Eris picked at the dark lacquer of a fingernail, seemingly bored despite my obvious intention to leave. “My sister has abandoned you. You’re about to go after Ares. You need our help, Romi.”
I choked.
“Help? From you?” Demarco asked while I was still trying to recover my breath. “You just tried to use your pet”—he pointed at Hysminai—“whatever the hell that thing is to kill us. What makes you think we’d ever be stupid enough to trust any help you have to offer?”
Eris’s eyes flared, the red of her irises spilling out into the whites of her eyes, making her look even more insane. Since the last goddess I’d insulted had kidnapped our son—and Eris seemed even more volatile than Athena—I shot Demarco a look I hoped encouraged him to tread lightly.
“We’re just curious about your motivation,” I said. “Please, explain why you want to help.”
“Because you’ll fail without me. Look at you. The three of you will never even get close to my brother without me.” Eris’s gaze swept over us before returning to her fingernails. “Besides, I don’t take kindly to being mocked.”
Had I mocked Eris? No. Definitely not. And if I had, she wouldn’t be here offering her uneasy help. “Talon, what is she talking about?” I asked.
“You’re a nobody and you stole from a goddess,” he replied. “Eris competes with one of her sisters and Ares’s twin sons for the honor to fight beside the god of war. Because you stole the essence from her, Eris’s competency has come into question.”
“I was tricked!” Eris spat, her eyes doing the creepy bleeding thing again. “It could have happened to any of them!”
Talon didn’t seem the least bit phased by her outburst. “It was exactly what Enyo, Deimos, and Phobos needed to strip away Eris’s favor with Ares.”
Eris turned her scowl on me. “You did this to me. And now you will help me restore my place of honor by stealing the essence Ares holds as well.”
She spoke nonsense. “How will my stealing Zeus’s essence from Ares restore your honor?” I asked Eris.
“Because now you’re a joke,” she spat. “But if you manage to steal from Ares, you’ll be considered a respectable opponent. If they mock me, they’ll have to mock my brother as well, and nobody is stupid enough to taunt Ares.”
Eris wanted to help me in order to save face. Now that, I could understand.
“I would encourage you to accept Eris’s offer,” Talon continued. “She’s right about you not getting to Ares alone. The four will accompany him.”
“But Eris is one of those four, right?” Demarco asked, still glaring at Talon. “How can we trust her to help us? How can we trust any of you?”
“Because our goals align,” Eris said, pushing off the wall to pace behind the furniture. “My place beside Ares will be restored, and you’ll get another of Zeus’s essence. Life can finally go back to normal, and Ares and I can get back to our game.” Her eyes blazed with excitement and a wicked smile stretched across her face. “We had two world leaders vying for domination and willing to do… unthinkable acts, competing to be the most feared.”
Personally, I would have cast my ballot for Eris as the most feared. Her obvious lack of concern for humanity was terrifying.
“Now…” Her expression darkened. “The world leaders are too worried about food production and their starving people to engage in our war.”
Certain hers was the most messed up reason I’d ever heard for forming an alliance, I knew we’d have to be almost as insane as she was to want any part of it. But I didn’t see where we had much of a choice. Only a complete moron would reject an offer from Eris, and risk her wrath.
“How do you plan to help us?” I asked.
“The twins have daddy issues. I turn them on each other all the time.” Her lips curled up in a smirk. “It’s easy and Ares won’t suspect anything. When the four of them show up, I’ll take care of Deimos and Phobos, and that will leave you three free to handle Ares and Enyo.”
“And you,” Demarco added. “You’ll be with Ares as well. We’ll have to fight you too.”
Irritation hardened her expression. “I will not fight you, Blacksmith. Have you not listened to a word I’ve said? I want Zeus back in power so life will return to normal. Humans shouldn’t be pining for food; they should be waging war on each other. I’ve already told Ares as much, and he will not expect me to fight.”
