“Begging forgiveness, for you to understand I was trying to keep you and your family safe.”
I still didn’t open my eyes. I knew what would happen. I’d forgive him, and he’d have gotten away with treating me like a second-class citizen. “Not good enough.”
Panacea and my yaya gasped together, and Smithy chuckled. “That a girl, make him suffer.”
Remo grunted as if I’d hit him. I opened my eyes and backed up, right into Smithy. He didn’t touch me, but he was at my back. He had my back, just as any good friend would. I stared at Remo, drinking him in.
Remo looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. I mean, if vampires really slept, something I wasn’t sure of entirely. I took in his dark eyes rimmed in violet flickers, the curve of his lips, the silver fangs he had pierced through his chin, the short cropped dark hair; I took it all in and tried not to think about how much I wanted him to hold me. How much I wanted him to tell me that I could do it, that he believed in me. He’d been the only person in my life since I’d been turned who’d not doubted me. And I wanted him to hold me so I could cry and grieve my mother, truly letting out the sobs that even now built in my chest.
Remo was a safe place, and I’d lost it. All because he didn’t want to tell me the truth about the vampire council, because he thought to keep me safe by hiding the truth. I steeled my back, dropped my towel, and jerked the clothes on a piece at a time. “What do you want, Remo?”
“You killed my brother.”
Well, there was that. “It was a busy day. I baked a cake too,” I said.
Behind me Smithy groaned. “Maybe don’t piss off the vampire. I know you could take him, but do you really want to go there today?”
Smithy had a point, but then again that wasn’t the point I was trying to make. If Remo had been with me, then I wouldn’t have been the one to kill his brother. He could have done it himself and ended the territorial dispute and sent the vampire council back without having them get involved. Maybe.
I pulled my shirt over my head and poked my head out through the top. “Are you here to avenge his death? Because I’m on a bit of a time crunch. You can avenge it later, after I deal with Hercules, Zeus, the Hydra, and somehow bring my mom back from the dead—and don’t forget I’m supposed to be baking for my parents’ anniversary party, which is going to be difficult seeing as my bakery has been flattened and my mom is currently dead.” That image stuck with me, and I bit my lower lip to keep the tears back.
Remo took three strides and grabbed me, pulling me tight against him, his lips on mine as I squeaked. The touch and taste of his mouth smoothed away some of the fear, some of the hurt. He pulled back a little and pressed his forehead against mine. “I pushed you away to protect you from the vampires, to protect you from Santos. It had nothing to do with appearances; I could care less what species you are.”
“You sure about that?” Smithy asked, voicing the question I had rumbling around in my head.
Remo nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. I walked away thinking you would be safer without me. That it was my fault you were having to face Santos. He was the one who called the council, not me. They could have come and decided you are a bigger threat than even Santos, and they would have actively gone after your head. Do you understand?”
Crap on a stack of crispy crackers, he didn’t know? “Did Santos’s vampires not come to you?”
He frowned. “They did, but I turned them away.”
I grabbed his arms. “Tell me you at least let them speak to you. That you let Lee speak to you.”
He shook his head. “No. If I’d taken them into my gang in front of the council . . . it would not have gone well for anyone. Wait, how do you know any of their names?”
I groaned. “The council . . . Santos sent them the fennel oil and said I was the threat, that they should come after me because if I could kill him, I could wipe out vampires.”
“Sweet mother of—” Remo swayed where he stood. “Alena, we have to get you out of here. We have to get you out of the country.”
“No, I can’t leave.” I shook my head. “I have a responsibility to this city, to my family.”
Pain seemed to lance through him, his face twisting up with it.
Yaya cleared her throat. “I think I can help with this.”
We all turned to look at her, and I fully admit I was skeptical. “How?”
“I will go to the vampire council; I’ve dealt with them in the past. We will negotiate the terms of their stay.”
My jaw dropped. “What exactly do you mean you’ve ‘dealt’ with them before?”
