Atticus listened as Quintus radioed back to base the situation on ground. The other end was silent for a moment before the response crackled back.
"I'd like the three of you to go into the Azilian compound. I’ll meet you inside."
They all stared at one another in surprise as the voice of their leader, Rem, echoed over the line.
The three made their way over to the gate. All the while, Atticus scanned the field that surrounded them, still certain that the rogue Glycon must be somewhere well hidden. Still, nothing attacked.
Two men at the gate stepped aside and ushered them through the large doors.
The hybrids had been there before. His people had sneaked in to the facility several times when they were on more openly hostile terms with the cult. Still, he had never seen the inside before, and it struck him just how immense the place was.
The place reminded him of a fort, with the outer wall really just a means to keep things out. Inside, several smaller buildings surrounded a very large building.
They made their way to the center building. Two additional guard stood outside of this place as well.
No one spoke as they moved inside. The longer they walked in silence, the more on edge it made him. It wasn't until they rounded the corner that he felt only slightly relieved to see Rem standing there with Nero.
They stepped into a sort of open air common room lined with ornate paintings and statues. All the statues and paintings had the same blue as his eyes and tattoos everywhere around them, just like all the hybrids in the area. An eerie sort of familiar feeling filled him. He swallowed once.
In the middle of the large room, Atticus spotted a small woman sitting at a very large table. He breathed in deeply. He knew the smell even before having met the woman face to face.
Anassa.
"Thanks for coming," Rem said to them, and nodded to the table. "We have a set of unusual circumstances.”
Atticus raised a brow. Unusual didn't seem to quite describe this.
"Anassa and her people have asked for help."
"Help?" Quintus asked, the disbelief obvious in his voice, clearly as confused as the rest of them.
Rem nodded and took a seat at the table. Atticus glanced over to the woman on the other side. Her face remained shrouded by a long white hood.
"Your women are in grave danger," Anassa spoke, her voice somewhat hollow.
Quintus tensed beside Atticus. "What's wrong with—" he began.
Anassa held up a hand to silence him.
"Not your woman," she said to Quintus. "Your women."
Atticus and Vitus stilled. The cloaked figure was staring clearly in their direction.
Celine. He knew without even thinking it. His heart hammered in his chest at the thought of her being in danger.
But it was Vitus who stood first.
“Go to her,” Rem said quietly.
He watched in shock as his friend fled from the room.
Atticus shook his head. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he needed to get to Celine. To keep her safe.
As if the very thought of her conjured her there, a breeze swept through the halls carrying the scent of the woman he could pick out a mile away.
Atticus breathed in deeply and knew she was there. What was going on?
On instinct, Atticus stood and made his way from the table, not even sparing a second thought for the people there. He rounded the corner and was shocked to find the small woman sitting in an oversized chair.
Their eyes met, and he could almost hear the crackle of electricity in the air as they did. She stood and walked slowly over to him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked more gruffly than he intended.
As Celine continued to stare at him, he watched as her eyes widened and instantly knew what she was seeing.
Damn it. He didn’t have his brown contacts in. They restricted his vision, and since they were on a hunt, he hadn’t thought to put them in. The Azilians knew their true nature already.
"Your eyes," she said softly. Her body swayed as she stood and stepped toward him. "The eyes from my dreams."
Atticus frowned as he tried to process what she was saying, but all thoughts fled as she swayed forward once again.
Her body went limp, and he moved without thought, catching her before she hit the ground. Lifting her slight form against his chest, Atticus stared down at her creased brow.
"What the hell is going on?" he whispered to her sleeping face.
Chapter Five
Celine woke with a start, her heart racing and head pounding. She placed a hand to her forehead and pressed hard to ease the deep thumping.
"You're awake," a soft voice said from nearby.
Although it hurt to open her eyes, Celine slowly peeled them open to glance around the room.
For a brief moment she thought she might still be dreaming. The lavish room was so beautifully decorated it felt like one of those silly dreams she had as a child filled with princesses and daring rescues.
Celine’s gaze landed on the statue in the corner, the bright blue eyes staring back at her until the reality of the situation came crashing back down on her.
This wasn't home. It wasn’t even a dream. She was really there.
A quick glance over her shoulder revealed two brown-cloaked man on either side of her.
She was at the compound of the crazy cult that, for some reason, looked more like some sort of Greek museum than a cult headquarters.
Celine focused on the blue eyes. She had seen those same blue eyes up close. They were no longer a dream.
"I don’t understand," she whispered as she tried to sit up on the settee.
A bony hand reached out and patted her arm as she did so. For the first time, Celine was sure she had laid her eyes on the woman she had meant to see from the beginning. Or sort of laid eyes on, seeing as the woman was wearing a white cloak that hid her face. She matched the description given to her by the other Azilians.
"I would be very surprised if you did," the woman said quietly, the sound almost unearthly.
