Kiss of the Goddess (Grecian Goddess Trilogy Book 1)

by Tessa Cole

  “I could run really fast.” Aethan flashed a grin which quickly faded into a grimace. “And I always ended up crashing into things.” His grimace grew even darker. “Fuck.” He was really getting the hang of the word. “I’m going to need man-legs again, aren’t I? I hate man-legs.”

  I gave him an apologetic smile. “It’s for the best.”

  The guys were big, muscular, and gorgeous. They stood out enough and Aethan’s horse-legs would only draw more attention. Even if he hid them under pants, they bent the wrong way and people would know something was wrong the second they saw him walking.

  “I was able to emit light in varying intensities,” Rion said.

  “And I can feel and manipulate water,” Del added. “Or, I think so. I didn’t get much of a chance to try it out while I was there.”

  “I think I’m stronger, tougher too, maybe,” Keph said. “When those uniformed men used their weapons on me, they seemed surprised. To me it felt like I was being bitten by something tiny, but I think they expected more of a reaction.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Those weapons are called guns, and they’re deadly to most people. So yeah, you’d be super tough if they didn’t slow you down at all.”

  “He also picked up one of those cars when we were on our way to see you,” Aethan said. “I’m assuming they’re heavy. They look really heavy.”

  My jaw dropped. “You picked up a car?”

  Keph nodded.

  “Holy fuck. Yeah, they’re heavy. That’s really strong!” And I’d thought he was strong in his world.

  Well, it was an interesting mix of abilities. Though none of them seemed to be much help in figuring out what the naiad’s power might be or in stopping her and Disease Man from spreading the plague. At least she’d be easy to spot.

  “You said she had blue skin? That will stand out. So, once we have clothes… I guess we start looking for a blue woman.”

  There were nods all around.

  “If any of you have better ideas, I’m all ears. I don’t need to be the leader here.” I didn’t really want to be the leader, but they all still looked at me with that same reverence and respect as before, even if they’d stopped calling me a goddess.

  “You know your world better than we do,” Aethan said. “Is there a good place for these people to go to spread the disease?”

  “There are lots of places,” I said, a little terrified at the options. “Malls, the airport, hotels, the hospital.” That last one reminded me. “You said the man was hurt… he’d probably need a hospital.” I grimaced. “But he’s not the one we’re really after at the moment. Fuck. Well, let’s get moving, we can talk as we walk. The sooner we get you guys outfitted the better.” I put my hand to the portal and the guys moved through.

  Once on the other side, I pulled out my phone. “This way, follow me,” I said and began walking. As I did, I searched the internet for the CDC and called their number.

  “CDC,” the guy on the other end said, his tone brusque and sharp.

  “I wanted to call and report an outbreak of the plague in Chicago,” I said. I didn’t really know what to call this disease. The plague seemed like the closest thing to me. I figured it couldn’t hurt to get the CDC here as soon as possible.

  “The plague?” the person on the other end said, clearly disbelieving. “The bubonic plague?”

  “Yeah, sure, that one, or something like it. How am I supposed to know? I’m just a civilian. But it doesn’t look good and it’s everywhere, and you should get someone here to check it out.”

  “Listen lady—” I could tell this guy was about to give me an earful, but I didn’t let him.

  “You can call me crazy if you like and ignore this warning, but I wouldn’t want to be you when the reports start coming in and people find out you knew and didn’t do anything. So just investigate this disgusting thing, damnit!”

  I hung up.

  That didn’t go quite like it had in my head, but at least I’d done something.

  We reached the big and tall store and outfitted everyone but Rion — I didn’t have a lot of extra spending money and even though his suit was too tight, it would do. Aethan probably could have done with normal sized clothes, but we didn’t have time for a trip to multiple locations. It would have been cheaper — God these specialty clothes were expensive — but Disease Man was already a day ahead of us and I could pay off my credit card later.

  While the guys were getting measured and trying things on, I slipped out to a convenience store and bought a burner cell. I made sure it had my number in it, and put its number on my cell before returning to see how the guys had done.

  I walked through the door and the guys were lined up for my inspection. They now looked like government operatives, in dark suits and white shirts. All they needed were dark glasses, but they didn’t sell those here.

  The well-tailored suits on their muscular bodies was so God-damned hot, I got more than a little wet as I looked them over. I wanted them to rip off those clothes nice and slow in a strip-tease, then… I was getting off track.

  Even Keph, who was still too big for anything here, looked sexy. He’d tried the largest they had and still ended up ripping the shoulders out of the shirt. So, he’d just ripped the arms off entirely, wearing just the white shirt, now sleeveless. Luckily, they did have some oversized shoes that had fit him, which was a minor miracle.

  I paid, not looking at the total, stuffed the receipt in my bag and headed out. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Then we retraced our steps back to the alley.

  This had been Rion’s idea. Start where the woman had come out and see if we could find a trail of people with the disease. I wasn’t sure how quickly it would set in, but it was the best idea we had, and better than Rion’s other idea of breaking out his wings to do an aerial view of the city.

