"I've recently learned a new phrase, it goes something like 'Who's your daddy?' Do you want to test this?"
I thought about it. I really did. "No," I replied shortly.
"I thought you'd see things my way. I'll summon you when he's ready to return to your quarters. Then you can be as motherly as you'd like."
"As soon as he's ready," I warned.
"Yes. Yes. Now go."
I turned to my son and caressed his cheek. "I love you, bubby."
"Love you too, Mom." His color was picking up. That was a good sign.
Casting a final warning glance at Zeus, I popped out of the room and into Heph's forge. Teleporting was never going to get old. I just wished I'd had this ability years ago when I was struck with wanderlust and had spent a small fortune on air-travel. "So what's the scoop?" I asked without preamble.
"Zeus found more in her mind than we expected. It's not good," he answered.
"Tell me."
"Well, we already figured that they were trying to bring Nyx up. What we didn't realize is that they've been here for a hundred years. They were responsible for getting Geb into a place where he could manipulate your mother and take her out of the picture."
"Wait, who are ‘they?’"
"They happen to be a group of Nyx's children."
"Which ones? Did she know?"
Heph nodded grimly. "Yeah, she knew the big players. You took out one today, but Lyssa and Hypnos are the heavy hitters."
"Hypnos, why does he sound so familiar?"
"You may have read about his little feud with Zeus," he replied casually.
"Oh. Didn't he put Zeus to sleep or something?"
He laughed at me. "Did he put Zeus to sleep or something? Isn't that an understatement? He teamed up with Hera to try to overtake the powerbase here on Olympus and nearly killed Zeus. It ended with his exile and Hera's death."
My eyes were wide when I asked, "I'm sorry, did you just say he tried to take over the powerbase? Zeus is pretty fucking powerful. How scary is this Hypnos guy?"
"Not as scary as his mother, but I would admit that he is pretty damn frightening. He's not going to be easy. I can see why Hope is so damaged after spending time with him and the lovely Lyssa."
I stared at him, speechless. "I'm pretty sure I'm about to have a neurotic break. Are you serious with this? I'm new. I can't do this. I can't even paint my toenails and you want me to take down a guy that took down Zeus?!"
He crossed his arms and stared me down. "Yeah, you could probably use a break. Put on some street clothes. We're going out."
That made me laugh right out loud. I grinned, cocked a hip and said, "What, you're going to take me out to Karaoke and we'll sing a little Tenacious D? You don't think that maybe I should get some more training in?"
"Hey," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Don't knock the D."
Chapter 23
Within ten minutes, Heph had ported us into the middle of Garden of the Gods. I laughed. It seemed appropriate in this situation. The tension in my shoulders melted as I stared at the sun setting on the Kissing Camels.
"And here I thought we were going clubbing," I mentioned sardonically.
"I can see when a woman misses her home and her sense of stability. I only look like a big lumbering jackass."
I laughed and shook my head. "Yeah, you're right. I do miss this place. Oddly enough, I rarely ever come out here, but I miss it when I don't see it. It's funny how we take things for granted."
He nodded at me and continued further into the park along the concrete path. Cliffs of red rock rose above us. The place was clearing out and I was certain that someone would be along any moment to kick us out. "I think the park is about to close."
He stopped, turned and raised an eyebrow at me. "Really?"
I rolled my eyes and walked past him. "Just because we're different doesn't mean we don't have to follow the rules," I muttered.
His reply was a bark of laughter and then all went quiet as we walked through the deepening shadows. This was place was peaceful. Every once and awhile I'd hear skittering through the grass, but dusk was falling on the Garden and this was a time of peace. He gave me thirty minutes to enjoy the silence. It was enough.
"So what made you think to throw a severed head through a Rift?"
With a sigh I replied, "I didn't know what to do to keep him dead. I figured that you can't live without your head and I was in a hurry. It was the obvious option at the time." I turned back to look at him and shrugged. "You guys haven't really taught me the important stuff, like, you know – how to keep someone dead."
"Mmm, true. To be honest, Hunters go through years of training. You've had what? Six months?"
