Carnage: Nate Temple Series Book 14

by Shayne Silvers

  Pretty damned cool, actually. An angled blue line stretched from my temple to my chin, curving to bisect my eyes and lips from either side. Another dashed line cut my face in half from my hairline to converge at my chin with the others. Random symbols and shapes filled out the rest of my face in a haunting mask that made me grin toothily.

  It was a shame to have to wash it off, but it wouldn’t do much for protection—as indicated by Raego instantly spotting me on his lawn, and it definitely wouldn’t help with stealth. I sighed unhappily, searching the room for anything that might help me clean up. I found a bottle of water with the safety seal intact, verifying that it hadn’t been tampered with. Must have been from Ashley’s stay here. I popped off the top and wetted the sleeve of my robe, scrubbing at my face with the thin sliver of mirror as my only guide. I needed to hurry. As I worked, my thoughts drifted to the Omegabet, wondering exactly what Aphrodite had painted on me. I hadn’t told her my plan, but it involved a lot more than finding the key to my heart.

  Because if I was going down, I was taking a whole pantheon with me. Zeus’ victory would be tarnished by blood and chaos, with ripples big enough to shake the world.

  I would unleash a storm of consequences that even the god of lightning couldn’t weather.

  “Nate?” Kára called out from the other room.

  I dropped the bottle of water with a curse of surprise and it splashed all over the floor. I dropped to my knees, careful not to get my suit wet as I soaked up as much as possible with my dingy robe. I didn’t have any other water and I had wanted to wash the symbols off my chest as well. “In here!” I snapped, furiously wiping the damp towel at my face to remove as much evidence as possible. I didn’t want to look like a glow stick when Kára came in. I could already imagine her ensuing interrogation.

  “Nate?” she called out in a louder tone from just beyond the door, sounding concerned.

  “Yeah. In here,” I assured her, scrubbing my face hard enough to irritate my skin.

  The door squeaked open on dry hinges and I felt the Valkyrie enter behind me. “I saw the glow under the door and it looked like it was moving,” she said. “Where is the candle?”

  “What?” I asked, keeping my back to her as I patted my face dry with the other sleeve.

  “Whatever was illuminating the cabin,” she said, as if I was particularly dim-witted.

  “Oh, right,” I said, gesturing at the puddle of water. “I dropped the candle in the water.”

  I finally turned to look at her, using her reaction as a mirror. She didn’t jump back in surprise, so I must have done a passable job. She smiled crookedly, tucking her hands behind her back, which only served to emphasize her significant curves. She waited in silence.

  I stood up, feeling markedly uncomfortable under her scrutiny—and her general presence. The goddess of sex’s parting warning whispered in my ears. “So.”

  “Did you find your candle?”

  I blinked, caught off guard. “Um. It…rolled away.” Why was the goddamned candle so important to her?

  She sighed, her smile fading. “I see.” Her eyes darted about the cabin, obviously searching for Aphrodite.

  “It wasn’t what it looked like,” I reminded her softly. “She’s helping me with something.”

  “Okay,” she said in a soft, almost hurt, tone.

  I clenched my jaws, and attempted to walk around her, not knowing what I could do to make her feel better. My time with Aphrodite had hurt her feelings, but there was nothing I could do about it if she wouldn’t believe me.

  Kára, I learned, was not the kind of woman to let me run from confrontation. She grabbed hold of my shirt and jerked me close. I grunted in surprise as our chests bumped together, our eyes only inches apart. I realized, quite suddenly, that she was not wearing her armor. I’d somehow entirely missed that obvious fact. Instead, she wore primitive leather and fur pants and a linen shirt with an untied drawstring at the neck. She looked much smaller without all her armor yet she looked more imposing at the same time, commanding every inch of her height.

  My anger dissipated as her scent enveloped me, replacing that of Aphrodite. I stared into her eyes, wondering what this was all about. She averted her eyes and stepped back, shattering the moment. I closed my eyes, realizing that my emotions were barely skin deep after my time with Aphrodite. Every problem seemed to have the same solution in my current state.

  Fuck it.

  For better or worse.

