Avenging Heart

by Desni Dantone

  But later?

  We both knew. Soon had become now.

  Chapter 13

  Vachos was an hour from Areopoli, and a little larger in terms of population. I learned over the course of our drive that it was used as more of a travel pit-stop than a destination. Tourists stopped there for food and gas, and sometimes a place to rest, before moving on. It sounded like a carousel of unsuspecting humans served up on a platter for the Skotadi on a daily basis.

  Typical Skotadi behavior . . . but were the demigods introducing a little of their own evil influence? That was what we needed to find out.

  By the time we arrived around dinnertime, the pub we intended to scope out was crawling with thirsty tourists. We knew Skotadi would be present, so I disguised us all under a curtain of glamour. Nothing crazy like the last time. Just some eye and hair color changes in case they had descriptions of us. We didn’t want to over-stretch my limit, and those little things were easier for me to hold for a longer period of time.

  It worked. Aside from some leering looks from the three Skotadi at the bar, who regarded all the humans as pests, no one paid us much attention. After two beers and a few games of pool, I started to feel like we were just out for a night on the town.

  That all changed when I excused myself to the bathroom. The doors were within sight of the pool tables, so no one gave my safety much thought. In retrospect, the dark hallway that led away from the bathroom’s entrance should have been a giveaway.

  When I exited a few minutes later, a cold hand clamped over my mouth, smothering my shrieks as I was pulled into the shadows. Within seconds, I was pushed out a back door and into an alley behind the building. Darkness had settled while we had been inside, so I couldn’t make out the faces of the two men that advanced on me, but I suspected they were Skotadi.

  If they thought I was human, they were in for a rude awakening.

  One of them reached out to touch me, and I swatted his hand away.

  “Ooh, we have a feisty one here,” the other one said. He stepped into the eerie yellow glow cast from the street light at the end of the alley, and I caught the sly curve of his lips, which displayed the chipped tooth in his mouth.

  My eyes darted between him and the touchy one, who I could now see looked like every high school girl’s crush. Surprisingly attractive for a Skotadi . . . aside from the gold rings burning in his eyes.

  “I happen to like feisty,” he drew.

  “Then you’re in for a treat,” I retorted before dropping my disguise.

  Their eyes soaked me in, from head to foot, as they registered the change in my appearance. The first thing they probably noticed was my eyes, which carried faint golden rings. That made them pause temporarily. Then I saw the brief flash of recognition contort their faces—they knew exactly who I was. Their third surprise was my fists zeroing in on their faces.

  I popped the touchy one first, since he was closer. He doubled over, his hands going to his face to catch the blood that squirted from his nose. As he groaned in agony, a perfectly executed upper cut launched Chipped Tooth into the side of the dumpster. I spun to launch a knee to the groin of Touchy when he straightened to look for his buddy. He dropped to his knees as the back door flung open.

  I whirled around, ready to take on another one, but dropped my hands when I saw Nathan instead.

  “What the—” His eyes hardened on the two bloody and moaning Skotadi on the ground before he turned to me with concern. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. I don’t know about them.”

  The rest of our gang quickly filed out the door and crammed into the narrow alley—all of them in their true forms now. Bruce hauled Chipped Tooth to his feet while Jared and Jas stood Touchy up against the wall beside him.

  Jas barked out a laugh. “Damn. She kicked both your asses! Look at all this blood.”

  Alec eyed me curiously. “Did you use your magic?”

  I shook my head, and he turned to exchange a look with Nathan. Both of them regarded me with surprise.

  “What? You taught me how to fight.”

  “Apparently, they did a good job too,” Jared mused.

  I watched while Jared patted down the Skotadi Jas was holding. He withdrew a pistol, a shiny blade, and a folded up card. The weapons he handed to Lillian, while he examined the card.

  “Club Red,” Jared read out loud. “What’s this?”

  When neither of them offered a prompt explanation, Bruce tapped Chipped Tooth’s head against the wall to give him a little motivation to speak up.

