Paradisus (Awakened Book 6)

by Harley Austin

  “How’s your chest?” Ty asked.

  Ethan lifted his arm. “Much better.”

  “You need to stop getting in the way of plasma bolts.”

  “Oh, you think?” Ethan grinned. One of the agents had caught him squarely in the left side of his upper back. The wound had hurt like hell, but now after three days the large hole had all but completely healed. His shoulder was simply a little sore now.

  “I wonder what Rowan’s doing right now?” Ethan asked.

  “Fuck him.”

  “You really hate him.”

  “Ethan, he’s an assassin.”

  “Was.”

  “He’s still killing people.”

  “You would have preferred he just let the Seven shoot and kill you and Sofia?”

  “He took Sofia.”

  Ethan studied Ty’s feelings.

  “You really like her.”

  “Huh?” Ty looked up at Ethan.

  “I can feel it.”

  Ty frowned. “I guess I can’t hide my feelings from you.”

  “Hey, it’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay, Ethan. I love you. I love her. She’s carrying my child. I don’t know where she is. I’m constantly on the run from someone. My life’s a mess.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  Both Ethan and Ty turned quickly in the direction of someone’s voice. The person the voice belonged to stood next to a wide, tall pine. A tall cowboy-looking older man, he was slightly overweight, wearing a hat and a kind smile. Ty’s pistol was already in his hand. The old man walked into the dim firelight and sat down on a rock not far from Ethan.

  “Ohh,” he groaned stretching his legs. “That’s better. Been standing too long, I guess.”

  Ethan looked at the old man, but said nothing.

  “Who are you?” Ty asked, his weapon about ready to disintegrate the guy.

  “No one special, Ty. I’m just Henry. I’m harmless. Mostly. The back of your neck would be all prickly-like if I was dangerous. Or however that—thingy—with you people works.”

  Ethan shrugged at Ty. The old man was right. Ethan wasn’t feeling any danger from the old guy. It was just the opposite, in fact.

  Ty kept the pistol in his hand but stopped pointing it at the old man. “How did you follow us?”

  “Follow you? Oh, heck no. I’ve been waiting for you. Took you long enough.”

  “Waiting—” Ethan’s eyebrow went up.

  “I heard what you said, Ty. I’ve seen messes before. Your life ain’t one of ‘em, trust me.”

  “How would you know?”

  “I know Sofia.”

  Ty’s eyes widened. “You do? Where is she?”

  “Oh, she’s fine,” the old man assured him confidently. “You’re son’s dong fine too. ‘Course, he ain’t doin’ much at the moment ‘till he’s born, but, he will be.”

  “Jesus, Henry.” Ty blinked at him. “I have—a son?”

  “Yep.”

  “How do I find them?”

  “You tell me.” Henry’s kind eyes met Ty’s.

  “Rowan,” Ty breathed, frowning, then looking down at the ground.

  “Yep. That’s the one. Well, I won’t keep you two from your supper.” Henry pushed up from his rock with a strain.

  Ty stood up holstering the pistol.

  “How do I find Rowan, Henry?”

  “You already know that old coot better than most. Give ‘em a chance. He’ll find you. By the way, how’s that shoulder, Ethan?”

  “Fine, Henry. Thanks.”

  “Good to hear. Duck next time.” The old Texan nodded. “Good evening, Gentlemen.”

  Henry turned to walk off. But then he stopped, looking over his shoulder. “You know; people can change, Ty. Sometimes all they need from us is just a little bit of grace.”

  Both watched Henry walk off into the forest until he was gone.

  23

  T he two of them walked along the edge of a highway leading into the outskirts of Macon. Both were grungy and both a little tired from several days travel on foot. Although still morning, they checked into a tiny roadside motel. The hot shower felt good. Both lay on opposite sides of the queen bed half dressed, too awake to sleep and too tired to move on.

  “How come you never talk about her?” Ethan asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Sophia. You never talk about her.”

  “I don’t?”

  “We just walked for three days and you haven’t said two words about her. Except to whoever that Henry guy was.”

  “I don’t—”

  “—want to hurt my feelings.”

  “Yea. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “That was pretty cool what you said back at the lake.”

  “I love you?”

  “Yea.”

  “Well. It’s true, Ethan.”

  “But you’re in love with Sofia as well. I can feel that.”

  Ty sighed. He so didn’t feel like talking about this.

  “At some point you’re going to have to dump me.”

  “Jeeze,” Ty rolled his back to Ethan.

  “Well?”

  Ty rolled back onto his back and looked at Ethan. “No.”

  “No what?”

  “Why should I have to dump you?”

  “Because you’d have a wife and a son to raise?”

  “This is why I didn’t want to talk about this.”

  “Well, they’re more important.”

  “You’re all important.”

  “You can’t marry both of us.”

  “Who says?”

  Ethan stopped in his thoughts for a moment. “Okay. So, what do gods do?”

  “My parents weren’t married, Ethan. There wasn’t anyone telling them, ‘you’re officially a couple’. They just stayed together and raised all of us.”

  “Really?”

