by Tee, Marian
But nothing happens.
And I stop holding my breath. "Of course." I take her hand without hesitation. "We can keep you safe here, I promise."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
No hospitals.
No doctors.
And absolutely no calling her parents because he is watching them, and calling her parents would be as good as killing them.
Cen is so adamant, almost hysterical even, at having me agree to all of these things that I reluctantly give in and ask the driver to take us straight to Dark Rose House instead of the clinic.
"What happened to you?" I ask tautly as soon as we're inside the car.
The other girl's face pales, and her gaze turns haunted. "It was horrible, Halyna. He was horrible."
"Who's he, Cen? Do you know him? Do you know his name?"
A shudder rocks her body. "He has red eyes. That's all I know. I've never seen him before he took me."
It's my turn to feel my face whiten, and a stricken expression crosses Cen's face when she sees this. "Y-You've seen him, too?"
I force myself to nod. "Weeks ago, I was in a club, and he stabbed me."
"I'm sorry."
I gesture towards her, saying lamely, "I think I should be the one telling you that."
A ghost of a smile cracks over her lips. "I think you're right."
"Are you sure you don't want medical attention?" I press urgently. "Because I can—-"
"No!"
She says it so violently that I recoil slightly, and in the corner of my eye I also see the driver take a wary look at us through the rearview mirror.
Cen, however, appears appalled by her outburst, and her eyes have started to water again. "I'm sorry, but...I d-don't trust doctors. He told me he was studying to become a doctor, and he has f-friends."
"Not everyone's like him—-"
"I know. I just...please. Just not tonight, please? I just want one good night's rest, after..." Cen visibly swallows back a sob. "Please, Halyna. I know I don't have any right to ask..."
"It's okay." I take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "You can just rest for tonight, I promise."
We reach Dark Rose House, but the moment the driver starts to step out of the car, Cen suddenly lunges forward, and something shiny flashes—-
No. No. NO!
The blade of Cen's knife slides neatly into the side of the driver's neck, and I don't wait to see what happens next. I quickly turn around to open my door, but my fingers have just grasped the handle when Cen yanks me back by the hair.
"Not so fast, bitch."
She pinches my nose and waits until I struggle and gasp for breath before spitting directly into my mouth. "All done," she says cheerfully, and I've just started to gag and thrash when she uses my hair to yank my head back...and then slamming it back down on the door.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"That should do it, hm? I'm not going to make you sleep this time, don't worry. This time I want you to enjoy the whole fucking show, but...I also don't want you to do anything stupid."
Cen pulls me off the door to stare into my eyes. "Are you okay?"
She slaps my face.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"Oh, look. Your lip has started to bleed," Cen coos. "Can you feel it?"
No. I can't. And the bitch knows it.
The other girl's lips twist in a vicious smile. "Your eyes are telling me to fuck off. But...that's all you can do from now on. You can look and listen, but you won't be able to say a damn thing or move a single muscle. Fun, right?"
I'm not sure if I'm doing things right, but I try it all the same. I look into her eyes and hope that my gaze tells her what I'm thinking: FUCK YOU, BITCH.
Cen starts arranging my limbs and snaps me into place with the seatbelt. "Now that you're taken care of..."
She gets out of the backseat, and my heart breaks when I see her do to the driver what she's done to me. Only this time, she doesn't stop until one side of his face is completely smashed open.
"Just making sure he's dead," the other girl sings out to me, and I can't remember feeling so much hatred for another person. I hate her, I hate her so fucking much, and I hate myself almost as much, for causing another person to die for no reason at all.
"Now..." After shoving the driver's blood-drenched body to the passenger seat, Cen settles herself behind the wheel and starts the engine. "You're probably asking yourself how it came to this." She speaks like we're two best friends, her tone so damn casual that I just know she's lost her mind.
"It's all about hate, of course. I hated everything about you. That's all."
The car starts to move, but it's hard to make myself get past my own hatred to care about where Cen's taking me.
"You were supposed to be worse off. Because I saw it. I saw how they were mean to you, too. They talked shit about you like they did with me. We went through the same shitty things, and that's why I couldn't get why you weren't having a hard time like me."
Cen's hand slams against the wheel.
"Why did you still seem so fucking happy?"
She's shouting all of a sudden, and she starts pounding the wheel with every word she spits out.
"Why were you still so fucking nice?"
Bam,bam,bam,bam,bam,bam,bam!
"And how dare you fucking pity me when all you had was a pretty face?"
Pounding the wheel no longer seems enough for Cen this time, and she begins yanking at it so hard the whole car starts rocking precariously even as we race down the road at full speed.
You're human - nothing but a pathetic human—-"
Veins start to pop out of her throat, her screams so loud it's almost as if she believes she's trying to convince herself of her own words.
"And I'm the daughter of a demigod, so why are you the one who's happy and not me?"
"That's what started it all, you know. You made me SO ANGRY, so fucking angry that it's because of you I managed to do this."
Cen throws back her head with a laugh that I can only describe as soulless, and I can feel my blood turning into ice as I watch the girl's reflection reveal eyes that slowly darken from silver into red...and when she turns around to smile at me, she's transformed completely into a five-foot-tall frog.
