The Amazon and the Beast (Mythos Book 1)

by Hati Bell

  She gave him a nudge. “What I’m trying to say is, I learned to stand on my own feet and how to interact with humans. When I returned to Oban my family stood behind me, like they’d always done, though I didn’t get that in the beginning.” She looked at him, pleading. “You don’t always have to do everything alone, Lee. You have a whole clan around you. You have me. Be brave; dare to ask for help. Let me be your Achilles in a world full of Agamemnons.”

  13

  LEROY

  “Let me be your Achilles in a world full of Agamemnons.”

  If he lived another thousand years, never again would he hear words so beautiful.

  He pulled Kellsey close and she willingly fell into his arms. He was still only a boy at the time he’d heard of Homer’s poem that revolved around the most beautiful woman in the world. A woman who later on would be known as “the face that launched a thousand ships”. Kellsey had both the outer and inner beauty an armada would set sail for, with him at its head.

  It was time to come clean. Until now, he’d only told his story to the djinn twins. Perhaps it was time to change that.

  “I told Celest what I am ’cause I want the word spread that I’m not in Oban anymore.”

  “Why?” Kellsey began. Then her lips formed into an ‘oh.’ “So nobody goes there looking for you.” She looked at him questioningly.

  “There was a reason why you found me in Kartal’s cage. Three days a year I lose control and turn into a beast.” He looked straight at her. “Then I kill humans. When I heard of Kartal’s cage, which not even an alchemist had been able to break out of, I went looking for him. For the past ten years, I haven’t killed anyone because I locked myself in that cage. Before those ten years….” He couldn’t finish the sentence. His throat felt as if hot coals were lodged in it.

  “You’ve killed humans,” she finished it for him. She sounded like they were talking about an everyday topic instead of his deepest sin.

  “I’ve killed thousands of humans.” He waited for his words to sink in, but she remained silent. “And not just any humans, but women specifically,” he stressed. “Three women a year, one on each day during Hera’s festival.”

  “Why women?”

  He exhaled slowly, relieved that she hadn’t run off. It wasn’t easy to confess his greatest sin, but it probably wasn’t easy to listen to it either. “History is written by conquerors and is rarely complete. When one talks about the Nemean lion, one recalls how Herakles killed him and wore his golden pelt. Nowhere in the myths do you read that my father was created by Hera to kill Herakles. When my father failed, Hera cursed him. You know that all mythos descend from the gods. We carry their blood, one more than the other. My father, however, was born as a lion, just like me and my little sister. When my father was killed, Hera turned us into humans. She wanted to be certain that my father’s offspring would suffer as only humans can suffer, when she cursed me to forever sacrifice an Alkmene to her during her festival.”

  Kellsey’s eyes grew wide and she put her hand on his arm. “Lee….”

  He still couldn’t think back on the first night that he’d changed into a human without feeling sick. “You have to understand that I was just a cub, like my little sister. From one day to the next we were part human. No creature alive feels like a human does. Anger, pain, love, hate, fear, joy, sadness. Imagine one day waking up in a new body and feeling all those conflicting feelings at the same time.” He fell quiet for a moment. “And just as you get used to walking on two legs, you change back into a beast and tear apart the first three women you see. I will never forget their blood-smeared bodies. They are forever etched into my soul.”

  “I’m so sorry, Lee.” Kellsey stroked his back and it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

  “I’m sorry, too.”

  “You said you had a sister.”

  “Elena.” His beautiful baby sister with a beautiful name which she had chosen when they had adjusted to the human world. “She’s the reason why I didn’t off myself when I found out about my curse,” he explained. “I couldn’t leave her all alone in the world. I also thought that I would find a way to break the curse. The Earth was less densely populated during Greek antiquity. It could take days or even weeks before you saw another human. When Hera’s festival neared, we went to the most remote areas. Unfortunately, to no avail. Wherever I went, in whatever cave or desert my lion ended up in, he never failed to find victims during the Heraia. Elena was the one thing that kept me going.

