He was holding her hand. Watching the room as if he was ready to hurt anyone who bothered Shanti.
I liked him. I could feel his adoration for the vampire, his protectiveness of her.
I walked toward Shanti, and she watched me. She was sad. She felt guilty. Confused.
I knelt down in front of her and took her hands.
“Are you all right?” I asked her. And she nodded, even as blood-tinged tears came to her eyes. Her eyes met mine, and I could see the pain there. The guilt. Levitt.
Tears came to my eyes, too, remembering the loyal demon. The way he’d never, ever let me down. The way he’d been grateful every day that I’d spared his life and given him another chance.
“We lost a good man,” I said, and she nodded, crying harder now. “And you knew him better than anyone. He never let any of us get close to him. Except for you.”
She nodded again, lips trembling. “And I turned him away. I hurt him.”
I squeezed her hands. I was impressed by the man beside her, who listened to her words and didn’t become angry or jealous. He rubbed her back, and I felt her calm a little at his touch.
“Sometimes, things just don’t work out. It doesn’t mean you didn’t care for him. It doesn’t mean the things you shared together are any less meaningful. You showed him something he’s probably never had. You cared about him, and you stayed friends through it all. He appreciated that. I know he did,” I said softly. “Don’t feel guilty for living the life you want, Shanti. He’s worth remembering fondly, and, as much of a demon as he was, he still wouldn’t want you to hurt every time you remembered him.”
“I know,” she said, taking a deep breath to steady herself. “We did a little ceremony thing while you were recovering. We were going to wait, but…”
“But you needed it, and so did everyone else who knew him. I’m glad you had it. I will say goodbye in my own way.”
Shanti leaned forward and hugged me. “I am so glad you’re back. Stop doing shit like that.”
I hugged her back. “I’ll try.”
“Liar,” she said, smiling as she released me. “This is Zero, by the way.”
I chatted with Shanti and Zero for a few moments, and then asked where my parents were. Shanti pointed to the room that had always been considered “the vampire room.” I hugged her again and then headed up the stairs, listening to the din of conversation in the loft. All of the various teams, our allies, had bonded over our grief, over the experience of going into battle together. And based on the news reports, we weren’t done. Supernaturals still fought in the streets, though it was much more random now. Even as I’d talked to Shanti, about half of the team, including Jamie and Ronan, had left to patrol and try to fight back the chaos.
So much to do, I thought to myself as I walked up the stairs.
I reached the room and knocked. “Come in,” my father said, and I opened the door, ducked into the room.
The scene in here was similar to the way it was in the room I shared with Nain. My mom laid in the bed, dozing. My father was in the twin bed beside her, arm around her body, lending her his strength. I sat on the small chair, looked at my mom for a few moments. She looked healthy, but I could feel that she was still weak.
“How is she?” I asked Hades.
“She is alive. Thanks to you.”
“She was nearly dead because of me.”
“Because of Nether. Do not even start this nonsense, daughter,” Hades said sternly.
“I should have controlled her better,” I said, shaking my head.
“You did everything you could. Tis and I talked about all of it a lot after Asclepias saw you that day. We both had a feeling it was only a matter of time. You have too many powerful enemies, and hiding and playing it safe just isn’t in you.”
I tried to sense for him, to see if he harbored some anger toward me. I didn’t feel anything other than typical demonic/Nether rage.
“We’re proud of you, Mollis,” he said. “And you saved your mother’s life and I should be sorry for asking so much of you. When I saw what it did to you…” he trailed off, shook his head, guilt rolling off of him. “I can’t choose you or her. I want you both in my life. And I was willing to risk you, to risk Nether’s prison, to save her. I knew you’d come back, though you did give us all a fright there for a while. I’m only sorry it hurt you so much.”
“She’ll be okay, right?” I asked, looking at my mom again.
“She will be fine. I think we started giving her our blood just in time. There was only the tiniest speck of life left in her when we started.”
I sensed for my father. My mother.
“What about Tartarus?” I asked him, remembering the insanity with the realms of the immortals.
He watched me. “Something is happening. None of us can get back into the Nether since it kicked us out that day.”
“Maybe the Nether doesn’t exist, because Nether is free now?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“No. The gateway is there. It’s just not letting anyone through. I have never seen anything like it.”
“Weird,” I said, thinking.
“Yes. But I’ll take it. I am not leaving her side until she’s back to normal.”
I watched my father for a few seconds. “You love her.”
He didn’t answer.
“You loved Persephone too.”
He looked at me from his place beside my mother. “If it hadn’t been for that stupid, nonsensical prophecy, Tis and I would have been together immediately. There has always been something between us. Always. And we did our best to avoid it, to avoid one another as much as our roles would allow, because for our entire existence, the Fates and everyone else were warning us that we would destroy everything. We reached a point where we could barely be in the same room together, the tension between us was so high. And then one day, I was out in the woods in the Nether, and she was there, and no one was around. I don’t think either of us had a second thought. Being with her was like coming home. Everything was right. And we parted ways after we’d exhausted one another, and swore we’d try to forget.”
