That sounded epic. “How many romance books have you read?”
“I preferred fantasy, actually. You know, with sword fights and sorcery.” She winked.
I laughed. “Oh God, how didn't I see that coming?” She laughed with me. “How about you?” I asked once we calmed down. “Did you leave a boyfriend behind?”
“Nope. That is an odd thing, you know. I used to be flirty. I didn’t hook up with many guys, but I liked looking at them, flirting with them. But once I came here, I don’t know. I don’t think about guys that much anymore. I mean, I still do some, but my main focus is this.” She gestured to the room. “To be the best warrior I can. To train myself, to train you, to fight the battles for my gods, and help them win this war.”
This hero stuff sounded like a major brainwash. “Wow.”
“I know this new drive came from being a hero, but I’m not complaining. I love it, actually. I feel fortunate the Fates chose me.”
I didn’t know if it was hero magic working, but she sounded sincere and she did look comfortable in her warrior skin.
“I’m glad you’re happy with it,” I said, really meaning it.
We talked some more about life in Chicago and New York, what we did before everything changed, about our friends, our families. For once, it didn’t hurt as much to talk about my family. Tears brimmed in my eyes, but I didn’t feel like curling up and bawling.
However, what Keisha said about Micah stayed in the back of my mind. In the end, I pushed those thoughts completely away. She couldn’t be right about it. And even if she was right, I had a timer on my life—a timer I had put there. Hoping about impossible things would make everything worse.
24
The next morning, Keisha and I got in two hours of training before Ceris interrupted. Apparently she had located one of the Death Lords, and had set up a meeting for later that evening.
As expected, the entire compound thrummed with tense air.
One hour before the appointed time, Keisha and I walked into the conference room, wearing our armor and with our swords hanging from our belts.
Micah’s eyes bugged when he saw us. “What the hell?”
He and Victor were dressed like us. The only one at odds was Ceris, who still wore her goddess-like white dress.
“What?” I asked, infusing my voice with confidence.
I fought the urge to recoil from his powerful stance. Stupid, that was how I felt. Stupid for thinking I had feelings for him, and that he might actually have feelings for me. Micah was the person who got all the girls at the party and never settled for one. Ugh, he was the god who actually had an on-and-off affair with a goddess. Even if she was the source of evil and everything that was wrong in this world, she was a goddess. I could never compete with that.
Who said I wanted to? I didn’t. I was caught up in the moment, in the feeling of solitude, in my misery. He had been there, free and loving, offering me attention, which was all I wanted at that moment. I had been naive and stupid. Plain stupid.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Micah demanded.
“The same place you’re going.”
“Hell no.”
Seriously? Of all the things we could discuss and be mad about, he chose to yell at me about helping them?
I thrust my hands on my hips and glared at him. “Why not?”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
I scoffed. “First, you’re the one who said we can trust them. Second, you know I can take care of myself.”
“Like you just said, we can trust them. No need for the two of you to come with us.”
I pointed to his belt. “Then why are you taking a sword and two daggers?”
“Precaution.”
“Well, take us as precaution too.”
“By the Everlast, can you two stop?” Ceris interrupted. “You two act like an old married couple, bickering all the time.”
Micah’s jaw popped. “I don’t want them to come.”
“Unfortunately, I agree with Nadine, Mitrus,” Ceris said. What the hell? My head snapped to her and watched her with wary eyes. It was a trick. She never agreed with me. “I can take one or ten people using the same amount of power. I don’t see why we can’t take them with us. As precaution.”
Apparently, it wasn’t a trick, and hell was probably freezing over.
“I don’t like it,” he snapped.
I leaned closer to him and whispered, “Nobody said you needed to like it.”
“Now that that has been settled.” Victor stood, his voice carrying an annoyed tone. “Can we get this over with?”
After checking weapons and lanterns and water, and Micah slipping a dagger inside one of my boots—what was his deal?—we put on winter coats, gloves, and beanies, and walked out of the bunker.