  “Aphrodite is trying to help me make sense of some personal problems,” I said stiffly.

  She nodded. “It’s okay, Nate.” I could tell that it was not, in fact, okay. Kára was hurt, and she didn’t know how to fight this foe.

  Which sucked. I wanted to help her, but I was the source of the problem. She’d told me long before all this Titan Thorns nonsense, how she felt about me. I’d turned her down, using Callie as an excuse. Yet she now knew Callie was no longer an issue, and I’d yet to address the topic for round two. Even after our affectionate reunion when she’d hugged me.

  But I could not afford distractions right now. And what right did she have being jealous? She’d seemed amused about Aphrodite earlier. She’d even teased me about it, so why the change? “I’m only going to say this one more time, Kára. I have no interest in Aphrodite. I lost something and she’s trying to help me find it.”

  She nodded slowly, a faint smile curling her lips. “Like invisible candles?” she asked, pointing at my chest. I frowned, glancing down.

  I sighed. My chest was glowing beneath my shirt, and she’d gotten an up close look when she’d grabbed me. Clever, clever, clever. “Right. You got me. I didn’t have a candle, but the truth is a little more embarrassing. I wasn’t lying to hide—”

  “Nate,” she said, interrupting me. “I don’t give one flying fuck about the harlot.” I blinked. She shrugged. “I cannot stop poachers from circling, but I can point out a vulture when I see one.” She shrugged. “Competition is healthy.”

  “Then why are you angry?”

  She watched me for a few moments. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but you should never ask a woman why she is angry.” I smirked, nodding. “I was angry about your lie,” she said, indicating the glow beneath my shirt. “Even one so simple as an invisible candle. White lies become habitual, and I’d rather be cut by honesty than stabbed by deceit.”

  I winced, lowering my eyes. “I understand. I’m sorry. This is—”

  “I have no right to your secrets,” she interrupted firmly. “Just do not lie to me. That’s all.”

  We stood in silence for a few moments. Finally, I nodded. “That’s fair, Kára.”

  She smiled to clear the air. “I like your friends. I got to know them very well while you…” she glanced about the room, “dropped candles,” she said, teasingly. “Yahn said your collection of weapons is worthless. But he wanted me to give you this,” she said, extending a black stone on a leather thong. The Sensate necklace. The cord was wrapped around the black stone, securing it in place. “Carl is already wearing his. Yahn said you’ll need to tape the others to your manacles to guarantee they don’t break contact—which is the whole point. A bracelet cannot guarantee that.”

  I nodded, accepting the necklace with a sigh of relief. I put it on. “Any difference?” I asked, hoping that my Peter illusion had dropped.

  She studied me up and down curiously. “You still look like the douchebag.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Ow. Thank you. I really needed that.”

  She grinned, slipping her arm around my waist and guiding me towards the door of the Niflhut. “You were looking a little arrogant. Humble pie is always beneficial—if not to you, to everyone else who hears it. Laughs cure all.” She tugged at my jacket. “The suit is a nice touch. From the vulture?”

  I chuckled. “She didn’t like the robe.”

  “I did,” she said with a smile. “The suit is durable. An armor of sorts, although I can’t place exactly what it protects again
st.”

  I frowned. “Is it safe?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I can sense that it is a genuine gift, not a trap.”

  I blinked. “You can do that?”

  She nodded as she pushed the door open. It was still daytime. Unless there was no day or night here. I wasn’t entirely sure.

  Aphrodite’s note had said to wear protection. And the suit was better than the robe. “I hope the Sensate works. Maybe they really can’t track me through the Titan Thorns. Ares and Apollo would have paid me a visit by now if they could.” Kára shrugged, not having an answer. I thought about Yahn’s lack of success on the items from Grimm Tech. “I can’t believe that none of the stuff is offensive,” I muttered. “I really wanted to be offensive today.”

  She chuckled, catching my play on words. “He seemed remarkably concerned about a stuffed teddy bear. He said it was baring it’s teeth at him.”

  I grunted, shaking my head. “Why? It just puts people to sleep.”

  She glanced at me. “He says it was designed for torture and that it breaks the mind from within. That the nightmares linger beyond waking if you hold the bear too long.”

