The Goddess Durga Series: (Urban Fantasy box set)

by Jen Pretty

  “I know a shortcut,” Alex said, trotting off in the opposite direction from which we had come. Tugging my coat close around my neck, we strode off after the eccentric vampire.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  After sloshing through several more tunnels and one bit of climbing, we were back on the streets of Moscow, but not anywhere near the hummer.

  “This way, we take metro,” Vilen said.

  That is how I found myself standing on an ornate underground platform, with hundreds of other people, a twitchy vampire and an impatient lion man in human form.

  Singh paced the edge, past the line painted on the cement that warned of danger. Bored looking commuters and gawking tourists packed the platform behind us. The pillars supporting the ceiling were arched, and the floor was tiled like a chess board, not that I could see much of it under the horde of pedestrian feet. Looking up, the vaulted ceiling was reminiscent of a cathedral. Giant chandeliers hung from the top, and ornate stucco designs were carved and painted all the way down the platform. It seemed to go on for miles.

  “Traffic is light right now,” Ninel said.

  “Really? It’s pretty crowded,” I replied, keeping an eye on Singh as he paced.

  “Rush hour, you can’t move in here,” Ninel replied.

  The space could easily hold thousands of people. I couldn't imagine being down here with that many people.

  “Calm down, Singh,” Drew said.

  Singh narrowed his eyes at Drew and kept pacing. I could hear the subway train coming, its rumble shook beneath my boots. Singh turned towards the noise and watched, a small smile pulling at his lip. The train wasn't slowing down though. It wouldn't stop at this station. Singh shut his eyes, and the train flew through, inches away from him, blowing cool damp air onto the platform. Singh’s hair swept back, and his coat flapped under the insult.

  Ninel reached out and grabbed the back of Singh’s coat and pulled him back across the line, out of the danger zone. Singh sighed, and his face fell as the train continued, the rumble getting further and further away.

  I slapped his arm. “What is the matter with you?”

  “I miss running. I need to get out,” he complained.

  “We are in a city, Singh. You can’t go tearing around here,” I replied.

  He sighed again.

  There was a low rumble. Another train was approaching at a more sedate pace. This one stopped at the platform, and the doors slid open. Most of the people who had been standing around now pressed to get on the train. It was a tight fit, like sardines in a tin can, but it seemed like everyone made it in. I lost sight of Drew and Alex, but Ninel pressed up behind me, and Singh was at my side. When the train stopped again, we funnelled out, and new people clambered on. I was glad to be off, my first breath of fresh air as we climbed the steps to the street was like heaven -- If heaven was in the arctic circle. The wind had picked up, and it was snowing again. I pulled up my hood and followed along behind Vilen and Ninel to the hummer parked a few blocks over.

  The heat, full blast, I rode shotgun back to Vaughn's mansion, shivering and holding my hands over the heat vents. The guys discussed the tunnels and how we could get into Metro two lines, but I ignored them. Something was gnawing at me. It wasn’t Durga, but she was alert like she could feel it too. Some other force was pressing at me; a weight on my chest. I had no idea who or what it could be.

  As we got out of the vehicle, Singh shifted to his lion form and swaggered into the mansion. His head was low, and I wondered if all this city living was too hard for him. Once we found Vincent, maybe we could spend time in the country.

  “Any luck?” Vaughn asked from the doorway.

  I shook my head, and he frowned. We both knew something was wrong, despite the assurances that Vincent was fine.

  I stumbled up the stairs to the room they had given us and stripped off all the heavy outerwear. Once locked behind the bathroom door, I stripped off the rest of my layers. The hot water sprayed painfully on my skin, leaching out the cold and washing it down the drain. When I regained feeling in my hands and feet, I threw on the shorts and t-shirt I had hastily packed and abandoned the bathroom. Leaving the steam of the bathroom, I found the heat turned up in the bedroom too, but I knew the lion on the bed was even warmer. I slid under the blankets and curled up next to the purring Singh.

  “I’m sorry you are unhappy,” I whispered.