"Something like that. It's just, I feel so powerless even with all of these powers. What good are they if I don't know how to save myself or the people that I love?"
"You're used to being strong all the time. Sometimes, it's okay to let others be strong for you."
"Yeah you guys keep saying that to me and my answer is - Are you fucking kidding me? 'Oh go slay the monster, Grace.' Or maybe, 'You're our only hope, Grace.' What am I, Obi-Wan Kenobi?" I threw my hands up and whirled back around to stomp it out. "You guys throw me so many mixed messages that I'm never sure which direction to take. Then SOMEBODY plops me into a furnace, then an iceberg and says figure it out. Yeah, that's what letting others be strong for me does."
"You're understandably upset. We haven't had this kind of situation before. However," and he grabbed my arm and spun me around. "Being a whiny bitch isn't going to get you far, here. So you need to pony up and figure out how you want to proceed."
My fist clenched but I didn't swing. That was the old Grace. Okay, maybe that was the three months ago Grace. "I want my son to be safe. I want to live a peaceful life where I don't dodge calls from my agent. I want to figure out who I am."
"I think you already know who you are. You just aren't sure how to proceed as this New Grace."
"Maybe." I kicked a rock with the toe of my shoe and it skittered off into the bushes. My head tilted. "Heph?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you heard any noise in the last thirty minutes?" I looked around, suddenly on high alert. "That rock should have flushed out at least some chipmunks."
He appeared startled and looked around. "No, I can't say that I've heard anything." He called in a pair of axes. I called my kukris in, as well.
"What?" I called out. "I can't even take a fucking walk in peace?"
"Grace, shut up. I'm scanning the area."
"No, I will not shut up. I am so fucking tired of this!"
A hand clamped over my mouth and he pulled my head back to whisper in my ear. "We need to get out of here now. Everything within two miles is asleep. Head directly to Zeus' Lab and alert him."
"What are you going to do?" I whispered against his hand.
"I'm going to the Forge. There's something I need to check on." I nodded at him. "On the count of three, go."
"Oh, how cute," the snide voice interrupted. "A lover's tryst in a garden made for gods."
"Lyssa," I mouthed against his hand. His fingers tightened before he shoved me forward with a bellowed, "’Port!"
I watched him engage her and realized that she was the distraction. I wouldn't leave him here. Not when they were here for me. The kukris felt solid in my hands and I whipped them around before calling out, "What, killing your brother wasn't enough? You're back for more?"
They both turned and gaped at me. I'm not sure who was more surprised at my sauciness. It didn't matter though. I sliced the blade along my hand, sped forward, opened a Rift and pushed Hephaestus through. "Surprise! Now it's just you and me, bitch."
She growled and rushed me. My swords met hers with a resounding crash. I was lucky, though. She was an old school duelist and didn't expect me to punch her in the face. My left fist smashed into her nose, knocking her back.
Her hand shot up to stem the flow of blood and she grinned at me. "Oh, you're fun."
"So I've been told." I took advantage of her pause and slashed across her chest, leaving a line of blood running down the front of her white silken dress. "Who fights in a dress anyway?"
"You're not very sportsman-like, Grace. I didn't want to bring out the dirty toys, but well – let's up the ante, shall we?"
Then she did something that I never saw coming. Her hand whipped up and it wasn't a sword pointing me in the chest. It was a 9mm gun. She pulled the trigger before I could react and I felt the slug tearing through the bone and muscles to lodge in a lung.
The pain was excruciating. It was even worse than getting stabbed in the heart. The bullet tore and ravaged blood vessels, muscle and sinew. One of my ribs splintered at the impact and shattered, puncturing a lung which filled with blood. I couldn't get a solid breath in. I fell to my knees in shock and pain. "Fuck," I gasped.
"Hurts, right?"
Why had I pushed Heph through that Rift? That could very well be the stupidest thing I'd ever done. The logical move would have been to tag team her. It occurred to me then that maybe I hadn't been firing on all cylinders. "Nope, it's not my lucky day."
