Where a Goddess Belongs

by Stephanie Julian

  When the first shot rang out, she couldn’t tell which way it’d come from. She only knew it was close.

  A sound that was pretty damn close to a squeal left her mouth but she was too terrified to be embarrassed. And too out of breath. But when she wasn’t so damn scared anymore, someone would pay for that, damn it. Because on the heels of the fear, she was fast getting pissed.

  She was a goddess, an actual living deity who deserved a hell of a lot better treatment than she was getting at the moment.

  If someone dared hurt Den or Jacoby, there would be hell to pay. Seriously, she was going to do damage.

  And, gods damn them to Aitás and back, but she was just about ready to stand her ground and consequences be damned. Because she was already sick and tired of running.

  She had power, power she’d been hoarding and hiding for years, power she’d been afraid of simply because she knew she was an aberration among her sisters. While their powers had diminished, hers had stayed at the same level.

  She had an idea why but now wasn’t the time to even think about that.

  Now was the time to act. But she couldn’t focus while she was running for her life. She was really tired of running.

  But first, she needed to break Den’s hold, which wouldn’t be easy. He was trying not to hurt her but he wasn’t going to let her go. She hated to do it but she needed to use her power on him to make him let her go. Neither man was going to like it but it couldn’t be helped.

  It only took a few seconds for her to gather the tiny bit of power she needed to make Den release her. It hurt her heart to make him fear her, even for those few seconds.

  She felt the shudder run through his arm just before he let her go. He faltered, putting a few steps between them before he stopped.

  Jacoby almost ran into her back but, at the last moment, pulled up and took a step to the side so he didn’t touch her.

  “What the fuck?”

  “Kari—”

  “Stand back. Don’t get close.”

  “Fuck that.” Den’s voice held a distinctive growl. “Whatever you’re planning to do, it’s not happening.”

  Though she appreciated their concern and accepted that she did need protection, now was probably the time to clear up any misconceptions about needing to be managed.

  She heard their pursuers getting closer with every second and knew they’d be here soon. It was now or never.

  “Step back, both of you.”

  She caught a glimpse of the surprise on both men’s faces and gave herself a tiny pat on the back. She hadn’t had to use that tone of voice for years. Decades.

  Good to know she could still bring a little shock and awe to the proceedings. Even if she was fighting to keep her own fear from dragging her down. She couldn’t let it get the best of her now. Not if she was going to be of any use to them.

  Neither man had moved, though, and the demon and men chasing them had almost caught up. Too late to stop. She only hoped she could shield Den and Jacoby enough for them to be functional after this, at least enough to run.

  A second later, the demon stepped into view and nearly derailed her entire plan.

  There was a reason these creatures had been condemned to hell. They were scary as fuck from their inky black hair and blue skin to their fangs and claws. Even scarier, this one was dressed in human clothes. A perfectly pressed three-piece with a white shirt and silk tie.

  Tinia’s teat, now she wanted to run screaming in the other direction. Did it honestly think anyone would ever mistake it for human? Maybe it just didn’t care? And who the hell would even think to buy this thing a suit?

