But the kraken caught me in its beaked mouth and bit down. This was it, I was going to be cut in half. I flexed my muscles, braced, waiting for the slice that would kill me.
The beast didn’t bear down with the full power of its jaws, but instead held me even as I could hear its heartbeat slow, death coming for it, my venom coursing through its thick flesh.
A coast guard ship zipped between us, and the kraken slowly lowered me down so I was eye to eye with the captain of the ship. Even if I hadn’t known already, I would have figured he was part of the pantheon. He had the same blond hair and blue eyes and glow of power around him, not to mention a distinct resemblance to his brother, Zeus. Then there was the school of fish that swam in circles around his boat, leaping and bobbing to the surface as if trying to get his attention.
“So you are the Drakaina who killed my son?” He glared up at me and pointed a trident that was barbed on each of the three tips. If I were a betting kind of gal, I’d say that the weapon would do me some serious harm.
I squirmed, thought about shifting, and before I could change my mind, the shift took me. I yelled as I fell from the air, flailing as I headed straight toward the deck of the boat.
The kraken shot a tentacle out and caught me by one ankle, holding me right in front of Poseidon.
We were eye to eye, even though I was upside down. He glared at me, his frown kind of looking like a smile from my vantage point.
The trident wavered in front of my face. “No last words? No begging for mercy?”
I clenched my jaw several times, at war with myself before I finally spoke the truth. “Your son was a complete donkey, and you should be ashamed. I didn’t want to kill him, but he was killing my friends, and I had to stop him.”
Poseidon narrowed his eyes until they were mere slits. “That is not how one begs for mercy.”
“You’re going to kill me no matter what. I might as well go out with a little dignity.”
“This from the naked woman,” Ernie said, breezing in behind Poseidon. “How you doing, Fish King?”
“Knock it off, Eros. I have a monster to kill.”
“Rich, coming from you with your kraken.” Ernie snorted. “Look, I don’t think you should be so ready to jump at killing her. You didn’t even like Theseus. He was your least favorite. I seem to recall you calling him a shithead more than once.”
“Eros, stop interrupting me. I know you are on her side.” Poseidon spun to point the trident at Ernie. “And besides, the fact that I didn’t like Theseus is not the point. If we just let the monsters do what they want without repercussions, we’re going to have a clusterfuck on our hands again. Do you not recall the Titans?”
“She’s hardly a Titan,” Ernie pointed out. “Even if she is a big-ass snake.”
“My bum isn’t all that big, to be fair,” I added.
Ernie nodded. “Point taken, her bum is only big when she’s a snake.”
“Do I even have a bum when I’m a snake?”
“Ha, good point. Just a big tail, then? A big-ass tail? Ass tail. That’s funny.” Ernie laughed at his own joke.
Poseidon rolled his eyes, and the kraken slid a tentacle down around my middle and squeezed me hard enough that I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t suck even a single gasp in. I did the only thing I could. I let my fangs drop and bit into the tentacle holding me. I didn’t draw back but instead let the venom pump into the creature.
Slowly it eased off and then dropped me onto the deck. I hit with a hard thump, spinning to watch as the kraken slid away from sight, under the water, with barely a burp of air.
“Damn it, Drakaina!” Poseidon strode to the edge of the deck. “Do you know how much Hades is going to love holding that over me? It’s going to cost me to get my pet back.”
I slid back on the deck to the railing edge. My fangs throbbed, ached like they were empty. I reached up and touched one; not a single drop of venom fell. I guess it made sense that I could run out of venom, but it did not bode well, seeing as I hadn’t even gotten to the underworld yet.
The king of the ocean spun around, his trident pointed at me once more. The CB radio crackled to life behind him, and he reached for it with one hand. “Kraken One here.”
A voice came through, distorted and scratchy with the airwaves. “We need you back at port. We’ve got a ship coming in we suspect of smuggling infected people to the city.”
Poseidon let out a sigh and scratched at his head with the hand holding the radio before he let out another sigh. “I’ll be back ASAP.”
