by Becca Van
Paser ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I think until she's ours, we are going to be a bit unreasonable. I've never felt this way about a woman before.”
“Me either,” Pen stated. “I hope that she wants to stay.”
“I do, too.” Paser glanced at Pen.
“What are we going to do if she doesn't?”
“Hell if I know.” Paser stopped and stared back toward the door. “One thing I do know for certain is we have to make damn sure we keep her safe.”
* * * *
Nina was glad the men had left the room and quickly slipped the large T-shirt on. It was so big it kept slipping off her shoulder, but that was the least of her worries. She couldn't believe she'd let Paser and Pen bring her back to their place without putting up a fuss. Normally she was very wary of strangers, but for some reason she couldn't help but trust the two men. Maybe it was because they had saved her life tonight.
However, now that she wasn't scared out of her mind, she had so many questions but no one to ask. Or maybe she did.
Zara sat on the end of the bed and met her gaze. “Have they told you anything yet?”
“What about?”
“I'll get back to that in a minute. What happened to you?”
Nina shuddered and wrapped her arms around her waist. She explained what she remembered to Zara.
“Shit! That's not good.”
Nina frowned, and although she agreed with Zara, she had feeling that Zara's statement was for a totally different reason than what she was thinking.
“None of this makes sense.” Nina got off the bed and began pacing. “If I didn't know any better, I'd think that the shadow I saw was an evil spirit or something.”
“‘Or something’ is right.”
“How did Paser and Pen kill a shadow, and why didn't the man who tried to hurt me die right away?”
Nina took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it didn't work. She was scared out of her mind and her imagination was working overtime. Add in the fact that Pen and Paser moved faster than was humanly possible, and it made her think that they had superpowers or something, but that sort of thing only happened in the movies. Didn't it?
“What the hell is going on?”
Zara stood and clasped Nina's hand before leading her back to the bed. Both of them sat down and Zara took a deep breath as if shoring up her resolve.
“Have you ever heard of Ra?”
“Yeah. Who hasn't? He was an ancient Egyptian.”
“Yes. He is the sun god.”
A shiver of apprehension traversed Nina's spine and she looked at Zara incredulously.
“I know what you're thinking, but I'm not crazy and neither are you. That shadow was from the underworld and quite probably one of Apep's demonic minions.”
“You can't be serious.” Nina started laughing because if she didn't laugh, she would likely start screaming.
“Let me finish, Nina.” Zara broke into her hysteria.
Nina took few deep breaths and sighed when she felt some of the tension in her muscles dissipate. “Go on.” She would listen to Zara, but after that, she was out of here.
“Back in the time when the pyramids were being built, the pharaohs enslaved men to use them to build their temples and tombs. The slaves were abused until they could no longer work, and if that happened, they were usually whipped to death. When an elderly man fell to his knees, eight men stepped in to protect him and, by doing so, angered the pharaoh. The pharaoh ordered that the eight men would take the elderly man's punishment, thus saving his life.
“Ra, the sun god, had been watching the greedy pharaohs, and as soon as he saw the injustice about to happen, he stepped in. The pharaoh's overseers and the pharaoh himself were whipped to death.”
“What happened to the men?”
“The eight men were recruited by Ra to fight Apep's shadow demons. They were turned into demigods and continue to fight to this day.”
Nina stared at Zara. Surely she didn't mean Paser, Pentu and the six others were those men. That would mean they had been alive for thousands of years. That just wasn't possible.
She chuckled and then started laugh so hard she could barely draw a breath. Tears leaked from her eyes and down her cheeks. When she glanced at Zara and saw the woman was watching her with a concerned but very serious expression, she realized that Zara believed everything she'd just said. Nina's hysterical laughter stopped abruptly. She rose and hurried toward the door.
“I'm not lying or making this up, and I'm not crazy,” Zara said in a calm voice.
“You expect me to believe this shit.”
“Yes.”
“I think you should go see a doctor.”
“If I'm lying, how did Pen and Paser kill a shadow and the other guy?”
“It was probably all a set-up.”
“Why?” Zara flung her hand out in exasperation. “Do you know them? Have you ever seen them before tonight?”
“No.”
“Then why would you think someone you don't know would go to such elaborate lengths for a prank? And if you hadn't ever met them before, how would they have known you would be where you were when you were?”
Nina's knees buckled and she leaned against the wall beside the door so she didn't fall to the floor. “What else am I supposed to think?”
“I understand why you're having a hard time believing any of this. I was where you are not so long ago, but I assure you that I'm telling you the truth.”
“So Pen and Paser and the others are demigods fighting against Apep's demons?”
“Yes.”
“There's only one problem with that.”
“What?” Zara tilted her head.
“I didn't see any demons. I saw a shadow and an evil man.”
“Did the shadow get close to you?”
Nina nodded and shivered as she remembered feeling really cold, but that wasn't all. She hoped to never encounter another floating shadow in her life. She wasn't sure she could handle being close to that—whatever that had been—again.
“Did you feel a painful tugging sensation in your chest?”
