“Oh, please. Don’t act like you know how to fight.” She snorted and carefully dealt out a hand of solitaire. “You know, everyone is laughing at you.”
“I don’t know your name, unless Hercules was right,” I said, eyeing her up and down. I’d seen her in her human form only once, when Merlin had shown her to me, to warn me that he’d raised a Hydra.
Her eyes flicked to me, black as night, as though there was no soul in her. Maybe that was just my imagination.
“You can call me Angel, that’s my prison name.” She flicked a card over and slid it into a pile. I didn’t dare take my eyes from her. She had a strange heartbeat; it sounded like there were multiple hearts in her chest . . . nine, to be exact.
“Why aren’t you attacking me?”
“I underestimated you. It won’t happen again. I want to talk. I want you to know that I am going to enjoy killing you.” She grinned at me, flashing a mouthful of sharp teeth. The Drakaina rolled through me, and I couldn’t help flashing my own set of hardware, the fangs curling down from the top of my mouth and hanging low past my chin.
Angel laughed and shook her head. “Your venom is powerful shit. I’m still healing, if you must know. Hercules thinks he’s in charge of me, but he’s a tool.” She leaned back in her chair. “I was born to be a killer; I’m good at it. If you hadn’t noticed.” She winked. “Dear Mommy went down in a heap, didn’t she?”
I didn’t relax my stance, anger growing. “You will—”
“Pay for that? Oh, please. We both know you’re a weakling. You would have died if your friends hadn’t helped you. I, on the other hand, healed on my own. I’m a survivor, Drakaina. Unlike you. Do you know I killed my whole family?”
I clenched my fists, doubt riding me hard. Could I take her? I wasn’t sure. “Is that why you were in prison?”
She grinned. “No, I never got caught for that. I fed them to the pigs and buried their teeth after they were shit out.”
Cold chills swept through me, and for the first time I was afraid. Angel wasn’t like Achilles or Theseus, or even Hercules. She was a true psychopath.
She was nodding to herself. “Yes, that was fun. I meant to kill your mom too, if you must know. It was no accident.” She winked at me and grinned again. Her eyes . . . wobbled, for lack of a better word. Like they all of a sudden couldn’t look at the cards, or me, or anything completely as they sought out something that wasn’t there. All the monsters had their weaknesses, and it hit me suddenly what Angel’s was.
“Having trouble with nine sets of eyes stuck in one head, huh?” I knew I would have a chance, if I was brave enough to take it. I knew her weakness, and in her human form, I would have a chance to take her.
She glared at me, or tried to with her wobbling eyes. I flicked my left hand out to the side, and she followed the movement. I took the opening. I leapt at her, smashing into her body and taking us both crashing to the floor.
She screeched as we went down, and I jammed a hand up and under her jaw, pinning her head back to the floor. Her legs wrapped around my waist as her hands scrabbled at my arms, huge gouges drawn through both layers of skin. I hissed at her, and her bottomless black eyes met mine.
“You don’t deserve to live,” I whispered. “You killed my mom.” I choked on the words.
“I’d do it again,” she snarled back at me.
I saw her start to shift, and I pulled her head up. If I could knock her out, I could keep her from—
Something slammed into my head from the side, sending me flying off Angel. I hit the wall and slid down as I struggled to get my bearings. The world spun as though I’d been on a carnival ride for days.
“Get up, Angel. I told you we weren’t attacking her until I was sure it was the right thing to do.”
Hercules. That was Hercules. And his shield.
I blinked in time to see him yanking her off the floor and putting her over his shoulders. His eyes met mine and he nodded. “We will meet on the battlefield, Drakaina. But not today. I need to be sure of things before we fight again. Two days from now, we will face each other to decide the fate of the world.”
I pushed myself up and stumbled after them. They disappeared into the crowd of sick people . . . and protestors.
“Oh my God, what are you all doing?” I put a hand to my head. Hercules’s shield had rung my bell something fierce. Something about heroes’ weapons really hit home hard.