  She grew into a beautiful woman, got married, and gave birth to a daughter and a son. I was happy because Hera had at least spared Elena from the curse,” he reminisced wistfully. “Elena married a human. When she got older and I didn’t, we discovered that she wasn’t immortal. Although the knowledge that I would lose my sister one day hurt, I knew she was happy with her family. I didn’t want to be around them at the next Heraia, sitting at their table with blood on my hands, and risk killing one of them.”

  “You left,” Kellsey guessed.

  He nodded. “I’ve been traveling around this globe for millennia and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that no one can escape the Fates.”

  “Lee….”

  “Don’t tell me that it’s not my fault, Kellsey. I may not always have control over my beast, but I could’ve made other choices so fewer innocent people would have died. In fact, I still choose to let the curse continue.”

  “What do you mean?” Kellsey frowned.

  Now came the hardest part. He had to tell her about the reach of his curse that ran through his family tree like a malignant tumor.

  “One of the women I killed was the wife of a Spartan general. His pregnant wife. Nothing in this world is as persistent as a Spartan. He hunted me after his wife’s death.” He gave Kellsey a pained look. “No weapon can penetrate the skin of my lion. When he found me, Elena and her children were already adults. So I went head-to-head with the Spartan in my human form and he decapitated me. The man deserved his revenge. That was the first time I died.”

  Kellsey’s hand shot to his chest. She stroked through the fabric, exploring the lines of his wound. “The first time?”

  He understood what she wanted to know. And maybe he should’ve told her this before, but he hadn’t wanted her to know of his shame. “It didn’t even take till sunrise when I woke up, alive and well,” he explained further. “The Spartan had left. I couldn’t believe my luck. I returned to Elena to only find out that my nephew, my supposedly human nephew, had changed into a beast and killed three women from the village.”

  “The curse….” Kellsey said quietly.

  “Every time I die, the curse transfers to my next male kin. Throughout the millennia, my family has expanded from Elena’s side. With never more than one or two children, as if the gods themselves had a hand in it. The next Heraia I changed into a beast again, of course, just like my nephew. I knew my nephew would slaughter women, but I couldn’t kill him. Something the Spartan had no trouble with whatsoever when he found him and cut off his head.”

  “By Onuris….”

  He wished he could spare her the rest, but he had to finish his story. “I’ve been on the run with my family, ever since. Every time my family seemed to expand, we were struck by a disease, war, or other accident, leaving Liam to be my only remaining relative. Hera will never leave me and my family alone. She no doubt had a hand in the fact that the Spartan became immortal. So that I not only keep changing into a monster, but my family also will be hunted forever.”

  “It sounds like he’s just as cursed as you are,” Kellsey said.

  He hadn’t thought of it like that before. “Liam’s the only family I have left. If I die, I will be revived again, but Liam won’t.”

  “You think the Spartan will find you again,” she said, understanding dawning.

  “I don’t think it. I know it.” He always knew where to find him. It might be a generation ago that their paths had crossed, but it undoubtedly wouldn�
�t be long before they did again.

  Her eyes suddenly widened. “If you die because of the hydra blood….” She fell silent as if it was too painful to pronounce it.

  He didn’t want to add to her guilt, so he didn’t finish her sentence. However, she had to know, once and for all, what this meant for them. “So now you understand why we can never be together.”

  “The gods weave misfortunes for men, so that the generations to come will have something to sing about,” Kellsey said softly.

  “You can quote Homer?”

  “Epic Greek authors aren’t exactly my cup of tea, but Riz made me read all the classics.” She looked at him with a grin. “Though, to you, the Odyssey and Iliad are no classics. Back when you were young, they’d come hot off the press.”

  “Hot, but without the press,” he answered.

  Kellsey came up on her knees and pulled her tee over her head. She hadn’t bothered to put on a bra, so her pierced nipples stared right at him.

