For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think about anything except how to get breath back into my airless body. I felt hot pain searing through my side, the seatbelt digging hard into my shoulder and neck, and I heard Kavi groan next to me. There were footsteps approaching, and I could hear them talking.
“Check on the woman first,” I heard the man say. “The other will heal.”
“So will she,” I heard the woman say grimly.
My heart was pounding in my ears, and I couldn’t turn my head to look at Kavi. I gasped, pulling some air into my lungs, and felt the sudden, desperate urge to begin hyperventilating.
I felt him squeeze my hand tightly, groaning quietly as he did so. “Only the hand of another god, Ravenna,” he whispered. “And neither of them are gods. Remember that.”
I felt a little of the fear recede, but not much. No one besides another god—or myself—could kill me, not after Kavi’s gift. The woman and man, whatever else they might do, couldn’t kill us. We would live a while longer at least, and that was more time. Time to figure out an escape, time to wait for…for what? I felt the hopelessness begin to seep in again. Isa would have no idea what had happened. There was no way to get word to Toven. How could we possibly hope for rescue?
The man jerked the crumpled passenger side door open with a force that made me reel back in shock. He produced a knife, flicking it open, and I flinched as he leaned forward, sawing through the seatbelt. “Not planning on using this on you right now, little lady,” he said, grinning with wide lips that revealed jagged teeth. “We’ll see about later.”
I cringed as he grabbed my upper arm, dragging me unceremoniously out of the truck with little regard to my injuries. I wasn’t entirely sure what they were yet, but my whole body ached, and I felt heat licking up the length of my leg, searing through my flesh. I tried to put weight on my right foot, and buckled, screaming aloud.
“Ravenna!” I heard Kavi’s voice calling from the truck. The man dumped me on the asphalt in front of the woman. “Watch her,” he said as he went back, giving Kavi the same treatment he had me. He shoved Kavi forward once he had him out of the truck, shoving him down onto his knees next to my crumpled body. “This one’s healed already,” he said. “Or close enough. The girl, well…”
“I’ll go get the car,” the woman said in a lightly accented voice. “Until we can get back.”
“We’re still missing one of them.”
She laughed, light and musical. “The wolf? You think they’ll care about him? He would have just been a means to get them to talk, anyway, and then food for Vashta’s hounds. We have the two that matter.”
“Less bodies means less money,” the man growled.
The woman narrowed her eyes, and I saw that they were a deep, shimmering violet. “I say we go back, Thorn. We have what we need.”
“And if I say we stay, Maril?” The man put his hands on his hips, his attention entirely diverted away from us, and for one wild second I thought of trying to run. And then I looked down at my leg for the first time, and saw the glisten of red-streaked bone showing through a tear in my jeans, and I sank down, my cheek against the rough, hot pavement. There would be no running.
I closed my eyes, and listened to Kavi’s breathing next to me, slow and even despite the fear. I thought of Isa, and Toven, and I waited.
28
Toven
It was still raining when I left Pandora’s. I stood on the sidewalk as it plastered my hair to my face, my shoulders drooping heavily as I waited to flag down a taxi.
I had the name of the witch. I had her address. And I had Nathan’s promise to contact her and let her know I was coming and why, his assurance that she would help me.
I hoped that I had not been wrong in paying the price I had for it. Standing in front of me amidst the tableau of naked women scattered around us, Nathan had told me what he wanted in exchange for the information.
I want the city, Toven.
I’d stood dumbfounded, staring at him without comprehending what he was talking about at first. He’d been impatient, snappish.
This city is a madhouse, a sanctuary without rules, a no man’s land with boundaries but no laws. Give it to me, Toven. Give me the power to make laws and enforce them. I will put an end to the crime, stop the murders, the rapes, the theft. I will make it into a true sanctuary, a place where any supernatural creature may come and have their safety ensured, so long as they follow the rules.
It seemed so pure on the surface, so altruistic. The Nathan I had known for decades was a man who would do such a thing—who would want to take a lawless land and made it into a utopia. But I was no longer certain that he was that man. I couldn’t shake the vision of the naiad on the carpet, pushed aside as soon as he was finished, her colors fading.
But Nathan had always been a bit careless of women—and I had too, I had to admit. How many lovers had I tossed aside as soon as I’d had my pleasure, forgotten about, treated as disposable? I had not always been a paragon of virtue, and I certainly still wasn’t. Nathan had stayed in this city for a long time—he loved it as I did. I had to believe that he meant only good in his request.
Alright, Nathan. I’ll do it.
I want a title. Something official. Something to give me the sway to make real change. Something like, oh I don’t know, a guardian.
It sounded altruistic enough. The Guardian of the city, I’d said I’d name him, and as soon as Ravenna, Kavi and Isa were safe, I would come back, and take the steps necessary to install him as such. But first, I had to find the witch, and convince her to help me, if Nathan’s request wasn’t enough.
---
The moment I stepped off of the plane in New Orleans, I winced. I’d only just come from here, what a month ago? It seemed like a lifetime, but seeing the wounded city, it was painfully clear that not much time had passed at all. I’d left and gone back to Las Vegas to escape it.
