Buried In Denial

by Evi Asher

  Athera expected a bang or a flash, but there was nothing, only silence.

  “What the hell was that in aid of?” she grumbled.

  Chapter Two

  Grave stood with his legs spread hip-width apart, his hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed.

  He was in the oracle’s audience room, waiting for Cerise to realize that he was waiting. She had summoned him twenty minutes earlier or so, and he’d been standing there patiently ever since.

  The oracle was not someone you made demands of, even for a powerful reaper, and he owed her a debt of servitude. That was why he was with her and not in the world reaping souls.

  Cerise was sitting on a pile of pillows, her eyes focused on something in the future or the past—Grave wasn’t sure if she saw both—and she would not acknowledge his presence until she came out of her vision trance. So he waited as patiently as a male could, and dreaded whatever task she would next give him.

  Why she couldn’t have called him when she was in the present and not off on some oracle vision he didn’t know.

  Females. They were more trouble than they were worth. Cerise first and foremost, but then there was Athera.

  His body tensed up at the thought of that name.

  Athera. His bane, his longing. His downfall. The little phoenix made him feel all the things he’d denied himself over the millennia, and that made her more dangerous than an infestation of ghouls.

  She’d brazenly come on to him more than once, and it had taken all his considerable willpower not to give into her sweet temptation.

  His body hardened as he remembered her telling him she was a virgin and offering him a chance to fix that problem for her. An instant feeling of proprietary had overcome him, and a fierce joy that she was untouched by another.

  A small smile curled his lips. As brazen as she was, he was sure it was an act more than anything else was. She hid insecurity behind her bravado.

  That didn’t stop her words from hammering straight to his groin. Nope. She was dangerous because he wanted her, and he wasn’t supposed to want anyone or anything. It was a good thing she was far away in Crossroads.

  “Ah, good. You are here. What took you so long?” Cerise said.

  Grave had to clamp his teeth together to stop himself from telling her that he’s been waiting for what felt like an age already. “I am sorry you had to wait, my lady” he said, instead.

  “Oh, never mind.” She waved a hand, dismissing the issue from her mind.

  “I have a task for you. One final task before I free you from my service and consider your debt to me paid.”

  Grave forgot about keeping his head down in her presence as he heard the words. He looked her in the eyes.

  Cerise’s eyes narrowed and he realized his mistake, dropping his chin toward his chest again before she could take more offence than she had already taken.

  She was quiet for a long moment. “You may look at me, Grave.”

  He waited a breath of time before he lifted his face to look at the oracle.

  “Before I give you your task, I would like to thank you.”

  He had to do everything in his ability not to gape at her. Cerise never thanked anyone—she considered any service her due and right. Arrogance had no better figurehead than Cerise.

  Her warm laugh let him know that she knew what he was thinking, and he paled. He had to be more careful with his thoughts. She could end him with a whisper.

  “It’s okay—I’ve learned, with recent events.”

  Grave knew she must have been talking about Angelica and her man Colt.

  “That I need to be a little less uptight. It might do me good.” Another dazzling smile. “Don’t you have anything to say, Grave?”

  “If I may ask, what is the task you need me to complete?”

  “Oh, that.” She clapped her hands together. “Yes, I need you to go to Crossroads.”

  Dread settled in the pit of Grave’s stomach before she could even finish the word.

  “Your task is to guard Athera of the Phoenix. With your life. Make sure no harm befalls her.”

  No. Hell, no. To be shoved into temptation’s way like that had to be some kind of sick joke.

  “My lady... ” he started.

  She held up a hand to stop him from saying anything further. “I don’t want to hear it, Grave. You will do what I tell you or you will die. Simplicity in its purest form.”

  He swallowed a harsh retort. He didn’t want to be thrown in Athera’s way like that. He didn’t think he could survive the temptation to take what the phoenix offered him, because—damn it—he wanted what she was willing to give him.

  “How long am I to stay there?” he asked, though he could hear the defeat in his own voice.

  “Until the threat is gone.” Cerise smiled, as if that answered all his questions.

  It didn’t. Athera worked and lived with the Outsiders, a group of immortal bounty hunters. There would always be threats on the horizon. He could end up staying there for an eternity.

  “That could be for the rest of my existence.”

  “Oh, don’t be so silly.” She rose from her place on the scattered pillows, her gossamer gown falling to cover her bare feet. “You have a specific danger to protect her from.”

  “And that is?” Hopefully, the danger would be taken care of quickly and he could finally go back to his life. He’d been a slave to Cerise’s whims for centuries.

  “Our little phoenix woke Nexanthon.” She waited for his reaction.

  Nexanthon. Grave closed his eyes and prayed for help. Athera had awoken a death deity, the most brutal death deity ever to exist. The creature would kill her and everyone else. However, Nexanthon would go after Athera first. She had disturbed his slumber and she had freed him, so he would want her first before anything else.

  Grave ground his teeth together. He felt like hitting something—anything. How the fuck was he supposed to protect Athera from Nexanthon?

  “How?” It was all he could say due to his suddenly dry mouth.

