Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “What?”

  “He means your forty-first life. You’re an old lady, aren’t you?” Lowe said with a smirk, still held in place by Chig’s large hand wrapped around her arm.

  Mbizi nodded. “Set needed a reincarnate’s blood, his own blood, and a host of other ingredients to create a potion that makes gods of men.” He paused. “A loophole around the games’ rules.”

  Tariq frowned. “But Set has never cared for the games.”

  “No, but a lot of the other gods do,” Lowe said. “If Set’s smart, he’ll be wheeling and dealing with them for favors while keeping that potion aside for whatever he wants.” Her blue eyes gleamed. “I know if it were me, I’d take out my opponents one by one. A cheater here, a few sure-deaths there. Weaken the enemy. Then load up my key player with some god juice and take over the world. It’s easy if you do it right.”

  Eden understood half of that, but Tariq seemed to have no problem making the connection. “By the gods, he’s going to get Anubis kicked out of the game. That means I’ll have to leave. If I can’t find a way around his spell to tell Anubis what’s happened, Eden will be alone here. With the Dogs.”

  At Set’s mercy, someone to threaten to get Tariq to do whatever he wanted. Eden understood what Tariq refused to say.

  Lowe shrugged. “That’d be my play, especially since it’s obvious she’s yours. And we all know Set has a hard-on for making you his bitch.”

  Everyone stared at her.

  “What? You think it’s a big secret you’re some kind of Armageddon in a bad-ass body?”

  “Actually, yes.” Chig frowned. “How come I didn’t know that?”

  “Or me?” Mabu asked.

  “I knew.” Hasani shrugged. “But then, I know everything.”

  Eden had a hard time wrapping her mind around a few details. “Wait, wait. So the Dogs are…?”

  “Set’s loyal guards. We’re jackals, technically, not dogs,” Hasani explained. “But the other pantheons don’t see the difference, and Set’s such an asshole he has our own guys insulting themselves. Trouble is they’re under his spell, so the Dogs are Egyptian, but not allies.” At her blank look, he said, “Remember our fight with those bikers wearing Greek jackets? The different teams come across as gangs to the mortal public. We’re Jackals, but only douches wear gang jackets.”

  “O-kay.” She remembered the Greeks. Apparently there were Dogs too. And Jackals. And valkyries?

  Lowe snorted. “Don’t look at me like that. I agree. Leather jackets and bikes are so passé. But really, Set is killing his pantheon. I mean, my god wants to win, and though we’re all on Team Norse, and we’d help each other against any non-Norse team, my guy still wants the trophy.”

  Chig watched her. “Interesting. I thought you worked for Freya. So who’s your guy?”

  “A figure of speech and not the point.” Lowe flushed. Apparently she’d given away something she shouldn’t have.

  Eden’s brain buzzed. “Let me get this straight. Set had to use me to make this Elixir. But it’s not allowed, and now Anubis is going to be blamed for cheating and kicked out of this game, which is a big deal.”

  Tariq and the others nodded.

  “And we can’t tell Anubis the truth because Set put a spell on Tariq and all of you to keep quiet.”

  Hasani nodded

  “Well, that sucks,” Lowe said. “Because Eden made the spell, she’s directly responsible. She’s as good as dead unless you dump the Elixir. And by dump, I mean get rid of it entirely.”

  “Do you have any idea what that’s worth?” Mbizi asked. “Gods would and have killed for it in the past. The Elixir is nearly impossible to create. With it, gods are born. It’s also now a huge part of the game if you and others know of it.”

  Eden sighed. “So if and when I find it, because I have no idea where it is, I can’t just dump it down the sink?”

  Mbizi shook his head. “Sorry, no. The Elixir is magical. It can only be consumed, not destroyed.”

  “Well, shit.”

  Lowe laughed. “You know, I’m beginning to like her. Now that I think about it, you might have a shot at getting out of this mess.”

  Tariq crossed his huge arms. “Oh?”

  “With my help.”

  “And you would help us, why?” Chig asked.

  Lowe smiled. “For one, I want that Elixir. Like you said, it’s worth a lot. I’m not afraid of death. I’m a valkyrie, and we live to challenge the reaper.”

  “She has a point,” Hasani said.