The irony was so strong it almost hurt.
I’d typed the address into my phone, and I opted to walk, shedding my jacket almost immediately. The air was humid and thick, chokingly so after the dry air of Vegas. Even in the linen t-shirt I’d opted to throw on with my jeans, I felt overheated.
The streets grew progressively worse as I followed the directions, the buildings more dilapidated. I was far from the tourist areas now, and not much had been done to clean up or work on this area of town. I dodged piles of garbage and worse things, wrinkling my nose at the smell. I couldn’t believe anyone was still inhabiting this part, but I supposed some shelter was worse than being homeless.
When I stopped in front of the building my phone told me was the location, I stared at it for a long second. The roof was partially caved in, the front wall crumbled, the door gone. Inside, I could see where raccoons and rats had torn apart the leftover drapes, carpet, and waterlogged furnishing.
As I stepped inside, carefully avoiding the holes in the floor, I tried to breathe as shallowly as possible. It reeked of mildew and animal droppings. “Hello?” I called out hesitantly. “Is anyone here?”
There was no answer. If Nathan sent me on a dead end, like hell am I giving him guardianship of the city, I thought grimly.
I walked a little further in, stepping carefully for fear the floor might cave in. I could feel weak spots with every step, and all I needed was to fall halfway through the floor and be stuck, in a nearly abandoned part of New Orleans.
I saw a door at the far end of the kitchen, and headed that way, hoping it might lead to a stairwell. The kitchen had been ravaged by animals, or looters—cupboard doors hanging off of their hinges, the refrigerator open, half-eaten food scattered rotting across the linoleum and torn open wrappers and boxes littering every surface. If someone was here, I couldn’t imagine how they were living like this.
The door did indeed lead to a stairwell, and I hesitated at the top of it, looking down. I’d watched my fair share of horror movies after all—wasn’t this how they always started, looking
down a set of stairs into a dark, dank basement?
You’re a god, for fuck’s sake, I reminded myself. Just go down there and get this over with.
I took two steps down, and the door slammed shut behind me.
Fuck.
I was in utter darkness for a second, and then the whole room filled with a glowing, reddish light. “Come down here, Toven,” I heard a voice say, richly accented with a thick Cajun patois.
Well, she knew I was coming, at least. Nathan had kept that part of his promise, so far.
I walked down the stairs carefully, turning the corner and blinking in the harsh red light. The basement was unfinished, but cool and dry, the walls lined with shelves filled with jars and boxes and bags. I didn’t look too closely at any of the jars—I was fairly certain I didn’t want to know what they contained. A deep freezer was at the far end, and I hoped with all of my heart that it contained actual food, and not body parts. Next to it, in a massive glass aquarium with no lid, a snake that could have stretched half the length of the room coiled, staring at me with dark, beady eyes.
The woman was sitting on a low stool next to her altar. There was no light source that I could see, except for the candles scattered everywhere—certainly not enough to give off the amount of light that was illuminating the room.
“I thought you might like to see a demonstration of my power, before we get down to business,” she said, and then laughed at the expression that crossed my face. “Don’t worry, I can’t read your thoughts, only your face. Men are so easy to read, even gods. You have no artifice.” She stood in a slow, graceful motion, and I could see her face clearly for the first time. She looked young, in her early thirties, although she might have been hundreds of years old, for all I knew. Her braided hair was coiled atop her head in a manner that echoed the nearby snake, and her black eyes shone out of her dark face, fixed on me with an expression that could only be described as amusement. “Nathan tells me that you need something from old Amelie. A favor, he says.”
“Yes. He said you owed him a favor.”
She laughed then, a deep belly laugh that filled the small room. “Owed? Amelie owes no one anything, cherie. But I granted him a favor, yes.” She peered at me. “You must be very special to him, for him to give you this favor. Favors from me are difficult to get, he will probably never have another.” Her mouth curled up on one side. “Or perhaps you have given him something more, something that he wants that is even more precious.”
I didn’t have the patience for dissembling. “Perhaps,” I said sharply. “Amelie, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t have much time. There are lives at stake, here.”
She waved a hand, turning back towards her altar. “Oh, they all say this, everyone who comes to me. ‘Amelie, there are lives at stake. Amelie, he will die if you don’t help me. Amelie, I will die if he doesn’t love me. And on and on it goes.” She smiled widely, exposing perfectly straight, white teeth. “So what? People die. Mortals are mortal. They all fear death, but it comes for them regardless. La mort, the cruelest mistress of all.”
“This one…”
She held up a hand, stopping me. “Yes, you love this one, so she matters more. I have heard it all before, god of fortune. A thousand people and more dead in this city, but the woman you love, she must live.”
I gritted my teeth. “I saved many people here, gave what fortune I could to others, scarcely a month ago. I have not neglected the people of your city, Amelie.”
She shrugged. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. At any rate, I granted Nathan a favor and he has asked that it be used for you, so whatever it is you need I will do for you, if it is in my power.” She sat gracefully down on her stool, and whispered something, passing her fingers over the candle flame. I saw the massive snake begin to uncoil himself and stretch upwards, slithering over the edge of the tank. That alone was enough to make me want to turn and run, but I held my ground, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t send it over to me.
