“I’ll make you a new set. Who’s going to steal it? The chickens?”
Nain shot him another look and set his armor on the ground. Bren had shifted back into his human form and was finishing pulling his clothing back on.
“All right. You are tourists. Be quiet and pretend to be interested in the monastery. We can see if we sense anything while we are there,” Athena said.
“We can totally be quiet,” I said.
“Blend in,” Heph agreed with a nod. He shot me a wink when Athena grimaced and turned away with a sigh.
We started walking through the olive groves, eventually reaching a narrow road that would lead us to the monastery. Heph strode beside me in silence for a while. It felt like we were the only living things in the world, everything was so quiet around us. I glanced around nervously. All the quiet was unsettling. I’m a city girl, through and through. I’ll take the constant sounds of traffic and bustling humanity over the silence of rural roads any day. Of course, with Hephaestus at my side, it wasn’t silent for long.
“Can you picture it? Once upon a time, my name was prayed here. Temples rose to us, grand statues dedicated, hoping to win our approval.”
“No wonder you’re such a bunch of arrogant dickheads,” I said, and he laughed, the thunderous sound echoing off of the hills around us. Athena was walking a few feet ahead of us with Persephone and my mother, and turned and shot him a look, shushing him. He just grinned at her and kept talking.
“This was a beautiful place. Powerful, as Athena said. Catholicism swept in, and the people of the area met the religion with as much enthusiasm as they had for our little Pantheon. St. Jerome once said that the people of Megara build like they’ll live forever, but live like they’ll die tomorrow.”
I mulled that over. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Most people take it to mean that they were slow as fuck when it came to building the things they were so enamored with and that they lived every day terrified of the death that awaited them, hoping their temples and churches would save them in the afterlife. But that’s not right. I was there. It means, my delicate little flower, that they built temples and churches like they’d have eternity to admire their beauty, but lived it up like it was their last night of freedom otherwise.”
“So they were pious hedonists?” I asked, and he grinned.
“Aren’t we all, queenie?”
It didn’t take us long to reach the monastery. The dirt road we’d been walking transitioned to a paved road just as the monastery came into view. It was a looming brick structure, bricks the color of terra-cotta, with a red tiled roof and a large round steeple. Arched windows and doors adorned the front of the monastery, a stone courtyard leading up to the building itself.
We stepped into the courtyard and looked around. Try to act like a tourist, I thought.
As if I know what a tourist acts like. I’ve been on exactly two vacations in my life: one to Hawaii with Nain and the kids before the Undead wars started, one quickie jaunt to Paris with Nain a few years ago (though that had also been a work trip. There was a vampire who needed to be dealt with.) Oh, and I’d once traveled back in time with Nain to see Detroit at the turn of the twentieth century. I don’t think that counts, though. We never technically left home at all.
The monastery was at the top of a hill, and the views in every direction were peaceful and picturesque. To the south, I could see the sea. In every other direction, rolling hills and deep blue sky.
I wasn’t feeling anything here, though.
A middle-aged man in black robes walked up to us. Athena began speaking to him, I guessed in Greek, and he answered her enthusiastically, gesturing around. Before long, Hephaestus had joined the conversation, and I don’t know why it never struck me that, duh, of course all of the old immortals would be multi-lingual. I knew E was, but I always just generally assume E is more awesome than everyone else, so it never occurred to me that they would all know these things.
As if English had been their native language, despite the fact that they existed long before “English” was even a thing. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes, even I’m amazed by how short-sighted I am.
Of course, I did realize that they were keeping the monk talking to give us time to survey the site. Tisiphone and Persephone wandered nearby as if admiring the architecture of the monastery, while Nain, Brennan, and Triton looked toward the views beyond the monastery. For my part, I studied the monastery’s large bell tower, which was three stories of arched windows and terra-cotta stone, leading up to an almost pagoda-style tiled roof. I guessed it would be the kind of thing tourists would be into, so I let myself look at it while I tried to sense for any kind of alien energy, any sign of Volodhal and the mega demons.
