by Setta Jay
Jax sent an image of the Immortal heads, a good dozen of them. These differed in the fact that they had barely decomposed, their glassy eyes staring out into nothing. The charred remains of bodies weren’t far beyond.
What the fuck is going on? Drake growled.
Good question, Jax responded as he gave her the next spot to port to.
They found the charred hellhounds next. Several littered the ground in a black grizzly pile, and Jax sent the information and visual through the link.
Another port.
Ileana pointed to the left at the sightless head of a huge serpent.
More messages sent and a couple of more ports and they finally saw an entrance to some caves.
One entrance. No movement, Jax reported and frowned and sent the image. She’d seen something in the brush.
Stay close to me, Jax growled in their link before porting up there. Half covered in the foliage were more bodies, several piled in the bushes. These weren’t bloody; the bodies were whole and sightless. Just the faint scent of death. What the hell was happening out here?
The guards are dead. We have company, or Elizabeth has a traitor in her ranks.
A growl issued in the link. Find out! Drake snarled.
The protections are nonexistent, deaths are too clean, and I don’t smell poison, so I’m wondering if we have a rogue healer on our hands.
Drake ported next to them, smoke billowing from his lips as power flowed in his fury. It was still too silent. His head turned to the right and he cursed. I scent hell beasts farther in the trees. Dead.
Move in, Drake demanded, and the three of them were already porting quietly through the empty tunnel. Bodies lay in the rooms on either side. The same as the guards. She heard no noise as they moved farther into the mountain.
They came to the end and could only go right or left.
Guardians were lining the tunnels behind them, awaiting Drake’s instructions.
P, Conn, Uri, Alex, check the left tunnel. Find the God! Drake snarled through the link.
When they finally heard voices, it wasn’t good. Ileana’s heart rate sped as they hit two more tunnels that had to be on the other side of the mountain.
Screams split the air. Pain filled and furious before they were cut off only to start again seconds later. Someone was being tortured. Female from the sounds of it.
“How does it feel to be helpless, Elizabeth?” The voice was feminine and menacing. A harsh scream rent the air as they all crept closer to the room. “How did it feel to have no idea who was hunting you, picking off your warriors with ease?” Another furious scream along with the sounds of panting.
“Who are you?” another feminine voice, which had to be Elizabeth, responded, wheezing for air. Ileana’s heart rate kicked up. Finally she’d found her, but the other female might kill her before she ever had the chance. What was going on? They moved slower. She clenched her fists tight.
A keening cry rent the air.
“I am who you made me. A nightmare.”
“I’ve never seen you before, cunt,” Elizabeth snarled.
A piercing scream echoed down the tunnel as they got closer.
P, what do you have? Drake demanded as they stalked closer to the voices, keeping to the walls. They didn’t dare spook anyone and tip their hand. They couldn’t lose Apollo.
P responded, More dead bodies and a lab.
Find the God. Conn, get the information from the lab, Drake growled. We found Elizabeth. And an unknown.
“Funny. I remember you. You enjoy seeing others suffer. Now I get to watch as you do.”
“Who are you?” Elizabeth growled.
The question was ignored. More roars of pain and Ileana smelled blood. She was itching to rush inside the room when they got to the doorway, but Drake held a hand up. I only smell Elizabeth and a male Lykos, alive. All other scents are of death, cats, hounds. I don’t smell anyone else in there. The dragon frowned. I feel the stasis unit’s power; it’s close. Gregoire and Dorian, port past this doorway and check the rooms beyond. Everyone else stay back until I say.
“How did it feel when your last two Kairos didn’t come back? You had to have panicked at being effectively trapped here. That you couldn’t leave, couldn’t hide because you can’t teleport. Did it make you feel weak? Helpless?” Hate-filled laughter slid into the tunnel.
Whoever was in there with Elizabeth was insane, and it sounded like the bitch had created her own monster. It all sounded very personal.
