Killer

by Gillian Zane

  “Drake, enough.” My head turned to take in the woman who had spoken. It was the woman with my eyes. She stood next to Lethe, who was still assessing the room. Djoser was hovering near her elbow, not knowing what to do with himself. He probably hadn’t had this kind of company in a really long time.

  “I had a bit of unexpected help,” he said indicating the women. “They helped me find you.”

  “Persephone was unauthorized to make the demotion to someone of your lineage,” the woman spoke again.

  “I only found out today. I would have notified you immediately.” Djoser bowed his head at the woman.

  “Understood.” Her voice was cold, the sound of ice breaking in the depths of space. It was weird, hot, but cold. Her eyes found mine again and flashed a red color. It was a bit on the scary side.

  “Who are you?” I asked, doubting my initial shock at the familiarity. At the eyes, which now looked nothing like mine. The red tinge had remained.

  “Anisia,” she spoke, her words like darkness.

  “Anisia is my daughter,” Lethe, the other woman who had come with Drake, spoke the words in a fluttering whisper. She was dressed in a flowing gown that moved like running water, her hair moving as if from a wind that only affected her. The vials of oblivion tinkled at her wrists. She held them up as she introduced herself to Djoser.

  “Lethe,” she said.

  “Djoser, it is a pleasure, my goddess.”

  “I am not your goddess, Pharaoh,” she corrected, her words running together in a fast march from her tongue.

  “I owe you the respect of your heritage, Mistress.” He dipped his head in a bow. “Why do you come here?” he asked, voicing the thought that was wiggling around in my own head. How had Drake made it here? How was Lethe and her daughter involved?

  “I only sent the missive of inquiry about her lineage. You cannot have reacted that quickly.” He looked at her expecting a reprimand, as if they had reacted that quickly.

  “I am the overseer of the departments that come into direct contact with the living. There are quite a few of them, including Karma, Inc. I answer only to the Lord of the Underworld. I could not allow the gross negligence perpetrated by the Goddess Persephone. Even though her title besieges her the right as a ruler of the Underworld and Afterlife, she had no authority over the souls employed by this department.”

  “Does she know this?” I asked. The woman frowned at my interruption.

  “She is a goddess; they tend to do what they please. But, it is ruled, under section 3.5890, that a soul’s demotion must be passed by the board and get approval by no less than three members of the advisory committee after reviewing the case. And members of Class D, E, and F, must be reviewed by no less than five members of the advisory committee, one of which must be of a Class D or greater.”

  “This has nothing to do with her parentage then?” Djoser asked.

  “No,” Anisia said quickly, shooting an icy glare at Djoser. “It has everything to do with protocol and not obeying the advisory committee.”

  “I’m guessing an advisory committee has not reviewed my case,” I said snidely.

  “You are correct in your assumption. To make matters worse, Persephone also violated the organizational management provision, appointing her own offspring within a management position without any prior experience. That again was a violation of our codes of conduct, and could be taken before the committee—”

  “Did you get demoted?” I grabbed Drake’s arm, worried about his position in Afterlife now.

  “I’m the interim now, until they can find someone better,” he laughed.

  “So, you got semi-demoted?”

  “I don’t know what’s happening, and after this, who knows what shape we’ll be in, if any.”

  “So, what happened, they came to fire you and find me? That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Persephone’s use of the demotion forms alerted us to what happened, along with Drake’s breaking and entering into the Oversight division and demanding answers.”

  “You broke into Oversight?”

  “There’s a door that lead right into the division from my office, it was hardly breaking and entering.”

  “You had an unauthorized entry,” Anisia said with little emotion. She and Djoser seemed to be an emotionless matched pair. Granted, she was much shinier than him, and prettier, with her long dark black locks, and her bright green eyes. Oh, they were back to green.

  “You broke into Oversight and then came down with two goddesses to find me?” I laughed with him.

  “Basically,” he shrugged.

  “You have to take her out of here,” Djoser finally spoke. “The inquiry will draw attention.”

  “He’s right, she’s not safe here,” Anisia said.

  “Where would I go? I can’t go back to Karma. Persephone won’t let the challenge to her authority lie. And can someone fill me in about this lineage thing?”

  “I know where we can go,” Lethe said ignoring my questions. “This way.” Lethe held up an arm and a door against the wall appeared a bright red exit sign on top of it.

  “You will keep her safe. Persephone will want to locate her,” Anisia said flatly. She looked at me, a hint of something in her face, something I couldn’t read, before she turned abruptly and headed out the same way she had come, leaving Drake, Lethe, Djoser and myself standing there watching her go.

  “Always,” Lethe responded, even though Anisia was already gone. The goddess of oblivion motioned for us to go through the door with the flashing exit sign above it. Time for another adventure.

  Something held me back, stopped me from crossing the threshold. Drake was at my back, holding onto my arms, but I managed to turn and face the silent washed-up god in the corner. He had picked up his tray of fruit and begun to munch again.

  “Djoser,” I said to the man I didn’t know whether to pity or try to save.

  “I shall be fine, Cassandra.” He nodded and motioned for me to go.

  “You don’t have to stay here, do you?”

