The Immortals

by Jordanna Max Brodsky

  Selene could indeed imagine it. A return to power. To glory. To love. Could it truly be that easy? “The Wine Giver said the cult would send us back into barbarity. Maybe even bring civilization crumbling around us.”

  Orion’s mouth tightened. “After all this time… haven’t you learned that your brothers are liars? I’m the only one you can trust.” He leaned toward her and pressed his forehead against hers. “I was so hopeful on the shore that day, waiting for my father. I knew he’d grant my wish once he saw the depth of my love for you. I dreamed of your white legs sprinting through the forest.” He pressed his nose beside her ear and breathed deeply, the sound resonating in her head like the rush of waves. “Of the smell of your hair. Like cypress on a summer day.” He placed his fingertips on her jaw. “Of the feel of your skin beneath mine. Always cool, like the underside of a leaf.” He ran his fingers down the length of her neck and rested them gently on her collarbone. “I would kiss you, right here, and we would be together, forever.” Even as her mind screamed in protest, Selene felt her body stir at his touch. Try as she might, she couldn’t deny that all she’d wanted, for so long, was to feel his arms around her once more. It had been more than two thousand years since she’d been kissed.

  Orion pulled back just enough to look her in the eye. His face no longer held its tinge of cruelty. His eyes, warm and dark, bored into hers. “You killed me then, Artemis. But I came back from death itself to be at your side. Don’t kill me again by turning me away.”

  Finally, she whispered aloud the words she’d dreamed of for millennia: “I trusted my twin more than my love. I’ve lived with regret for so long it’s like a shield, keeping the world at bay. Break through,” she begged. “Tell me you forgive me.”

  “I never blamed you,” he said, his mouth very close to hers. “I knew even death could not keep us apart.” Orion showed none of Theo’s restraint. He simply claimed her for himself. He pressed his warm lips to hers. Selene felt as if the corner of her heart that had been stone for so long finally melted back into flesh. Vaguely, she heard Theo protesting in the background. As if in answer, Orion clasped her head in his hands and kissed her deeper, his mouth firm and gentle all at once. His arms snaked around her, clasping her so tightly she could barely breathe. When he broke the kiss, her mind still reeled.

  “Tell me you’ll be mine,” he pleaded.

  She rested her bound hands upon his cheeks, feeling the familiar, rough scratch of stubble, the bold contours of his jaw. A single tear rolled down his cheek to rest upon her thumb.

  Gently, she brushed it away. “I have always been yours.”

  “Selene, what are you—”

  “Quiet, Theo.”

  Orion kissed her once more. “You won’t regret this.” He smiled, his eyes aglow. “You’ve made me happy for the first time in an age.” Hungrily, he kissed her cheek, her throat, her eyelids.

  When she could think again, she held out her hands to be untied.

  “Not quite, my love, I’m sorry. Not until the ritual is complete. Then… then you’ll never know bonds again.” He rose swiftly, leaving her still shuddering from his kisses, and walked to the mouth of the cave to summon his mystai.

  Theo watched Everett with Selene, growing more furious by the second. Did I really tell Ruth I didn’t believe in fighting over a woman? It must not have been the right woman, because I feel like I could rip out his throat with my bare hands. Unfortunately, the cult members had other ideas.

  At Everett’s command, Nate pulled a fresh roll of duct tape from beneath his robe. Webb and Andersen grabbed Theo under the arms, dragged him to the center of the cave, and stood him on his feet. “Guys,” Theo begged, wobbling from the ropes around his ankles. “You don’t need to do this. You’re drugged, don’t you see? You wouldn’t do this otherwise! Can’t you see that I—”

  Leaning close, his breath reeking of kykeon, Nate slapped the tape across Theo’s mouth. “I can’t tell you how often I’ve wanted to do that.” Unmasked, the initiates appeared more terrifying than ever. Now, Theo couldn’t pretend that Everett had turned them into powerless automatons. The familiar faces leered around him, their smiles tilted toward madness, but their eyes cold. Perhaps they started this unwillingly, but now they know what they’re doing, Theo admitted. And they’re enjoying it.