It merely coiled around her stool like an overly large, slithering dog, and stretched up her back, pillowing its head on her shoulder. She smiled at me. “You don’t like him, do you? Not many people do. But he is a deterrent to those who might wish me ill.”
“Your magic isn’t enough?”
She shrugged. “There are always those who think they can outsmart magic, or who don’t believe in it. But him, they always believe in. And if they do not, well…” she shrugged again. “Then he is well fed, and happy.”
I shuddered, trying not to picture it. “Have you seen your house upstairs? Maybe he should be deterring everything up there.”
Amelie narrowed her eyes at me, and I saw a flash of anger cross her face, tightening her features until I could see a shadow of her true face—not nearly as beautiful as the one she chose to show me. “This is not my house. My house was destroyed. This was the best we could find, a place to hide away until we can leave, or find some new home.” She tapped the snake’s nose and he slid down her back, resting his head atop his coils surrounding her chair, still staring at me. She looked at me then, her face composed and serene once more. “Now, Toven, god of good fortune, tell me what it is that I can do for you.”
---
It took less than an hour to complete my business with the witch, Amelie. I booked a return flight, found a comfortable hotel, and slept not a wink that entire night. By the time I had made it back to Las Vegas, it was dark, I had been awake for over twenty-four hours, and I still wasn’t sure I’d be able to sleep, no matter how exhausted I felt in every bone of my body.
I dragged myself and my leather duffel bag out of the taxi, dropping a twenty in the driver’s hand, and made my way up towards my own hotel, thinking about that bottle of scotch I’d been planning on since I’d arrived at Pandora’s two nights before.
A figure was sitting hunched over on the steps in front of the hotel, hair fallen around his face. I couldn’t see his features, but it was undoubtedly a man, broad-shouldered and muscular. Recently homeless, no doubt, not enough time for it to eat at him, make him waste away. I gave him a wide berth, not wanting to have to deal with yet another interaction that night. I was wrung dry.
“Toven.”
I turned sharply and saw the man had raised his head and was looking directly at me, straightening as he prepared to stand. I could still barely make out his features in the dim light, but I saw his glowing, golden eyes, and my heart stopped in my chest.
“Isa.”
29
Ravenna
I woke on a white mattress in the corner of a white room, the walls bare and stark around me. The moment I opened my eyes I tensed, prepared for the same blinding, searing pain I’d felt in my leg just before I’d passed out on the asphalt, but I felt nothing.
I sat up, blinking, and looked down. I’d been stripped out of my clothes and dressed in a plain black shift dress without sleeves, made of some fabric that felt like linen. My legs were bare, and when I reached out to touch the spot where I’d seen the bone protruding, there was only smooth skin, marred by a thin red line where the break had been.
My heart pounded in my chest. Where was I? What had they done to me? How long had I been asleep? I stood up shakily, smoothing down the dress. I was wearing nothing beneath it, and I flushed hotly, realizing that someone, at some point, had stripped me entirely nude.
“Kavi?” I called out hesitantly. My voice echoed in the empty room, and I took a step forward, catching sight of a door on the far wall. Likely it was locked, but it couldn’t hurt to try. Regaining my sense of balance, I strode purposefully towards it, my eyes narrowed. I wasn’t about to be kept in the dark as to what was going on. Someone would tell me what was happening, even if the door was locked, even if I had to bang on it and shout and…
Bars sprang up in front of me, appearing out of nowhere, floor to ceiling. They shimmered, rainbow colors dancing along the metal, but I had no doubt they were solid. I took another two steps forward, and felt cold iron encircling my
wrists.
It shimmered in the same rainbow-on-steel tones as the bars, but it was thick and heavy, I could feel it weighing down the slender bones in my wrists. I tugged experimentally, once, and then harder. I heard the chains clink, and saw the metal turn yellow, glowing warningly at me. Against my better judgement, I tugged again.
I yelped as the metal heated instantaneously against my skin, not quite hot enough to burn, but hot enough to be painful, like passing a finger over a flame. I instantly eased up on the chains, retreating to my mattress. There was little else in the room—a toilet within reach of my chains, and no other furnishings. A person could go mad, kept here for long, and I hoped that whatever my fate was going to be, it came quickly.
I couldn’t hope for rescue now, I thought. The best I could hope for was that Thorn had meant it when he said Isa didn’t matter enough to them, that he at least would escape, and that Toven’s brief inclusion in our crimes would go unnoticed. I didn’t think there was any hope left for Kavi or I.
It was a sobering thought, and I sank down on the mattress heavily, trying not to imagine what lay in store for us. I remembered what Kavi had told me, long ago on the night he’d made me immortal, and I closed my eyes. It had been worth it, whatever came. I would have to cling to that thought, and remember it.
---
I didn’t know what time it was when I woke, only that I could see the moon full in the sky, the stars scattered and glittering all around it. Whcha’ri had left the deerskin flap tied back to let the cool night air in, and I could feel it sharply against my fevered skin, sending a chill through me. He was crouching next to the small fire in the middle of our lodge, head bent as he stared into the flames.
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