“So Ares knows you’re helping us?” I asked.
“What am I, stupid? Of course Ares doesn’t know. If I get caught, he’ll consider it treason and I will be dealt with accordingly, a fate even worse than sitting in the backseat like a common foot soldier.”
What backseat? Chariots have backseats?
“If you’re truly worried about my credibility, I will make you a deal I cannot break. Get me worshipers, and I will not only distract the twins and keep them from the fight, I will lure Ares to your chosen battlefield.”
“You want worshipers?” I asked, wondering who would be crazy enough to worship chaos.
“Yes. As many as Aphrodite has.”
“You want to compete for human affections with the goddess of love?” Humans were fickle, but they seemed to value love and sex above all else. Only money and possessions could compete for their attention. If Eris wanted worshippers, I’d have to figure out a way to convince humans to invite chaos into their lives. Or… I’d have to disguise her as something else.
Regardless, our conversation had gone on far too long and I was beginning to suffer the effects of the shift. Although it wasn’t as bad as the last time I’d come out of shadow form, exhaustion still tugged at my mind and body. Paralysis trickled through my veins like a drug. I leaned against the wall and willed myself to stay upright.
“Yes. I want to be more famous than Aphrodite. And I don’t see one good reason why I shouldn’t be. My children inflict pain. We cause ruin, hardships, starvation… encourage lies, wars, murders, anarchy, and for what? So humans can say they sin in the name of love and give Aphrodite credit? Nobody does anything because of love anymore. Love. What a load of bullshit. There is no love. Pleasure… feelings… yes, but they all fade. Chaos… chaos can reign forever.”
I made a mental note to research her love life and figure out who’d stomped on her heart and left her all salty and anti-love. Not like I could blame her ex for bailing on their relationship. I wouldn’t want chaos to rule my love life either. It’d be like living out one of those overly-dramatic not-so-real reality shows, only without the cameras. Which was exactly the problem, since Eris wanted the fame.
And she was just crazy enough that I probably could make her famous.
“I want acknowledgment and credit for my work,” Eris continued.
Not a problem, since human media seemed to flock around egotistical eccentrics. We needed to build her a platform, and I knew exactly the sleazeball to help me. “Give me some time… I can make it happen.”
“Wait, what?” Demarco asked. Leaning in and speaking out the side of his mouth. “We’re actually considering partnering with her?”
Eris’s arched eyebrows made it clear she’d heard him.
I patted his arm. “Trust me.”
My limbs felt heavy and my vision was beginning to blur. A headache pounded behind my left eye. We needed to wrap this little meeting up and get out of there before I passed out and couldn’t travel.
“Talon, you’re up. How can you help us and what do you want in return?” I asked.
“Well I’m definitely not here to help you fight the god of war,” he replied with a grin. “My purpose for popping in on you is… more personal.”
My brow furrowed. I had a bad feeling about where this conversation was going.
“You’re extraordinarily entertaining, Romi, and I wish to take you to dinner.”
Dinner with Talon? Not my idea of a good time, but we could have a few laughs… as long as he was buying. “We gotta eat, so I don’t see any reason why not. Where do you want to take us
and when?”
“Not all of you.” Talon didn’t even blink. He just kept staring into my eyes in that creepy and slightly overwhelming way of his. “Just you.”
“No,” Demarco and Tweety both said in unison.
Slightly miffed at the guys for speaking for me, I tried to hold up my hands and tell them to simmer, but my arms felt glued to my side. Not good. Not good at all.
“Thanks, but no thanks. My calendar is a bit full at the moment. In fact, we need to get going because we have another meeting and—”
He chuckled. “But you haven’t heard what I have to offer you in exchange yet.”
Something in his tone piqued my curiosity. “Okay, talk. Quickly.”
“First of all, I’m extremely charming, so you can’t beat the company.” He steepled his fingers and looked down on me.
I rolled my eyes.
“But the information I have is paramount. I suspect our conversation will be most enlightening.”