Which was a really stupid name, I thought, not for the first time. Though if they really called themselves mega demons, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my wisecracks to myself.
A few moments later, I was forced to admit that I didn’t feel a damn thing. I glanced toward Athena and Heph to see them part ways on friendly, smiling terms with the monk, who went back into one of the buildings, leaving us alone in the courtyard. They both walked toward me.
“That was well done,” I said, and Heph grinned.
“Such an interesting man. The truly devout always are,” Athena said as she looked at the monastery.
“Anything?” Heph asked me, and I shook my head in frustration. I nodded toward Persephone and my mom, and we walked across the courtyard toward where they were standing.
“Well?” I asked, and Persephone grimaced, frustration emanating from her. Restlessness.
“Nothing,” she said. “Athena’s reasoning was sound. I was sure we’d feel something in this place.”
“I think I feel something,” Nain said behind me, and I turned.
He was standing with Bren and Triton, gaze down, eyebrows drawn together in concentration. “Weird energy or power or whatever. Not like yours,” he said. Then he looked up at me. “Probably nothing. I’ve never even actually seen this Volodhal asshole.”
“It could be the lingering power from the temple that once stood here. The remnants of Nyx’s influence,” Athena said, a doubtful tone in her voice. Sensing from her, I could feel confusion, frustration. “But none of us are feeling that, and one would think that we would. Especially Mollis and Tisiphone, being directly of Nyx’s line.”
I stepped closer to Nain, and he looked up at me, meeting my eyes. Confusion, doubt, ever-present demonic rage.
It’s like a low-level hum or vibration, he said in my mind. You’re not feeling that?
I focused for a few moments. Nothing, I thought at him.
I doubt it’s anything.
It’s more than any of us are feeling. And everyone keeps saying how weird our bond is, how often we’ve completed the bonding ritual…. You’re very tied into the immortals because of that. I wouldn’t write it off so quickly.
And if it’s nothing?
Then we’re no worse off than we were before. It’s not like any of us have any fucking idea what to do next.
I sensed a hint of humor from him.
Any sense of a trail or anything like that? I asked him.
After a moment, he gave a small nod. Northeast. Pretty far away.
I reached out and took his hand, gently squeezing it.
“Are the two of you planning on letting the rest of us in on your conversation anytime soon?” Athena asked, and Heph let out a snort of a laugh.
“We don’t have anything else to go on right now, so we may as well follow whatever it is Nain’s sensing,” I said. “Even if it’s not related to this, maybe moving around will allow us to stumble across something useful. Unless any of you have a better suggestion?”
They all shook their heads.
“Northeast, then. Can you guys think of a pretty distant northeastern location to jump us to?”
“How far? Within Greece, do you think?” Heph asked.
Nain focused for a moment. “Farther away than that.”
Heph considered for a moment. “Let’s try Romania. It’s far, but not insanely so, and then we can see if we need to go further than that or not.” He turned to Athena. “Remember that place where we had that cozonaci? We were with E? Remember?”
Athena rolled her eyes. “Why are all of your memories food-focused?” she asked, and for once, I sensed a hint of humor from her.
Heph grinned. “They ran out of it, because you kept ordering more. That, and strong coffee.”
“I remember,” Athena said. “There are some meager forests on the outskirts of that town. Let us move there.”
Heph nodded, and, again, some of us clustered around Heph, and the rest around Athena, and then we were gone, leaving the monastery and its rolling hills behind.
Chapter Ten
The forest we found ourselves in was almost too sparse to actually be called a forest. This region had been hit hard by the Undead plague, and, at some point, the forest had burned. Scraggly trees and brush were evidence of nature gaining a foothold over the destruction, but it was hard not to feel like something beautiful had been lost.