  He rolled over and licked my cheek, scraping the skin with his harsh tongue.

  "Ouch, you oaf!" I said trying to wipe his drool off on the pillow beside me.

  He rested his massive head on my stomach and closed his eyes again. I fought an arm out from the blankets and pet his silly mane until he purred and I drifted off to sleep.

  “Where were you before you came to me?” I asked Singh that evening as we had dinner.

  “Here and there,” he replied. I had convinced him to eat dinner at the table, like a person, with Vaughn and some of his vampires. I filled in Vaughn on the information we got and suggestion to check Metro two. He assured me he could get us in there, but it would take some time. The system ran the full length of the city three times over and was an underground city, of sorts. It would take a long time to search it all.

  Alex made everything awkward with his strange fidgeting. He was tapping out a rhythm on his wine glass with a knife for fuck sakes. Vilen switched seats with one of Vaughn's vampires across from me and rested his massive arm across the back of Alex seat. The contact slowed the sketchy vampire.

  “Will he get over this?” I asked Vilen as the rest of the table went back to the polite conversation.

  “Yes, he needs time,” he replied.

  “I’m sorry Lark. I spent so long in those tunnels. They called me the ghost and new vampires would run from me. Some bigger vampires would chase me away.

  I reached across the table and took his hand that was still twitching occasionally. Durga seized the opportunity, and I felt my hand get hot. Alex screamed and threw his other arm out, knocking dishes and glasses everywhere. He tried to pull back, but my grip was solid.

  “Let go, it burns! Please!” he cried.

  Durga had him now and wasn't going to let go. She pulled him across the table by his arm, then clamped a hand to each side of his face. He wriggled and thrashed like a fish on the dock.

  The rest of the vampires had gotten up and stood along the wall watching with horror on their faces. I was afraid she would call our knife and kill Alex, but she didn’t. She used my mouth to chant in what I now recognized as Sanskrit. My hands got hotter as my arms split and multiplied. I stood, knocking my chair backwards. Singh shifted and leapt up onto the table. He stood over Alex like a menace.

  The heat peaked, and Alex let out a single scream before the heat vanished and he collapsed to the table. I released him, but he lay panting and gasping for several minutes. Alex laboured breathing was the only sound in the room. Drew, of course, was the first one to speak.

  "Fuck," he said, righting his chair and straightening the tablecloth as much as he could with a 120 lb human and 400 lb lion holding it down. "Thank you for a wonderful meal."

  “You are ... quite welcome,” Vaughn said. “Could I speak to you in my study, Durga?”

  Durga had curled up in her corner as soon as she destroyed dinner and did whatever she did to Alex, leaving me with the mess. Again.

  "Yeah, she’s not here anymore," I said, surveying the damage. "But I would be delighted to accompany you to your study."

  I set up my chair and pushed it into the ruined table before turning and following Vaughn out of the room. The rest of the vampires shuffled out of my way. As we walked down the hall, the conversation began in the dining room. I wanted to smack Durga sometimes. She couldn't just be cool once! Now all these vampires would know she is a psycho too.

  I followed Vaughn into his office, and he shut the door behind me. A Roar in the hall had him opening the door again to let Singh in. The lion huffed and then hopped onto the couch and co
llapsed. The couch groaned under his weight.

  “Would you like a drink?” Vaughn asked.

  “Sure,” I replied. “Something strong.”

  Vaughn smiled and poured us each a drink. I sat in the armchair in front of his desk, and he set the glass down in front of me before walking around to take his seat.

  He bit his lip for a second before he spoke. “I thought you said you and Durga worked together,” he said it like he worried it would offend me.

  “We do. But she is kind of dramatic sometimes and goes off.”

  He nodded. “Could I talk to her?”

  I gave Durga a nudge, but she was not coming back. I shrugged my shoulders. “I think she can hear you. She never seems to miss an opportunity to pop in, so she must be listening.”