  “Who’s going to tell the gods, oh, you have to be married, or anything else for that matter? After a few hundred years, some stay together, most move on. They find new people. Start new families. You’re still thinking like you’re mortal. Still asking for permission or waiting for someone to tell you what you should do.”

  “I guess. Still, it’s going to be a little weird meeting Sofia. We’re both sleeping with you.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about now. She’s going to have the same mixed-up culture you do. I don’t know how she’s going to handle it.”

  “So—what’s she like? Besides beautiful.”

  “Sofia’s,” Ty’s mind focused, he sighed, “sophisticated. Cultured. Independent. Intelligent. A little arrogant. But, she’s funny. She has her own ways of doing things. Not all of them successful; but she’s not afraid to try something new.”

  “Do you think she’d like me?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Ethan. That’s part of what worries me. I don’t know how she’s going to feel about you and I. She can be a little unpredictable.”

  “Did you ever tell her about us? When you were in Montreal.”

  “I did. We talked about you. I talked about you. She wasn’t all that interested in the relationship you and I had—have,” he corrected.

  “It didn’t stop her from asking you to move in with her.”

  “No. We were attracted, Ethan. It was going to happen. You wait. You’ll be minding your own business and suddenly,” Ty snapped his fingers, “just that fast, someone is on your radar and then it’s instant relationship. You become fast friends and lovers. Just like we did. It’s how our genetics work.”

  “Yea, instant population boom.”

  “We could use a population boom about now. Trust me.”

  “Are there not many of us around?”

  “No, Ethan. The gods are rare now. It used to be that you could find several families of us secretly living in cities all over the world. You’d be hard-pressed to find one of us in a city today, let alone a family.”

  “Probably all the more reason for you
and Sofia to put down some roots.”

  “She’ll be attracted to others as well, I’m sure.”

  “This attraction thing is really messed up.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It just tosses the whole family thing out the window.”

  “No it doesn’t. Attraction creates families. It just means you have more of them.”

  “How do you have more than one family?”

  “Ethan? Seriously? Your parents have more than one family. Both your mom and dad are dating other people now. You’re out on your own with me.”

  “I suppose. Do gods ever divorce?”

  “We don’t marry in the first place. That’s a Human invention; it’s not something we came up with.”

  “How do you have stable families then?”

  “Does a piece of paper, a marriage license, give you a stable family? Love and commitment are what makes stable families. I’m not leaving Sofia or my son, and I’m not leaving you.”

  “It just doesn’t seem like it would work.”

  “It does. You just have to have different expectations.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Gods don’t start families with the expectation of monogamy, Ethan. With attraction the way it is, that would be stupid. Humans have some of our attraction; and half of all of their marriages fail because, they get attracted to other people and suddenly the marriage has to end because there was this expectation of monogamy that’s being enforced as some quasi religious legal contract. It’s just another stupid religious institution violating the laws of Nature.”

  “You don’t think it’s just lust run amok?”

  “Attraction is complicated, Ethan. People become friends and lovers all the time and it leaves you scratching your head, ‘what does he see in her’ or ‘why is she with him’ or ‘why did she leave her husband for another woman’.” It’s mysterious to us because we’re not attracted to the same people. Then some religion comes along and says their god demands monogamy when all the while Nature is calling different people to each other. That’s a mess.”

  “It just seems like it would create a bunch of single-parent kids to me.”

  “A marriage license doesn’t prevent single-parent kids, Ethan. Only commitment and responsible parents prevent that. Committed individuals are much more attracted to each other than irresponsible ones. Once again, Nature, natural selection. It’s not something you want to ignore.”

  “Don’t the gods get jealous of each other?”

  “Of course. Jealousy isn’t something anyone is immune to. But monogamy doesn’t prevent jealousy either. People have to be responsible with their emotions.”

  “I think I’m in culture shock,” Ethan admitted.

  “Dude, try growing up a god surrounded by all of your Human idiocy. Humans make the most moronic decisions for reasons that make no logical sense. Especially in large groups. Have you seen your cities and governments, not to mention your churches?”

  “I’m not going to argue with you on that one.”

  24

  B rad, I’m afraid we have a bit of a problem.”

  Brad didn’t like the sound of Rigel’s tone over the phone. “Oh?”

  “The team we sent into Orlando didn’t return.”

  “I see. That is a problem.” Brad knew exactly the team Rigel was talking about. They were elite; a halfblood death squad. Nothing survived when they showed up. Ever. He also knew the target they’d gone after.

  “It’s becoming much more than a lose end at this point. There’s a real liability here. I need you to take care of it. Personally.”

  “I don’t know that we can.”

  “You’ll have our full global recourses at your disposal.”

  “I don’t believe you heard me.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I’m a businessman, Rigel. I don’t do suicide missions. You gods created your Frankenstein. Now you can deal with him.”

  Rigel heard the line go dead.

  25

  P aige opened her eyes. She could feel there was someone else in the room now. She slipped out of the hammock and found him reclining in his chair, his hat over his eyes.

  “Hey,” she said simply.

  “What?” he said.

  “You know I’ve been up for almost a week.”