  I frowned. “I didn’t have any nightmares.”

  She shrugged. “It’s what he said. Ask him your questions,” she said, jerking her chin towards the fire. Yahn and Carl watched us, looking anxious.

  37

  I quickly caught them up to speed on what I’d learned from Aphrodite about Peter, leaving out the juicier personal bits. Because I was a gentleman, not because I was embarrassed to admit my abstinence had saved the world and given Aphrodite a new life purpose.

  When I’d finished, Yahn let out a long breath. “Shit,” he said, leaning back. “The Reds are going to kill me.”

  I rolled my eyes at his lack of professionalism. His love life was the least of our concerns. My love life, on the other hand, was extremely important. And I wasn’t complaining about it. I was scheming. Like a responsible, professional adult.

  Kára was watching me curiously, looking thoughtful to hear that my time with Aphrodite had indeed been informative. She had no idea.

  “Peter and Alaric,” I said, pointing at my chest and then Carl, “are actively being hunted by the scariest monsters in St. Louis—my Horsemen and the dragons. If they get their hands on us, we’re dead. Period.” Kára bristled, her armor suddenly whispering back into place. I sighed regretfully and she grinned. “And it’s safe to say Peter is on the hunt as well—either working for Zeus and knowing full well who I really am, or because he’s heard of an impersonator breaking into Grimm Tech.”

  Yahn grunted, shaking his head. “It seems like overkill.”

  I nodded. “You’re not wrong. It’s a complicated hit job, forcing me to come crawling back to Olympus tomorrow night if I want to survive. Staying here will just get me killed by Peter or my friends.”

  Carl grimaced. “Choosing Peter as a disguise was clever, but making me look like Alaric Slate was foolish. Everyone knows he is dead. Perhaps if I reached out to Alucard—”

  I shook my head firmly. “No. This is my team.” Kára murmured her approval, smiling. “We are going to use Zeus’ own trap against him. I’m finished reacting. We’re going on offense. I’m going to raze Olympus to the ground.”

  “How?” Kára asked, sitting down beside me.

  I took a deep breath. “Kidnapping, theft, and extortion. We’re not playing checkers,” I mused recalling the board game I’d spied Hermes and Zeus playing. “The only move that really matters is the last one. Until then, we set up our pieces as best we can, taking hits when needed as long as it puts us in the best position for that last lucky roll. Then, we crush him.”

  Kára nodded thoughtfully, licking her lips. “Let us do this thing.” She turned to Carl and Yahn. They murmured their steadfast agreement in a pair of growls.

  Then Kára suddenly whipped two daggers out from who the fuck knows where and struck Yahn and Carl in the chest—simultaneously.

  I hissed, my reflexes kicking in, but I abruptly noticed that Carl and Yahn were not gushing blood. They hadn’t reacted. They hadn’t even blinked. They stared back at Kára with grim resolve. I looked down to see her daggers had struck them hilt first, and that Kára’s hands were dripping blood as she gripped the blades with her bare hands. She stared deeply into their eyes, silently demanding their commitment to the cause, not taking their earlier growls as sufficient.

  “The fear of spilling your first drop of blood for a cause is a powerful thing. It will fester in your heart, slowing your reflexes and inviting hesitation.” They nodded, mesmerized by her speech and actions. It seemed ritualistic. A Valkyrie tradition? “To that end, I chose to face that fear on my own terms. I have now spilled the first drops of my blood for this man,” she said, the blood seeming to spill faster as her hands began to shake from squeezing the daggers tighter. “I now have nothing left to fear. I am already invested. My heart and mind are now impervious to self-doubt. When the time comes to spill more blood for Nate Temple, I will laugh heartily, fondly recalling these two little pricks,” she growled, lifting the daggers high so that the blood spilled down her wrists and forearms. The air seemed to pulse with energy, and I wasn’t sure if it was magic or a mental boost of confidence from her words.

  Kára lowered her daggers and flung them down at the ground, burying them to the hilt between Yahn and Carl’s feet—one for each man.