  “Besides, I’m a sucker for the underdog. Ha. Dog. Get it?” No one thought her particularly funny even as she continued. “And with that puppy in her belly, I think—” Chig slapped a hand over her mouth.

  But the damage had been done.

  “What?” Eden didn’t have to ask because now she could feel that spark low in her belly, and the dreams she’d once had of dark-haired little boy with her eyes and Tariq’s features came back to knock her right in the…gut.

  Chapter Seven

  Tariq wanted to muzzle the interfering valkyrie. Granted, of the lot, he had a fondness for Lowe, who seemed as much an outcast to her kind as he felt among his. But he hadn’t wanted Eden to find out she was pregnant this way.

  His poor mate looked on the verge of passing out.

  “Puppy?” She put a protective hand over her belly and glared at him accusingly.

  “Whoops.” Lowe sounded less than apologetic. “Sorry, I’m sensitive to younglings.”

  “Chig, keep an eye on Lowe. The rest of you, get ready for war. We’ll be right back.” Tariq took Eden to his quarters, concerned with her silence.

  He needn’t have worried because, once in the privacy of his room, she exploded. “Pregnant? Really? What was all that bullshit about giving it time?”

  He sighed, knowing she wouldn’t want to hear how like Rehema she seemed right then. “I was going to tell you. It wasn’t my intent to plant my seed so soon. The mating instinct is older than time. My jackal just knew…”

  She stared at him with wide eyes. “So it is a puppy?”

  “What?”

  “The baby. Will he be like you?”

  “He or she will be like us. The jackal is part of me, as is Anubis’s blood, as is your ability to dream. The best parts of us will be in the child.”

  She blinked through watery eyes. “This is a lot to take in.”

  “I know, sweet.” He took her in his arms and hugged her, willing her the strength anyone would need after so many life-changing events in such a short span of time. “But our child will always know love.”

  She hugged him tighter. “He’ll always be protected?”

  He again. “Yes, Eden. With my life.”

  “Rehema,” she mumbled. “I’m starting to remember a lot more than you might think. You horny dog.”

  He flushed, recalling that last time he’d taken her under the stars. A perfect night, ending four years of a perfect marriage and nonstop fucking before his father had given him over to Set…

  “Eden, Rehema, I—”

  “I can’t help being scared. This is all so new, and yet it’s not. I loved you as Rehema, but I didn’t know you when I was Gretchen or Marguerite. The knowledge of those other lives is starting to seep into me, and I’m scared.” In a low voice, she confessed, “When you left me the first time, it devastated me. I can’t lose you again.”

  He pulled back to dry her tears. “We’ll find a way, habibti. No matter what, I won’t let anyone keep us apart.” He wanted to reassure her again, but what felt like an earthquake rocked the house.

  “What—”

  Tariq, my pet, Set whispered. I want my prize.

  “We’ve run out of time.” He dragged her with him back to the command room, where the others stared at monitors showing crowding Dogs, Greeks, Romans, and worse surrounding the warehouse.

  “You’ve got problems. And you need to make a decision. Now,” Lowe said. “Where’s the vial?”

  Ed
en stared at the security monitors showing a raging storm outside, along with centaurs, minotaurs, monsters, living trees, mummies, sharkmen, and more. Talk about a rude introduction to the greater mythos of Ludos Deorum.

  “They—they’re all so…”

  “Freakish? I know.” Lowe sighed. “Come on, Eden. Time to give up the ghost. You want out of this mess alive? Give me the Elixir.”

  “But I don’t know where it is.” She panicked. “I made it in a dream. Set told me what to do, where to go, how to mix it…” She covered her belly, fear for her child, for Tariq, making it hard to think.

  In one area outside the warehouse, a dragon made of fire breathed on the door. It buckled, and a slew of barbarians ran inside.

  “They’re in the lower west sector,” Manu reported. “But the spells will hold them for a while.”

  “The outside is protected by weaker spells, to lure those mighty enough to break them into dying inside,” Hasani said with a smile. He didn’t sound frightened at all, and his excitement both amused and unnerved her.

  Chig muttered, “Trust Hasani to look forward to getting his ass handed to him. Pain junkie.”

