The Lightning Bearer

by April Zyon

  “I’m absolutely positive that she’s of Zeus’s line. If Hera is as upset as Athena said, there’d only be one reason. She’s trying to stick it to the old man and failing. Seriously, the hate that your people have written about between the two of them is nothing compared to the truth. There is hate, and then there is holy-fucking-hell-watch-out-below sort of hate. That’s the hate that she has for him. She would do anything to make him hurt since she can’t outright kill him. She can’t do that because of the lightning bolts. Fucked up, I know, but there it is. Just like they can’t kill Apollo because of the sun or Artemis because of the moon. It’s all linked.”

  “Yeah, I’m starting to get an idea of how pissy she is for the fucker. She’s a raving bitch, isn’t she?” Shaking his head, Gareth rubbed a hand over his face, and sighed. “So she’s keeping the woman shielded from you guys. What happens if we find her while the shield’s still in place?”

  “You wouldn’t know she’s a key,” Ares said. “Until that bubble is gone you wouldn’t know her if she was standing in front of you. Shit, if you were touching her you wouldn’t know. Hera has always been fucking good at shielding. The best. Athena will be able to find a general idea of where the girl is, but we have to find a way through that shield. Honestly, I don’t fucking know how.”

  It was Brooklyn who responded. “Thomas and Lincoln.” Everyone looked at her. “Love. Hate is something, but love is something more. Love is unstoppable. It will overpower everything that’s in the way. Trust me. Ask Aphrodite if you don’t believe me, but if Athena can find a general area, send them and they will know who it is. Their souls and hearts will tell them who she is, if they don’t already know.”

  All the men in the kitchen nodded. “She’s right,” James said quietly. “Hera may be powerful, but that bond is something beyond her. In range it will reach out, and they’ll know. It’s like being hit by a bolt of lightning, no pun intended, guys. Right between the eyes, and you know. Deep inside, you just know.”

  “Exactly. I knew that Antonio and Stefan were mine the moment that I met them. I love that connection that I share with them. I don’t know how the guys felt, but I’m telling you I knew when I first saw them that they were mine.”

  “So essentially we are waiting for Athena to pick up the weather problems and then shipping Lincoln and Thomas her way?” Rachael asked.

  “I’m going to go and help her. Once we have a location I’ll be back for you two,” Ares said. “I will get you there as fast as I can, and if we have to keep hopping locations, we’ll do it. For now, get your gear together, and be ready at a moment’s notice. I’d better get back and see what she’s come up with already. Everyone good here?”

  They all nodded, except Thomas and Lincoln. Those two looked antsy, and a little lost. Not a good combination.

  Brooklyn turned to Thomas and Lincoln. “With that all being done, what do you need for me to do so that we can have you guys ready?”

  Lincoln shook his head as he got to his feet. “We’ll go grab our go-bags. That’s all we can do right now. At least we’ll be able to take full gear with us since we’ll be traveling god airlines.”

  Mik pushed off the counter and nodded. “I’ll get some food on while you two see to that. Everyone make sure your bags are ready as well, in case support is required. Then we eat, and everyone gets some sleep. I know you don’t feel like it, but we do what we can in the moment. Kas, want to help?”

  “Sure.” Kasper stood and walked to where Mik was standing. “I’m thinking that we should make something that can be stored, just in case.” Everyone was looking at Thomas and Lincoln, both of whom looked like they had been kicked. It wasn’t a good look on either of them.

  Chapter Four

  “I’ve found her.” Thomas jolted when Athena popped into the backyard amidst all of the people there preparing for a cookout. “At least the general area. She’s in Oklahoma City. I’ve followed strange storms that started in Rhode Island and were moving, oddly enough, in your direction.”

  Thomas forced himself to slowly push up from his seat. He let out a breath when he felt Lincoln stand next to him. “Here? Why here?” he muttered.

  “Is she stationary?” Ares demanded.

