Carnage: Nate Temple Series Book 14

by Shayne Silvers

  I was doing a lot more than breathing heavily at that point. Despite the lethality of her strong feelings, I was able to take them in the manner intended. She was a Valkyrie, after all—and maybe the key to a happy Valkyrie’s bedroom was a lot of tender loving goreplay.

  Right now, I might be the princess in my story, but I had been the knight for quite a while. And…it was wearing on me. “Who are you, really?” I asked, softly.

  “Your bartender,” she said softly.

  I shook my head. “Who were you? How did you become a Valkyrie?”

  She stared at me, her lips trembling. I knew she desperately wanted to tell me. “I…cannot,” she whispered harshly.

  And I knew my question hit her harder than any sword—and when she had no shield capable of blocking it. So, I let it go. For now. I let out a long sigh. “Okay, Kára.”

  She turned away, staring down the passageway, wiping at her eyes. “Which way are we going?” she croaked. “I feel like hacking something innocent.”

  I laughed, surprising myself. “Me, too,” I admitted. Then I cocked my head. “Do you have a hatchet hidden somewhere in that armor?”

  She turned to me with a frown, sniffling. “If this is one of your lame pickup lines, I might just have to kill you.”

  I grinned, shaking my head. “No. You said you wanted to hack something innocent to death, but I didn’t see an axe.”

  She stared at me for a few seconds, and then her hand flashed to her belt, checking where her hatchet should have been. She frowned, looking mildly embarrassed. “Must have left it in the chest cavity of that troll. I can just as easily stab or poke something innocent to death.” She eyed our surroundings. “This looks like a long hallway, and my patience is very strained at the moment.”

  “Well, then stop jabbering and let’s get moving,” I said, slipping past her before she could kick me. I kept my hand on the wall to make sure that the glow didn’t wink out and leave her in the dark. As far as I knew, this tunnel shouldn’t have existed. Hell, maybe Falco had made it specifically for me on the spot. Maybe Kára could get trapped down here if she didn’t keep up—

  “Nice ass, Nate. If I squint my eyes in this lighting, I can almost envision the real thing behind the illusion. Keep walking, just like that.”

  I blushed, glaring over my shoulder. “You’re not allowed to say things like that. Only uncouth men can say things like that,” I argued. “It’s in the rules.”

  She snorted indelicately. “I’m the knight in this story, princess. And this knight has a filthy mouth. Deal with it. You’re not the only one who gets free looks when you think others aren’t watching. And I never said I played by the rules. I thought I made that clear.”

  I sighed, admitting defeat. Bantering back and forth with her was…fun. I hadn’t really flirted a whole lot in recent years, other than the very occasional times spent with Callie. “Well, get an eyeful, woman. This ass is over thirty years in the making.” I swatted my ass and continued walking. “I usually charge for long, dark walks through creepy underground tunnels. You’re welcome.”

  She chuckled behind me and I heard her picking up her pace so as not to be left in the dark. As we made our way through the tunnels, I looked down, frowning to see finished tile beneath our feet.

  “Not so secret, it seems,” Kára said, noticing my attention.

  I nodded, troubled to discover that Falco had shown us a real secret passageway rather than some magical tunnel formed on the fly to suit my needs. “Must have been over a hundred years since anyone walked here. Hell. Maybe longer.” We pressed on, and soon we encountered alcoves set into the walls. They each held unlit lanterns that were definitely hundreds of years old. Our tunnel eventually opened into a vast cavern with arched ceilings. I stared, transfixed.

  “It…looks like one of those roaring twenties subway stations,” Kára breathed, spinning in a circle to take it all in.

  “Light it up, Falco,” I whispered. The cavern immediately bloomed with light, bright enough to make me squint. I stared at over a dozen arched doorways set into the walls. They all rippled like water, but I knew it wasn’t water. I walked up to one, shaking my head in disbelief. Niagara Falls was carved into the stone above the rippling space. “It’s a Gateway. A permanent fucking Gateway to New York.” I slowly turned, taking in more arched doorways, all listing distant states or major cities East of Missouri. Even some in Canada. Philadelphia. Boston. Charleston. Atlanta. Fort Malden, Ontario. I gasped, recognizing the last one. It was also the biggest archway. I pointed at it. “Fort Malden…was one of the main points of entry into Canada for the Underground Railroad,” I breathed. “This…isn’t a subway, but it is a travel nexus,” I whispered. Sure enough, I saw another carving in one of the more prominent arches. Welcome to Temple Station.