“Well, you won’t be teleporting out of here either,” bellowed the one who had to be Elizabeth if Drake was scenting it correctly. “Who are you? You like to play in the mud, is that how you covered your scent?” Elizabeth snarled, wheezing and choking through it.
“I’m the one who killed your pets, your people and your leader.” The female added the last in a hushed voice before more agonizing cries spilled from the room.
Drake and Jax stilled. It felt like the air had stopped moving, the tension had grown so thick.
“You killed Cyril?”
“Yes. But he didn’t suffer enough. Not nearly enough.” Disgust filled the voice.
Ileana felt Jax’s shock and knew he hadn’t known. The female inside the room was Delia, the one who had supposedly died after causing Cyril’s demise. There was a statue of her in Lofodes. How had she fooled the Guardians into thinking she was dead?
“They said you died.”
“Sadly for you, I didn’t,” Delia agreed. “But soon you will, along with him, your precious God.” Did that mean the God was in the room? Drake moved inside, that was apparently the only confirmation he needed. Seconds trickled by as the dragon barked orders.
Sacha, Bastian, with me to the God. Images of the room shot in the link as Drake snarled, and they all followed him in, taking in the scene. Brianne, get Delia. Vane, get the Lykos. Sirena, get Elizabeth. Everyone else stay back.
It was almost like the rest was in slow motion. So much converged in a matter of seconds that Ileana’s head spun. She saw everything at once while waiting for any opportunity to pounce, to do something.
The room was coated with thick brilliant silver, and Ileana felt the spell around it. The Kairos Guardians were the only ones with any chance of porting through that, and even then, Ileana wasn’t sure if Bastian and Sacha could do it.
Ileana took in more of the scene in front of her. Hellhounds were dead on the ground, blood pooling around them. Two cats were on the ground, one with a blade to the heart, both sightless.
Her eyes landed on the glowing blue encasement, and she sucked in a breath at the sight of the God lying peacefully asleep inside. It was massive and she felt the power, like Drake had when they’d been in the tunnel.
A naked male Lykos with burns all over his body and stringy black hair covering his face knelt with shackled wrists mere feet from the encasement. The chains were in a pile on the ground as if he’d been strung up. Donovan. The male’s shoulders and head were hunched and he seemed to be struggling for air.
The female, Delia, stood to one side of the God. She was covered in thick red clay. A wraith with only the whites of her eyes visible, even her eyelashes were caked, and Ileana wondered what exactly was in the stuff. It had to be the reason Drake hadn’t scented her and it also explained how she’d gotten to Elizabeth. The female was covered in that filth from her long hair down to her ill-fitting pants.
Ileana watched as Delia scented the air like a beast, snarling. Her eyes shot to Drake and she seemed to stiffen, appearing completely paralyzed for a moment, looking at nothing but the dragon. Scared of the Guardian leader? Maybe. Drake was enraged. His muscles pulled tight, flashing green eyes as he ported to the God.
Then Ileana saw her, Elizabeth, the female she’d seen in her mind’s eye a thousand times, from the memory her parents’ had given her of the Immortal enemy. The female’s red hair was a wild tangle around her bloody face. She lay on the ground, furious bright eyes darting around the room as she snarle
d. One of her arms had been ripped off and was lying in a pool of blood next to her.
They could port inside the room, just not out of it, and that’s what was happening; as Guardians moved, Delia moved. Everyone seemed to be everywhere, Bastian and Sacha were ghosting to touch the God’s encasement, to move it. Delia stumbled back from Drake and Elizabeth, launching into the dragon while her feet tangled in chain. The shackles pulled and Donovan was flung to his side, the male’s head bashing into the God’s encasement as Drake roared his fury. Ileana’s eyes widened in horror as everything happened so fast there was no way of stopping it.
Sirena quickly captured Elizabeth, but it was all too late, Donovan had touched the God’s spelled sleeping unit.
