Heart of the Phoenix

by A. C. Arthur

  “I am not afraid of him. He can’t hurt me anymore.”

  Thaddeus sighed. He should have expected this. Tayla was not the type to sit idle while someone hurt her but in this case, her bravado was sorely misplaced. “You have no idea what is coming after you. You think it is only your ex-husband but I feel it is so much more.”

  “Whatever, we can fight that too. I will not be bullied by him or his family any longer. And whatever this otherwordly stuff is, I’m sure you can handle it.”

  She looked up at him with such admiration in her eyes, such caring. Thaddeus wanted nothing more than to carry her through the forest and climb back into bed with her. Things seemed so simple when they were in each other’s arms. “I am glad you have complete faith in my abilities. I will fight this force against you with everything that I am, but I want you to stand back and let me handle it.”

  “I will not!” Tayla stood, growing just a bit angry at Thaddeus’ desire to handle everything for her. Jerome had done the same thing. There had been nothing that Tayla could do for herself. She’d had maids for her maids, and chauffeurs, and he’d even had a woman who did her shopping for her. It had been disgusting, and she would not be taken care of again. “I can fight my own battles, and this is definitely my battle.”

  Her hair bounced wildly around her face as she moved and desire slammed heavily in his gut. His blood stirred as her thin jogging pants gave her bottom a little shake when she moved. He gulped and attempted to concentrate on the matter at hand. “It does not matter whose battle it is. This is my job.”

  He spoke calmly without moving. That affected her more than she was ready to admit. He did not rush to argue with her the way Jerome always had. Instead, Thaddeus had a quiet kind of control, one that she fought against admiring or detesting. “Look, Thaddeus,” she began.

  Thaddeus stood and walked to her taking her, by the shoulder. “No. I will not argue with you. I will do whatever is necessary to protect you. All I ask is that you trust me and not put yourself unnecessarily in harm’s way.”

  She had been ready to vehemently state her case, to give him a blistering recitation of how independent she was before he’d come into her life, but all that dwindled away the moment he touched her, the second his gaze locked with hers. She knew then that she was a goner.

  Tayla sighed. “I want you to stay out of my head. It’s not fair that you can see my thoughts and I can’t see yours.”

  A little shocked that she’d said that and amused that she sounded so hurt by it, Thaddeus smiled. “Believe me, you make it very difficult to read your mind, especially now when you are staring at me so intently. But I will endeavor to respect your wishes.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Will you respect mine?”

  He dropped featherlike kisses on each of her eyes, the tip of her nose, her cheeks and now hovered over her lips. Yeah, she was a goner. “Yes, I will.”

  * * *

  Tayla was at her desk handling mundane paperwork when Thaddeus suddenly stood and moved to the window. She watched him watching the grounds and stilled.

  She wondered what he saw, what he felt. He could read her thoughts and as she’d told him earlier today, she wished she could read his too. His stance was solemn, his features set and serious.

  “I could just call him,” Tayla offered.

  Thaddeus turned quickly to face her. “What?”

  She shrugged. “I still have Jerome’s cell phone number. I could just call him and put an end to this cat-and-mouse game once and for all.” That seemed like a plausible solution, although the thought of seeing Jerome again didn’t sit very well with her.

  “No! I do not want you having any contact with him,” Thaddeus said testily.

  “Okay, calm down.” She sighed. “I was just making a suggestion. It doesn’t make sense that we’re sitting here like bait waiting for him to attack. We both know he’s here somewhere. Why don’t we just do something about it?”

  “There is more, I told you. Jerome is not the only threat.”

  “Yes, you keep telling me that, but you’ve never said what the other threat is or how Jerome is connected to it. I know Jerome is a psycho and all that, but I doubt very seriously if he’s connected to this Underworld you mentioned.”

  “There is a connection to the Underworld. I am sure about that. The elders even admitted as much. I just need to figure out what the connection is, and then I can find a way to break it.”

