Hate

by Gemma Brocato

  Aerie’s stomach knotted as they sped toward the park where trouble was brewing. Unsure what to expect, she did her best to calm her racing thoughts. Around her, the auras of her sisters dotted the Hollow, speeding toward her. Terri’s green, Clio’s light blue, and Callie’s red filled her vision.

  Lia dropped in alongside her, the intense orange blending with Aerie’s yellow. The brush against her own aura instilled strength and resolve, as if Lia had shared some of her energy. Chances were good that before this night ended, most of her sisters would pour some part of them into her. They would all stand together to defeat whatever calamity Pierus had manufactured for her to face.

  Phillip was silent at her side. Once they arrived they’d cloak themselves to avoid startling any mortals in the area. People appearing out of thin air tended to freak humans out a little. A very drunk Dionysus materializing in front of unsuspecting patrons of a theater in Paris had led to the legend of the Phantom of the Opera.

  To be safe, they exited the Hollow around the back of the park’s information center. Aerie hunched her shoulders at the sound of loud bangs, yelling people and the crackle of flames. Flanked by Phillip and her sisters, she crept around the building. Upon spying the scene, she froze in place.

  Pandemonium reigned in the normally placid cobblestone plaza in front of the center.

  “Holy hell.” Terri’s tone was low, shocked, and more than a little frightened.

  The row of statues depicting Aerie and her sisters was thronged with rioters attempting to tumble the marble sculptures off their pedestals. They’d already toppled Aerie’s likeness, breaking off the bow and arrows she held. A man in a business suit picked up the broken section, turned on the vagabond-looking man standing next to him, and began to beat him.

  Aerie jerked into motion, flicking her fingers toward the pair, shooting calming vibes. The businessman dropped the chunk of marble and simply walked away, leaving the other fellow looking dazed for a moment before he pivoted and moved off in the opposite direction.

  “What do we do?” Phillip asked. The fingers of his left hand clamped on Aerie’s shoulder.

  Aerie scanned the faces in the crowd, finding hate etched on all their features. They weren’t just attacking the thin line of police officers attempting to hold them off from entering the information building. “They’re attacking each other.”

  “How do we stop them?” Lia questioned, all traces of humor missing from her voice.

  A loud pop rent the air as one of the officers fired a round of tear gas into the crowd. Gray smoke trailed in a stream behind the projectile, rising in a cloud once it hit the ground. One of the rioters kicked it back toward the police. As smoke rose, the haze turned red.

  Aerie’s heart thudded against her breastbone, the pulse pounded in her ears, almost drowning out the escalating sounds of violence. “That smoke can’t be normal. It’s like we’re meant to see red. The color of hate.”

  Behind Aerie, a raucous squawking commenced. She spun and spied her magpie challenger in the tree, eyes glowing vibrant red…just as they had in her vision at the Morgan wedding. She suppressed a shudder, summoned energy from her core and pictured an arrow streaking through the scant distance between them. Bullseye! Take that, bitch.

  Screeching filled the space between Aerie’s ears and she clenched her fists to avoid raising her hands to block out the noise. Hate launched herself from her perch on the building, spreading her wings wide.

  “Mother Goddess!” Clio shrieked. “Look at her wingspan! It’s like she’s supersized. She’s much larger than Tyranny.”

  Hate flew over their heads, then sped through the unlawful crowds, her shrill caterwauling raised like a battle cry.

  As if being shoved apart like a plow pushed through them, the protesters split into two groups, one to Hate’s right, one to her left. A group of them diverted from the mass and surged toward the car park, brandishing bats, crowbars, even lengths of wood. The sound of shattering windscreens filled the air, punctuated by maniacal laughter and cheers. Someone turned on music and blared it loud, a rebellious rock anthem ringing out.

  The other half of the crowd pushed forward toward the line of police, standing in riot gear, shiny helmets and Kevlar vests, clutching metal shields against their bodies.

  “Aerie!”