  The depots used in the Underground Railroad had been referred to as stations. And…they’d called those who housed runaway slaves in their homes station masters. Masters. No fucking way. My ancestors had played a part in the war against slavery? Master Temple suddenly felt like a much heavier title. I needed to look into this more. This was incredible. A piece of my family history that wasn’t dark and terrible.

  Kára gawked, spinning in a slow circle.

  I pointed at the doorways. “My family had permanent access to major cities in the thirteen colonies and more,” I said.

  Kára’s eyes were misty, now that I could clearly see her in the light. “This is incredible.”

  I nodded, leaning closer to the Gateway with a nervous shudder. “And I’m pretty sure they still work.”

  Kára immediately grew tense. “What if someone finds the Gateways on the other sides?” she asked, slowly turning to count the number of arched doorways. There had to be fifty of them.

  “That…could be very bad. I’ll need to check all of these out later. Wall them up, maybe.” I didn’t say anything, but I was suddenly very concerned that some of my old living relatives like Matthias might know a thing or two about this. Hopefully not.

  Because if he’d known, he definitely should have told me.

  “Good job, old girl. Good job,” I murmured under my breath. The walls seemed to purr at my praise. The station slowly began to dim, all except for a hallway extending out from the cavern that I hadn’t noticed before. Those stones glowed brighter, beckoning us onwards.

  I grabbed Kára’s hand and pulled her after me. “Let’s go.”

  40

  Our tunneling adventure came to a halt at another solid wall, much like the one we’d first entered near the Sanctorum. I took a deep breath. “If it’s clear on the other side, open her up, Falco,” I said, hoping she understood my caveat.

  The wall cracked open, this time swinging inwards without my assistance. Which was good, because there hadn’t been a handle or anything. We stepped out into a familiar hallway, and I let out a sigh of relief. “We’re close.”

  We were in the tunnels near the entrance to the Armory. The opposite direction would take us to a secret passage leading to my office.

  Kára eyed the dim hallways warily. Despite the walls no longer glowing—so as not to give us away, I hoped—the space seemed to have an ambient light of sorts. Thankfully, I was familiar with it or I would have been concerned about—

  “Come any closer and I’ll burn you up,” a reedy voice stammered from around the corner.

  Kára whipped her trident out, and her helmet silently rolled down over her head like Iron Man, but infinitely sexier. A shoulder guard suddenly bulged into place as well, on her non-dominant arm. She shot me a hooded look from beneath her helm, but I shrugged. I didn’t recognize the voice, but the oddly specific threat made me assume he was a wizard.

  I didn’t have any wizards living on the property, as far as I knew.

  In fact, I’d kind of put a solid dent in my relationship with the wizard Academy recently. So, what was this assclown doing in my mansion, and more importantly, what the hell was he doing down here near the Armory?
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br />   I slowly rounded the corner to find a geeky stick of a boy—with about a dozen proudly displayed mustache follicles to his name—pointing a shaking finger at me. He pushed his aviator-sized prescription glasses up the bridge of his nose, and he might as well have wiped at his nose as an afterthought.

  “Christ, he’s young,” Kára whispered from behind me. “You know him?”

  I shook my head, holding my hands out so the boy could see I wasn’t armed. “Easy, pal.” I swiftly scanned the area, realizing that he actually seemed to be guarding the door to the Armory. All by himself. “Who left you down here all alone?” I asked in a soothing tone. Then I took a gamble. “Master Temple always says we work in pairs.” I pointed a thumb over my shoulder, indicating Kára. “Like I am.”

  The boy looked uncertain all of a sudden. “No one knows I’m down here. I figured I would just wait until someone came because I don’t know how to get out.”