  Outside the windows the sky darkened and low thunder clapped against the panes. Tayla huffed. “And if that’s your father, tell him it’s rude to interrupt when people are talking. And furthermore, he needs to cut it out. I’m sick of the rain already.”

  Thaddeus stared at her quizzically, then found himself smiling. Tayla was unexpected. She said things that he’d never imagine coming out of a mortal’s mouth. And she’d accepted him without too many questions or fanfare. He’d been certain that this morning would be awkward for them. Instead, it had been calm and sweet.

  They’d walked back to her cottage together and shared a quiet breakfast. She hadn’t asked about his transformation and he hadn’t brought it up. A few times he’d thought of reading her mind to see how she really felt about his change but had refrained. She’d asked him not to and unless it was absolutely dire, he would abide by her wishes. Her nonchalant remarks about his father controlling the weather amused him.

  “That would most likely be my uncle, but they travel in pairs these days. I have some other questions for them, but I will definitely remember to deliver your message. Is there anyone else in the building?” he asked.

  Tayla nodded. “Ms. Dudley is here, and most likely Mr. Parsons. He cleans the building on Sundays. Why?”

  “I need to go outside and speak with the elders. Maybe they have some news about Cerberus.”

  Tayla remembered the three-headed dog and tensed just a bit. She didn’t even think Thaddeus had noticed until he came around her desk and knelt in front of her. “Do not be afraid. Cerberus will not leave the forest. He must guard the gates to the Underworld. And I’m guessing that as long as you are not alone, Jerome won’t be making an appearance either. On my way out I’ll send Ms. Dudley up.”

  “I don’t need a babysitter,” she huffed.

  Thaddeus chuckled and took both her hands in his. “I know you don’t. But I will feel better if I know someone is with you. Can you stand it for me?”

  Tayla removed one of her hands from his and brought it to his cheek. “Your skin is smooth, yet I’ve seen it pucker and stretch.” She moved her hand to his eyebrows. “Your eyes are the same; they are calm now, but even when they grow intense, dark and gleaming, I still know it’s you.”

  Thaddeus turned his face into her palm and kissed it. “They are both me. Does that bother you?”

  She liked touching him. Liked the sound of his voice and the feel of his affection being directed at her. Taya sighed. “No. You do not bother me.”

  Thaddeus could have melted right there on the spot. He, the one made of fire and heat, was so taken by her words he felt reduced to nothing. Her cooperation had been vital to his mission to save her. Her acceptance would be vital when he could no longer save himself.

  “I will only be a moment,” he said, then dropped a kiss on her cheek and made his way to the door.

  * * *

  Thaddeus tracked through the trees, listening as his father and uncle bantered a bit more. The mountainside rumbled incessantly. Those two would never quit; for hundreds and hundreds of years they had just kept going.

  They did not share any more news with him about Cerberus, but wanted to tease him over his growing feelings for Tayla. He was not in the mood, and told them so. The one thing his Uncle Zeus said that alarmed him was that Jerome and the Underworld were closer than he thought.

  Thaddeus wasn’t totally sure what that meant, but knew instinctively that it was not good. He had to come up with another way to keep Tayla and the children safe. However, he doubted the child
ren were in direct danger. Everything, the black energy, Cerberus, the approach of the Death One at the hot springs, were all geared to Tayla. She was the cause and the answer.

  Thaddeus reached the door of the school building just as the screams started.

  He took the steps two and three at a time. There was a faster way, but he didn’t need anyone to see him and have to give an explanation. The noise was coming from the direction of the cafeteria, and when he pushed through the double swinging doors he found three women, Tayla included, standing on top of the tables while two men held brooms swishing them across the floor…across the army of snakes that drifted slowly through the room.

  Thaddeus took another step and almost crushed one of the slimy creatures. They were small, probably of the garden snake variety, but the women were screeching nonetheless. The men and their brooms were serving no purpose but to make Thaddeus chuckle. Gingerly, he stepped on any available spot in the floor until he reached the table.