  She twisted toward the terrified voice calling her name, finding Finn and his partner standing at the end of the thin blue line protecting the building. Finn was pale, but resolute. He shouted to Anson, then sprinted toward her, with Anson running behind him. The line of officers spread a little, then braced as the protesters reached them. The supernaturally driven crowd began to thrash the police with whatever came to hand. An oversize trashcan flew through the night, landing just behind the line.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Finn demanded as he reached Aerie. He grabbed her, squeezed her tight, then shoved her behind him. Anson nodded to Phillip and between them, they formed a protective barrier in front of her. Finn twisted, keeping one hand wrapped around Aerie, and clanked his shield against Anson’s to form a wall.

  “Finn, this is part of the challenge.” She threw a cautious glance at Anson, worried about how much to say. But the dire situation trumped her wariness. “I need to calm the crowd but I can’t do it standing behind you.” She struggled against his grip, intent on moving in front of him.

  “Stay back. It’s not safe. There’s so much hate here.” Sweat dripped in Finn’s eyes and he blinked hard.

  She snorted. “Tell me about it. Did you see that bird?” She touched her fingertips to Finn’s chest, inspiring him to get the hell out of her way.

  Scooting around him, Aerie forced calm in the face of the advancing mob. Pressing a hand to her chin, palm up, she rotated her head from right to left blowing a long, hard kiss over the crowd. About half of the faces that had been clenched in anger relaxed, and those people stopped in their tracks. The other half continued toward their small group.

  Her nudge failed. Had that ever happened before? She’d felt it leave her body full force, but it dissipated by the time it reached the throng. Panic bloomed in her gut at the realization and she tossed a look toward her partisan. She raised her voice to be heard above the noise of the jeering and cat-calling rabble. “Phillip? Why aren’t they stopping?”

  “Pierus must have some kind of special control on some of them. Hate must burn stronger in them.” Phillip stepped forward and placed his hand on Aerie’s shoulder, signaling her sisters to do the same. One by one, her sisters formed a circle around them, linking via physical touch and mental vibes driven straight into her psyche. Energy burned throughout her system.

  A particularly obnoxious and determined demonstrator brandished a heavy shovel at them, a snarl on his lips, his eyes narrowed and rolling wildly. Aerie stood her ground, blowing a hard kiss in the man’s direction. Racing around the Muses, Finn and Anson crouched in front, twirling their shields sideways, to provide a wider barrier.

  “Get back!” Finn ordered, a guttural quality in his booming voice. He drew his firearm and trained the barrel on the man.

  The lethal weapon didn’t deter the man.

  “Damn. Shit…shit!” Finn shouted to Aerie. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast. I’m slipping.”

  Although he didn’t say it, she could tell by the fear in his eyes he meant into the darkness. It wouldn’t do to have him lose it now. “Not now, Finn. Goddammit, you keep it together! We need you.” She needed him. Dropping her palm to his shoulder, she split her focus between helping Finn and holding back the mob. “Phillip, we need reinforcements right away. I can’t hold them back, even with our combined powers.”

  “I’ve called already. Not sure they are going to make it in time.”

  An angry crowd formed behind the guy with the shovel. He strode forward, swinging the long handle and wicked looking blade over his head. Several of the people following him held machetes. One woman hefted a long pike on her shoulder, as if she’d
chuck it like a spear.

  “Aerie, do something,” Callie screamed behind her.

  An erratic jolt of electricity bombarded her from the point at which Callie touched her. The power seared through her ribs and into her diaphragm like a lightning bolt, burning and intense. A pained groan burst from between Aerie’s tense lips.

  “Callie, ease off. You aren’t helping,” Clio ordered.

  Aerie’s blood chugged through her veins as if iced, and she shivered in the sudden cold that came from expending her energy to soothe the savage beasts in front of her.

  Determined, Aerie harnessed the burning pain, refocused it outward, and forced it out from her splayed fingers. The energy transformed to light from her palms. As she spread her arms wide, harsh illumination played over the horde. The crowd faltered, overcome by her broadcast of calm and love. Most of them halted. But still, several continued to advance.

  Shovel guy taunted them. “Fucking pigs. You’re gonna burn tonight.”

