He fumbled around in a dark haze, shaking hands with people and accepting their condolences, but it all made him feel numb. What did ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ even mean? Was it supposed to make him feel better? If that was the case, why did he feel worse each time someone muttered it to him?
Soon they were all gone except for Geoff, Kofi, Carter and Ciro. Christophe just felt drained. Geoff was speaking with the funeral director because heaven knew Christophe didn’t have a mind to. Ciro wrapped his arms around Christophe’s shoulders and he simply slumped against Ciro’s side.
They remained silent until Geoff returned. “I was just making sure things were good with the funeral and everything was paid for,” Geoff explained.
Christophe managed a small smile.
“It was a beautiful ceremony,” Carter Olabasu-Pyktis said, rubbing Christophe’s back gently. “I think she would have liked it.”
“I hope so. She didn’t really like people fussing over her.”
Ciro nodded. “Yes, I remember the first time I met her. She wouldn’t let me give her my chair.”
They chuckled softly at the memory.
“The first words she ever said to me,” Geoff reminisced, “I remember, I walked into the house behind Christophe. My backpack was about two sizes bigger than I was. She looked at me with this surprised look on her face and said ‘Lawd, Jesus, help me. This boy needs to eat more!’”
The group laughed.
“Yes. She was always doing that,” Christophe agreed. “Always feeding people. She loved having visitors come over. And when they did, she spoiled them rotten. Her motto was the guest comes first.”
They stopped for a moment, silence flowing around them.
“We’ll wait for you in the car?” Kofi asked, interrupting the peace.
“Thanks…”
Geoff hugged Christophe tightly. “If you want me to stay…”
“No.” Christophe returned the embrace. “I need a moment.”
“Okay. But… I’ll just be right”—Geoff stopped and thumbed over his shoulder—“in that car.”
Christophe nodded and Geoff jogged off to catch up with the others. He didn’t look away from their retreating backs until long after they’d climbed into the black Town Car, one of many Kofi had rented for the occasion. After the door closed, Christophe refocused his attention on his mother’s grave. The brown box held his mother after the cancer had finished with her. She’d lost so much weight from the chemo and the medications they had her on that by the end, Christophe almost didn’t recognize her. At one point he’d thought for sure she’d wither away. Her warmth and her smile were still there—that was how Christophe held on to who she was.
The blue rose he had in his hand was the final thing to go in with her. The beautiful flowers were her favorite, and though times had been tough before Kofi had helped him out, at least once a week he’d stopped at the florist and got her one just to see her smile.
“I don’t know if you would want me to be sad right now, Mom,” Christophe whispered. “But I feel like the world is ending. I feel… I don’t get why such horrible things happen to good people and I don’t know if I ever will understand but I love you, Mom.”
He dropped the rose on the grave and bowed his head in silent prayer.
“There is no greater pain than losing a mother.”
Christophe swung around at the sudden voice. He blinked at the man standing beside him, dark hair pulled back and silver-blue eyes that seemed supernatural somehow. The stranger also looked familiar—he reminded Christophe of Ciro. “Who are you?”
“I do not mean to intrude. I am Koi, Ciro’s brother. I know you do not know me, but I am here to pay my respects.”
“Why?”
Koi turned to look at the coffin. “Because my brother mourns this woman. For that to happen, she had to have been great.”
Christophe smiled. “She was. Ciro was always kind to her. Thank you for coming.”
“Yes. I should give you some alone time…”
“No.” Christophe declined with a shake of his head. “Being alone here makes me confused. If you don’t mind…”
“I do not.”
For a long moment, Christophe stood beside this stranger, feeding from his strength and feeling like an idiot. But he couldn’t help it. He needed all the support he could get. When Kofi had suggested he take some time alone, Christophe had thought for sure that was what he needed. But as he remained still, listening to the sound of wind hissing through the leaves and limbs of the weeping willows around them, all he felt was alone and broken.
