by S. E. Babin
I gasped and tried to slam the door, but she held up her hand, and the door wouldn't budge. I took my hands off it, spun around, and tried to make it to the bedroom, but she stopped me in my tracks. It was like I was in jelly or quicksand. I could barely move at all and felt like my muscles were frozen in place.
"Hello, Eve. Nice to see you again," she said just before hitting me with something electric.
I dropped like a stone.
The smell of flowers and burning herbs woke me. It wasn't unpleasant, just foreign. No fire or anything heated was allowed near the books or papers in my office, and since I took work home as well, I rarely got to smell incense or candles. I tried to sit up, but couldn't move much of my body.
"Terribly sorry," a woman's voice said.
I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fuzz out of my brain and focus. Isha stood in front of me, looking surprisingly casual since she'd just freaking kidnapped me. For real this time. And there wasn't even any tea.
I licked my lips. "What do you want?" I croaked.
"Not you," she said with a smile. "I want that handsome man who's been traveling with you."
My brow wrinkled. "What does he have to do with anything?"
Her cheery laugh grated on my nerves. "Oh, honey," she said, "he has everything to do with it."
I wasn't sure what to say to that. I tested the ropes binding my wrists, but they wouldn't budge. Neither would the ones around my feet.
"I wouldn't bother. There's no way you're getting loose."
"If you want him, then why am I here?"
She grinned then, a slash of white against her darker skin. "Because he wants you," she said. "And since you are here, he will have to come here."
"You'll never beat him," I said, then cringed at how much I sounded like a sullen teenager.
"I don't have to beat him," she told me. "I just have to outsmart him."
I wasn't sure she could do that either. I clamped my lips together to keep from speaking anymore and studied the room we were in, looking for any way I could get out.
It was a bedroom with a small window. The blinds were closed, so I couldn't tell if we were on the first or second floor. I'd rather not roof jump while bound, but if it came to that, I would. A dark, scarred wooden bed sat to the right, covered with a blue and white gingham spread. The floor underneath me was wooden and looked original. And old. I looked up at the ceiling and saw older detail work on the crown molding lining the sides of the ceiling.
It appeared I was still in New Orleans, possibly in one of the older districts. The house seemed to be a historical, a restored one.
I didn't know how to summon Hermes, but he was all powerful, wasn't he? Surely he could find one librarian? My mind worked frantically. If he couldn't find me, I was screwed. But Isha wouldn't have taken me if she didn't think he could. Would she? I continued trying to work the binding around my hands and feet, but eventually saw it was no use. Whatever she had tied me up with wasn't coming loose. Too bad there wasn't a book for this.
I could see it now. What to do When You're Kidnapped by an Angry Voodoo Priestess.
Her smirk as she watched me sent a frisson of worry through me. If Hermes wouldn't come, what would happen to me?
9
Hermes
I paced the floor, more anger than I'd ever known flooding through my body. So it was true. We'd originally thought Eve was just a pawn, but for something bigger. That was all true, but the bigger thing wasn't Marie Laveau. It was the fountain of youth, and I was the easiest god to approach just by virtue of my position. I still hadn't figured out who Isha was able to approach to get me to deliver the message to Eve, but it didn't really matter.
All that mattered was keeping Eve safe and Isha away from the fountain.
I stopped and frowned.
And Marie Laveau, too. I had no idea how she managed to find the fountain or keep the secret for that long. Some of us had to be working in concert with those two women. I just couldn't figure out who would be that insane. The gods tried very hard to stay out of the affairs of mortals. With our history, you never knew what crazy thing was going to happen next. But someone hadn't stayed out of this one, and now, at least one person had the very secret we'd tried so hard to keep locked down. If the mortals ever discovered the secrets, it would throw the world into chaos. There would be no more humanity. Only immortals.