Delia ported as Brianne went to contain her. The females ported around each other in a blur as Ileana heard the door to the chamber slam shut and jumped in to help. She spared a glance at the silver door preventing escape by porting through to the tunnels. She fisted her hands. Jax was already in the mix, getting to Donovan the same moment Vane did.
It was all too late. A bright flash of light blinded Ileana for seconds and slammed the occupants back into walls. She felt the impact in her ribs. She looked around. Apollo was standing there, his massive frame encased in leather of a different time. Confusion registered in his bright God-blue eyes for only a second as he took in the scene around him.
Elizabeth’s delighted cry echoed off the walls.
Delia ported directly behind Apollo. The female’s eyes widened a second before the God backhanded her hard into the wall at the same time Drake attacked from the front. Apollo was slammed to the ground by the furious dragon. The cave shook with the force of the impact of his body into the hard ground. Apollo’s eyes flashed, and then it was a blur of movements as bodies hammered into the ceiling, the walls. Vane flew into the mix, Jax taking Donovan.
Guardians yelled and tried to get into the fight as Brianne threw a dazed Delia over her shoulder.
“Apollo,” Elizabeth cried out, making feral attempts to break Sirena’s hold.
Ileana saw Apollo glance at Elizabeth dispassionately and continue the fight with Drake. What were the dragon and the God saying? They were snarling in a language she didn’t know. Drake was slammed into one wall before doing the same to Apollo, and Vane tried to grip the male from behind only to be powered into another wall as he roared his fury and talons unleashed from his fingers, digging into the God’s arm. Metal was breaking free of the walls from the force of the fight and part of the ceiling came crashing to the ground next to her. The entire mountain was about to come down around them.
Come here. Jax roared in their link and she ported to him.
They were both blasted into the wall as the God, Drake and Vane fought. Air burst from her lungs, but she kept her hold on her mate who had the battered Lykos over his shoulder.
Everyone out, Drake snarled in the link.
The door flung open as she watched Drake’s big body pin the God to the ground. It was the last thing she saw as Jax ported them out of the door, out of the collapsing mountain.
“Are you okay?” Jax demanded.
“Yes.” But she was still shocked. In mere minutes the world had turned upside down and the God was unleashed. She felt chills running down her spine, and hoped that Drake and Vane had the God contained.
Chapter 36
Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm
Drake bellowed in Vane’s face, “You and me, the second we fucking find him!”
The male’s eyes flashed. Dried blood and dirt covered them both. “Can’t wait!”
Drake snarled, “Now keep fucking looking.” Drake saw Vane’s eyes flash, and he wished for a second that he had time to end this fucking pissing match. The male was seconds from transforming, and Drake clenched his fists, waiting for it.
“How do you want to handle the female?” Brianne asked as she walked up. Her eyes were flashing bright. She was pissed as he watched her blindly grip Vane’s hand in her own.
“What the fuck happened?” he snarled at her, and Vane’s muscles expanded as he moved to step forward.
“Not now.” She growled at Vane and he clenched his teeth.
“I know.” Vane growled back at her.
Brianne’s eyes went to Drake again. “She’s fucking fast and strong.”
“I saw!” Drake growled.
“Explain.”
“Sirena almost had Elizabeth in a cell as I carried Delia in. I’m still shocked she’s alive. It was so hard to catch her, I dug my talons into her wrists to keep her held as she fought me. She even fought the teleport. Then she ripped away from the hold. One of her hands was dangling and it didn’t faze her. She used the other hand and arm to rip Elizabeth’s head off her body and incinerated that shit, roaring like a wild animal.” Brianne ran a hand over the back of her neck. “It was insane and took Sirena and I both to get her in lockdown. The wrist is already healed. Seconds, maybe less, and it was nearly entirely severed. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“She overpowered you and Sirena?” He glared at Brianne. She had always been a fierce warrior and was even stronger now. This was ridiculous.
“She’s powerful. If she hadn’t been dazed after Apollo’s hit, I’m not sure I could have ported her away.” Brianne growled in irritation.
“Fuck.” Drake roared.