He wasn’t sure how long he remained like that, but after a while, someone touched his shoulder.
“Are you ready to go?” Kofi asked.
“I…” Christophe glanced around to see that Koi was walking away, his long black coat blowing behind him. He pulled from Kofi’s arms and jogged after him. “Koi…”
Koi stopped and turned slightly to gaze at Christophe over a shoulder.
“Thank you,” Christophe whispered. His voice cracked on the words. “Thank you.”
Koi nodded slightly and continued on. After watching him for a little while, Christophe took a breath and went back to Kofi. “Okay, I think I should go home. I’m exhausted, but I haven’t been able to sleep for a while now.”
“Why don’t you stay with us?” Kofi asked. “We have plenty of room and Osaki won’t mind.”
“Thanks,” Christophe told him. “But I have tons to do still. Besides, you two are engaged. I’m sure you don’t need me hanging around the place.”
“Come on, you’re mourning your mother. We wouldn’t mind having you. You’re family now, so remember that.”
Christophe nodded. “But I do have plenty to do.”
“There is no need to get everything today. Some things can wait.”
“Yeah, but if I’m not going to sleep I will have to do something—especially with all the casseroles in my fridge right now. I hate the things, but the neighbors and Mom’s church sisters keep bringing them.”
“All right. We’ll drop you home but if you need anything…”
Christophe nodded. “I know.”
On the ride back to his mother’s place, no one spoke. They all sat in the car with only air squeezing its way through them. Christophe rested his elbow on the window and inhaled deeply. Suddenly he had all this time on his hands—he’d rather have his mother. Even though he knew she couldn’t have lived forever, he wasn’t ready to lose her. He wasn’t ready to be on the face of the earth alone. Christophe knew he wasn’t prepared. His eyes burned with tears and soon they toppled down his cheeks and splashed off his chin against his jacket.
Chapter One
The North Shores
“This is the second time Poseidon has had to save the Red Sea nations.” Koi sat in deep conversation with Ares and Hercules. “I don’t understand what is going on.”
“None of us get this, Koi,” Hercules said. “I was tempted to seek Zeus’ assistance in figuring out this mystery but we all know the end result of that.”
Koi scoffed.
“Our father has all these powers,” Hercules continued. “Yet he sits back and allows all these horrible things to befall us.”
Koi was tired of his father’s indiscretions coming back to haunt him and his siblings. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. He was tired of the fighting, of having to take lives since there was usually no other alternative. He rose, approached one of the massive windows and stared out at his mother’s garden.
“I do not understand,” Koi repeated more to himself than to Hercules. “What else do we have to do to prove that we want no trouble, that we mean no harm? Sometimes I wish we were never born.”
“Don’t say that,” Ares said. “I, for one, am happy to have you.”
Koi shook his head. “This is getting out of hand and with all the fighting and the death we have experienced already…”
“As I said,” Hercules began, “it
is only a rumor.”
“There is no such thing on Mount Olympus and you know it! They might as well have put up a billboard that says ‘We want Shivers dead!’ Since Zeus sired us, there’s been a target on our backs and everyone wants to cash in. There is absolutely nothing we can do short of blowing up Mount Olympus—and even then we would still be screwed.”
“You know we won’t let anything bad happen to you, right?” Hercules asked. He stood close to Koi now. “You have us and we have your back for as long as you want and longer. Yes, no one knows better than me that having Zeus’ blood flowing through your veins means a horrid life sentence. So trust me when I say this—you cannot continue to live your life worrying about what may come. Let us face it when it gets here.”
“It is not so simple.” Koi bowed his head. “Sometimes love is not enough. This is one of those times.”
“You can’t mean that,” Ares added. “Koi, it has to be enough. We deserve to be happy too, even if our father is a man whore.”
“I was hoping to find someone, settle down,” Koi admitted. “Be happy like my brother and Osaki.”
“What’s stopping you?” Hercules asked. “You still can! I mean, look at me.”