  Vaughn smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "I wanted to say how much I’ve missed her,” he said with an unhappy laugh. "Others never understood, but she was perfect. She was everything. When Elliana died, I hoped she would return in her new form. When I heard Vincent found her..." He paused and looked me in the eye. "Found you, I was jealous. I thought she had chosen him, over me." He shook his head and laughed at himself.

  “I was so selfish. I see now why she couldn’t stay with me. There was so much to do, but I missed her. I think... I thought it was Durga that I loved, but I see you and her together now, and I know, it was Elliana that I loved back then. Maybe Durga knew all along.”

  Durga flashed in my eyes, and I knew what he said was true. It was still sad though.

  “How did she die?” I asked. Vincent said I was immortal, and I healed so fast from even major injury, I believed him.

  “I don’t know. One morning she never woke up. We didn’t have tests and things back then.”

  Durga flashed into my mind. She closed my eyes and played the memory back like I was watching an old movie on the backs of my eyelids.

  Vaughn was lying in bed with Elianna. She was laughing, but there was no sound in my memory. Vaughn's eyes were bright, and his smile, wide. He said something, and she got a serious look on her face. Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him hard like he had just given her the most amazing news. Then Durga flashed me an image of Elianna dead in her bed, eyes half open, mouth relaxed. Vaughn shook her, and she flopped like a rag doll. Durga stood at the side of the bed. Her arms lowered with a solemn look on her face. Then she vanished and I my eyelids opened to find Vaughn right in front of me.

  “What just happened?” he asked.

  I bit my lip; I think it might have been his fault that Elliana died. Why would Durga show me that?

  “Please?” Vaughn said.

  “What did you say to her the night before she died?” I asked, already knowing the answer and dreading it too. I crossed my fingers in my lap, hoping it was inconsequential. That it was nothing.

  “I asked her to marry me.”

  I pushed him out of the way and grabbed the trash can beside his desk, emptying my partially digested dinner into it before collapsing back into the chair.

  “Whoa, are you ok?” Vaughn asked.

  Singh got up and came over to purr at me. He shoved Vaughn and tried to get up in my lap in the armchair. Freaking lion.

  I slid out from under his paws and ended up sitting on the floor, still nauseated and now 100% sure, I would die.

  Because loving a vampire would kill me.

  And I loved a vampire.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I went back to my room, Singh hot on my heels. The halls cleared as I walked down them and nobody looked me in the eye. I mean, Durga healed Alex. She had claimed him, and the heat meant healing, so nobody had any reason to fear her or me or us. I climbed the stairs and swung open the door to the room we were staying in.

  “Thank you!” Alex said as he rushed over. Of course, he was in my room. I wanted to be alone and sulk for a few minutes, but that was too much to ask.

  “Sure, no problem,” I replied falling onto the bed.

  Singh hopped onto the bed too and lay beside me; his furry body pressed up against my side. This was not what I was here for. I needed to stop focusing on Vincent and concentrate on his fallen brother. This was all a stupid idea. Chasing a vampire down, professing my love to him? Dumbass.

  I sat up on my bed, ignoring the incessant chattering of Alex. Crossing my legs, I placed my hands palm up on my knees. I was not a normal girl. I would not have a normal life. Time to get my shit together and stop pretending I could have any of the things I wanted.

  I slowed my breathing and focused inward. Alex's voice faded away, Singh’s warm back anchored me in the moment, and I let my mind drift until I was numb.

  ✽✽✽

  I opened my eyes sitting in front of Shiva. His dreadlocked hair was whipping about like he was Medusa. His snake was slipping in and out of the wild locks as if he was a great serpent swimming through the water.

  “To whom am I speaking?” Shiva asked. He had kept up this greeting since the time Durga took over my body and fooled him.

  “It’s Lark,” I said, though I wasn’t sure there was much of a gap between Durga and me anymore.

  “Good day young Lark, why do you appear so dejected?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I wanted to talk to you about Vernon,” I said.

  “It matters. Is Durga a bitch again?” The Deity in question popped in waving her arms like one of those wacky inflatable waving things businesses use on street corners to get attention. She narrowed her eyes at my thought but didn’t stop waving.

