Sin & Surrender (Demigods of San Francisco Book 6)

by K. F. Breene

  One lady did give me a run for my money. This particular team leaned heavily toward Ares, and she’d stood in the back with her bow and arrow. She didn’t miss. Not ever. We had to hide behind Jerry in his rock form so as not to be stuck like pincushions. Donovan had already been hit three times, all of the hits in locations on his body that prevented him from moving his limbs.

  I went to work, slashing and tearing at her soul casing. I broke two prongs. I poked her actual soul. Her tanned face lost a few shades of color, but she did not buckle. She did not relent. If the ceiling had been taller, she would’ve been able to arch arrows over Jerry to hit us. Boman got hit that way and had to push in closer.

  Zorn was the one who’d brought her down. He’d gone into gas, puffed into a human right next to her, and stabbed her through the stomach. He’d then slammed the hilt of the knife onto her head and knocked her out. Within that tiny slice of time, she’d put two arrows into him with her bare hands.

  Pulling all those arrows out was so gross that I’d nearly gone home right then and there. That shit was for the birds.

  So now, countless battles in, Dylan still sobbing in the back—the magic had worn off, but it had tapped into something inside him—we walked like the zombies I never really controlled, trudging and jerking and not having complete control of our bodies. Magnus had been right—at the end of day one, we were utterly exhausted. At least we hadn’t lost anyone, though.

  “Aaron’s Necromancer is one of the best in the business,” Bria said, picking our conversation back up. Blood splattered all down her front and across her exposed forearms. She’d had to do some serious knife work in our last confrontation. “Noah, the hired gun, is also one of the best in the business. He partially trained me, and we’ve been professionally circling each other ever since. We’ve gone head to head a bunch of times. The two of them working together might be strong enough, and savvy enough, to get the job done.”

  “But can’t Lexi just grab control right back?” Donovan asked, swinging his left arm. “Damn that chick. Was she hot, or was she hot? She had the pressure points down. I wonder what other pressure points she might know.” He paused to shake out his leg.

  “She was hot,” Boman said, nodding.

  “Lexi doesn’t need an item to call spirits.” Donovan checked the gauze on his arm, soaked through with red. His healing ability aside, two Advil couldn’t have been enough for that puncture. He was good at hiding pain.

  “Depends on how strong they are,” I said. “I can probably do it, but if they have a firm hold, I’ll need to be close. Maybe close enough for them to attack me. Harding showed me how to ward off an attack on my soul, but this pupil is far from becoming the master.”

  “Yeah, but he’s not as strong as you, right?” Red asked, a trail of dried blood on her arm. Four Advil couldn’t have been enough for her, either, especially without the blood bond. We needed to head back, and not only because Thane was uncharacteristically quiet. He hadn’t even picked on Jerry the last time he could have.

  “He would’ve been a strong level five in life,” Bria said. “If they don’t scramble his head to make him easier to manage, and I assume they won’t, since they brought in a very expensive Necromancer to help the already expensive Necromancer on staff, he would be probably a mid- or lower-level five in a body.”

  “A highly experienced, very technical mid- to low-level five.” Fear clawed at my guts. Harding could handle things I couldn’t—and do it with ease. Earlier today, he’d stepped through the planes of reality as if it were nothing.

  I shook my head but didn’t say anything, worried I might open my mouth and throw up instead of speak.

  Silence filtered down between us, and when I could no longer stand it, I voiced the thing everyone was probably thinking.

  “If they lose control of Harding, and he’s in a bad temper because he was forced, it might take me a while to calm him down. Within that time, how many souls will he rip out? How much carnage can he do?”

  “Can you…” Dylan took a shuddering breath and wiped his nose with his shirt—not a good look on anyone, but he was so hot he could get away with it. “Can you go to… Maybe Kieran can go to Zander with your concerns? If the object was taken from him, he has an investment in the situation. Plus, Harding isn’t likely to look kindly on him.”