“How can I bring someone into this? Herc, you, better than everyone else, know how bringing an outsider into this family will end. They tortured your mother, made you kill your children, brainwashed your wife into killing you—how can you not see what I mean?”
“And you’re right,” Hercules said. “I get that, and no matter how many years pass, what they did was and will always unforgivable. But you cannot take on that worry, that guilt or that shame.”
Koi shook his head. “I fear that is where you are wrong, brother.” Koi lifted his head then and stared at a particular flower his mother had taken to calling Kyria. “There is no happiness for me now. Maybe if Zeus’ blood wasn’t flowing through my veins I’d have a chance. But if we’re being honest, we’d admit there is a never-ending battle being waged, and with Osaki and Ciro out, it is left up to me.”
“What nonsense, brother!” Hercules snapped. “You must know the first people to be by your side in a fight are Ciro and Osaki.”
Koi swung to face his brother. “They will want to. There is no questioning their love for me or their loyalty. But we both know they have more to live for now than before. It wouldn’t be right dragging them into a war, away from their families.”
“Koi, you can’t mean that. What’s more important than your brother?” Ares wanted to know.
“Love,” Koi replied, simply. “Love.”
Hercules sucked his teeth. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
Koi shrugged and turned to the window again. He folded his arms across his chest and took a breath. “If someone is truly after me, this is my fight.”
“There is no such thing as ‘my fight’ here, Koi,” Hercules informed him. “Like it or not, we are family. All we have is each other. If they’re coming for you, they’re coming for me. That’s just how it is.”
“No.”
“This is not a debate, Koi,” Hercules said. “It is not a democracy.”
Ares lifted a hand to silence the younger demi-god, and Hercules frowned.
“Well, we are here whether you need us or not,” Ares told Koi. “We will not let you do this alone.”
Koi gave him a smile then walked toward the exit. Before stepping through the door, he vanished into the cool mist of the North Shores, appearing again in the sands by the Okeanós Sea. The wind caused his trench coat to flap about his ankles. As he stared out at the water, the waves dancing back and forth like a lullaby, Koi accepted his fate. Ciro had taken care of Koi ever since they were children. He’d battled with Zeus and all those who would try to harm Koi or anyone else in their family.
Zeus had never claimed them—not really. He stayed away for the most part. Sometimes, Koi could feel his father lurking nearby, watching, and Koi never knew why. Sometimes he told himself he didn’t care what Zeus’ reasons had been. Other times he wanted to know so he could take away said reason.
It was a sad existence knowing he had a father who didn’t love him. With a deep breath, he left the calmness of the waves and when he stepped into existence again, it was on Earth. He was in the middle of the Nyiri Desert. He wasn’t sure why he’d gone there, but something had pulled him from his destination of Ciro’s home that Ciro now shared with his husband, Carter. He glanced around. Koi was alone with garbage swirling in the unruly wind. Dirt stung at the exposed skin of his face, and he had to duck as a large barrel narrowly missed him.
Koi glanced upward. The sky looked dark and ominous. Though he was certain the humans couldn’t see the lightning crackling above the clouds, Koi was a Shiver and could feel the electricity from them as it sizzled through his eyes.
But nothing came from above. Instead, in the distance, walking toward him, was a man dressed in a gray suit with a long sword by his side. This person was not friendly—Koi sensed it.
Koi growled and shoved his hand, palm down, toward the ground. Though he wanted to use his guns, one never brought a gun to knife fight. When his sword appeared, he wrapped his fingers around the hilt and braced himself, waiting for the attack to come.
The newcomer was an immortal, created by Zeus to fight in a war that had long since been forgotten. Now they sold their services to the highest bidder, usually to people who meant no good. There was no loyalty there, no trust. Koi tilted his head. “What do you want?”
“Your head.”
“So sorry. I am kind of attached to it at the moment.”
“That is not my concern,” the man snarled.