I recognized the protestors in front of Merlin’s because of the petite leader with the dark curls and Irish lilt to her voice as she distributed water, food, and blankets. I’d met her at the Wall only a week or so before and saved her from a rampaging werewolf.
“What are you doing?” I repeated as I drew closer.
She smiled up at me. “Doing what we can. This disease . . . we’ve all got it. It’s just a matter of time.”
A chill swept through me as I took in the pallor of her skin, the dullness in her eyes. “No! How?”
“It’s . . . on a rampage, it seems. Drakaina . . . you said you would be the guardian of this city.” Her eyes filled with tears. “That you would protect us all.”
I struggled to breathe. “Yes. I did.”
“Can you stop this virus? It isn’t natural, is it?”
Hercules’s words echoed in my head. Two days before he would come looking for me. Maybe that would be enough time to stop the virus? The options were few, but I knew I had to try. She was right; I’d claimed to be the city’s guardian, and it was time to live up to it in more ways than just playing Godzilla games with the Hydra and Hercules. “Stay here. I will . . . I will stop this.”
The words slipped out of me as I turned and ran down the street toward house number thirteen. I burst through the door to find my friends waiting for me. All of their faces were turned to me, surprise written all over them.
I drew a big breath. “New plan. Hercules and the Hydra will wait. I have to stop the Aegrus virus.”
CHAPTER 12
My group of friends and family stared at me with collective eyebrows lifted and lips clamped shut.
“Well, don’t all jump up at once and tell me I can do it.” I laughed, but the sound was bitter like dark chocolate, even to my ears.
I looked around, shocked to see Yaya for more than one reason. “I thought you were going to the vampire council, Yaya?”
“I did. And they sent me away. Though I believe they are preoccupied with all those who are dying of the virus right now.” She shook her head, looking younger than ever. If another ten years were taken from her, she’d be closing in on my age bracket. I frowned, thinking of all the possibilities again when it came to her motivation. The one I liked the least being that she had somehow been involved in all the things that had happened to me. No, I wasn’t going there.
She took my hands in hers and stared up at me. “Alena, you are not a doctor, you’re not a warlock, and as much as I want to tell you that you can stop the virus, I’m not going to lie to you.” Her blue eyes were intent, without a single flicker of deceit in them. Yet the Drakaina in me whispered a single word.
Lies.
Yaya had lied to me for most of my life. I shot a look to Tad, and he nodded, urging me on. I held myself tight, coiled as if I were about to strike.
“Really? You’ve not had a problem lying to us in the past.” I bit the words at her, and she dropped my hands.
“Yes, and as I’ve pointed out, that was to protect you.”
“So why would this be any different?” I took a step back. The words spilled out of me in a torrent. “Yaya, of all the people in my life, you helped me find my feet at Vanilla and Honey. You told me I was worth the time and effort, you supported me in my sham of a marriage. Why would you stop supporting me now?”
She closed her eyes. “Because none of those things truly took you from me. None of them could kill you. This could, Alena. I’ve lost my daughter, do you think I want to lose my granddaughter too?”
I put a hand over my face
and struggled through the tears. “But so many people are dying, Yaya. And letting them die won’t bring Mom back.” I took my hand away and stared at her. “I can’t . . . I can’t turn my back on them. This time . . . this time I really have to do this on my own, I think.”
Sandy approached, her dark eyes searching my face. “You aren’t the only monster here, Alena. You don’t have to do this on your own.”
They didn’t understand, none of them truly did. Well, maybe one of them did. Remo’s eyes met mine; those flickering violet colors made them look like cut gems. He gave me a small smile, and in it I found the backup I needed. Even now, he understood me better than anyone else did.
I swallowed hard. “Yaya, where does the virus originate? Is it Hera’s doing?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know.”
Lies. Again, I could almost taste them on the air.
