Bedeviled

by Sable Grace

  Kyana knew as much. It was how the first Vampyre had been born. Something icky in Cronos’s blood had caused his offspring to not only have fangs like other demigods, but also be born monstrous and bloodthirsty.

  “. . . the strange things I could do . . .” Ryker continued. “It was all demonic to her even though she knew better than anyone who my father was and why I was so different from the other children.”

  Though his eyes were closed, the pain on his face was so clear, Kyana couldn’t bring herself to ask for more. Instead, she lay back down beside him and shivered.

  “The last time Mehmet touched me, I was twenty. Azime had found me asleep that afternoon when I was supposed to be taking lessons with my language tutor. She beat me within an inch of my life, and that evening, when Mehmet called for me, I had no choice but to go to him even though I was in horrible pain.

  “When I told Mehmet I hurt too much to let him bed me, he raped me.” It was the first time in her life she’d spoken that truth aloud, and the agony of it made her dizzy. “Azime had beaten me so thoroughly, I must have had internal injuries because Mehmet’s brutality nearly killed me. Did kill me, in fact.

  “It was that night that Henry found me, taking my last few breaths on the stairs outside the prince’s chamber.”

  “Your Sire.”

  Kyana nodded. “He’d come to stay at the palace to convince Mehmet to invest in a spice trade. Henry was so adept at blending in with the human world, he never had to work to hide. Of course, Vampyre weren’t such notorious myths then. Even if someone did find it odd that he was never seen during the day, they never questioned it.”

  “You loved him.”

  “Yes. He gave me life that night. And a future. Tat, Ryker. A lot of it or I’m done playing.”

  “Ares raped my mother and left her to die. That’s why she hated me so much.”

  Though her heart constricted, Kyana felt herself shake her head. “Who told you that?”

  “My mother. Every damned day for ten fucking years.”

  Kyana raised up once again. Something was wrong with what he was saying.

  “Ryker, Ares isn’t Zeus. He has never, in the eighty years that I’ve belonged to the Order of Ancients, been accused by mortal women of rape.”

  When Ryker opened his mouth to speak, Kyana gently placed her finger over her lips to silence him.

  “The gods boast of such things. Why wouldn’t Ares? Especially if such an escapade gave him a strong son like you?”

  “How the hell should I know?”

  He was angry now, rolling away from her to stand. He pulled on his trunks and faced her, his brow furrowed. “It is what it is, Ky. My mother hated me for what Ares did to her, and Ares never wanted a son. He wanted a soldier.”

  “Then why press you to claim him as your father to the Ancients? You said that’s what he wanted.”

  “Look at me, Kyana!” The vein in his neck bulged as he yelled down at her, and Kyana suddenly felt like a scolded child. What was meant to be a bonding moment for them had turned ugly. “I am my father. How can you say that I am not?”

  Stumbling to her feet, Kyana fumbled with the bikini still clutched in her hands. Suddenly feeling too vulnerable in her naked state, she tugged the pieces on and faced him.

  “I’m not saying that. Ares is your father,” she said. “It’s like he colored you with his DNA.”

  “Then what exactly are you implying?”

  Kyana sighed, wishing she’d never started the tit for tat, wishing they could go back to the quiet of holding each other.

  “I’m just saying I think you should speak to Ares. Find out his side. Maybe your mother wasn’t completely honest with you.”

  She was actually defending Ares. The world had definitely gone crazy. But she’d spoken the truth. Of all the gods to have raped a woman, Ares was one of the few she couldn’t imagine being guilty of it. If nothing else, he had too much pride to take a woman who didn’t want him.

  “You think my mother was a liar.”

  The statement wasn’t a question. It was a cold, hard accusation.

  If Kyana answered him now, the walls would be reconstructed between them.

  “I’m just suggesting you talk to Ares. That’s all.” She headed to the changing rooms, her heart resuming its heavy burden in her chest.

