Skin of a Goddess (Goddess Ascension Book 1)
Page 24
It’s what’s in the back of the room that disturbs me the most. Hanging from hooks on the ceiling are the bodies. There are three, and none that I recognize. All three corpses are naked, with cuts along their bodies. One has had her breasts removed, a puddle of blood on the floor below her. Her eyes are open, glazed over with a bluish haze.
The other two have their eyes closed, thankfully. One looks so peaceful, like she’s only asleep. There are precious few marks on her dark body, face relaxed, and head turned slightly away. Her hair hides the possible bite marks that may rest on her neck. The sickening twist of her neck speaks of something other than sleep.
“Vincent, what have you done?” Loren asks, as if not seeing anyone or anything else in the room besides his people.
The human in question looks at Loren with adoration. He fairly glows, though there’s nothing that he should be so happy about. “Master, I’ve shown you how loyal I am!”
“Indeed,” Loren says the one word, though it seems to carry the weight of the world.
Vincent’s smile finally begins to waver. “Aren’t you pleased? I’ve helped get rid of the lesser creatures. They think they’re just as good as us, when they’re clearly inferior. I’ve raised money for the coven too!”
“What did you do to them?” he asks.
Vincent looks slightly uncomfortable, as if he’s not sure what the right answer is. “I fed from them, like we do with our captives. Then I sold them and got money for the coven.”
“Who are all of these mutts?” Loren asks with distaste.
“I was going to kill them once I got enough money! Really, I was. I’d never keep this kind of company unless I had to. The werewolves overpower people easily, and the human coaxes them away,” Vincent explains.
“You said you fed from them?”
“I drank their blood and emotions, of course,” Vincent says with a little laugh and wave of his hand.
“You’re human.”
“No, I’m not. You made me a vampire when you gave me your blood,” he denies.
“I’ve told you before. I’ve explained it to you plenty of times. You know that drinking my blood cannot make you a vampire. Nothing can make you one,” Loren tells him simply.
Vincent cries out in pain. “You know that’s not true. If I prove myself—”
“He’s clearly guilty. I, as the leader of his coven, sentence Vincent Cole Williams to death,” Loren says solemnly, before adding, “You may at least die like a vampire.”
“Wh-what?” Vincent mumbles.
Knowing how vampires are killed, I turn away as a large, sharp sword is taken from the table so he can be “taken care of.” When I hear a slick snap of the sword and a thud, I know that he’s been decapitated. Hunter moves closer next to me and takes my hand. For once, I don’t fight it, and let my fingers lace into his as if it’s the most comfortable thing in the world, in the middle of the most uncomfortable of situations.
“What are you going to do with me?” Cammy comes up to our group, face and hair bloody, streams of tears down her face, and eyes full of hate.
The vampires all turn to one another as I look to Hunter. He appears strong, but I know this upsets him. Hell, it upsets me too. Seeing this level of pain never gets any easier, no matter how many times you see it.
“How did you get involved in this?” I ask her, actually curious.
Cammy’s face darkens. “A werebitch killed my brother. She could have bitten him and made him better, but she didn’t, and he died.”
“Werewolves and wereanimals can’t transfer the were gene. If she’d bitten him, he wouldn’t have gotten any better,” I point out.
She shakes her head violently. “That’s what they all say, but Vincent told me the truth.”
“Right,” I say, trying to keep myself from pointing out just where that got him.
“We’ll take you back with us,” Loren finally says.
Loren gives a henchman a subtle nod. He removes a gun from his waist and shoots her three times in the head. Then he turns to the still-howling Austin and pops him a few too.
“I’m going to have to get a team out here to clean things up,” Loren says, looking around with distaste.
“I’ll make a few calls,” one of the henchmen says.
Loren turns to me. “You’ll tell the hotel, enforcers, and convention that we’ve taken care of the matter.”
“I’ll make a few calls,” I confirm.
Loren nods. “Very good. If I start back home now, I won’t miss dinner!”
“Should we get the enforcers out here now, unless you want to have to identify the bodies and notify families?” I point out.
He gives that some consideration. “You’re right, they might want to take care of this instead. See that it’s done.”
Henchman number two takes out a cell phone. “They’re on their way.”
“Excellent, tell Cook I feel like steak,” Loren says, clapping his hands happily. “I deserve it, after a job well done.”
I turn to Hunter with disgust. “Take me home?”
“Of course.” Hunter takes my hand and leads me away from the room of death.
***
It’s only five or so, but Hunter and I are already in bed. We’re not even having an evening grope session. Not really surprising after what we saw earlier. We’re on his ginormous bed, fully clothed, and cuddled up to one another. I will never admit what immense satisfaction and comfort I get from being firmly tucked to his side. It’s a sense of belonging and safety that I’ve never really found before.
“You know we’ll never have children, right?” I ask him, playing with our twined fingers.
He squeezes mine. “You don’t know that for certain. But, yeah, I know the chance of us having kids is slim to none. You guys don’t really reproduce too often.”
