“Do we have any suspicions as to who it could be?” I asked, looking to Pierson, who had witnessed the attack in his premonition.
“I could not see him clearly,” he said, a hint of grief and anger in his tone, “but we have ideas.”
“We’ve been so busy with cleanup duty that we haven’t had an opportunity to find out,” Kierson added.
“But we will,” Casey growled, “and when we find the motherfucker, he’ll pay.”
3
“Any chance you have a handle on how to sense the souls you so kindly housed inside your body?” Oz asked, the sarcasm thicker than normal in his tone. “That would really make this a lot easier.” I shot him a sharp glance and continued stalking through the downtown streets of Detroit. “Actually, not offering to help with this task at all would have made it—”
“What would make this easier is if you would be silent and take a different path,” I argued. “Splitting up would be the simplest solution.”
“Not a chance. I don’t trust your judgment yet, and likely never will. Besides, you’re always where the action is, which is right where I want to be.”
I suppressed the frown tugging at my mouth and headed down the alley. My brothers had said that the overwhelming majority of the souls had been located in the downtown area, so that is where we hunted them. The PC brothers all around the world had been alerted to the threat and told to inform us if any were found. According to Pierson, not one had been seen anywhere else.
I could not help but wonder why.
“I thought you and the dead had some deep connection,” I countered, “or do you say that only to torment Casey?”
My question was met with silence. I looked back to find Oz’s evil smile highlighted by the pale light of the moon.
“Which do you think?”
“Then are we to merely wander the streets in hopes that we happen upon one of the souls I released?”
He shrugged. “Something like that, I guess—unless you have a better idea.” His smile gave way to a purely predatory grin. “Or plans of another kind. I could definitely get on board with those.”
“My plans are quite simple: fix the mistake I made, find Persephone, and return my father to his rightful home.”
His grin fell. “Not quite what I had in mind.”
“Of that, I am certain,” I replied before continuing on into the darkness. With every step I took, I could feel Oz behind me, an ever-present reminder of the deals I had made and the things I had done. His Dark One status had done nothing to improve his demeanor, and yet there was a trust in him that I could not deny; an insufferable connection between us that would not let me go.
The more I pondered it, the less I wanted it to.
“And what are your plans for me?” I asked, turning his question on him.
Those harsh brown eyes narrowed, piercing deep inside of me. “I thought I’d made those pretty clear in the Underworld.”
“As clear as fog, yes,” I replied, pulling my gaze from his.
At that he laughed, the rough sound rolling over every inch of my skin. I stifled a shiver and picked up my pace.
Just as I was rounding a corner, Oz’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. He yanked me back into him, his grip on me tightening.
“Quiet,” he whispered in my ear. I hazarded a glance up at him and found a concrete expression on his face as he scoured our surroundings in search of an enemy I could not hear. Could not see. “We need to backtrack. Now.”
He whirled us around to flee down the alley, but a figure stood in our path. A large, broad-winged being with whom I had yet to be formally acquainted.
It seemed the time had finally come.
“Khara…” Kaine’s deep voice drifted toward me, strong and certain.
Oz’s hold on me tightened further. “What are you doing here, Kaine?” Oz asked.
“I came to see why you had not yet brought me that which you promised.”
Kaine stepped into the light and stared. His pale blue eyes raked over me in shameless evaluation of the prize he had come to claim—the one Oz had promised he would deliver—in order to save us from a war in the Underworld and spare my father, because Oz had known Hades lacked the power then to fight off Kaine and his army.
He lacked it even more so now.
“You seek me,” I said as I tried to pull free from Oz’s iron grip. When I failed, Kaine’s eyes flickered to the Dark One at my back, and a slow, alien smile crept across his angular face.
“Your behavior makes far more sense now,” Kaine said to him, “but it changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” Oz argued. “I told you what you wanted to hear in the Underworld. Now I’m telling you the reality of things: she is not Dark, and you can never make her so. She is a being unlike any other. You can’t claim her…”
Kaine cocked his head, assessing Oz’s words. “You lied?” he asked.
“Of course I fucking lied. I said what you wanted to hear so you’d leave.”
“You never were especially trustworthy,” Kaine said. “Only Celia was bold enough to place her faith in you.” I flinched at Kaine’s reference to my real mother.
“And I never betrayed it, unlike some people,” Oz replied, his body rigid behind me, his tone like ice.
“You knew my mother,” I said, staring at Kaine—at those dark, lushly feathered wings that had once been as pure white as my mother’s. As Oz’s.
“I knew her well.”
“And you betrayed her?”
His expression never faltered. “Some see it that way. I wonder if you would feel the same if you heard the real story for yourself—not a tarnished version meant to twist your allegiance.”
“I have heard no story at all,” I replied.
Kaine’s strange smile returned. “Perhaps not even Ozereus the Bold can spin that tale enough to cast himself in a favorable light.”
“She’s not going with you, Kaine,” Oz said, stepping back a pace with me still caged in his arms.
“Will you stop me, brother? You alone against my army of Dark Ones?”