  “All Aaron has to do is hide the evidence.” Bria slowed with me as I saw a man at the other end of the corridor, standing in the middle of the space, facing us. “No one is going to do anything without proof, except maybe caution him. Our biggest issue, though, is that Aaron is out to lunch. He hasn’t been thinking clearly for a while. He’s not going to listen to anyone cautioning him, and since Lexi just scattered all his on-call spirits, the only way he can beat her is with his own offspring, or so he’ll think. No, if that’s the railway the train is on, it has already left the station. There is no stopping it.”

  “That was a serious railroad metaphor,” Thane said, and cracked his neck. “We need to talk this over with Demigod Kieran. Get his input. Right now, though, we have other stuff to do. That’s a Berserker up there, I bet you. Someone is very stupid. I could yank his arms off and…” Thane scrunched his eyes and flexed his arms out to the sides, enormous even in his human form.

  The man down the way continued to stand there, waiting for us, or maybe just waiting for a challenge from anyone. A little closer and Dylan pointed out a woman standing behind him a ways. She had fisted hands, and the door to her right stood open.

  “She’s of Zeus,” he said.

  Thane started to laugh. “Stupid. Stupid and horribly ignorant.”

  “Maybe explain a little more?” I kept walking, mostly because everyone else kept walking, even though usually we’d stop about now and come up with a plan.

  “That guy has the look of a Berserker, and the little miss behind him probably has the kind of magic that forces someone to change back to human. The guy will change, the woman thinks she’ll force me to return to human, and the guy will thump me. That’s their whole plan, I bet you a hundred bucks. I doubt he’s changed in such a confined space before. This is no place for a Berserker. You saw what I did at Lydia’s place, and there was a lot more room to maneuver.”

  “And you still made a few new doorways,” Boman said with a grin.

  “Exactly.” Thane took a steadying breath. “Take him down, Lexi. I won’t let my other form loose in here. But we gotta go soon. My energy is flagging and my other half wants to come out to play. Soon I won’t be able to stop it, especially after this bastard changes. Another Berserker is like a battle cry—it’s hard to resist.”

  “Hi!” I lifted my hand and took the lead. I swore I heard Daisy mutter, “Nerd.”

  The man stared at me, watching my approach. I could just make out the muscle working in his jaw, his teeth tightly clenched.

  “Thane—our Berserker—knows better than to change in here.” I hooked a thumb back at Thane. “You probably should, too. We can either take this out to the garden so he can play too, or we should just let bygones be bygones.”

  The man’s face turned red.

  “I can see you’re going to ignore me.” I looked back for the cats. They came forward without being called. “He’s still not going to change, so if you do, you’ll be tangoing with me. I just want to warn you: I am not pleasant. It would be best to head to the garden or just go home. We’re tired. We’d rather go home.”

  The man started to laugh, his voice deepening slowly, his size increasing. Fear wormed through me. Berserkers had always terrified me. Didn’t matter that I’d seen Thane change more than once, or that I’d subdued him a couple of times. The primal feeling would probably never go away.

  “You think you can stop me, Soul Stealer?” His eyes tinged red.

  “You mean, because I’m not supposed to kill you?”

  He didn’t answer, just continued to grow larger much more slowly than Thane would have if he’d decided to make the change.


  “Well, either way, the answer is yes, I can stop you,” I said. “It won’t be pleasant for you. Or me, actually. I really dislike dealing with your kind. No offense, Thane.”

  “You can’t kill me. Only a Demigod can take down one of my stature.” The guy roared, the sound filling the hall. My legs started to shake and my heart ramped up. Here we go.

  “Young hotheaded clown,” Thane murmured, his voice strained. He was fighting the change.

  The Berserker in front of me grew, larger and larger until he took up half the space between the walls and topped my height by four feet. For all his size, he wasn’t as big as Thane.

  He roared again, sending tendrils of fear winding through my gut. I braced myself as he bent, about to charge.

  My heart ramped up. “Here we go. Who’s on knife duty? Donovan, you can keep those whips off me, right?”

