“The Kir defeated the Seven at Leavenworth,” Elle reminded.
“The Kir defeat everyone who comes against them, Elle. You would be wise to remember that. I tried to warn the Seven. They didn’t listen.”
Their food and dishes cleared, the gods retired to different rooms; Amethyst to hers, Serena took one, Beau and Ian to theirs. Jerrod offered Elle the last bedroom, but she opted for one of the sofas in the main room. Tanner shrugged, taking the last room while Jerrod camped out on another sofa opposite Elle.
It wasn’t long before Jerrod nonchalantly began making his way toward Serena’s room.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” Elle glared with a telepathic thought.
Jerrod shrugged, nodding toward her door.
“Have a couch, Casanova. The princess is sleeping alone tonight.”
Jerrod frowned. “Who made you queen bitch of the Universe?” He moved away from Serena’s door and retook his sofa.
“You did, when you assigned me to be her bodyguard—so now I’m guarding her body. Get over it.”
“You slept with her.” Jerrod countered, obviously frustrated.
“Occupational hazard.”
Jerrod looked at her door again. He could feel her sleeplessness on the other side; her body genetically calling out to his. He sighed heavily, a bulge already tightening between his thick thighs.
“She’s powerful, Jerrod.”
He tried to turn his attention from Serena’s room. “Her attraction is worse than yours,” Jerrod agreed.
“It’s not just that. She’s sensitive as well. Just like you are. I watched her proxy her empathy without even trying.”
Jerrod nodded. She had deep ability. He could feel that as well. He got up from the couch.
“Now where are you going?” she asked.
“Out.” He headed for the door. “I need another apartment. I’m not staying cooped up with all of you like this. I’ll never get any sleep.”
She watched him leave. Elle stretched out on the soft couch alone in the dim light of the big room. She thought about the events of the past few decades of her life; how things had so abruptly changed meeting the Dark Clan, then the Steeles and now these Invicti, and then becoming one herself.
Amethyst had left the Seven. She had been pretty tight-lipped about why. All any of them knew was that the Seven had turned on the newbloods, and that necessarily included Amethyst.
The Kir defeat everyone who comes against them—Elle replayed Amy’s words over and over in her mind.
The old witch was up to something. Elle’s danger senses weren’t tingling like they usually were whenever Amethyst was around, but that didn’t mean disaster wasn’t on the horizon. Amy had been part of the Seven for centuries, maybe millennia. Elle didn’t know how old she actually was, but she had a reputation that predated Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome.
Amethyst obviously knew things she was holding back on telling them. Elle needed to find out what she was up to. And the sooner the better.
49
J errod woke early. A restless sleep vividly dreaming about Serena all night had left him half groggy and the inside of his tattered briefs a wet mess. He light-showered, cleaning both his skin and what remained of his clothes.
He couldn’t get the new princess off his mind. He could still feel her sleeping restlessly several floors above him. Maybe he could sneak into her room. It was early enough. He entered their apartment silently—only to find both Elle and Amy sipping coffees and talking about Rion. Jerrod sat down and poured himself a hot cup.
“Sleep well?” Elle asked factiously. She could tell he hadn’t; frustration was still written all over his feelings.
“Not with you people around,” he grumped.
“Pleasant dreams?” Elle wasn’t above being catty now and then. She knew Jerrod really wanted to be sharing Serena’s room after their little tree kiss. She was pretty sure he’d had some vivid dreams about her.
“Ha. Yea. No thanks to you, Miss Bodyguard. Rion’s going to have to learn to share.”
“It’s not Rion you need to worry about. Serena’s still very human. You know she thinks she’s married to him.” Elle quipped.
Jerrod nodded.
“Serena? Married to Rion?” Amethyst grinned. “That’s rich. I didn’t know Rion was the marrying type?”
“He’s not.” Elle assured.
Jerrod said nothing.
“Don’t look so sheepish, Jerrod,” Amy cajoled. “You know Rion as well as any of us. Is the hunky bachelor settling down or not? Inquiring minds want to know.”
“I wouldn’t know.” Jerrod got up with his cup and walked to the home’s tall windows that overlooked the city below.
“I hear the Invicti are even more attracted than we simple folk,” Amy smiled, knowing that Jerrod was listening in on their conversation.
“It’s ridiculous, Amy,” Elle continued. “Put two of us together in the same room and its difficult. Put three or more, and we’re impossible. The Universe hates us.”
Amethyst giggled musically. “So why hasn’t the Goddess of Love found someone?”
“Probably for the same reason that the Enchantress of Aeaea hasn’t.”
Amethyst smiled. Few knew her older titles. “We all have our secret loves, Elle. You’ll find yours one day.”
Jerrod turned toward the ladies. “Your search for the perfect love may have to wait a while.” He nodded out the window. Both ladies lifted from their seats and moved over to the window. Outside the streets below them were now filled with long parades of people, marching troops in black, ion tanks in formation, trucks loaded with munitions, and a sea of bystanders watching, waving, and cheering.
