Fancy meeting you here, Amiel’s voice rang in my head.
Shock froze me.
You’re behind this attack, I asked, scanning the area. He had to be close.
Actually, no. We’ve just followed you here. It’s easy to find you when we’re all so deeply connected.
This damned connection—that now was one-sided. When I became a full god again, I noticed I couldn’t sense them anymore. But apparently, they could still sense me.
I groaned as I withdrew my sword and engaged a demon. I needed to burn the pent-up rage swelling in me right now.
What do you want? I asked. Rok flew in circles over my head, making me even more enraged.
The same thing as before, Amiel stated. We have the Cup of Life and you have a beautiful opportunity to have Levi killed. I bet you can even make it look like the demons got him.
I snorted. As if demons could simply kill a god. Well, they could, but it was difficult to accomplish.
“Go,” I muttered to Rok. “Go find them.”
The bird stopped with his nonsense flying and dove away, going for the hills behind the houses.
I see your new pet, Amiel said. She’s beautiful. I pierced my sword into a demon’s chest and let out a furious roar. I see now why you want to save her. I would want that too and—
Don’t you dare come near her.
I wouldn’t dare, my lord. His words dripped with sarcasm. Not while you’re alive anyway.
With a voracious cry, I swung my sword wide and cut off the head of a demon.
“Whoa,” Maho said, staring at me with wide eyes. “Everything okay over there?”
“Everything is perfect,” I snapped.
If you ever touch her—
If you kill Levi and take the Cup of Life, you won’t ever have to worry about that.
The Cup of Life.
I faltered in my step and a demon swiped his claws at my shoulder. With renewed rage, I drew a bolt in my palm and buried it deep inside its chest. The demon was gone in less than a second.
Can you imagine eternity with her by your side?
Of course I could. I dreamed about it every day.
But killing Levi … I couldn’t do that.
I looked over my shoulder at where Levi fought with several demons. He was a good fighter. He would never go down easy. It would be hard to make it look like an accident.
I shook my head. What the hell was I thinking? I couldn’t kill Levi.
Your window is ending. Soon the demons will be gone. And so will we … with the Cup of Life.
Several yards behind Levi, Nadine was fighting alongside Keisha and the blond girl. Even now, seeing her all badass and kicking the demons’ butts, I wanted to protect her, to help her, to keep her safe. If she received one little scratch, I would lose my shit.
What would happen when she lost her life?
A pain I didn’t want to acknowledge spread through my chest. I couldn’t lose her. I just … couldn’t.
I took out the two demons rushing toward me, then turned to Levi and moved closer. I shut down the logical part of my brain as I used magic to trip Levi at the same time a demon made a swipe at him. Levi fell on his knees and the demon’s claws almost ripped through his enchanted armor. Bewildered, Levi tried to get to his feet, but I used magic again to force him down on all fours. Six demons had surrounded him and grabbed hold of him.
Levi jerked against them, trying to push them away. He would have made it, if I hadn’t used magic once more to increase the pressure the demons were exerting over him.
Levi’s eyes widened as he looked at the face of a demon that was raising his claws, ready to swipe deep and nice. His eyes looked past the demon, right at me.
“Mitrus,” he rasped. “Help!”
But I didn’t move. I couldn’t move.
The swipe wouldn’t kill him. I would have to do it.
“Levi!” Ceris voice boomed behind me. She ran past me. “What are you doing? Help!”
She lunged at the demons.
And I snapped out of it.
Shame filled me as I released the magical hold I had on Levi and charged the demons. Levi, Ceris, and I killed them all.
Then both of them turned to me, the expression on their faces livid.
“What the hell was that?” Ceris yelled, her voice shaking the ground underneath us.
I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. Wishing I had an answer for her.
Inside my head, Amiel tsked. So close.
Go fuck yourself.
He laughed, the sound echoing in my skull, making me sick.
Micah
After saving that little town, we proceeded with our mission to find Sol.
We were on high alert, expecting to find more demons or lesser gods or some other deity. And I had been tense, expecting Amiel and the other Death Lords to keep following me. Nothing had been simple so far, why would this be?
But it seemed they were gone since Rok, who was in charge of finding and following the Death Lords—unsuccessfully—came back to me not long after.
The only thing we found was a few weak wards and a half-assed hidden Sol. Once he saw us, he dropped the wards and came with us, no questions asked, except to query about Lua.
“We thought maybe you would know,” Levi said.
“I haven’t seen her in years,” Sol said, his voice dejected. “We had a fight many years ago and still haven’t made peace.”
Which didn’t make sense. They were soulmates. They were supposed to be together, to help each other, to support each other, to never leave each other’s side.
Ceris and Levi, on the other hand, bombarded me with questions once we were back in the apartment.
“What the hell was that?” Ceris turned to me, right in the middle of the living room with everyone watching. “You saw demons pinning Levi down and you just stood there. You didn’t help him!”
“I did help,” I said. Not a total lie, but my help had only come after she had come to his aid.
Guilt and shame mingled in my chest. The pull to glance at Nadine, to see the expression on her face as she witnessed this accusation against me, was too alluring, too enticing. But I resisted it.