  Why did she always have to step in shit then put her foot in her mouth?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Kyana took her time zipping up her leather pants and pulling on her boots. She sat on the small corner stool in the dressing room and was peeved to find she was still out of breath. Getting her pants on had been a trial. Her freaking legs wouldn’t cooperate. It was as though they’d been sculpted out of pudding, quivering under the weight of her body like useless blobs.

  The adrenaline that had spiked from catching Haven was wearing off, and her body was quivering both from exertion as well as from the need to eat and sleep. Not to mention the need to make sure she hadn’t just royally screwed things up with Ryker.

  Pulling up the zipper on her boot, she forced herself to stand. She’d go see Haven, make sure she was all right. Later she’d figure out what this thing between her and Ryker was evolving into and how to either walk away or fix the mess she’d made of everything. Right now, she didn’t have the stomach for it.

  When she exited the stall, she couldn’t even meet his gaze.

  She’d slept with men before. Why did it have to be different with Ryker?

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” she heard herself say.

  “I know.”

  She nodded, trying to convince herself that he did know what he was in for with her—a roller-coaster ride that didn’t promise a safe exit.

  “If I said anything that—”

  “It’s fine.”

  But it so wasn’t. His anger was still ticking away in his jaw. She’d learned her lesson today. Never, ever talk bad about a man’s mama. Even if instinct told her she might be a lying bitch.

  Once outside, she forced herself to finally look him in the eye and didn’t like the way he studied her. “I’m going to check on Haven and I need to feed and—”

  “Go.” Ryker silently raked his gaze over her face, his lips twisting as he seemingly argued with himself over her attempt to put distance between them, literally and figuratively. “But Kyana . . . we will talk about what happened here today. Before our discussion. You’re not going to run from me forever.”

  She watched him go. As he vanished around the corner, she was annoyed to find that the only running she wanted to do was straight back into his arms.

  Kyana took the steps two at a time and crested the top of the cavelike entrance of the prison, nodding at the two sentinels standing at their posts. She stepped past them into the alcove and found Haven lying on a blanket in the corner, well guarded and certainly not alone.

  Geoffrey was with her, his lap her pillow. His Irish lilting voice carried quietly down the hall as he talked to Haven, brushing her hair back with his long, lean fingers. Even from this distance, Kyana could see the worry on his face, the pain in his eyes.

  Careful not to make a sound, she slowly backed out of the cave and dropped onto the steps outside. Haven was safe and comforted. That was all that mattered. Interrupting them felt wrong, and truthfully, if anyone was going to get through to Haven, it was Geoffrey. Better to leave them in private.

  Besides, there wasn’t anything else she could offer Haven until the purging was complete and it was time for her trial. Kyana should return to Beyond, find Ares, and see if anyone had managed to locate the trident yet.

  A sudden hand on her shoulder jerked her from her thoughts. She looked up to find Ryker standing over her wearing a worried expression.

  “How is she?”

  “Are you stalking me now?” she asked, a bit peeved to think he might never have left her at all.

  “Yes.” There was no apology in his tone, and she couldn’t force herself to appear more than mif
fed. In truth, she was glad he’d shown up. Walking away from Haven and leaving her to her fate was not going to be easy. Even if she was with Geoffrey.

  Her gaze strayed back into the cave to peer through the darkness, and she swallowed a knot of sadness. She could barely make out her friends’ shadowed forms, yet this could potentially be the last time she saw Haven.

  “When will they hold the trial?” she asked.

  “Day after tomorrow. It will take at least that long for the cleansing and purging to be complete.”

  She nodded. Two days wasn’t so bad. It left her with a bit of time to try to sway the jury on Haven’s behalf. After all, Kyana was supposed to have been sentenced to die and she’d been spared. That meant there was hope for Haven too, didn’t it?