  Finn grasped her wrist and yanked her down next to him. Pain jarred from her knees up her spine. When the connection broke between her and her sisters and partisan, the riffraff surged forward.

  “We have to go. Morpheus is on his way in to sedate the throng. Muses, prepare for exodus.” There was no mistaking the barely controlled terror in Phillip’s voice.

  Wrapping his arms around her, Finn shoved her head down and covered her just as the man with the shovel broke ranks and charged. From under Finn’s powerful bicep, Aerie watched the shovel descend and land squarely in the middle of his back. The thwack echoed hollowly in his chest as his groan sounded in her ear. They jolted to the side, and Anson swung his shield hard, knocking aside the follow-up swing of the shovel.

  The air pressure tightened around Aerie and her ears popped as she found herself falling sideways into the Hollow. “No! We have to stop them.” She attempted to stop the transition, but with Finn’s arms wrapped tightly around her, she couldn’t free herself. The world misted to gray around her.

  After the deafening roar of the riot, the silence in the Hollow was muffled and oddly intense. “I’ve got you,” Finn whispered in her ear.

  Gentle warmth filled her, settling in the cold space left from depleting her power trying to control the crowd. Tears leaked from her eyes, disappearing in the depths of her yellow mist. The cobalt of Finn’s mist wrapped around her, warm and dreamy.

  Oh, my goddess! Finn did have an aura. He was blue. Not silver, like other mortals. He was the nearly the same shade as Phillip.

  Her partisan sped toward them with her sisters. And another partisan. A shiny metal shield and glossy black helmet, covered in a similar shade of blue condensation, identified the other man as Anson. But why wasn’t he silver as well?

  “Finn?” Confusion grew in her mind, making it hard to find her voice.

  “I’ve got you. But where the fuck are we and how did we get here?”

  Aerie shuddered as a wave of cold washed over her. Although incorporeal in the mist, she sensed Finn’s arms tightening around her, moving over her back to add heat to her form. “We’re in the Hollow and you put us here.”

  “Um, no I didn’t.”

  She spoke directly into his mind. “Yeah you did. I think you must have some immortal blood in you.”

  “That’s crap. I’m as mortal as they come.” Finn’s voice was strained.

  “And yet, you just heard me speak directly into your mind. Something only immortals can hear.”

  The fact Finn might be immortal explained Pierus’s comment that Finn bore Mars’s mark on his shoulder. The area where her own corporeal shoulder would have been still stung from the surge of power Callie had jabbed into her.

  “Where are we going, sister?” Speak of the devil. Callie’s words clanged stridently in her brain.

  “Not sure. I’m not driving,” she replied nonverbally. She spoke aloud to Finn. “Do you know where we’re going?”

  “Hell no!”

  “Maybe you wouldn’t mind if I took over.”

  “Tell me how to let go and I’m happy to let you steer.”

  A chuckle escaped, ringing prettily in the muffled Hollow. “Deep breath, then blow it out. Blank your mind of all thought.”

  “Easier said than done.” His reply filtered directly into her head. He learned fast.

  “Best shot, okay?” she encouraged.

  She felt his aura swell, then deflate, as though he’d done as she asked. Suddenly, they were tumbling head over ass within the gray void. Aerie seized control of their flight and launched herself upward, holding tight to Finn’s aura, dragging him along with her. Laughing, she sent a voiceless message to the other travelers with them. “I’m heading to SecCom at Olympus. See you all there.”

  Twelve

  Fucking craziest out of body experience he’d ever had. And he’d had many in his lifetime. He’d been in the midst of a massive number of pissed off rioters, alarmed at the size, but trained to stand his ground. His heart had stuttered to a stop when he’d spied Aerie to the right of the park’s information center.

  Understanding had dawned in an instant…this was the challenge Aerie and the other immortals had explained to him. His protective instinct kicked in. He couldn’t allow anyone, not one single soul, to hurt her. But his blackout came on strong, until his focus narrowed and he was certain he’d give in to the anger and fear and dread rising within him. His hand shook like a leaf in a breeze as he’d pointed his gun at the advancing mob.