I felt the skin at my nape bristle at Kaine’s thinly veiled threat. “What makes you think that he would stand alone against you and your army?” I asked. For the first time, his expression faltered, if only slightly, allowing the surprise he felt to creep in. Tension gripped his large frame and held him in place. “You think I am a prize to be fought over and claimed—that I have no voice of my own? No power to wield against you? Challenge me and I assure you, you will learn the truth. Threaten him and the result will be the same.”
I could feel Zeus’ lightning coursing through my veins as my anger slowly grew. I was not a treasure to be bartered—unless I chose to barter myself. Those days had long since passed.
“You may feel differently when I arrive with my army en force next time.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“You will join us, Khara,” he said, voice softer that time. It held a hint of the power Oz’s did when he spoke my name—a modicum of the Light energy that had once enlivened him.
“We shall see about that, Kaine,” I replied.
“As a show of good faith, allow me to share something with you before I leave.”
“Spit it out and go,” Oz growled. “We have shit to do.”
“I am well aware of your duties, Oz, as are the majority of the nasty things that inhabit this Earth. They’re very interested in Detroit; more specifically, in the Soul Keeper that resides here at the moment.”
Lightning crackled in my fingertips. “You dare to threaten my father?”
That time, Oz was unable to contain me. I stepped forward unhindered, my hands drifting up in front of me.
“It is not a threat,” Kaine replied, holding his ground like the leader he was. “It is a warning for your father’s sake. I know he is dear to you and you to him. I do not wish him ill. But others do. Many would seek to usurp him in hopes of taking the Underworld for themselves.”
“They will die if they try.”
His eyes drifted to my hands and the sparks flying from my fingertips. Shock marred his expression for a fraction of a second before he recovered. “I believe you may be correct, Khara. But even you cannot be everywhere at once. I would offer him sanctuary in the in-between, but I fear you do not trust me enough to accept it.”
“You would be correct.”
He inclined his head. “Perhaps that will change. I will be back for you soon, Khara. I hope you are able to help your father restore his throne before then.” His sharp eyes drifted over to Oz and they narrowed to a menacing stare. “Until next time, Ozereus…”
Without another word, Kaine shot straight up into the air, slicing his way between the towering buildings with a grace and precision that I had yet to achieve. Once the sky above was clear of the Dark One, I turned my attention to the one at my back. His expression was a shadowy mask of indifference.
“He’ll be back for you. He’s not bullshitting about that.”
“I did not think otherwise,” I said, heading back down the alley, “but I am not concerned about that. I am concerned for my father and the threat Kaine shared with us. If his words are true, and I see no reason for them to not be, then we have a greater problem than the souls wandering this city.”
“Persephone is still unaccounted for,” Oz said, striding along beside me. “She could be the one spreading the word, to see if someone else can do what she and Zeus could not.”
“If this is true, I will gut her alive,” I said under my breath, hands full of lightning flexing at my sides. “I will send her head to Kaine so he can see what happens to those that anger me.”
“I can get on board with that plan, new girl, but first we need to find her and deal with the threat against your father.”
I turned to look at him as we exited the alley, the harsh illumination from the streetlamp above casting even harsher shadows across his face.
“You care nothing for my father,” I said, doubt plain in my tone. “Why concern yourself with what hunts him?”
He froze, the sharp angles of his profile all I could see, but in them I could see the tension growing, the narrowly withheld anger begging to be let loose.
“Because I know you. Whatever comes for Hades will have to go through you first. You’ll throw yourself in its path, like you did Zeus’ lightning, as though you are invincible like your twin—but we don’t know if that’s true. And I’d prefer not to find out, if it’s all the same to you…”
“You wish to keep me alive?”
Slowly, that darkened expression turned to face me, his eyes narrowed to slits. “You keep things interesting…I told you once that I’d keep you around until you didn’t. And I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”
A wicked smile broke through that angry façade, his teeth gleaming.
“Then I shall do my best to remain entertaining, at least until my father can return to the Underworld.”
Before he could reply, I took to the clouds, shrouding myself in their cover. Oz was at my side moments later. In silence, we flew home, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Mine of Persephone’s death.
Oz’s, I could only imagine.
4
“Time for a family meeting,” Oz announced as he walked into the Victorian.“Why’d you call us back here?” Casey demanded, his irritation at being summoned clear in the deep growl of his voice. That and the blade in his hand.
“We ran into Kaine tonight…” Oz let his words trail off as he observed my brothers’ expressions. All but Drew looked dutifully concerned by the news. He just looked lost.
“Before he left, he shared some distressing but not altogether surprising news,” I said, skipping over the threat he posed to me so they would focus on my father. “Word of Hades’ presence above has spread like wildfire. Unsavory beings of all kinds are coming for him. It is only a matter of time before they arrive on our doorstep.”
“Aren’t you forgetting a few details?” Oz asked, staring down at me.
I ignored him entirely. “Someone is behind the dissemination of this information, and I believe it is Persephone, hoping to finish what she started. We need to find her—and we need to learn more about what is coming for my father.”
