Aello hung her head and nodded. “I remember,” she said contritely.
“We will complete the mission without deviation,” Ocypete said as the final word on the matter.
Anjali willed Belinha to get off the ground and run, but in her gut, she knew the woman was defeated.
“Belinha!” a voice that made Anjali’s heart speed up called from behind her.
She turned to see Pontius drop his bundle and race toward the garden. Even in a different incarnation, she would recognize Viktor.
“Not again,” Pontius muttered as he ran past where Anjali stood and headed toward Belinha.
Aello moved so fast that Pontius didn’t have time to react. He was soaring through the air and landing on his side as Belinha was dragged from the garden by Celaeno.
“I want to eat him,” Aello yelled to Ocypete as she sniffed Pontius’ leg.
“Stay away from her!” Pontius shouted. He kicked away Aello’s face and scrambled around her to get to Belinha.
“Pontius!” Belinha shouted as she struggled to free herself from Celaeno’s beak.
“Bring that one closer,” Ocypete called to Aello, who nodded and swung her wing at Pontius’ face, knocking him down.
Anjali wanted to close her eyes and forget that any of this had happened. She couldn’t watch either of them be torn apart or worse, delivered to Hades. She wanted to scream at Belinha to fight back, but it was useless. The woman’s fate had already been decided centuries ago. Though she was happy to be able to access her memories again, Anjali understood why Lucifer didn’t want her to see them. The pain and loss from her past lives were too terrible to remember all at once. Feeling the misery from two memories so far, she was reminded of something Gabriel had once said to her. He said that hers was a difficult life that would never be easy. It seemed it was an understatement based on the fear and agony she saw on Belinha and Pontius’ faces. She wanted to wake up and punch Hades in the throat, but she forced herself to watch the rest of the memory.
Pontius was thrown to the ground in front of a weeping Belinha. “Please, I’ll do anything, just let her go,” he pleaded.
“I love you,” Belinha whispered to him.
She watched Celaeno crouch down and reach for Belinha’s hand. Anjali almost choked when she saw the red gem with the slash of black seated inside a silver band. It was her ring—the ring used to contain her power. Celaeno was attempting to remove the ring from the woman’s hand, but why? The Harpies had no fingers and no need to steal jewelry. Why would they take it?
When the ring was stripped from Belinha’s finger, the entire world grew dark and the innocent woman’s face contorted into a look of pure fury. Anjali took a step back when she saw the Destroyer, the real Destroyer, standing before her. Oddly enough, Pontius wasn’t afraid of her; instead, he rolled to his side to put some distance between himself and the Harpies.
“You had better run before you get what is coming to you,” Pontius said darkly. He wiped the blood from his lip and watched in awe as the Destroyer awoke from her slumber.
The Harpies appeared confused by the threat and the sudden change in the woman. They had no idea what was about to happen to them.
Belinha raised her arms to the sky and let out a scream of rage and pain. Blood trickled down her forehead from her scalp and dripped onto her beautiful blue chiton. Her injuries were no longer plaguing her as she turned her black gaze upon the sisters. Ocypete and Celaeno stepped away from the Destroyer, but Aello stood her ground.
“You dare to harm me? You think you can kill me?” Belinha said in a voice Anjali recognized. It was the voice that embodied her wrath.
Ocypete looked scared as she contemplated a retreat. Aello opened her wings and stepped forward to strike the woman, but an unseen force knocked her into the wall of the courtyard.
Aello’s head slammed into the wall and rattled her, though she got back up as fast as possible. Celaeno didn’t wait for Belinha to come at her first. The Harpy zipped through the air with her beak and talons ready to tear into the woman’s flesh. Anjali saw Belinha’s mouth curl up into a cruel smile as she waved her hand and tossed the creature into the almond tree with enough force to snap the tree in half.