Celine examined the woman as she moved past her. Her thick white cloak that seemed to cover everything but her hands. Maybe they had some sort of weird ritual that you couldn’t look at her face or something. There was a part of her that was intensely interested to see the woman beneath the cloak, while the other part was wholly terrified by what she might see.
"Are you Anassa?"
The woman nodded. "And no doubt, my child, you have many questions."
Celine frowned. For the first time, she realized just how alone they were. She also realized that there was something else even odder. Whatever she felt about her vibes and her potential gift for reading people, this was the first time she’d encountered a situation where she felt nothing. It unnerved her. It was like the woman wasn’t even there.
"Where's Atticus?" Celine said.
Truth be told, she wasn't certain if she really wanted to see him, but the idea of not seeing him only made her more anxious.
"Your other half is outside taking a moment with his people," Anassa said.
His people. Anassa only confirmed what she had been wondering. That Atticus and the others were the same.
Her mind stumbled over something the other woman said. "Other half?"
The cloaked figure nodded and made her way to the chair nearby. "You feel it inside you," the woman said. "The burning need when he is around. An ache as if you are not whole. He is your half, and you are his. Together you are one."
It was as if the woman had reached in and read what was in Celine’s very heart. She did feel the burning need when he was around. An ache she couldn't seem to touch.
"Why were his eyes blue, and why were they blue in my dreams?" Celine said.
Anassa moved the cloak slightly, and Celine thought she caught a glimpse of blue on the other woman’s wrist. The striking color was hard to miss against the lily white of her skin and cloak.
"He is cut
from the cloth of the gods. As are you."
Once again Celine could feel the room spin around her. It hadn't been such a good idea to ask these questions. She wasn’t so sure she was ready for the truth, especially after the night she was already having. Still she had to know.
Celine leaned forward and placed her head in her palms. “And the dreams? A man from your group said you knew what was in my dreams. The Shadow Man.”
“Erebus,” the woman said. She spat out the name as if it burned her.
Celine glanced up to see the woman had gone rigid.
"Erebus uses dreams against us," Anassa said. "Using the Vestal link to pry open the passage between his world in our own. A path not meant for the likes of him."
Vestal link? Celine had no idea what that was. Did they all talk in riddles like this? Nothing the woman said made a lick of sense to her. She needed to find someone who would tell her what she needed to know in a way she actually could understand. She needed to find Atticus.
Celine stood on shaky knees and tried hard to stare down the other woman.
"I need some air," she said. "I need to get out of here."
She didn't know where the strange brown cloaked men were, but they weren’t there to stop her now. And quite frankly, she didn't really care if they tried. She was going to find Atticus no matter what.
Celine swung open the front doors. The two guards there frowned at her as she stepped outside.
“Are you supposed to be here?” one of the guards asked.
She stumbled past them, ignoring them as they called for her to come back.
When Celine reached the second gate, she stepped through and stumbled against the wall.
“Stop her!” one of the men shouted behind her.
A firm hand wrapped around Celine’s shoulders, and she relaxed as the soft scent of pine needles and sandalwood wrapped around her.
“She’s with me,” a gruff voice said.
Celine rolled back her head and wasn’t all that surprised to find Atticus. The guards who had been standing outside hurriedly moved in as he stared them down.
After a moment Atticus looked down to where she rested against him.
"Are you okay?"
Celine wasn’t quite sure what to say. There were about a million things she needed to get out, but all of them seemed to die in her throat.
"I, um," she said, fumbling with her words.
Instead she stared up at his phenomenally blue eyes. Something sparked deep inside, and she felt her heart thump in response.
A deep, low rumble filled the air, and after a moment she realized that it was Atticus. He pulled himself away from her and helped lean her against the wall.
Celine rested her head against the cold surface and stared out into the darkness around them. Slowly things started to seem less shaky.
She glanced at Atticus, his phone in hand as she watched her. Concern was etched across his face.
Celine opened her mouth but stopped when a loud screech filled the air around them. Several more echoed in the darkness.
Atticus stepped in front of her, his body shielding her from whatever was coming.
There was only a moment of recognition in his eyes before whatever it was that had screamed came crashing down on him.
She watched as Atticus fell to the ground hard. His phone clattered away from him.
Celine pressed her back hard against the wall as the creature that attacked him rose from the ground. Her eyes widened with fright, and her heart thundered.
Never in her life had she seen a creature like this. Something that might have once been a man but was now nothing but torn flesh and rage.
The creature turned to stare at her, blood red eyes pinning her where she stood.
"You smell like her," it shouted.
Celine shook as the creature started to head her way. It was nearly double her height. She cowered away from the beast.
It reached out and grabbed hold of her arm, its grip just enough to cause pain as it shook her.
Its fingers slipped away as Atticus tackled the monster from behind, knocking them both to the ground.
She heard the loud crack as she hit the ground, and for a moment, wondered if she'd broken her nose with the impact. When Celine opened her eyes, she could see that one of the lenses in her glasses had shattered.
