Rem: #12 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  The man turned toward Rem. No, not a man, Erebus.

  “She will be mine,” he said simply. “Soon.” Erebus turned back toward Jenna. “I’ll be back for you soon, my love.”

  Jenna slumped against the glass. Her hand slid down the crack, which sliced into it, but she was having trouble finding the strength to remain standing. Everything had happened so quickly. She wasn’t sure if she was having trouble processing it because of that or because of whom she’d just faced. Her knees buckled.

  And then there he was. Rem’s strong arms were around her, lifting her hefty body as if she weighed nothing.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  All Jenna could manage was a small nod. She wasn’t sure if okay was the right word for what had happened, but she wasn’t dead, so that was something. She was weak, though. The blue light left her exhausted and dizzy. It wasn’t at all like when she touched Rem’s tattoos, and they glowed. The light pulled from her, leaving her drained.

  Rem helped her out of the greenhouse. She buried her head against him, shivering.

  They had all seen what had happened. Who knew what they thought of it all? The idea anyone might think she was soliciting Erebus made her sick to her stomach, but when she thought about it, that’s exactly what it must have looked like to them.

  Rem pulled her closer to his chest, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Jenna breathed in slowly. His smell of soap and masculinity calming her in a way nothing else could.

  She hadn’t been able to control herself earlier. When Erebus wanted her hand on the window, she had put it there, but it wasn’t by choice. Somehow, he’d been able to control her mentally. Another tremor of fear passed through her.

  The other hybrids watched Rem and Jenna with concern on their faces. Rem shook his head lightly at them before nodding toward the building. They stepped aside to let Rem and Jenna pass before closing in behind them.

  Rem and Jenna made their way quietly into Anassa’s old office where he placed her on the couch. Her body remained weak from everything that had happened. She couldn’t see from her position but knew the hybrids had followed them all the way. Quiet murmurs passed among them outside the office before Rem closed the door. He walked behind her. Squeaky hinges sounded.

  When he reappeared, Rem held a glass of water. For the first time, Jenna realized just how thirsty she was.

  Rem carefully held the glass of water to her mouth and helped her drink it down. When he finished, Jenna lay back against the couch trying to ignore the ache in her head.

  “You’re hurt,” Rem said softly, gingerly holding up her cut hand.

  Jenna gave a slight not but didn’t open her eyes as he cleaned and bandaged her wound. How could she look at him after what had happened? As much as she couldn’t control herself, Jenna couldn’t say that there wasn’t something drawing her to Erebus.

  “Did he hurt you anywhere else?” he asked.

  Jenna shook her head. A tear trailed out of the corner of her eye.

  “Jenna.” Rem leaned in close. “Look at me.”

  “I can’t.”

  Jenna felt his breath on her face before he kissed away her tears. Her eyes blinked open to find him kneeling beside her.

  “You are mine,” he said, taking her bandaged hand and running a thumb gently over the ring. “And I am yours. I know your heart. I know what you’re thinking, and I’m telling you not to worry.”

  Jenna let out a shaky sigh and sat up slightly on the couch. “Erebus came to me. He said I was his bride, and I’d give life to him through our son.” She frowned. “Fucking creep.”

  Rem stood and paced in front of her, visibly trying to control himself. “What happened?”

  “There was this white light around the greenhouse. I don’t think he could get in because he said the name of someone—”

  “Lapis,” Rem replied quietly.

  Jenna nodded. “Does that name mean something to you?”

  “Yes.” Rem glanced down at her. “But finish your story first.”

  “Then I was moving forward, but it wasn’t me.” Jenna hugged herself and shivered. “It was like he was controlling me. He placed my hand on the window and then all those creatures. Oh my God. What have I done?”

  Jenna sobbed into her hands, the weight of everything finally hitting her. She had seen the monsters. Horrible things that should never be on this earth and now were because of her. It was somehow her fault.