  “For the moment, yes. She’s had to stop and take shelter I’m assuming. The storm that’s brewing around her is a big one. It clashed with whatever she’s bringing along with her. Also, I can’t find Zeus. I wanted to ask him when he was last on Earth to have created a descendant, but I can’t find him. As for why here, I have no damn idea. I just know that the fucked-up weather patterns all across America are moving in this direction.”

  “Good enough for me, grab your bags. It’s time to hit Oklahoma City.” Ares pulled a face, and shook his head. “Never thought I’d hear those words out of my mouth.”

  “Pretty sure you can make that claim on a lot of things that pop out around us,” Mik said with a smirk.

  “You are so lucky I like you, Mik.”

  Mikhail blew the big god a kiss, and then got up. “Go grab your stuff, guys. I’ll get the supply pack for you, and you can head out. Yes, Ares, I put a little something in there for you, too. That you don’t get to have until you get them close.”

  Athena laughed at the look on Ares’s face. “I’m going back to the well. If anything changes I will contact you.” She bowed to the men and women and touched Thomas’s and then Lincoln’s shoulders briefly as they walked past her. “My blessings to you both. Find her. Save her. There is no telling what kind of mess she’s in, so be patient.”

  Thomas nodded. “We’ll try,” he said. He damn well wasn’t making any promises though. He felt like there was a clock running down, and they were way at the other end of the field without enough people to break through the opposing team. No way in hell could he describe it to anyone else, but he knew they were about to be running on fumes. Turning for the house, he jogged inside and up the stairs to his room to grab his go-bag, jacket, and other items. Doing a once over with his mental checklist he took a quick look around, and then headed back downstairs.

  When they all came back, the women were there waiting for them. Athena was gone, and Ares waited. “Are you ready?” Thomas could hear the worry in his voice, and that didn’t make it any easier to stand still. “She’s still stationary, but the storms are starting to die down. We need to go now.”

  Nodding, he accepted the small insulated bag from Mikhail, and attached it to his go-bag. Shrugging into the straps he looked over as Lincoln did the same. His gut was in knots. He had no idea what to expect. Not exactly a situation any soldier wanted to head into. Thomas drew in a deep breath, and looked to the god. “Let’s go.”

  Stepping between the two men, Ares nodded. “Remember to take a breath in and let it out during the jump. Ready?” When both men nodded, they were transported from the backyard in Texas to a stormy and rainy motel parking lot in Oklahoma City. Shimmering back into view, Thomas assumed, after Ares made sure that there was no one else there. “Okay, looks like a no-tell motel. Want to take a walk by the doors so that we can see if your inner radars go off at all?”

  “Fuck, might as well,” he muttered. Looking at the place, he waved Lincoln forward. “You take the first floor, and I’ll go up to take the second. We’ll start at the same end, and make a slow walk. Any blips call out, I’ll do the same,” he said. After bumping fists with Lincoln, he jogged up the stairs to the second floor.

  Thomas could feel Ares watching him as they went door to door. The storms seemed to be slowing and easing their power. “There is a back side to this place as well. Maybe she’s back there?” Ares asked as he walked behind the cars that were parked in the parking lot. At the odd look Thomas gave Ares shrugged. “License plates. Looking for Rhode Island.”

  “Only if she’s from there will that work,” he called out. “She could have been there visiting someone, which then negates that entire theory.” He kept moving along, pausing for a moment before each door before continuing al
ong. Reaching the end, he let out a breath. “Heading around to the back side,” he called out.

  “Right behind you,” Lincoln called back.

  Jogging down the stairs, Thomas shot the other man a look before taking the set opposite back up to continue his walk. “More cars back here, Ares, if you want to check them out.”

  Ares was stopped behind one car in particular. “This one has Rhode Island plates. Come and see if you feel anything. This is the only Rhode Island plate in the whole lot.”

  Thomas stopped at the railing, and peered over. Lincoln stepped in close to the door out of sight before coming to where Thomas could see him. “I think we have something here,” Lincoln said. “Can’t be sure, it’s…” He pulled a face and shrugged.

  Thomas made his way back to the stairs and jogged around the building to the door. Stepping in close he, frowned. It was like a weird vibration in his body. “Only one way to know for sure I guess,” he said a moment before knocking on the door.