  “It is my duty, it is well-respected.” He looked down as if he didn’t believe his own words.

  “It is a fine position,” Lethe said, her words falling across the room like a mist.

  “Thank you, goddess.” Djoser bowed his head and Drake pulled me through the exit with Lethe trailing behind whispering thanks to the former god, who was once a Pharaoh.

  17

  Knowledge Found

  The door opened into bright daylight in a mountain valley. We stood on the banks of a lake with snowcapped mountains peering at us from the other side. Great cliffs marked the far side of the lake. It was unlike any landscape I had seen on Earth.

  On the shore of the lake great trees bowed their branches, worshipping the dark depths of the water. A pier sat smack dab in the center of the landscape, jutting out into the middle of the calm water for hundreds of feet. It was a pier I recognized. I had sat there only a short time ago.

  I turned and found the white house on the hill. And again the familiarity of this place seeped into me.

  “You will find safety here, but I do not know for how long,” Lethe said in a string of words that flowed together.

  “Why aren’t we safe?” I turned to the goddess, but she only shook her head.

  “The knowledge was found, and once Djoser knows, it must be scribed.”

  “What knowledge?”

  “Your parentage. She knows. She knows now. She suspected it had occurred, but she did not know who. Now she knows. Now her suspicions are correct. And the fact that it is you has enraged her. When the others find out, she will have to act. She will have no choice.”

  “This is about Persephone again? What else can she do to me?” I huffed and Drake shook his head like he had no idea either.

  “She was in a tear after she couldn’t put you where she wanted. There have been rumors that she’s amassing allies for a hostile takeover.”

  “For what? What could she possib
ly be trying to takeover, Karma?”

  “No, she wants to takeover Afterlife, completely.”

  “But, could she do that? Go against her husband? Because that’s who the person in charge is really, right? Hades, or Osiris? Whatever you want to call him?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know who is really in charge, but there are other rumors floating around Afterlife.” Drake looked to Lethe who was shaking her head again as if what Drake was about to reveal pained her. When he said nothing, the goddess spoke.

  “Divorce, the rumors are true,” she said. “They are not worshipped as a pair anymore. Hades has severed ties with his wife of over three millennia. And she blames your mother.”

  “My mother?” I asked looking at Drake, but he looked just as confused as I was.

  “This is the first I’m hearing about this. The only thing she’s told me is that you’ve defied her at every turn, so she was tired of you. She never mentioned your mother.”

  “I don’t even know who my mother is! How can she hate me because of that?”

  “Oh yeah, well, there were a few other things. She was also pretty pissed at me, told me I shouldn’t be screwing my employees. Her words, not mine.” He looked embarrassingly at Lethe, but she only smiled languidly at him.

  “Who’s my mother? Lethe? Why am I to blame for whatever she did?” I asked her, but the woman was looking over her shoulder at the lake.

  “I must leave you. I have to discover which factions are involved with Persephone. Go to the house. You know your identification now. Everything will be within the files of Afterlife. You can find all the answers on your own. I will not be held responsible for breaking the silence.” She smiled, but it was sad. She reached out a hand and touched my cheek gently. Her hands were cold and slightly moist, like she had just washed them. But it wasn’t unpleasant. She smelled like fresh water over stones, like secrets, and endings.

  “Wait,” I tried to stop her, but she was gone. One moment there, the next not there.

  “Why can’t anyone just tell me what the hell is going on?” I stomped my foot like an aggravated child, and caught Drake’s eye. I blushed at my immature behavior.

  “I don’t think it’s in their nature. Information is like a currency around here. I think they are so used to keeping secrets that it’s like second nature.”

  “Well, I’m damn tired of it.”

  “Agreed. But here we are.”

  “Right, where are we?” I looked around, noticing the house on the hill again. The house looked sort of familiar, but not.

  “We’re in our own little part of Afterlife. And we don’t have any pending cases, or something to do, or well, any expectations. I don’t even feel the urge to collect energy.” I studied Drake’s face. He seemed relaxed for the first time in a long time.

  “We’re actually outside of Afterlife, somewhere beyond the reach, beyond the need. Or that’s what Lethe told me the last time I was here.”

  “You’ve been here before?” he asked.

  “Yes, this is where I was when I was missing. I came here after you died. Or partly here. I was mostly locked in a white room, by myself.”

  “They locked you up in a white room? Because I died?”

  “I was trying to manifest you alive. I was ready to siphon off everyone’s negative energy if it meant bringing you back. They didn’t like that.” I looked away, not ready to meet his eyes. Not ready to show him how vulnerable I was when it came to him. I felt his hand on my chin as he forced me to look at him.

  “I didn’t know.” I closed my eyes at his words. How could he have known? It wasn’t his fault I was a bit skewed. A bit selfish, willing to do almost anything so I wouldn’t be alone anymore.

  “What was I supposed to tell you? That your death almost unhinged me, that I was ready to rip apart everything to bring you back? That they locked me up in a little padded cell until I calmed down? Until I forgot about you.”

  “But you didn’t forget.”

  “No, I didn’t.” He laid a kiss on my forehead and I sighed in contentment.

  “You could have at least told me you liked me enough to go a little crazy if I died,” he joked.