Her figure blurred in my vision as she sauntered over to me and pulled out a dagger. "Cutting through my brother's neck is how you killed him, right? How did you do it, Grace? Did you slit his throat and saw? Or simply slash through to sever his head? I couldn't tell at the time."
My brain felt cloudy with pain and other thoughts – things that were filling me with shame. I'd failed my son, my mother and everyone I'd ever loved. Brandon was probably warm and not bleeding inside his new house, having sex or something equally wonderful. Everyone was better off without me.
"You feel so sorry don't you, Grace?" She asked me in a calm soothing voice.
I nodded in response. "I am so sorry." The tears came then. The wracking emotion hurt my chest so much, but I had to release the tears.
"Here, dear. Take this. You know what to do with it." She handed me the dagger. The shiny surface gleamed in the moonlight. I never thought that the darkness could reveal so much. The hilt felt right in my hand. All I needed to do was raise the blade and draw it across my throat. That would make it all better.
I raised my hand and felt the tip pierce the skin above the hollow of my neck, cutting deep. Finally, I'd have peace. The pain felt good. It felt like I was finally doing something worthy with my miserable life.
A glimmer of steel flashed in my eyes, startling me out of my trance. What in the Hell was happening here? I pulled the dagger from my throat and shoved upward as hard as I could in my condition and thrust the dagger into her sternum, pushing her back away from me. "Stay. Out. Of. My. Head!" The volume was weak but the message was clear. It was hard to breathe and my rage was ramping up. God, I was so tired of people fucking with me.
'Heal' was the word at the forefront of my brain. I could feel the nanites working, but my body was weakened and I'd been pushing myself too far lately. It didn't matter. I smiled maniacally at her and yelled, "Flame on, motherfucker!" My skin was instantly ablaze and I lunged, knocking her to the ground.
High pitched screams filled the air as her clothing went up in flame. I drove my fist into her face again and again. Bone crunched with a sickening sound and I thought I'd knocked her unconscious, but her hand reached up to grip my neck. Her fingers dug into the small hole that I'd cut into myself under her influence. She pulled.
Blood poured down the front of my body in a waterfall, quenching the flames. I was feeling so tired. It took me three attempts to materialize my kukri and when it finally happened, my movements were sluggish. Bringing the sword up with all of the strength left in me, I lopped her hand off at the wrist.
I expected her to scream again, but she didn't make a sound. That frightened me more than a scream ever could. My head whipped around, looking for an accomplice – a reason she was so calm. That was a mistake. Her remaining hand fisted into my hair and slammed me face first into the walk. The bones in my cheeks and forehead cracked and splintered with the force of the blow.
It was a random thought, but I was pissed that I'd finally gotten pretty and she was fucking it up. I flailed backward with my sword, aiming for her arm. I'd cut the other one off given the chance. Steel met bone and she hissed. I couldn't help myself, I laughed, coughing up blood.
"You think that's funny? Wait until you see what I do next," she growled. But I didn't want to wait. I wanted to get the Hell out of Dodge.
I didn't get the chance. White hot pain lanced through my back as she shoved something sharp through my spine, cutting off all feeling in both my upper and lower body. My arms and neck flopped to the ground. I couldn't breathe and my heart slowed to a sluggish rate.
All I’d wanted to do was go for a walk and the bitch was going to kill me. The lesson here is that exercise in any form is bad.
A thunderous crack sounded behind me, followed closely by a high pitched shriek. I desperately wanted to see, but couldn't move. Voices were shouting but making out what they were saying was impossible.
I became weightless as arms lifted me from the ground, cradling me against a barrel chest. "Jesus, Grace. What were you thinking," he asked gently. "Don't die on me. You just got interesting and I'd really like to see what you do next."
Fingers brushed bloodied ropes of hair from my eyes and I stared up into his face. If I died, I wanted to remember that he came back to rescue me. I wanted to take back the hurtful things I'd said to him. I wanted to tell him that if there was a God, I'd ask her for a bit longer so I could get to know his complexities.
I couldn't do any of that. My mouth refused to move. I felt light – buoyant. He bent his head and gently pressed his lips against mine. "It's not your time yet. Hold on just a bit longer, sugar."
