His disapproval shouldn’t have stung, but old habits died hard. I made myself push through the sudden shame and ask my questions.
“You were going to tell me about my grandmother and Theseus. Are you going to help me, or should I just go?”
He tapped a finger on the top of the cupcake container, his eyes thoughtful. “Your grandmother is human. But Zeus favored her with a longer than normal life. That doesn’t make her supernatural.” Smithy leaned back on a lounger and stretched his legs out in front of him. A tiny dryad covered in green leaves and blooming white flowers stepped into the hut carrying a platter of drinks. Smithy took one and motioned for me to do the same.
“Juice?” I asked, and the dryad nodded, a flower drifting from her face to land in one of the cups.
“Of course.”
She hurried away, and I took a sip of the juice. It was sweet, but I couldn’t peg the flavor, which was unusual for me. I took another sip and rolled it around my mouth before going on with my questions.
“So, how long lived?”
“Oh, longer than you might imagine. I’d say at least a few hundred years. Probably more.” He took a big gulp from his cup.
My jaw unhinged, and that is saying something. Smithy’s eyes widened and he looked away. “Keep forgetting about that part of you.”
I snapped my mouth shut. “Okay, so what do you know about my dad?”
“Your father?” He seemed surprised by the question. “I don’t know anything about him.”
“He’s a supernatural,” I murmured. “I’ve been trying to find out what kind.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “It seems important.”
Smithy sighed. “Probably not. He might not even realize he’s supernatural. The bloodlines can be thin and still affect the children. That’s the way it goes.”
“Right.” I sighed. “And Theseus? Ernie said he worked with you for a time.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, he did. It was a favor to one of his fathers, Poseidon.”
I blinked several times, not sure I’d heard right. “One of his fathers?”
“Yeah, the other he’s not so proud of. The tales make it sound like Aegeus was this great king, but he was really something of a tool. A goat man who was horny as hell but couldn’t get it up. He needed an heir, at least in his mind, and convinced Poseidon to help him.”
I tipped my drink and gulped back a mouthful. The image of a goat man, like Damara’s two boyfriends, not being able to get it up was amusing. I giggled and then slapped a hand over my mouth. “What kind of juice again?”
Smithy arched an eyebrow. “Nectar of the gods.”
“That doesn’t tell me much, smarty-pants,” I slurred out. Slurred. Oh, that was not going to be good. But why, again? I tipped the cup back and emptied it. “That’s gooooood.”
Smithy rolled his eyes. “Cheap drunk, eh? Listen to me. Theseus is not going to be easy to kill. He doesn’t have an obvious weakness like Achilles. He’s all about control, about learning his prey and then going after it, in this case you, with a sudden thrust that comes from a direction you won’t expect.”
“Thrust.” I giggled again, and Smithy leaned forward and grabbed my arms.
“Pay attention, I won’t say this again. He wasn’t killed by a monster, he just faded away from mankind, and that was how he was ‘killed.’ He faded like so many of the minor gods. He needs people to believe in him, to support him to keep him powerful.”
“So.” I pursed my lips and leaned toward him so we were close enough to kiss. Not that I wanted to, but by the way his gaze dipped, he was thinking about it. “There is nothing you can tell me that will actually help, then?”
“He’s stealing your friends,” he murmured, “and he will make you fight them first. Make you kill them to protect yourself, and then he will take you out. He knows your weakness, Alena. He knows you care too much. You aren’t like the other monsters. You aren’t selfish like them.”
I wobbled in my seat, and he helped steady me. I rolled my head forward until it rested on his shoulder. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
A screech from behind us snapped along my spine, shooting me upright, even while I swayed and the world wobbled. I twisted my head around. At the far side of the pool, a woman wearing a bright-white strappy bikini that looked a lot like the one I’d tried on stared at us. A part of my brain screamed that I was in trouble. Like serious trouble, because I recognized her. Or the Drakaina in me did anyway. The long, curling strawberry-blond hair, the pristine blue-green eyes, the perfect body, high cheekbones, lush lips, great big boobies that defied gravity, all could belong to only one woman.
