Guardian

by Unknown

  “It is indeed.”

  “Wow, and I just thought they did it for fashion.”

  Maahes didn’t comment on that. “We need to get going. I have no idea where I’m taking you, but it doesn’t seem wise to stand out here in the open when we have preternatural trackers trying to find us.”

  He made a really good point. “Where are going?” she asked.

  Seth shrugged. “As long as it’s not Azmodea, I don’t care.”

  In that moment, she felt completely lost. She really had no place to go. Home was out of the question. Solin was MIA.

  All she had were the two men with her.

  “Hey now,” Maahes said. “Don’t be making that face. Okay? You start crying, I start crying, and I look like a total freak when I cry. Nothing worse than a big-ass man blubbering like a baby. Totally kills my chances with the women. You know?”

  “I wasn’t going to cry. But it was sweet of you to be concerned.”

  “No problem.”

  Seth scowled at the easy way they conversed with each other. Especially since they’d only just met. Worse was the jealousy inside him that wanted to punch Maahes straight in his arrogant jaw.

  “Well,” Maahes said finally. “I guess the best place would be mine. It’s isolated and should be safe should something scary go down.”

  Lydia couldn’t think of anything better. “It sounds perfect.”

  As they started to leave, she realized Seth had wandered off again.

  This time, he was at the wall, looking at the parked cars lined along the curb. Smiling, she went to wrangle him.

  As soon as she reached him, a car went flying by. Eyes wide, Seth jumped about ten feet.

  She put her arm out to settle him. “It’s okay, Seth.”

  “What was that thing?”

  She answered him with a question of her own. “Didn’t you see a car online?”

  “No.”

  Maahes made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “This is going to get annoying fast if he freaks every time he sees something he’s not used to.”

  Curling his lip, Seth started to attack. But Maahes caught him with what appeared to be a Vulcan death grip and pulled him into his arms.

  Seth froze instantly.

  After a few seconds, Maahes released him.

  Staggering a bit, Seth pressed his hand to his forehead as if he was dizzy. He curled his lip at Maahes. “What did you do to me?”

  “Brought you up to date. I don’t want you pissing in a sink or doing anything else to draw attention to us. We need to blend in and not look like refugees from a badly written time travel movie.”

  Seth still felt sick to his stomach, but he now had a whole new vocabulary and an understanding about the world he was in. For that, he could almost thank the bastard.

  Almost. He still really wanted to slug Maahes, though.

  Lydia reached up and laid her hand on his cheek. The moment she did, he completely forgot about his need to put his foot in an uncomfortable place on Maahes’s body. “Hey.”

  Seth looked down at her.

  “We’ll get through this. Trust me.”

  “I do trust you.” And he did. But then he cut a glare to Maahes. “That son of a bitch is another story. I don’t trust anyone who serves a god, and especially not one whose most celebrated epithet was Lord of the Massacre.”

  She widened her eyes at that. Her face pale, she met Maahes’s smug look. “Is that true?”

  “It is.”

  “Do I want to know why they call you that?”

  Seth answered for him. “He’s the hand of retribution. Ma’at’s personal slayer for anyone she wants punished.”

  It didn’t have the effect on her that he’d hoped for. Instead of being angry at his enemy, she was rational with him.

  Seth hated rational.

  “So he’s kind of like you, then. I would think you two would get along.”

  The taunting smirk on Maahes’s face was definitely not helping his mood. “I’m also the one invoked by the innocent to protect them.”

  Lydia sucked her breath in as Seth’s eyes darkened in a way that let her know Maahes was about to bleed.

  When he spoke, his tone was deadly calm and razor sharp. “But only when it suits you.”

  There was so much buried rage in those words that it made the hair on her arms stand up. When Seth had been wounded and in pain, he’d been scary.

  Whole, even without his powers …

  He gave the full god in front of him a run for his money and Maahes knew it.

  The cocky went straight out of Maahes as he caught Seth’s meaning. “Are you saying you called for me and I ignored you?”

  Seth didn’t answer.

  Instead, he brushed past him, driving his shoulder in to Maahes’s and headed for the street.

  Maahes frowned at her. “What didn’t he tell me just now?”

  Lydia sighed as part of her wished she was still as ignorant about Seth’s past as he was. “When he was a small child, his mother,” she choked on using that title for the bitch, “took him into the desert, broke his legs, and left him there to die. From what I’ve heard, I’m pretty sure he called on all of you to help him and not one of you could be bothered.”

  Horror played across his face as he thought through what she told him. “Why did she do something like that?”

  “Set thought he was pathetic and worthless. He insulted the mother for bearing him, and most of all for giving Seth his name.”

  Maahes cursed. “So she took him into the heart of Set’s domain to die in front of him. No wonder we didn’t know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Instead, he ran after Seth and pulled him to a stop. “Before you continue to hate us, let me explain something. Set was the god of the desert. That was his domain, not ours. We were never allowed to venture there unless he invited us. He would violently attack any god who dared to encroach on his territory and need I remind you what he did to Osiris and Horus? Your mother took you into the desert not just to hurt you in front of your father, but to keep us from finding out about it. Because I can promise you that had any of us learned of her cruelty, we’d have killed the bitch for it.”

