by Casey Wyatt
The air superheated. The Fury’s hair combusted, then her whole head burst into flames. The Fury shrieked and batted at the inferno as her face melted like wax. Her eyes exploded with a sickening burst. Nix gagged on the rancid stench of roasting flesh.
“Nix, run!” Cal shouted. Nix jumped up off the couch, then headed for the backroom.
A pair of arms stopped her. “No. Outside.” Cal pushed her forward.
“No. I can’t leave Basil.”
The bird’s screeches became more frantic. Something was wrong with him. He wasn’t talking.
“I’ll get him. You get the hell out. Now!” Cal was in the backroom before she could protest.
The Fury had extinguished the flames. She convulsed as her eyes reformed in the sockets. She pivoted in Nix’s direction. Yellow eyes zeroed in on her. Angry didn’t even begin to cover the rage on the Fury’s face. Nix raced out the door and onto the street. They might have a chance to escape into the crowd if the Furies abided by the ancient custom of remaining hidden among mortals. Nix glanced back at the Fury still twitching on the floor.
Cal appeared by her side, Basil tucked under his arm. “Any sign of the others?”
Nix shook her head. Three swift bangs sounded from the roof. “Up there!”
Basil broke free of Cal’s grip and flew up to the shop’s roof.
Nix saw Mary’s sword as it glinted in the light. It arced so fast it looked like a golden streak. Nix caught a quick glimpse of Jason before he was repelled toward the roof’s edge. Nix gasped, fearing he would fall off. A moment later, Jason picked himself up and disappeared out of view.
“Come on. They can handle themselves. We have to move.” Cal waved toward the shop. “The Fury must be healed by—”
The Fury was gone. The shop was empty.
Cal and Nix went back to back in a defensive crouch. Nix scanned the street, unable to locate the Fury.
“This isn’t good,” Cal said in a low voice. “There’s no way it just gave up.”
“I don’t trust any of them to follow the rules. We need to stop them here.” Nix assessed the water supply situation. With the river so close, she wouldn’t be running out anytime soon.
Overhead, bursts of color flared into multi-hued flowers of light. The air crackled with pops and whistles. The fireworks show had begun. Nix looked around. Where in Hades was Zephyr?
She didn’t have time to wonder. The corpse Fury barreled down the road, its razor-tipped fingers overhead. Her arms reached outward and stretched like rubber bands.
“Cal!” Nix knocked him off balance. The blades brushed by her head, narrowly missing.
Cal skirted around Nix. A violent burst of orange flame blasted into the Fury. The Fury sidestepped the fireball and whip-snapped her arms at Cal, knocking him into the alley.
The arms aimed for Nix next.
Nix ducked and rolled, barely avoiding being skewered. She couldn’t keep the pace up for long. The Fury was fast and could regenerate. Nix only had her training and adrenaline on her side. If she had the mantle on, the odds would be even. Too bad the cloak was locked in the safe.
Nix rose to her feet. The street was deserted. Nix summoned water into two whips. Two could play the long distance attack game. She cracked the watery ropes and shouted, “Scared already?”
The Fury laughed behind her, unimpressed. “Go ahead. Try and hurt me, Nereid.”
Gods, they were arrogant. Nix pivoted and let the whips fly. One coiled around the Fury’s leg. Nix yanked, throwing the bitch off balance. She flicked the second whip. The tip connected, slapping the Fury’s face. Nix dispersed the water into pins, driving them deeply into the creature’s eye sockets.
While the Fury howled and clawed at its face, Nix yelled to Cal as he emerged from the alley. “Any sign of Zephyr?”
A sonic boom went off in Nix’s backyard. Debris shot high into the air. A hubcap dropped onto the blinded Fury, further enraging it.
“That had better not be my car!” Damn it all to Hades.
Cal lobbed superheated rocks at the wounded Fury’s head. “Keep aiming for the face. That seems to be their weak point.” Cal grunted as a trash barrel crashed into his chest.
Distracted, Nix failed to see the hubcap in time. It smashed into her nose, breaking her concentration. The water whips splashed to the ground. When Nix looked up, the Fury had vanished. Warm blood dripped onto her lips. Nix ignored it.