Ocypete eyed her sisters and waited for Aello to join her before they both flapped their wings wildly at Belinha. Celaeno untangled herself from the broken tree and joined the fray. The three sisters swarmed Belinha, moving so fast that they were nothing more than a black blurry ring around the woman. They were snapping at her arms and legs, while assaulting her with their powerful wings. Belinha didn’t acknowledge any pain she felt, instead she stared up at the storm forming in the sky. She patiently accepted the new cuts and bites on her already battered body as she continued to gaze at the storm.
Anjali held her breath since she couldn’t remember the outcome of the fight. She saw the concern on Pontius’ face, but he was smart to stay out of the way since he was no match for the sisters.
“Belinha! I’m here! Please, I can’t stand to see you hurt. You must end this if you can!” he said supportively.
Anjali was shocked. He somehow understood that the petite woman could best the Harpies without his help. She was nearly positive that Belinha had no knowledge of who she really was, but Pontius, or rather Viktor, understood her dark nature. True to Viktor’s word, he didn’t fear the Destroyer; instead, he was cheering her on.
Focusing on the fight, Anjali saw what Belinha was waiting for. The storm had grown enough in strength to pull the rising winds into the shape of a tornado, one that was more powerful than the spinning terror that was holding Belinha hostage. The tornado hit the ground, tearing a hole at least 20 feet wide. The Harpies broke formation as Celaeno was sucked into the strengthening vortex. The other two Harpies paused their attack to determine if they could help Celaeno.
“Let our sister go,” Ocypete yelled.
Belinha ignored her and fed her power into the tornado. Aello snapped her beak at Belinha and looked back at Celaeno, who was twirling around and slamming against the wall of wind. She tried to flap her wings and right herself, but nothing she did stopped her tumbling.
When the clouds opened up and released the driving rain, Belinha released a wall of flame that drove the Harpies back. They retreated, but it pushed them closer to the tornado that was tearing apart the ground as it spun and bouncing around a half-mile radius.
“We must end this, sister! Master will not allow us to fail!” Aello shouted above the rumbling thunder.
Ocypete nodded her head and joined her sister in a bold maneuver. They swooped up and over the wall of fire and flew straight at Belinha. They were met with multiple fireballs that impeded their attack. Ocypete, in a move of pure desperation, flew high up into the air and dove at Belinha from above. She was about to reach her target when a blast of air knocked her off course into the tornado. An enormous bolt of lightning hit the tornado and caused the electricity to scatter throughout the air.
Ocypete hit the ground and rolled to a stop a few feet away from Celaeno, who had been freed from the tornado. Both creatures were slow to recover.
“Run away, Aello, or you are next,” Belinha warned as the storm intensified into a formidable opponent. Lightning bolts crashed down across the landscape, while the rain soaked the ground and the feathers of her enemies.
Aello looked over her shoulder at her fallen sisters, recoiling every time the sky lit up. She finally hung her head and nodded. She shook her entire body to free herself from the heavy water and fluffed up her feathers so that she could flap her wings.
“We may not be able to defeat you this time, Destroyer, but we will try again. Our Master has given us a task and we will not fail him, ever,” Aello hissed. She was angry that she had no choice but to admit defeat.
Aello tipped her head, acknowledging her defeat, and rose up into the driving rain and winds. She tipped back and forward to keep her balance in the turbulent air. She rose higher, but fell when the winds caught her wi
ng the wrong way. She was about to crash into the house but she suddenly shifted her weight and swooped around to fly straight at Pontius, who was huddled under the edge of the roof near the garden. He noticed too late that the Harpy had targeted him.
“No!” Belinha cried.
Pontius was scooped up into the storm and disappeared through the clouds. Belinha scanned the clouds for her lover, but he was gone. When she lowered her arms and searched around for her ring, she heard the worst sound imaginable. Pontius was screaming as he plummeted to the ground at a dizzying speed. She was helpless to stop her lover from crashing into the ground.
Anjali watched Belinha run to Pontius’ side as the remaining Harpies gathered themselves and took to the air before Belinha could retaliate.
