Mirissa had always thought she came from a broken family, but judging by that kiss, her family was anything but. Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, she quietly eased her way out of the living room, giving her parents the time they so richly deserved.
Chapter 19
Daedric stood staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows of his forty-second floor office in the Bank of America Tower. The view from the top of Jacksonville’s tallest building reminded him of his rightful place in the world. He could just imagine all of the inconsequential people running around far below him thinking that their lives were important. Why the gods had chosen to give the earth to these worthless humans was something he would never understand. As far as he was concerned, humans only had one purpose: to serve him.
“So, you failed me,” he said flatly as he turned. Daedric’s ice blue eyes contrasted starkly with his short dark hair and almost glowed when he was angry. Although he wasn’t exceptionally tall, standing a hair over six foot one, his presence dominated every room he entered.
Bill Grainger, the leader of his private military, stood a few meters in front of him, with his lips quivering, terrified. Exactly the way Daedric liked him.
“Sir, my men had the girl but were surprised by two agents in an air vent…”
Cutting him off, Daedric spat out, “You failed me!”
Swallowing hard, Grainger said simply, “Yes, sir.”
For over a decade, Daedric had planned his moves meticulously. He’d succeeded in uniting over a dozen tribes of preternaturals; something previously thought impossible. He’d had to promise each tribe what it was they wanted most—walking in daylight, human appearances, extended life spans, and much more. He couldn’t even remember all of the promises he’d made, but it didn’t matter. He had no intentions of following through on any of them. Those preternaturals were simply a means to an end. A useful machine to get him what was rightfully his—dominion over the earth.
Facing his pathetic excuse for a commander, Daedric raised his right hand and slowly closed his fingers into a fist. Immediately, Grainger grasped his throat, buckling at the knees as his airway constricted.
“I do not accept failure from anyone, for any reason. Do you understand me?”
A jerky nod of his head was all Grainger could manage as the lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to collapse to the floor.
Daedric enjoyed this man’s suffering immensely and would have loved nothing more than to watch him writhe in pain until his heart finally stopped beating, but, regrettably, he still had a use for him. Opening his fingers and dropping his hand back down to his side, Daedric released him.
Grainger took several long, agonizing breaths as his airway suddenly opened again. When he had recovered enough to stand, he straightened his uniform, placed his feet shoulder width apart, and awaited his next orders.
“Find where they are keeping the girl and report back to me. I will send someone more capable to extract her.” Another nod of his head and Grainger took his leave, looking enormously relieved that he was able to do so.
Suffering the company of inferior beings always gave Daedric indigestion and, since every being on the planet was woefully inferior, he preferred to spend his time alone with is thoughts. So much was riding on finding this girl that he couldn’t afford another mistake.
All of this could have been easily avoided if only he’d known who that Amazon bitch really was when he’d first met her all those years ago. He could have killed her daughter when she was just a small child and not be wasting his precious time and resources dealing with her now.
Daedric reached for his crystal decanter of Louis XIII Black Pearl cognac and poured himself a much-deserved glass. It was one of the rare human-made items that he felt was worthy of him. The smooth taste of the 100-year-old drink calmed him, clearing his mind.
He thought, once again, of his mysterious informant from all those years ago. Daedric still had no idea who it was that had helped him, or why he’d chosen to do so, but he often found himself wondering about that person.
It was twelve years ago, when Daedric’s plan was still in its infancy. He had just begun to court the preternaturals, convincing them to join him, and everything was going exactly as he had hoped it would.
Then came the phone call.
It lasted for only a few seconds—just a whispered couple of sentences—but it had changed everything.
The Queen of the Amazons has a daughter that is destined to disrupt your plan. Her powers will be great, and if you don’t stop her, she will stop you.
That was it. The caller didn’t identify himself and he disconnected the line before Daedric could even ask a question. At first, he ignored the cryptic message. No Amazon had the power to stop him so it wasn’t worth his time. But the call was always in the back of his mind, chipping away at his confidence.
Whoever it was knew about at least one group of preternaturals, so there was evidence of some inside knowledge. Somehow he also knew that Daedric had a plan in place. Those two things were enough to give credibility to the caller’s information, enough to force Daedric to call in some very valuable favors to find out definitively. And that was exactly what he did. He confirmed what the caller had told him only a few short weeks later.
Finding the girl, however, had been much more difficult than he’d imagined. He was able to ascertain the name of the Amazon Queen, but that information had proved useless. Not only did he lack a surname, but also none of his many contacts in local government had been able to find any record of property ownership with the first name Myrine. It was a dead end.
Until three months ago.
Over the years, Daedric had infiltrated many levels of local and national government, placing his people in positions that would ultimately help him. It was one of these people that happened upon the information he needed. His mole had overheard a secretary giving her boss a brief message. “Myrine on line three for you, sir.”
That was the beginning of the end for Myrine’s secret existence. Knowing whom she contacted allowed Daedric to instruct his people to dig in the right places, until he found the Omega Group. From there it was a simple matter of watching and waiting until they made contact with the girl—something that happened last night.