He hung it back up. “Guess that means I need to kill you in a hurry instead of drawing it out and feeding you to the fishes piece by piece.”
I scrambled backward. “You don’t understand, Hera is going to take Olympus, Hades is behind the Aegrus virus, I think he has Zeus trapped, the Hydra is out of control, and people are dying, and I’m trying to help! Zeus needs you to side with him. Please.”
The trident paused at my chest, and I didn’t dare breathe.
“Please. I’m doing the best I can.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled the trident back, his eyes thoughtful. “You’re going to make Hera look like a fool.”
I grimaced. “I’m not trying to.”
The king of the ocean gave me a gruff laugh. “Oh no, I want you to. She’s a bitch of a sister-in-law.” He took a step back. “I won’t help you, but I won’t get in your way either. Besides, if you think to take on Hades, you have some serious balls.” He glanced between my legs, and I slapped a hand over my bits as my face heated up.
He shrugged. “I will give you a piece of advice. Hades is not like the rest of us. He hasn’t had to acclimate to the changing world, stuck in the underworld as he’s been.” He bent down low so we were eye to eye. “He’s the same miserable bastard that liked to torture small animals for fun when he was a child.”
He reached forward, grabbed me around the arm, and threw me overboard before I could even protest. I hit the water hard and was tumbled around in the wake of his boat speeding back the way he’d come.
“Good luck,” he called back. “You’re going to need it.”
I swam backward, then flipped to my belly and headed toward the shoreline of Whidbey Island. Ernie flew above me. “That was close. And shit, that kraken! You totally took him out!”
“I’m out of venom.” I spit out a mouthful of salt water and kept moving.
“Well, that’s not good.” He spoke the obvious like I wouldn’t know. “You’re going to need venom for the underworld for sure.”
I didn’t answer him, wanting to focus on getting to shore as quickly as I could. Who knew how long Merlin would actually be at the hospital? What if he took the last ferry back to Seattle?
The waves at least were pushing me in the right direction. I don’t know how long I swam the dark waters, heading toward the lights on shore. My feet were just suddenly on shifting sand, and I was being helped up and out of the water by Remo. He had a towel he got from heaven knew where, and he wrapped it around me. “Had a nice dip?”
“Oh, lovely.” I shook my head. “Refreshing, and I did get some good info.” I told him about Poseidon and what he’d said about Hades. It wasn’t a lot, but it might come in handy.
Ernie tossed me my clothes, and I struggled to get them on over my still-damp skin. I slipped the jacket back on, and Remo nodded. “Ready?”
“As long as no more of the pantheon shows up, I should be good to go,” I muttered.
Ernie barked a laugh. “Optimistic, I like that about you.”
The three of us hurried up the slope that led away from the water. We actually weren’t far from the ferry docks and had a taxi within a few minutes. I wrapped my arms around myself as we drove, unable to keep from thinking about what was coming. I just assumed that I would be able to get to the underworld. I had to believe Merlin would help me, even if it meant I had to beg.
The taxi pulled up to the hospital, and Remo paid the fare. I was already out an
d ahead of him, unable to slow my feet. The first time I’d come here I’d been on a gurney, barely able to lift my head, never mind keep my feet under me. The exterior walls were the same slate-gray cement that had been hurriedly put together when the Aegrus virus had first appeared. What was different, though, were the people who were now outside the hospital.
Camped all over the sparse lawn were people lying on the ground; there were some even sitting and leaning against the building. I took my time, and with my feet slowing I strained my ears. There wasn’t a single heartbeat coming from the group of bodies in front of us.
“They aren’t vampires, are they?” I asked Remo. He shook his head, but I already had the confirmation I needed. The smell of death filled the air like the stench of burning fish, a scent that clung to you, one that no matter how you washed your hands and clothes, it was still there, lingering, telling me they were gone.