“Really? You know I can tell you are lying, Flora.” I used her given name for the first time, and she sucked in a sharp breath. I shook my head. “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
Her eyes slowly closed, but not before I saw the hurt in them. I refused to be upset by her pain. Not today, not in that moment when she still wouldn’t tell me the truth.
Trying to protect me was one thing, but not allowing me to make my own choices based on actual fact was entirely different.
My jaw ticked, and I paced into the kitchen. “I’m going to do some baking. Sandy, you want to work on a new-to-you recipe?” In other words, I needed to think.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” she said.
Sandy hurried in with me, and I directed her to get the ingredients I would need to make a cake I’d not put together in a long time. Not since before my father’s parents had passed. They’d spent some of their earlier years in the South Pacific and had come back with a chocolate cake recipe that was to die for. But whenever I made it I thought of them and all the things they were missing out on in our lives, which made me avoid it . . .
“No eggs?” Sandy asked as she stood by the fridge.
“No eggs, no milk,” I said. “Just grab the sifter; we need to run the dry ingredients through four times to get everything smooth.”
She ran the hand-crank sifter as I put the flour and other ingredients through. I knew the recipe by heart despite rarely making it, and I didn’t need to double-check anything. I went through the motions as we put the cake together, which allowed my mind to circle around the problem in front of me.
We knew Hera had something to do with the virus. And we knew that Merlin was also tied to her, but he was missing, apparently. There were more pieces missing than just Merlin, though. The problem was, I didn’t have a clue as to what they could be. I tried not to think about the problem directly and instead just let my mind wander to see if I could stumble on the answer.
Unfortunately for me, letting my mind wander also allowed it to go to my mother’s death, to holding her, pulling her from the rubble. Was she in the underworld now with Hades?
Was Orpheus right about bringing her back with a simple flower?
Death. Hades. Virus. Zeus. Hera. Merlin. Everything was there, I just had to figure out how they mixed together, and then I’d know what was in the oven baking, so to speak. I stopped mixing the batter midstir, seeing the recipe in my mind begin to come together.
“Hades . . . he’ll know what’s going on; he’s the one who is benefiting from all these people dying.” I blurted the words out as I dumped the batter into a pan. Not only that, but maybe . . . maybe I could find my mom. God, I was afraid to hope for that, afraid to consider that possibility in case I failed. “Hermes, go tell Zeus I will talk to Hades after all.” Hades would know something with all the souls coming his way, and maybe he’d even know how to stop it.
“You got it.” He zipped away in a flash of light, and I slumped into a chair.
“But why would Hades want to stop the dead coming to him?” I asked myself softly. Why indeed? It made logical sense that the dead going to Hades would potentially benefit him, seeing that he ruled the underworld.
“Who are you talking about now, sis?” Tad jumped up so he could sit on the counter next to me. His green eyes were bright and clear of the hatred Theseus had put into them, but they were red rimmed from tears. From grief.
I took his hand and squeezed it gently. “Why would Hades want people to stop dying in droves? How am I going to convince him to help me?” I glanced up at him. “I doubt my siren abilities will work on him.”
Tad scrunched up his face in thought. “I don’t know. I’ll come with you, if you want.” He looked at me and then hurried to spit out the rest. “I think you can do it on your own. I just want you to know I’m here. If you need me.”
Sweeter words couldn’t have fallen from his lips. I took his other hand. “Thanks. But . . . I’m good. I’ll need backup soon enough, but no point in getting us all sent to hell.” I winked at him, and his mouth dropped.
“You said ‘hell.’”
“That I did.” I laughed, but it ended on something that was more of a sob. Hermes shot through the kitchen, sliding to a stop in midair.
His eyes were wide, and his sneakers were lit up with a faint red glow like he was literally on fire. “You aren’t going to believe this,” he panted. “Hades has imprisoned Zeus. The gods are flocking to Hera. If we don’t get Zeus out quick, she’s won. You’ve got to get to Hades, and fast.”
