Gods Remembered (The Forgotten Gods Series Book 8)

by ST Branton

  “Come on, come on,” I muttered under my breath. “Show me where they are.” The image lurched to reveal a glimpse of a doorway recessed into one of the walls. The frame had a distinct pattern that set it apart from the surrounding wall. I glanced up in the exact instant in which I raced past it.

  There!

  My boots actually squealed to a stop. I flung myself at it and shoved against the door itself with all my might. It had no visible handle and it didn’t budge at all. “Fucking move!” I demanded. My face flushed with exertion and frustration and all my power channeled into the barrier. The blood raged through my veins.

  At last, it creaked open—not very much, but it was sufficient. I squeezed through that gap so fast, I almost tumbled down the steps directly behind it. These descended into a weird, rounded dungeon room. Bloodstains pooled and manacles littered the floor and walls. Otherwise, the chamber stood empty.

  I froze for a moment and strained to hear over my own heart pounding and heavy breathing. No sound rewarded my attempt. Scraps of material were scattered on the floor around my feet, and I bent to pick one up. My fingers brushed a swatch of red leather and I cursed.

  What did you find?

  “This is part of Jules’s jacket,” I said. “She’s had it since college. I’d know it if I was fucking blindfolded.”

  The rage swelled within me once more. I spun and moved back the way I had come, taking the curving staircase two steps at a time. Every passing minute challenged my ability to remain stealthy more and more. It would undeniably help me to remain undetected, but I also welcomed the idea of a fight.

  The center hall was still empty when I came back in. I was at the back now, and to my right was the door from which Delano had emerged before. It was ornately carved with portraits of eyes, snakes, bats, and twisted trees that bore dark and ominous fruit. I grabbed the heavy brass handle and pulled, even though I expected it to be locked.

  It wasn’t. The door swung back to reveal a study that oozed luxury. The back wall housed a gigantic window that provided a view of only barren cornfields. The space in front of it was dominated by a sleek black desk, its surface spotlessly clean. The chair was missing, but a tall, humanoid figure dressed in black lingered on the opposite side, silhouetted by the light that streamed in through the glass.

  I drew my spear and shifted it in my hands. The moment of truth was upon me. I walked forward and opened my mouth to issue a challenge.

  The man turned, and the words stuck in my throat. He wasn’t Delano at all.

  “Deacon?” My hands began to tremble. “What…what the hell happened to you?” His face was unmistakable, but the rest of him screamed an obvious contradiction. Heavy dark wings sprouted from his broad shoulders and horns curled from the sides of his forehead. He stared at me through eyes as black as night, like Brax’s. All the warmth they had always held was gone.

  “You know what happened,” he said. I winced. He still had his own voice, but each word rode an edge of ice. “Say it. I want to hear you tell me what I am.”

  My insides swam in a cold, churning soup. I didn’t want to capitulate to his demands, but more than that, I didn’t want to fight him. I licked my lips. The words moved like molasses on my tongue. “He made you an Apprenti,” was what I finally stammered into the unbearable stillness between us. “Deacon—”

  “What did you expect?” He strode forward and slammed his hand down on the desk. “You abandoned us, Vic. I jumped in front of that blade to save you—to buy you time—and you repaid me with cowardice. I forced him to spare your life, only for you to run away. You left us to die.” The force of his anger glowed from the depths of his demon eyes with an unearthly light. He had never been angry at me. Not like this.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “We stood no chance.”

  He glowered but his ire seemed to die down. I watched him straighten the lapels on his suit the same way he had so many other times. “No,” he said. “You’re right. We didn’t. We were pathetic little sacks of meat and bones who played at games far too large for us to comprehend. But Delano took pity on me. He showed me the truth, Vic.”

  “Oh, no.” A searing knot formed in the back of my throat. “Deacon, no.”