It was incredibly cold here, and according to Ceris, if we stayed out like this for more than ten minutes without appropriate clothing, we would end up with hypothermia. I didn’t want to test her theory. I rushed my steps and crossed the invisible barrier of where Ceris had cast the shield.
She held our hands and transported us out.
This time, we visited only three places—and took our winter stuff off at the second one—before showing up at the right place.
This morning, Ceris told us she talked to one of the Death Lords, and he agreed to meet them on an abandoned beach in South Africa.
Ceris dropped us exactly on the sand, which looked more like dirt than sand. To our right, high waves crashed onshore, looking like they could swallow us whole if we got too close and drag us to the depths of the black ocean.
“I can feel something,” Ceris said. “This way.”
We marched south, with the ocean to our left. Victor and Ceris walked in the front, Keisha behind them, and Micah with me several steps back.
“Do you like defying me?”
I gaped. “Excuse me?”
“I’m a god. You do know that, don’t you? Then why do you insist on defying me?”
“Because I’m not your slave, or your doll, or your blind follower. And jeez, that ego of yours.” I kicked a broken shell on the sand. “Why do you do this?”
“This being …?”
“I don’t know—this.” I gestured between him and me. “One minute, we’re fine, you’re behaving, we can even pretend to be friends—”
“Or more,” he added.
I swallowed, certain my cheeks were red. “Then the next minute, you’re acting like you hate me and I disgust you and you wish me dead already.” He stepped in my path, and I bumped into him. “Hey!”
He leaned into me, his eyes hard, hurt. “Do you really think I want you dead?”
I held my chin high. “That’s the thing, I don’t know. And I don’t care.”
The last part was a total lie, but I would never admit it. Because I couldn’t even admit it to myself. I had agreed to die; it didn’t matter who wanted me dead or not.
I started walking around him, but he grabbed my arm. “I do—”
“I see light ahead,” Ceris called out from the front.
My heart pumped furiously in my chest, but I forced myself to concentrate on the task at hand. I jerked my arm free and marched to where the others stood.
Twenty feet down a dune, five attractive men dressed in black—what a shocker—stood side by side. A dozen beach torches created a wide semi-circle behind them.
Five? I thought there were eight.
With furrowed brows, Micah came to a halt by my side.
“Well, Lady Ceris, you said you had something important to discuss,” the one in the middle said.
“Yes, Dane.” She took a step forward, her gaze searching the area. “Where are the others?”
“I won’t answer your question until you answer mine,” Dane said. “What is it that you need to discuss?”
Ceris glared at Micah, but he only nodded at her.
She cleared her throat. “This may sound insane, but Mitrus isn’t dead.” She g
estured to Micah, and the heavy gaze of the men fell on him.
Micah opened his mouth, but Dane cut him off. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“No,” Micah said. “It’s me. Dane, Amiel, Jed, Riel, Keon. It’s really me. When Levi”—he gestured to Victor—“killed me, we were reborn as humans.”
“Humans?” Dane watched them. “How is that possible?”
“The same way it was impossible to kill a god,” Victor said. “Yet, it happened.”
Dane’s eyes became two thin slits. “Can you prove this isn’t a trick?”
Ceris scoffed. “Can’t you feel his aura?”
“Yes.” Dane pondered. “It’s the same feel, but not the same intensity.”
“That’s because I’m trapped inside a human body.” Micah advanced another step. “Where are the others? Deven, Eklan, and Chael?”
Dane shook his head once. “After you died, we were lost. Deven, Eklan, and Chael didn’t want to go on with their duties. For the first time in their long lives, they were free to decide. They became their own Lords and disappeared. We never heard from them again.”
Micah gestured to the five of them. “And you stayed.”
“We stayed,” he said, his voice proud, his chin high.
“Dane,” Ceris interrupted. “We aren’t here for a social visit or for you to acknowledge your master is back. We are here because we want your help.”
