“Agreed. Once that has been accomplished, the rest will be up to Khara and me.”
“So how do we get him here?” Kierson asked. “And how do we make it so he can’t take off with you?”
“You have an army of dead, do you not?” she asked. Kierson nodded. “They cannot be controlled, as Khara already knows. Phobos fears the dead for this reason.”
“And he should fear us, too, since his mindfucking doesn’t work on us anymore,” Casey added.
“Then you might be more helpful than I expected.”
“He won’t come here if he knows the dead are waiting,” Drew pointed out.
“No, he will not, which is why we need to make it appear as though he is not walking into an ambush.”
“The Tenth Circle could work,” Oz suggested. “He nearly nabbed her there once. It’s full of distraction—”
“Like humans and other supernaturals,” Drew argued but Oz continued unfazed.
“—and if we keep the fallen PC hidden throughout, he won’t notice them.”
“Perhaps,” she mused, “but you could not be there. You would be a sure sign of an ambush.”
“Khara isn’t going in there without me.”
“Khara wouldn’t be—I would.”
“One and the same until you’ve been evicted,” he countered.
“We need to talk to Cass and the others about the logistics of this,” Drew said, heading for the door.
“It is doable,” Pierson said, following behind, “but it will take time to put together.”
“We have a little time,” Drew replied as he cast a wary glance over his shoulder. “What we won’t have is a second chance.”
Casey and Kierson hesitated for a moment before they, too, left Oz’s room, leaving the Dark One to face off against Eos. Silence lingered for a moment as the two stared at one another. Then Eos finally broke it.
“Why do you care for her so much?” she asked with genuine curiosity. “She and I are not so different. We are both bringers of karma—beings of balance and justice. Creatures of the grey. Is it not possible that, if I were to stay, you would one day come to care for me as you do her?”
Oz stared at her for a moment before laughter escaped him, a low, booming sound that grew in volume and strength. “Not a fucking chance.”
Eos canted her head at him as she closed the distance between them. “You think it impossible.”
“Because it is impossible.”
She smiled as she pressed against him, lips brushing his neck. Then she slowly lifted her face to stare into those fiery brown eyes. “I see why she cares for you—why her connection to you is so strong.”
“What can I say? I’m a real catch,” he replied dryly. “And I’ve got a big dick, too. That never hurts.”
She rubbed against his thigh and groaned at the thought of him using that big dick on her. “Do not tempt me, Oz. It has been a long time…” Her fingers trailed down his chest to the edge of his leather pants. She toyed with the waistband, tugging to see if she could slip her hand inside—to see if Oz wanted what she offered. His expression gave nothing away. “Would it be so awful to lose her to me? I can feel how she feels for you. I could do the same—I have never felt anything quite like it before—”
“You mean you didn’t share your brother’s affections?” His acerbic tone bit her like a snake. “I’m sure the fear god has his charms—the fact that he’s your brother notwithstanding.”
Her grip on the waist of his pants tightened. “I never wanted anything to do with him.”
“Then that’s some shit luck, especially given the fact that, even after your death, he still wants you.”
Her fingers loosened and began stroking along the top edge of his pants. “Perhaps you could help with that—help deter his efforts.”
“And how do you suggest I do that?”
“Treat me as you do her. Protect me as you do her. Love me as you do her—”
“No—”
“I am already her in almost every way possible. We look alike,” she said as her hand inched down inside his pants, and my anger raged. “Sound alike…”
Before she could reach her intended target, Oz’s hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her away with a gentleness that surprised me.
“You may look like Khara,” he said, his voice soft but warning, “and sound like Khara. You may even feel and smell and taste like Khara. But you will never be Khara.”
He released her and moved to walk away, but Eos’ words stopped him short. “And if I fuck like her? What then?”
Oz looked over his shoulder and smirked at her the way he had me the night we met. “Nobody fucks like Khara.”
With nothing else to add, he disappeared through the bedroom door, leaving Eos behind, frustrated and fuming.
And me smiling wickedly inside her.
22
Eos seemed all too happy to slink away after being rebuffed by Oz. While she licked her wounds, I headed downstairs to where the others sat in the living room with Cass and some of the other fallen brothers, discussing a plan for The Tenth Circle. Oz leaned against the newel post and watched me like a hawk as I descended the stairs.
I reached the floor and stopped beside him. “All is well, Oz. Eos is gone, for now.”
“I really hate the ‘for now’ portion of that statement.”
“As do I.”
“I don’t trust her,” he added.
“I trust that she and I share the same goal—for now.”
His folded arms fell to his sides as he turned to face me. “Say that phrase again and we’re going to have a problem, new girl.”
“Would you two knock it the fuck off and focus?” Casey growled. Drew’s expression tightened with frustration, but he continued on without reprimand.
“You were saying, Cass?”
“Right. We have several PC members who would be perfect for blending into the crowd as a result of their particular magic and abilities. Two are capable of creating shields of invisibility as well, which should be able to hide multiple others. The fear god will not be able to see past them, and his inability to penetrate our minds will only ensure that further.”