“Where’d the one with the stretchy arms go?” Nix ran down the street, checking the alley. Panic bloomed. What if the thing went after the crowd?
Basil cried overhead and landed on Nix’s shoulder. “Dig a ditch and bury the bitch,” he sang.
“What?” Nix ran down the alley. She didn’t have time for Basil’s cryptic ditties. When she couldn’t find Zephyr or the Fury, she ran back to Cal.
“We need a plan. The Fury is healing too fast. We’ll wear down before it will.”
Cal joined Nix in the center of the street. “Agree. Any sign of the other one?”
The ground rumbled under their feet. Bright beams of light cut into the night. A large vehicle barreled down East Main Street—an eighteen-wheeler from Hell—helmed by an angry, scorched, and blinded Fury.
Blue flames traveled across the asphalt at high speed, igniting the tires on contact. The rubber vaporized. The truck’s rims sparked and screeched as the vehicle swerved. It continued to speed forward, not even slowed down by lack of tires.
Nix gathered all the water she could handle. She raised a giant liquid wall between them and the truck.
“Will that hold?” Cal asked.
“Not likely,” Nix grunted. Basil flapped his wings in her face. She batted them back. “Knock it off, birdbrain.”
The truck impacted the barrier with a deafening bang. The noise was masked by the booms from the fireworks display. The truck’s cab veered off the road, then headed straight for a vacant building. The trailer skidded and curved, tipping over. At the moment before the cab’s impact, wind gusts cushioned the blow. Not enough to save the side of the building. The structure buckled, releasing a torrent of broken wood, flying glass, and crushed bricks. The trailer slid to a halt against the debris.
Zephyr appeared in a whirlwind behind Nix.
“Where is the beast Fury?” Nix shifted Basil. His claws were digging holes into her shoulders. He flew up and perched on a streetlamp.
“She won’t be bothering us anymore.” The front of Zephyr’s white shirt was soaked in oily gray liquid and chunky bits of flesh. Nix swallowed back bile. Gross.
She looked around, fearing the worst. “Where’s Devlin?”
“Look out!” Cal shouted. Too late.
The no longer blinded Fury scooped her up and ran off with her at super-human speed. Her arms were pinned behind her, the Fury crushing her hard against its rotting chest. The sharp blades cut painfully into her skin.
“Put me down!” Nix tugged her arms and kicked her legs, deepening the wounds. She didn’t care. Alone with the Fury, she would be dead.
The Fury stopped and pile drove Nix into the pavement of a vacant parking lot. Gravel and rocks gouged her back.
“Now, the seal shall be mine.” With a wrench, it snapped the chain holding Rocky’s soul. “It’s mine. The master will be so pleased.”
The Fury’s glee was short-lived. Blue flames erupted, torching the remainder of its clothes. A ring of orange fire rose up, surrounding the monster.
Cal jumped into the wall of flame, swallowed by its intense heat. Nix’s back ached and her legs were numb as she attempted to move. She knew Cal wouldn’t be burned to death, but he had no soul . . . if the Fury wounded him—
The Fury shrieked, “Give it back!”
Cal emerged, the chain clutched in his fist. The Fury followed close behind, but Cal was too fast and disappeared into the darkness.
The Fury spun around, trying to locate Cal. Defeated, she turned back to Nix. “I can still kill you.”
Blood ran into Nix
’s eyes and poured out of the wounds along her arms. Her legs wouldn’t move. If she had a little more time, she would heal, but time was running out. Nix created a water shield.
The Fury punched into the shield, shredding it like paper. Nix used the remainder of her energy to avoid the bladed fingertips as they attempted to skewer her. Too weak, she couldn’t hold the shield any longer. It collapsed, leaving her defenseless.
Cal and Zephyr ran toward her. Even with their God powers, they wouldn’t make it in time. Blade-tipped fingers were headed straight for her neck, the ends dripping with poison. Poison, Nix was sure, that could kill even a God.
Basil screeched, landing between Nix and the Fury. The Fury stopped and assessed the bird. Determining Basil was no threat, it swung the blade at him.
“You’re going down!” Basil cackled.
Bright green light flared out. Spots danced across Nix’s eyes.
Basil was gone, replaced by a Basilisk—a sinuous cross between a snake and a chicken. Its serpentine lower body had scales, the same green as Basil’s feathers. The upper body was birdlike. His face had a small chicken beak and enormous swiveling eyes.