  “Liked. Hooking up. Drake, you talk about relationships like a teenager.”

  “Would you rather me say, that since the moment you disappeared from my office, I’ve been desperate to find you. I’ve torn apart Afterlife looking for someone to help me get you back. They had me restrained in Oversight, literally tied to a chair with these special demigod restraints or some kind of shit, until that woman, Anisia, found me. Would that make you feel like you’re not…”

  “Alone,” I finished for him.

  “Right.”

  “They tied you to a chair?” It was my turn to touch him, run my hands down his arms to circle his wrists. I could smell his unique citrusy scent over the deep smells of the grass and trees around us. I couldn’t smell anything but him. I couldn’t feel anything but him.

  “I was a little upset.”

  “At least they didn’t throw you in a white room,” I smirked.

  “They were probably about to, I was a little crazy without you.” He smiled and I ate up the vision of his face greedily. Taking in the way his eyes softened as they looked at me, how his lips quirked up to the side as he looked down at me. How he watched my lips as I chewed on it, unsure of what he was trying to say to me.

  “It’s mutual,” I whispered, getting the words out before they escaped me.

  His lips found mine. The kiss was what was missing. The last piece to a puzzle that took so long to be completed. He took my lips, opening them to as his tongue pushed between them. Claiming me as his. I held him still, my hands still circling his wrists and keeping his arms from circling me. We stayed in that position until he ventured away from my mouth, kissing my cheek, my closed eyes, down to my neck, until I finally released his hands and they found my body. They traced trails of fire up my arms, then around my waist. Fingers brushed across my peaked nipples, peaked in anticipation, hard and rigid through the thin material of my shirt, waiting for his touch.

  I slipped my hand under my shirt and lifted it up and away from me, exposing my naked breasts, not having bothered to manifest myself in anything more than a tee and sweats the entire time I was in the Hall of Records.

  “Cassandra.” He said my name like a prayer as he pulled off his shirt, and then pressed me against him, our flesh touching, finally. As moments increased, our kisses became more frenetic, our touches became hurried and impatient, and I found myself on the soft grass. I didn’t want to be the one lying, so I pushed him down and we joined while I straddled him, my body taking him into me with a quick movement of my hips.

  He cried my name and I moaned his as I leaned back, my naked breasts pointed at the sky. He held onto my hips and we let ourselves forget about everything. All that mattered was the pleasure we gave each other.

  When we came together, we screamed our release, and laughed as the pressure released, as the stress of the last year finally receded. We knew who had killed me, who had shot him in cold blood. But we didn’t care. All we cared about was each other.

  We walked hand in hand, naked, over the large grassy lawn that led up to the house. We didn’t give ourselves time to explore. We found the first bedroom and he laid me on the bed. It was his time to be in control. And control he did, but first he brought me over the edge. He spread me wide and settled between my legs, kissing me from head to toe, focusing on that burning spot at the center of my being. I couldn’t control my reactions as everything faded away in a spiral of bliss. Everything but Drake.

  18

  Time Irrelevant

  Time was irrelevant in the state we were in. We spent the time languishing in each other’s arms, naked and exposed. I didn’t care what he did to me, I was his. The familiar tug of escaping energy didn’t plague me; neither did the rush of an onslaught of it. I was steady. He was steady. We existed and we used our existence to serve each oth
er.

  I wanted to be content. I wanted to let him consume me. To let this place in its perfection take over and let me just be. But in the back of my mind, at the very bottom of my consciousness, the doubt sat and poked at me. I knew this was not the end of our troubles. I knew there was more to come. We would not be left alone. We would not be allowed to find our happiness. Life and Afterlife didn’t work that way.

  That’s not how this existence worked.

  “We could stay here,” Drake whispered against my shoulder.

  “I would like that,” I responded, but not believing that we could. The PTBs wouldn’t allow us to get our own personal HEA.

  “You don’t believe we can?” he asked, sitting up on his elbow and looking at me. I was naked. I hadn’t found a need for clothes our entire time here. It was a wonderful feeling, like Eve in her garden before that awful snake. The snake I waited for.

  “I don’t.” I couldn’t lie to him. “Lethe will return. She’ll bring news of Persephone and whatever allies she’s drummed up. We’ll have to do something. She won’t allow us to…this…” I gestured between us.

  “But we don’t have to do anything. We can find somewhere else like this, hide away from all the PTBs bullshit, hide from Persephone. I’m sure there are places a demigod and his favorite dead girl can find to live out a few years in peace.”

  Drake’s words stopped me in my tracks.

  We were on the pier, laying on the hot boards and watching the sunset. We had gone for a swim and then he had taken me on the rough wood of the pier, as if he couldn’t get enough of me. It was all-consuming to be loved by Drake. Even though he hadn’t said the words, that’s what he was doing to me. He had to be constantly touching me, and when that wasn’t enough, he had to be inside me. He had claimed every part of me, every part of my body, my soul, and now my heart.

  He didn’t know, or at least I thought he didn’t. I wanted to tell him all of my secrets. I wanted the words on my lips to spill out like the lake around us. But he kissed me and my words were lost, which was fine.