  “Oh my God.” Eden bit her thumbnail. Where was that vial?

  “Relax. Focus. You made the potion. It disappeared, so that’s got to be part of its spell. Think,” Lowe urged.

  “Yes, sweet. Think. You can bring it back.” Tariq spoke with confidence. He pulled her close and put his hand over her heart. As before, the warmth in their connection blazed.

  Clarity returned, as did the inborn knowledge to find what she’d hidden.

  For me. For us. She heard Tariq in her mind and felt his love for her and the baby.

  She heard gasps around her and looked down, only to see her hand glowing. She opened it to see herself clutching a small vial of neon green fluid.

  “Nice.” Lowe gave her a thumbs-up. Then seeing it, she frowned. “Crap. I brought a smaller container with me. No biggie.” She stepped forward, and Tariq nodded at Chig to let her pass. Lowe held out her hand. “Please?”

  Eden looked at Tariq, who smiled and said, “We do not need it. We have an eternity of love to keep us strong.”

  “That’s so sweet.” Lowe seemed moved, until she gagged. “Seriously. While I’m young, people.” She motioned for Eden to give her the vial.

  Eden let it go, and it felt as if she’d lost a piece of herself, which was odd. But then the relief of not holding the burden relaxed her.

  Lowe transferred the contents into a small metal cylinder, which shouldn’t have been big enough to contain the liquid but did. She pocketed it. The empty vial was now completely clear, no trace of the liquid remaining. “I need one of you to make an identical looking sample.”

  Mbizi nodded, muttered an incantation under his breath, and the vial filled with a similarly colored liquid.

  “Nice.” Lowe seemed impressed. “Eden, I need a drop of your blood. A small drop,” she said quickly when Tariq growled. “Just so the smell is the same.”

  Eden took a small knife from Mbizi and pricked her finger, letting a drop of blood enter the vial. Lowe took it, swirled the contents around then handed it Mbizi.

  “Okay, magic man. Now imbue it with something that will smell a bit like Set. Could be anything.”

  Tariq smiled, and Eden was glad he’d never given her that look because its menace made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “Use a drop of my blood. After all, his curse is in me.”

  After Tariq added his drop, Mbizi stirred the contents and whispered something that made the lights in the room flicker.

  “And…done.” Mbizi nodded. “It should feel like the real thing.”

  “What will it do?” Lowe asked.

  “Well, it’ll give whoever drinks it one hell of a buzz, as well as turn them into an exact replica of Set for all of an hour. Think of the fun in that.”

  Lowe grinned. “I like it.” She gripped the vial tight. “Well, I’m off then. I’ll try to lead some of these assholes away with it, pretend I had it all along. I’d rather no one knew I’d been here and helped you. I mean, I didn’t really help. I’m just here to steal the vial and all.” Lowe crossed her arms, looking defensive.

  And so young. Though the valkyrie had to be old as dirt, she had the appearance of a young woman no older than Eden.

  “Good luck, Lowe. And thanks.” Eden smiled.

  “You too. For the Elixir that never existed. It was always a fake—if you get my meaning. Best of luck on the puppy.”

  Tariq scowled. “Lowe…”

  She laughed and followed Chig out of the room.

  Leaving Eden, Tariq, and the others to face the hordes now inside the lower level of the warehouse, trapped on the ground floor by some macabre spell currently leeching the interlopers of blood.

  She glanced away from the monitors, queasy at the screams and blood all over the place.

  Tariq hugged her in his massive arms, his strength soothing.

  And then a voice booming with power spoke from directly behind them and spoiled her relief.

  “Ah, Tariq. My son, what have you done?”

  Tariq cringed. Anubis didn’t sound pleased. Turning, he saw his god looked as he did in the tomb paintings, meaning he’d appeared as such for Eden’s sake. Anubis normally wore his mortal form, looking curiously human, if overlarge. Today he had the head of a jackal, his chest bare but for a gold collar, a linen shendyt—a kilt wrapped around his waist and secured by a serpentine belt—and armbands, anklets, and bracelets made of turquoise, gold, and deep-set emeralds.

  Eden gasped and clung to Tariq, cutting off his circulation. “Anubis,” she whispered.