The Fury froze—terror written all over its face. Every creature feared the Basilisk. It could petrify anyone or anything with its gaze. Even Zeus.
“Nix, cover your eyes!” Cal shouted, an arm across his face. Zephyr assumed a similar stance. They both inched their way toward her.
“Have no fear, Basilisk Man is here!” Basil slithered over to the Fury as she furiously backed away. The former bird peeked over and winked at Nix, his gaze meeting hers.
Oh. Shit. She braced herself for oblivion. Nothing happened.
Cal and Zephyr reached her at the same moment. She gasped, her strength fading. “Basil can control who he petrifies. Toast the Fury . . . before it gets away.”
They didn’t wait to be told twice. Cal and Zephyr ran behind Basil as the basilisk herded the Fury down a dark alley.
More spots floated in front of Nix’s eyes. She needed to rest . . . just for a minute. In the distance, she heard some whimpers, a loud squish, then silence. Gravel crunched. Two sets of heavy footsteps approached. Wings flapped overhead.
She opened her eyes.
“This is yours.” Cal placed Rocky’s soul into her palm and closed her trembling fingers with his. The gentle curve of his smile and his earnest brown eyes made her body warm. Not with desire, but with love. And gratitude. He had listened and remembered. It mattered to him that Rocky’s soul was safe. She pushed past the pain in her back and wrapped her arms around Cal’s neck, hugging him tight. Gods she loved him. Loved him. The moment was bittersweet. They still hadn’t found Cal’s soul.
She was bone tired. Her heavy eyelids drifted down. Arms lifted her up. She was floating. Cal’s comforting wood smoke scent filled her lungs.
Basil flew overhead, back in parrot form, whistling, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” The sounds of mortals as they flooded the streets assaulted her ears.
Nix peeled her eyelids back open. They were headed back to the shop against the wave of the crowd. The knife wounds throbbed as her body healed.
“I look like a murder victim,” Nix said, burying her face against Cal’s neck. “What happened to Mary and Jason?” What a shitty boss she was. Only thinking of them now.
“They’re fine. The Fury was destroyed. Basil froze it, and they hacked it apart.”
“Good. What about Devlin?”
Cal’s lips curled into a sly smile. “So, starting to like the Satyr after all?”
Nix scowled and feebly pushed Cal’s chest. “He’s not so bad.”
“Devlin will recover. He’s survived worse. He’s tough—”
Cal clammed up, like he had revealed too much. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask Cal just how well he knew Devlin when Zephyr interrupted.
“We’re almost there,” Zephyr called over his shoulder. “A few more blocks.” Zephyr ran interference, attempting to shield Nix and Cal from the oncoming crowd.
How far had the Fury taken her? Just when Nix thought she would never see Mystic Ink again, the storefront appeared. A welcome sight. First thing she wanted was to heal and then take a long, hot shower.
Her relief evaporated. Officer Dinsdale came into view, like the proverbial bad penny, and intercepted them. Cal passed Nix to Zephyr and deftly steered the patrolman around, ear close to the mortal’s, as if in an intimate conversation. Basil landed on Cal’s shoulder and spread out his wings, shielding Nix’s injuries from Dinsdale’s view. Nix was relieved that Basil was silent for once. No Officer Dickface tonight.
A light fog rose around Zephyr. “This should mask us until we get inside.”
Clouds of sulfuric smoke, left over from the fireworks, hung low in the air. Nix was grateful for the hazy cover as they slipped into the shop through the side alley door. Zephyr sat her on the back counter and tended to her wounds. Most of the surface abrasions and cuts had healed, but there was a lot of caked-on blood to clean up. The internal bruises would take a few hours longer to repair themselves.
“Well, I got you off the hook again.” Cal entered the break room, depositing Basil on the counter next to Nix. “Officer Dinsdale wasn’t surprised to see the damage to your shop. Or the eighteen-wheeler accident nearby. You are becoming quite a curiosity to him.”
Not a good thing, either. For the mortal. If he poked too closely, he would become a target for a memory wipe, courtesy of Nereus.
“I hope you dissuaded him,” Zephyr warned as he tossed all the bloody waste in the bin.
