” The voice was oddly mechanical and lower than he remembered John’s being. “Mere mortals can never tell.”

  “Why involve these people?” Finn couldn’t quite puzzle it out. His concept of family had ceased to exist when Teresa and John willingly went back to his abusive father.

  “Because you can’t escape your heritage. You’ve missed your family and have longed to have them back in your life. This you can admit to yourself.”

  “About as much as I’d miss a violent case of diarrhea.” Finn took a cautious step forward. Even though his gun was holstered, he thumbed the safety off. The level of threat he sensed was off the charts.

  The laugh issuing from John’s mouth lacked mirth. “Boy, you can’t stop me with a gun. You’d best forget that.”

  Fuck. He’d forgotten the whole immortal immunity to bullets thing. He slipped his hands into his pocket and forced his muscles to relax. “You said yourself, I’m the son of Mars. These people aren’t really my family.” Just thinking about Mars’s mark on his shoulder made it tingle, an electrical current zipping from it to his brain. Mars’s respect meant more to Finn than his parents’ love ever had.

  John’s face contorted, stretching wide, then screwing tightly on itself, as if squeezing something out. He arched back, groaning like he was in pain. An aura of silver and inky black, with a splash of rusty red, the color of drying blood, became visible. Stan and Teresa didn’t move, didn’t react to the sound of their child in agony. Even under the influence of a megalomaniac god, their non-reaction was bizarre.

  Aerie had explained that reaching out to other immortals required visualization. Clutching his cell phone, Finn imagined typing a text to Anson. Without taking his eyes from the spectacle playing out in front of him, he mentally pressed send. “Anse, if you can hear this, I need you now.”

  With agonizing slowness, the black mist separated from John’s silver aura.

  A voice issued from the oily darkness pulling away from his brother. “Now you’re ruining my fun. Calling for reinforcements that way.”

  Surprised, Finn leaned away from the vapor.

  Another hellish laugh sounded. “What? You didn’t think I could overhear your conversations? You are but a fledgling at the business of being an immortal. I hear everything you think.”

  Finn scrambled around his memories of everything Aerie and Mars had told him about cloaking an area so that supernatural activity could go undetected. Summoning power he wasn’t confident he could control, it swirled up his torso. In his mind he cast a wide net, covering all four walls and the ceiling of the interrogation room. Then he reinforced the covering over the surveillance mirror and camera, just to be safe. His chest heaved and tingled with the mental exertion. But he felt comfortable that he’d accomplished what he set out to do.

  Behind him, the door creaked open, and Anson slipped into the room. Facing the entry, he waved his hands over it, turning it into a solid sheet of cobalt. He spun back toward Finn. Keeping a wary eye on the seething forms of Pierus and John, he explained, “Sealed the entry so only immortals can get in or out. We have about five minutes before someone notices. You did good cloaking the room. Now, what’s this?” He gestured toward Pierus.

  The god materialized and freed himself of the remaining mortal silver aura. John collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

  Pierus kicked John’s inert form as he stepped away from him. Grinding his jaws together, Finn narrowed his eyes, imagining constructing a brick wall around his parents and brother. Layering bricks on top of eac
h other as fast as his mind would allow.

  Pierus jerked to a halt, eyes widening. He tsked his tongue against his teeth and waggled his finger toward the area Finn was concentrating on. “Your powers have evolved much faster than I anticipated.”

  The mental wall Finn had been building one brick at a time caved. Casting a wild glance at Anse, Finn tipped his head to his family. “Help me. I can’t hold the barrier by myself.”

  Anse stepped up to Finn and grasped his elbow. Power surged along his forearm, reinforcing the protective barrier. At least between Pierus and John. They weren’t so lucky with the other part of the wall, the one meant to protect his parents.

  Levitating off the floor, Pierus floated around the partially deconstructed barrier behind Finn’s parents. He laid his hands on Teresa’s shoulders. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Even though he’d written them off years ago, the sight of his mother crying twisted his gut. The glare Pierus leveled at Finn fired up a solid burn on the back of his shoulder blade. It felt as if the mark he bore was aflame.

  Pierus bent so his mouth was close to her ear, but projected his words so Finn heard them as well. “He does not bear a strong resemblance to his father, does he?”

  Mom’s eyes cranked to the side, as if trying to see Finn’s dad’s face. Finn stared at his father, waiting to hear what else the crazy deity had to say, and what dear old Dad’s reaction would be to the words. Dad’s face was still frozen, but his eyes flashed like hard, cold diamonds.

  Pierus pinned his gaze on Finn, delight glinting as if he was about to reveal a remarkable secret. The immortal gripped his mom’s chin between his fingers and continued, “Have you ever wondered, Detective Finnegan, why your father beat your mother? He subscribes to the old school of thought that a woman should be faithful to her husband. Imagine his fury upon finding his wife rolling in a bed with no other than Mars. Did you know Stan was not your real father?”