“That’s an understatement. We’re done after the six-month thing?” I ask.
Hunter tenses beside me. “I know I’ll want to stay with you longer than just six months.”
“Well, tradition and everything,” I tell him.
He clears his throat. “Yeah, it’s not always followed that strictly. Besides, I’m the rebel of the family. I’m willing to forget about tradition, if you are?”
I can’t help but smile a little. “I’ve never been one for rules.”
“No timeline? We’ll just be together and see how it goes?” he asks hopefully.
“I’m not confessing love or some stupid shit, so don’t get it twisted! I’m just saying, it’s been like two weeks since we met? But I like you, and think we should date, maybe even after the temporary marriage thing,” I say.
“More than I thought I’d get!” he cheers, giving me a big dragon hug.
We lay there basking in happiness until I hear him clear his throat a little.
“What?” I ask.
“Um, I feel like maybe I should tell you something.”
“That sounds good,” I say sarcastically.
Hunter pulls a little away from me so he can meet my eyes. “We sort of started this relationship under false pretenses. We never actually slept together that first night.”
“You mean the one I can’t remember?” I ask dryly.
“Yeah, that one. I kind of gave you a tiny amount of venom, then took you safely to your hotel room. I slept on the floor.”
“Damn, I’m never drinking anything you give me.” I sigh. “But I remember hooking up with you before you drugged me.”
Hunter eyes me in surprise. “You put the moves on me when I tried to get you back to your room, but we didn’t sleep together.”
“Yes, we did, in the conference room!”
He clears his throat. “I watched you fondle yourself, but we definitely didn’t have sex.”
“Goddess, my ambrosia-clouded mind must have supplied the fantasy. Too bad, because you kind of rocked my world,” I tease as he frowns in worry. “Relax, Hunter, we’ve screwed well and proper by this point, so whatever.”
I snort a little. “Haven’t you met my roommates before? I live with the minor goddess of deceit. With her around, do you think that’s really the best I’ve ever been hit with? The only thing that’s annoying about your little confession is Nemesis and Apate totally knew that you were screwing me over but made me go along with it anyway. Bitches, if I’m going to be getting anyone back for this, it’ll be them.”
He coughs lightly. “Um, good to know.”
“I guess that changes the expiration date on our mini marriage,” I joke.
Hunter turns to me, saying seriously, “I’ve never felt the way I feel about you with anyone else. No one has left me feeling so right before. I know you probably don’t feel that way yet, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make you feel that way too. I just want you to know that when the six months ends and we don’t have children, it doesn’t mean we’re not soul mates.”
I cock my head at him in confusion. “You’re basically saying that despite tradition saying that only babies can prove soul mates, you don’t believe that?”
Hunter shrugs. “I really like you, and I think you might just be the one for me. I know we won’t have children, and I don’t care. I’m willing to take a chance on it, and on us. I expect I’ll be more than content with you.”
Hmm, that’s actually sort of sweet.
I let out a steady breath. “Look, in the next few months you can try to make me fall in love with you, all right? My heart will be fair game. If it doesn’t happen, we’ll go our separate ways, and if it does happen, we’ll figure it out. Okay?”
Hunter just grins at me, his big green eyes shining brightly. “That sounds perfect. Prepare to be conquered.”
I laugh. “I’m so going to get the girls back for this. They have no idea what they’ve done this time.”
“Really, get us back?” That telltale preppy voice has me sitting straight up.
In the middle of the cave bedroom are all seven of my girls, each of them looking pissier than the last, ending with Apate, who looks damn near flammable. Granted, Aergia just looks jealous of the fact that I’m in bed and she isn’t.
“You’ll be paying us back for this little stunt for years now,” Apate hisses at me angrily.
“Eh?” I ask.
“You totally disappeared on us! You could have been killed—well, not killed but … hurt! Taken!” Ana joins in.
“He drugged me and sneaked me away to his cave of horrors! What was I supposed to do?” I ask.
Even Enyo gives a hurt sniff. “We heard from Dolos himself that you called him but didn’t think to contact your own roommates. Then I had to hear from the disgusting hotel staff that you took down a ring of shifter sex slavery. I don’t know what has gotten into you. Keeping a battle like that all to yourself! You’ve never been one to be so selfish!”
“I can’t believe you didn’t contact me when you went through the transformation.” Nemesis gives me a hurt glance. “I felt something happen that night, a burst of unexplainable power. None of the others noticed it.”
“Seriously, we have to test your new skills.” Lyssa gives me a dangerous smile.
I turn to Hunter for help.
“Oh, don’t look at him,” a male voice joins in as Julian steps up. “Yes, Hunter, I’m here too. I hope you’re proud of yourself, acting like a psychotic dragon. Stealing away the woman you want after lying to her and forcing her into a relationship to start with. Yes, it’s time that I finally tell her the truth! I won’t blame her when she leaves your ass.”
“I already told her!” Hunter returns with annoyance. “She’s also agreed to date me, so you can take the dramatics somewhere else.”
“Dramatics?” Julian squawks.