  The couch dipped as Rem sat beside her. He carefully moved her over to his lap. The burn of her tears trailed off, but she kept her face buried against his neck. His hand rested comfortably against her belly.

  “It wasn’t you,” he said. “You were just a tool. Erebus is the one to blame. We already know Vestals can be controlled. We saw it with the Azilians. This must be a similar kind of thing.”

  Jenna leaned back. Her eyes burned from crying so much. “What are we going to do? He wants us. How are we going to stop something like that?”

  Rem opened his mouth but closed it. For the first time, true fear gripped her. This might be more than any of them could even think about handling. This went beyond reason and science.

  “I will stop this,” Rem said quietly, his voice low and hoarse. “I promise you. I will stop this.”

  He turned to her now, and she saw something she’d never seen before in his eyes. Shame.

  “You mentioned Lapis,” Rem said. “I’ve met her.”

  Jenna frowned. “Met her? You mean…?”

  “Not like that.” Rem shook his head. “It was a dream. She is… was an Atlantean, and I have enough of them in me that she could create a link.”

  “A link across time?”

  Rem shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know. Time? Death and life? Both?”

  “And she was the one who warned you about Erebus.”

  Rem nodded. It made sense now, but still, it wasn’t really a reason not to tell her. She wasn’t the jealous sort of person.

  “There’s more,” he added.

  Rem ran a hand through his hair, a telling sign that he didn’t want to say what was about to come out next. Jenna took a deep breath, her stomach tightening. She knew she wouldn’t like what might come next.

  “Lapis wanted me to kill our child,” Rem said with a slight growl.

  Jenna gasped and wrapped her arms around her stomach instinctively. “You tell her to fuck off.”

  Rem grinned at her. “That’s exactly what I did.”

  Jenna gave a firm nod.

  “There might be something there, though, we need to worry about.” Rem furrowed his brow. “Lapis kept talking about fate—”

  “Erebus said the same!” Jenna said.

  Rem nodded. “Fine. I say we make our own fate. Change things up a little. I’m tired of people jerking us around.”

  Jenna cocked a brow. “Just how do you plan on doing that?”

  Rem shrugged. “I go to sleep and hope for a dream.”

  Chapter Twelve

  White empty space surrounded Rem. It wasn’t nothing, but it also wasn’t something. He’d done it. Rem had brought himself to the strange space connecting him and Lapis across time. He didn’t need to understand how it worked, only that it was there. That was only the first step among his pathetic ideas that passed for a plan.

  “You didn’t do your duty and now Erebus is stronger than ever.”

  Rem turned to find Lapis just as he had before, beautiful and alluring as she had been the first time, but not surprising. He’d been expecting her, and needed her help, but whether he could get it remained to be seen.

  “You need to kill them both.” Lapis offered him a deep frown.

  Rem shook his head. “Not going to happen. Don’t bother trying to convince me.”

  She stepped closer to him. Her hands clasped in front of her with worry. “The fate of the world depends on it. There are two paths. You must pick the right one, or there will be no future, not only for you, but for everyone regardless of t
heir ancestry. This goes far beyond you, your family, or those you would claim leadership over.”

  Rem scoffed. Lapis spoke as if his whole life were written out, as if he had no choice. The number one thing he’d learned over the years was that whatever was written could be changed, and that was exactly what he planned to do. Talking about fate was just another way of lying to yourself about not having any other choice.

  “If you want to try and tell me what to do, I’m going to need more information,” Rem said. “I don’t know shit about who you are, or why I should trust you. First of all, who are you anyway? Really? What does Erebus have to do with you?”

  “We’ve all made mistakes, but some were forced upon us.”

  “Nice daily calendar meditation. Now get to the actual damned point.”

  Lapis opened her mouth but shook her head instead. She turned away from him, a look of shame hanging over her face. “Erebus was charming. You have to understand that he’s not an ancient creature born in darkness and destined for evil. Before he wasn’t tainted as you see him today.”