Nina began to tremble again. She hadn't told Zara about that when she'd explained what had happened. She didn't answer but stared at the other woman in shock.
“I can see by your expression that you did. It's terrifying, isn't it? Feels as if a piece of your soul is being ripped out of your body.”
Nina sank down the floor. She was shaking so hard now that there was no way in hell she could have remained on her feet. She felt as if she was in a living nightmare and prayed that she would wake up soon.
“Apep uses his demonic shadows to prey on the innocent. The demons need to feed on the souls of humans so they can take and possess humans. The evil god's aim is to take over the world and kill off humanity.”
“Why?” Nina asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Power. Greed. Who knows how evil beings think or work?” Zara shrugged.
“How do you know all of this?”
“My soul was nearly stolen by the demonic.” Zara shuddered and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Every night I had the same nightmare of having my spirit ripped out, but I would wake up just in time. If it hadn't been for my mates Set and Sab, I would have been possessed and died.”
“Oh God.”
“You're in danger, Nina. You can't go home. The only place you'll be safe is here.”
“And where is here?”
“You don't know? I thought you were awake when they brought you in.”
“I was, but I was in shock. I had just watched Pen and Paser kill a man and a shadow.”
“A man?”
Nina nodded. “I can't…I think…” She took a deep breath and released it slowly. Nina felt as if she was going insane, and yet she knew she was as sane as she'd ever been.
“Shit!”
“What?”
“I've learned the shadows only use innocent men and women to steal souls fr
om, but there's a possibility that Apep has figured out how to use evil men to do his bidding.”
“The man who hurt me definitely wasn't innocent. In fact, his gaze looked evil to the core.” Nina drew her knees up close to her body and wrapped her arms around them. “I don't think he was alive.”
“Why do you say that?”
“When Pen and Paser slashed him with their swords, there was no blood, and the first strike should have sent him to the ground but it didn't.”
Zara frowned with concern.
“There's more.”
“Go on.”
“When Pen and Paser killed him, all that was left was ash.”
Zara nodded. “Do you believe me now?”
“I'm starting to.”
“I promise you I'm not lying. I know it's hard to take in, but it's all true.”
“So what am I supposed to do? I can't put my life on hold. I need to work to pay rent and bills.”
“You don't need to worry about that. I'm sure your mates will take care of everything.”
“Excuse me?” Nina knew her mouth was gaping open. She was so flabbergasted at what Zara had just said. Surely she couldn't have heard right.
“Oh.” Zara covered her mouth and blushed.
Nina finally managed to close her mouth and swallowed around the lump in her throat. She met Zara's gaze and shook her head.
“I'm sorry,” Zara said. She rose and then came and sat next to Nina. “You had no idea, did you?”
“No! What makes you think I'm their mate? And what the hell do you mean by ‘mate,’ anyway?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Nina shook her head and Zara nodded.
“That's not possible. I don't even know them.”
“Are you attracted to them?”
Nina lowered her head, pressing her forehead against her knees.
“I can tell by your silence that you are. Are you a virgin, Nina?”
“What has that got to do with anything?”
“Everything.”
“What? Are you trying to tell me that because I haven't had sex that is the reason those two men think I'm their mate?” Nina asked incredulously.
“Don't be ridiculous,” Zara snapped with what sounded like frustration.
“Then please enlighten me.”
“I will, if you'll give me the chance.” When Zara sighed, Nina could tell it was from exasperation.
“Well?”
“I already told you the demonic prey on the innocent.”
Nina had forgotten about that. She shivered with remembered fear, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hang around here. She would lose her job and apartment, and then she would have nowhere to live. That was if she came out of any of this intact or alive.
That was the moment of realization for Nina. She knew then with certainty that every word Zara had told her rang true. That didn't mean that the story was believable, just that Zara believed what she'd said.
“How the hell do you know I'm their mate?” Nina cringed at the way she'd blurted out that question. It had been spinning around in her mind and she hadn't known she was going to voice it until she heard herself speaking the words.
“They are very attracted to you.”
“Okay,” Nina said skeptically.
“I could tell by the way they looked at you.”
“How's that?”
“Possessively.”
“You can't know that for sure.”
“Yeah, I can. I do. It's the same way my mates Set and Sab look at me.”
“Maybe you need glasses.”
“I see perfectly fine, thank you.” Zara smiled and then she chuckled. “You can deny it all you like, but you look at them the same way they look at you.”
Nina threw her hands up in the air. “So what? I've probably looked at hundreds on handsome men the same way.”
“Did they heat your blood and make your body tingle the way Pen and Paser do?”
Nina looked away when she felt her cheeks heat and hoped her face wasn't too red, but suspected that it was when she saw Zara grin at her from the corner of her eye.
“Wait a minute.” Nina met Zara's gaze again. “How the hell could I be their mate? If what you said is true then they're demigods and must be immortal if they've been alive for so long. Even if I am their…mate”—she paused to lick her dry lips—”there is no way in hell a relationship would work. They wouldn't even want to look at me, let alone touch me. I'll be old and wrinkled and they won't have aged at all. That is, if I even believed any of this.”