  The guys spread out a little to look around, now much more respectable-looking… and gorgeous. I had trouble keeping my eyes off Keph, in just that thin white shirt, the buttons straining, his massive shoulders exposed.

  Thankfully he, Rion, and Aethan spread out while I stayed with Del in the alley as he crouched next to the wall-portal.

  “This white stuff,” he said, picking up a handful of snow. “It’s… water?” He seemed uncertain. It only occurred to me then that he’d probably never seen snow before.

  “Yes. It’s called snow. It’s frozen water that falls from the sky like rain and accumulates in winter.”

  “Winter?”

  I didn’t have time to go into the seasons. “Don’t worry about it. Why do you ask about the snow?”

  “I hadn’t been certain, but I’d… felt it. I hadn’t realized it was water. If it is then… give me a moment.” He held out a hand, palm down, hovering over the footprints coming out from the wall. He muttered, “There is a bit of… memory in this solid water. I may be able to read it.”

  I watched, fascinated and clueless as he crouched there, concentrating, eyes closed. Finally, he nodded to himself.

  “I know where they went,” he said, opening his eyes to look up at me. I didn’t know how he’d come to that conclusion, but I was thankful for it.

  Rising quickly, he moved to the mouth of the alley, and I followed.

  “That way,” he called out to the others as he pointed down the street toward the lake and downtown.

  Of course that’s where Disease Man and his naiad went.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 25

  Annie

  We hurried down the street following Del, until Rion had called out, stopping us. He pointed into an alley at a homeless man, curled up inside serval sleeping bags with a wool hat pulled low. But even with the hat and his dull gray beard — the only indication I had that he was actually a man and not a woman — I could still see the heavy black spots forming on his cheeks.

  I rushed over, knelt beside him, praying he was still alive and could tell us where the naiad and Disease Man had gone, and his eyes cracked open. />
  He wasn’t dead.

  “Hello? Can I help you, miss?” He seemed kind enough, smiling faintly through his beard, and it broke my heart. There was no way he was going to get proper medical attention. This disease would kill him… probably slowly, and there wasn’t anything I could do.

  The muscles in my jaw were so tight they hurt. I didn’t know what to say, but I forced myself to ask him what we needed to know. “Did you see a strange woman with blue skin come through here?”

  He frowned and for a moment I was worried he didn’t know what I was talking about and thought I was crazy. “Now that you mention it, I did. Really strange.”

  Oh, thank God. “I need you to tell me everything that happened. Please, it’s important. I reached for my wallet and pulled out—

  Damn. I only had three singles. That wasn’t enough. This man was going to die. He deserved to be comfortable before that happened.

  “I, ah… If you tell me everything you can, I’ll… let you stay in my apartment tonight.” Which was the stupidest thing I could have said, but I wasn’t going to take it back.

  I took out my keys and held them up to him. Hell, if I needed to, I could sleep on a warm tropical beach just on the other side of that portal. I’d be cozy enough. And something told me I wouldn’t lack for bodies to warm me further if I asked for it.

  The man’s eyes went wide. “That important?” He levered himself up to a sitting position. “Let me see…”

  I glanced back over my shoulder at my guys. Rion stood nearby, watching me, while the other three were asking around — Del doing most of the talking — on the other side of the street.

  “Ah, well, I was asleep when I felt someone touching my face. That woke me pretty quick. Not many people want to touch me.” His face lit up with a dazed smile. “Two pretty women approaching me in one day is odd enough.” His smile deepened and his gaze grew unfocused. “And she was odd. Blue skin and a weird white cape and hood. I’d never seen anything like it. Well there was this time—”

  “Did she say anything to you?” I asked, before he got completely off track.

  He blinked, his attention refocusing on me, and frowned. “She apologized for waking me, but said she was desperate. Her friend, this man with her, needed help. He didn’t have a coat and looked cold, and he was holding his side and leaning on the wall.”

  So we’d been right. Keph had hurt Disease Man.

  “The woman said they were in town for a convention downtown, had gotten lost, and her friend had been beat up. They needed to know where the nearest hospital was.” His frown deepened. “Which was odd, because before I’d even said anything, there was an ambulance pulling up.” He shrugged. “I guess someone else had already called nine-one-one?”

  Although I couldn’t see how… unless Disease Man had a phone and had called himself. Except if he had, why would he bother stumbling five blocks to this alley before doing so?

  The man before me continued. “She helped the man into the ambulance, getting pretty familiar with the paramedics, touching their faces, too.”

  And infecting them. Swell. I glanced at Rion but didn’t see recognition in his face. Of course, he didn’t know what an ambulance was and didn’t know that as soon as those paramedics walked into the hospital they could end up infecting thousands of people.

  “The ambulance left with the man, but she stayed, and I—” He glanced at me then Rion before dropping his gaze to his weathered hands. “I must have fallen asleep and had a weird dream.” There was sweat on his brow. I didn’t know if this was from the disease or some nervousness at his recollection.

  “Why do you say that?” It was entirely possible he’d had a dream, but it was also possible he’d seen something that was a clue to this woman’s powers.