Today should have been a day of celebration for Daedric, if Grainger and his team had done their jobs. Now he’d lost the element of surprise and his target knew she was his prey. Things had gotten much more difficult but not impossible. Daedric was too powerful and had his fingers in too many pies to let a little girl thwart his plans. He would find her again, and this time she would not escape.
Taking another sip of his cognac, Daedric eased into the leather chair behind his desk and returned to the business at hand. The next phase of his plan would be initiated soon. He needed to make sure that everything, and everyone, was in place.
Chapter 20
When Myrine finally emerged from her private reunion with her husband, she called everyone in the house to the living room.
“Myrick, I’m glad you’re here. Did you have any trouble getting our supplies?”
A red-haired man standing three inches taller than Mirissa, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, answered quickly, “No. I just arrived, so I haven’t unpacked anything yet, but everything we need is in the garage.” Myrick looked at Mirissa and gave her a smile and a wink. “Can I assume that this lovely young lady is your daughter?”
“Yes.” Myrine smiled. “This is Mirissa, and this,” she said, putting her hand on Steve’s shoulder, “is my husband, Steve. Mirissa’s very protective father.”
As though completely unaware of Myrine’s warning, Myrick reached for Mirissa’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “It is my pleasure to finally meet you, lass.”
She didn’t know if it was his slight Scottish accent, or his mischievous grin, or maybe the look on her father’s face, but Mirissa couldn’t hold back the giggle she’d been trying to suppress and her cheeks turned crimson.
Another quick wink and Myrick went back to his seat, still sporting that grin.
“Myrick is our resident flirt. He’s a merman.” Myrine said. “Okay, right now, we have work to do. Greco, I need you to take Mirissa to Tritonia. She needs to learn to control her new powers, and we can’t risk anything else happening here. Ken, I need you to contact Director Finley and bring him up to speed on today’s attack. He may have information that we need. Jackie, talk to Julian and have him scour the Internet for anything that can tell us what Daedric is up to. We need to know what each of his companies is doing. There has to be a trail to follow and if anyone can find it, it’s Julian. The rest of you, contact your preternatural brethren: get whatever information they have and put them on alert. If today’s attack tells us anything, it’s that Daedric is close to making his move. We’ll need all hands on deck.”
The atmosphere of the room was heavy as everyone got up to make their calls. There would be no more giggling tonight, Mirissa thought.
Greco came to Mirissa’s side, putting his hand out to help her off the couch. “Let’s find a quiet room where we won’t be in the way while we’re in Tritonia.”
They found a small den down the hall, with a couch and two comfortable-looking chairs, which was perfect. Greco sat in the chair while Mirissa took the couch. “Now that you’ve connected to your ring, sending your consciousness to Tritonia shouldn’t be difficult,” Greco said as he reached into his pocket. “I’ll walk you through it, and as soon as you’re there, I’ll join you.” He pulled something out of his jean’s pocket and put it on his finger.
“You have an Amazon ring?” Mirissa was surprised to see that his ring was identical to hers, except in a larger size.
“It’s a long story. Are you ready to go?”
Mirissa nodded.
“Lie back so that your body doesn’t fall when you leave. Now, close your eyes and concentrate on Tritonia. See the island in your mind’s eye—the clearing, the warriors there, the statue. Once you have a clear picture, just will yourself to be there. It should happen fairly quickly”
She was gone. Her body was still lying on the couch, but her consciousness was far away.
Chapter 21
Mirissa found herself standing in the same clearing she remembered from her first visit to Tritonia a year ago. Nothing had changed. When she looked down, she saw that she was wearing the warrior costume that she’d found so funny last time. It was the ancient leather version of a halter-top and skort. The green top wrapped around her neck and crossed over her breasts until it wrapped once more around her waist. The skort, a combination of shorts and skirt, hung only a few inches past her hips and was a rich brown color.
My dad would really hate this outfit, Mirissa thought with a smile.
A moment later, Mirissa’s jaw dropped as she took in the sight of Greco standing next to her. He was almost naked, wearing nothing but the male version of the brown leather skort, and he looked amazing. His shoulders were broad and his torso ripped with muscles that flexed with his every move. His abs were a taut eight pack and there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him from head to toe. She’d seen him training at the Baxter’s farm but he’d always worn sweats and a T-shirt so she’d had no idea how good he looked. When women said they wanted their man to look like a Greek god, this was what they meant.
“Close your mouth, Mirissa.”
Clamping her jaw shut, she got her mind out of the gutter. “Nice skort, Greco.”
The look of annoyance that crossed his face told her that this wasn’t the first time he’d heard that.
“Let’s find Myrine and get to work.” With that, Greco led her down the same path she’d traveled before. When they reached the statue of Artemis, Mirissa had the strangest feeling that she was being watched.
“I’m so glad that the two of you are here.” Myrine, the Amazon queen from two thousand years ago that was the namesake for all the queens that followed her, was standing behind them with the same comforting smile Mirissa remembered from her visit here a year ago. She must have been on the other side of the statue, which explained Mirissa’s weird feeling of being watched. “We have much work to do so let us not delay.” Myrine briefly put her left hand on the leg of the statue and then walked them over to the edge of the clearing. “You are coming into your powers, young warrior, and now you must learn to properly use and control them. Tell me, what have you accomplished thus far?”