“With what?”
“Defeating Imha and Omi,” she said.
He frowned. “You want to kill them?”
“Unfortunately, we can’t. We plan on neutralizing them and hope they go back to their old selves while we clean up their mess.”
“And what’s in it for us?”
“Excuse me?”
“The thing is,” Dane said, walking toward us. “I’m the leader of my own pack now. I’m their master.” He gestured to the other four. “What makes you think I want to help you and end up working under Lord Mitrus again?”
“I can’t believe this,” Micah muttered, his hands closed in tight fists.
I reached for him and caressed his lower arm with the back of my hand. I didn’t exactly know why. He jerked his arm away and marched down the dune.
“I am your master,” Micah said. “But before that, you were my friend. All of you. What happened to that?”
“Friends?” Dane snorted. “Your friends? We only pretended to be your friends because of the power. We never liked you. You’re a dick. An egocentric dick. Nobody is your friend.”
One of the others stepped forth and spat at Micah’s feet. “We would rather die fighting against Imha on our own than to work for you again.”
Hurt flashed in Micah’s face, so fast, I thought I had imagined it.
Then he was all rage. “You traitor!” Micah pulled his sword from his waist.
Dane laughed. “Swords, really?” He sneered. “I don’t need swords. I have my power.” He flung not one but three black bolts toward Micah, one right after the other.
The first bolt exploded on Micah’s chest, the second on his right thigh, and the third on his left hip, pushing him to the ground.
Then the chaos started.
In a flash, Keisha was in front of Micah, swinging her sword toward Dane. Ceris cast a shield around him, to give him time to recover, while she attacked two other Lords, and Victor joined Keisha in the fight. I rushed to Micah.
Breathing deeply, he pushed up on his elbows and groaned. “Son of a bitch.”
The center of his chest armor had melted, the shirt under it was in rags, and his skin was marked.
“Can you stand?” I asked, grabbing his arm.
Micah helped me more than he should, and he was straightening his back when the shield broke.
Dane twisted away from Keisha and came at us, a sick shine in his black eyes.
“Are they immortal?” I asked, dragging Micah back.
“They are ageless, not immortal,” he said, wheezing.
After a few steps, I dropped him. “Good.”
I stepped in front of Micah and raised my sword.
Dane threw an energy ball at me, but I jumped to the side. He threw another, and I moved away from its path. My movements brought me closer and closer to him, and I didn’t think he was even aware of it.
“What are you, his new toy?” Dane asked with a naughty smile. He was trying to get to me. I wouldn’t let him. “Because, you know, he used to have many toys. I bet he still does.”
I felt the bolt zoom past my arm when I moved to the side, its heat scorching my skin. I could have cried in pain, but I wouldn’t give Dane that satisfaction.
Instead I whirled around and ran toward him.
“You want to do this the old-fashioned way, fine.” Black smoke poured from Dane’s hand, spreading wide above his palm. A few seconds later, it became a beautiful black sword. What was it with these guys and black? “Come and get me.”
He parried my first blow, deflected my second blow, and he blocked my third blow. He dodged my fourth blow, and pushed me back a couple of steps after the fifth blow.
God, this idea was stupid. Who had suggested it again? Ugh.
No time to change that. I engaged him again.
A terrible scream filled the night, and my heart skipped a beat. I scanned around. Ceris and Victor fought three opponents with magic and swords. It was hard to admit, but they made a great team. They really did.
A second scream ripped through the air. My eyes moved. Farther back, Keisha was on the sand, a hole bigger than Micah’s in her armor, on her right shoulder. In front of her, a Death Lord was ready to strike her again, but Ceris knocked him to the side with a bolt. When he returned to his feet, he lunged at the goddess.
Taking advantage of my distraction, Dane punched me in the jaw, and I staggered to the side. Stars blinded me and pain exploded on my face. Son of a bitch, that hurt!