  When the door opened there was a familiar woman standing there, one who had aged very well. Pepper St. John herself. “Thomas? Lincoln? Why are the two of you here? I haven’t called Kasper, so how did you find me?”

  “Pepper?” Thomas said. Of course, it was Pepper. It made complete sense now that he saw her. Reaching out he gently touched his fingertips to her cheek. A shiver of something slid through his body. “Holy shit, it is you.”

  ****

  Pepper stood there in the doorframe looking at the two men that had touched her heart and soul four years earlier. It was so strange to see them here. “What are you doing here?” She stepped back just a single step. “Come in. Don’t stand out there catching flies.” She felt something the moment that Thomas touched her cheek. It was a shock of heat and need that went straight to her pussy.

  Both men, and someone who she only just noticed and vaguely recognized, came into the room. It wasn’t big to begin with, but with three very large males in there it shrank to the size of a matchbox. “Long story,” Lincoln said softly. He brushed his fingers to her arm lightly, and she felt another shock from him. “One that is going to take a hell of a lot of explaining.”

  The feeling she had doubled when Lincoln touched her. She chewed her lower lip and took a seat on the bed. “You guys can have the chairs.” There were only two chairs and the bed, so someone was going to have to join her. “I guess we have all night for you to tell me this story?” She found herself reaching out and touching the fingertips of both men, shivering when she reacted to their touches. “What is this? This feeling, what is it?”

  “That’s what we need to talk to you about,” Thomas said. Then he looked at the big guy hovering. “Ares, can you give us a few minutes here? Maybe go grab a cup of coffee or something.”

  “Give me the goodies Mik packed, and I’ll go loiter out in the parking lot making people nervous.”

  Chuckling, Thomas tossed him an insulated bag. “Have at it. Yell if shit hits the fan out there.”

  Pepper grinned. “You have to be family if Mikhail sent you food.” She recalled the large Russian and how he cooked. He was a fabulous cook actually, but he was very picky on who got what. Once it was just the three of them Pepper looked from Lincoln to Thomas and back again. “Talk to me?” she asked softly. “What is it that I’m missing? It has to be something huge for you both to have tracked me down.”

  They pulled the chairs closer to the bed, and sat down. Thomas rubbed his hands to his jeans, and shrugged at Lincoln. Rolling his eyes, he looked her way. “Okay, I have no idea how to say any of this, so I’m just going to spit it out. If you need proof of anything we tell you, we can provide it. So, here goes I guess,” he muttered. “You’re part of something huge, as is Kasper, and four other women. You were marked by the Fates as one of six keys. These keys are essential pieces of a puzzle that can allow Hades to break free from the Underworld. He either needs the majority, though preferably all the keys, or just the master key, which is the most powerful of them all, because of how closely the woman is related to a god or goddess. When Hades was given the Underworld after the Olympians took over up top, he didn’t realize there was a huge catch to his contract. He could never leave the Underworld. It was Zeus’s way of ensuring Hades couldn’t get up to any mischief among those that Zeus held in higher regard than the gods. Us humans. The Fates, being complete bitches and feeling like the big bad got screwed, worked in a clause to allow him out if certain criteria were met.” He paused to look at her, and lifted an eyebrow.

  The thunder boomed outside, and lightning cracked. Pepper rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she looked at the men. “Yeah, I don’t see that as real. How could that be possible?” As her fear grew the storm outside seemed to grow stronger as well, scaring her even more as lightning filled the night sky. “I’m nobody, you know that. You both knew that when you both took care of me when Kasper was in trouble. I’m just me.” When the door opened Pepper popped up to her feet.

  “Sorry, guys, do you hear the storm increasing out there? She’s either first or second generation.” The man looked at Pepper and asked, “Who were your mother and father?”

  Pepper told him, and she frowned, matching the thunderous sound of the storm brewing overhead. “What are you talking about? First or second generation for what?” She looked to Thomas and then Lincoln. “What is happening? I feel as if I’m on the outside looking in. I feel as if I’ve missed something very important.”