  He swallowed, but refused to move. Why could she never behave as he expected her to? He suppressed a chuckle. Of course she didn’t; it was simply not in her nature. Kellsey Callahan lived life to the fullest, she wore her heart on her sleeve, and she was anything but bland. He suddenly realized this was one of the reasons why he loved her so much.

  “You’re mine, Lee,” she said determinedly, as she straddled his lap.

  Leroy forced himself to take his hands off her. When her scent surrounded him, weakening any resolve, he pushed his palms into the grass. “Kellsey, I just explained….”

  “Ssst.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “That cow goddess can kiss my ass.”

  He didn’t know when she had decided that she’d be the aggressor, but that would stop right now. He grabbed her wrists. “Are you sure?” he asked. “I can’t promise you how long this thing between us will last, maybe a day, maybe a week, but I need to know you’re good with that.”

  She answered his question with a kiss. “As I said before, Lee, I want a man willing to live for me. You don’t have to promise me forever. Just this night.”

  That was all he needed to hear. He let go of her wrists and his hands dropped to her ass. With one smooth motion, he had her flat on her back. She uttered a cry and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the blissful look in her eyes. He was the one who put that look there.

  It was said that a day without laughter was a day not well-lived and he vowed to himself that he would make Kellsey’s life damn well-lived, for however long he could.

  14

  LEROY

  “So, was it as you’ve imagined it would be like?” she asked him a few hours later in a teasing voice.

  The sun was long gone and the only light they had came from the moon that was reflected in the water of the lagoon. They lay on the dry grass at the shore. Kellsey was draped over him like a blanket.

  “No,” he said and he chuckled when she looked crestfallen. “Reality is so much better than a fantasy.”

  She cocked a brow while her finger playfully wandered over his collarbone. “Fantasy, you say? Do tell.”

  He slid his hands over her back. She moaned when he massaged her hips and palmed her ass. “Two words,” he said and gave her a scorching kiss.

  “Words?”

  “Doctor,” he began and he rewarded her with another kiss. “Martens.”

  Her eyes lit up in a beautiful gold. “You know, when you started with ‘doctor,’ for a minute there I was worried you wanted me in a nurse costume.”

  “Let’s start with your red Docs, and from there build up to other outfits.”

  She impatiently tapped his chest and he groaned when her finger circled his nipple.

  “I have fantasies too,” she said as she pointedly looked at his nipples.

  “Fuck,” he grated. His lion growled, satisfied, and projected the image she had put into his head. To his surprise, he wasn’t averse to the idea of nipple piercings.

  When she suddenly took in a sharp breath and looked away, he grabbed her chin. Kellsey’s eyes had watered. For a second, an insecure part of him feared that she regretted their night, but then her hand slid to his chest.

  She skimmed the wound. “The poison has spread further.”

  “The poison won’t kill me permanently,” he tried to reassure her. After they had made love, they’d talked for hours about his past and the impact the curse had on him. He thought she’d be relieved now that she knew he wouldn’t die because of the poison, but the look in her eyes concerned him.

  “Not permanently, but it will kill you nevertheless,” she said and she got to her feet, looking for her clothes that were scattered everywhere.

  He propped himself up on one elbow, a hand tucked under his head and gazed at her appreciatively. When she gave him a stern look, he grinned. “Just enjoying the view.”

  She put on her thong and pulled her bra from a bush it had ended up in. “We have to get to the pond as fast as we can.” She picked his pants off the ground and threw them into his lap.

  With a sigh, he got up. His amazon would only be at ease if they found the antidote–that is, if it even existed.

  He pulled his shirt over his head and smiled. For the first time in millennia, he had something to look forward to. His life no longer seemed so hopeless, like an endless nightmare. Yeah, he would still turn into a beast three days a year, but for the other three hundred and sixty-two days he was a man. Her man.

  When they returned to camp, there was no trace of their guide and the siren.

  “I can’t believe they left without us,” Kellsey grumbled as she looked around, as if any moment Zlatan and Celest could pop up from behind a bush.