  He continued as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “Power is the true path,” he declared. A slow smile bloomed across his features and the effect was uncanny. He looked like a mocking caricature of himself. “It’s the only way. If we stay as we are and continue to foolishly pursue our small-minded human goals, we will be doomed to repeat the same cycles forever—or until we are exterminated. Whichever happens first.” He moved around the desk toward me. “But Delano is proof that we don’t need to be tethered to a miserable existence. He was human too.”

  “I know.” I spoke softly. To even look at Deacon was horribly painful, and yet I couldn’t tear my gaze away. How could this have happened?

  He spread his arms wide. “And look at him now. All of this for a man who was once a simple Apprenti, like me.”

  “You’re not a fucking Apprenti, you asshole!” I burst out. Tears welled in my eyes but I held them back. “You had a choice.”

  Deacon advanced on me, his clawed hands balled into fists. “You left me none,” he said.

  Victoria. Marcus’s voice was low and somber in my head. I knew what he would say before he said it. Although it is difficult, you must kill him. The Deacon you know is gone, replaced by a fiend who cannot—and must not—be trusted.

  The tears escaped and slid down my cheeks. “I can’t,” I said. “I can’t.”

  Deacon leapt for my throat. I dodged to the side and he managed only to knock my arm. The spear burned fiercely in my grip and washed his face in fiery light. His eyes reflected nothing. They remained empty and hard, trained on me as he swung at my head.

  “Deacon!” I parried his strike with the spear. Part of his jacket sleeve burned away and exposed grey-tinted skin. He hissed. “Stop, I don’t want to do this.”

  He smirked. “It’s too late, sweetheart. You should’ve thought about that while you ran away with your tail between your legs.” His tone made the phrase sound vulgar. “All that’s left to do is reap what you sowed. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

  His massive wings beat to create a wall of wind that slammed me back toward the study door. I drove the point of the spear into the floor. The good old golden shield sprang up around me, and the wind sheared away as Deacon lunged.

  Inside the protective dome, I waited with my hand on the spear and tracked the arc of his jump. At its zenith, I yanked the spear from its anchoring point. The shield exploded up and out and he was caught in its concussive shockwave, his momentum redirected toward the wall. I thought it would knock him out. I was wrong.

  The bastard impacted with the marble and still landed on his feet. He brushed dust from his suit as he straightened. In a flash, he was on me again. The wings made it feel like he towered over my head until he picked me up by the neck. “Better than I thought,” he admitted. “But not good enough.”

  I kicked fiercely at him and clawed at his face with one hand. The other tried in vain to loosen his grip. Deacon had been strong in his normal form but with the addition of Apprenti powers, he might as well have held me up with an iron vice. The edges of my vision greyed out. I felt my eyes bulge from the pressure.

  “How does it feel?” he sneered and drew me in closer. “I guess I should really thank you for helping me to understand why Delano loves to watch the life drain from people’s eyes. I have to admit, it’s enthralling.”

  I responded by kicking him in the balls as hard as I possibly could. He dropped me and doubled over.

  “Yeah,” I said and coughed around a ragged breath. “Delano didn’t think of that shit, did he? Fucker.” I still loved Deacon deeply, but I had no issues with a few choice curses after he’d made a frighteningly powerful attempt to choke the shit out of me. He rolled onto his side, protecting his groin. It was my turn to walk up on him.

  �
��You deserved that,” I told him. “Quit being a dick.”

  He groaned and grabbed at me. I dipped nimbly to the side and knocked him away with the spear. Another portion of his sleeve vaporized. He surged upward to pull me off balance, but I was ready. Half a second later, I had him pinned and he grunted as he attempted to thrash himself free.

  “Damn dirty fighter,” he growled.

  I smiled sweetly. “You used to love that about me.” It hurt my heart to banter this way with Deacon like he was merely another disposable vamp. But if I stopped to think too hard about where I was and what I was doing, I knew I’d freeze. He had made it abundantly clear that I shouldn’t trust him to be merciful.

  Now, Victoria, Marcus insisted. Do it. Be strong.

  I clutched the spear and held it above his heart. Deacon smiled up at me. “You look exactly like him,” he said.