With immortality usually came barrenness and crushing loneliness. You would think those two things would have caused people to think twice, but it never worked that way. Humans were very much a give-me-what-I-want-now-and-I'll-pay-the-consequences-later bunch.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and buried my face in my hands. If I didn't face Isha, Eve would suffer. If I did face Isha, there was the possibility I would lose. Not a strong one, especially given how easily I'd taken her out, but still a slight one. If I lost and the location was revealed, all would be lost.
I could stay here, back in Olympus, and take orders from my father. It's what I'd done for forever, but I was aching to do something more, be something more.
That had never been a problem until I came into contact with Eve. I was content to just be me.
Or what I thought was me.
Turned out, maybe I'd never known who I was before her.
She was warm, friendly, smart, and beautiful—all things the gods usually weren't. And...she seemed to like me.
Although, leaving her right after we'd shared something beautiful didn't seem to be one of the smarter things I'd done.
I stood. I'd return to her, take Isha down, remove the secrets from Marie Laveau, and convince Eve she belonged with me. Whether here or on Earth. Wherever she was, I would be too.
I blinked out of the room and back to her apartment.
Chaos reigned. Broken dishes and pizza lay scattered everywhere. There was no sign of Eve. Worry snaked through my heart. Where had she gone?
I called out her name and went through the apartment room by room, opening doors and looking in closets until I knew for sure she wasn't there. I shut my eyes, opened my senses, and let them reach through the room, searching for any magical signatures.
I found it immediately and cursed heatedly.
Isha had been here.
Eve was taken.
I sat down heavily on the couch as I thought frantically. This was my fault. Well...maybe not all my fault, but I never should have left her to return home asking questions. No one answered them satisfactorily anyway, and maybe Isha had counted on it. I slammed a fist down on the couch.
I really hated voodoo.
Eve's signature was easy to trace. I'd been around her enough to know her scent and the strange magic pulsing from her—magic she didn't know how to use. In mere minutes, I'd tracked her down to an old historical home off the beaten path. Once upon a time, the house had been white with green shutters. Now, the paint was peeling from the siding, and the green had faded to a sickly gray. The wraparound porch was warped and distorted, and the wood had bowed to the elements. I had to snort under my breath. It looked exactly like a house the bad guys would choose. No one ever chose a pretty place with upkept landscaping, did they?
I cloaked myself and stepped closer to the home, looking for an open blind or window. Unfortunately for me, the place was locked up tight. Underneath, it pulsed an energy, a dark and malevolent magic that made me shudder. I was no stranger to the darker of magics, but I tried my best to stay away from them. Isha's magic had warped somehow. It tasted different than it had the last time I'd come up against her. She was paying the price for her actions, and I could feel the displeasure of her gods weighing down her spells. If I waited long enough, I knew I wouldn't have to do a thing. Karmic action would find her soon enough. But Eve was inside and at the mercy of this woman. I had no choice but to speed up this process. Perhaps I'd make it easier on her gods, and they could turn their back on her.
I had no plans to leave Isha alive.
I floated to the second story, c
hecking every window and entrance I could. No matter where I went, the windows and blinds were shut tight. But Eve was close. I couldn't tell exactly what room she was in, but she was definitely upstairs. I reached a small tendril of magic inside, slight enough to hopefully escape Isha's notice.
There.
Eve was frightened but still alive and mostly uninjured. I moved to the window of the room I knew she was in. With very little magic, I popped inside, hoping Isha was downstairs or otherwise preoccupied.
But my luck was not strong today.
As soon as I entered the room and dropped my cloaking, I saw Isha sitting there cool as a cucumber with a gun trained on Eve.
Guns never scared me. They couldn't do much harm to me, but Eve was a living, breathing mortal. A gunshot could snuff out her life immediately. I had to proceed with caution.
I glanced at Eve. She was bruised, but unbroken, and I was pleased to see her angry glare at Isha. There was still a lot of fight left in her.
"So glad you could join us," Isha said, her accent smooth as honey.