  Jared handed the card to Nathan, who angled it for me to see. It resembled a small postcard, depicting an alluring combination of dancing, alcohol, and a good time at this Club Red. Posted were an address and business hours.

  “A Skotadi-run club,” Nathan muttered under his breath. Turning to the Skotadi, he demanded, “You’re luring humans here, aren’t you?”

  Neither of them answered.

  “Let me see it,” Lillian requested, and Nathan handed her the card before he drew closer to the Skotadi.

  “You thought she was human,” he jeered at them. “Big mistake.”

  “We know who she is,” Chipped Tooth snarled, his eyes moving to me.

  Nathan’s arm shot out so fast I didn’t realize what had happened until the Skotadi dropped to the ground, his face a little bloodier than it had already been. He rolled to spit up a mouthful of blood as Nathan turned his attention to the other one.

  “You got anything to say?” he barked.

  The Skotadi’s eyes flicked in my direction.

  “Look at her again, and you’ll end up on the ground with your buddy,” Nathan threatened. “Now, tell us what’s going on at Club Red.”

  “They’ll kill me if I tell you.”

  “We’ll kill you if you don’t,” Nathan returned smoothly.

  “Slowly,” Jared added.

  Damn, those two could be scary if they wanted to be. But the Skotadi still didn’t speak.

  Nathan casually withdrew his knife. The diamond that coated the blade sparkled faintly in the dim light. He inspected it intently, holding it out for the Skotadi to get a good look at it.

  “Do you have any idea what diamond poisoning feels like?”

  The Skotadi shifted anxiously.

  “It starts off as a burn,” Nathan shared, his voice taking on that deep, threatening quality I hadn’t heard in a long time. “You will want to tear your own flesh off, and pray for death to make the pain go away.”

  Chipped Tooth snorted. “Like you know.”

  “I do know,” Nathan returned coldly. His head nodded in my direction. “She can cure it, did you know that? But I can guarantee, she will not cure you. You’re going to feel every minute of it.”

  Both Skotadi eyed me suspiciously, and I maintained a stoic demeanor despite my unease at seeing this side of Nathan again. Chipped Tooth’s gaze swung nervously between Nathan and Jared, and whatever he saw prompted him to open his mouth.

  “It—it started off as a typical Skotadi establishment,” he sputtered. “We’ve got them all over the world. You know how we work.”

  “So what is it now?” Jared pressed.

  “The demigods came in a few months ago,” he continued in a rush. “Started recruiting us for an army.”

  “Circe’s army?” Nathan demanded.

  The Skotadi’s throat jumped before he nodded.

  “And the humans?” Nathan snapped.

  “We were instructed to lure every human we could find to the club.” The Skotadi cast him a wary glance. “There was an Incantator. All the humans were cursed by the time they left.”

  Nathan turned to Lillian with a silent question. She nodded her head solemnly—she had been a part of it.

  “Where are the demigods now?” Jared asked.

  “I don’t know,” the Skotadi cried. “They haven’t been there for a month or more.”

  “He’s lying,” Lillian declared.

  The Skotadi did a double ta
ke, and finally settled his eyes on Lillian. His jaw dropped when he realized who she was.

  “Yes, it was me,” she confessed. “I did it. I did Circe’s dirty work, and I’m here to stop it now.” To Nathan, Lillian added, “We don’t need them. I remember everything.”

  Nathan smirked as he took a menacing step toward the Skotadi.

  “You’ll never find them!” Chipped Tooth hollered. “They’re hidden too well!”

  “Then we’ll draw them out,” Alec offered quietly from my side.

  “You can’t. They’re not stupid enough,” the Skotadi insisted.

  “Maybe, but we have something they want,” Alec shrugged. He turned to me. “They want us.”

  ~ ~ ~

  We found Club Red on the outskirts of town—a large, brick building painted in a bright blood red, surrounded by a wide open parking lot and nothing else. A quarter mile from anything else remotely civilized, it presented the perfect isolated location for Circe’s dirty work.

