by Crystal Dawn
Hercules turned the knob, it was open. That was almost more worrisome than if it had been locked. Why would they leave a door open? It made him think they might be expecting reinforcement or they left it open purposely to see who it might lure in. They were between a rock and a hard place, there was no choice but to try to go in. He turned the knob all the way pushing the door slowly. Once the door was open a crack, he peaked in finding no one in sight.
He slipped inside, his heart pounding, not out of fear of his own safety, but out of concern for Morpheus, his mate, and whatever other victims might be found here. His eyes scanned the room which looked like it had been used for storage at one time. One empty shelf after the other filled two walls of the room. There was a double wide doorway and that was what drew him. He heard voices from another room, one was Morpheus.
“Where the hell is she?” Morpheus asked, rage in his voice.
“Do you want her? Is she more fun than Cutter? Maybe we’ll have the chance to find out?”
A loud roar of fury shook items on a wall. Morpheus was pissed but restrained to where he could do them no harm. “Hey, man. Maybe you should lay off him,” one of the other guys said.
“Why, Shorty, you scared?”
“Yeah, Man, and you ought to be too. Look at him, he’s built like a fucking bull and you want to play with him? You’re a brainless fuck,” Shorty said.
Hercules looked at the wall where Morpheus was chained and saw pressure cracks running along the wall. Shorty seemed to be the only one with any sense because it looked like Morpheus might pull free.
“Stop,” the stupid guy told Morpheus. “You don’t want anything to happen to your woman, do you?” Morpheus dropped back against the wall in utter defeat. He was unwilling to take any chances with his mate.
Hercules felt raw rage bubble up inside him. They didn’t know what they were doing when they pushed Morpheus that way. His gift was the least understood of all of them. When they were young, he had made a guard disappear. He just vanished never to be seen again. Some of them had awesome gifts, but they were scary too. How could you use a gift you couldn’t control? You couldn’t, not and live with the possible results. Some of them had gifts that were too powerful, too all encompassing.
Others, were lucky. Hercules had strength, amazing strength, when he needed it. Some had speed, superior hearing, eyesight, or touch. They could use their gifts now that they were free. The deadly gifts, those were different and couldn’t be used until they were mastered unless under the most serious conditions. At that point the gift just kicked in, no conscious choice was given anymore. Those fools didn’t know, had never really known, what they were playing with.
A cry of sudden unexpected pain rang through the air. It was female and carried a hint of fear with it. Not the uncertainty of whether to be afraid or not, but the attempt to be brave and hide the fear that threatened to overwhelm them. He saw the look on Morpheus’s face as he drew the same conclusion, it was probably his mate. He let out a roar that made Hercules go deaf forcing his eyes to close. When he opened them, one of the guards was gone. Had he left or had he been removed to somewhere no one would ever find him at?
Morpheus strained and the wall made cracking sounds. The veins on his neck and arms popped out as he continued to push against the slowly yielding wall. “Stop it before they kill her,” one of the guards told him. “What happened to Hamby?” he asked the other guard.
“Shit, I don’t know. Chicken probably ran when he saw this muscled up freak trying to get loose. I’m not sure I blame him. I didn’t know what these guys could do physically or I don’t think I’d have taken the job,” he replied.
“Don’t be such a puss, Ray. You’re getting paid damn good for the little chance that you take.”
“Why are they messing with that woman? She’s human and she told Dale that her family is in politics. We’re going to have everyone after us if we don’t let that bitch go.”
“We already have everyone after us. Don’t even think about ditching us, you’re in too deep.”
Hercules thought the insecure young guy would be smart to cut and run, but it didn’t sound like he would. He had his phone on including the camera but muted when the conversation took place hoping Hades would hear and see all that went down. That new guard wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Hopefully, some of the other guards were also new and like minded. He didn’t want to risk hurting any of the prisoners that they might have but even without knowing what was going on, they would have to act soon.
Hercules moved back and unmuted his phone. He whispered softly, “Hades, did you catch all that?”
“Yeah, that might help us. We need to locate El now. Any thoughts on how to do that?”
“Sorry, too many guards between me and where she might be.”
“I guess we’ll move closer to your location, get Eres there beside you, and we’ll move in. Our times running out and our choices are limited.”
“I’ll get Eres and wait for you to be in position.”
He knew Hades and Lu would waste no time so he moved to the back and motioned for Eres. Once Hades told them he and Lu were ready, they moved in. There were only two guards with Morpheus and Hercules and Eres took them out in a few seconds. The look on their faces was priceless as they stared at them like deer caught in the headlights. They knocked them both out, it was just easier that way. Hades and Lu slipped in during the brief fray and now they quietly discussed what to do. They decided Lu would scout out the next room because he was the fastest of those there. Maybe the fastest of all besides Hermes.
He moved with quick grace as he moved down the short hall to the next room. The salon was a large building since they had provided a multitude of services including massage and tanning. Lu moved into the next room which still held tanning beds. No one was in the room, but he could hear sounds from the room beyond. It was probably the room with the massage tables since it had its own entrance. He used his phone to signal the others. The room was clear so they could join him. They would all be needed to neutralize the threat in the next room.