  His god glanced at her from a height a good several feet larger than Tariq’s own. When Anubis increased his size so large, he was in a mood to accept nothing less than the brutal truth. A truth Tariq could not give.

  Anubis glanced around at the others, who had dropped to their knees. Tariq would have as well, but Eden wouldn’t let him go. Just as the god opened his mouth to speak, his gaze caught on the monitors.

  “Ah, mortal technology.” Anubis watched and listened to the horrifying terror from below. “I sense your work here, Mbizi.”

  “Yes, My Lord.” Mbizi kept his gaze to the floor.

  “You should not have had to increase my own shields. Curious.” Anubis looked at each of the monitors.

  Tariq noticed the Dogs leaving and wondered if Set had called them away, Anubis had warned them back, or they’d somehow spotted Lowe. Chig took that moment to return, but he wasn’t alone.

  Set, as large as Anubis and looking just as annoyed, held the warrior by the throat. He threw Chig against the wall, and the warrior lay bleeding from his ears and mouth, unmoving.

  Anubis frowned. “That was unnecessary.” He narrowed his gaze on Chig. Chig’s neck cracked, and the blood vanished. The warrior opened his eyes and stared in puzzlement at the room.

  He spotted Anubis but said nothing, joining his brethren on their knees, looking down.

  Thank the gods at least one of them might survive the night. Subtly pushing Eden behind him, Tariq made sure to put himself between her and Set, who gave him a sly smile.

  “Your men look strong,” Set said to Anubis. “Dependable.”

  “Why are you here, Set? This is not your territory.” Anubis sounded angry. Good.

  “You never call me Father. Why is that?”

  “Set…”

  Set frowned. “Fine. I thought it prudent to save you from those who would have you kicked from the game. That one”—he pointed to Tariq—“has tampered with that which belongs only to the gods. He tricked me out of my blood and created the Elixir of Life.”

  Anubis’s large head turned toward Tariq. “Is this true?”

  The compulsion to tell the truth nearly overrode the spell holding him silent. But in the end, Set’s power was too strong to overcome. Tariq could do no more than stare back at Anubis.

  His men remaine
d silent, apparently bound as well.

  To his shock, Eden’s voice rose out strong and true. “That’s a lie.”

  Tariq saw Set’s lips move, heard Eden gasp in pain, and felt his heart break at the thought of losing her again. He would sacrifice everything he had if it meant keeping her safe. He did the only thing he could to stop Set’s spellcasting.

  With a roar and godlike speed, he tackled Set to the ground, pulled a knife from his waist, and cut out the god’s tongue. Just touching a god without permission was enough to get himself killed, a sure-death. Seeking to maim a god? Nothing but an eternity of punishment.

  His connection to Eden severed instantaneously, even as he gripped Set’s tongue in his fist. He fell hard to his knees inside the Hall of the Dead in the Underworld. Instead of protecting his god while Anubis measured the hearts of the dead, Tariq straightened to see Anubis ready to weigh his heart.

  “The one I’d thought most worthy, fallen so far.” Anubis sighed, no longer wearing the head of a jackal, but in a human form.

  “Not fallen, my lord. Never that.” Not when Eden had so much to live for.

  “Did you not think I have always known of your potential for destruction? That always in the back of my mind was the notion you might throw in with Set to take over my lands and fulfill the dark prophecy?”

  Tariq frowned. “Set loves you. He would never do anything to destroy you.”

  “So he says. But for all that he claims he’s my father, his greed knows no bounds. The City of Dogs is ripe, the jewel of Duat.”

  That was true. “I would never dishonor you, sire. You keep me from the dark.”

  Anubis stared at him, the god’s gaze going so much deeper than the flesh, finally penetrating the magic hiding Tariq’s soul’s missing piece. “How does a man with no heart know darkness? How can I weigh that which does not exist?”

  Tariq had no answer for him.

  Anubis seemed grief-stricken. “Why did you not tell me of Set’s perfidy? I trusted you. I would have helped you.”

  “I could not.” Tariq blinked. I can speak of it. Finally. “My lord, I was under a spell. I became mute whenever I tried to tell you the truth. For every effort, Set would reward me by taking me to his whipping chamber.” Tariq barely held back a shudder.