“You stared at me, Mitrus,” Levi said, his voice laced with disappointment and fury. “They had me and you did nothing.”
I opened my mouth to yell some lame excuse, but Maho talked before I could. “I don’t understand. How were they able to pin you down, brother?”
“I … I don’t know,” Levi said.
“Perhaps Mitrus’s theory that there were more than demons hiding out there was right,” Maho said. He had no idea how right he was.
“Perhaps.” Levi’s blue-green eyes bore into mine and I could see, I could feel, how troubled he was.
I sighed. I felt troubled too.
How could I have done that? How could I have held him down and let the demons have at him? I wasn’t the same Mitrus as before. I wasn’t evil, not like Imha or Omi. I … I wished we could go back in time. Instead of actually listening to Amiel, I would have alerted the others to his presence, and we would have hunted them down. We would have wiped them from this Earth.
That was the right thing to do.
I swallowed my pride and said, “I don’t know what happened. If you say I should have acted sooner, then I should have. I’m sorry.”
Ceris’s eyes widened, and Levi actually looked taken aback.
After several tense seconds, Levi cleared his throat. “Okay.”
He faced Nadine, Keisha, and the blond girl. Then, I dared a glance at Nadine. She was watching me, a pretty knot between her pretty green eyes. She held my stare for five seconds—I counted—and then looked at the new girl too.
“What’s your name?” Ceris asked the newcomer.
“Alice,” the girl said, her voice clear and firm.
“Alice,” Ceris repeated. “I should tell you that, like our Keisha here, you are a hero. Welcome to the Everlasting Circle.”
> 10
Nadine
Alice and Keisha fought without weapons while I waited my turn. I observed them, taking note of things they could have done better or moves they had missed.
Alice had come with us after we found Sol. When Ceris told her who she was, what the Everlasting Circle was, and who they all were, Alice took everything like a champ. It was like she had been waiting for this to happen. She didn’t question anything—at least she didn’t voice any doubts out loud.
The only part that hurt came right after Ceris made proper introductions. Alice turned to me and asked, “But what are you, Nadine?”
The golden question.
I shook my head and walked into the kitchen while Ceris explained how I had helped them and about my newfound abilities.
To make matters worse, I had another dream about the young woman. She, my twin sister, and I needed to hide something, something big and powerful, something that emanated with power, but each time I tried to look at it, it vanished as if by magic. Although I knew it could have been only the dream. My dreams were always dubious, with things disappearing and floating around. To hide this mysterious object, my twin and I pulled daggers with the hilts encrusted with precious gems from our waistbands near our backs, and we didn’t even flinch as we slashed our palms open. Blood oozed from the new cuts and dripped on a large rock atop of a hill. The rock shone bright, and then the thing was gone. Fire exploded from the trees around the hill, and I could hear my family’s screams, accusing me of killing them. I woke up breathing hard and trembling from head to toe as the intense pain slithered through my chest. But I pressed my lips tightly and swallowed my screams. I didn’t want anyone coming to babysit me.
The next morning, Alice was already in the gym when Keisha and I entered in the early morning.
We started with stretching, followed by a little bit of cardio and weight lifting, and then we went on to fighting practice.
So far, Alice could hold her own against Keisha.
Then it was my turn with Alice. We started by circling each other, taking in our space and our reactions. Alice feigned a few times, trying to trick me. But I didn’t fall for anything. When she actually came at me, I was prepared. I met her move for move, until she used her superior strength to her advantage. As tall as Keisha but as lean as me, Alice surprised me by hitting like a truck. The girl could pack a punch!
I twisted at the last second, and instead of hitting my chin, her fist connected with my shoulder, throwing me off balance. I stumbled two steps, but recovered, ready to plant a roundhouse kick to her chest.
Then two of our scouts walked by the door and I let my guard down.
“What happened?” Alice asked.
“The scouts are here,” I said, already walking toward the door.
Keisha and Alice followed me to the living room where Ceris, Victor, Maho, Sol, and Micah waited for the scouts’ report. Rok was seated on the windowsill, watching everything with interest.
“As expected, things are getting worse and worse,” the blond scout said. I knew he was some deity Ceris had found, but I didn’t remember his name, or what he was and what exactly he was doing for us. “Per Imha’s orders, several of her demon battalions are supposed to go from town to town and destroy everything and kill everyone.”
“Which explains what we encountered yesterday,” Ceris said.
“Our spy told us Imha is doing that because she knows you won’t stand for it and will try to help as many people as you can, which will, in turn, deviate from your plan of assembling an army to attack her.”
“I see,” Ceris said, her voice strained.
“Also,” the tall one with brown hair started. “She knows you’re after the other gods, Lua and Ronen, and apparently that’s her main mission right now. To get to them before you do.”
“She mentioned killing them if they don’t join her cause,” the blond scout said.
Ceris glanced at me, a sense of urgency in her blue eyes. I sighed, knowing that finding Ronen and Lua depended solely on me. No pressure.