  “How did she wake him?” Cerise raised a perfectly arched eyebrow in question before continuing. “When she was in the mine, helping lay the ghost. Somehow she stumbled on to Nexanthon’s resting place.”

  Grave closed his eyes and found himself praying for patience.

  “I don’t have the power to protect her from him.”

  “No, you don’t, but, Grave, you’d better find a way. The visions I’ve been having are of apocalypse. They tie into Nexanthon’s rising.”

  Grave’s eyes moved automatically, his gaze coming to rest on the dragon egg in the corner of the room. It was inside a burning fire, the flames licking around the shell.

  Cerise had followed the direction of his gaze. “No, our dragon child is not ready yet. This task falls to you.”

  “Do I return here once I’ve kept Athera from Nexanthon?” he asked.

  “No, you are free after that. I have no more hold on you. Though I will admit, I will be sad to see you leave. You have been such a pretty addition to my court.”

  Grave tried his best not to roll his eyes. If she caught him, he’d be in trouble.

  “I will go collect my things and leave within the hour.”

  He turned to walk out of the room.

  “Grave?”

  He stopped and turned to face her again. “I want you to remember two things.”

  “Yes?”

  “First, you have the power of death, but you will be fighting a death deity. One can cancel the other out. You need to rely on the others and pull on the power of life, or you will fail.”

  Typical oracle gibberish. He’d work that one out later. Right now, he had other worries on his mind.

  “The second thing?” he asked.

  “Remember your curse, and remember what will happen if you take that Phoenix.”

  Grave palled. He had never forgotten the curse that had been put on him.

  “If you bed her, she will fall dead at your feet.
”

  He didn’t need the reminder. Grave turned back to the door and left the room, his large strides eating up the distance. He had to leave before he said something to Cerise that would get him killed.

  * * * *

  “I knew something like this would happen.” There was fury etched all over Laz’s expression.

  “What are you talking about, Laz?” Archer spoke up as he leaned down to check on Athera’s pale skin.

  “Marks?” she asked him.

  He nodded and turned to face the pacing angry Laz.

  “Nexanthon.” Laz breathed out a sigh and sank into the nearest chair. Putting his head into his hands, he sighed again. “Damn it.”

  “Care to share with the rest of the class?” Scarlet asked and Trinity muttered an agreement.

  Laz looked up, his gaze pinning Athera where she stood.

  “Do you remember that sarcophagus you found in the mine? The one that you just had to touch?”

  For a moment, Athera was confused. Mine, what mine? Then she remembered. Life had been so chaotic since that she’d forgotten all about the cool coffin she’d found when she fell through the floor.

  “Yes, I remember. You made us leave in a hurry... something about a death, something or the other.”

  “Death deity.” Laz’s voice was nothing more than a hushed whisper. He scrubbed at his face with his hands.

  “I remember Ath telling me about the cool coffin,” Scarlet said.

  “Yeah,” Trinity agreed.

  Dani nodded, still uncharacteristically quiet.

  “Yeah, well, there is nothing cool about it. It contains—or rather, contained—a death deity named Nexanthon. One of the baddest, most evil deities to ever walk the earth.”

  “How do you know this? And what do you mean contained—past tense?” Archer asked as he sat down in his chair again, pulling Scarlet to sit next to him.

  “I had an idea about who was in that sarcophagus, so when we got back from Alaska, I did some research.”

  “What? You can actually read?” Trinity piped up, and Laz gave her a hard stare.

  “This is serious, Trin. Life and death, apocalypse serious.”

  “Sorry.” Trinity took another chair and waited for Laz to continue.

  Athera looked around and saw she was the only one not sitting, so she found an open chair and sank down, rubbing her cheeks where Laz had squeezed her face.

  “What are you waiting for? Tell us what you found out.” Archer said impatiently.

  Laz sighed again, and did some more face scrubbing.

  “A long, long time ago, Nexanthon roamed the earth. The earliest peoples worshiped him. Made sacrifices to him.”

  “Let me guess... human sacrifice?” Athera asked.

  Laz nodded. “Only of the most horrific kind.” He shuddered. “The stories... ”

  Archer frowned. “Bad?”

  “The worst.” Laz seemed to pull himself together.

  “Anyway, the history goes that a group of eternals saw what the deity was doing and decided that kind of evil needed to be buried for good. Literally.”

  “What happened?” Dani had sat forward in her chair like a child during story time.

  “They created a weapon that could kill a god of death, and they went after him. Most of them died trying to get the job done, and it turned out the weapon was faulty. It didn’t kill him, but rather put him into a state of suspended animation. They buried him and prayed he would never be freed.”

  “Until I found him.” Athera shivered. She’d unleashed true evil on the world again, and it didn’t matter if she’d done it by accident. The fact was, she was responsible for Nexanthon getting free, and she’d have to live with that... Or do something about it.

  “What was this weapon and where can we find it?” she asked, animated, waiting for Laz’s response.

  Laz gave her a glare. “You are getting ahead of the story. Let me carry on. When you touched the sarcophagus, your inner life, that thing that makes you a phoenix, woke him up. Now, he is searching for you.”

  “Wait, how can you know that, Laz?” Scarlet asked. “You must be guessing. Tell me you are guessing.”