  Webb placed a wreath of cypress boughs and barley sheaves on Theo’s head. They started to chant a wordless, meditative harmony. Then the dance began, a shuffling circle of awkward men, made terrifying by the polished bronze blades in their hands, winking and flashing in the firelight. Theo looked toward Selene. Everett had removed the ropes around her ankles, and now she stood, staring intently into the flames. She hadn’t met his eyes since Everett had kissed her.

  Everett put an arm around her shoulders. “I know you care about Theo,” he said gently, “but he’s our chosen Corn King, crowned and blessed. A Makarites, the most powerful sacrifice we can offer.” Selene didn’t protest. He brushed a knuckle across her cheekbone. “The strength you’ve gained so far will stay with you, no matter what happens tonight. That is my gift to you. But to become an invincible goddess again, to make myth into truth—Theo must die.” He kissed her lightly. “Then, as long as we repeat the Mysteries every year, we will live forever.”

  How can Selene just stand there, Theo wondered, when Everett speaks of an eternity of murdered innocents? He screamed a muffled, wordless protest through his gag.

  Everett turned at the sound. “You’ve been a selfless friend, Theo.” He spoke with his old easy charm. “Even willing to be kind to the man who stole your girlfriend. I know you won’t fail me now, when it’s so important. You will die to save Artemis, won’t you? So she may return to glory as an immortal?” He ripped the duct tape from Theo’s mouth.

  Theo’s lips and cheeks burned where the tape had ripped his bruised skin. But he forced himself to ignore the pain and meet Everett’s eyes. “No. But I would happily die to save Selene.”

  Everett laughed. “See, my love! He doesn’t know you at all. I thought maybe you would’ve told him the truth, as I did Helen. She gave the ultimate sacrifice so she might help me.”

  “That’s a lie.” Theo strained at his handcuffs, aching to strangle him. “Helen didn’t sacrifice herself willingly. You murdered her.”

  Everett shook his head. “No, my friend. Helen understood. She didn’t even know she was being punished for her infidelity. She thought it was a great honor.” From a pocket, he drew out a small, white gold ring. The edges of the Greek key caught the firelight as he turned it slowly between his fingers. “Not at first, of course. She thought me mad, as you do. But then I showed her I could run faster, climb higher, jump farther, and heal more quickly than any human. You saw it last night with your own eyes, yet you still refuse to believe. Helen was not so foolish.” He sighed regretfully and slipped Helen’s ring onto his pinky finger. “A beautiful girl. And so smart.” He patted Theo roughly on the shoulder. “She knew that thanatoi have only one role. To serve the gods who made them. She gave up her life for mine, knowing what I was.”

  Theo started to protest, but Selene cut him off calmly. “And now Theo knows what I am.” Still she did not look at him.

  “Selene—”

  “No, Theo. There’s nothing you can say. Better not to speak.”

  “Listen to Artemis,” Everett said, replacing the tape on Theo’s mouth. He took one of Selene’s bound hands in his and kissed it lightly, then turned to his acolytes. “Bring forth the hiera!”

  From a duffle bag, Martin Andersen withdrew the stolen bell-krater: a large pottery vase with three red stags leaping across its black surface. Nate produced the familiar bottle of kykeon and poured its contents into the larger vessel. Holding the bell-krater by its two handles, Andersen drank deeply, then passed it to the other mystai in turn. Before he drank, Webb raised the vase high. “To immortality,” he intoned. Nate went last, then moved to force the drink down Theo’s throat, but Everett told him to stop.
“I don’t want Theo’s mind clouded. Last night, he couldn’t trust his own eyes. I want him to go to his death believing.”

  “You don’t need to—” Selene began.

  “Hush, my love. You’re going to be worshiped once more. Don’t you realize?”