"Flee into the woods," Atticus shouted at her. "I'll find you."
Celine struggled to get off the ground. She had badly scraped her knee during the fall and knew there would be blood if she looked, which wasn’t something she was good at handling.
The screams of the horrible monsters cut through the air around her. Their eyes glowed in the darkness around them. Shouts of men also filled the air.
The Azilians were under attack, and there was nothing she could do.
Celine tried to shut out the sounds going on around her and started to run as fast as she could. She pushed through the long field of grass and into the forest line. The thick canopy above her allowed little light as she moved through the dense foliage.
But still she ran.
Her legs ached, and her lungs burned as she made her way through the woods, praying that nothing was behind her. That nothing had followed her.
It was some time before she stopped running, before her legs gave out and her lungs screamed for air.
Panting, she leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. In the distance she could still hear the screams of the monsters. The lights of the compound were now long out of sight.
Celine sank to the ground. Her whole body shook as she did so. The adrenaline that had once coursed through her body was now spent.
With nothing else left to give, she pulled her legs up to her body and let out the tears she had been holding.
Celine cried until nothing else came out, and the world around her grew silent.
The only thing left to do was wait for Atticus and hope he would be able to find her.
Chapter Six
Atticus watched out of the corner of his eye as Celine slipped into the forest. He couldn’t linger on her though. Thrax was hell bent on getting to her.
The hybrid bit back a growl, though he was as confused as he was angry. He’d never seen a Glycon so set on getting to a Vestal. The hybrids already had seen that the women pulled at the monsters, but it wasn’t clear just what the Glycons would do once they had one.
He rushed in front of the hulking Glycon as Thrax attempted to pursue the small woman.
“You cannot have her,” the hybrid spit out, “you ugly son of a bitch.”
The large Glycon circled Atticus, his red eyes fixed on him.
“She smells of mine,” Thrax hissed.
Atticus glared at the other man, his anger starting to boil up. How dare the wretched monster before him say anything like that. All the logic about why he wanted to stay away from his Vestal didn’t matter when she was threatened.
"She is not yours," Atticus roared, unable to stop the rage that bubbled inside.
The large, mutated Glycon shook his head at him. "She smelled of my mate," Thrax growled.
Atticus frowned. He hadn’t smelled anything particularly unusual about Celine. He wasn’t quite sure what the Glycon was getting at, but it didn’t matter. Either way, there was no way in hell he was letting Thrax anywhere near Celine to find out.
Even now Atticus could smell her blood as it lingered in the air. She’d cut herself in the chaos. That sort of thing could drive a Glycon insane. She was vulnerable, and he had to protect her.
Thrax charged forward, and Atticus met him once again. The hybrid grunted at the force of the blow, but it didn’t matter, as he’d prevented the giant Glycon from following Celine.
"You will not get to her," Atticus grunted.
Thrax moved forward again, this time slamming his fist into the hybrid’s stomach. The pain radiated from the blow, and he stumbled back.
The Glycon was stronger than he was. Atticus had no question about that. Whatever
they had done had made these new Glycons much stronger and faster than the hybrids, and Thrax seemed even tougher than the others. He presented a new sort of enemy who wouldn’t be easy to defeat.
Atticus didn’t need to win, though. He just needed to slow the bastard down. He swept his feet under the large Glycon. Thrax tumbled to the ground with a howl.
He glanced at the woods and knew that he couldn't let Celine get too far without him. Bleeding like that, she was in danger of being tracked by any roaming Glycon.
Thrax at least had some intelligence. The other Glycons were more animals than anything else. They would not hold back.
The battle still raged inside the gate, mostly the hybrids fighting the Glycons who had made their way inside. The Azilians shouted and were bringing their own weapons, but the truth was if the hybrids hadn’t been there, many of the cultists would have been slaughtered.
Atticus stood over Thrax as he struggled to his feet.
“How did you get past the sound barrier?” the hybrid shouted.
Thrax shrugged. “I am tough.”
Atticus frowned. It had to be more than that. He seemed unaffected by the sound. No more so than any hybrid. Their whole strategy for defending the town depended on that barrier.
The Glycons attacking inside the gate cried out in the distance. Even if Thrax was special, that didn’t explain all the others who had accompanied him.
Atticus suspected the creatures had been compelled to go against their nature. From what the hybrids had seen, that was something Agatha had no problem doing, but getting Thrax to confirm it was everything. It would let the hybrids know what they were up against for sure.
“And them?” Atticus nodded toward the gate.
Thrax snarled, now fully off the ground. Apparently, he wasn’t so keen on being lumped into the same category as the other Glycons. It was an interesting thing to learn, though Atticus wasn’t sure how useful it might be.
“They are animals,” Thrax hissed. “They do the bidding of their master.”
Atticus: #8 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) Page 3