“Not like that, you bratty girl.” She waved a hand at me. “There have been altercations between vampires and the pantheon before, though they aren’t well documented.” She nodded as if it was decided. “I may not be able to stop them, Alena. But I can hold them off you for a space of time.”
She cupped my face and then kissed my cheeks. “Be careful, and be brave. And remember Orpheus.” Those last three words were not even spoken out loud, just mouthed against my cheek.
I hugged her, and then she stepped away from me and went out the door.
The others pulled back and slipped out of the room and closed the door behind them.
I stared at Remo, wondering if he was going to walk out on me again. “Why didn’t you just tell me about the council?”
“They were watching me, and they had already pegged you for elimination. I was desperate to keep you safe.”
Remo tugged me closer as if he could make us a single flesh. “I truly was trying to protect you. The council can have my vampires beheaded for standing with you against Santos. They don’t understand that he stopped being my brother the second he chose to become a monster.”
I blinked up at him, his words echoing through me. “He chose to become a monster.” I nodded, understanding.
Remo kissed me softly, and I let him, tears falling. “I don’t want you to be beheaded, or Dahlia, or any of my people.”
I gasped. “Tell me you didn’t punish her.”
“I locked her up, but they don’t know that there is a way out of the cell that Dahlia is more than aware of.” He smiled and laughed softly. “I don’t want to lose my head either.”
“Do you think Yaya will be able to keep them busy?” I asked, doing my best to keep my mind on the situation at hand and not on the hands on my body.
He nodded. “I have no doubt that if anyone can, she can. Besides that, the city over the Wall seems to be at the epicenter of the Aegrus virus. The council is turning people away left and right, but even they are not strong enough to keep up the pace.”
I shivered, thinking of a world that had more vampires than humans in it. That would be a bad day for all involved. Remo nodded. “Yes, it’s a bad idea, but they think they are going to get the upper hand. We have to stop the virus, Alena. We have to. It will halt the turning of humans into vampires on top of all the other problems it is causing.”
“We have to get to Zeus, then. Or at least I do.” I pulled away from him a little. “Hermes, I’m ready to go.”
Remo wove his fingers through mine. “I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t,” I said with a frown. “Hermes can only take one person with him. Trust me to get Zeus. I will be back as soon as I can, and then . . . we will face this together. All of it. But only if you stop treating me like I can’t fight on my own. There are enough people in my life who believe me incapable. The last person I expected to fall into that category was you.”
He nodded. “I never thought you incapable, Alena. I thought I was going to lose you. There is a difference.”
He kissed me a third time, hard, as though he would drink me down. I kissed him back with everything I had in me, fierce emotions flowing hot between us, every desire and pent-up emotion breaking through into our lips and tongues as they tangled with one another. He pushed me back gently, and my knees hit the edge of the bed, and I fell backward, him on top of me. His body was hard and
muscled, strong and safe. The fear that I wouldn’t have him in my life whispered at my heels, urged me to make him mine.
“I don’t want to lose you again, Alena. These last few days . . . it felt like a piece of my soul had wandered away from me, taking the best of me with it.” He nuzzled against my neck, kissing and nipping, pulling soft sounds from me. I swallowed hard and gently pushed him back. This was Smithy’s bed. I couldn’t . . . “I can’t. Not here, not now.”
He shook himself and pulled back. “I lose myself when I am with you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” I smiled and then swallowed hard. If I was going to do this, I needed to do it now. The more time I spent in Remo’s arms, the more the rest of the world disappeared.
“Hermes, I’m ready to go,” I said again.
Remo helped me stand as Hermes zipped into the room, wringing his hands. “You’re going to get me killed. Or worse, fired,” he spluttered out.
Ernie ducked through the door. I pointed at Remo. “You two stick together.”
“Wait, I can come with you,” Ernie said, but I was already shaking my head.
“Not this time. I need to do this by myself, or Zeus will never believe I can take Hera on. He needs to see that I’m strong enough all on my own.”