They all moved in behind him and everyone was silent trying to pick up clues as they listened to the noises from the next room. A TV must be on because the words made no sense. Hades nodded and Lu opened the door and rushed in. There was a female tied to a bed, but he would guess it wasn’t El. This girl had long black hair and a brown complexion. He would guess she was Latina, and very pretty even though it was clear she had been abused. She started to scream, but Lu shook his head and she stopped. He started to cut the ropes that tied her. It was clear that she had been tied up for a while.
“Do you know if anyone is in the next room?” Lu asked. Her eyes were dark, they were large and he could fall into their depths.
“Cutter,” she whispered. He felt the urge to envelop her in his arms and protect her. He was sure she would bring that protective instinct out in all of them. Instead, he helped her up and motioned to Eres to take off his shirt. He handed it to her so she would be able to cover herself. It was the first step in regaining her dignity. Now he had to get back to the job at hand but they would help her later if they could.
He signaled Hades who moved to the front. Morpheus had joined them, but Lu didn’t think that was a good thing. He’d heard Hades specifically tell him to wait and let them handle things. They heard sounds from behind the door, but the only voice he recognized was Cutter. They moved to the door getting in place so everyone could rush the door quickly. It was the only thing they could do at this point and leaving Morpheus’s mate in the hands of someone like Cutter a moment longer wasn’t acceptable.
Lu reached out to see if the door was unlocked, it was. He turned the knob and slid the door open slowly without catching the attention of Cutter or the three man goon squad that was gathered around a female lying on the bed. He thought it was a female judging by the moans coming from there. They entered the room unseen until Lu stepped up closer after they were all in.
; Cutter looked up, surprised but not as fearful as she should have been. “Did you all come to turn yourselves in to me?” she asked with a smirk on her face.
“You’ll be lucky to live through this, Cutter,” Lu informed her. Morpheus stepped up with vengeance on his face. “No, brother, calm yourself. We may need her.” Lu had noticed the female tied to the bed wasn’t El. He hadn’t seen El in person, but this girl was completely different. She was a tall Amazon like female maybe six feet tall and curvy. Her bright red hair made her stand out but he couldn’t tell her eye color even though he desperately wanted to know.
Hades donated his shirt this time. Origin stripped people of their clothes as the first step in humiliation which they felt would lead to submission. Sometimes it worked but usually they went on to torture and other methods. Morpheus was struggling for control and Eres laid a hand on his arm.
“We’ll find her, give us a chance. You should take this girl, find out who she is and what they wanted her for. They seem to have females instead of gods, we need to know why.”
Cutter laughed like a crazy hyena. “Haven’t you ever heard the saying about if you have the right females, the males will come?”
“No, I haven’t,” Lu answered, but it made sense. What didn’t make sense was how Origin would know who the right females were. Were they guessing or did they have a test like Doc did? Now that he had thought of Doc, he decided to call her while Hades handled things here.
“Doc.”
“Hello, Beautiful. How are things going?” Lu asked.
“You won’t believe it. We were attacked right after you left, but the kids and I were able to capture them. I have a team of humans here that Slay recommended and we have things under control but I’ve been worried about you guys.” She spoke fast and Lu barely understood her.
“I think you need to lay off the coffee, Sweetness.”
“We’ve only been drinking a little. We had to have something to do while we waited. So tell me what’s going on?”
“They’ve hidden El, but we’ve caught Cutter and several others. Now we have to apply pressure until she tells us where El is.”
“Will any of the others know?”
“Cutter rarely shares. She’s distrustful and with good reason, she’s had a few partners that got to her in the past. We’ll try, but I’m sure they don’t know anything important.”
“Maybe you should bring your team and the kids down here. Seeing the young ones might help calm Morpheus.”
“Give us your address and we’ll be there in no time.” Lu gave it to her and they said goodbye. It was time to get back to Cutter’s interrogation.
“Who were you talking to?” Hades asked.
“Doc.”
“No wonder it was busy when I called. What did she say?”
“They were attacked but she and the kids got the upper hand. She has a human team El’s brother sent and they’re coming here.”
“Cutter says she doesn’t know where El is but she gave us a number to call. She says her guy will trade El for her and Morpheus.”
“What about her other people?”
“She says she doesn’t care about them and we can keep them.”
“It’s probably time to pay them,” Lu observed. Hades just shrugged. “When are we going to call the number?”
“Eres wants to wait until we get Morpheus out of hearing range and get it set up on conference call so Zeus can listen in and record it. He won’t give Morpheus back, that’s a given.”
“We have the solution to getting Morpheus away from here.”
“Like that will be easy.”
“You’d be surprised. Doc’s bringing the kids.”
“I have to admit Lu, you’re brilliant and devious. We’ll send him away with the kids. It’s perfect.”
“There’ll be here soon and we’ll have a human team to help with whatever plan we come up with.”