  “You want a party?”

  “Where were you?”

  “Rule number one: I’m not your hubby.”

  “Great.” She frowned. “Is there a list of these rules. Maybe I could memorize them for your convenience.”

  “Nope.” He pulled back his hat and sat up in his chair. “I make ‘em as I go along.”

  “Nice.” She deadpanned her sarcasm.

  “How do you feel?” Rowan looked deeply into her eyes.

  “Unbelievable. What are you looking at?”

  “Irises. You’re eyes are gold, sweetheart. Pure. Gold.”

  “I noticed that. Is that good or bad?”

  “It’s bloody lucky is what it is.”

  “I’ll take that as good.”

  “I meant you’re bloody lucky to be awake, let alone awakened. The gold ones usually don’t wake up.”

  “Why?”

  “Their minds don’t handle the change. I’ve had to put down a few of you over the years. That’s never good.” He frowned.

  “So, awakened don’t always—awaken? Maybe you could have told me that before I cut myself.”

  He grinned. “Must have slipped my mind.”

  “Humph.” She sat down with one leg on the edge of his desk. “So who awakened you?”

  “A god, actually. One of the old ones. I was just a lad then. He was livin’ in an old wreck under the desert. He didn’t have much time to live. Only a few years. I helped him get around. Took care of him. Till he passed on.”

  “I’m curious. How did you become an assassin? It’s not exactly something that you just wake up one morning and decide you want to kill people.”

  “True. It was that old wreck, actually. It was mine. Given to me by the old man. The Sentinels wanted to take if from me. One day one of them shows up and starts demanding the keys. I told him to bugger off.”

  “Wasn’t it theirs to begin with?”

  “The hell it was. None of them built it. They just didn’t want anyone havin’ any toys they couldn’t control. A bit by accident actually, but I killed him.”

  Paige nodded but said nothing.

  “Over the years one or two others would show up. But livin’ in the outback teaches you a thing or two about survival. Watching the animals. What they do; what they don’t. I kind of developed my own style of survival.”

  “So you went after them?”

  “Of course I did. I warned ‘em. Leave me alone. Wasn’t harming anyone. Just mining my gold.”

  “You’re a prospector?” she grinned.

  “I was back then. But all the gods were dying out; the Sentinels didn’t have the armies they used to. The Seven began getting bolder. They put Constantine on the throne of Rome using the Church as their proxy. The Knights Templar, their secret army. Plunged the whole bloody world into the Dark Ages to wipe out the Sentinels. They almost succeeded.”

  “Because you joined them?”

  “Ha. Joined. You don’t know me very well. I bloody used the Seven. I didn’t join the Seven until after the Renaissance; I began using their resources to go after the Sentinels. One by one. Probably the biggest damned mistake of my life.”

  “So you quit?”

  “Yea. It’s been a couple of years now. But I quit.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, Paige, at some point you discover who your friends really are. And it wasn’t the Seven or the Sentinels. I quit. Let them bloody kill themselves off now. I’m out of it.”

  “So why were you after Ethan?”

  Rowan breathed a grin. “Paradisus.”

  “Paradisus? What’s that?”

  “An ark—of sorts.”


  “You’re populating an ark?”

  Rowan’s tone grew serious. “I killed enough of the gods to send me to hell for two eternities, Paige. The least I can do is help save them now. Rion and the rest can blow themselves along with the Seven into oblivion for all I care.”

  “But the Seven are after Ethan and Ty now?”

  “Hardly. Ethan’s apartment was a bit of a booby trap it seems. But it wasn’t Ethan they were after.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Seven want me, Paige. I know too much about them; their operations. I’m a loose end that needs to be tied up. They were expecting me to be in that apartment; one ‘lil old halfblood, and a non-empath at that. What they got were two fully awakened psionic newbloods. Oops.” Rowan grinned widely. “That half-breed hit squad didn’t have a prayer of getting’ out of there alive.”

  “So Ethan and Ty? They’re alive?”

  “Oh, bloody hell yes they’re alive. Probably half way through Georgia by now.”

  “Are we going to find them?”

  “Eventually. Ty’s good. He’ll keep them out of trouble. But first, I need to ask you for a favor.”

  “You’re actually asking me?”

  “No, I’m serious. Truth is, Paige, I’m blind as a bat with all of this psionic business. But you, Miss Goldie, you’re a little more than just empathic now. I need a partner. It’s dangerous work. It could get you killed. But I’ll teach you the ropes—my way. You can walk away right now. No hard feelins’.”

  “Sure. And when the Seven find me I’m toast.”

  “You’re the one who wanted out. You’re out.”

  “I know what I signed up for, Rowan. You’ve got yourself a partner.”

  “I was hopin’ you’d say that,” he hopped up out of his creaking chair. “I’ll need your help to send the Seven a message.”

  “What kind of message?”

  Rowan’s brow narrowed and the tone of his voice grew ominous. “One they won’t bloody well forget.”

  26

  I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Ty’s feelings were entwined with Ethan’s as each rode powerful sleek new street bikes down the predawn interstate in full matching modern leather cycle gear.