  She closed her eyes. She needed rest, but where would she go? Now that she’d seen Haven again, she knew she wasn’t ready to return to Artemis’s temple. And her own home in St. Augustine was cold and empty without Haven. Her gaze trailed up Ryker’s legs, his belly, and finally settled on his eyes.

  “Ryker,” she said.

  “Hmm?”

  “Can you forget that I said anything about your mother and take me somewhere?”

  He looked at her with a bit of suspicion. “Are you going to pick another fight?”

  “I wasn’t—” Kyana sighed. “No. I won’t.”

  He held out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. “Where am I taking you?”

  “Somewhere I can rest and eat in peace. Where no one will bother me for answers I’m not ready or able to give.”

  He wrapped his arm around her and she felt like half of a pair as they made their way back down the streets. It made her uncomfortable even as she found it soothing. The only pair she’d ever truly belonged to was the Kyana and Haven duo.

  Could she ever let herself become part of another? Part of the one Ryker offered? She was really sick to death of stressing about it. Maybe she should just play it out and see what happened. He was a big boy. He knew the risks.

  As they walked, she finally managed to dig up her voice to say, “Thank you.”

  “For what?” he asked, turning them onto a side street that faced the beach.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “Letting me use you.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. I used you too.”

  “I know.”

  He squeezed her shoulder and as they turned left onto the beach, she realized where he was taking her. His home. She could see the rooftop from here. The closest she’d been to his place was using a shower he’d installed on the outside of his bungalow, which had led to their first sexual encounter. He’d never invited her any closer, and she’d never asked.

  That he was bringing her here now was a warning she didn’t care to listen to. Step inside his home and the bond got that much stronger. See a glimpse of the man inside the cool blue eyes and rock-hard abs.

  She couldn’t bring herself to protest.

  “Your house, huh?”

  “I’ve seen yours, I think it’s time I show you mine.”

  “Ya know, when people say that, they’re not usually talking about houses.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, but we’ve already played that game. We can play it again later, if you like. A good night’s sleep, no stress. Just me, you, a little beachside barbecue.”

  It sounded like heaven.

  “You know,” she said, “if I stay the night I’m going to hate myself in the morning.”

  Ryker shrugged, the hint of a smile creasing the corners of his mouth. “That’s okay. If you stay the night, I’ll probably hate you in the morning too. But that’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Ryker led Kyana onto the wide deck at the back of his house where the sea breeze caressed her face, lifting her hair and blowing it about wildly. Thank Zeus the waters Below hadn’t been affected yet by the trident’s disappearance. Here, the smell was still fresh and salty.

  She eased onto a bed-sized swing on the farthest side of the deck, testing her weight with a slight bounce, then swung her legs up and lay down on her side, propping herself onto her elbow so she could watch him prepare dinner.

  “I think I’m beginning to see why you like the beach so much. This is kind of nice.”

  He grinned and lifted the hood of a stainless steel grill parked on the other side of the deck. It was such a human appliance; seeing it here in a magical realm, being used by a god, was surreal.

  “The sea is the most unforgiving place in the world,” he said. “If you don’t handle it just right, you die.”

  “And you like a good challenge?”

  He eyed her, and she had her answer. If he didn’t like a good challenge, he would have given up on her a long time ago.

  She sat up and walked over to the railing to stare out at the sea. “We’re not as different as you’d like to believe, I think.”

  “You mean as you’d like to believe. I’ve always seen the common ground between us.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Pretty much everything. You just haven’t figured that out yet.” He turned back to the grill. There was a click, and then the scent and low hum of propane igniting as he pulled a tray of kabobs from the tiny fridge under the sink.

  She liked the way the wind caught beneath his shirt and puffed it out, occasionally revealing a strip of belly or back. The hiss of meat hitting heat produced a cloud of the best-smelling smoke Kyana had ever caught whiff of. He was dropping small beads of ambrosia onto each piece of chicken, steak, tomato, pepper, and onion. The pink liquid instantly disappeared inside each morsel, absorbed and ready to do its work.