“Well, I am very glad we got that out of the way.” Koi straightened his back and lifted his blade to point directly at the man. “Try to take it.”
The fight was on.
It carried them from the middle of the Nyiri Desert closer to a small town. It worried Koi, but he couldn’t focus on that now. He had to concentrate on staying alive. Though the immortal didn’t have any real powers, he was fast and strong. “I really hope they are paying you a lot for this,” Koi said, dodging a blow and following it up with a kick to the immortal’s chest. “Because this will cost you your life.”
Their swords clashed together, sparking in the wind. Koi frowned and lifted his free hand to calm the air before lunging forward. He missed and received a fist to the chest for his carelessness. He rolled across the space and crashed into a car. He groaned and arched upward in pain. That was all the breathing room he got, for his attacker had jumped in the air and was coming in for a landing, the point of the sword down toward Koi’s throat. He quickly rolled out of the way and listened as the immortal landed on the roof of the car. There was a tearing sound as the blade sliced through the metal, followed by a loud bang of the windows exploding from the force.
Lifting his coat as a shield, Koi turned away to avoid getting a face full of glass then soared in the air. He flipped and attacked again. This time he knew what he was doing and caught the immortal by the throat. Squeezing tightly, he pushed higher and higher in the sky, their eyes locked. The immortal’s sword clattered to the pavement for he needed both hands to scratch at Koi’s.
“Tell me who you work for,” Koi demanded.
“No.”
“This is a rather strange time to be loyal, don’t you think?”
Still the immortal said nothing.
“And you are certain you will not reconsider?” Koi asked. “If I were in your position, I would definitely rethink my stance.”
Silence met Koi’s words.
“Well, I guess you are of no use to me,” Koi snarled.
He stopped his ascent, twisted his body and began pushing his attacker back toward the ground. The immortal flailed. He cried out, but Koi wasn’t having any of it. He slammed the immortal into the ground, hearing the snap of the man’s neck. Knowing that would only take him out for a moment, he quickly swirled away then brought his sword slicin
g through the immortal’s throat.
Koi took a breath and looked up at the sky.
The witch in Macbeth was right— something wicked this way comes…
Chapter Two
The day was filled with errands, property viewings and a whole slew of other errands. Christophe Sidler wasn’t sure when they’d become such a huge part of his life. Since his mother’s death, it seemed everything was a lot more complicated and the world spun faster. Small issues became the biggest mountains, for he couldn’t seem to stop stressing over the small stuff without her. Still, whenever he felt himself getting down or becoming drained, he just had to think of Mary Sidler and the world became manageable again.
After parking his car beside Kofi Olabasu’s, he dumped his keys into his pocket and darted into the building. The new security guard waved at him and Christophe returned the greeting with a mock salute then ducked into the elevator. The ride up to the thirtieth floor didn’t take very long and soon he was whistling as he made his way past the secretary.
“Christophe!” Abigail called.
She was new as the last secretary had decided to return to school, so they’d had to hire someone else. “I got something for you.”
That piqued his interest, so he leaned against the counter with an arched eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What?”
Abigail handed over an envelope and it took a few seconds for it to really register what he was holding in his hand. When it finally kicked in, he cheered, kissed Abigail on the cheek then bolted down the hall to his office. He quickly closed the door, dumped his things into one of the chairs and fell into the leather seat behind his desk. For a silent breath, he fingered the white, smooth surface, dragging his fingers along the stamp, over his name and the Olabasu Real Estate logo. There was such pride that went with being a representative of that name—so much so that Christophe’s heart felt full.
Christophe stuck his fingers beneath the open flap in the envelope and shoved. The tear of paper filled the air of his brand new office. He’d waited so long to get that one, simple package, and his heart raced with further anticipation. He stopped, took a breath then quickly pulled out the folded invoice. When he untangled it, another piece of paper fell to his desk. Christophe didn’t bother with the invoice—their accounting department would deal with that. He merely scooped up the other paper and looked down at it.
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