They didn’t have long to wait. Doc and the team must have been loaded up already to make it there so quickly. Hades moved toward the door quickly, hurrying but trying to act like he wasn’t. When he caught sight of Doc, he gave up on pretending he wasn’t in a rush and sprinted to her. He picked her up into his arms and spun her around as he kissed her. An impartial observer would think they’d been apart for months rather than just hours.
It warmed Lu’s frozen heart to see his brothers find there mates, but secretly, as much as he wanted his own, he was terrified with the thought of finding her. What if she rejected him? What if she didn’t but he lost her anyway? What if he found this perfect, wonderful female and he simply wasn’t good enough for her? He shook his head hard enough that it hurt and banished all thoughts of mates to the very back of his mind.
A little waif stepped from the van they had arrived in. Was it a boy? No, there was a pleasing curve to the chest that screamed female. A hoody covered her head making him think she was hiding who she was and trying to give a false impression. She would fool a human, but not a god, at least not for long. Three big guys stepped out behind her and then the kids. Lu moved forward to meet the children. He really liked kids and these two were young and would need reassurance.
“Hello, I was looking for the two big guys that helped Doc take down some bad men,” Lu said.
“That was us,” Donnie said excitedly.
“Couldn’t be. I heard these bad men were big and mean.”
“It was us alright,” Cassie said.
Lu whispered, “Are you two superheroes in disguise? You can tell me, I can keep a secret.”
“You’re silly,” Cassie whispered back then she broke into a fit of giggles.
“We’re just really tough,” Donnie added with a big smile.
Lu couldn’t help but smile at them. These two were precious. Morpheus came out and pushed past Lu dropping to his knees and hugging the kids until they couldn’t breathe. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke. “We’ve not got her back yet, but we will if I have to die trying.”
“Lighten up,” advised Lu.
“We’ll have her back soon, kids. We know who has her and we’re going to make a deal,” Lu said. “They just caught her to trade for something else. They don’t really want her at all.”
The kids looked serious but relieved. They were worried about their mom but they would allow themselves to be reassured because they didn’t want to believe she could be hurt or killed. Kids just naturally wanted to believe the adults in their life could take care of anything.
“Maybe you should take them to the park and let them play a little while, Morpheus. They need an outlet for their energy and so do you,” Lu gently prodded. Morpheus agreed, Lu was surprised but happy. He hurried in to tell Hades to try to speed things up before Morpheus came back.
Cutter was telling them how they would have to trade for her and her friend would want Morpheus too. That wasn’t going to happen. They would talk to this Dawson she had keeping El, they would try to track the call, but they wouldn’t give up any gods. They would trade for her reluctantly since there were many gods that would love to get their hands on her abusive, torturing self, but that was the extent of what they would give as far as people went.
The call was nearly set up and everyone got into place. Cutter was removed so she couldn’t hear or speak to the contact. “Everyone in place and ready?” Hades asked. Everyone said that they were and it was time to dial. It was clear that Hades was nervous since his hands were shaking. There was a lot riding on the call. He dialed and they could all hear the phone ringing.
“Is this Dawson?” Hades asked when he heard the phone pick up, but no one spoke.
“Who’s asking?” asked a rough low voice.
“This is Hades. We’ve captured Cutter and her crew. We want to trade for El. Do you have her?”
“I do. What are you willing to give me?”
“I’ll give you Cutter?”
“What if I don’t want Cutter?”
Dread settled over the gods and their human frie
nds. The fear was that he would asked for something they couldn’t give. “What do you want?”
“I’ve given this a lot of thought. I figured as sloppy as she was, she would get caught eventually. I really want out of this business. I’ve got nothing against you people but I need a way to escape cause Origin will come after me. I worked things out in my head and I know if I’m too greedy, you’ll come after me. I figure a hundred thousand isn’t worth your trouble. Get me the money and I’ll get you the woman. Another reason to leave me be, is I can find more of your people for you. Once I relocate, I’ll contact you with the location of another god for the same price as the woman. I know there are several hundred out there and I can find them for you. Some are small groups, many are farmed out individually. Tell me right now, yes or no?”
Hades swallowed. It was too good to be true. “Yes, but it’ll take us a few hours to get the money.”
“I expected days, if you can get it in hours, that’s even better.”
“I need to talk to her to be sure she’s alright.”
“Not a problem. I’m not like those others, I don’t hurt people. Any damage she has is from before I got her. Hey, Hon, come over here and talk to them.”
“Morpheus, is that you?” she asked hesitantly.
“No, this is Hades. Morpheus is taking care of the kids.”
“Are they all alright?”
“Yes, but they miss you.”
“This guy has been a lot better than the others. Slay will help you get the money. Tell the kids, Morpheus, and Slay that I love them and I miss them.”
“Sorry, but we’re out of time. Call when you have the funds.” He hung up and the gods looked at each other.
“Did you catch all that, Zeus?”
“Yes, and normally we could track the call, he was on long enough but he was using a device that sent the call all over the place.”
“So no location?” Hades asked.
“No, so we better get the money together.”
“So was this guy right? Will you let the hundred K go and leave him alone?” Zan asked, speaking for the first time.