His eyes had a faraway look, as if he was remembering.
“But I’ve never forgotten. You can’t forget the feel of the body of someone who was absolutely made to be yours. You can’t forget the way it feels when two souls fit together so perfectly you can’t sense where one begins and the other ends. Can you?” he asked me, meeting my eyes.
I shook my head, thinking of my husband, who had given me his energy the same way Hades was doing with my mother.
“You always were much more of romantic than anyone has given you credit for,” my mother said, and Hades smiled and took her hand. Their fingers entwined, and my mom looked at me. “Hello, my beautiful girl.”
“Hi mom,” I said, trying to fight back tears of relief.
She released my father’s hand and took mine. “Thank you, my love. You didn’t have to do that. I knew what I was doing.”
“Why on earth did you do it?” I asked her.
She smiled. “You are eternal, Mollis. You never, ever would have forgiven yourself if Nether had killed the shifter. I am made of stronger stuff than he is. And I was fine with dying if it meant saving you from that.”
“I don’t love you any less than I loved him,” I said.
“I know that. And, as I said, I figured I had a better chance of surviving than he would.” She shrugged a thin shoulder. “You certainly pack a punch, kiddo,” she said, grinning.
“I’m sorry, mom,” I said again, and she let out a weak laugh.
“Considering what you went through to save me, and that it wasn’t your fault in the first place, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I love you, my darling girl. I am more proud of you every single day. Do you know that?”
I blinked tears back from my eyes. “Thank you.”
She squeezed my hand again, then pulled it back, and Hades held it in his.
“I’ll take
a look at the gateway and see if anything had changed,” I said to them, and Hades nodded. “And then I’m going to hunt down Strife and Nether.”
“Nether will be impossible to find until she generates a body. She is nothing more than energy now, floating around in the world,” Hades said. “That takes several weeks in mortal time.”
I nodded. “Strife will be easy,” I said.
My mom watched me. “How do you figure that? She’s been eluding you for months.”
“Thanks for that vote of confidence, mom,” I said, and she laughed. “That last moment, before she killed me, she looked into my eyes and was talking to Nether. She told her to come and find her when she was ready. And she was excited, and the dumb bitch projected exactly where she’d be. Good thing I have a decent memory,” I finished, and I could feel my energy rising, my lust for battle, for the blood of my enemy, making it soar. And now, I felt stronger, more in control than I ever had been.
“She is wily, daughter. Be careful. She will be surrounded by her minions. You know this.”
“Oh, I know,” I said. “I just don’t care.”
They both watched me.
“She is a thing of beauty, isn’t she?” Hades finally said to my mom.
My mom smiled, nodded in agreement.
I shook my head, couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “I should go. I’m glad you guys are staying with us.”
My mom nodded. “The demon figured you would feel better if we were here. Though I think at least part of his intent was to have your father here in case you needed more rage to complete your recovery.’
I smiled. “I’m sure it was. He’s very practical, my husband.”
“And devoted. And possessive,” my father said, agreeing.
“And absolutely in love with you. But you already know that,” my mom said.
I nodded. “Yes. I do.”
I leaned down and kissed my mom’s cheek, patted my father’s shoulder, then I showed myself out of their room. I made my way through the loft and into Nain’s office. I found the loose floorboard, opened the safe. There it was, wrapped in dark fabric. I could feel its power and I took a deep breath, slid it up over my arm. I still hated the way it felt. Still hated the angry, vicious feeling that emanated from it. But I also felt my power increase even more, and that was what mattered.
I pulled my sleeve back down, put everything back the way it was, then I stood still and focused. I closed my eyes, and envisioned the yard outside my house.
When I rematerialized in my yard, the first thing I saw was the black SUV parked on the otherwise-empty street. I leaned against the trunk of one of the few remaining trees and watched the SUV. There were three Normals inside. They were nervous. Afraid. Also determined.
A few seconds later, the doors opened and they climbed out. Three men, all dressed in dark suits, ties. One was probably in his forties, dark hair graying at the temples, laugh lines around his eyes. Not especially tall, but sturdy looking. The second one was black, hair cut close to his scalp, a neat beard. He watched me, watched everything, as if he was ready to strike if he had to. The third man was the youngest. Blonde hair, blue eyes. He was mostly nervous.
The three men reached me, stood about four feet away from me, and we sized each other up.
“Angel,” the youngest one said, and I nodded. They screamed “government” and Jones had told me they knew about me. About us. And they all had decent mental shields, which means they’d trained to face me. They hadn’t come unprepared.
“I’m agent Ross, these are agents Monroe,” he said, gesturing to the older man, “and Dyson,” he said, gesturing to the younger.
“Pleasure,” I said, keeping my arms folded across my chest.
“We lost a good man in Chief Jones,” Ross said. “I am sorry. I know you were friends.”
“Thank you. We were.”
“He thought very highly of you, even though you scared the hell out of him,” Ross continued.
“I thought very highly of him, too. He was strong. And he gave everything he had to try to keep this city safe.”