"I don't see any refreshments out," I quipped. "The least you could have done for a dignitary like me is offer a cheese plate."
One of her dark eyebrows quirked, but Isha was not amused. "I'm sure we have far greater things to worry about than cheese."
"Mmmm," I agreed. "That we do."
Isha pulled the hammer back on the weapon. "Tell me where the fountain is, and we can all walk away."
I sighed. "I am almost always guaranteed to walk away. It's you two who have the most to worry about."
Doubt flickered in Isha's eyes. "You'd leave her to die?"
I sent out a heartfelt mental apology. This was the only way to save Eve. "Who am I to worry about the fate of mortals? She will be dust in a few years. As will you."
Isha's eyes narrowed.
I felt Eve's heart speed up and her anger spread.
"You'd give her up so easily?"
I spread my arms and grinned. "I've already taken everything I wanted from Eve."
A choked noise came from Eve. If she were free, I know she would have scratched my eyes out.
The gun lowered slightly. "Eve doesn't actually matter," Isha said. "With or without her, I'll have the location of the fountain."
"Will you?" I asked as I took a few steps closer and tilted my head to study her.
Isha grinned then. I looked around the room, trying to find anything amiss, but I couldn't. Until I tried to move.
With one finger, Isha lifted a previously invisible net around me. I reached my arms out and tried to blast through it, but it was no use.
I was trapped like a cat in a kennel using Olympus's own magic. The net of Hephaestus. Where she'd gotten it was beyond me, but it was here. And I was its next victim.
My gaze met Eve's, and she stared at me like she hated me.
"Run," I mouthed.
She blinked.
I clapped my hand together before the net could suffocate all my magic, and light as bright as the sun shot out to all the corners of the room, blinding everyone, but hopefully allowing Eve time to escape. I couldn't move thanks to the net, but I hadn't lost all my faculties.
Isha's hoarse shout and the sound of a chair scraping back was all I heard as I gritted my teeth, trying to maintain the light spell.
Moments later, my magic began to fail. As my vision came back, I noticed Eve was no longer in the room.
Isha's head was down, her hands over her eyes. Seconds later, she began to laugh. "It's no matter about her," she chortled. "It was never about her."
I hoped Eve was safe. I hoped she forgot about me. I'd get out of this trap eventually, and when I did, I was going to destroy this voodoo priestess. Maybe I'd do my best to destroy voodoo too.
Once the woman's eyesight came back, she stood, gathered the outside of the net in her hand, and gave it a jerk. I fell hard on my side with a grunt. "Now, let's see how long it takes to get you to talk," she said, grinning at me.
10
Eve
I blew out of the doors, stumbling and cursing, and as I blinked against the raging sunlight, realized I must have made a terrible sight. I was still bound hand and foot, so I was hunched over like an old woman, but I managed to shamble down the road. My cell phone was gone. My clothing was ripped. My tears were hysterical, but I was alive.
I wasn't so sure about Hermes, though.
I gritted my teeth against the hurt his words had caused me, but he still saved me. Maybe that was his goal all along.
I walked for at least twenty minutes before a car pulled up to me.
Turning, tears blurring my eyes, I saw the concerned gaze of a New Orleans police officer. "Ma'am?" he asked.
I held out my hands. "Hospital, please?"
The officer put the vehicle in park, rushed out the door, and helped me into the front seat of his cruiser. Once he was back in the vehicle, he radioed in for officer assistance to the house I'd just been at, put on his sirens, and spun out on his way to take me to the nearest urgent care.
He didn't say too much right away, but after a few minutes, when my tears had mostly dried, he spoke. "Care to talk about what happened to you?"
I shook my head. "I don't think anyone would believe me."
He chuckled at that. "This is New Orleans, ma'am. I can believe just about anything that happens here."
I smiled sadly at that. "Can you unbind me?"