  I scowled. “Fuck you.” Stupidly, unable to resist a sudden compulsion that swept over me, I dropped the spear and kissed him. His whole body went rigid. The claws on his hands tore at my coat. It was, I thought with some vague logic, much like kissing a charged wire.

  Until he kissed me back.

  The change that spread through him was ethereal and strange. Something unspeakable fled from him and seemed to dissipate into the chamber. We lay together on the study floor for what seemed like a lifetime of forevers, our lips locked firmly together. When I made myself pull back for air, his eyes opened.

  They were brown.

  “There you are,” I said fondly.

  He said. “I’m sorry, Vic. Shit, I’m so sorry.” Deacon sat up and wrapped his arms around me. “It was me talking, but it wasn’t me. That sick son of a bitch had me trapped in my own head.”

  I nuzzled his neck. “Don’t worry about it. I’m simply glad to have you back.”

  “I’m glad to be back.” He ran his fingers gingerly through my hair. “Real glad.”

  Marcus cleared his throat. In this case, I am more than happy to have judged in error. But I hope you have not forgotten the deranged god who is no doubt still searching for you.

  “Ugh,” I said. “That guy.” I climbed off Deacon and stood. “Stay here. I’m gonna go take care of our big problem in little Indiana.”

  “No way.” He pushed to his feet. “Last time I left your side, I ended up looking like Dracula’s understudy. We’ll do this one together.”

  I smiled at him. “I always hoped you’d be open-minded enough to say that.”

  On the other side of the study door, which had closed in the struggle, a booming voice echoed across the central hall. It was so loud, I barely understood what he had said, but we both knew exactly who had spoken.

  I wondered if the whole damn world could hear him.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Be careful,” Deacon cautioned. We stepped into the hall and kept our heads low. Delano’s voice permeated the whole chamber. He was talking about a grand vision and rebuilding the world from its fetid ashes, or some shit like that. I found it difficult to be too upset about anything now that I had Deacon’s hand safely back in mine. Suddenly, I was positive we could take on two Delanos and beat both to a pulp.

  We would have to be creative, though. The only exit I knew of lay directly ahead and I no longer needed to act recklessly and out of my mind. I tugged on Deacon’s arm and made an upward motion. “Let’s check the roof out.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “The roof?”

  “Yeah. You know. We can look at the stars. And the cornfields. And the dozens of gods who want us dead.”

  He laughed. “Well, shit. I didn’t realize you were such a romantic.”

  I led him up the pillars and once again ignored the bodies I scrambled over.

  Victoria, I have a question, Marcus said. Forgive me if it is too personal. You are not required to answer.

  “Shoot,” I said. “If it’s about Deacon, he can’t hear you anyway, so you’re fine.”

  I only wish to know how you deduced that kissing him would return his mind.

  “Oh.” I shrugged while I continued to climb. “That’s easy. I didn’t. It was a total shot in the dark.” A loose strand of hair fell into my face and I brushed it away. “But I remembered learning that Delano had cut his heart out when he became Lorcan’s Apprenti, and I knew Deacon could never do anything like that. All I did was remind him that he still had it and that I was still there.”

  I see. I…believe that makes sense.

  “Humans are emotional beings at our cores, Marcus. You know that. Our identities lie in the ways we feel. I made him experience what he really felt for me, and what do you know? He came back.”

  Perhaps a useful trick to remember for the future, Marcus said.

  “Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re so funny because you live in a necklace and I can’t hit you. Wait until the next time we’re in Carcerum, buddy.”

  At the top of the pillar, we pulled ourselves over the lip of the hole I’d cut in the skylight.

  Deacon looked down through the glass. “I can’t wait until Delano eats it.”

  “You and me both,” I agreed. On my stomach, I crawled across the roof to the highest point. The scene that unfolded took my breath away in the worst way possible. Hundreds upon thousands of captive humans and Forgotten had been crammed into the holding pen, shoulder to shoulder. There wasn’t enough room to turn around, let alone struggle or rebel. The guards that had circled when I broke out had been posted every few feet along the bars. They never shifted their gazes off the restless horde.