I hurried between the bodies and kept my eyes glued on the front doors. I pushed on them, but they were locked. I thought about just breaking them down. I took a step back and looked at the cement walls again. Here and there were cracks from the hastily made building, which, along with the rough window ledges at intervals, would make for easy grips. “I think we can climb this.”
“Good call. Merlin won’t expect us to come in this way,” Remo said, and we started up the side of the building. Ernie flew above us, giving directions where he could. I’d done this before, climbed the CenturyLink Field wall when I went to rescue Tad from Achilles. But this was different. This didn’t feel at all like the wild rush of learning how strong I was, how fast, how agile. This felt like . . . going into battle, a battle I could very well lose if I wasn’t careful.
We reached the tenth floor, and I found a window that was open. I pushed it, and we slipped through, Ernie right with us. We were in a small bedroom, and there was a body covered with a sheet. I didn’t need to lift the sheet back to know what was under it.
I drew in a breath, the smells in the room rolling back over my tongue, but I didn’t pick up on anything but death. I shook my head and rubbed at my nose.
“Use your tongue. It is more sensitive when you flick it out,” Ernie said.
I walked to the door, opened it, and found myself in the main hall. No nurses waited at the station, no lights blinked on and off. This was a true tomb now, not just one in theory.
I stopped the direction of my thoughts and flicked my tongue out. Scents flowed back to me and triggered images in my brain. The nurses who’d been on last were the one with the southern drawl that I’d suspected of being an elf—I’d been right—and the gargoyle nurse who was kind but had big clunky hands. They’d been holding out as long as they could, no doubt.
On the nurses’ station was a vase of flowers, most of them drooping. Except for one. A single peony, pale pink and still tightly closed around its bud. I moved, barely realizing it. Ernie asked me something, but his voice was a buzz inside my head.
Peonies were my mom’s favorite flower, and she had them planted all over the backyard. I pulled the flower out of the vase, and a shiver went through me. Maybe it was a sign.
Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to hang on to it, right? I slid it through the top button hole of the leather jacket.
“You okay?” Ernie was in front of me, snapping his fingers. I nodded.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry.”
Remo offered me his hand. “Let’s find Merlin.”
I turned my face away from him and flicked my tongue out again. I picked up all the same scents as before, and now one more.
Merlin. Not that far off from my dad’s own unique scent, Merlin smelled like dusty old books and the sharp tang of expensive cologne. I followed his trail down to a room number I would never forget. I pushed the door to my old room open and stepped inside.
Merlin sat on my bed, his legs stretched out and a pillow behind his head. His eyes rolled to me, and he winked. “I knew you’d find me. Too smart for your own good.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps that’s a problem that runs in the family, yeah?”
He snorted and rubbed the end of his nose. “Ah, so you figured that out too? See what I mean about too smart?”
“Are we seriously related?” I blurted out. Sure, the world was going down like a falling soufflé, but I wanted to know just how we were connected. Part of me was horrified because he’d tried to kill me, even though he was family. The other part was morbidly fascinated. Just why had he wanted to kill me, or been willing to have me killed, when we were related?
“I am your grandfather’s brother, your great-uncle.” He winked. “Which does indeed make your father a warlock too. Tell me, why do you think he didn’t turn you himself?”
I’d thought about the reason why Dad hadn’t turned Tad and I, even though he was a warlock. I didn’t hesitate to answer Merlin; I knew the answer. “My mother.”
“Ah, your mother. Right, right. I remember all that mess now. Shame. She was feisty once too, before fear got the better of her and she let Hera’s supposed curse control her choices.”
Ernie swept around between us. “Wait, you’re actually related to this douche? He’s been jerking you around the whole time, and you two are family?”
I shrugged. “Not any worse than the rest of the pantheon now, is it?”
That came out a bit wrong, like I was part of the Greek powerhouse, which I wasn’t. But he seemed to get the gist of what I was getting at.
Merlin laughed. “Another time we can discuss the family tree and exactly why I had no problem throwing you to the wolves. That is in the past, we are here now, and we”—he pointed at me and then back at himself—“have an issue. You noticed the people dying outside?”