Aphrodite.
“I can see why you married her,” I stage-whispered. I mean, I was trying to whisper, but it was really loud. “I mean, she is super-duper hot.”
“Shit,” Smithy grunted, letting go of me as if I’d flashed my fangs at him.
I wobbled and fell to the ground of the hut, giggling.
I lay there and stared up at the ceiling of the hut. “I think she’s mad at you, Smithy.”
Those blue-green eyes were suddenly looking down at me. “I’m going to kill you, Drakaina.”
“Ohh, wait. That’s what Achilles said. You should ask him how that worked out. I think he’s here somewhere. You’ve got great boobs, by the way. From here, it’s a good look on you.” I laughed up at her, unable to stop the bubbling mirth. I’d never been drunk before, was this really how it happened? I felt great. As if I were on top of the world, when I should have been freaking out.
Smithy’s hands were on his wife, and they were arguing as he tried to push her away from me. “She’s one of the inmates I have to deal with.”
“Looked like far more than that to me. She was holding on to you!” she screamed, and I cringed.
“Too loud!” I grumbled, rolling to my feet. “And I was just bringing dessert.” The thought of Aphrodite in her perfect body eating one of my cupcakes made me giggle again. “You should eat several, you could stand to gain a few pounds, you’re too skinny.”
She gasped, Smithy groaned, and I crawled out of the hut. The water looked so lovely I didn’t even think about it, I just slid over the edge of the pool as the sounds of screaming and yelling continued on the surface side of the water, now muffled.
Someone tugged on my hand, and I opened my eyes. The mermaid smiled at me, row upon row of sharklike teeth flashing at me. I wasn’t afraid, though. I just smiled back, my fangs dropping down. Bubbles rolled up out of her mouth, and I knew she was laughing. I clasped her hand with my own, and she swam with me across the length of the pool.
With a shove, she heaved me out of the water and onto the deck at my yaya’s feet.
“Time to go, Alena. I think you’ve done enough here today.”
“Enjoy the cupcakes!” I yelled over my shoulder. The crowd gave a tiny cheer, and Achilles waved and blew me a kiss. I waved back and even blew him a kiss back like we were grand friends. Like he hadn’t tried to kill Tad and I hadn’t cut his legs.
With Ernie on one side of me and Yaya on the other, I wobbled out through the house, dripping water and giggling. Narcissus met us at the door. “I hope you enjoyed your visit.”
“Oh, totally! Oh my God, you are so hot.” I slapped his ass the way Yaya had, and he yelped, his eyes bugging wide.
I fell into the car—it wasn’t like there was a door to open anymore anyway—and strapped myself in.
Ernie and Yaya were talking, their voices flowing over me in a smooth dialogue that sounded like Chinese to me.
“Merlin’s house. I want to give him a cupcake!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“Holy shit, she’s drunk as a skunk,” Ernie said. “Yes. We’re going there right now.”
“Good.” I flopped my head back and closed my eyes. I must have slept, because what felt like seconds later we were stopping again.
“Here we are,” Yaya said. “Alena. Are you feel
ing better?”
I swallowed once and ran my tongue around the inside of my mouth. “Feels like I’ve got cotton candy stuck to the inside of my mouth.”
“Yes, but how is your thinking? Are you going to break into giggles when someone says ‘penis’?” she asked.
I stared at her, shocked. “Why would Merlin say ‘penis’ exactly?”
She rolled her eyes. “Look, I wanted to see how drunk you were. The nectar is working out of your system, so go ahead. Take him his cupcake.”
I scooped up the final venom cupcakes, undid my seat belt, and stumbled out of the car. My clothes were still damp, my hair was a mess, and I could feel the alcohol on my breath, hot and uncomfortable.
I hurried up the steps to Merlin’s house. He’d fixed the door I’d kicked in and replaced it with one made of steel. I had a feeling it wouldn’t stop me if I really wanted in. I rapped my knuckles on the door twice.
“Who is it?” came a muffled reply.