  Then it smiled. She wanted to wash her eyes with bleach and scrub her exposed skin raw. She wondered how the Mal could stand to be within five miles of it much less five feet. “Hello, Akhuvitr. So nice to meet you.” The fact that it spoke ancient Etruscan wasn’t lost on her. It had done that deliberately, to throw her off. There were very few people who still spoke the old language, very few who still understood it. Damn it, she wasn’t going to let this thing get the upper hand on her. Standing tall, or at least as tall as she could, she stared back into those soulless black pits they called eyes and refused to flinch. “Demon, I command you back to hell. You have no place in this world.” It smiled and she had to stiffen every muscle in her body so she didn’t cringe. And when her stomach threatened to revolt, she swallowed and, through sheer force of will, didn’t puke. Though she really, really wanted to. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Lady Kari. That’s what you prefer to be called now, isn’t it? Lady Kari. Has a nice modern ring to it. I like it.” “You don’t belong here, demon. I command you to return.” Showing its pointed teeth again in a hideous approximation of a smile, the damn thing shrugged. As if it didn’t have a thing to be worried about. And when five men materialized out of the woods to flank it, she wondered if maybe it was right. At least one of those five men was a full Mal. She felt his power rub up against hers. But where hers was undiluted, his was dark and oily. That’s the only way she could describe it. Her power came from a pure well, from the same source as her brothers’ and sisters’ powers, drawn from the earth and the air. The demon’s powers came from an offshoot of that well, a dark place that fed them what they needed to survive in Aitás. “I could argue the same of you, Lady. Your time came and went about a thousand years ago. You’re obsolete.” Asshole prick. “And your time will never come.” “I could argue that you’re wrong, but I think you already know that. I’m more at home in this day and age than you will ever be. Don’t you think it’s time to throw in the towel? Your powers are practically nonexistent. You don’t need them anymore. Aren’t you tired of being so damn useless?” She’d never admit that the thing had a point. But it did. Then again, it only had a place here because someone had invited it. The Mal had invited it. And that was unacceptable. “You’re wrong.” She wanted to add “asshole” to that sentence but decided to take the high road. “Compassion is never useless. It’s the best defense against evil.” The demon laughed and gooseflesh sprang up on her arms. “That’s such a quaint way of looking at things. And also the wrong way. It’s probably going to get you killed.” Well, he wasn’t wrong there, either. “But it won’t be by your hand, asshole.” High road be damned. She’d had enough banter. She wanted to kill the thing or at least banish it back to Aitás. She wasn’t sure she had enough power to do that but she did have enough to do this. Drawing up power in a rush so fast, she knew she’d be paying for it for hours, she raised her hand and directed it out. The tiny amount of fear she’d instilled in Den and Jacoby to get them to release her was nothing compared to what she threw at the Mal. Brutal. Punishingly dark. Immediately debilitating. Negative energy flowed out of her in a wave set to crash through any and all internal walls. Not even the strongest man surrounding them could shield against it. Even the demon had no defenses against it because her power overruled his. Though she hadn’t used her power like this in a very long time, she knew just how to make what was usually a force for good into a destructive force. Every fear, every terror, every imagined slight they’d ever felt came back at them like sharp-edged blades. It was the opposite of compassion and she knew she’d pay a price later but the situation was dire.

  Everyone froze, demon included. She’d thought maybe the demon would be unaffected, simply because it didn’t have emotions like humans. It was a creature filled with darkness. Luckily for them, she was wrong. The demon’s expression was a rictus of pain. The longer she funneled her negative power outward, the worse it got. When it began to keen, the high-pitched sound made her shudder. God, the agony. Her stomach flipped over in protest and she had to swallow down the urge to vomit and hold back the need to cry. While she’d been focused on the demon, the Mal had dropped their guns and most were holding their heads in their hands, sobbing. The others had curled into protective balls on the ground. She imagined they were crying, as well. She took the opportunity to look over her shoulder and found Den and Jacoby s
taring at her with what she imagined was horror. A crazy little voice inside her head whispered, “Guess you’re not getting laid tonight,” then began to laugh hysterically. Pushing those thoughts out of her head, she blinked to erase the tears. “You two need to move. Now.” Neither of them responded right away but after a few seconds, Jacoby finally shook his head as if to clear it. It must have worked because he reached out to shake Den’s shoulder. “Can you hold them while you run?” Jacoby asked. Den seemed slower to respond but at least he wasn’t curled in a fetal position on the ground. She’d managed to shield them somewhat. “I don’t know.” “Well, then let’s find out.” He reached for her but she drew away. If he touched her now, he’d be as infected as the Mal and the demon. And unable to run. “I’ll keep them incapacitated. You and Den get—” “Not happening.” Den seemed to have shaken off his fear and was back to his old self. And if he was still a little pale beneath his tan, who could blame him. She was just as scary as any demon. A fact she’d managed to keep quiet for so many years. Amity knew, and a few of her other sister goddesses. It wasn’t exactly something you spilled to potential bed partners, after all. “Come on, Kari. Let’s get moving. The car’s not far. If you can hold them from a distance, or at least for a few more yards, we can get there.” So they didn’t want to leave her behind? A rush of sweeter emotion nearly made her lose her grip on the dark. She actually had to blink back more tears. “I can try. Just don’t touch me. It makes it harder for me to keep you out of range.” Both men nodded then began to back away, motioning for her to follow. It took an immense amount of concentration, but she managed to get her feet moving in the same direction as Den and Jacoby. She’d never before expended so much negative energy or used it as a weapon. She never wanted to have to do it again. But this was her life and she wasn’t going to give it up so easily. By the time the men were out of sight, she was shaking with the effort and very nearly to the edge of her tolerance. And before she finally blacked out, the last thing she remembered was Den’s strong arms grabbing her before she hit the ground.