“He did,” Ross agreed. “I know he told you that we wanted to meet with you. That we wanted you to help calm everyone down.”
“Yes.”
“We’ve known about you, about supernaturals, I mean, for a long time. We are also smart enough to know that we don’t stand a chance in hell against you. We did try, back in the seventies. We had people rounding up shifters, vampires. That never worked out well for us, no matter how outnumbered the supernaturals were.”
“I’m sure,” I said, feeling more than a little pride on the behalf of my supernatural brethren.
“So we decided to take a different approach. We’d watch. We’d monitor. We’d ally with high-powered supers like Jones to keep an eye on things. We did try to ally with your demon friend, but he wasn’t exactly welcoming toward us.”
“That does not surprise me,” I said, hiding a smile, trying to imagine these men trying to work with Nain. Recipe for disaster, that.
“We’re here to ask for your help, Angel. People are terrified. It’s chaos out here, and no one knows how to handle this. People are organizing hunts for supers, and that’s not going well for them. And we can’t even arrest the supers who retaliate, because it’s mostly impossible to catch them and even if we did send some men in to do it, they’d never make it out alive.”
He took a breath. “We all know that mortals messing with supers is a bad thing. And we also know that out of all the supers, you are the one the mortals know. They trust you. They never knew what you were, only that they suspected you weren’t entirely human.”
“So what do you want from me?”
“Cooperation. That’s all. Work with us. Advise us. Maybe try to reassure everyone. We don’t even know. We thought we were ready for this. We’re not.”
“It’s a mess,” Dyson said, and Monroe nodded.
I shook my head. “I’m not a diplomat, Agent Ross. I don’t do well with people in general. I work best in the shadows. If everyone knows what I am, my job will be harder. And I’m sorry, but saving people beats reassuring them, every time.”
“And how many might you save by warning them against hunting supers?” Dyson asked.
“And how much might it incite the crazies more if I start making speeches and shit?” I shot back at him. “They already fear us. Do you really think it’s not going to freak a certain segment out more if they think the government has supernaturals at their disposal? The conspiracy theorists will just love that.”
“What else can we do?” Ross asked, frustrated.
“You can stay out of my way, and let me do my job,” I told him. “The answer is no. I would be very unhappy to see any of you around my homes, friends, or allies again. Do you understand?”
“We’re already there. We’ve had one of our people in the Nain Rouge’s team for the past fifteen years,” Ross responded. “How do you think we know so much about you?”
And I felt it. An energy signature I knew all too well. I stared past the three agents at the man walking toward us. A man whose every line, every feature I’d memorized once upon a time.
“You son of a bitch,” I whispered, feeling as if I’d been punched in the gut.
Brennan stopped a few feet away from me, and the three agents backed away.
“Oh, you goddamn son of a bitch,” I said again, putting my hands over my mouth.
“Molly,” he said.
“I can’t believe this. Oh my god,” I said, backing away from him.
“Molly. Stop it. I’ve always been on your side. Always. I’m on Nain’s side.”
“You’ve been telling them about me? About Nain?”
“About everyone,” he said quietly.
“Why?”
“My parents died trying to protect people. I’m doing the same thing in a different way,” he said.
I stared at him. I couldn’t even process it.
“My r
ole was to share information. My loyalty hasn’t changed.” Then he glanced at the other three agents. “Give us a minute.”
They walked back toward the SUV, stood there watching us.
“Did Nain know?” I asked quietly, wanting to hit him, wanting to hurt him so much it scared me.
He smirked. “This is Nain we’re talking about. Do you seriously think he didn’t know?”
“And he was just okay with that?”
He shrugged. “We never talked about it. I really don’t think he cared all that much. He knew the team was being watched. He knew there was a government agency that deals with supernaturals. They approached my parents when they were part of his team.”
“Did they join?”
“No.”
“I don’t see how anyone could be okay with this. You lied. You told them things about us—“
“Listen to me,” he said, raising his eyebrows, and I got the drift.
I never told them anything that would put you in danger. I am on your side, on Nain’s side, first.
“You told them about me,” I said aloud.
You know what I didn’t tell them? I didn’t tell them about us. I didn’t tell them how amazing it felt to be loved by you. I didn’t tell them about how the night you walked out on me, I was pretty sure my life was over. That’s none of their business. Okay?
Aloud, he said, “I believe working with them will save people. The secret’s out about supernaturals and now nothing is going to be the same.”
I stayed there, staring at him, wondering if Nether had fried my brain when she’d been in there. This couldn’t be happening. The three agents were staying back, surveying the destruction around my house, and Brennan wouldn’t stop looking at me.
“It was all a lie,” I said softly. “All of it.”
He reached toward me, and I held my hands up, used a force of my power to shove him back. “Do not touch me,” I growled.
He held his hands up, then glanced at the other three agents, who had all gone for their guns. “Stand down,” he shouted, and they did. He looked back at me.
What we had wasn’t a lie. I love you, he thought at me.
“And I’m sure part of the allure wasn’t that you’d learn a whole lot about me,” I muttered.
Strife: Hidden Book Four Page 24