  Yahn calmly grabbed the blade between his boots, looking ten years older in my eyes. Actually, the look in his eyes was downright frightening. Had Kára done something to them, or was this the effect of a proper speech at the proper time? I wasn’t sure I had ever inspired anyone quite so well as she just had. Hell, she’d even inspired me. Yahn locked eyes with Kára as he dragged the blade across his forearm, spilling fresh blood. “I spill first blood and vanquish all fear, Kára.”

  That vibration in the air was almost audible now. It was real. Some energy that was now bouncing back and forth between Kára, Yahn, and me. I had missed Carl drawing his own dagger, but it was impossible to miss him slicing into his arm, because he had to apply a lot more effort to penetrate his hardened scales. “I spill first blood and vanquish all fear, Kára.”

  The energy in the air practically crackled, and I felt a tingle of excitement race down my spine. The three turned to me, eerily calm. They looked more relaxed now that they’d bled all over themselves. “Thank you,” I said, humbled. I held out my hand for a dagger.

  Kára shook her head vehemently. “No. That is bad luck. We spill blood for you, not with you.” I withdrew my hand, nodding my understanding. Yahn and Carl handed her back the daggers. Kára accepted them, smiling warmly at our group. “We are now family, and I bleed for my brothers and sisters.” They echoed her oath.

  “I don’t think I have ever been so excited in my life,” Carl whispered to Yahn, except he said it loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Yahn chuckled, looking surprised at his own peace of mind. “Yeah. Me too, actually.”

  Kára smirked at their naivety. “You made an oath with a Valkyrie. It is a great honor. It is usually followed by days of feasting, fucking, and fighting. In whichever order suits your mood,” she added with a grin.

  Yahn and Carl shared a long look, smiling like thieves before a heist.

  Kára flashed me a bright smile, wiping off the daggers and sheathing them. “When do we leave?” she asked, oddly jubilant.

  “Soon. I am going to reintroduce Zeus to fear, but we’re going to have to take a few hits on the chin to keep our true movements hidden. I’m going to Hell.”

  Yahn leaned forward. “What about us? I don’t know if we could survive Hell. Literally,” he admitted, not in fear, but speaking the simple truth.

  Carl waved a claw dismissively. “It’s lovely down there. I’ll be fine.” Kára eyed him thoughtfully, looking impressed.

  I shook my head. “You two have other tasks ahead of you. Kára will join me in Hell.” I glanced over
at the Valkyrie. “If you would be so kind.”

  She grinned devilishly and scooped up her trident. “You didn’t ask Aphrodite to go to Hell,” she said smugly. “I win.”

  I grinned, shaking my head. “There’s only one girl I would take to Hell.”

  She beamed appreciatively. “This is going to be fun. Since the gentleman made the arrangements, it’s only proper that a lady follow his lead,” she said, sounding amused.

  I nodded, unable to deny the aura of confidence from my team—we were united. I was no longer alone. “I can open a Gateway…” I trailed off, staring into the middle distance.

  Carl cleared his throat. “You cannot make a Gateway, Master Temple,” he whispered.

  I slowly turned to Kára, wincing. She was grinning. “I am a Valkyrie. We have our own entrance, but we might have to fly a ways unless you wish to walk through Niflheim.” I grimaced, shaking my head. “Then it looks like the lady will make the arrangements, and the gentleman will have to follow her lead,” taking entirely too much pleasure from the turn of events. Then she poured salt in the wound. “Wear something cute for me. It is a date, after all. I’ll pick you up. Literally,” she clarified, her metallic wings suddenly erupting from her shoulder blades.

  Yahn was grinning. I sighed, admitting defeat, and Kára’s wings tucked back in with a metallic whisper. “Well, it’s only polite,” I admitted, grinning. Then I turned to Yahn and Carl. “You guys are going to hate me…”

  “What do you need?” Yahn asked, determined to prove me wrong. “It can’t be worse than Hell.”

  I felt the eyepatch still hanging from my neck. I took it off and tossed it to him. “So no one sees you when you kidnap Ryuu, Callie’s bodyguard. He’s a ninja, by the way.”

  Yahn’s smile slipped. “What?”

  Kára burst out laughing, grinning like a cat with a saucer of milk.