  Athera could hear the worry in Scarlet’s words.

  Laz shook his head, dashing Scarlet’s hope. “I felt his taint on Athera the moment I laid eyes on her. He’s searching for her, and he damn near found her. The spell I did will hide her from his senses for a little while, but all my research says it won’t hold long.”

  “Then we’ll have to get our hands on this weapon and finish what those original eternals started,” Archer stated, and Athera knew he was expecting no arguments from anyone.

  He got none.

  “I ask again, what is this weapon?” Athera was determined, not because her life was in danger—she could deal with that—but because if she didn’t stop Nexanthon, she would be responsible for every bad thing he did. It would all be on her, and that was something she didn’t think she could live with.

  “That is where things get vague. I can’t pinpoint any direct reference to what it is, except that it’s capable of sucking the power of death from Nexanthon and putting him in a catatonic state.”

  “Where do we start looking if we don’t even know what it is?” Scarlet asked.

  Laz sighed. “You aren’t going to like this.”

  Archer clenched a fist. “For god’s sake, stop pussy footing around it and spit it out, Laz. Time is wasting, and we don’t have much to start with.”

  “You asked for it.” He paused dramatically. “The vampire court. The last mention of the weapon is that its whereabouts might be recorded in one of the ancient tomes of lore that are kept in the vampire court.”

  “We are so screwed,” Dani said and those words coming from her mouth caused a bout of hysterical laughter to bubble from Athera’s chest.

  Trinity took a drink from her soda and looked around the group. “Um, shoot me for stating the obvious, and thank you Dani for your insight, but as horrible as the vampire court is, we have Poe to go dig through things and find what we need. We never actually have to risk our pretty hides going in there.”

  “Poe is MIA. He took off a few weeks ago, said he had something he needed to see to, and we haven’t heard from him since. So no, we don’t have Poe to go do it. If we want answers, we’ll have to brave the vampire court all on our own,” Archer corrected Trinity.

  “I’ll go. I started this, so I’ll go and find our answers.” Athera had to clear her throat, then said a bit louder. “What can they do to one little old phoenix? Surely they won’t hurt me... too much.”

  Archer stood up from the chair. “We need to talk to Dimi and figure out who is going in, because I’m pretty damn sure he’ll agree with me that it won’t be you, Ath.”

  Scarlet nodded and stood, too. “Let’s get back to Outsiders Inc. and see what the big boss says.”

  “Are you coming, Laz?” Archer offered.

  “No. I need to go hit the books and see if I can find out any more information on this weapon. It might help if we actually knew what the hell it is.”

  “Agreed.”

  Archer walked to the front door. “Trin... ”

  “Yeah, I’m on it. I’ll milk my contacts and see what I can find out, and I’ll whip up a few protection spells. Have the checkbook ready for when I get there.”

  Archer laughed and pulled open the door.

  Athera was the last one out the door. She pulled it shut behind her and wished like hell that polar bear had never knocked her into the hidden tunnel in the mine.

  She could do nothing now but face the consequences and pray she made it out to the other side alive.

  Chapter Three

  Athera pounded the treadmill trying to work off the fear she felt deep inside. She wasn’t a coward. She believed that about herself, but at that moment, she felt like a world-class yellow belly.

  Poe had regaled her repeatedly with stories about the vampire court and how dangerous the pla
ce really was, and she knew that even though he did exaggerate a bit, his hyperbole wasn’t that big.

  Now she would have to venture into the midst of the vampires, and she’d have to do it with little or no back up.

  One did not take a whole crew into the vamp court and expect to survive it. If she was going to go to the court, she’d have one person to back her up.

  The curling fingers of terror cramped her gut again. Whom should she take, and whom should she risk on this stupid quest? All this because she’d touched what she shouldn’t have.

  Was she ever going to learn not to let her fingers go touching stuff?

  Athera set the machine to a steeper incline. She was supposed to be too numbed out to think, and it wasn’t working. Time to push herself harder.

  Soon, her sports bra was soaked and all she could think about was the warm massaging fingers of a cooking hot shower. All of her muscles were screaming in protest, but she wasn’t any closer to choosing a companion for her foray into vampire hell.

  She reached forward and switched the treadmill off. Grabbing the towel off the railing, she mopped at her face as she tried to catch her breath. She’d wanted to punish herself, and she had.

  Now, it was time to get under that hot spray and make a decision.

  She wasn’t going to take Archer, since his beast was too easily pissed off. And Scarlet, though she would probably insist on going, was out. Archer wouldn’t let his She go without him.

  Dani was a no-no. She was still shook up from the necromancer capture. Athera feared Dani didn’t have what it took for field work. Poe was missing in action. Dimi was out. Chaos demons and vamps did not get along, and all the others were on assignment somewhere else.

  It looked like there was no help for it.

  Athera walked out the Gym and toward reception. She was going to inform Zane that she’s made her decision. She knew Dimi was waiting for it. Had been waiting since they’d gotten back and had their little meeting about what they were going to do.

  Athera was going to the vampire court on her own. She was pretty sure she’d be better off alone than with any of the others.