My brothers stood silent, assessing all I had said. I looked to the staircase, hoping my father would not appear to argue. His love for Persephone would be the death of him if I did nothing, and that was an outcome I would not allow.
The threat needed to be neutralized.
“I have a good idea where we can go to learn more about this,” Casey said, sheathing his blade. He stormed toward the front door with Kierson at his heels.
“I will shore up the wards,” Pierson said. He grabbed a tome off a nearby shelf and began rifling through it. Drew, who still looked hopelessly lost, said he would watch over my father, then disappeared upstairs. The trail of sadness he left in his wake was impossible to ignore. Every one of us in that room felt it.
None of us said a word.
“You coming, Khara?” Kierson asked.
I turned and looked at Oz. “Are we?”
“You go,” he said, shooting my brothers a warning glare. “I have something I need to do.”
“The last time you said shit like that, Deimos showed up with an army of Soul Stealers,” Kierson said. Apparently, the cut of Oz’s betrayal still festered.
“I’ll try not to bring home uninvited guests,” Oz said, turning his attention back to me. “Remember what I said—you are not invincible.”
I felt my eyebrow quirk at his words. “There is only one way to be sure.”
Before he could see the smile that threatened to give me away, I headed toward Kierson and Casey in the foyer. Together the three of us made our way out into the dark of night in search of information that could help keep my father safe.
Twenty minutes later, we found that and so much more.
We stepped into the familiar space, my mind filled with memories of the last time we had come to the Masonic Temple. Back then, it had been to interrogate the gargoyles that filled the underbelly of the city. But this time felt different—more sinister. More personal. The hard set of Casey’s features told me as much.
“The last time we saw these assholes, they were helping the Soul Stealers,” Kierson said. “How do we know they’ve returned? Or that they can be trusted?”
“Because they won’t leave until their true master returns,” Casey replied, his tone harsh and low, tainted by an emotion I could not discern.
“Their true master?” I asked, my eyes still assessing the severe planes of his face.
It was only then that he stopped, halting his entrance into the main auditorium to turn and look at me. Almost hidden amid his roiling hostility and rigid features was a weariness that shadowed his eyes. Sadness, that was what I had heard in his tone, though the why of it was lost on me. How one could be simultaneously enraged and sad was unfathomable.
“The Dragon.”
Kierson took a step closer to me in response to Casey’s words, an act of protection from a presumed enemy. I had heard that name before, when I had first arrived to discover my brothers in Detroit. Casey had suggested that perhaps this Dragon could have been behind the Stealers’ resurgence, though he had quickly dismissed that possibility. He had taken something from the Dragon, he had said. That he would not return for a while.
A while seemed far shorter than implied.
“And should I fear this Dragon?”
His dark eyes narrowed, eclipsing any hint of the sadness I had seen.
“Not that you fear anything, Khara, but no, you shouldn’t fear him. You should fear what I’ll do to him if I find him here.”
“Casey—”
“No!” Casey’s roar interrupted whatever Kierson had planned to tell him. “If he’s here, I’m going to learn what we need to, and then I’m going to carve him and send him off again.” It was clear that Casey’s mind was
set on the matter; that he would not be deterred from his feud with the Dragon, which appeared to have started not long before I arrived in Detroit. I only hoped we would learn something helpful in the process.
The distinct sound of nails dragging on glass brought our collective attention to the gargoyle perched on the window sill high above us. His grotesque smile grew wider as he stared us down. He looked far more amused than he should have, given how poorly their last encounter with Casey had gone.
“Azriel is dead,” the creature said. Though he did not have the serpent’s lisp that his predecessor had, there was a strange and distinct animal quality when he spoke, as though there were too many teeth in his mouth to properly form the words. The garbled, threatening sound of them would easily intimidate lesser prey. But we were not lesser; we were PC.
“And you will be in a moment if you don’t tell me what I want to know,” Casey said as the familiar echo of his shotgun cocking filled the silent room. I could feel Kierson’s body coil beside me, preparing for a fight.
“Azriel may have been cowed by your methods, but I am not,” the creature continued as though unaffected by Casey’s threat. He was not as wise as his previous leader.
“What new arrivals have we had in Detroit lately?” Casey continued, ignoring the gargoyle’s reply.
“I do not answer to you—”
Casey aimed his shotgun and blew out the window next to the gargoyle. Shards of glass rained down upon him in warning. “You do if you want to live. Now, anyone new in town we should know about? Any talk of hunting a certain immortal, maybe?”
“The Soul Keeper?” he asked, though it was clear from his mocking tone that he already knew the answer. That and the serpent’s smile he wore. “Someone like that, you mean?”
Another shotgun blast rang out through the building. This time, it grazed the beast’s cheek, and it hissed in response.
“Tell me what you know before my aim improves,” Casey warned. “You won’t get another chance.”
“There is an arrival you should know about. A troublesome one—for you.”
Unspoken (Unborn Book 3) Page 2