  Jesus. Was he serious? He’d been forgotten down here? Who the hell was running things up top? It definitely wasn’t Gunnar, or this kid would have been on the front lawn doing a thousand pushups a day to build character and make him slightly more threatening than a limp dish rag.

  “Well, I’m glad we came across you, then. We were just making our rounds.”

  The boy’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh, thank gods. It’s been two days!” I made my way closer, shaking my head in both frustration at the lack of leadership and concern for the poor bastard. What if he’d fucking died down here? Would anyone have even told me?

  “Who’s your partner? We’ll get this sorted out. Better yet, who sent you down here to patrol? This place is about as secure as possible and doesn’t need a regular guard.”

  “Who sent me down here?” The boy repeated, and I realized that he suddenly looked older. Bigger. I paused, now only a few paces away. A grim smile split his cheeks and his eyes suddenly smoldered with inner fire. “Tainted Nipple sent me,” the Titan growled. “Or should I say, Nate Temple—”

  Kára’s trident whistled past my ear and hammered into his torso, sending him crashing into the wall with a burst of sparks—which verified exactly who Kára had just impaled without provocation. I turned to look at her, my mouth hanging open.

  “What?” She shrugged unashamedly. “He recognized you. And I told you I would stab something soon. Obviously, you didn’t take me seriously. I win.”

  I continued to stare at her in disbelief. But she had a point. He had recognized me. He’d seen through my illusion. I ignored the pained cries behind me as the man struggled with the trident sticking out of his abdominal region. “That’s Prometheus. The Titan, Prometheus.”

  She folded her arms stubbornly. “He was resisting. Or about to. I’m sure of it.”

  “Really?” Prometheus roared, sounding livid. “The liver? The damned LIVER? AGAIN?!” Prometheus shouted, sounding more upset about that specific vital organ than anything else.

  Because that was the part of Prometheus’ body the eagle had feasted on every day for at least a couple thousand years—Zeus’ punishment for the Titan giving fire to mankind.

  And Kára had just opened the old wound.

  I raked a hand through my hair, wondering how I could calm everyone down as I turned to face the Titan. He jerked the trident out of his stomach, curled a lip at it in disdain, and then flung it to the ground in Kára’s direction. “Nice fork, but you’ll need a much better weapon to take down a Titan, girl,” he sneered, clutching at his side. It looked like the coals of a fire rather than blood or ichor pouring out. And as I watched, the wound slowly closed. He had finished shifting into a closer resemblance of the ugly man I’d seen chained to the rock on Mount Olympus.

  Thankfully, his wounds had healed up and he was no longer twice my size.

  Kára scooped up the trident with her foot, flipped it into the air, and caught it. She smiled at the Titan. “Best two out of three?” She asked, hefting the trident playfully.

  “Let’s all calm down a second,” I said, holding out my hands.

  Prometheus held up a palm and I tensed, fully expecting a blast of flame. It was kind of his thing. But nothing happened, and I realized he was waiting for a high five. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to leave me hanging,” he said, glancing up at his extended palm. “Again.” He lowered his hand, but made no threatening move. What the hell was he doing down here? And why wasn’t he attacking? He was obviously pissed at me.

  I winced. “Yeah. That was not how I meant for that to go down.” He pursed his lips at my phrasing since he had, in fact, been knocked off the mountain to fall to Earth. I sighed. “How can you see through this illusion? They’re tied to my Titan Thorns,” I said, lifting them up.

  He grunted, eyeing the manacles in what I took for surprise. “Pissant Olympian illusions can’t fool me,” he said, folding his arms. He didn’t comment on my shackles.

  Kára watched him as she was if choosing her next target.

  He eyed Kára curiously. “Where’s that cross-dressing lizard? Not that I’m complaining that you traded up,” he added with a dark, foreboding chuckle. “Even if she is…prickly.”