The officer pulled over to the side of the road, pulled out a small knife, and hacked away at my bindings. Once I was free, I rubbed my wrists with my palms and winced at how raw they were. He bent to take care of my feet, but I pulled away. "It's okay. I'll get the others at the hospital." The car was too close, too intimate, for that now.
He straightened, nodded, and rushed the rest of the way without saying a word.
I laid my head back against the seat and blew out a long, deep breath.
What had my life turned into over the period of just a few short days? I had magic I couldn't use. Maybe if I knew how, I could have saved us. Or maybe not. Isha had been practicing voodoo for years. I had the gift of magic I hadn't bothered to even try.
That would change as soon as I made it home.
Home.
Could I even go back there?
I had to.
Isha didn't seem worried about me any longer now that she had Hermes. It was him she'd wanted all along. Why it had taken so long for us to discover it, I wasn't sure. This had never been about jealousy over business competition. It was about something so much bigger.
The officer's cruiser screamed into the emergency room parking lot. Shoving it into park, he rushed over to my door and helped me out. When I tried to walk, he held up a hand to stop me. With swift and sure strokes, he cut the bindings on my legs and helped me into the doors.
Several hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, even though I repeatedly told the nurses I didn't want one. Turned out, I was both dehydrated and bruised from head to toe. I didn't tell them anything about magic or voodoo. I merely told them a woman had entered my apartment, knocked me out, and taken me to the other neighborhood. The officer, whose name I’d found out was Mike, gently grilled me about why she possibly could have wanted me. I shrugged until my shoulder was sore and smiled inanely.
Mike was smart though, and he didn't look like he believed me.
I wouldn't have believed my lame story either.
But I also didn't want to get shipped to the psych ward, so my story stayed the same. I didn't mention Hermes. It was just me, Isha, a gun, and a strange flash of light that allowed me to escape. It already sounded pretty farfetched.
They'd hooked me up to an IV, preventing my escape, and I was feeling a little better. My mouth was dry though, and I had a headache the size of Texas. Mike poked his head back in the room and even through my freaked-out state, I had to admit, the guy was pretty damn handsome. Black hair and bright blue eyes, with a crooked grin and a strong jawline, Mike probably had no trouble g
etting the ladies.
He sat at the edge of my bed, took a small notepad out of his pocket, and flipped it open. With the other hand, he clicked a pen. I raised one eyebrow and waited for him to speak.
Mike pinned me with those engaging blue eyes. "We're alone. Tell me what really happened."
I sighed. "I already have."
He gave an angry shake of his head. "We both know you haven't. How can I help you if I don't know what I'm up against?"
It was my turn to narrow my eyes. "Why would you help me?"
He flushed. "I meant the police department."
"Mmmm," I said.
"Eve," he scooted forward. "It's not every day I find a gorgeous woman bound and taken prisoner. I want to know what happened to you, and I want to be the one to help you."
This would be super romantic if it were in a movie. But it was real life, and real life had voodoo and guns and handsome blond Greek gods who abandoned you right after sex. Being taken prisoner hadn't really opened my heart to a new romance.
"Mike," I began, and the guy snorted.
He raised a hand. "Right. I get it. Definitely not the time to flirt, but I'm serious." He stared at me, his eyes earnest and sincere. "Allow me to help you."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm speaking off the record, and if you commit me to the psych ward, I will haunt you."
He raised his hands in the air, though his eyes were triumphant. "Right. No straitjackets. Loud and clear."
"Put your notepad away."
He frowned, but clicked his pen off and shoved the notepad back into his pocket.
"It all started with a message..."
An hour later, Mike was sitting back in his uncomfortable chair staring at me open-mouthed.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me." The nurse had brought in pudding and some ice water. I picked at the pudding, but greedily inhaled the water. I was starving too, but I didn't want to eat hospital food.
"I can believe the voodoo part," Mike said, his voice hushed in awe. "The rest of it is pretty unbelievable, though."