  “Those whips come with age, and this kid doesn’t have them,” Donovan said, almost sounding bored. Unaffected. “He’s nothing to you, Lexi.”

  “Okay, but what if you’re wrong?”

  The Berserker thudded his feet on the ground, coming at me. Ready to bowl us all down. His enormous, grotesque muscles bunched and coiled. He swung his arms a little, side to side and then in front of him. If it was part of his strategy, I didn’t understand why.

  “I’m tired,” Bria said, not moving forward to stand with me.

  “I got this, if she needs me.” Thank God at least Red was still on board to help out.

  I didn’t have time to chastise anyone. That manic red stare bore down on me. My heart tried to punch a hole through my ribcage.

  I punched his spirit box with everything I had, while simultaneously rattling it. Havoc roared, sending a blast of spirit right through the Berserker’s middle, shaking the soul I had in my magic’s iron grip. Chaos darted forward, batted a sparkly little item he’d found on the ground, somersaulted in the air for no reason, then darted away behind us again—distracting but not helpful.

  The Berserker staggered, ramming a hole in the wall with his huge shoulder. He howled, flailing his hands and then beating at his chest. He took two more steps, his guttural wail one of agony. Before I could slice at him, he took a tumble, not having gone very far.

  He kept wailing, now rolling around on the ground. He kicked the wall, another hole. He banged the ground with his fists.

  Chaos ran back in, pounced on the Berserker’s back, and charged the woman with the Zeus magic. She screamed, threw out her hand, and, when that didn’t yield results, ran into the room next to her and slammed the door behind her.

  The Berserker shrank, quickly turning human. Once done, he curled up into the fetal position and groaned.

  I stared for a moment.

  “Oh,” I said. The tension slowly draining out of me, I looked around in confusion. “Is that it?” I narrowed my eyes at the others. “Is this a trick?”

  Everyone chuckled behind me. Thane let out a ragged breath.

  “You just rang that guy’s bell. Let’s head home.” Thane turned, his hands still fisted. “Thanks, Lexi. I don’t have much left. I would’ve pounded the shit outta that guy. I would have—”

  “Whoa, big guy, keep it together.” Bria patted his flexed arm. “How about a lovely, cold bath? Or, I know, why don’t you have a nice, big cry with Dylan? He could use a little company.”

  We made it around the corner, back toward the exit, before we all stopped dead. Magnus’s pack strolled toward us, confident, arrogant, and clearly still going strong. They’d been too far away for me to sense. The leader, the small-statured woman with tight curls and a nice disposition hiding a mean personality, gave us a chilling smile.

  Thane groaned, and I had the feeling he didn’t have enough left to resist punching some holes through these very white walls.

  13

  Kieran

  “Demigod Kieran, a word.”

  Kieran slowed, trying to keep his head from drooping in exhaustion. He was well and truly spent, but he’d gotten a better handle on things as the day progressed, and had even jumped into the fray a few times.

  The last meeting of the day had been a closed-door talk among the high-status Demigods, invite only. It had floored him to get an invitation. Humbled him, too. These people had an awe-inspiring grip on their territories, plus years of experience dealing with and, when necessary, manipulating non-magical governments. It had been like a master class for him. He’d taken notes like a demon.

  “Yes, Demigod Zander.” Kieran offered a bow, a show of respect that was genuine and not just for show. He admired the way the other Demigod had spoken so unguardedly in the meeting, and his concern for those he ruled.

  Zander picked a moderate pace as they left the meeting room. “I wanted to congratulate you on your win.”

  Lesser-status Demigods watched them with wide eyes. They probably wondered how in hell Kieran had gotten so many perks on his first day. Kieran wondered the same thing. Part of him even wondered if he was being set up.

  “Which win is that?” Kieran asked.

  Zander glanced at him. “You haven’t been told? Your team has been working through the halls. Last I heard, they were still there, taking very light damage. Very light. One of the first teams they took down was mine. It galls a little, I must say.”

  Zander’s grin was teasing, but his tone wasn’t entirely light. It did gall, clearly, and he wasn’t bashful in admitting it.