  The card indicated that the doors would not open for another hour, yet I was anxious as we stood in the empty parking lot. The evil housed within the building’s walls was palpable.

  Certainly, if I were a human, I would never venture into a place like this. But I doubted the humans that showed up tonight would be of a sound mind. The whole operation probably feasted off the drunk and roofied.

  Lillian was visibly tense where she stood against the vehicle, her eyes scanning the building with trepidation.

  “What do you remember, Lil?” Nathan prompted softly.

  “A back room,” she murmured. “They brought me humans . . .” She trailed off to swat at the tear that rolled down her cheek. “There’s a Skotadi—goes by the name Marcus—who runs the whole operation. He’s the contact to the demigods.”

  “Do you think he’s still here?” Jared questioned.

  She nodded slowly. “Marcus opened this club decades ago. Even before Circe, he was preying on humans for the fun of it. Unless he’s dead, I don’t see him giving this place up. He’ll be here.”

  “Tonight,” I concluded.

  “No, not tonight,” Nathan countered.

  I spun on him. “Why not?”

  “Because we need a plan, that’s why,” he fired at me. “This isn’t something we can just walk into and expect the result we want. It doesn’t work like that.”

  “So we wait some more?” I straightened my back in defiance. “How long are we going to wait? For Circe to finish the curse herself? For her to find Alec? For Callie to die?”

  “Kris . . .” His eyes softened as he took a step toward me.

  “Don’t.” I backed away. “Who’s going to have to die before we make a move? We need to strike first.”

  “We will,” he insisted. “After we come up with a plan of action.”

  I felt a spark. My temper flared, and my other half rode it like an amusement park ride. She loved it, welcomed it. My eyes sought Alec’s, and he shifted to my side, recognizing that I needed him.

  All he had to do was give me a look, and I started to calm down. But I was still mad. Mostly disappointed.

  I hated waiting. Waiting risked the safety of everyone around me. Since no one understood my concerns, I had to bury my fear. Because I knew I couldn’t do this by myself, I had to wait, even when every instinct told me to act now.

  I passed Nathan as I moved to open the car door. “You better hope my best friend doesn’t die first,” I muttered before I climbed in.

  ~ ~ ~

  ~ Nathan ~

  Kris was smoking mad. The tension between the two of us seeped out and infected the rest of the crew. It was the longest, quietest, and most uncomfortable car ride of my life.

  The tension didn’t alleviate once we arrived at the hostel, as I hoped it would. I thought a nice long car ride would have been enough to get over her anger. I was wrong.

  Kris stomped off and slammed the door to the second floor, ten-bed room, while the rest of us stared after her from the hallway.

  Alec turned to me with a snort. “Have fun sleeping in that big private room all by yourself tonight.”

  I withdrew the key from my pocket without a response. As I opened the door, I inclined my head, inviting the rest of them to enter.

  Might as well. Not like I had any other use for the room now.

  “I requested it so we had somewhere safe to talk,” I eventually responded.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Despite Alec’s obvious skepticism, we did end up doing exactly what I had originally requested the room for. Thirty minutes into our heated discussion, we—minus the girls, who had disappeared at some point—came to one conclusion. Our best chance at getting to the demigods was to use the club to lure them out. Everyone had an opinion on how we would manage to do that, and no one agreed on any one idea.

  I lost track of how much time had been spent discussing every scenario, when Lillian popped her head into the room.

  “I’m going to grab a late snack at the diner,” she announced. “Anyone want to join me?”

  Alec immediately jumped to his feet. He shot a warning glare at the rest of us before he took off.

  So he wanted alone time with Lillian. Alone time sounded nice.

  Five minutes later, Kira popped in to invite us to watch a movie in the common room downstairs. Jas scampered off even faster than Alec had.

  I shook my head. Was everyone hooking up around here?

  Before Kira and Jas disappeared down the hall, I called out, “Hey, Kira! Where’s Kris?”

  “She was going to get a shower, then read something, I think.”

  Uh-huh. Sure she was.