Hunter and I turn to one another.
“I’ll take you despite your crazy girlfriends.”
“I’ll take you despite your bromance with the merman,” I agree.
Hunter smiles at me sweetly. “It’s a good start.”
Epilogue
Seven Months Later
“I can’t believe we’re having a baby!” Ana exclaims.
Hunter and I look at one another, and then decide to let it go.
“I know, who would have thought it? Our own little Peitho and Hunter having a baby. She’ll be the most spoiled thing the world has seen in thousands of years!” Apate agrees.
“I’m going to be an uncle!” Julian says.
“You already are!” Hunter says, pointing out that one of his sisters has two kids.
He waves Hunter’s words away. “This is different.”
Exactly six months after Hunter and I met, we took a vacation in Italy. Oh, the gelato. We came back about two weeks later, I started getting sick in the morning, and the rest is history. It just figures that we wouldn’t fall in the six-month mark, but be right outside of it. Looks like neither of us can do anything right.
“My parents are already making a nursery at the kingdom, for when we visit,” Hunter volunteers.
“We’ll have to make a nursery in all of our homes!” Ana points out.
“Um, actually, you won’t. We’re probably going to stay at the Dragon Palace and our cave nearby, most of the time. We won’t want to travel too much with the baby, you know,” I say. “Plus, you guys will still be doing representative work. You still have things you need to accomplish.”
Nemesis waves a hand. “Please, there probably won’t be another assignment for a year at least.”
We figured out why Nemesis felt my change, while none of the other girls did. Some of Nemesis’s powers were enhanced too. When someone is unbalanced in the seduction and persuasion department, Nemesis is able to tell easily, and has more control over it. She hasn’t ascended, but it seems like my powers helped jump-start a portion of hers.
“Actually,” Persephone says, walking into our cave bedroom like she owns the place, “you have another one straightaway.”
“What are you doing here?” Enyo sneers.
Persephone jumps away a little and says, “The restraining order is fifty feet, Enyo and Lyssa! I’m only here to pass on a message, then I’m going back, so don’t get any smart ideas.”
Enyo and Lyssa just smirk at her evilly.
“The Olympians would like to convey to you how well you all did on your last task. Especially you, Peitho and Hunter, stopping a crime spree. The rest of you represented us well. For that reason, you’re being sent immediately to Florida, where you’ll be helping Ares with a delicate issue,” Persephone continues.
“What is wrong with my brother?” Enyo asks.
The great goddess sniffs and says, “He is having problems within the local supernatural community. We would like you to help resolve the situation discreetly.”
Meaning Ares has gone off his rocker, and they want to keep things on the down-low. I can just imagine what Ares would do if he thought the Olympians were butting in on his new venture. There would be hell to pay, that’s for damn sure.
“Peitho, because of your pregnancy, everyone has agreed that it would be best for you to stay behind. Seven representatives are more than enough for this mission,” Persephone says, turning to me.
Never having been good friends with her, I say, “They said that?”
“Yes, this will be the first half immortal baby born in centuries, and everyone is thrilled, especially your mother.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about her. She’ll probably be popping in all the time now,” I warn Hunter.
“Pregnancy becomes you, Peitho. You have that new mother glow.” Persephone eyes me carefully.
I keep my face blank, hoping she doesn’t realize it’s my new powers glistening.
“I’ll call if anything comes up,” Persephone says before leaving in the blink of an eye.
I wish the Olympians couldn’t teleport. The other women can only go from Earth to Olympus. With my newfound power, I’
m able to teleport between locations on Earth. I’ll have to put that on hold, though, now that I have extra cargo.
“Looks like we’re going to visit Ares. We’ll be here when the baby is born, of course. When’s the wedding?” Apate asks us expectantly.
Hunter and I turn to one another. “Um.”
“I’ve always liked winter weddings,” Lyssa says.
“I’m thinking Peitho is really more of a fall,” Ana points out.
“I think dark blue, if it’s a winter wedding,” Apate says.
Nemesis speaks up, “I look horrible in blue. I don’t want that to be the bridesmaids’ dress color. I think our wedding should be in spring.”
“How about we compromise? Which would be winter,” Lyssa says.
“Since I’m the best man, I think I should point out that Hunter really likes summer. I’m thinking we should have the wedding in Ireland,” Julian says.
“They do have some nice castles there.” Apate nods. “Though Grandma and Grandpa Dragon may want it at the palace.”
“A royal wedding!” Ana sighs.
“We’ll have to get the cake from that one bakery we love,” Dysnomia says.
“Ooh, we can all go for a tasting!” Aergia chimes in, perking up.
I look to Hunter, where his eyes are trying not to bug out. I pat his arm. “Looks like we’re getting married, and when I say we, I mean all ten of us.”
“Since mine is involved too, I can’t really complain.” Hunter grins. His hand strays to my abdomen, where we both know our child is growing. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a dad.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to be a mom,” I say, though there’s instantly a shiver of excitement when I think it.
“I love you, Peitho.”
“I love you most.”
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