  “I have done nothing but show Lark the way it will be if she continues on her course towards relations with the vampire.” Durga scowled at me.

  “Why have you done this, Durga? You have not a single romantic bone in your body,” Shiva said.

  “She must know what will happen. I want to keep her. She is strong and fierce and mustn’t be distracted from our mission with frivolous things.”

  “Both of you shut up,” I said, standing to move around the place. It was the same temple as always. Wide arched windows with no glass allowed a breeze to pull sand through. It crunched in my teeth as I looked out across the desert. “I need to find Vernon and kill him. Then we can go somewhere else. Someplace warm at least.”

  I turned back to look at Shiva. He was still glaring at Durga.

  “You will find happiness, Lark. Do not listen to the old hag.”

  “Old hag?” shrieked Durga. Her arms flapped with renewed anger.

  “Yes, I’m talking about you. You can’t just let her be happy?”

  “You know nothing of happiness. This is the way it must be! I will not have my plans ruined because of a schoolgirl crush,” Durga’s voice had risen to near glass shattering level.

  “It’s fine. I don't care. I want to find Vernon and kill him before he ruins anything else. Vengeance for Randy and all the others Vernon has killed is what I care about.” I stomped back over to where Shiva and Durga stood. “I want his blood to paint the walls. Give me his head!” My voice had risen too. My chest clenched around my strained lungs as the air heaved in and out. I focused my anger and pain, ready to do this.

  Durga’s smile should have set off an alarm. But at the moment I was too angry to care about Vincent. I had an outlet for my anger, and I would run with it.

  “Very well, go back underground Mourning Lark. You will find your prey in the shadows,” Shiva said. I ignored his frown, choosing to pretend everything was fine.

  ✽✽✽

  I came back to the room with Singh’s head in my lap. Durga flashed behind my eyes when I blinked, and the room came back into focus. Alex sat on a chair at the end of the bed, staring at me like I had two heads. Or eight arms.

  “What?” I asked.

  “The prayer you say,” he laughed. “It’s And a Meadowlark Sang. That's the name of the prayer.”

  I stared at him for a moment. “That's messed up, Alex. Future reference, I don't want to know about weird shit like that, ok?” I rolled off the be
d and walked towards the bathroom. As I shut the door, I realized Alex wasn’t all fidgety and weird anymore. I swung it back open.

  “Did Durga fix you?” I asked.

  He smiled, his teeth flashing in the low light of the morning sun that streamed through the window. “She did, thank you Goddess.”

  I shut the door again. She didn't have to make it a huge spectacle and ruin dinner.

  I took a hot shower and changed into some new clothes I purchased at the mall. Jeans and a plain t-shirt, topped with a heavy fleece hoodie, I was ready to get back to cave diving. Now was the time to find that bastard and snuff him out like a flickering flame. Then I could go home, or at least somewhere warm. My home was ruined, anyway.

  I stepped back out into a flurry of activity and waving arms.

  Vilen and Ninel were arguing in Russian, Drew and Singh were sitting on the bed watching, and Alex was waving his hands in the air trying to get the attention of both large vampires.

  “What the hell?” I shouted. They all stopped and looked at me. “What is going on?”

  “I think…” Alex started.

  “He is Crazy,” Vilen said.

  “… I saw something in the tunnels,” Alex continued.

  I laughed. “I saw a lot of things in those tunnels.”

  “I say he is crazy,” Vilen said.

  “Ok, well, let's hear it anyway.”

  Vilen threw his hands up and turned away. Ninel's face was a mask of sorrow; frown lines etched from his lips.

  “I saw a man turn into a buffalo.”

  Durga sprung up, turning the room red. Her rage pushed adrenaline through my system. Ninel bowed to his knee. I wasn't sure why until I realized I had my knife in my hand. Alex took a big step back, and Singh leapt off the bed and paced the room, growling and hissing.

  I wanted to ask what that meant, but Durga had taken control of my mouth. Not that she was saying anything. She stood there, knife in hand, ready to fight something.