Mirissa didn’t know how to answer that question. She hadn’t actually accomplished anything yet, unless you counted shaking dishes and messing with a werewolf an accomplishment.
Greco answered for her. “Her first experience was earlier today. She lost her temper and affected the room and the people around her.”
“Well then,” Myrine continued in her soothing tone, “we will start at the beginning.” Grabbing Mirissa’s right hand, she said, “Focus your mind on the power of the ring. Call it forth.”
Almost immediately, Mirissa’s ring began to grow. The snake wrapped itself around her arm until its head was at her shoulder.
“Very good. Now ask it to produce its blade.”
“What do I say?” Mirissa asked.
“Words are not necessary. You are connected to your ring, so your thoughts are all you require for communication.”
Mirissa silently asked the snake to produce the blade, and it did just that before she finished the thought. She then asked it to put the blade away, and just as quickly the knife was pulled back. Very cool.
“Your ring will respond to your thoughts, but that is not all. It also has—how do you young people say it?—a mind of its own. When you activate your ring it becomes fully aware. It will always obey your requests, but it will also take action when it deems it necessary, even if you do not ask it to do so. It will use its body to protect yours and its magic to help you.”
That explained her lack of a bullet wound that morning even though she had been sure she was shot. The snake must have blocked it.
“That is the extent of the power that Amazons have with their rings, but you are different,” Greco added. “You have more power within yourself than any Amazon ever. Your ring, therefore, is also much more powerful as it is connected to you.”
“So,” Mirissa asked, “what are my other powers?”
“To be honest,” Myrine answered, “we don’t know the extent of your powers. They’ll grow and change as you get stronger.”
“You said that your senses were magnified earlier, so let’s start with that.” After nodding at Myrine, Greco ran across the clearing and disappeared into the surrounding woods.
“I want you to focus your mind on increasing your senses, Mirissa. Your eyesight, your hearing, your sense of touch and smell.” Myrine held her hand as she breathed slowly in, silently willing her senses to increase. In an instant, the world around her changed. Every detail was crisp and magnified. Mirissa looked up and could see a caterpillar crawling across a leaf at the top of a tree. She could hear the sound the wind made when it blew through the spider web that was nestled up in the branches.
“Can you hear me, Mirissa?”
“Greco?” Mirissa spun around to find that, other than Myrine, she was still alone. She knew that she’d just heard Greco’s voice, but he wasn’t anywhere near her. “Where are you?” she asked.
“He can’t hear you, but it is wonderful that you can hear him whisper from that distance.” Myrine smiled.
“I want to try something,” Greco said as he came running through the clearing toward them. He stopped a few feet away from Mirissa and looked at her. “Try to push me away with your mind. I know you can do it based on what happened at the house earlier. Just focus your mind and push me.”
Mirissa looked warily at him, as though she was afraid she might hurt him. He gave her a reassuring nod to encourage her to try. She closed her eyes and took a slow deep breath to center herself, then trained her mind on pushing Greco back.
When Mirissa opened her eyes, Greco was
lying on the ground in the center of the clearing, surrounded by a dozen Amazons. At first she thought they were trying to help him, but she soon realized that they were just using the opportunity to fawn all over him. One particularly leggy brunette had her hands on him, rubbing his arms and chest and cooing in his ear. Mirissa could feel her anger rising as this “Trampazon” leaned in and put her arms around his waist.
In the blink of an eye the brunette was flying backwards, landing hard on her rear about ten feet away from Greco. Although she knew it was bad, Mirissa had to admit that she kind of felt better after that. Then she saw the look on Myrine and Greco’s faces.
“Mirissa,” Myrine said, “you must learn to control your emotions. These powers that you have can do much good, but they can also do much harm. You must understand that.”
After helping the brunette get back on her feet, Greco came over to where they stood, raising one eyebrow at Mirissa in a “what the hell?” look.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to do that.”
“I know you didn’t, but now you know that you can, so be more careful. I’d like to try something a little more controlled. This time, instead of pushing me, lift me into the air and hold me there.”
Again, Mirissa focused her mind, keeping her eyes open this time, and Greco floated up. She held him in position five feet off the ground.
“Don’t look up my skirt!”
Mirissa started to giggle and immediately Greco dropped back to earth.
He wiped the leaves and dirt off himself and said, “You did well, but you need to learn how to keep your focus even when there are distractions.”
“Got it. Walk and chew gum at the same time. What else can I do?”
Over the next few hours, Greco and Myrine worked to help Mirissa gain more control over her telekinesis. Her learning curve was short so they were able to see quite an improvement in very little time. They also experimented with other power possibilities. She definitely couldn’t shape shift like Carter or walk through solid objects like Han (that was a painful lesson to learn), but she was able to start a fire, create a small whirlwind funnel cloud, and levitate herself long enough to cross the island, with only her mind. Not a bad day’s work, she thought proudly.
Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) Page 9