Could he be any more vague? “What sort of information?”
“We’ll talk about shadows, things that go bump in the night, the darkness stalking you… it’ll be great fun.”
I remembered something Artemis had warned me about… “Shade’s not the only thing stalking you from the shadows,” she’d said. Could this be the threat she’d been talking about? The growling Tweety and I had heard after we’d left the Empusa’s? If he possessed information that could keep us alive and safe, I couldn’t ignore it.
The cocky bastard smirked, knowing he had me.
“How do I know you’ll give me good information?”
“Has anyone ever told you you have trust issues?” he asked.
Tweety snickered, and then cleared his throat to cover it up.
“I’m aware,” I said, casting a quick glare at the griffin. “Answer the question.”
He sighed. “Fine. How long do you need to create a significant following for Eris?”
I’d need at least a month, but we didn’t have that kind of time. And I had an idea. It would be dangerous and expensive, but if it panned out… “Five days.”
Demarco shot me a questioning look, but didn’t say anything.
“Okay.” The air around us charged with magic, preparing to seal our deal. “Meet me here at five o’clock pm five days from now and I’ll have proof for you that I know how to defeat the creatures in the shadows. Then we’ll create the plan to steal the essence from Ares. After we get the essence, you’ll owe me a dinner, where I’ll share my knowledge with you.”
I nodded. “Deal.”
The smell of burning ozone filled the air, and the snap of magic stealing away one of my breaths told me the verbal contract was in place. I had five days to create a following for a goddess the world seemed to have forgotten about.
Piece of cake.
AFTER OUR IMPROMPTU meeting with Talon and Eris, Demarco, Tweety, and I returned to Demarco’s magically-bubbled beach home. The moon was up when we’d left Sweden, but it was morning on the beach.
We stepped out of the shadows and cool, salty air clung to my skin while wind whipped my hair around. Seagulls squawked in the distance and morning overcast hid the sun. I scanned the property, searching for unwanted deities or other pests who’d decided to make an appearance while we were gone. The only way in or out of the bubble was through magic, which unfortunately didn’t keep out the crazies. But since nobody rushed us, for the moment, we seemed to be alone.
Demarco’s property held two buildings. The first was a beautiful but dusty home we only used for its kitchen and laundry facilities. Since the death of Demarco’s mom, he’d pretty much abandoned the house to her memories, and Tweety and I respected that. The shop, on the other hand, was all Demarco. He’d converted part of the large workplace into a living space, complete with computers, a television, a full bathroom, and a bed, where he’d spent most of the past four years since his mother’s death.
I used to own a decent flat located deep in the Seattle Underground, but I’d sold it to the Empusa shortly after I’d broken the contract Shade held over me. Although she was a nasty pheromone-spewing, blood-drinking fiend, the Empusa wasn’t who kept me from returning to my old flat. Shade was. Now that I was no longer bound by a contract to do my sire’s bidding, I wanted nothing to do with him.
Some families learned to establish healthy boundaries in order to maintain a relationship. If I had my way, I’d build a hundred-foot barbed wire electric fence to separate me from Shade. Preferably manned by armed guards and equipped with a minefield on either side.
So for now, Tweety and I were homeless. I could rectify the situation easily enough, but my plate was full with hunting down the essences of Zeus so I could get my son back and save humanity from starvation and death.
Besides, I was growing fond of Demarco’s digs.
Demarco and Tweety released me and stepped away. Without their support to hold me up, exhaustion buckled my knees and I sat hard on the sand.
“Fifty-fifty, huh?” Demarco asked, storming toward the shop.
He was pissed about something and I knew I should go after him and see what I’d done, but I couldn’t even stand. Walking was out of the question. I pushed at the sand, trying to force myself up, but my rubbery arms lacked the strength do anything but wobble.
“Romi?” Tweety asked, his voice heavy with concern. “You okay?”