My skin crawls as I watch the girl's thick amphibious lips part wide open, and her long tongue snaps in and out. Cen lets out a croaking sound that I suspect is another laugh, and then she's shapeshifting again, and it's all I can do not to scream as she turns into the face of my nightmare.
"Say hello to Hector, bitch."
Her tone is as deep as the man she now is, and so vilely amused that I can feel my fears completely leaving me until all that's left is rage.
"The only reason Hector left you alive is because we wanted to see you suffer," s/he snarls. "I even made Hector here blackmail Myrrha into becoming friends with me. I wanted you to realize you're nothing like me...but instead you ended up in fucking Rosethorne!"
Cen takes a hard right with a sudden yank on the wheel, and I can see her lips stretching into a smile of cruel pleasure while she watches the side of my head bang against the car window.
"Sorry about that," she sings out again.
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.
"I was worried you'd be a little bored with too much storytelling, so I thought I'd make things exciting a bit."
FUCK YOU.
"Your eyes are swearing at me." Cen is pouting, but because she's in her other form, she just sounds like an adult trying to be cute by doing baby talk, and it's gross as hell. "That's not nice—-"
She forces the car to take another hard turn, and my head bangs against the window yet again.
"Learned your lesson yet?"
This time, I don't meet her eyes.
"That's better."
The car starts to slow down, and my heart begins to race.
"Now, where were we? Mm...oh, I remember now. Myrrh
a. Dear, dear Myrrha, who only died because you had me so mad I ended up telling her a little too much, and so she had to go."
Cen says the last words so simply, so, so simply that I know there's no innocence left in the other girl. Murder has ceased to mean anything for Cen, and now I also have Myrrha's blood on my hands.
"That's when I had my lightbulb moment, too, you know. It happened when Hector was raping Myrrha, and I started thinking, why shouldn't you go, too? So that's when I went "missing", and I just waited patiently, you know."
Cen searches for my gaze through the rearview mirror. "Things like this mustn't be hurried," she tells me earnestly, "so I was cool with waiting. But you know what's not cool? You showing up in club when I least expected you—-"
Her voice has started to rise again, and I know I have to prepare myself.
"And finding out later that you've become the fucking girlfriend of Sub Rosa's god!"
She slams on the brakes in the next moment, and even as I feel my nose break as I hit the back of the headrest at the wrong angle, I know it's now or never—-
"I hate you, I fucking hate you, I HATE YOU!"
And so busy she is at hating me that she doesn't even realize I'm not paralyzed like she thought I was, and I've already unbuckled myself—-
She's so fucking busy hating that she doesn't even hear me pull her knife out of the driver's throat—-
So fucking busy hating herself that by the time I've stabbed her just below the collarbone, it's too late—-
A beast with white-as-snow fur crashes down on the car's front hood.
Eros!
But before either the god or I can do anything else, Cen yanks the knife out of her body and mutters a curse just as she stabs herself in the heart.
The beast disappears from view, and the door on my side flies open as invisible arms pull me out of the car.
ARE YOU HURT?
I can't even speak. I can only shake my head, my mind still grappling with the amount of insanity and hatred festering inside of Cen.
I didn't mean to kill her...
My body starts to shake until I'm trembling violently despite the god's tight embrace.
But she killed herself.
She killed herself, and I heard her.
I heard what she said!
Halyna—-
The moment I start to cry, I feel as if I'll never be able to stop. So much death. So many fucking lives that didn't have to be lost, and it's all because of one girl who hated herself so much she couldn't bear seeing someone else's happiness.
And even with her last dying breath, Cen refused to stop hating, and the memory makes my knees crumple—-
I heard her, Eros! I heard her—-
Eros catches me in his arms, and I sag against his chest.
It's over now, moraki mou. She's dead—-
You're not listening to me!
I told you I heard her.
I heard her curse.
I feel the god stiffen, and this time I know I have his attention.
Tell me.
She gave up her life, so she could take my happiness away.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Eros is not the bomb during emergencies. He berates me for letting myself get hurt, but then he pulls me in an invisible embrace so tight my ribs threaten to crack. When he whisks me back into his mist-hidden cabin, and he sees me turn a little green, he tells me I deserve it...but a second later, he's also pressing his hand against my stomach, and my nausea disappears like a forgotten bad dream.
The rest of the Erotes materialize into view just as Eros is threatening to have me expelled from Rosethorne if I display this kind of idiocy again, but then he sweeps me up in his unseen arms and the other gods start to smirk as they "hear" him growling in my mind about handcuffing me to him for eternity.
It's Eros like I've never experienced before, and I'm not sure whether I should feel cherished or concerned. He's normally cool as hell, but now he's turned into a god completely shorn of composure, and I'm wondering if perhaps he's momentarily lost his divine mind?
Stand still.
The god gently lowers me to my feet once we're inside his bedroom, which now feels a little crowded with his tall, dark and deadly brothers also taking up space.