“How did they breech the barrier?” Elle shook her head at the throngs of people filling the streets below.
“Rion must have opened it for them somehow.” Jerrod surmised.
“Or they found a way to do it themselves.” Elle shot a worried glance at Jerrod. “What do you think, Amy?” Elle turned. “Amy—?”
But Amethyst was nowhere to be found.
* * * * *
Carson and the rest of the gods had gathered in the executive conference room. The video images of the Wraith filling the streets of Interra with their armies left everyone with a sinking feeling of dread. All of them watched as images of Rion and Aramis, unclothed, beaten, cut, mutilated, and bleeding while half frozen were gleefully displayed for all to see.
Carson kept the sound off and didn’t play but more than a few minutes of the broadcast. The images themselves were bad enough; he didn’t need to add the nauseating audio of Wraith’s insidious propaganda to the meeting.
“I thought Interra was supposed to be impenetrable?” Kari looked more pissed than worried.
“All of you have seen what the Wraith have done to Rion and Aramis. Tortured and emasculated. My guess would be that they’ve found a way to use Rion’s genetics to bypass the barrier.”
“I would have to agree,” Kent nodded.
“Not to be macabre, Carson,” Dark interjected, “but why haven’t they killed Rion and Aramis already? Terrell’s not just keeping them around for propaganda films. He’s up to something.”
“I agree, Dark. The good news is, it appears they’ve only captured Aramis.”
“Guys,” Kent continued, “that’s not good news. Those genetics can be dangerous. All of Interra is keyed to Rion’s signature. There’s a chance that if they breeched the barrier, they could possibly take control of city.”
“And do what, Kent?” Carson raised an eyebrow.
“That city is the repository of the knowledge of all things Ra, Carson. It’s also a primary node within our continuum. If Terrell is somehow able to reinitialize Interra, it will give the Wraith access into everything and everyone connected to the gods—that includes Dominion. Within moments, they’ll know everything we do.”
“And with all of us offline—” Carson sighed.
“There’ll be
no way for us to purge Dominion from those stores; we’ll have no way to stop them.”
Dark stood. “Carson, you have to send us in there. We can stop this!”
“Sit down, Dark.”
“No. The Dark Clan is not just going to sit idly by while the future of Humanity hangs on the whims of this madman.”
“We’re not sitting idle. We have the Wraith on the run.”
“We won a battle—that doesn’t win the war. Clearly Terrell is changing tactics. He couldn’t defeat us with brute force, now he’s going after us using the power of the Ra.”
“This is not your battle, Dark.” Carson offered calmly.
“AH! Gods, Carson. This again?! Prophecy?”
Francesca stood elegantly.
Dark’s gaze met hers.
“Gregory is correct, Mitch. Sit down.”
Dark fumed and retook his chair.
“All of you are warriors,” Francesca continued. “You have a need to act; to do something. And we are doing—something. I do not share Gregory’s confidence in the prophecies—I share Rion’s.” She retook her seat. “He alone knows more than we ever will. His family is ancient; and just as ancient is their knowledge. The Invicti appear to be the wild cards in play here. I, for one, am not ready to fold so early in the game.”
“This isn’t poker, Francesca,” Dark muttered.
“Isn’t it?” she raised one elegantly groomed brow.
* * * * *
“What’s going to happen to us?” Rion heard in his mind. The thin restraints that held them spread against the wall were unduly painful now.
“It’ll be over soon, Aramis.”
“I wasn’t talking about just us.”
“Neither was I.”
“There’s no cavalry that’s going to come riding in to save us, Rion. We were the cavalry. Supposed to be.” Aramis drooped his head.
Rion breathed a patient, barely perceptible smile.
“She’s really beautiful. You wife, I guess now.”
“How was she doing? All things considered—”
“She’s learning.”
“She’s still very Human, Aramis.”
“So are the rest of us.”
Rion half grinned now. “A little attractive is she?”
“She puts Lisa to shame—well, I could be a little biased.”
“I’m not concerned, Aramis. I know what she’s like, being close to her.”
“Is that why you’re so reclusive, never talking to anyone?”
“That, among a myriad of other things.”
“Jerrod’s reclusive. Well, except around her.”
“That’s part of what attraction is for, Aramis. He’ll keep her safe. That’s all I’m concerned about at the moment.”
“Safe from what? We can’t even keep ourselves safe from Terrell’s armies.”
“Terrell’s a thug, Aramis. Nothing more.”
“He’s invaded Interra, Rion. I keep hearing he’s a low-life, but the guy battles like he’s Genghis Khan.”
“Terrell wishes he had the finesse of the Khans. He’s more like Hitler. Or Grant. Maybe Varus.”
“Who’s Varus?”
“Another Roman thug; someone who had no business being in charge of anything.”
“Those people all did a lot of damage, Rion.”
“Terrell will as well.”
“It sounds like you’re just going to do nothing.”
“I’m a little—tied up at the moment, Aramis.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just worried. For all of us.”
“You’re not the only one. Trust me.”
* * * * *
“Julia?” Carson passed her in the open office of Jericho’s main executive building. “Have you seen your brother?”