  “I can’t believe they’re letting you stay away from Olympus for so long.” Technically, even Kyana was supposed to have returned hours ago. She was surprised no one was coming to drag her back.

  “They’ll deal. Besides, you caught Haven so the major danger has passed.”

  The mention of Haven soured her stomach, and she quickly searched for a new topic. “Learn anything cool yet?”

  He grinned, flashing his pearly whites and making her breath hitch. “Look up.”

  She obeyed without question and watched as the dark blue sky lit up with a single lightning bolt that flashed directly overhead. The bolt zipped through a cloud, and she squinted to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing.

  “Is it . . . Is it spelling your name?”

  “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “Yeah,” she said. It reminded her of the flare gun she used to gain access into the fort Above. It was charged to spell the name of its user, so that if it was stolen, the culprit could not disguise his identity. “But not very useful, is it?”

  “That? Nah, but the skill itself is. It’s supposed to be used to call the other Olympians together at Zeus’s temple.”

  Kyana raised her brow. “They’re not like, going to come racing here now, are they?”

  “They would if we were on Olympus. But here, no. Only those Below can see it.”

  She snickered. “Bet the humans on the beach are pretty freaked out right about now.”

  “You didn’t hear?” He lifted the lid again and turned the kabobs. Kyana’s stomach growled and she all but drooled as the smell was released from its prison.

  “Hear what?”

  “The humans were taken Above this afternoon. Most are headed to military bases around the state, but some were sent out to start rebuilding. Construction workers, people with skills that are actually useful right now.”

  Forgetting the pleasant aroma of dinner and the lighthearted intent of the evening, she felt her eyes practically bulge out of her head. “What? Why? Just because Haven is Below doesn’t mean we’ve got all the Dark Breeds.”

  How could the gods be so stupid? And since, technically, she was one of them now, why hadn’t she been in on their decision?

  “The people who’ll be working the streets are going to be well guarded. There’s at
least one member of the Order guarding each group of humans. They have to start rebuilding their world sometime, Kyana, and we’re never going to quarantine all Dark Breed. That’s impossible.”

  As soon as she opened her mouth to protest, Ryker popped a piece of chicken into it. She sputtered, the meat burning her tongue, but it took only a second before she began to chew and forgot what she’d been objecting to.

  “Good?” he asked, grinning.

  She nodded, swallowed, and went right back to her tirade. “We’ve got to come up with a better way to keep humans safe. Even if Cronos never comes back—”

  “He won’t.”

  “Whatever. Like you said, Dark Breed have been causing trouble since the beginning of time.”

  “I agree.” He pulled the kabobs off the grill and set them on a platter between the swing and the couch. They sat, each plucking a skewer from the plate, and began to munch while they talked. “Geoffrey and I are going to talk to the Ancients tomorrow. We think we might have an idea.”

  “Oh?”

  He shrugged, studying her as though to judge whether she’d be happy with what he was about to say. This made Kyana uneasy. She shifted, waited, chewed.

  “We’re considering a treaty.”

  A piece of onion flew out of her mouth. “With Dark Breed?”

  “If we can find a way for humans and Dark Breed to coexist, the Order can focus on more important things than tracing impudent shits like Leeches, who are, for the most part, completely harmless. Witches and Mystics can come out of the closet and practice in the open . . . Imagine the benefits of having them work with humans.”

  Kyana couldn’t even begin to wrap her brain around what he was suggesting. “Right, and what are the benefits of allowing Vampyre and Lychen to coexist with the animals they prey upon?”

  “You know better than anyone that they don’t have to be predators to survive.” Ryker chewed the last tomato on his skewer and grabbed another from the plate. “They can learn to find other ways to feed. Hell, most have been doing that anyway. The Lychen and Vamps who’ve lived Above all these years have been subsidizing their diets with animals and blood banks for centuries just like you have. They know if there’s a rash of killings that we come hunting. They don’t want that any more than we do.”