I'm going to heal—-
I quickly jump back and clench my teeth as several parts of my body protest at the sudden movement. I don't want the god to know I'm hurt, but apparently—-
Stop hurting yourself, dammit!
He already knows, and since I still can't see him, all I can do is hurriedly cover my painfully broken nose before he can heal it with his touch. "It might compromise the investigation—-" I break off when I see Erma shake his head, but it's Himeros who takes over to explain.
"Rosethorne is under divine jurisdiction," he says gently. "There will be no investigation, but we will reveal what is necessary to reveal for justice to be delivered."
A part of me realizes I should have expected this, and while that part of me also knows it's better this way for everyone—-
I just feel overwhelmed all of a sudden, and I don't even realize I've started to sway on my feet until I'm suddenly back in the god's arms, and I sense the pain in his voice as his words unroll in my mind.
Let me heal you now, moraki mou.
Please.
My heart wrenches with sudden guilt. I've been so lost in my own thoughts that I failed to realize how I'm not the only one hurting from my injuries, and I've barely started to nod when I feel the god's feather-soft touch all over my body.
Mere seconds are all it takes, and I throw myself at him as soon as he's done. "Thank you," I whisper.
You're not out of the woods yet, little bird.
Both the grimness of his tone and his words come as a surprise to me, but before I can even ask, the god has already magicked me into his bed, and I find myself being tucked under the covers.
"Uh..."
Erma walks up to me and gives my hand several comforting pats. "Just let big brother work this out of his system. You're the first human he's spent a considerable length of time with," he explains, "and you've just given him his first big scare—-" Erma breaks off as invisible fingers snatch my hand out of his hold, and I see all three of Eros' brothers snickering when my hand is tucked under the covers...which are afterwards pulled all the way up to my neck.
Anteros shakes his head with barely-concealed amusement. "You do remember you've just healed her, don't you?"
That only shows how little you understand how frail humans are.
She bruises easily, and her bones—-
While Eros rattles on with a list of my mortal deficiencies, Erma bends down to whisper in my ear, "Be patient with him, little sister. This is his divine way of fussing—-"
I am NOT fucking fussing!
But I think he is actually, and the way his brothers are smirking tell me they think so, too.
GROWL!
It's Eros, turning back into a beast just so he can roar his anger at us, and this time I can only join in everyone's laughter. Fussing is such a human thing, and so for a god - and especially a primordial god like Eros - to do such a thing with me...
A helpless smile curves over my lips as I turn to the beast, and when it moves close to the side of my bed, I eagerly throw away the covers so I can sit up and snuggle against its massive furry body.
He feels so warm and sturdy, and as I close my eyes with a little sigh, I hear the other gods start snickering again.
Huh?
My eyes fly open, and Anteros says dryly, "Only you can make a beast like that look more cuddly than ferocious."
His words have my gaze flying back to the beast, and I hastily bite back a smile. Even with its scary leonine features, the long-suffering expression it wears is unmistakable, and all I can do is fight to keep my face straight as I flash a peace sign in response. "Uh...sorry?"
Your sincerity takes my breath away, moraki mou.
The other gods laugh,
and my resolve crumples as I give in to a fit of giggles.
You should rest, you know.
I shake my head. Everything's still too fresh, even if we don't speak about it.
The whole room falls silent, and it's then I realize that the other gods have been listening in the entire time.
"Are you willing to speak about it?" The question comes from Erma, whose unusually sober expression is enough to make me nod without hesitation. And from there, we decide to start piecing things together, beginning with the toxin Cen tried to use to paralyze me.
"I knew I was poisoned even if the test results said otherwise so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I forged my parents' signatures to withdraw my college fund, and I used it to consult with one of Sekret's top priestesses."
Anteros looks at me with approval. "For one who knows so little of the gods, that was a remarkably good move of yours."
"I was desperate," I admit. "It was the first time I've spent days researching about gods. Although I've never voiced it out loud, I kinda knew...in the back of my mind, I had this niggling doubt that magic might've been involved, and when I think of how my parents' deaths were fated...it made me paranoid. I didn't want to be put in a situation where I could be magically drugged or poisoned again."
"Most people's research would have taken them to one of our own," Erma points out curiously. "Aesculapius. Hygeia. Or even Apollo. Why did you choose a priestess serving one of the Egyptian deities?"
A wry smile touches my lips. "I calculated the odds, and since the probability of someone from the Egyptian divine getting involved in my case turned out to be extremely low, I thought I'd take my chances with them."
"And what did your consultation yield exactly?" Anteros presses.
"The priestess gave me an ancient recipe used by royalty—-"
The beast cuts me off with a low growl as he snarls out in my mind—-
MITHRIDATISM.
The anger in its tone makes me feel a little defensive. "No risk, no gain—-"
Another growl cuts me off, and another furious rush of Eros' words roll out for me to read.
Poisoning one's self is not a risk! It is complete stupidity!
A single mistake—-
"But I didn't make any mistakes," I can't help protesting. "And more importantly, the recipe she gave me is a one-size-fits-all thing that can work as an antidote for every type of divine poison—-"