  It was shocking to him he hadn’t fired his weapon into the crowd when the dude with the shovel charged. Pain had detonated in him when the heavy metal had connected with his back. One second he and Aerie were falling sideways, the next, his entire vision blanked and he felt as if he was floating. And he’d dragged Aerie into his fugue. How was that even possible? He’d certainly never had company before. And he’d spoken to her. Aloud, and straight into her thoughts. Again, a new phenomenon.

  He wanted to laugh when she’d whispered into his brain he must have immortal ties. It was a stretch to believe in gods, let alone think he could be one of them. He knew he wasn’t, but the proof was in the fact that he’d shoved them into a plane of existence Aerie was comfortable in. Although she didn’t seem to have a body in this place, her shivers resounded within him. He tightened his grip and held on to her…mist.

  He glanced around and saw splotches of light and color, particularly intrigued by one spot of bright blue color wrapped around a shiny black helmet embossed with Elwood’s name. Anse hadn’t been all that near to him and Aerie. How the hell had he dragged his partner into this nightmare with him?

  Pressure increased around his body and in his ears, and looking down, he perceived his limbs and Aerie’s body. The mists faded around him, and the world solidified in front of his eyes.

  Aerie had led them to a high-tech security center. A large video display dominated the wall in front of them. Two tiers of workstations sat in front, each terminal staffed by individuals dressed in black tactical clothing. There was a low buzz in the room, the hum of machines, the low tones of the personnel speaking into their headsets.

  The impact of his heels hitting the ground alerted him to the fact that he’d hovered a few inches off the floor. And that his body was no longer a floating cloud.

  Aerie was snugged tightly against his side. The soft press of her breasts to his ribs hardened his body and drew his gaze to her face. Eyes wide, mouth formed in a perfect O, she stared back at him, her fingers curled into his jacket. He tugged her closer, something she allowed for about two seconds before awareness flickered in her eyes and she stiffened.

  She pushed his chest, putting unwanted space between them. After a moment of fighting her, he finally released his grip. Stepping back, she eyed him, knowledge and distrust in her gaze. “How did you not know?”

  “Where are we?” He countered with his own question, pitched his voice low, not wanting to attract too much attention.

  Behind him, t
he air popped again, and three other red-headed women, along with Phillip and Anson, appeared as if by magic. From the expression on Anson’s face, this wasn’t as shocking to him as it was for Finn. He didn’t spare them much thought as he waited on Aerie’s answer.

  “We’re in the security control center at Olympus.”

  “Mt. Olympus?”

  His world spun a bit before Aerie’s scoffing chuckle hit him in the libido.

  “The corporate office. Access to the actual Mount is on the seventh floor. Look.” She gestured to the oversize monitor at the front of the room.

  Closed circuit cameras located at Achilleion Park were trained on the piazza in front of the building they’d guarded. At the edge of the video feed, the corner of the parking lot was visible, and several cars were engulfed in flames. Bodies were strewn across the cobblestone…rioters and police alike.

  “Are they dead?”

  “Not at all. Merely sleeping.” Aerie pointed to the screen. At the center of the piazza stood a man with feathers affixed to his back. “Morpheus was deployed when I failed to calm the riot.”

  Wings. Fucking wings! Finn scrubbed his hand over the crown of his head. The man—god?—slowly progressed among the bodies. The CCTV feed was grainy, but pulses of light sparked from his fingertips as he touched each person he passed. On the opposite side of the display, a large cadre of people moved into focus. He tensed. It appeared more protesters were inbound but then he realized that the new arrivals were moving with military precision and dressed like elite operatives.

  “Thank the mother goddess you are okay.” Mars strode forward and paused in front of Aerie. He hesitated only a beat, then pulled her into his arms, squeezing her close.

  Emotion rose in Finn. He didn’t like anyone else touching her. Tension moved across his shoulders. Mars released Aerie, stepped back and pinned a stare on her face. “Your mother would have my immortal hide if I let anything happen to you or your sisters.”