Remo nodded. “Go, and come back to me.” He raised my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it, his tongue flicking along my skin in a shiver of promise.
Remo had me. He’d always had me, and I couldn’t deny it any more than I could deny myself my next breath of air.
I looked at Hermes, and he held out his hand. “Okay, if we’re really going to do this, then hang on and don’t let go. Got it?”
I tightened my fingers around his. “I’m ready.”
CHAPTER 10
There was a lurching jerk, and the room around me was gone as Hermes and I sped through the window and above Seattle with a single whoosh of his tiny wings. The cold air didn’t bite, but I could feel it course along my skin as Hermes towed me along behind him, like he was trying to get a kite high into the air. “You are going to get me in trouble, Drakaina.”
“We can just say I threatened you, that you were afraid I would hurt you.” I couldn’t help staring down as we skimmed along, above the city and then above the Wall. For a moment I thought maybe I could see Tad at house thirteen, but then we were gone from that section so fast I was probably seeing things.
“Hermes.” I squeezed his hand. “I need you to take me somewhere else first before we go to Zeus.”
“What, did you forget a change of underwear?”
I thought he was teasing at first, and then he glanced down at me, completely serious.
“No! I’m not sleeping with Zeus. But I need to find someone else first.”
He groaned. “Seriously?”
“Please, it could mean saving my mother.”
His wings slowed and with them so did our speed. “Damn it, I’m a sucker for a sob story. But who do you think can help you save your mom?”
“Orpheus?” I said it like a question because I wasn’t entirely sure that the information I was getting from Yaya was right. Or good.
But I had to try, and Orpheus was the only name I’d been given.
Hermes spluttered, and we drifted downward. “Orpheus? What in Hades do you want with that nutcase?”
Nutcase? Yaya hadn’t said anything about him being crazy. I swallowed hard before I answered. “Just . . . can you take me to him?” I was going to trust Yaya, even if Orpheus was crazy. Even if I wasn’t sure I could trust her. I had to believe she would do what she could to help me bring my mom back.
Hermes tread air, his wings barely moving. He didn’t look down. “Why, Alena?”
“Because.” I had nothing else. Because it might be a total waste of time. Because I wanted my mom back now that we had finally started to move beyond the past. Because I wanted to believe my yaya wouldn’t steer me wrong.
Because.
His head drooped. “He’s on the way.” He turned west and zipped along at a good clip once more. In no time we were out over open water and approaching a large island. We skimmed the trees as the rain fell around us, soaking my hair and clothes.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” Hermes muttered.
Of course I didn’t, but he didn’t need to know that.
He began to lower us through the spitting clouds, and a midsize lake came into view. I thought I caught a glimpse of a name on a battered wooden sign. “Westwood Lake.”
“He’s there on the dock,” Hermes said, dropping me off in the sand of the beach. I stumbled in the wet footing until my feet were at the edge of the water. The dock was only about fifty feet out and bobbed here and there, the water sloshing around it. On the rickety wooden planks stood a man with long grizzled hair that was twisted up in dreadlocks, though I suspected they weren’t done that way for fashion so much as for lack of care. There was the sound of singing from all around him, but I wasn’t sure if it was just him or not.
“Excuse me, Orpheus?” I called out. The singing stopped, and the sound of several fish jumping splashed through the air. I could have dove in and swam to him, but the dark water didn’t look all that inviting. Something about it made me shiver and back out of the gently lapping edge of it.
Slowly, Orpheus turned to face me. “Who calls to me?”
I opened my mouth to say my name, but what came out was not me. “Drakaina. I seek your help.”
Nope, that was not me at all.
Orpheus stepped to the edge of the dock, tipping it so that I could see the holes in the deck of it. “What help need you of me, siren?”
I pulled my words together, feeling the importance of this moment. If I said things wrong, I had no doubt I would lose whatever hold I had here. “A priestess of Zeus sent me to you.”