  Nate carefully poured a thin stream of kykeon into the flames. “A libation,” he chanted in Greek. “For Dionysus, who taught man to make the drink which brings revelation.” Next, he pulled from his cloak a green glass flask brimming with dark liquid and handed it to his hierophant. Everett swirled the liquid so it glinted redly in the fire’s glow. “From the first sacrifice, we reap faith and intelligence,” he said, uncorking the flask. “From the next, tenacity and courage.” He paced around the fire, splashing the blood in a circle as he went. “From the Pompe, charisma and beauty. And from the last, loyalty and ferocity.” That’s Gabriela’s blood he’s talking about, Theo realized. He shouted unheard curses against the duct tape.

  Everett spilled the last drop of blood onto his finger, then placed it on his tongue, closing his eyes for a moment in pleasure. “These are the gifts of the sacrifices. May they make us strong.”

  Then Martin Andersen turned to his duffel bag and removed a large, unglazed terracotta vessel shaped to look like a basket, its base roughly decorated with painted grain. Theo recognized the Met’s stolen kalathos. Reaching within, the professor withdrew the long, curved tooth of a Hell Pig. He held it aloft and chanted, “We call upon the spirit of the Boar, sacred to the Hunter and the Huntress.” He threw the tusk into the flames, where it sputtered and began to char.

  Bill Webb took his turn. He leaned over the kalathos and removed the body of a yellow-headed snake, a dead loop of taxidermy with cotton balls for eyes. “We call upon the spirit of the Snake, creature of hidden truths, sacred to Asclepius, who grants life to the dead.” Another precious specimen disappeared into the flames. Next, a bundle of dried wheat. It sparked and popped in the fire. “We call upon Demeter and Persephone, goddesses of grain, goddesses of life, goddesses of death. Let us be reborn.”

  Finally, Everett revealed the last of the hiera. He drew it carefully out of the kalathos and held it in the palm of his hand. A pale diamond of flesh, drained of blood. Crude black stiches had sewn Helen closed. Unlike the other sacrifices, Helen was not a virgin—so Everett had made her one. Theo retched against his gag.

  Everett betrayed no emotion. “We call upon the Virgin Goddess, Artemis, she who protects the pure from harm, that she may restore our fragile bodies and cleanse our corrupt souls.” He dropped the offering into the flames. Each curling hair caught fire, a hot orange nimbus quickly charred to black.

  Everett moved closer to the flames, inhaling the smoke through his mouth as if imbibing it. He drew Selene to stand beside him. “Breathe. Let the offerings give you strength, as they have done for me.” Theo wasn’t surprised to see her obey. Little could surprise him anymore. Selene stood with her mouth open and eyes closed, sucking in the smoke with great, wheezing gasps. Suddenly, her hands began to shake. Blood flooded her cheeks and her eyes snapped open.

  Everett knelt before Selene like a supplicant and took the hem of her shirt in his hands. He lifted it slowly, just to the bottom of her rib cage, and pressed a long kiss against the red scab that ran across her stomach. When Everett pulled away, the scab was gone.

  “It works,” Selene gasped.

  “I told you.” Everett pressed her palms to his lips. “This is just the beginning.” He drew his sword and pointed it at Theo.

  “No, my lover,” she said, raising her bound hands before her. She flung her arms wide, breaking free of the ropes. Theo winced in the bright silver light that suddenly flooded the cave. He could barely see Selene through the glare, but he could hear her voice, thrumming and deep, vibrating in his skull like the words of a prophet.

  “This is where it ends.”

  Chapter 46

  THE RELENTLESS ONE

  “What are you doing?” Orion demanded, shielding his eyes from the glare of Selene’s divine radiance. “We have to complete the ritual!”

  “I am the Protector of the Innocent.” She moved to stand by Theo, glaring at each of the mystai in turn, daring them to challenge her. “Saving him is my birthright.”

  Orion stepped back as if struck. His face slackened with the same look of disbelief he’d given her when she thrust an arrow through his throat on the shore of the sapphire sea. The same look she’d spent so long trying to forget. “You don’t… you can’t…”

  “You made me choose. I choose him.”

  Orion shook his head, incredulous. “You only want him because he’s a Makarites. You can’t resist the allure of a mortal who remembers the gods.”

  “No. Whether he is Blessed or not, I choose Theo. I choose his brilliance. I choose his empathy. I choose his laughter.”