“But what about us?” Kierson asked. “Can we be hidden behind them? Because she sure as fuck isn’t going in there without us.”
“Zeke assures me he can do that, so we’ll use him for that task. The question is where?”
As I listened to them discuss strategy, my phone began buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out to see Sean’s name flashing on the screen.
“Hello Sean,” I said as I stepped into the foyer.
“Khara. I heard what happened with Ares. Are you all right?”
“I am fine.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come before, but things have finally settled down here, for the moment. I’ll be there soon. I want to see you—and Mother.”
“She is not here, but Oz assures me she will be back soon.”
“Great.” He hesitated for a second, and I wondered if he had reservations about us seeing one another. I may have forgiven him, but things were still tense.
“Is there something else?” I asked.
“Yeah…” he replied, hesitating. “I heard about Ares. About all of it. The boys told me everything.”
His emphasis on the last word implied something deeper than Ares absconding with me. Something deeper and darker—like Ares’ plan for me to usurp him.
“Ah, I see. That everything—”
“Tell me one thing, Khara: why did you keep it secret from me?”
“Because I feared what you would do if you knew. What action you might take.”
“I see,” he said, weighing my answer. “I’ll see you soon, Sister.”
He hung up without saying goodbye, and I turned to find Oz lingering behind me.
“Sean’s coming, I assume?” he asked, eyes narrowed at me in suspicion.
“He is.”
“He didn’t sound happy.”
/> “All is still not well between us.”
“And might never be.”
I nodded. “He would like to see Mother. Could you track her down before he arrives? Before all this madness begins?”
He hesitated for a moment, his reservation plain in the set of his brow. “I’ll go, but nobody had better do a fucking thing until I get back,” he said, turning to everyone else in the room. “Is that clear?”
“Shut the fuck up and just go already,” Casey replied, sounding exasperated by Oz’s attempt to run the show.
“We will not move until you return,” I said.
“There will be hell to pay if you do.” He headed for the front door without another word, then disappeared.
“Not sure how you put up with that one,” Kierson said with a shake of his head.
“Oz is an acquired taste.”
“That you’ve clearly acquired,” Casey said with a laugh. “You’re either masochistic or a saint, Khara. Not sure which it is.”
I walked back into the room with a mischievous smile. “Perhaps a bit of both. Now, let us finalize this plan so that we are ready to relay it when Sean arrives and Oz returns.”
Before we had the chance to do that, the front door flew open. I had just settled onto the couch next to Kierson when Thomas rushed inside, eyes wild with confusion.
“It’s Sean,” he shouted as he ran through the foyer. “He’s outside.”
“There is no need for alarm, Thomas,” I replied calmly. “I just spoke to him. We knew he was coming.”
“No,” he said, and the worry in his voice inspired my own. “Not like this.”
I soon found myself and the others rushing through the front door to find Sean standing in the street just beyond the property. Behind him was a veritable army of what I could only assume were PC brothers I had not yet met.
Why they had accompanied him was a mystery.
“Brother,” I said, stepping off the porch, “has something happened?”
“You tell me,” he replied, his voice as cool as his jet-black stare.
“There is nothing to tell, which is why I cannot help but wonder why you have come with the others.”
That dark stare narrowed, and he took a step closer. His battalion followed suit. I looked on as Cass and the fallen PC brothers formed a line along the property—forces to match those of our leader. They held fast as Sean continued forward.
My concern blossomed to fear.
“Sean—Brother—tell me why you are here.”
“I came to hear you say it.”
My brow furrowed in confusion. “Say what?” I asked, allowing that confusion to bleed into my tone.
Anger flared in his eyes. “That you intend to usurp me. That you have conspired with Ares to accomplish that very end. That you have betrayed me—”
“But I have done no such thing,” I argued, moving toward where my ghostly brothers defended the property. “I told Ares I wanted nothing to do with his plan. Casey, Kierson, Pierson…Oz. They were all there. They can attest to that.”
He canted his head. “As though they wouldn’t lie to protect you.”
“I sure as fuck would,” Oz said just before his feet hit the ground, followed by several others, “but I don’t need to. I stood and watched with a smile on my face as she told Ares to go fuck himself—or something to that effect.” He inched up to my side, his wings spread wide in a show of aggression. He and my twin had so much unfinished business that I feared the two of them were little more than gunpowder and a match. “Khara told me of Ares’ offer just after he made it. I told her to do it if it meant getting the secret of how to kill the Pho-fucker, but she refused. In fact, she refused multiple times, to her own detriment, because, for some fucking reason I can’t begin to fathom, she loves you—even though you don’t deserve it.”
I spared a glance at him and found those warm brown eyes staring back at me. Then I looked past his wing to see Kaine and Raze poised and ready for the fight I prayed Oz had just defused.
And then my mother.
“Yes,” she said with all the parental anger the situation warranted. She looked at the mob of PC brothers beyond him and seemed to know that nothing good could come of it. “What’s going on?”
He looked at her as though who and what she was did not even register—as though he were not seeing his mother for the first time—then turned his black eyes back to me.