  “Hey!” I snapped angrily. Prometheus turned to me and I pretended not to notice Kára’s approving smile. “Carl is not a cross-dresser.” Kára’s smile evaporated, realizing I had not intended to stand for her honor. She shot me a dark look. I just couldn’t win. I focused on the Titan. “I…am so glad you survived. I would have preferred your escape over mine.”

  He stared at me. “Did he chain you to a rock?”

  I grunted. “Zeus slapped these on my wrists and then let his psychopathic children play dissect the wizard. Daily. On that note, Ambrosia is not all it’s hyped up to be in the stories.”

  Prometheus narrowed his eyes, taking in my Titan Thorns again. “I don’t doubt it.”

  He studied us in silence and, finally, his shoulders seemed to relax. “Well, are you going to open the fucking door, or what, Tainted Nipple?” he asked, pointing at the Armory.

  I grunted. “You know my name isn’t actually Tainted Nipple, right?”

  He smirked crookedly, a ghastly grin on his horrific face. “Better than the real thing. Nate Temple sounds like a sheep lover. And the Catalyst does not shag sheep.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “That…was not very nice.”

  “I never much concerned myself with niceties. I always got burned when I tried,” he said, dryly, obviously referring to his affinity for fire, and what it had cost him. The multiple punishments Zeus had inflicted on both Prometheus and—

  I blinked. “Pandora’s Box.” Zeus had unleashed Pandora’s Box on the world as punishment for accepting Prometheus’ fire. Even though they’d had nothing to do with the gift, Zeus had still saw fit to make them pay—to maintain his reputation and image. “Do you know Pandora?” I asked, wondering if he was friend or foe. He was standing right outside the door to her Armory. I watched his face closely.

  “Nate?” A voice called out from beyond the stout wooden door. I flinched in surprise, as did Kára and Prometheus. “Is that you?” Pandora asked. “You sound strange.”

  “Yes, Pandora. It’s me. Although I’ve been hit with a wicked illusion spell, so I look like a douchebag.”

  “I’d argue it’s an improvement,” Prometheus said.

  “His ass is still nice to look at,” Kára piped in helpfully. “If you squint.” I shot her a dark glare. She smiled innocently, and I knew it was payback for defending Carl over her.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Pandora.

  “Yes, my Host. I’ve missed you.”

  Prometheus was glaring at the door, looking hurt. “You mean to tell me that you could hear me this whole damned time?” He snapped. “I’ve been hammering at this door for a week, hiding whenever guards came patrolling, and you pretended not to be home?”

  Silence answered him. I waited a few seconds before facing the door. “Do you not want to see him?” I asked her.

&nb
sp; “Trust isn’t in my wheelhouse these days,” she called out. “And I don’t know what his intentions are. I do not have a chaperone.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Really, Pandora? You didn’t need a chaperone with Alex,” I said, biting back a grin.

  “Yes, well, I was acutely aware of what Alex wanted to do with me,” she said, sounding amused. “And you vouched for him. I honestly can’t keep track of who is your friend and who is your enemy these days, so my standing policy is no entry without your prior approval.”

  I nodded, feeling a great weight lift from my shoulders. “That is perfect, Pandora. Good job.” Prometheus had folded his arms and was scowling at the world in general, settling his immediate displeasure at the door, me, and then Kára.

  “What will it be, Pandora? Leave the ugly bastard outside or can he come in?”

  The door disengaged and began to swing open on silent hinges. She wore her usual toga—sheer for his pleasure—and looked about as delicious as the first bite of a candy bar. She eyed me up and down, squinting. Then she beamed. “Nate!”

  I smiled in relief, although confused. “You can see me?”

  “I can see the rough edges. Enough to verify your story.”

  Prometheus lunged for Pandora with his arms outstretched—and promptly struck an invisible wall, bouncing back on his ass. I stepped over him, motioning for Kára to join me. “You are welcome to enter, Kára,” I said under my breath. She crossed the threshold without issue, studying Pandora with obvious attention.

  Pandora smiled back at her, eyeing her up and down with an interested hum. “Oh, my. My, my, my,” she said, flashing her teeth at me in a mischievous grin. “Things are happening out there, eh?” she asked in a playful tone, winking at me not so discreetly.