“Alena. I want to talk. I want to apologize.”
The door opened and Merlin stood there, wearing nothing but a pair of black silk pajama pants. His hair was slicked back as always, and his eyes roved over me slowly.
What was it with all these shirtless dudes? I mean, if I was going to see anyone shirtless, I wanted it to be Remo. Not Merlin. Not Smithy (no matter how nice he might have looked).
“You came to apologize at five in the morning?”
“I don’t sleep much when I have someone trying to kill me.”
He snorted and made a motion with one hand for me to come in. I stepped through the doorway, surprised to see that the main room was empty. Every time I’d gone to see him, there had been a gaggle of Super Dupers playing poker or hanging out with him.
“Why are you really here, Alena?”
I stopped next to the table and set the cupcake down. “I heard a rumor you were going to work for my husband as a lawyer tomorrow; I guess that’s today, now,” I said. “I’m hoping that’s wrong. That you wouldn’t . . .”
He smiled at me. “He’s paying me very well, Alena. You understand it’s not personal.”
I clenched my hands, fighting the urge to reach over and strangle him. “I would think you’d want me to win. To gain rights back for all Super Dupers.”
He laughed and slid into a chair. “You don’t understand, and I don’t expect you to. You still see everything as black and white. Most of the world does. Us against them, but the truth is, Alena, they need us to be dangerous. They and we both need them to be prey. I want the Wall down, but other than that, I don’t want things to change. Fear works in my favor, you see.” He pulled the lid off the cupcake container and swiped a finger through the icing.
I held my breath as he popped his finger in his mouth.
“I see.” I turned my back and headed for the door.
“What, no threats? Not even going to try and beg?”
I kept walking. “No. What’s the point? You’ve made up your mind, and I’ve made up mine.”
His laughter followed me out the door. “You are going to lose everything tomorrow, Alena. Or I should say today. If you’d behaved yourself, I would have helped you. But you just had to go and be difficult. You must get that from your mother’s side.”
I spun at the door, gripping the edge of the new steel. “If I had behaved myself, I’d be dead.”
He winked. “Exactly, and then I could have made you into something else.”
With a flex of muscles, I ripped the steel door from the hinges and flung it across the room. As if I’d been doing it all my life. He ducked, the door missed him, and I turned away.
“Next time, I’m going to defend myself, and then we’ll see who is stronger,” he snarled at me.
I pointed a finger at him, my confidence soaring. Maybe it was the leftover nectar, but I didn’t think so. “Bring it. I’m not the doormat you think I am.”
I walked down the steps and away from the Granada. House number thirteen wasn’t that far away. Yaya had the car rolling next to me, though, in a matter of seconds. “Didn’t go as planned, did it?”
“What made you think that? The flying steel door or Merlin threatening me as I left?”
“Well, both.” She laughed, though there wasn’t a single mean note in it. “What are you going to do now?”
“Sleep and get ready for my hearing.”
“You’re still going to go?”
I gave her a smile as I walked. “He was already eating the cupcake before I left. I’m hoping both him and Roger are so sick they don’t show up. If nothing else, that will buy me time.”
She slapped her hand on the steering wheel, laughing. “Good. I hope he pukes his guts out, the jerk.”
I reached the house at the same time Yaya pulled in. She hustled me inside. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll make us breakfast, and then you can sleep for a bit.”
I tried to argue, but she was firm and she was Yaya. “No, you need your strength.”
I slogged upstairs, showered, and dressed in sweatpants and a loose T-shirt before heading back down. The smell of bacon and eggs and pancakes filled the air. A classic Yaya breakfast.
I stepped into the kitchen and froze. “Tad, how are you eating?”
My brother sat with a full plate in front of him and a fork partway to his mouth. “I puked until I was empty, and then I was all done. Now I’m hungry.”
I did a quick count of the hours. “Oh no, it might not be long enough!” I shot a look at Yaya, who waved at me with a spatula to sit down.
“You don’t know that; he’s a Supe, it might be harder on a human,” Yaya said.