Belinha took Pontius into her arms and fussed over his body to figure out how to help him, but he was already gone. In her anguish, Belinha allowed the storm to rage out of control and destroy everything across Greece. It wasn’t until Gabriel appeared that Belinha was forced to stop the storm, but by then it was too late. The damage done to Greece would take hundreds of years to overcome and the mortals would suffer all because Hades had ordered his monsters to kill her. Part of her was relieved to know that she hadn’t started the storm on purpose, but it didn’t ease her guilt over the senseless loss of life.
Remembering Belinha’s pain, her heart ached at the loss of Pontius, even though she knew Viktor was safe on the island. Ignoring her hatred of Hades for the moment, she needed to see Viktor and hold him in her arms.
∞
Viktor stared off at the horizon and decided on what he should do. He had to find a way to release Anjali from her bonds. The only way to help her was to find Gabriel, though he hadn’t spoken to him since he was a teenager, shortly after he regained his memories. Once he remembered who Gabriel was, he broke off all ties and avoided him so that he wouldn’t have to think about his soul mate. Gabriel would know how to help her, and might possibly know how to save his neck. He needed to get Anjali back to Brazil and to a telephone. Sadly, he had no way of communicating with the world from his ship. He never wanted to be found and if he ran into trouble, he would prefer to die at sea. He shook his head at how pathetic his life was.
Deciding to make the most of whatever time he had, he planned to march back to the cave and wake his sleeping beauty. When he turned, he spied the blue eyes that made his stomach tighten in anticipation and his heart sputter. His cock—traitor that it always was—was already rock hard, and begging him to take her on the spot. His hands ached to smooth away her frown lines. Even his lips burned as he recalled her teeth nibbling on them. His entire body was awake and alive, just as it was every time he laid his eyes on her. His body had been begging him to claim her ever since he saw her at the resort. He had been fighting with every ounce of strength to stand firm, but it was a losing battle. He thought allowing himself just one last time to indulge in his fantasies would help him to move on, but of course it was a lie.
The thought of seeing her fall when she was clinging to the ledge shattered every thought of wanting to purge her from his mind. All he wanted to do was put his arms around her and keep her safe. He had refused to physically find his release during their encounter in the cave as one last way of protecting his heart. It was stupid, but he felt it was too intimate an act for someone he couldn’t stay with.
He stared passively at Anjali, who seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
“The storm has passed and good weather is on the horizon. We will be able to reach the ship shortly. It’s just beyond that section of forest in a small cove. I’ll take you to the mainland so that you can find a phone and call for Gabriel. I assume you have a way of contacting him,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Why didn’t Pontius run when the Harpies attacked Belinha?” Anjali asked quietly as if she was afraid to utter the question.
All sense of time and space were gone as Viktor listened to the last thing he ever expected to hear from her gorgeous mouth. “How do you know about that? You’ve never mentioned our other lives together,” he asked, his voice giving out.
“My memories are slowly returning to me. I dreamed of Belinha and Pontius just now. I saw you cheering for the Destroyer to kill the Harpies, even though Belinha had no idea what she was doing. Why did you stay with her? Why didn’t you run? You knew what the storm was capable of doing to you, yet you stayed and took shelter. Most sane men would have run when they saw their love turn into the unholy nightmare that could tear the world apart,” she said, devoid of emotion.
He could see that she was upset. Having called herself an unholy nightmare, he understood that she reviled that side of her. Apparently, the daft woman didn’t believe herself to be worthy of his love.
He scolded himself for letting her believe that she was to blame for his deranged decision to remove his memories of her.
“Now you understand what we have endured over the centuries. I hate the fact that I wasn’t home when those foul creatures attacked you. Yet again, I was doomed to watch you suffer. Blessedly, the Harpy made the mistake of taking off your ring; otherwise, I would have watched you die again. The Harpies were indeed terrible, but worse still was watching mortal men harm you and kill you, or seeing you drown in floodwaters, unable to save you. I wanted to leave you because I couldn’t bear the thought of watching you die again,” he said as his throat closed up. He took a breath to get himself under control. “I thought the Celestial Warrior, or whatever he was, would be the end of you in this life. I ask you, how many more times can I watch you die?”