Heph looked around, and I felt anger from him, his thoughts clearly along the same lines as my own. “Fucking shame,” he muttered, glaring at Persephone. “This was a beautiful, peaceful place. Nice people who took care of their own and welcomed outsiders like old friends.”
Persephone, for her part, remained silent, her gaze taking in our surroundings.
“The Undead did this?” she asked quietly.
“It wasn’t the fucking Easter bunny,” Heph said, and I winced. It’s not often that Heph gets actually good and pissed. “What? Wasn’t this what you wanted when you set them loose on innocents?” he demanded. Part of me wanted to step in and head off any further confrontations, but I also knew that they had to have this out. Persephone had shit to answer for, and since we’d captured her, she’d lived in isolation, first with Nyx wherever she was, and then in the dungeons of the Netherwoods. She hadn’t actually seen the devastation caused by her failed plan to bring my father back and destroy me. I suddenly felt even better about bringing her. Let her see the mess she’d made, the harm she’d caused to both man and nature alike.
“I was not thinking,” she whispered.
“No? See, it seemed to me like you had it all fucking planned out. Create the Undead with the help of the Guardians who ran from Mollis. Make as many as you could fully corporeal so they’d cause absolute fucking destruction and make more Undead along the way, keeping Molly off-kilter and on edge. Oh, and let’s not forget that you freed those murderers from their prison in the Nether to fuck Molly up a little more and help ensure more death and destruction.” Heph’s voice was getting louder, bordering on shouting. The rest of the group stood around in silence.
“But you weren’t fucking well done yet, were you? That wasn’t enough. You kidnapped our children in some insane plot to bring Hades back to life. You killed Molly and Nain’s son, numerous times, gave him scars, terrorized my boy and Brennan’s… all for fucking nothing!” Now he was shouting, eyes blazing, and Persephone seemed to shrink. “Billions of lives lost. Billions. Can you even grasp that amount of death? Because I sure the hell can’t. But she can,” he said, bringing his voice back to a normal volume and gesturing toward me. “She can. And look at her. She’s still strong. Still here, despite all your shit. You failed, and you destroyed billions of lives along the way.”
“I was not in my right mind.”
“Oh, fuck you,” I muttered, and her gaze shot up to me. “I’m as emotionally unstable as they come, and even I know that the answer to ‘should I kill billions of people to get a man who doesn’t even want me back’ is ‘what the fuck is even wrong with you?’” Nain put his hand at the base of my spine. “You don’t get to claim mourning as an excuse.”
“So why not just kill me?” she asked. “You all clearly hate me. Wouldn’t it be part of Mollis Eth-Hades’ utopia, to get rid of the being who nearly destroyed it all?”
I nodded. “Maybe. But Nyx was keeping you alive for some reason and death would be too easy for you. You’re just now realizing the extent of the damage you did.”
Heph stalked away and I let him go, knowing he was pretty much at the boiling point and had been growing steadily more pissed by Persephone’s presence as our journey had gone on. Nain, too, but Nain was mostly focused on me and, now, on trying to sense for whatever it was he was feeling, hoping that it would lead us to Volodhal and his little green scouts. My mother… if any of them killed Persephone on this little jaunt, it would be her. All I’d been able to feel from her since we’d left the Netherwoods was thunderous, murderous rage.
Which is actually very unlike my mother. I mean, she has all the normal Fury rage and love of violence. That’s probably why she loved my father so much. They shared that. But she normally didn’t feel this way, this overwhelmingly angry.
Would you rather go home? I asked, communicating telepathically with her.
She glanced at me. And leave that bitch here with you? Not on your life. We should send her home, though.
I gave a little shake of my head. I have this nagging feeling that she’ll actually be of use. I don’t know why. And maybe I want this. I want her to see what she did. She’s devastated right now. Can you feel it?
I can. I’d be even happier if she was in pain.
I know. I’m asking you to hold it together for a little while longer.
For you, I will. I would not do the same for anyone else.