  Seth fell silent as he digested those words. Honestly, he’d never expected an apology from any member of his family. As a rule, the gods never admitted to any kind of fault.

  Now both Ma’at and Maahes had offered him one.

  But in the end …

  “It changes nothing.”

  Maahes nodded. “You’re right. It doesn’t change whatever happened to you, and that is a tragedy. However, it should comfort you to know that we would have helped you had we known.”

  Oh yeah, that was great comfort to him. Especially given how many times he’d called them, for what was it again…?

  Forty-five hundred years? Oh wait, he hadn’t called for them quite that long. He’d probably given up after a thousand or so years of them ignoring him.

  He sneered at Maahes. “You offer me empty words that mean nothing. It’s easy to say what you would have done, if only. But neither of us really knows what action you’d have taken. Believe me, the one thing I’ve learned about the gods is how fickle all of you are. Praising a person one moment, and then damning them in the next. So don’t try to alleviate your guilt by offering me what you think will make me feel better. I want nothing from any of you except to be left alone.” Seth turned and continued down the street.

  Lydia patted Maahes on the shoulder. “I know how you feel. He’s kicked me like that, too.”

  “Yeah, but you probably didn’t deserve it.”

  “And neither did he deserve what was done to him. Unlike you, I’ve seen the horror of his existence. He’s entitled to his hatred.”

  “Then I will stay behind you two and try not to offend him with my presence.”

  Lydia started to respond, until she realized that Seth had stopped on the sidewalk about a
block from them.

  That wasn’t what concerned her.

  Rather it was the tall, skinny puta pawing at him that made her blood boil. Her vision turned dark as she quickly closed the distance between them. Why wasn’t Seth sending her away? Look at her, Lydia. She’s gorgeous. Which only made her ache all the more.

  The blonde ran her tongue around her index finger while she looked up at Seth from beneath her long, over-mascaraed eyelashes, then bit and sucked it in a suggestive manner. She continued to run it around her lips as she spoke. “So you’re visiting, huh? How long will you be here and where are you staying?”

  Lydia wrapped her arms around his and glared at the woman. “He’s staying with me. Right, pookie?”

  Seth wasn’t sure what to say. Lydia’s voice was sweet and at the same time brittle … like her eyes as she stared up at him. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he had a bad feeling he was in trouble for it.

  Lydia turned her gaze back to the woman who’d stopped to ask him directions. “Now if you don’t mind, we’re late for a meeting with his ‘special’ doctor. We have to make sure he doesn’t run out of cream for his genital rash. After all, it’s highly contagious, and burns like crazy when left untreated.”

  The blonde rushed off.

  Seth kept opening and closing his mouth as he mentally ran through what she’d just done. He was stunned, appalled, and at the same time, oddly amused. And he had no idea which emotion was strongest.

  Had she really just said that about him? To a perfect stranger?

  Why?

  Lydia snarled as she moved away from him. “You are such a man!”

  He wouldn’t have thought that was a particularly bad thing, except for the tone of her voice, which said it was. “What did I do?”

  She raked him with a glare. “Chasing after the first piece of skank you see? Really?”

  Thanks to Maahes, he understood the words. But her fury left him completely lost. “Why are you angry at me?”

  “Why do you think?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. You all but drooled on her.”

  “At no time did I drool.” His mouth was completely dry and had been the whole time he conversed with the woman.

  “Your eyes drooled. I saw them.”

  He was totally perplexed by this argument. Was he not allowed to speak to anyone? “I’m wearing dark sunglasses. How can you see my eyes?”

  “She’s jealous, Seth.”

  He looked at Maahes for an explanation. “Why?”

  Lydia broke off into her hand gestures.

  “Are you yelling at me, now?”

  Maahes laughed. “Oh yeah, kid. She’s calling you a lot of names.”

  That surprised him. “You understand her?”

  Maahes gestured back at Lydia in the same language.

  For some reason, it angered and hurt him that they’d cut him out of the conversation. “Are you mocking me?”

  Lydia flicked her nails at him, then turned and stormed off.

  Seth had no idea what he should do. He didn’t understand human emotions or relations. Not really. It’d been too long since he had any.

  Maahes let out a heavy sigh. “You hurt her feelings, boy. You need to go apologize.”

  “How did I hurt them?”

  “Think about it, Seth. She risked her life to bring you here, to save you from hell, and what do you do the first minute she leaves you alone? You let another woman flirt with you.”

  That was flirting? Really?

  He’d thought the woman attractive, but she was nothing compared to Lydia. She hadn’t made his blood race or given him thoughts of her draped over his body.

  Only Lydia did that. She was the only woman he was willing to bleed for. How could she not know that?

  Seth ran to catch up with her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did. She asked me for directions, and I told her I couldn’t help her. That’s all that happened.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Then why are you mad at me?”

  Lydia didn’t have a rational explanation. She knew she was overreacting and behaving badly. Yet …

  “I don’t know, okay? I just know it hurts inside.”

  His features tortured, he cupped her face in his hands. “You are the one person I would never hurt.”