Ernie sat beside me as he poured straight corn syrup over a stack of four pancakes. “Probably the Supes burn through the venom faster. Roger won’t show today.”
Tad stopped chewing. “What do you mean, venom?”
I grimaced. “It was an accident. I put some of my venom in the icing. It was only meant for—”
“Wait!” Tad stood up. “You really did poison us? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Tad, it wasn’t like that, I didn’t mean for any—”
“You could have warned me.” He slammed the fork down and stalked out of the kitchen.
I stood and hurried after him. “Tad, I didn’t know! I only made it for Merlin, and I got mixed up when I was icing the cupcakes for the family.”
“I don’t know who you are anymore. You know Aunt Janice had to go to the hospital?” He glared at me, and I rolled my eyes.
“Tad, she’s not even human.”
He shook his head. “Neither are you.”
“I know.”
“Maybe Beth is right. Maybe you aren’t the person you were before you were turned.” He stepped out the door and slammed it behind him. I stared, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Yaya came up behind me and slipped her arms around my waist. “It’s not his fault. Theseus is behind this, I’m sure of it.”
I shrugged out of her hold. “Maybe you’d better go too. Maybe he’s right and I’m not the Alena you remember.” I sniffed and headed for the stairs. Yaya grabbed my hand, spun me around, and smacked my face with her other hand.
I clamped a hand over my burning cheek. “What did I do? I was trying to keep you safe!”
“You can stop the pity party right now. You know that Theseus is trying to separate you from your friends. They are what made it possible for you to defeat Achilles.”
I slowly nodded, her words sinking in. “Ernie, is he really that strong in compulsion? I mean, I know you said he could charm . . . but my own brother?”
Ernie frowned. “You’re right, someone like Tad who loves you as much as he does wouldn’t be able to just be charmed. I mean, even look at Beth; he used one of my arrows on her because that’s how much it took to turn her against you.”
The answer came to me slowly. “Tad has been letting Dahlia feed off him; she said it would make him more vulnerable to suggestions, so they had t
o be careful. That other vampires could use it against him.”
Yaya nodded. “And the other vampires are?”
“Santos and his gang.” I slapped a hand over my eyes, seeing the chessboard more clearly than ever, and it was weighted for Theseus. On his side he had Santos and his gang, both Beth and Sandy, and now Tad, which meant Dahlia would be with him too. If nothing else, to protect him. “Yaya, I have a terrible feeling about today. I feel like death is stalking us.”
“Then it is time to eat and sleep while you can. You barely survived dealing with Achilles. You need everything you can get on your side.”
I followed her back into the kitchen and sat down. I ate everything she put in front of me, not really tasting it. My mind went around and around like a possessed stand mixer.
Everything I’d learned about Theseus didn’t come up to much. He was smart and liked games. He’d stolen my friends and now my brother from me. He was more than just a dumb jock hero like Achilles; he was a demigod who was manipulating the game at every turn. I stood, went to the door that led to the basement, and headed down on the off chance I was wrong. “Dahlia?”
I stopped at the door to her bedroom. I knocked once and peeked in. There was nobody in the bed. Was she with Tad, protecting him? Or had Theseus somehow taken her and convinced her I was horrible too? A pit in the bottom of my belly opened up and threatened to suck me under.
I climbed back up the stairs and went straight to the phone hanging on the wall by the back door. Remo’s number stood out on the single sheet beside it that was pinned to the wall. I dialed and waited.
A sleepy sigh echoed through the line. “Dahlia, I am literally crawling into bed. What do you want?”
“It’s not Dahlia,” I said. “I . . . just needed to hear your voice. Is Dahlia there with you?”
He sucked in a breath I knew he didn’t really need. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Not really. Theseus, he’s convinced Tad I’m not myself, and he’s turned him against me. And I think . . . maybe he’s got Dahlia.”
He grunted. “Stay where you are.” And hung up on me. Stay where I was? I glanced at the window. There were maybe five minutes before the sun was up, not long enough for him to get from his compound in the valley all the way back into town. What was he thinking?
Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy Book 2) Page 20