I tried to wave him off, but ended up flopping to the side instead. “Yeah. I just need a minute.” The sand felt nice and warm against my face. My eyes drifted closed and the sound of the surf began to lull me to sleep.
The next thing I knew, I was being hefted into the air. The smell of Demarco overwhelmed my senses and I leaned against his rock-hard, still bare chest, feeling his heart pound against my sandy cheek.
“You didn’t even seem tired this time. I didn’t realize—”
“It’s not as bad.” Last time I’d turned to shadow I’d slept more than a day and had probably eaten both Demarco and Tweety’s combined bodyweight worth of food. “The shadows didn’t have to heal me this time, which seems to have made a difference. I just need a little rest.”
We started moving.
“What fifty-fifty thing are you mad at me about?” I asked.
He sucked in a deep breath. “You said this was going to be a partnership, but you didn’t even consult me today. Now we’re aligned with those assholes, and we can’t trust them.”
There was a note of hurt in his voice, and it made my chest constrict.
“I know, but we don’t have a choice.”
He shifted me in his arms and I heard him turn a doorknob. Metal groaned under our combined weight as his boots started down the stairs. “Do we really need their help that much?”
Before I could answer, my stomach growled and clenched with pains from hunger… the other side effect of shadow form.
Demarco paused midstep, and turned. “Tweety, will you—”
“I heard, and I remember the drill from last time. I’ll raid your fridge and be back shortly. Romi, be sure to grovel appropriately while I’m gone. We like Demarco and we want to keep him around, remember?”
Despite being exhausted, I still managed to give Tweety a middle finger salute. He laughed and Demarco turned us back around and continued our descent.
As the son of Hephaestus, god of the forge, Demarco took weapon craft to a whole new level. Not only was he skilled with a forge, but he also knew his way around a computer and had programmed the ones in his shop to do things like cut molds and automatically heat his forges and keep them at specific temperatures. The walls were lined with expertly-crafted weapons, each worth a small fortune.
Demarco continued past the crafting area to the back of the shop. There was one comfortable seat in the entire building: a king-sized pillow-top mattress nestled in a cherry wood sleigh frame. He leaned forward and set me on top of it, holding me upright long enough to remove my backpack from my shoulders. It thunked against the concrete f
loor, and then he gently lowered my head to the pillow. Warm, thick covers were pulled up over my body and tucked under my chin.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have pulled you aside and consulted you before making any decisions.”
“Rest,” he ordered. “We can talk about it later.”
Although I lacked the energy to pry open my eyelids, my stomach churned with anxiety. “I won’t be able to rest, knowing you’re upset with me.”
The bed dipped and I felt him stretch out beside me. The warmth from his body and the sound of his breathing put me at ease. “Why didn’t you consult me?” he asked after he’d settled.
“I was afraid you’d say no, and we didn’t have time to debate the issue. I could feel myself weakening after the change and we needed to agree and get out before I faceplanted and left us vulnerable.”
“You’re refusing to acknowledge that “No” could have been the right answer.”
I forced back a sigh, determined not to get frustrated with all the things Demarco didn’t know and reminding myself that people deal with captivity differently. I’d learned everything I could in order to make my escape while Demarco had pretty much ignored the existence of the gods and focused on creating amazing weapons and taking Internet classes.
“Because Eris is psycho and would probably see our rejection as an insult,” I replied. My stomach growled again and I rubbed it, wishing Tweety would hurry up with the food. At least the hunger pains kept me from passing out.
“Demarco, you can’t even fathom what she’s capable of. I told you about how she pretty much started the Trojan War, but she also destroys individual people and their relationships. Look, there was once a happy couple—Polytechnos and Aëdon—who made the mistake of boasting about sharing a love even greater than Zeus and Hera’s. Hera got wind of it and her panties got all twisted… she sent Eris to do her thing and the goddess of strife and discord goaded the self-proclaimed lovebirds into competing against each other.”
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