  Rem narrowed his eyes. “What? He had a bad childhood and now he’s running around in people’s dreams before manifesting in the real world to fuck with my wife and kid?”

  “No. Even then, there was always a part of him that slipped into the dark. I knew this but still…” Lapis hung her head, her eyes half-closed. “Would that it not need to be this way.”

  Rem grunted, his irritation building with his growing understanding. “You were lovers. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? That’s why you didn’t want to explain any of that before you offered your great plan of sacrificing my son to take care of your screwed-up ex-boyfriend.”

  When Lapis turned back toward him, there was deep pain in her face, but also something else. Love. It was if the centuries had washed away, and she was a young woman still in love. Rem could understand that, and even sympathize, but that didn’t change anything.

  “Okay.” Rem nodded slowly. “I like what I’m hearing. You’re telling me he’s not a god, then. Not really. I can beat someone who’s not a god.”

  “You don’t understand.” Lapis sighed. “It’s more complicated than that.”

  “Then explain how he went from not a bad guy to nightmare man in dreams?”

  “It wasn’t allowed,” Lapis replied. “Dabbling at all with the darkness. Our people were pure light in a way you can’t understand. We weren’t supposed to dabble in the darkness, and we certainly didn’t give birth to it.”

  Rem scoffed. “So Erebus played around with something he didn’t understand, and ended up corrupt? That still sounds like his damned fault.”

  “No, you don’t understand.” Lapis let out a hard, bitter laugh. “They were at fault.”

  “They?”

  “The elders.” Disapproval filled her tone.

  “And how was it their fault?” Rem asked.

  “Because they claimed to disapprove of the darkness, but that didn’t stop them from taking advantage of it and Erebus for their dirty work or when creating things for trade.” Lapis scowled. “They claimed disapproval, but looked away whenever it would benefit them. As long as they could claim their own hands weren’t dirty, it was fine.”

  Rem nodded slowly taking it all in. He thought of the book they had found long ago and wondered if it told all of this in the story of their people. They were still trying to figure out the language, but if he were to place a bet, he’d bet that everything Lapis was saying was in there. Depending on who wrote it, there would be some spin, but the fundamental facts would be the same.

  He understood her frustration, but again took some relief in the idea that his enemy wasn’t an unstoppable force of nature. A great man, even one with powers, who could be used by others could be defeated. Among other things, the story proved Erebus wasn’t all-knowing.

  Rem kept a reasonable arrogance. He could beat someone approaching all-powerful as long as he could trick them. But all-knowing?

  “I assume you disagreed with them,” Rem said.

  Lapis nodded. “Yes, you could say that. It went well beyond that.”

  “Oh?” Rem nodded slowly. “Of course. It makes sense when I think about it. You weren’t just lovers. You were mates. You had his kid, didn’t you?”

  Lapis lifted her head as if staring at something, but there was nothing there but the endless empty white. Without any external details to go by, the wait stretched out, but Rem didn’t say anything, waiting for her to continue.

  “The problem was the darkness grew in him, overwhelmed the light,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “With that, his power grew, but at the cost of his soul and anything left called goodness. By then, the elders could no longer ignore him and try to reap the benefits. They were ready to extinguish him, so they vowed to destroy him and his child.”

  Rem shook his head in disgust. “This sounds familiar. What about the kid?”

  “Your people are alive, are they not? He is just one ancestor among the few other survivors the battle against Erebus left behind.” Lapis kept looking off into the void. “But his power had grown past their ability to easily contain. They were forced to use dark powers themselves, the very thing they were supposed to be fighting against. Power fueled by sacrifice.” She finally lowered her head and looked at Rem again. “What good is winning a war if it means sacrificing most of your own people to win?”

  “They lost?” Rem asked. “That what you’re saying.”