The world seemed to tilt, and I clutched the table for support. This was not how it was supposed to go. “So I guess that means Hades was working with Hera all along. What do you want to bet he’s behind the virus too?” The words slipped out of me, and I saw Yaya from the corner of my eye. She jerked, like I’d slapped her, confirmation that I was right. So there it was—Hades was behind the Aegrus virus. It made a twisted sort of sense, seeing as there would be power in the dead for him. He was, after all, the lord of the underworld. The more people he had in his thrall, the stronger he would be.
I pushed to my feet. “Hermes. Can you find Merlin?”
He closed his eyes, and from underneath the lids his eyes moved as if he were seeing things only he could see. “The hospital on Whidbey Island. The Aegrus ward.”
Where Merlin and I had first met. I stood up and looked at my friends around me. Dahlia and Sandy stood beside one another, monsters like me and beautiful in more aspects than the view the world saw. “I need to keep Hercules and the Hydra off me until I get back from dealing with Hades. Think you two can distract them if they show up before the two days he gave me?”
Dahlia gave me a slow, wicked grin. “Think Hercules could fend off a vampire bite?”
Sandy rolled her shoulders. “We’ll draw them away from the city, maybe toward the valley?” She glanced at Remo, and he nodded.
“Out of the city would be best. Take them all the way to my compound if you can. We can hold them there. It will give the vampire council something to deal with.”
I looked at Tad and Yaya. “Tad, I need you to go with me to Dad. We need him to know that we know he’s a Super Duper and we need his help.”
Tad’s face was serious. “You think he can help?”
“I think if Mom was telling me the truth, our dad is a warlock in his own right. We need him to start turning people, because right now that is all we can do to help them. Start with those at Merlin’s and then move outward from there.”
There was a knock on the door, and we all froze. Everyone we knew was here. I made my way to the entrance and listened only for a split second before I flung it open. My dad stood there, his face lined with grief, his black hair sporting more than a few new strands of gray, his green eyes rimmed in red.
“Dad,” I whispered, and then he was holding me, and I was sobbing, and Tad was there, and we just clung to each other. What was left of our family. For a moment I was a little girl again, and I could let my dad chase away the monsters from under my bed.
But now I was the monster, and I needed to stand up
and fight for my family.
Dad patted my back and pushed me away gently. “I thought I overheard my name. I wanted to save you some trouble of coming all the way into Seattle.”
I sniffed and frowned. “What? I don’t understand.”
He shrugged. “An old warlock trick.”
My lips trembled. “I tried, Dad, I tried to save her.”
He put both hands on my face, cupping it. “I know, baby girl.” He drew in a big breath and nodded. “So you want me to start turning those who are sick?”
“Can you?” I was hoping.
“Yes. I’m rusty, but I can still do it. I’ll use my uncle’s place.” He winked at me. His uncle’s place. Merlin’s home.
He pointed at Yaya. “Flora, you can help. Send a couple of your priestesses over to Merlin’s.”
She nodded and turned away. I couldn’t help but notice that she’d not come to our tiny family group hug.
Tad clapped Dad on the shoulder. “I’ll get Jensen. He can help round people up and keep the line moving.”
Yaya came back into the room. “Alena, you are giving everyone else instructions; I assume you have something for me? Unless you distrust me that much?”
Another time I would have flinched at her words, but not anymore. “Gather the rest of your priestesses, like Dad asked, and any of the Super Dupers you can.” I glanced at Remo. “Call the SDMP and see if they will listen to you. See if they will help us stand against Hera and whomever she has under her thumb.”
They all nodded, and just like that, they headed out in various directions. I hurried upstairs to the bedroom, needing a moment to myself. My friends, my family, I was sending them away. I knew it was for the best, but it still was hard. Suddenly I could see their actions a little clearer. How many of them had separated themselves from me in order to keep me safe? Most of them, at one point or another.
And now I was doing the same thing. Some of the anger I’d been carrying faded with that insight. Sometimes we pushed those we loved away because it was best for them. Even when they didn’t want to be saved.
Hisses and Honey (The Venom Trilogy Book 3) Page 14