“Of course I did,” Cal said, his gaze fixed on Nix. Cal torched the bloody towels into ash. Since blood could be used in rituals against a God, it was always a good idea to be cautious.
“How did you explain the broken window?” Nix asked.
“I blamed it on some drunk asshole.”
“Did he buy it?” Nix hoped so.
“Absolutely,” Cal said, picking bits of gravel out of her hair.
Nix trailed a finger over one of Basil’s emerald green tail feathers. “Thanks, birdbrain.”
Basil ruffled his plumage and responded with an eerie John Wayne imitation, “T’was nothing. Just doing my job, Ma’am.” He amused himself with a roll of adhesive tape while they all studied him.
“Now I understand why Memphis insisted that I keep this guy.” Nix hopped off the counter and washed the remainder of her blue-tinged blood in the sink. Unlike the silvery blood of Demigods and Gods, the Nereids had blood the color of the ocean.
“We can ponder the mysteries of Basil at a later time. We need to get out of here.” Cal turned to Zephyr. “Devlin and Jason should stay with you for the next few days.”
Zephyr agreed. “Mary is welcome to join them. She has a rather nasty bump on the head.”
Curious, Nix thought. No more male posturing. As long as they didn’t break out into Kumbaya, she was okay with it. But still, she wondered what had changed between them.
“Mary has decided to stay with relatives who live in the area,” Cal said.
How come everyone knew more about her receptionist than she did? Nix frowned. When this was over, it was time to change that. She and Mary were having girl time.
“No need to worry, Nix. I’ll take good care of them.” Zephyr misinterpreted her frown. He squeezed her hand before moving toward the back door. He stopped and said to Cal, “Take care of her.”
“I will,” Cal reassured. When Zephyr was gone, he said, “We need to go upstairs and pack you a bag.”
“What’s this all about?” Nix put the brakes on as Cal tried to lead her up to the apartment.
“You and Basil are coming with me. It’s not safe for you here right now.” Cal marched up the stairs. “Come on, pack some stuff.”
Basil squawked in delight, “Road trip!”
“How come I don’t get any say in all this?” Nix followed behind Cal, her aching muscles protesting with every step. She caught up with him in her bedroom
. He went right to her closet and retrieved her overnight bag as if he had done it a million times before. She blocked his way when he tried to open the bureau’s top drawer.
“Would you rather stay with Zephyr instead?” Cal’s low voice rumbled by her ear as his arms reached around her and opened the drawer. Anger hung in the air as he pulled out a pile of T-shirts. Cal precisely folded the garments and neatly placed them in the bag.
She needed to tread carefully. If she said yes, he would be hurt. Except, she didn’t want to be with Zephyr. “No. I just don’t like everyone else making decisions for me. It’s too much like my day job.”
Cal’s anger diffused with a slow exhale of breath. He stopped and faced her. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” He resumed packing and zipped the bag. “Please, stay with me.” Not a demand this time.
Nix’s heart raced as the request sank in. She had no idea where Cal lived. Hopefully, it wasn’t in a dark storeroom like Devlin. In any case, Cal’s offer to shelter her was above and beyond the call of duty. Yes, they needed each other, but he didn’t have to risk his life to keep the bad guys off her tail. Or put up with Basil’s big mouth.
“Thank you. I accept.” And it would be an opportunity to find out what he knew about her.
“Let’s go.” Cal hoisted the bag and headed to the living room.
Nix packed a travel bag for Basil, then hauled him up to her shoulder. Before they left the apartment, she stopped at the hall closet. “I want his travel cage. This is the one Memphis bought. We can study it at your place.”
They were halfway down the stairs when Nix stopped. “Wait.” She trudged back up the steps. “Let’s take Memphis’ old design books, too.” And she had one more item to retrieve, something she didn’t dare leave behind.
Five minutes later, they were on the road to Groton, headed to Cal’s temporary residence—a luxury condo, overlooking the Long Island Sound, courtesy of the Delian League.
Basil whistled, “Wowee!” as they entered the foyer.
The place was swank. Ultra-modern, filled with sleek furniture, gleaming fixtures, and granite and marble surfaces—a far cry from the creaky wooden floorboards, painted-shut windows, and mismatched furniture in her place.