  Pride welled within Kieran. He hadn’t been actively monitoring Lexi or his people, his mind whirling from the constant meetings.

  He wondered how Zander had gotten the scoop—he and his co-leader wife had been in all the same meetings as Kieran, and phone calls weren’t allowed in the halls.

  “I hadn’t heard, no,” he said, keeping his tone level. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to pass that on.”

  As they wove through the building, making their way toward the exit, more looked at Zander and then Kieran. Eyes widened, like before, and some people stopped to murmur to each other. Kieran’s skin started to tingle in warning.

  “My team was taking a break and yours happened upon them,” Zander said, not looking at anyone they passed. “They were in a room with a closed door, you understand. Most people can’t see or feel through walls. Your little Soul Stealer could’ve taken them down from the hallway, I see that now. She chose instead to come at them face to face, with honor. She directed your crew in and hardly engaged at all. Just enough to nearly kill one of my guys, and then…somehow bring him back to life. The details are very hazy to me; I only heard this secondhand. The man in question has professed he will never fight her again. That he is in her debt.” Zander chuckled softly. “I can make him fight her, of course, but I found the exaltation…most odd.” He paused for a moment. “Possibly this is due to her flouting of our customs. Your little Soul Stealer helps the enemy rather than finishing them. We saw it before us in the courtyard. My team saw it firsthand. I thank you for that. I would’ve been grieved to lose him. Usually he is exemplary in battle. I’m not sure what happened.”

  “She doesn’t help the enemy on a real battlefield, I assure you,” Kieran said, his heart pounding warmth through him. “She’s not used to battles being games. The first time she used her magic was against my father. She fought an experienced Demigod’s army right out of the gate. With all due respect, to my people at this point…fighting inside an office building isn’t real fighting. It is like training, and when you train, you don’t aim to kill others.”

  “Quite right, yes. Just so.” Zander fell into silence for a moment as they continued to walk. They were both still the objects of scrutiny, although Kieran noticed people seemed to be watching him for longer than his companion. “This thing with bringing people back to life… I’d thought she was the bringer of death. I haven’t heard about this other facet of the magic. What is it?”

  “It’s not bringing someone back to life, it is more…keeping them from dying. She cannot heal a body, but as long as th
e body is sound, she can heal a soul. After Magnus and Aaron attacked us, her male ward was left clinging to life. I helped repair his body with my…magic, and she rebuilt his soul so that he would live. I could try explaining how such a thing is possible, but it—”

  Zander waved him away. “Of course, of course. Broad strokes are fine.”

  “Anyway, when it comes to spirit, she is a killer and a healer. She can take a life, or save a life. Her magic, when used with a sound mind and good heart, can do a lot of good. That is why I must keep her safe from those who would use her for mindless killing. She’s more than a blunt instrument, but she could be an extremely potent blunt instrument.”

  Zander turned a little as they neared the exit, his eyebrows raised. “You must be forgetting who finally stopped the last blunt instrument.”

  Kieran bent his head a little. No, he had not forgotten—none of them had—which was why he was trying so hard to help Zander see the good facets of Lexi’s magic.

  “That young man—the last Soul Stealer—was not capable of doing any sort of healing,” Zander said, pushing open the door. His protection detail ran in from the side, perfectly in line. Kieran’s people came right after them, equally organized but giving precedence to Zander’s people. “He would not spare a life if he could help it. He was…corrupted. Mind and body, that young man was not right. Death was a blessing for him. If your Soul Stealer was anything like that…”

  “That’s not the sort of person I’d want on my team,” Kieran said in a firm tone.

  “Good, good. Yes. You have a level head on your shoulders. Your father and I didn’t see eye to eye on many things, but he was good at what he did. He was effective. I see he passed that on, and then some.” Zander stopped near his collection of golf carts, parked right in front. “You have a long way to go, let’s get that straight.”

  “Quite a long way, yes. Today has humbled me in ways I wasn’t expecting.”