“If you want to take my birthright from me, Khara, you’ll have to kill me—and we both know that can’t happen—”
“What the fuck—”
“—and anyone who stands beside you will be cut down in the process,” Sean said, cutting Kierson off.
“Sean—” my mother started, only to be interrupted.
“Choose your side wisely,” he said as he surveyed my brothers. Our mother. Oz. “You’ll have only a moment to choose.”
“We don’t need any time,” Casey growled as Sean took a step back toward his army of PC.
“We don’t need anything,” Drew said as Sean pushed his hair back with both hands and tucked it behind his ears before drawing his weapons.
“Well, I need a moment,” a male shouted from somewhere in the crowd of angry brothers before me. Seconds later, Muses emerged from the horde of warriors and hurried onto the lawn. “So sorry about that, Sister. He didn’t exactly apprise us of what this was all about before he started in on you. I assumed this had to do with the fear god’s nonsense, but it seems as though you’ve been keeping secrets from me,” he said with a smile. “And juicy ones, at that.”
“Have you decided?” Sean yelled, blades crushed in his grip.
“I never had any intention of betraying my twin,” I argued.
Muses’ serpent’s smile widened. “Pity, that. Sean and I have never really been…close.”
“You fucking hate each other,” Casey snarled, his blades gripped tight in his hands.
“Hence why I’m here now,” Muses replied before pushing in next to Drew.
“Get in line,” Oz said, daring a glance down the row of warriors at Muses. “If anyone’s kicking Sean’s ass, it’s me. I still owe him a beating—”
“No one will be kicking anyone’s ass,” I argued, “because this is madness. I did not...”
My words fell dead on my tongue as reality slapped me. Madness was exactly what this was. And I knew from whom it came.
I rushed toward my twin, only to be stopped by the fallen PC brothers before me.
“Sean, this is not you. This is Phobos. He is tricking you—messing with your mind. If you would just let me into your head, I could—”
“Could what, Khara?” he snapped. “Use your tricks on me? Render me unconscious so you could fly off with my incapacitated body in your arms and dump me into the Oudeis, just as Ares wants?”
I shook my head as I tried to inch closer. But the barrier of warriors would not budge.
“I would sooner see myself locked in there for eternity than place that fate on any of my brothers.” My anger and conviction rang out through the neighborhood, but my words fell on deaf ears. I could not break Phobos’ hold on him without touching him, and neither he, nor those standing next to me, would allow that.
The cards had long since been dealt.
And Phobos had played his hand well.
Before I could protest any further, Sean pulled something from his pocket and placed it in his ears. Shiny gold flickered in the dying light of the sun, just like it had in the ears of the Light Ones we had attacked at the Hallowed Gates.
Which is why Drew’s command to stand down did not work—why his order to stop did little more than wash over the mob of his brothers-in-arms like a slow breeze.
“Why isn’t it working?” he asked, confusion in his tone, because he had no memory of the attack that had left him dying in my arms in the Jade Plains—had no idea how Phobos had enabled our enemy then.
And was doing so again now.
“Time’s up,” Sean yel
led, his disappointment in the others plain. “I see. Then you have chosen death.”
Without another word, he lunged at the fallen PC who stood fast, blades slicing through the air. Those whose minds Phobos controlled followed behind him, the roar of battle echoing through the otherwise vacant neighborhood. The clash of metal and the stench of magic filled the air around us as we readied ourselves for the onslaught. For even with an army of dead on our side, we were woefully outnumbered by an enemy we did not wish to slay.
23
“We have to break Phobos’ hold on Sean’s mind,” Muses shouted over the din.
“That alone will not stop this,” I replied.
“Maybe not, but it sure as fuck will help,” Oz said, the tension in his tone clear.
“We need a plan,” Kierson called out as the wall of fallen PC began to buckle and fold as they held the line running through the middle of our quiet neighborhood.
“The plan is to do whatever is necessary to buy Khara and Muses time to stop this,” Drew said, sounding every bit the leader he was; the one who had been sorely missed in his absence. “We carve a path through their numbers and hold them off while these two work.” He cast Muses and me a wary glance. “Hopefully, that will be enough. Hopefully, we won’t have to lose too many of our own to make it happen.”
“Well, let’s get at it,” Oz growled as Sean sliced through a fallen PC warrior, who disappeared from sight. While I worried about his fate, Sean surged toward me and was met with the tip of a black wing that swooped over my head to block him.
“Oz!” I shouted, afraid of what he would do.
“I got this, new girl. Trust me.”
That was the last thing I heard him say before the fray broke through and a full-fledged war broke out in the decayed streets of Detroit. One that pitted brother against brother. One that would see death before I could stop it.
I felt Kierson, Pierson, Casey, and Drew fall in around Muses and me to form a ring of protection as we pushed forward into the melee. Sean tried desperately to surpass Oz to reach me, but the Dark One would have none of it—and neither would our mother. She rushed to Oz’s side in an attempt to keep him from harming her child—and to keep Sean from reaching me. But it was I who had a plan to separate him from the pack so that I could steal his mind back from Phobos.
Unbound Page 17