“Ah!” I yelled when he grabbed my hair and pulled me back, causing me to fall on my knees.
“Beg for your life, princess,” he said, his mouth near my ear. “Beg for your petty life.”
If only he knew I didn’t mind dying.
A black bolt appeared in Dane’s palm.
“No!” Micah yelled from somewhere behind us, his voice rough.
Dane laughed. “How pathetic.”
I lowered my lashes, wishing not to feel much pain before dying, just as new cries echoed around us, making my eyes pop open.
They were battle cries coming from three men who emerged from the shadows. Three other Death Lords. Deven, Eklan, and Chael.
One of them rushed to Micah and despair made me sick. Oh, God, he would kill Micah. To my surprise, the man helped Micah to his feet, while the other two helped Ceris and Victor against Amiel, Jed, Riel, and Keon.
“No, no, no,” Dane muttered. Still gripping my hair, he hoisted me up. “Come.”
Dane dragged me closer to the shadows. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but he cast a rope of energy around my face and over my mouth. I tripped and Dane yanked harder. Hurtful tears sprung to my eyes.
The distance between the others and us grew. The guy who had been with Micah seconds ago was now with Keisha, and Micah was gone. Victor and Ceris still fought the other four, but now, with help, they were equally matched.
Dane stopped, and I bumped into him. I elbowed his ribs, then spun around and kneed him in the groin. Groaning, he doubled over, and I made a run for it. He caught me by the waist and pulled me back to him, a tight hand over my neck, and the other around my joined wrists.
“Bitch,” he whispered, his mouth on my cheek. I wanted to hurl.
He dragged me farther from the light of the torches. I didn’t know why, but I was sure that once he reached complete darkness I was done for. I jerked harder. He lost the grip on my arms, and that was enough for me to elbow him again. He didn’t let go this time, but his hand loosened its hold enough that I was able to pry it from my neck. I didn’t whirl around and try to fight him.
I ran, not because I was afraid of dying, but because I wanted more time to help Micah and Victor get their scepters. I glanced over my shoulder. Still in the same spot, Dane smiled at me.
My eyebrows knotted. Then I bumped into something hard and fell on my back. A black wall, much like the shields Ceris cast, stood between the torchlight and me.
I shook the sand from my hair, and I scurried to my feet.
Dane was right by my side. He conjured black cuffs around my wrist. “Stop running, bitch. I’m gonna take you with me, and you’ll wish I had killed you here on this beach.”
A sick feeling settled in my stomach, and the reminiscent images of my time with Imha and Omi invaded my mind. I wouldn’t be anyone’s bait anymore. I wouldn’t be tortured again. I wouldn’t be a demon’s piñata. I wouldn’t have anyone captured and killed because of me. Oh no.
I glanced around. My sword was lost somewhere, but I had a dagger inside my boot.
Dane beckoned his hand, and a tug on the cuffs made me follow him. “I’ll enjoy playing with you.”
Oh, God.
It was now or never.
I tripped on purpose, bending my head over more than necessary, causing my hair to fall like a curtain, obscuring my movements. I reached for the dagger and when Dane used his magic to pull me to my feet, I held the dagger tight.
All right. This would hurt, but I couldn’t chicken out. One fluid stab and it would be over. If I allowed my nerves to overwhelm me, I wouldn’t reach my heart and that would be just like torture.
I took a deep breath.
Three.
Two.
One.
In a flash, Micah was in front of me. He took the dagger from my hands, spun around, and threw it at Dane. Dane’s eyes widened as he looked down at the dagger embedded in his heart.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Dane said.
“Me neither,” Micah whispered.
Dane’s body fell back, but before he could hit the sand, his body flickered, becoming black smoke. A strong wind blew it away.
As if they felt what happened, the other four Death Lords stopped and gaped at us. At the same time, they conjured black bolts and threw them at the ground.
Soul Oath Page 20