“Not in the last couple of hours, why?”
“I can’t seem to locate him. Or Jake Gold. They’re not answering their phones.”
“Their RF badges?”
“Left in their rooms. But they’re not in them. I checked.”
“That’s a breech of protocol.”
“I’m going to assume Dark left and that he took Jake with him. He didn’t tell you where he was going?”
“He wouldn’t have told me, Carson, for the same reason we’re having this conversation. I doubt he would have told Kari either. If they’re gone, I’m sure they’re headed for Interra.”
Carson visibly fumed. “Dammit.”
“What’s the matter? Dark’s a big boy, Carson. He can handle the likes of Terrell.”
“No. He can’t. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“What’s going on?” her brow narrowed.
“God, this is going to get ugly. Julia, I need you and Kari to intercept your brother. He won’t listen to me. He’s going to try to take out Terrell—alone. You can’t let that happen.”
“Who’s side are you on, Carson? First you hire Amethyst and now you want us to take out our own family?”
“I don’t have to explain myself, Julia. It’s enough for you to know that there are forces in play here that cannot be meddled with. Your brother is not only meddling, he’s putting himself in grave danger. The Fates will not allow him to interfere.”
“The Fates? What are you talking about?”
But Carson only gave her a steely glare.
* * * * *
“I hope these uniforms are good enough to get us down to Interra.” Jake sat in the copilot’s seat while Dark expertly piloted the sleek-fast turbojet at low altitude through the Cascades. Both were dressed as Wraith officers wearing forged credentials.
Dark half grinned. “They will. Dominion has the best hackers known to man.”
“Who? Mira?” Jake grinned.
“She’s good. Trevor and Blaze will get her up to speed with how we do things.”
“Do you always play off-the-cuff like this?”
“I don’t like to, Jake; but often enough I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I’ll get us into Interra.”
“Do you think she’s alright?”
Dark looked over at Jake. “This isn’t about Serena, Jake.”
“It is for me.”
“You should let her go.”
“You’re married.” Jake offered.
“So?”
“I feel the same way about Serena. Even if she did marry a god—instead of me.” Jake turned his gaze out the cockpit window while watching Dark bank their plane hard to avoid a cliff face as snow began avalanching down the mountainside.
“Your girlfriend didn’t just marry a god, Jake; she married the god. Not only that, she is a goddess herself. She’s a little outside of your league.”
“Humans can’t fall in love with gods?”
“All the time. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Dark grumbled. “If she infects you, the chances of you turning up dead instead of awakened are a little worse than twenty to one.”
“I’m Jewish.”
“Five to one then,” Dark corrected. “Those are not good odds, Jake.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“It’s your life.”
“What am I supposed to do, Dark? She’s kind of a tough act to follow.”
“Tell me about it—”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Jake,” Dark sighed. “Serena isn’t just a goddess, she’s even different than the Ra. These Invicti are hybrids, evolved somehow. So rare that the prophecies only mention them once.”
“Once?”
Dark nodded.
“If they’re so pivotal, it seems like someone would have bothered to make them a little more well-known.”
“You would think.” Dark banked their plane again while descending into the lowlands heading toward Puget Sound, well north of Seattle. He ignored the requests from civilian air traffic controllers to identify. There were likely enough incidents of unidentified air traffic over this area in the past week to give controllers an uncaring attitude at this point. He was
right. The requests stopped after only a handful of tries.
Jake began to get a little nervous as Dark brought their plane in slower and low over the water, then dipped the nose, splashing them into the saltwaters of the sound. The maneuver was a lot smoother than Jake was anticipating. Their plane submerged and began moving, gliding through the frigid waters. In the darkness Jake couldn’t make out a thing through the cockpit glass, but their radar, or whatever it was, was giving a very decent three-dimensional view of the undersea landscape.
“How deep are we going?”
“Not deep. Two hundred feet. A few centuries ago, the Seven built out a base for submersibles. I’m sure it’s all part of the same complex they used to drill their way down to Interra.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Jake asked as they entered the lighted undersea tunnel.
“I’m not wrong.”
“What if you are?”
Dark frowned. “Then you better hope your aim is a lot better than your Kung Fu.”
50
H ey Serena,” Jerrod spoke softly, his hand shaking her gently. She woke suddenly. Jerrod, was still spooned warmly behind her under the covers. Serena’s breathing had grown erratic, she’d begun calling out softly while fear moving through her sleeping feelings.
He rolled her warmly to her back, wrapping himself around her. “Are you okay?”
She took a deep breath, nodding. “OH—thank you.”
“It sounded like you were having another bad dream.”
“I was.”
“That’s three nights in a row now. Same dream?” he asked pulling her unclothed body closer to his.
She nodded in the dimness of their room. “Someone’s torturing Rion. I’m running to help him, but I can’t get to him. It’s like tall buildings just grow up out of the ground, keeping me from getting to him.”
He nodded, soothing her feelings with his own. “Another anxiety dream.”
Interra (Awakened Series Book 5) Page 44