I made sure she felt how grateful I was, how much I loved her, and she gave me a small smile before wandering away.
I turned to Nain and took his hand. “Can you still sense it?”
He nodded. “It kinda feels stronger now. But we need to go northeast more.”
“E’s on her way,” Brennan said, looking at his phone. “I just gave her our location so she could catch up with us. Detroit is secure.”
“Thanks,” I told him. We stood a while longer, waiting for E. Night was falling over the town, clear sky shimmering with stars. I was aware that it was cold, but like the rest of the immortals, and like Nain, whose skin always felt cold anyway, the temperature didn’t bother me.
A few moments later, E appeared nearby clutching a large white bakery box in her hands. She took in the tense mood of the group and raised her eyebrows at me. I shrugged.
“Heph just had it out with Persephone,” I heard Brennan murmur as he bent to kiss her. “It was intense and Tisiphone wants to kill her, I think.”
“You are perceptive as always, shifter,” my mom said, and Bren gave her a little bow. E walked up to Heph, who was still fuming, and opened the bakery box.
“Food doesn’t always make it better, you little nightmare,” he muttered.
She grinned up at him. “Yes it does. Especially these. Remember?”
He smiled back and took what looked kind of like a scone or something like that, studded with fruit. “Why do you think I picked this place?” he asked her, and she laughed. She passed the box around, and we all stood around, munching on warm pastries, which, Athena told me, were the cozonaci that Heph had mentioned before. They were among the best things I’ve ever tasted: rich, spicy, fruity. I could have eaten a few more, if Heph, Nain, Triton, and Athena hadn’t demolished the rest of the box E had brought.
“Nain says we need to go further northeast,” I said, and E nodded.
“I think it would be prudent to stop for the night and rest. Tensions are high. We are all tired.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said. “That looks like an inn or something,” I said, pointing toward a large brick building in town.
“It is,” she affirmed. “I’m glad you agree. I don’t think it would be wise to meet this enemy unless we are at our absolute best. And right now…”
“We’re nowhere near that. It’s been a crazy couple of days,” I muttered, and she made a
small sound of agreement. We relayed the plan to the rest of the team, and then we walked into town and toward the inn. It was simple enough to get four rooms, and within a few minutes we were parting ways in the long, narrow hallway between our rooms on the third floor. Nain and I were together in one room, obviously. E and Bren in another, Heph and Triton in a third, and Athena, my mother, and Persephone in the fourth.
“I will not let your mother kill her,” Athena said, patting my shoulder as she walked past me to their room.
“Thanks,” I said, and before anyone else could talk to me, Nain pulled me into our room, closing and locking the door the second I was inside.
“They can handle it,” he said.
“I know.”
He walked over to the double bed and sat at the foot of it, then lay back, hands under his head. I kicked my boots off and settled down next to him, curling up against his side, my head resting on his chest. He immediately put his arm around me, his strong hand rubbing up and down my spine.
“We’re probably going on a wild goose chase with this shit,” he murmured. We hadn’t bothered to turn on any lights, and our room was bathed in darkness. It felt like we were the only beings in existence, like the rest of the world had simply faded away.
“Even if we are, it’s better than standing still, hoping for some kind of sign. If we’re moving, we have a better chance of finding it.”
“Unless I’m leading us in the wrong direction,” he said.
“We’ll see. It’s not like we have a better plan right now.”
“I—”
I sat up and swung my leg over his body, straddling his hips. “You think too much,” I told him in a low voice.
And, there it was. Suddenly, the room wasn’t all dark. A dim glow emitted from his eyes as he put his hands on my hips. “You think so?” he asked in a low, rough voice.
“I know so. Know what else I know?” I asked, scraping my fingernails down the front of his shirt. He hissed, bucking his hips up against my body.
“What else do you know, Molls?”
Godkiller (Hidden: Godkiller Saga Book 1) Page 10