A tear leaked from my eye and trailed down the side of my face. Wow, he finally kissed me and I couldn't kiss him back.
"Why are you still here? Get her back to the Lab now!" Zeus' voice held panic. That didn't bode well.
All I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep.
So I did.
Chapter 24
Sometimes I wish I could read minds. It would make the story easier to understand…more real somehow. It took two weeks for me to recover enough from my Lyssa-inflicted wounds to even open my eyes. The first week after my collapse, my body stopped functioning, but Zeus wouldn't let them bury or burn me. He'd said he'd seen this happen before. He didn’t tell them that ‘before’ was the time he’d tried to kill me, just that my body needed to regenerate and the cessation of function was its way to preserve energy. Self-preservation was a strong instinct for both of us.
They let Dylan in to see me once, but it had started snowing and sleeting in the Lab. After that, they'd kept him sedated in his rooms. Athena and Drew alternated shifts to keep him calm enough to minimize the damage to Olympus' eco-system.
When he wasn't with Dylan, Drew stood vigil at my bedside. I'm still not sure what that was about. Just when I thought he was out of the picture, he casually stepped back in and completely wrecked my entire understanding of the situation.
Zeus videotaped the entire episode and watching it now still brings tears to my eyes. My heart clenches when I see this man hold my hand, lean over my bed, resting his head against my chest as he apologized for all of the things he'd done and said – all of the things he'd never be able to take back if I died.
My heart constricts in pain watching this. It makes me realize that you can't shut off love. He'd busted down my walls and planted hooks into the very core of my being. No matter how many hooks I thought I'd tugged loose, there were still a thousand more - clinging on. I never knew if they were on purpose or accident. I am afraid to ask, because I'm sure I won't like the answer.
...and then there was Heph. He sat at my bedside when no one else was around, but never touched me. He'd sit close, his hand a fraction of a breath away from mine, as if actually touching me would break him.
His hours were spent
telling me stories and of emotions I'm certain he wouldn't have shared had he known he was being recorded.
He'd realized that something was wrong with me as soon as I'd pushed him through the Rift. Much like the severed head of Momus, Hephaestus flew through the portal and landed on Athena. From what I understand, she's got a bit of a grudge against me right now and thinks that I'm trying to take her out with flying projectiles.
After crashing to the ground, he sounded the alarm and the Hunters mobilized. In my mind, the fight felt like it had lasted for hours. In reality, it had only taken a group of Hunters with Athena, Zeus and Hephaestus about 6 minutes to get back to the Garden.
Athena had immediately been sent to find Hypnos. Unfortunately, all she'd found was a park full of sleeping animals - both two and four legged. Hunters were dispersed to secure the area and seek out potential threats, to minimize any fallout damage from the resulting battle between Zeus and Lyssa.
Seeing me on the ground, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to get me back to the Lab and let loose a lightning bolt that struck Lyssa at the center of her mass, blowing off the arm I'd nearly severed. Sometimes when I'm sleeping, I still hear her high pitched shrieks. I see her maddened eyes and I wake up covered in sweat.
I am quite literally terrified of that woman. It isn't far reaching to think that at some point in every human's life, they think of cliff diving off a bridge and ending it all. Yeah, I've thought it once or twice but it had never gone so far as what she'd nearly made me do. It's one thing to randomly think, 'If only there was a gun nearby, I'd wrap myself in plastic, call 911 and blow my brains out rather than deal with this shit' and actually slicing a hole into your neck.
That kind of power is terrifying and it gave me a better understanding of Hope's mental fortitude. Hope was weak - there was no doubt in my mind about that. But even had she been strong, after a few hundred years of Lyssa's mental torture, even the most stalwart of women would have been completely batshit crazy.
But I digress. Zeus' bolt blew off her other limb and as he was going in for the final kill, an inky fog rolled into the valley between the rock formations, killing everyone's ability to see or hear. Even the best training can't combat the sudden loss of senses. Heph had already ‘ported out with me, but the remaining Hunters panicked. In the ensuing chaos, Lyssa escaped.
Rifts Page 17