Sirena had told him Elizabeth was dead and Delia was contained. He’d been porting too much to get any more information and had snarled that he would be there when he could. Now that he was there, he planned to see the female that overpowered his Guardians and fucking caused Apollo’s escape.
He fisted his hand as his eye caught Vane’s. He wanted to go a round with the male now; it didn’t matter that Vane had managed a kick that landed Apollo in Drake’s hold before half the cavern fell on the cat. Drake had had Apollo in his hands, but the bastard had fought the teleport until the rest of the ceiling collapsed on them both, dislodging his hold. One more second and he’d have had the fucking God.
“Find him!” Drake demanded of the two before turning to find his prisoner.
Sirena met him in the hall, looking just as frustrated as Brianne had.
“Did she talk?” he demanded.
“Only to demand that we let her go.”
“What was in her blood?”
Sirena stilled. “Healer, Lykos, God’s blood.” Confirmation of what they knew of Delia. He balled his fists tight, wishing he could do damage.
“The clay was why she didn’t have a scent, even to me?”
“Yes. And we didn’t wash it off. She spelled it to stay on. Even when I took her blood it sealed back over the puncture. It was the same with her cleaved wrist. I’ll need to do a lot of tests to figure out everything that Cyril’s experimenting has done to the female.” Sirena blew out a frustrated breath.
Cyril had had her raped by Aletheia and injected her with a formula made to circumvent the mating curse, making Delia’s scent function as a trick to an Immortal’s senses, allowing her to mate any Immortal and more than one. Drake fumed. After that Cyril tested it, mated her to a Lykos, and after, he killed the male in front of her. Alex and Uri had been in her mind, trying to get her free at the time of her imprisonment. They’d been there after Cyril finally raped and mated her. The female had been able to trick the bastard and kill him months ago. Supposedly. Alex and Uri had seen it in her head, but they’d also seen her kill herself, so who the fuck knew.
“She had every right to those deaths.”
“I don’t care.” He turned and took the stairs down to the room holding the female. He planned to question the female himself now that he assured himself that Sirena hadn’t washed all the shit off of her. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to set foot there. She was dangerous and likely needed to be killed.
When he came to the spelled door, he saw her pacing to the cot and back. He still scented nothing, noting the thick shackles secured to her wrists and ankles around the tight-fitting cl
othes. She was tall with lean curves and she kept clenching her fists and jaw as she spun to face him.
He couldn’t see anything but her eyes, which held a kaleidoscope of color. His eyes tracked her and saw her body jerk, her nostrils flaring as she sucked in air.
“Let me go,” she demanded, and he heard her heart rate speed up. Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs. Was her breath dangerous? He kicked up the exhaust fans in the room just in case.
“We thought you were dead,” he growled.
She blinked. “So you know the kills were mine,” she ground out. The female was a fierce little thing.
“I don’t care about those. Because of you, Apollo is loose,” he snarled.
“It wasn’t intentional.”
“Yet it happened.”
“How’d she even get the God?” she snarled in challenge. Drake growled low as she continued. “And I tried to kill him.”
He remembered her porting behind the God before getting tossed aside. “He has protections against healing abilities.” Apollo’s own healing abilities were highest among the Gods. Any attempt at stopping his organs would have failed.
“I figured that out. Now let me go.” Her voice sounded shaky.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Is Cyril dead?” he demanded.
“Yes.” The feral look in her eyes made him believe her, but he would have Uri take her blood memories.
“Why let Alex and Uri think you were dead, Delia?”
Her breathing hitched and her hand clenched at her stomach. Was she insane? Hurt somehow?
“It didn’t work. The flames wouldn’t touch me,” she bit out in apparent self-disgust at her failed attempt to kill herself after Cyril’s abuse.
She was a female just past her majority. Young, though her eyes looked old now. Twenty years old and driven by vengeance. That didn’t excuse her, she should have come to them with Elizabeth’s location not acted like a vigilante when the bitch had had a God. Drake growled low.