  I turned to Jared. “You still have the keys to the car, right?”

  Jared grinned as he withdrew the set from his pocket. “She can’t hotwire it, can she?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past her to try,” I muttered.

  “She’ll come around.” Jared patted me on the shoulder as he stood to let himself out. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. I think Alec’s suggestion might work the best, but let’s all sleep on it, and talk in the morning.”

  “A shower and bed sounds good right about now,” Bruce grumbled as he sniffed his shirt.

  I agreed. After spending the afternoon in the bar, we all smelled like stale cigarette smoke.

  At least I could take advantage of my newly acquired private shower. Apparently, my new room wouldn’t be good for much else.

  Chapter 14

  ~ Kris ~

  I nearly ran into Bruce when I exited the communal bathroom. He held the door open for me, and gave me a shy smile as I passed.

  “You really were taking a shower,” he mused.

  “What else would I be doing?”

  “Somebody worried you might have tried to sneak off, return to the club to take matters into your own hands.”

  I dropped my chin to hide the smile on my face—because I knew it was a dead giveaway. I had thought about it. A lot. Though I had been tempted, I chose not to.

  Somewhere along the way, I had come to realize that Nathan was right. Though waiting may put Callie and Alec in more danger, acting without a plan would put us all in danger.

  Bruce shook his head. A grin tugged at the corners of his lips when I eventually looked up.

  “What?” My arms fanned out. “I’m still here.”

  “Better keep it that way.” Bruce winked before he pushed through the door, leaving me alone in the hallway.

  I poked my head in the communal room. Neither Lillian nor Kira had returned yet. As much as I loathed Kira, I hated being alone more. Nathan’s private room was just a few steps from there. No one answered my knock, but the door was unlocked, so I let myself in.

  I covered my mouth to capture the laugh that bubbled up my throat. “Who would do this?”

  The dim bedside lamp offered enough light to display the tacky décor, peeling flower printed wallpaper, and mismatched furniture spaced out on a faded yellow carpet. The bed was covered in
a white eyelet bedspread and flower-adorned pillows.

  “It’s like a trip to the seventies in here,” I muttered under my breath.

  I got no response, of course. But the sound of the shower running in the adjoined bathroom let me know that I wasn’t entirely alone.

  I sat on the edge of the bed to wait. When the water shut off, I debated whether or not to announce my presence. Instead, I bit my lip as I listened to the sound of the shower curtain sliding open. More shuffling that sounded like clothing being pulled on, the thump of a wet towel hitting the floor, then the door swung open.

  Nathan halted when his gaze landed on me. His messy, towel-dried hair looked darker in the poor light, and tiny water droplets had gathered at the nape, where they dripped onto the shoulder of his t-shirt. The five-o-clock shadow on his jaw added a hint of scruffiness to his otherwise refreshed appearance.

  The mere sight of him twisted my insides, and momentarily caught my breath. Since I didn’t trust my voice yet, I offered him a smile.

  His eyebrows furrowed as he regarded me. “Hey.”

  “Surprised to see me?”

  I thought I heard him grunt something, but couldn’t make out what it was. He inclined his head as he moved to the lopsided table across from me. There, he stuffed the clothes he had worn earlier into a plastic bag.

  “Thought I was going to take off, huh?” I said to his back, my voice lifting with a teasing ring.

  He turned slowly. “The thought crossed my mind.”

  I smiled warily at my feet. “Mine too.”

  His heavy sigh filled the room, and dissuaded me from looking up. “Kris, I know you’re mad at me, but—”

  “I’m not mad.” My head snapped up, and my eyes met his unflinchingly. “Not anymore. You were right.”

  One of his eyebrows shot up. “What?”

  “I’m not mad,” I repeated.

  “No . . . after that.”

  A reluctant smile teased my lips. “Don’t push it.”

  His eyes lit with amusement, a little bit of admiration . . . and something else that twisted me up a little more on the inside.

  I inhaled a gulp of air before I continued, “I know you want to do what’s best for me. You always have.”