  I, on the other hand, couldn’t direct my eyes anywhere other than Delano. He’d moved and now sat at the bottom of the temple steps as he addressed his literally captive audience. Once I had my first good look at him, I saw that it wasn’t only Deacon who had changed.

  Delano had evolved into a repulsive creature. All sense of form had evaporated and birthed a hideous mountain of flesh. A ponderous belly protruded over thighs studded by strange, knobby appendages. Several arms bristled from his back and their attached hands grasped constantly at nothing. The face that was cold and beautiful a week earlier bore no resemblance to itself anymore. He turned toward us and displayed a mess of eyes, mouths, teeth. Threads of saliva spilled from his lips.

  “Talk about a downgrade,” Deacon muttered. “Looking nasty there, friend.” He paused. “I guess we are all pretty nasty, huh. Sorry.”

  I leaned over and kissed him. “I think I’m already used to it.”

  He cocked his head to the side, puzzled. “I think that makes me feel better,” he responded after a moment’s thought.

  Down below, Delano held the Gladius Solis in a hand with ten fingers on it. The blade swirled with darkness. His whole body rippled, and Delano thrust the weapon into the air. One by one, the gods bowed and the humans and Forgotten in the holding pen followed suit as best they could in the cramped space. I sensed no inkling of protest among those assembled. They all thought it was far too late, that Delano’s plan had run its course without a hitch.

  He laughed loudly and gloated over his subjects. “Good!” he roared. “Submit to me, my wretched servants. I dare you to defy my divine authority.”

  “Okay.” I stood and shouted so he could hear me over the sound of his own voice. “I defy you, Delano.”

  I paused and allowed him time to parse the situation. His countless eyes probed in all directions. When they finally found me, I waved at him and smiled. His expression morphed from smug satisfaction into a whole range of feelings. Rage. Amusement. A touch of apprehension.

  He recovered smoothly and amusement took over. “I hoped you might show your face around here again, deserter. In fact, you could say I had counted on it. Now the people you have forsaken will have the pleasure of watching me strip the flesh from your feeble skeleton. I will wear your living bones as a crown.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Why make a crown when I’ll take your head off anyway?”

  Delano wasn’t fazed in the least un
til I revealed the spear.

  That made him falter visibly. Again, he recovered fast. “I have nothing to fear from you,” he sneered. “A single human, alone in the face of the god to end all gods? I think not.” His smug smile returned in full force. “Even a Solis weapon won’t be enough to defeat an entire army of gods!”

  “That much is true,” I conceded and nodded. “Which is why I’ve brought in an army of my own.” Rather than give him time to react, I aimed the tip of the spear and threw it with all my strength. Delano heaved his grotesque shape out of its path but his evasion was irrelevant. I hadn’t tried to hit him. The spear glided unimpeded to its real target—the center of the gate on the holding pen. Its lock shattered on impact and the gate blew open and thrust the guard detail aside.

  Dead silence reigned. The humans and Forgotten, newly freed, exchanged glances of confusion. They still didn’t dare to speak, so I did it for them.

  “The gods have pitted us against each other for far too long,” I began. Delano hunched, motionless and apparently stunned. “They wanted us to be as a house divided, unable to stand together and so unable to rise up in rebellion. But the days of dividing and conquering end right here, right now. Each one of you before me—be you human, vampire, Were, satyr, or centaur—has a choice to make. You can continue to live the way you are, cowed in fear and solitude by some bullshit, fucked-up god-monster. Or you can join me in the fight right now. We can be rid of assholes like him once and for all.” I gazed out over the multitudes. “To me, the choice is as clear as day but I leave it up to you. Return to the Forgotten or step alongside me and reclaim your freedom. Reclaim your dignity and nobility.”

  They stared at me for a long while, then stared at each other. Finally, they turned as one to stare at the gods. Vengeful hunger blazed in the mob’s collective eyes. And for perhaps the first time in their lives, the gods were undeniably afraid.