I shook my head. “Dead, not dying.”
He grunted but didn’t seem upset by the change in status. “Interesting. Most of them fell ill within the last few days. The virus has been set into overdrive, Alena. If you fell sick now, you wouldn’t have weeks.” He smoothed a hand back over his dark-brown hair. Looking at him, I could see the resemblance here and there to Tad, and more so to my dad. I gave myself a mental shake.
“How do we stop it? You obviously aren’t bothering to turn them.” I didn’t hold back on the heat in my words.
“You obviously don’t know what it takes to turn someone. It’s draining. That’s why I only turn one or two people in a month. That’s the real reason why your father couldn’t turn you. He’s not strong enough.”
I blanched, thinking of my request for Dad to go and turn as many people as he could. Merlin stared hard at me as if he could read my mind. Maybe he could. “You didn’t,” he growled.
I grabbed the foot of the bed to steady myself. “I didn’t know. I was trying to help everyone.”
He slammed his hands into the bed and pushed off. “I’d better go help him, then, before he kills himself.”
“Wait, I need to get to Hades; he’s behind the virus. How do I get to the underworld?” I stepped in front of him, stopping him from getting to the door.
Merlin shook his head, exasperation flowing over his face. “You don’t. Zeus could have taken you there, but the rumor is that he’s somehow gotten trapped. He’s too cocky for his own good.”
“Hermes? Could he take her?” Remo asked.
Both Ernie and Merlin shook their heads at the same time.
“Not possible, not to the underworld or Olympus,” Ernie explained. “Those two places are off limits for him to carry anyone.”
“Merlin, I have to try. Can you try to understand that?” I spread my hands wide in front of me, ready to beg if I had to. “I can’t just let people die if I can help.”
He tucked a hand into the inside of his jacket and pulled out a silver-and-gold feather. A Stymphalian bird feather, either Sandy’s or Beth’s, I wasn’t sure. He rolled it over his hand once.
“You sure you want to go to the underworld? Because as far as I know there is only one way that is certain to get you there.”
His brown eyes met mine, and there wasn’t a single glint of jokester in them. Nothing like the man I’d first met only a few short weeks ago who’d teased me about being a Firstamentalist.
“Yes.” My voice was steady.
“There will be no do-overs, Alena. You will have one shot, and you will need more bravery than I think even you have.” Merlin continued to roll the feather in his hand, over and over, the metal catching the light in flashes.
“Alena.” Remo breathed my name in a soft warning as I nodded to Merlin.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“Oh, I doubt that very much.” Merlin did smile then as he glanced at Remo beside me. “You don’t think you’re going with her, do you?”
“Yes. If anyone can handle the underworld, someone already dead should do the trick,” Remo said.
Merlin shook his head. “No. She goes alone. Trust me, it is for your own good. Both of you. The undead are not what you think in the underworld.”
That made no sense, but I was ready to agree to his terms. Remo, on the other hand . . .
“I’m with her, so you send us both or not at all.” Remo closed the distance between Merlin and himself. The two men were almost nose to nose, or would have been if Remo hadn’t had a good six inches on Merlin. He stared down at the warlock, but Merlin didn’t seem bothered at all.
“I’m telling you, vampire, it’s a bad idea.”
Remo glared at him. “I’m going with her.”
Merlin shrugged and put a hand on Remo’s chest, pushing him away. “Your funeral.”
“I can get there on my own,” Ernie said, “but I’ll be behind you if he’s sending you fast.”
Merlin nodded and faced me. “Fast, it will be. You ready, then?”
I swallowed, a sudden knot of anxiety filling my throat like a too-big candy gone down sideways.
“I need you to say you want to go to the underworld. That you accept the consequences as they are.” Merlin took a step toward me. I held my ground, drawing myself up higher.
“I want to go to the underworld, and I accept the consequences as they are. Whatever they are.”
Hisses and Honey (The Venom Trilogy Book 3) Page 16