  Chapter Five

  Jacoby watched Den throw Kari over his shoulder then they both started to run. He had no time to think, no time to wonder what the hell had just happened. He only knew they had to get to the car and get the hell out of here before those men and that demon regrouped and came after them. He figured they’d be motivated as hell to get to Kari now that they knew what she could do. He still couldn’t believe she had that much power. The implications of that made him shake his head as they made it to the car. Den ripped open the passenger door and carefully settled Kari in the back seat while Jacoby got behind the wheel and started the car. When Den slid into the passenger seat, Jacoby revved the engine and shot down the trail leading to the nearest paved road. Since he knew they only had one place to go, he headed for the nearest road heading south. Since there was literally only one major road out of the area, he knew where he was going. But that meant the Mal would be on their asses. He had to put enough miles between them and their pursuers so when they reached civilization and he attempted to lose them, they might have an actual shot at it. With his foot heavy on the gas pedal, he had to keep his attention laser-focused on the road. It helped keep his mind off the scene they’d left behind. Den sat just as silently, gaze trained straight ahead. They drove in silence for at least half an hour, the radio filling in the dead space in the car. But finally, he couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “What the hell happened back there?” It took Den a full minute to answer and, when he did, it wasn’t an answer at all. “Did you have any idea she had that much power?” Jacoby shot Den a glare. “How the hell would I have known that?” “Shit. I didn’t— I’m not accusing you of anything. But holy hell...” Yeah. Holy hell was an understatement. “Do you have any idea what she did?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Den shake his head. “When she touched me, I felt like every single fear I’d ever had in my life hit me all at once. I wanted to curl in a ball and hide in a dark hole. I figure I got a pretty low dose. I can’t imagine what she unleashed on them.” They both fell silent again but Jacoby knew it wouldn’t last. “They’re not gonna stop,” Den said. “Christ, she put an even bigger target on her back.” “And made my sister an even bigger commodity.” “Shit.” Den turned to stare at him. “Fuck. I didn’t even think of that. Vaffanculo, I hope to hell the lucani got her out. We need to call.” “We can’t. The phones have GPS—Fuck, so does the car.” He yanked the car to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. “What the hell—” “We need to disable the fucking GPS so they can’t track us.” “How the hell are we supposed to do that? Do you even know how—” “I just need a minute.” Sucking in a deep breath, Jacoby attempted to calm his nerves. Yeah, it was pretty much a losing proposition but it did help. A little. Okay, not that much but he didn’t have time to fuck around. And no, he wasn’t sure he could do this but it was either this or ditch the car and steal another. You can do this. Just focus.

  Closing his eyes, he put his hands on the dashboard and unleashed the magic he typically hid deep inside himself. The magic not even Den knew about. It had become second nature to keep this secret, one only he and his sister knew. A secret she’d made him promise to keep to himself. To never use it unless his life was in danger. Because if the Mal found out what he could do, they’d use him for much worse than simple guard duty. He had a vague notion that the GPS chip was located somewhere in the dash, so that’s where he started. Using his magic like a bloodhound, he sent it into the car. Magic and technology didn’t play nice together. Usually, you couldn’t use one against the other and, if you tried, you ended up frustrated or worse, you burned out your magical powers for a certain period of time. His father had once explained that technology was like a black hole that, when you attempted to affect it, the resulting explosion blew back on you. His father didn’t have a clue. But Jacoby did, because of his rare talent. Technology wasn’t a black hole. It was another form of magic. And Jacoby could control it. He’d never heard of another person who could do what he could. He’d grown up being told by his sister to hide what he could do, to pretend he was less than what he was. Now he had to use his power to save their asses. No pressure at all. From the electronics in the steering wheel, he followed the wiring into the dash and from there spread out, hoping like hell his connection to the electronics would lead him to where he needed to go. Magic was an imprecise art but it could be controlled and directed. Usually. Luckily for him, the car had a built-in navigation system. It’d make sense that the chip would be there. And finally, he caught a break. As his arus passed by the other electronics, they gave off energy, some of which he could read. Understand was probably a better word to describe it. Whatever word you wanted to use, the end result was he could figure out what type of information that piece of technology was transmitting. When he brushed up against a certain chip, the image he got in his head was of maps. That had to be it. In the next second, he sent a bolt of energy directly to that chip and fried it. When he opened his eyes, he turned to Den, staring at him with a steady gaze. “Whatever you did, did it work?” Shit. He’d never heard Den direct that tone at him. He’d only ever heard his friend use it against people he didn’t trust, which was pretty much everyone else. Everyone except Jacoby. “Den—” “Not now.” Den shook his head and glanced over the back seat, to where Kari was still out cold. “Just get us back on the road. We need to get far enough away from here to dump this car and get another one. Can you hotwire a car with your gift?” “I’ve never had to but it shouldn’t be a problem.” “Then the first car you see that won’t raise an immediate alarm, stop and we’ll take it.” An added level of tension descended when Den fell silent. Jacoby kept his attention on the road and his mouth shut. He knew Den was pissed but he also knew his friend well enough to know Den was working through his anger and, when he was ready, he’d ask questions. And Jacoby would try to answer them. “So this gift...” Den finally spoke fifteen minutes later. “How long have you had
it?” Jacoby breathed a sigh of relief before he answered. “Since birth, I think. My parents always had trouble with computers and electronics in the house. They kept getting fucked up. Same for the TVs. My dad wasn’t home much so he didn’t notice or he didn’t care. Or my sister just got good at covering for me. Either way, we managed to keep it hidden until I could control it.” “Does anyone else know?” He shook his head. “Emelia knew if anyone found out, the Mal would take me and she’d never see me again. She helped me control it, helped me hide it. I’ve never heard of anyone else who can do the