  Lincoln reached over to take her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. “Pepper, calm down,” he said softly. “Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Trust us here, if you calm down, then the storm will, too. Please? Go with it,” he said.

  She felt the heat of the man seep into her body and did as he instructed. She took a deep breath and nodded. She started to calm, and oddly enough the storm began to calm as well. “I don’t understand. That’s not possible, right?”

  “Shh,” he whispered. Then he moved to sit beside her on the bed, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We’ll explain everything, but you need to stay calm. No need to electrocute a bunch of innocent bystanders if we can help it. Right?”

  Thomas tugged his chair closer to take her free hand in his, and rubbed the other over her knee. “This sounds crazy as shit, but it’s the gods’ honest truth. You are a descendant of Zeus. First or second generation, and we need to know which. Ares here will know what it all means if you tell him who your parents were, and their parents before them. Can you do that?”

  “My mother married my father and became part of the St. John family, you know that. The only relative that I don’t know is my mother’s father. Grams said that he came to her in a rain shower and showed her how amazing that it could be to dance in a storm. We never understood that, but I think that’s where I got my fascination with storms from.”

  “Fuck me.” This came from the man that they called Ares. “She’s the old fucker’s granddaughter. I can taste it now, his power. Fucking hell, the shield she has around her is strong. I can’t feel the power, but I can taste it. You need to help her be rid of the shield. I think there is only one way, and you both know it. Brooklyn was right on this. Shit, a second generation. We never dreamed that a first- or second-generation child would be a key. Never.”

  “We’ll get there, but it’s a little early for that right now,” Thomas snapped out. He threw a glare up at the large man, and then sighed. “Zeus is your grandfather. Basically, that’s what Ares is trying to say. You obviously have the exact same abilities as Zeus does, just not controlled yet. That is something that will come with time.”

  “Like the Greek gods?” When Thomas nodded she took a deep breath. “How do I know that you are telling the truth? I mean, about the whole gods thing? I’m a little confused, I have to admit that to you now. Ares, like the god of war?”

  “That would be me,” he said with a nod.

  “Give her a demonstration, but don’t completely freak her out,” Li
ncoln said.

  “And what do you suggest, oh wise wonder?”

  “Your armor,” Thomas suggested. “It’s the quickest, and can’t easily be explained away given you currently look like you are heading to a rave club.”

  When the man was suddenly covered in armor from head to toe, Pepper gasped and jerked back, falling over on the bed. “Holy Mother of God.” She gulped then. “How? Jesus.” She looked at all three of the men, and seeing their deadpan stares she gulped. “Oh God. It means that you told me the truth. What does that mean for us? And what was he talking about earlier when he was talking about a shield? And do all of the gods walk the Earth? If so, I’ve met a couple of Heras in my life, and they’ve brought me nothing but misery.” Which, if she was Zeus’s grandchild, she could sort of understand. Damn and double damn.

  “Not all do,” Ares said with a growl. “Some choose to, but Hera hates humanity as it pulled most of Zeus’s attention from her, and led to what she considers his downfall. Those Heras you speak of were not different people, only different guises. She can alter her appearance to whatever she wants you to see. But now we know for sure that fucking shield around her is Hera’s work. Fucking bitch.”

  “The shield is keeping you hidden from the gods, the ones we’re working with to protect the women known as the Keys. Because you are the Master Key, the singular woman who can unlock Hades’s cell, she must have done it to spite Zeus. Hiding you from the gods, and therefore us, gives Hades and his acolytes a chance to pull you into the Underworld where he can work on turning you to his side and agreeing to be with him in all ways,” Thomas said.

  “Are you telling me that all of those close calls were people trying to kill me?” Pepper whispered in horror. She saw their looks and shrugged. “I might have left one or two things out when I spoke to Kasper weekly. Like being mugged, having a truck nearly run me over, and a few other things. It’s been happening since I was dropped off at school,” she admitted. “So, yeah. It hasn’t been good, at all.”