Kiss of the Goddess (Grecian Goddess Trilogy Book 1)
Page 18
Okay, I had a pretty good idea. Magic. Magic was the reason they hadn’t seemed to notice— why no one had noticed that a woman had just turned into a puddle.
“I’ll make this simple. Move or my friend here will make you move.” I jerked my thumb at Keph.
On cue, he slammed one massive fist into his other palm. The resulting crack made both security guards start and stare.
“Fuck, it’s not worth it,” the one on the right said and stepped aside. The other quickly followed.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” I said and pushed through the double doors they were guarding.
Beyond was a massive hall being set up with chairs with about half of them set up so far. Men and women worked to place more chairs in long rows, quickly taking from piles stacked on trollies and moving them into position. At the far end sat a stage with a long table and half a dozen chairs most likely for a panel of some sort.
I searched for the woman, but the only people in the room were the people setting up, and I was sure a naked blue woman would have been easy to spot.
“Do you sense any water?” I asked Del.
He concentrated for a moment then nodded. “There.”
He pointed to… nothing, at least nothing I could see, and surged ahead of us, leading the way.
Rion, who was now bare-chested for some reason, his shirt gone, and carrying his jacket, leaped into the air and was suddenly winged, flying above us. He tossed his jacket aside.
I guessed that was how he’d lost his shirt the first time.
Gods, he was amazing when he flew. My mind flashed to us hovering above my bed as we climaxed together. I shuddered at the memory, desire sliding warm and low within me then shoved the thought back. Now wasn’t the time.
With a frustrated sigh, I ran to catch up to the others.
Keph was plowing through the chairs, heedless of the damage he was causing, while Aethan was a blur, zipping forward to the door on the far side of the hall.
“I need to get a bit closer to freeze her,” Del said.
But then the woman appeared and reformed next to a terrified worker who was staring at Keph barreling down on him.
“Help me. Please,” the woman begged, clutching the man, one hand going to his face, infecting him even as she asked him for help.
The man turned to her, eyes going wide as he took in the naked all blue woman, and didn’t move, too stunned to do anything.
“You’re useless,” she hissed and she pushed the man toward Keph and ran toward the door at the back of the room.
The hapless worker stumbled and collapsed in front of Keph, who deftly leaped over him, sending a resounding thud booming through the room as he hit the floor and kept running.
She reached the door Aethan was guarding and hesitated for just a moment before turning to water. But Del had drawn close enough to use his magic and the puddle instantly froze.
I reached the men, assembled around the frozen blob, gasping for breath, knowing I really needed to do more cardio. Like a lot more cardio if this was the way things were going to be with the guys.
“Is that her, the real one?” I asked.
“The ice hasn’t vanished yet, so I’d guess it is,” Del said. “I’m going to release her.”
The ice melted to the pool once again, but it reformed quickly into the naiad, who was hugging herself and shivering.
“I give up,” she hissed, but instead of looking upset, she looked wickedly victorious. “You’ve got me,” she purred. “But I’ve already spread the disease to hundreds, if not thousands of people and they’ll spread it farther. There’s no way you can stop it now. As my god wills it, this world shall fall to his decay.”
Perhaps, but there was at least one person I could help. The guys had the woman covered and I wasn’t afraid of her escaping. As soon as she turned to water, Del would freeze her. So, I turned and went to the poor man the naiad had begged for help, infected, then thrown in Keph’s way. He still lay on the floor, stunned, and he flinched when I touched his elbow.
“Hey,” I said softly, kneeling beside him.
He turned to me, blinking. “I… The woman, I didn’t… She was all… That man had wings!”
“Yes, I know, don’t worry. It was all a show. You got the preview. Amazing isn’t it?” I said as I held his hand in both of mine and sent my healing energy into him. It didn’t take much. He’d only just been infected. He wasn’t even showing signs yet.
“Uh… yeah. Wow,” he muttered, before climbing to his feet and staggering away to sit in one of the still-standing chairs. “Wow.”
I looked around the room. Keph had done an amazing job at smashing through the chairs, some were thrown dozens of feet away, others were crushed or bent beyond recognition. That would take a bit of time to clean up, and without a doubt, we’d have to explain this to someone, although I had no idea who. Already men with vests saying “security” were heading our way.
The trouble was, I couldn’t let them touch the woman or they’d be infected too. Only my guys were immune since I’d cured them. We were the only ones who could safely secure the woman.
Which meant, for now, we needed to get her out of there, but I also needed to try to heal as many people as I could before they left the convention center and infected the rest of Chicago… although I had no way of knowing who might be infected.
We’d captured the carrier, but there was still a lot of clean-up to do, and I had no idea how we were going to do any of it.
Though… there was one thing I could do. If I healed the naiad, she’d no longer be a carrier. I rushed back over to her before security got there and grabbed her arm.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. I didn’t respond and pushed my healing into her. Her eyes went wide. “What…?”
It was done quickly. She wasn’t infected deeply, just carrying the disease, which was easily cleansed from her system.
“Now you can’t hurt any more people,” I said as I released her.
Except—
Damn it. We still couldn’t hand her over to the authorities. She’d just turn to water and escape.
“We need to get her out of here,” I said. “Del and Aethan, get her somewhere safe and call me when you’re secure and alone. Keph and Rion with me. We’ll slow down the guards while you escape, and hopefully by then I’ll have figured out a way to heal the people here.”
The men acted instantly, following my instructions without question or hesitation. Aethan and Del ushered the woman out the far set of doors, while Keph, Rion, and I turned to the guards.
Keph growled at them.
They stopped, terrified.
I approached them. “Sorry for all the fuss, gentlemen. Let me see if I can explain what happened here.” If I could explain it.
It was certainly going to be an interesting story, and for any of it to make sense, it was mostly going to be complete fiction.
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To be continued…
See what happens next in Book Two — Power of the Goddess.
For a list of other books by Tessa and Clara check out our websites:
www.tessacole.com
www.clarawils.com
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