  “Well, I watched the woman meet up with four other women with blue skin, all wearing the same weird white cloaks, and they went around the corner over there.” He pointed to the mouth of a narrow loading bay. “But you can see into it from the reflection of those windows across the street.” He jerked his thumb to the large store windows sure enough offering a weak reflection of the empty driveway and closed loading bay door. “Then they sort of… merged into one person, and only one woman came out. Then she flagged down a taxi and left.”

  Which had to be her power… not flagging down taxies — although there were days when that definitely was a superpower — but cloning herself or splitting herself into multiple copies or something. I dropped my keys next to the man. “Thanks, you’ve been a big help. Get yourself warmed up at my place. It’s three blocks down and over one, the Fleischmann Building. Unit ten. The door code is seven-zero-one-nine.”

  “Oh, well, thank you, young lady,” he said, his expression filled with shock as if he hadn’t believed I’d actually let him stay in my place.

  But hell, it was the least I could do since I wasn’t going to be able to cure his disease.

  I rose and went to Rion.

  “I think I know what ability our naiad has.”

  “Oh?”

  “I think she can duplicate or replicate herself.” Which, now that I thought of it, was going to be a problem. “That’s going to be really useful for her spreading this disease, especially if all her copies are carriers.”

  Rion’s expression turned grim. “Agreed.” He glanced back over my shoulder and a hint of grief crept into his grim determination. “Are you… certain you can’t heal him?”

  Certain, no, but I was pretty damn sure. I thought I would have noticed if I had superpowers in my world… of course what if I’d just needed to go to my guys’ world to awaken my powers?

  Except if that was true, it brought up a whole other list of problems, the main one being that Disease Man, having been to both worlds now, would still have his powers in my world, too, and he was on his way to the hospital.

  And that wasn’t what we were talking about.

  I glanced back at the homeless man, clutching his sleeping bags around him to fend off the cold, the ugly black spots on his face still small, the disease not spreading as quickly as it had when Disease Man had infected the guys and the village.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try.” But I wasn’t going to hold my breath. “Excuse me, sir? Do you mind if I…” How was I going to ask this?

  He staggered to his feet and offered me a gentle smile. “Look lady, you’re letting me stay in your apartment. That’s more than my own family has done. Whatever it is, you go right ahead.”

  “I need to touch you, is that okay?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  I touched his cheek above his beard, drew in a deep breath, and concentrated on pushing the energy into him like I’d done with so many others in the other world.

  Nothing.

  Then—

  Something. A trickle? It could have been my imagination…

  But the trickle grew stronger and my energy surged into him and consumed the disease.

  He gasped as well, eyes going wide. “What is that?”

  He hadn’t been that far along, only just starting, and it had been easy to heal him, but I was too stunned to answer. I stepped back, trembling, staring at my hand.

  That shouldn’t be possible.

  “I…”

  And if I had my powers did that mean Disease Man did as well?

  But if he did, then he wouldn’t have needed the naiad to infect the paramedics. He could have done that himself.

  So…

  He didn’t have powers in this world, but I did?

  Rion’s strong arms wrapped around me. “You did it?” he whispered.

  “Yes.”

  “What was that?” the old man asked again. “I feel great.”

  I smiled, still stunned, but with the slow dawning that… I had powers… here in the real world.

  I had powers!

  How the hell did I have powers?

  And really, that wasn’t important. I could figure that out after I’d figured out how to sto
p a plague.

  “I… you had an illness and I… I healed you.” The words were faint, only for us, and the man’s eyes got wider still.

  “Are you an angel?” he whispered.

  Rion answered, voice hushed, “No, my good man. She’s a goddess.”

  Chapter 26

  Delphon

  “So you can heal?” I asked, stunned, even though I’d just watched it happen. How was that possible?

  “Perhaps she’s a goddess after all,” Rion said.

  Annie seemed stunned herself. She’d healed everyone in the area who we could find who’d talked to the Blue Lady, and now the five of us were standing in a nearby alley, comparing notes on what we’d found out.

  The consensus was that the naiad could indeed be several places at the same time, and was spreading the disease. Yet it was a slow thing. She couldn’t seem to accelerate it, only spread it, and only by touching people. Which was good news… sort of.

  “How?” Keph asked.

  Annie shrugged. “I have no clue. I didn’t think it was possible, but… it is!”

  I took a long look at her then. It had been some time since I’d first seen her on the beach. She’d captivated me then, bundled as she was, even before she’d started stripping away the many layers of clothes. And I was still captivated. It was far more than her body that called to me.

  I’d seen most of her luscious curves before and she was beautiful, no doubt, but even bundled up against the cold once again, only seeing that speckled face of hers — a few wisps of that red-gold hair peeking out from her hat — I was enraptured. I felt it in my gut, a pull, a call to be with her, near her.

  There were other parts of me which yearned to be inside her, deep, truly connected. Those parts were more than a little uncomfortable in the confining clothes she’d bought us, but my desire was so much more than just physical. It was an intense need to be near her. I’d felt it the entire week she’d been gone from my life, like someone had severed a limb that I just couldn’t live without. I’d been incomplete, not whole as I was now.