  “Give me your hand and I will get you out of here,” he said to Ms. Dudley first.

  “I am not stepping off this table. Do you see all those…those things?”

  The hissing grew louder as Ms. Dudley’s discomfort and anger alarmed the snakes.

  “Yes ma’am, I see them. And just as soon as I get you out of here, I’m going to take care of them. Now just give me your hand.”

  “Young man, you may have some sort of pull with Ms. Hampton but I am not easily—”

  She was still arguing when Thaddeus reached over, grabbed her at the knees and lifted her from the table. He tossed her over his shoulder and crept back out of the cafeteria. On the other side of the double doors, he set her down on the floor and turned away from her before she could speak another word. She’d have an earful for him later, he knew.

  Mrs. Shayne was much easier to persuade. He simply extended his hand and she took it. He carried her to safety, then returned for Tayla. To her credit she didn’t look scared, just mildly annoyed.

  “I always end up in your arms,” she breathed against his neck when he cradled her, unlike the way he’d carried the other women.

  “That’s where you belong,” he told her simply.

  Once all three of the women were safely in the hallway, he instructed them to go to Tayla’s office and stay there until he came for them. When he turned back to the cafeteria, he found the snakes had begun crawling up the walls, looking for a way out. The room was empty, the brooms having already abandoned the effort and fled. Thaddeus grimaced, waited a few more minutes until he thought the women were safely down the hall, then pulled his athame from the back band of his pants.

  With one long flourish of his arm, a line of fire spewed throughout the room, singeing the reptiles. The sizzle of their skin frying under the intense heat filled the room. Thaddeus swung his arm in the other direction and then again behind him, until all of them were on fire, falling from the wall, curling into twisting, black corpses. Even as they burned he heard the sick ugly laughter, the cruelty almost shattering the windows. He didn’t have to ask where it had come from or who was behind this little episode. Before the school burned to smithereens, Thaddeus took a deep breath and blew lightly into the air. Water flowed down from the ceiling in steady streams, effectively stopping the fire.

  It would stink in here, the children would not be able to eat in here for a few days yet, but the snakes were gone. As he walked to Tayla’s office he wondered if he’d have to tell her that the snakes were a scare tactic used by immortals who were preparing for war.

  * * *

  “Okay, so what the hell was that?” Tayla asked the moment he walked into her office. The first thing he noticed, causing another spike of alarm, was that she was alone.

  “What happened to Ms. Dudley and Mrs. Shayne?”

  “They were upset, they wanted to go home.” She was sitting at her desk tapping a pen on the blotter.

  He could have pressed the point with her but knew it would be pointless. “What were you doing when the snakes appeared?” Thaddeus closed the door and came to sit in the chair across from her desk.

  She stared at him a minute, wondering if she should go ahead and answer his question first. It seemed that every time she asked Thaddeus a question, she was answered with a question of his. That would explain why she never got all the answers she searched for. Today would probably be no different.

  “We were all sitting at the table talking about the menus. Ms. Dudley heard it first, the hissing sound, and began looking around. We all thought Monty had let Igor loose again. Then Mrs. Shayne saw something beneath one of the tables. Then there was another and another until they were all over the place.” Tayla cringed at the memory. “You know where they came from, don’t you?” She knew Thaddeus now, knew his moods and his changes, as if she’d been with him forever. He knew something. Either his father had told him something or the snakes had been another clue. Either way, he was going to tell her.

  “Tell me, Thaddeus,” she demanded, her eyes trained on his.

  “I’m not sure what it means.” He looked away from her. At times Tayla gave him the impression that she could read his mind, and while he’d sworn off doing the same to her, that wouldn’t stop her from pushing until she got her answers. He didn’t want to tell her what he thought—didn’t want to go in to what he suspected because that would surely frighten her. The possibility frightened him.