  things I can do. I’m not saying I’m the only one out there. I’m just saying, if there are other people with the same ability, they’re either hiding it or suppressing it.” Den didn’t respond for almost a full second. When he did, his question was unexpected. “So your magic disrupts technology. What makes your power different?” “I can control it.” “How the hell did you manage to keep that a secret? Jesus, my parents were all over me about my Gift, even though it’s barely usable. It’s not like I can talk to animals. I can just barely influence them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And when it does, I can maybe understand what the hell deer are thinking or if there’s a predator in the area.” Jacoby knew this. He and Den had been friends for years. Which just made Jacoby feel even more shitty for not telling Den. “I’m sorry. My sister made me swear as a kid never to tell anyone. Maybe I was a little too paranoid. Maybe I took it too far. Maybe—” “You did what you thought was best. You don’t have to apologize. That’s not...” Den paused then sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just a shock. Just let me work through it.” He huffed out a dry laugh. “Just when you think you know everything there is to know about someone...” Jacoby felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He’d hated keeping this secret from Den. Had never wanted to but his sister’s fear had worked a little too well, apparently. “So no one else knows?” Shaking his head, he navigated through the increasing darkness of the night. No street lights lit this stretch of road and the wildlife population in the area was dense. He didn’t want to accidentally hit anything. “No.” “No one’s ever suspected?” “Maybe.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. If they did, it wasn’t enough to investigate. Besides, as far as I know, no one else has this kind of a Gift so no one’s looking for it.” More silence, this time less filled with tension. Den sighed, staring at him outright now. “We should go to Vegas. Christ, we’d be rich.” It took a second for Den’s words to sink in then Jacoby began to laugh. Because that was the real Den. The one who managed to make him smile when he threatened to become too damn morose. “I’ve considered it a few times but I don’t use it enough to make it work like that.” “Then I guess we need to get you to practice. Christ, Jack, with a little effort, there’s no telling what you’d be able to do.” “Do with what?” Kari’s voice sounded weak but alert and Jacoby allowed himself to take his eyes off the road for a few brief seconds to check on her in the rearview while Den swung around in his seat. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? What the hell happened back there?” Jacoby winced at the demand in Den’s voice. Kari was a goddess, not just an ordinary woman to order around. She demanded a level of respect. So he reached over and punched Den on the arm. “For fuck’s sake, Den.” He kept his voice low. “Watch your godsdamn mouth.” Den didn’t even bother to glare at him, just kept his attention firmly on Kari, who yawned and almost made him drive off the side of the road when he caught a glimpse of her as she stretched. Fuck. He was just as bad as Den. At least he didn’t broadcast his lust as clearly as Den. Not that she seemed to mind. Yeah, he really didn’t need to be thinking about shit like that right now. They had a long drive and he need to keep his attention focused. And not on her. “It’s okay, Jacoby. He’s worried and that’s my fault. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Another glance in the rearview and he caught her smiling that sleepy, sexy-as-fuck smile that made him want to climb into the back seat and take her hard and fast. And then watch Den do the same.