  “But he’s dust. Have you forgotten? Every second of his life is spent hurtling toward death, his body disintegrating even as you watch. His mind is mortal, finite. Even as a Makarites, he’s unable to comprehend your true glory. That’s what you choose over me?”

  “There was a time I would’ve chosen you over anyone, anything,” she said, unable to keep the regret from her voice. “Why didn’t you come to me then? Why wait for so long?”

  “I wanted to come to you in my full glory, not a pale shadow of the hero I’d once been. I knew you’d never condone the killing of innocents, and I couldn’t let you stop me before my transformation was complete. Maybe before, in the old days, you would’ve overlooked the murders, but I know how you’ve changed, even if you don’t.” The pleading left his voice, replaced my something hard, accusatory. “You’ve grown soft. You’ve come to care for those you protect. Still, I thought that if I waited until you could see for yourself the power I could bestow, then you wouldn’t be able to say no.”

  “Then you didn’t really know me at all.”

  “But I would give you an eternity of power.” He opened his arms as if expecting her embrace. “How can you resist that?”

  “I’ve already had it,” said Selene, unmoved. “I don’t need it any longer.” Orion dropped his arms. His sword hung loosely at his side. Leave here, she begged him silently. Disappear back into my memories, where you will stay forever beautiful and brave. Let me forget the monster you’ve become. Let me finally find happiness without you.

  Then Orion lifted his head, and she knew with a sinking heart that the fight had just begun. No longer was he the yearning lover of old, nor the fierce companion of her youth, but a creature neither god nor man, a monster wracked by millennia of bitterness and resentment, disappointment and fury. “So be it.” He turned to his mystai and said very calmly, “Kill them both.”

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Martin Anderson lurch awkwardly forward with his knife outstretched. In a flash, she punched him in the jaw with her right hand and ripped his knife away with her left. Martin stumbled backward, moaning and spitting blood. She brandished the knife at the other two mystai, who froze in place. Only then did she allow herself to look at Theo. Her divine radiance cast a cold light across his bruised face, but his gaze was still warm. Despite the duct tape silencing his words, she could read the message clearly in his eyes: Whatever you’re planning, I’m with you. Just lead the way.

  “Don’t just stand there,” Orion commanded his acolytes. “Complete the sacrifice!”

  Nate lunged toward Selene, who sidestepped him easily, then knocked the knife from his hand with a well-placed kick. At the same time, Theo ducked under Bill Webb’s slash, then came up to head-butt his chairman soundly in the forehead. Neither of the mystai took long to recover, not with their kykeon-enhanced strength. She tensed for a renewed attack. Let them come, she thought. They are mere mortals against a goddess.

  Then a muscled arm snaked around her chest from behind, pinning her in place. “You can’t stop this,” Orion hissed in her ear. He held his sword to her neck. “Now drop the knife, my faithless lover
, and watch my mystai complete their work.” She ignored him, slamming her booted heel into his shin and twisting in his grasp. Implacable, he swung his sword, striking at her knife and knocking it from her grip. With the flat of his blade, he forced her head toward Theo.

  The mystai had him in their grip again. Handcuffed and bound, her friend had no hope of fending off all three of them at once. A cold fist of dread seized her heart, and she realized that despite all the danger of the past week, she’d always believed, deep inside, that she could protect him from harm. Even when he’d been kidnapped, she’d known somehow she would find him, save him, no matter what it took. And now he stood only a few feet away, and though the burnt offerings had granted her more strength than she’d known in years, she was helpless to prevent what was about to happen.

  She continued to thrash desperately against Orion’s embrace, heedless of the sword’s kiss on her throat. “Go on! Kill me now. Make me the sacrifice if you must.” But Orion just stood behind her, wordless and unyielding. “You can’t, can you?” she taunted, her cries edging toward hysteria. “You’re weak, Hunter. You drug your followers. You bind your sacrifice. You lied about Helen. She didn’t go happily to her death. She fought with everything she had! And when she died, she prayed to me, never to you. She begged me to avenge her—and her prayer will not remain unanswered!” But her words were wind and Orion stone.