  “Okay, you’re not sure.” Tayla decided to switch tactics. She stood and came around her desk to stand behind him. She rubbed between his shoulder blades in small soothing circles. His muscles were taut and firm beneath her hands and oh-so-arousing. It took her a few heated moments to get hold of herself and to not think of the time they’d spent together last night, the intimacy, the connecting. There was more going on right now.

  “Tell me what you think it is, Thaddeus. This involves me too. I can’t continue to walk around knowing only half the story. How can I protect myself if I’m ignorant of what’s going on around me?” she pleaded.

  “I am the one who will protect you,” he said through clenched teeth.

  His body felt like steel, rigid and unyielding, and very warm beneath her palms. She continued to caress him because she needed this connection just as much as he did. She was not afraid when she was with him and he, although he would never admit it, seemed to calm when she was close to him. Thaddeus was a Greek god, which was ten times worse than a mortal male with a country-sized ego. He would not readily admit his weaknesses, but Tayla sensed them nevertheless.

  “I know that you will protect me. But it might help if you talked to me. You know, brainstormed a bit. Tell me what you think it is and we’ll work out the possibilities. Together.”

  His shoulders relaxed, although he’d fought it the moment she first touched him. He did not want her touch to mean as much as it did. But he was helpless to stop it. She’d continued to touch him, even after he’d yelled, after he’d known his body had changed a bit because of his growing rage over seeing those snakes so close to her. She did not shy away, nor did she shriek from being burned. She said she did not have any problems with him, and now she was showing him exactly that.

  Thaddeus turned and cupped her face in his hands. Staring down into her eyes, he saw something he hadn’t thought he’d ever see. His mate. He tilted her head, lightly kissed her lips, then reluctantly pulled away and whispered, “I just don’t want you to be afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid.”

  Thaddeus paused, studied her enchanting features, and sighed. “You are. I can see it in your eyes. But that’s okay. Fear can be healthy. It can be a good thing. It can keep you on your toes and aware of everything happening around you.” His thumbs brushed over her lips and he realized how much he liked the simple act of kissing her. “Or it can get you killed, and I refuse to let that happen.”

  Her arms went around his waist and she laid her face against his massive chest. “My protector,” she whispered. “Don’t you realize that
I’ll eventually find out and being unprepared may be the death of me instead?”

  Her hair was loose today and Thaddeus stroked it. He’d told her how much better he liked it hanging loose. It shone like the finest silk, that beautiful reddish orange color that he loved. Holding her in his arms, he felt an overwhelming urge to nurture, to protect, to keep her with him forever. In that moment he knew that he loved her, knew that the feeling he’d waited for all his life had finally come to surface. Tayla Hampton was the woman he loved, the mortal he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

  “Thaddeus, please tell me.”

  He took a deep breath, moved them over to her new sofa and eased her down beside him. Keeping her hands in his, he looked into her eyes. “This is going to be hard for you to believe.”

  Tayla removed one of her hands from his, lifted it to his cheek. “Harder to believe than you?” She gave him a wry smile.

  Thaddeus smiled in return. She had a point there. “Okay, but remember, you wanted to know this.” He thought back to his home, to the battles and petty jealousy that had plagued his kind for centuries. “There was a curse once, placed on a woman who seduced a very powerful man. This curse was handed down by one of the man’s other mistresses, as you mortals call them. The curse was hair of snakes and a face so ugly that if you looked at it you would turn to stone.”

  Tayla shivered, then vaguely recounted the story in her head. “Medusa? That was her name, right?”

  “Yes, that was her name.” He rubbed his thumbs along the backs of her hand. “I think the snakes are a symbol. A sign of what is to come.”

  “So my hair is going to be turned to snakes? How does this relate to Jerome?”

  That was the part Thaddeus had yet to figure out. “What most people don’t know is that Medusa was a mortal. She was a beautiful woman who attracted the wrong man.” Thaddeus kept the identity of that man to himself, more out of embarrassment than anything else. “Turning her hair into snakes and disfiguring her face was only the beginning. Eventually her head was cut off and the flesh flayed from her body.”