“All right,” Levi said. “Thanks for the update. You should keep doing the same. Monitoring Imha’s and Omi’s moves. See if your spy can find out anything more about what they plan next, other than finding Ronen and Lua.”
“Unfortunately, our spy isn’t too high ranked in her army, my lord,” the tall scout said. “So he might not be able to find out anything more interesting.”
“That’s okay,” Levi said. “Anything he can tell us is of great help. Thank you.”
Both scouts bowed and then hurried from the apartment.
Before I could move or even think, Ceris turned to me, the map in her hand. “You know what to do.”
With a sigh, I grabbed the map and plopped down on the couch to search for the goddesses.
11
Micah
I was a bundle of nerves, of irritation, of rage, ready to explode. The night before, I had dreamed of Nadine. Actually, it had been a fucking nightmare. I didn’t remember all the details, but in my dream, I had the Cup of Life in my hands and Nadine had agreed to drink from it. She had agreed to spend eternity by my side. Then I lost the Cup of Life again, and Nadine blamed me for it. She blamed me for her impending death, the death of her family, and Morgan’s death. She cried, she raged, she punched me. And there was nothing I could do because I agreed with her. She was right. I had been an asshole, and it was my fault. The last thing I remembered was the Soul Oath coming to fruition, and Nadine dying in my arms. Even in death she hated me.
“I’ll never forgive you,” were her last words.
I woke up wanting to punch the wall. The first thing I had done that morning was to go for a run, to see if I could burn off some of my frustration. But I had barely begun when the scouts arrived.
As they spoke to Ceris and Levi, an idea popped into my mind.
I still had a chance to recover the Cup of Life from the Death Lords, as long as I could find them.
As soon as the scouts left, everyone dispersed. Nadine looked for Lua and Ronen on the map while Maho stayed by her side, studying her—he was still intrigued by all the magic around her and all that she could do. Ceris and Levi and Sol discussed the next plan on their agenda. Keisha and Alice went back to training.
And I quietly left the apartment and went after the scouts. Rok followed me, and I felt his accusing eyes on me, as if he knew what I wanted and disapproved of it.
“Your fault,” I told him. “If you had done your job, the only job I asked of you, I wouldn’t have to do this.”
The raven squawked and flew away as if I had hurt his feelings.
I caught the scouts a few feet from the ward.
“My lord,” Rihan said, bowing his head.
I stood tall and controlled my voice to sound firm, authoritarian. “I have a new order. One of you needs to search for Amiel, Jed, Keon, and Riel.”
“The Death Lords?” Letos asked. “Do you have any idea where we might find them, my lord?”
I nodded. “They have been following me. They must be close by.”
“I can do it,” Rihan said, turning to Letos. “Ask Tuzin to cover for me while I’m gone.”
“Will do,” Letos said.
They both bowed to me again, and then stepped through the ward around the building.
Even with a half-assed plan in motion, the pent-up irritation was killing me. I needed more than a run around the block. But what?
Not sure what to do, I marched into the apartment and saw Nadine training with Alice and Keisha.
My breath caught.
She was a beauty, and she moved with lethal charm. Despite everything, she had become an expert warrior and rivaled the heroes—not an easy feat for a mortal.
Pain sliced through my chest again and I groaned. Mortal. Yes, she was mortal. And right now, there was nothing I could do about that.
But there was something I could do about the rage and irritation brewing inside me.
12
Nadine
After the scouts were gone, I searched the map for a while but didn’t find anything. When Ceris noticed nothing was happening, she let me go, and Alice and I resumed our fighting practice.
We were at each other for over five minutes, matching punch by punch, kick by kick, and always dodging, always parrying. Neither of us could get a good hit.
I was about to duck and swipe my feet under her, which was sure to give me an advantage, when she lowered her guard and pivoted to the door.
“My lord,” Alice and Keisha said in unison. They bowed low as Micah strolled into our improvised gym.
With a bored look, he waved his hand at them. “Girls, could you please step out and give Nadine and me a minute?”
My eyes widened as the girls hurried out of the room, and Micah finally looked at me.
I folded my arms. “What do you want?”
For a moment, he didn’t speak. He just stared at me, his black eyes wreaking havoc in my soul. It was hard not to notice how beautiful he was, especially when I was mad at him.
His long and broad figure looked too damn hot in black pants and a thermal tee and boots.
I sighed.
“Always on the defensive, darling.” His serious expression broke into his trademark naughty grin, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him.
“What do you want?” I repeated.
He lost the grin and those black eyes turned too serious again. “To train with you.”
“I have Keisha, and now Alice, to train with me. I’m good.”
He shook his head. “They are a good pair for physical fight training. But what about magic?”
“What about magic?”
“We’ll be dealing with deities who will first use magic as their main weapon. You gotta learn how to fight them.”
I swallowed. “You know I only used magic once, and I have no idea how to replicate that.”
He took a step closer. I wanted to retreat, but I held my ground, unwilling to show him how much his presence, his closeness impacted me. “I’m not asking you to use magic. You’ll fight with what you have.” He gestured to the weapons lining the wall.
The Everlast Series Boxed Set Page 60