“If you agree to be with them, they can change you.” Zara nudged Nina's shoulder.
“What? How? Wait!” Nina scrambled to her knees, crawled across the floor and pulled herself up onto the bed. Her ass was getting sore from sitting on the hard floor. “I don't think you should answer that. I'm not sure I want to know.”
“Are you sure?” Zara asked, and although she tried to hide the smile forming on her lips, she wasn't successful.
Nina sighed. “No.”
A full-fledged grin formed on Zara's lips and she nodded her head. “If you do decide to become their mates, they will make love to you and bite you with their fangs.”
“Fangs?” Nina whispered and felt all the blood drain from her face. Her heart stuttered and then beat a rapid staccato inside of her chest, and she began to pant.
“They have fangs? What are they? Vampires?” Each word she spoke became more strident than the last until she felt as if she were practically screeching. She became lightheaded to the point where she thought she was about to pass out and quickly held her breath. She counted to five and then slowly released the air from her lungs before drawing in another breath. She hadn't realized that she'd closed her eyes until she heard Zara move.
“No, they aren't vampires. What made you come to that conclusion?”
“Oh, gee I don't know. Maybe the fact you said they would bite me with their fangs.” The last word was said in a near shout and Nina inhaled raggedly, trying to quell the panic taking hold.
“Shit! Sorry. Don't panic. They aren't vampires and they don't drink blood. Well, not often, anyway.”
Nina couldn't handle another word. She stood and hurried toward the door. She must have blinked, or maybe because she was feeling weak with fear, she hadn't moved as fast as she thought, because just as she was reaching for the door handle, she noticed that Zara was leaning against it. The woman had been across the other side of the room and she couldn't possibly have gotten there before Nina. Her mouth gaped open and she began backing away from her. She didn't stop until the back of her knees bumped into the edge of the mattress. When her legs gave out, she didn't do anything to stop her fall. She bounced a couple of times, and although she tried to speak, nothing came out of her mouth.
“Don't look at me like that,” Zara said gently. “I won't hurt you.”
“I never thought you would.”
“Yeah, right. That’s why you backed away from me and look like I was about to murder you.”
“I never thought any such thing.”
“Can I sit?” Zara indicted the spot next to Nina on the bed and she nodded.
“Okay, let me try and explain a little better. I'm sorry if I scared you. That wasn't my intention.”
“You didn't scare me, exactly, just shocked me. How did you get to the door before I did?”
“I'll get to that.” Zara inhaled deeply and released the breath before she started explaining. “As I was about to tell you, the guys aren't vampires and don't live off of blood. They eat and drink just like anybody else. They will occasionally take a little blood if they are injured in battle. Doing so helps heal their wounds faster. They don't kill anybody they drink from if they're innocent and usually only take blood from their enemies. If you did agree to be their mate, they would bite you while making love to you. I don't know how it works, but if they do that, it connects you to them and you will go through a transformation of sorts.”
“You would end up like them.”
“Like them?”
“You wouldn't age as a normal human does. Something in their bite changes our DNA somehow. I'm not a scientist so I don't know the specifics. However, you will live for a very long time. You will be stronger, faster and your senses will be more enhanced. You will also get fangs, but don’t worry. They only emerge in times of extreme emotion.”
“Such as?”
Zara's face turned pink and she looked away before meeting Nina's gaze again. “Passion, mainly.”
“I don't know about this.” Nina buried her face in her hands.
Zara patted her shoulder. “You don't have to decide anything right now, but one thing is certain. You can't go home. Not if you want to stay alive.”
Nina didn't say anything when Zara got up and walked toward the door. She paused in doorway and met her gaze again.
“I know this is very hard to digest and in such a short span of time, but just remember that those two men will do everything in their power to protect you. They have been alone for thousands of years fighting against a never-ending cause, and all because they stepped in to save a fellow slave. They have more compassion in their little fingers than most men have in the whole bodies. They will also go out of their way to make sure you are happy and loved.”
Nina didn't reply, and when Zara closed the door behind her, she curled up on the bed and hugged the pillow to her chest. She was absolutely exhausted and not just because the night was over. Her mind was in turmoil and she had no idea what to think or where to turn.
She hoped that after a few hours of sleep, she would be able to think clearly.
Chapter Three
Pen and Paser hadn't bothered to go to bed. They were both too twisted up inside to even contemplate sleeping. When Zara had come out to the kitchen and nodded her head at them, they knew she had told Nina what they were. He hadn’t heard any screaming—although he had heard Nina's raised voice, even if he hadn't actually heard what she'd been saying—so he figured she'd taken the news a hell of a lot better than he would have if he'd been in her position. The other sentinels had retired to their apartments hours ago, and although he had wanted to adjourn to theirs, he and Paser had remained in the kitchen chatting over inconsequential things and drinking coffee, both deliberately ignoring the topic uppermost in their minds.