He grunted. “Damn interfering busybodies. Why would a priestess send you to me, though?”
“My mother was killed, and I want to bring her back from Hades,” I said, and he began to laugh softly.
“Oh, gods. Not that again. It’s not possible. They tempted me with a possibility, that my sweet wife would sleep in my arms again. But they lied; they never intended to give her back.” He spoke as though the volume of his voice were on a roller coaster up and down so that he went from shouting to whispers all in a single sentence. I frowned and clenched my hands into fists.
Around us the softest of singing started up again, and I couldn’t help but startle. There, around the edge of the dock, were eyes peering out of the water. Eyes attached to heads that maybe were attached to mermaids . . . but I’d met a mermaid before. They had teeth like sharks, and I had no doubt not all of them were nice.
The creatures slid through the water toward me, and I almost took a step back. I opened my mouth and let my fangs drop down as a hiss rolled out of me, coursing along the water’s surface. “Do not push me. I bite,” I said. The mermaids stopped moving in my direction and instead slid under the dark water. By the ripples, it looked like they went back the way they’d come, but I could not be sure.
“Be careful,” Hermes said from behind my right shoulder. I didn’t need him to tell me that, but I did appreciate his concern.
I raised my voice. “How do I bring my mother back, Orpheus?”
“A simple thing, so simple you will not believe, and that is why you will fail.” He sobbed a moment and shook his head.
Around me I could feel time slipping away. I weighted what came out of my mouth with the power of a siren, knowing that Orpheus did want to help. I could see it in him, only he was afraid.
“Tell me what I must do to save my mother from Hades.”
His head rolled back. “A flower, offer her a flower from the land of the living. She must take it from you and hold it all the way out. If one petal should fall, she will not . . .” He sobbed again and went to his knees. The singing began again, and Hermes dropped so that he was next to my head.
“I think we sho
uld go. When he’s like this there is no talking to him.”
I nodded and held my hand up to Hermes. He grabbed hold of me, and once more we swept into the sky. Orpheus was right; I didn’t believe him. A flower? I had to offer my mother a flower in order to bring her back from the dead. That was . . . ridiculous.
But no matter how strange, I would do it. For now, though, I would put it from my mind and focus on Zeus. Zeus and the virus first, and then I could go after Mom.
We flew up through the edges of the Rocky Mountains, staying on their western side. An hour slipped by, and as the time flew, so did the snow. Snowflakes swirled around us as we skimmed through the air. I didn’t close my eyes, but stared, unable to believe the speed at which we traveled. I said as much to Hermes. He laughed. “This is slow. You’re slowing me down, Drakaina. Normally it would take me maybe a few minutes, not a couple of hours.”
An hour and a half brought us to the outskirts of a large forest, covered in snow, silent and ominous, but my mind was still back on a dark lake, hearing Orpheus sob. I focused on what was in front of me. The trees were clumped together and held the snow above them in a white canopy that looked like a painting, it was all so still. I couldn’t see the ground, even as we raced toward it. I held my breath, thinking we were going to slam into the trees, but Hermes ducked down and wove us through them easily.
“This time I have to drop you farther back. We go our separate ways here, and then you can find your way to his cabin. That will keep me out of this. He’ll just think you found him on your own.”
He let go of me before I could protest that he hadn’t been bothered by Orpheus knowing that he’d helped me. Then again, who would believe a crazy old man? Not me. I hit the snow and sank up to my midthigh in the thick white cold. Hermes was gone in a flash of wings. “Wait!”
He ignored me and kept going. Dang it all. This was not what I’d been hoping for. I struggled to get out of the snow, grabbed a small tree, and used it to pry myself free. The top of the snow was actually hard enough I could walk on it if I was careful. Like a pie crust done to the perfect crispness and coated in sugar, it didn’t break unless I really pushed hard or stumbled.
Hisses and Honey (The Venom Trilogy Book 3) Page 12