  “You must’ve chased them away with all the screaming you did tonight,” Leroy teased. He didn’t remind her that she had also moaned. Loudly. “At least now that kid knows who you belong to.” He pulled her to him and gave her a deep, long kiss. It felt almost surreal to finally have Kellsey in his arms. She was his, finally his. He slid his hand under her top, about to kneel down in front of her and trail kisses down her stomach, when suddenly he scented a group of mythos.

  He grabbed her hand and set a brisk pace going up the volcano.

  “You know, we’d move faster if you let go of me,” Kellsey remarked, as she pushed aside a branch with her free hand.

  “Not gonna happen, babe,” he said. She would rush into danger without giving it a second thought. Just that afternoon they’d been the only mythos on the mountain. A group of mythos appearing on the volcano at the same time that Zlatan and Celest had disappeared was a bad sign.

  About an hour into their hike, they reached the top of the crater. The moonlight revealed three sirens before them, shrouded in shadows.

  Leroy pulled Kellsey behind a rock formation and they dropped to a crouch.

  On the edge of the crater stood Celest. She was flanked by two sirens, one of whom who also wore a dress. The other one was dressed in cargo pants, like a soldier. Zlatan lay at Celest’s feet, clearly unconscious.

  The soldier siren held a man while she mumbled softly. Judging from his dazed expression, the human was under the spell of her siren song. He didn’t even scream when he was pushed into the volcano.

  Shit. There could only be one reason why the sirens would throw someone in a volcano.

  Leroy caught Kellsey when she wanted to jump up. “They’re singing. You go anywhere near them and you’ll also fall under the spell of her song.”

  “I knew something was off about her,” Kellsey whispered. “My spidey senses are never wrong.”

  Leroy began to curse when the earth beneath their feet started to tremble. A sound like granite jaws grinding against each other, arose from the volcano’s mouth.

  “Feed… me….” The voice sounded hollow, as if it climbed out of the crater with a tremendous effort.

  “I thought the volcano gods were changed into an island?” Kellsey whispered.

  “These aren’t the volcano gods that Qa
sim meant,” Leroy said grimly. “It’s Neptune.”

  “What’s the Roman sea god doing in a volcano?”

  “Must be because of the war of the gods,” he explained. “A volcano is a perfect hiding place.”

  “Aha. You know, this reminds me of a cartoon with Goofy,” Kellsey said out of the blue.

  Leave it to Kellsey to break the tension. “Oh? Do tell.”

  “Goofy goes on a holiday to Hawaii. At first, the natives treat him like a god. They give him food, drinks, whatever he wants. Then they throw him into a volcano as a sacrificial tribute to their goddess.”

  “Nice story.”

  “A bloody story, but nice,” she agreed and she locked her gaze on the sirens as if she was ready to pounce on them any second.

  Leroy pondered his options. The earth beneath their feet started to shake again and they found themselves in the middle of a small earthquake. Fortunately, it didn’t last longer than a few seconds.

  “What did you bring this time?” the siren next to Celest asked.

  “I brought a kumiho, Leucosia,” Celest said meekly.

  “A kumiho?” Leucosia hissed. “Is that the best you could find? That will barely quench his thirst!”

  “There was also an amazon and a Nemean lion,” Celest said hastily. “But the lion is poisoned. He’s unworthy.”

  A chilling howl sounded and the ground began to shake again.

  “Hunger… hunger….”

  “Bring her sister!” Leucosia shouted. Her face looked like stone and Leroy got a bad feeling.

  From the shadows, a siren stepped forward with a little girl. She couldn’t be older than about three. With her long blond curls, she was a copy of Celest.

  Celest burst into tears and fell on her knees. “Please give me another chance,” she begged.

  “Crap, now I can’t hate her anymore,” Kellsey huffed, sounding annoyed. “I can’t believe they would sacrifice their own kind, a little girl no less, to their god.”