  Lydia went to kiss him, but he snapped his head back before she could touch his lips with hers. His rejection cut her so deep, it felt like her soul was bleeding. “I don’t understand you, Seth.”

  And the sad truth was, she wasn’t sure if she ever would. Her heart aching, she walked back to where Maahes waited for them.

  Seth sighed as he tried to understand what had just happened. You should have let her kiss you.

  But he liked the fact that, for the first time since he was a boy, his lips didn’t hurt or sting or bleed.

  Idiot. Women liked it. He knew that. He wasn’t sure what pleasure they got from biting him so hard, but …

  I suck at this world, too. And in that moment, he realized the sad truth he’d never wanted to face.

  He didn’t belong anywhere. Especially not in this world.

  It was just as well. She wasn’t his anyway. She could never be his.

  Once his powers returned, he’d leave her and go …

  He had no idea. There was no home for him here. No one to call friend. Suddenly this world was even more terrifying to him than Azmodea.

  Why are you panicking? Either there or here, the results are the same.

  He’d be alone. At least here, he wouldn’t have to worry about Azura and Noir.

  But as he went back to where Lydia stood and she refused to look at him, he discovered a pain even worse than their torture.

  Seeing the hurt in her eyes and knowing he was the one who’d given it to her.

  * * *

  Solin slammed his hand against the clear door, knowing it was useless, but unable to stand in here and do nothing.

  Madoc paced behind him. “You’re not accomplishing anything.”

  “It makes me feel better and it keeps me from beating the shit out of you. So you ought to be grateful that I’m banging on it and not your head.”

  “Whatever.”

  Ignoring him, Solin looked around at the small group that was caged with him. In addition to Madoc were Deimos, Phobos, Zeth, and Delphine. It seemed as if they’d been locked in this pit for days.

  Like him and Madoc, Zeth had black hair and blue eyes. Phobos and Deimos were twins and, until they were locked in here, were the leaders of the Dolophoni who were now in pursuit of Lydia.

  Delphine was one of the rare Dream-Hunters who had blond hair. “We need to figure out who betrayed us,” she repeated for the millionth time.

  Solin growled. “We’ve been over it and over it again. I don’t care about your traitor. What we need to find is a way out of here. Preferably before they kill Lydia.”

  But at least he took comfort in knowing none of the people in this room had betrayed him. Hence why they were his jail buddies.

  But who had? What god would be so stupid?

  Deimos patted him on the back. “We’ll get to her in time.”

  “What if we don’t?” Solin couldn’t bear the pain of the thought of losing her. She was everything in his world. “The Guardian said he’d kill her today if I didn’t get back to him.”

  Phobos, who was sitting on the floor with his head on his legs, looked up. “Maybe he’ll suck you back to Azmodea and then you can locate her.”

  “Yeah,” Deimos agreed. “How did he nab you last time?”

  “Through my dreams. He sent a lure in to trap me.”

  Deimos cursed. So long as they were imprisoned here, none of them had any powers. Not even the ability to travel in dreams.

  They were totally screwed.

  “Look on the bright side,” Phobos said with a cocky grin as he cut his gaze to Delphine. “Sooner probably than later, Jer
icho will notice his wife’s not around and he’ll find us and kick the door down.”

  “He’s right. My baby won’t play.”

  Yeah and as the son of Warcraft and Hate, Jericho was a formidable god.

  Still, Solin had looked into the painted face of hell and seen what it was capable of.

  And right now, that beast had his daughter, and he had no idea what the Guardian was doing to her.

  Hold on, baby. I’ll get to you. I swear it.

  Solin only hoped that his enemies didn’t kill him first.

  CHAPTER 16

  Lydia stood in her newly adopted bedroom in Maahes’s impressive home, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at one of the most beautiful views in the world. When he’d said his house was isolated, he hadn’t been joking.

  What he’d failed to mention was that his home was in the middle of an island he owned. She’d always loved looking out at the sea, but this …

  Wow. It reminded her a lot of Solin’s home in Greece. She’d be hard-pressed to decide between them as to who had the better view.

  And she would have enjoyed it a lot more if she wasn’t still angry at Seth.

  Bastard.

  Was she really so repugnant that he couldn’t even kiss her? She didn’t know why she was so fixated on that, but it had stomped her hard in an ego that had never been all that much to begin with. She knew she wasn’t the prettiest of women. That her overly large eyes were a freakish color. One of her past boyfriends had even made the comment that he’d broken up with her because she reminded him of a troll doll with its big spooky eyes … Something that gave him the willies.

  She wanted to kill Seth for bringing back all of this pain that she usually kept buried.

  I’m not your yo-yo, buddy. She was tired of trying to guess his moods, which never made any logical sense to anyone but him.

  Gah, how frustrating could one man be?

  And what the hell was the thumping in his room? It’d been going on for the last few minutes, to the point that she was ready to go beat him with her shoes. Wasn’t it bad enough he hurt her feelings? Was he now trying to make her insane?

  But as she stood there, contemplating his murder, a weird sensation tickled the back of her mind.

  Something’s not right.

  She couldn’t explain it, but she had an overwhelming need to get to him and make sure nothing was wrong.