  “In a way. Because they sacrificed greatly but it didn’t accomplish what they wanted.” Lapis placed a hand over her heart. “They couldn’t destroy him, so they did the next best thing, containment, floating in the dark void between death and life, not dead nor alive.”

  Rem growled. He wanted to punch or kick something, but there was nothing in there. Lapis might be pissing him off, but this time he wasn’t mad at her.

  “Wait. So these assholes are the reason Erebus is the way he is? My all great and mighty ancestors royally fucked up and now they want my family to pay the price?” Rem shook his head. “Listen to yourself. All you’re doing is repeating their mistake, trying to push off the choice you couldn’t make onto me.”

  “Perhaps if I had done what was necessary, you wouldn’t be in this position, but we’re here now, and his time in the darkness has only strengthened him. He’s far more dangerous than he was then, and he helped bring down our people then.” Lapis stepped forward. “Your sacrifice is the only way, not only to save your people, but to save your world. Your son must die. If Erebus achieves his permanent form via his new vessel, his power will be unstoppable.”

  Rem roared loudly and lunged at the woman, tired of her casual suggestion he sacrifice his son. As if she were never there, Lapis appeared to his side. He stumbled past her and spun around, baring his teeth.

  “You want me to kill my family, then fight me,” he shouted. “I’m not giving up my son to clean up the mistakes of my ancestors. Screw that.”

  Lapis held up her hands. “This will help no one. You can’t fight me. My time has already passed.”

  “Bullshit.” He grunted. “Won’t help anyone? It’ll help me. If you’re hear to talk to me, then I can do something. You already told me. You’re not dead. You’re not a ghost. This is a link to the past, right?”

  This time Rem lunged forward but reached to the side, his hand finding purchase around her slender neck. He locked it around her with a vicious grin.

  “This shouldn’t be possible.” Lapis gasped as he held on, tightening enough to be uncomfortable. “You are fast,” she said, her voice hoarse.

  “Because life hasn’t given me any other choice,” he ground out. “And I’ve been doing a lot of the impossible since the Group got their hands on me. I see no reason to stop now.”

  Rem squeezed a little harder. “How do I protect them? A real plan, not the dumbass plan from before. I don’t give a shit if you think it’s a better plan or more likely to succeed. I’m not kill
ing my son, so if you really care about cleaning up your mess and trying to protect the world, then give me another option or leave me the hell alone.”

  Lapis stared at him for a moment before sighing. “There might be another way.”

  Rem’s nostrils flared. He growled again and loosened his grip. When Lapis didn’t immediately pull away, he released her and stepped back, watching carefully.

  “Out with it. I don’t care if there’s only a one percent chance of success. I’ll make it happen if it means saving my son.”

  Lapis reached slowly for her neck and pulled off her necklace to hold it in front of her. The stone swayed. Just as Rem reached out to take it, she pulled it away.

  “What the hell?” Rem growled.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll give it to you. This is pure energy. It is what my people are made of, and the opposite of what Erebus has become.”

  “I don’t care about what it is. I only care about if it’ll work against him.”

  Lapis gave a firm nod. “It’ll make you more powerful, and should give you enough power to defeat him, but there are no certainties. This is a plan that may very well fail.”

  Rem clenched his fist. “I told you already. I’ll make this work. You should have come to me with this from the beginning.”

  “Would you tell your men to go into battle with a plan almost certain to fail versus another certain to succeed?” Lapis asked.

  “If the second plan involved telling them to sacrifice their children, then yes.”

  Lapis sighed. “This goes beyond being likely to fail. It’ll hurt. Excruciatingly so. You might wish for death by the time it’s done.”

  Rem grunted. “Lady, this ain’t my first rodeo. And if I’m not prepared for some pain to save my wife and kid, then I’m no kind of man.”

  Again, he reached out but stopped when she moved to pull something off her arm. Lapis held out a blue and white bangle. She placed it into his hands roughly, a look of despair on her face. She’d already thought they had lost, but Rem didn’t agree.