“I understand, Viktor. I had to watch Pontius fall from the sky after Aello dropped him. I remember Belinha’s pain and anguish over losing him. I was terrified when I saw Demyan knock you into that tree. I cried last night when I thought that you might be dead. I can’t ask you to stay with me despite my feelings for you. My life is ten times more dangerous than it was when I lived as a mortal. My enemies know where I am and are far too eager to kill me. I can’t ask you to stay with me. It wouldn’t be fair to you. Lucifer already wants you dead, so going anywhere near Hell is out of the question. Once I force Lucifer to free you from your deal, I promise that you will never hear from me again,” she said softly as tears filled her eyes.
He felt horrible that he was getting what he wanted. Seeing her cry tore his heart to shreds. She finally remembered him, the better version of him since Pontius was certainly a kinder man than he was now, just when it was time to get her back home to where she belonged…without him. She understood his pain and sympathized with him, which should have eased his sorrow, but it only made him love her more.
Taking a deep breath, he nodded and headed off in the direction of his ship. He gave her a small wave of his hand for her to follow him. He walked slowly and aimlessly, yet again trying to eke out a few more moments with her. He had longed to see the sandy shoreline and hear the dulcet sounds of the ocean, but now it only caused him anxiety. He was so busy drowning in his misery that he almost missed the subtle snapping of twigs to his left and the growl that followed it.
Whipping around, he found Anjali standing a few feet behind him staring at a black blur that was descending upon her small frame. She was neither screaming nor running. She held up her hands to block the shiny black creature that was coming at her with its claws and fangs extended. He watched frozen in time as the 200 lbs. jaguar landed on his reason for living.
“No!” Viktor yelled. He rushed toward Anjali, pulling out the knives he had stolen from Haydn as he ran.
Anjali was beneath the beast pressing her forearm against its thick neck to keep its incisors away from her face. She was swearing at it, but still showed no signs of fear.
He raised his knives in the air, preparing to stab it in the side of the head and neck when the damned thing lunged to bite her neck. He tripped to a full stop when he watched Anjali jam her hands into the beast’s mouth. He thought for sure that she was mad until he saw the blue glow inside the ja
guar’s mouth. Comprehension of the situation made him drop to the ground and cover his head.
“Chew on this,” she grunted as she forced the bonds into the jaguar’s teeth.
The jaguar’s cries were almost as loud as the blast when its teeth connected with the otherworldly manacles. Anjali screamed in agony as the jaguar recoiled from the punishment associated with tampering with the bonds. The giant cat limped off into the jungle, shaking its head and yowling in pain.
Viktor scrambled to his feet and lumbered toward Anjali. He landed on his knees by her side to examine her hands and count her fingers. He checked her neck and face for any signs of blood. The entire time, his heart was pounding out of his chest and sweat rolled down his brow. Damn it, he had almost lost her again!
“You are the most infuriating woman I have ever met. You don’t scream for help, and you don’t run from danger. Why are you so insistent on dying?” he yelled as his hands shook from the adrenaline coursing through his body. He stuffed his knives back into his pockets and stared at her.
Her face was scrunched up in pain, but she laughed at his condemnation of her. “Because the Destroyer doesn’t run,” she chuckled darkly.
He sat back on his heels and pondered her statement. “I know,” he said after coming to the same conclusion. “That’s the part that drives me mad, woman. You wanted to know why Pontius stayed by Belinha’s side during the fight. You probably thought he was crazy, but he couldn’t leave her. Many things have taken you from my arms over the centuries; I could never look away from your death. Despite all the sorrow, all the torment you have brought to me over the years, I could never leave you to die alone,” he said as he broke down and sobbed.
She wiped away his tears and gulped back a sob before lifting his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Belinha took you into her arms so that you didn’t have to die alone. I can only imagine what you have endured over the years. I wish I could take away your pain, but I don’t have the power to do that,” she whispered.
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