Solis: Modern Descendants

by elda lore

  “She’ll never let you pass.” A nod in the direction of the tire trail forced me to look at the dark grove. A shimmery cloud moved in opposition to the fog surrounding it. The wobbling movement hinted at something other than an olive tree behind the heavy shadow.

  “Who?” I asked, still focused on the mirage of fog before me.

  “Mel. She knew you’d follow him. He has that appeal, attraction. Once you feel his warmth, you crave more of the heat.”

  I grimaced at the comparison and hint of experience so many had found in Solis.

  “She forced the protection. She’s keeping you out.”

  “Is there no way in?” The plea in my voice surprised me. “He’ll think I didn’t show. He’ll think I didn’t follow him.” The thought saddened me, even more than I realized. Liquid filled my eyes and I blinked to clear the haze.

  “Tell me you love him.”

  I didn’t want to tell this girl before I told Solis, but I blurted my affirmation. “I do.”

  A sad smile graced her porcelain face. “The first moment he looked at you, I knew you were the one he’d waited for. The one that kept him hesitant. The one that allowed him to play but not commit. Only you,” she smiled larger, without pleasure, but imposing no fear. “Only you could make him shine the way he deserved.” She held out a hand, but I didn’t trust taking the offer.

  “I can take you to him.”

  “How? Why?”

  “Because I saw you in that mirror. I saw me in that mirror. The image of someone who wanted to hate him, but couldn’t. The image of someone afraid to love him, but could. You would give to him what he deserved.” A strangeness came over me as I reached out for her hand. I didn’t trust the process, but I needed to have faith in her. Faith that she would guide me to him. Time cut closer to midnight and I didn’t want to be late.

  “You can lift the cloud.”

  “I can?”

  “Think of it. Imagine it.”

  I closed my eyes. My teeth clenched and I imagined my hands against the hazy shadow. I felt the force of pressing forward, exerting the effort to push away a seemingly airy presence that appeared solid and unmovable. Sweat dripped off my temple. It wasn’t working, and I broke the concentration. The process seemed silly to me.

  “Veva, try lifting it with your mind. Don’t strain. This isn’t physical. Relax. Concentrate. Think of something pleasant and warm that could burn away a cloud.” I hadn’t realized I’d been tightly squeezing the hand of Ionia. Releasing her delicate fingers, I exhaled, letting my shoulders fall. I closed my eyes again, imagining heat, warmth, and sunshine. I envisioned the sun rising, pressing the cloud upward, breaking it into water crystals, dissolving it into air like particles of sparkling dust. Thoughts of the sun drew images of Solis, and I pictured him walking out of the sunshine, rays of light radiating from behind him as he brushed through the cloud, separating the fog, expelling it with his brightness.

  When I opened my eyes, the winding drive to the estate lay before me. Up on a hill, twinkling lights lit the way to the house. I was afraid to look back, afraid the welcoming home would disappear. It would be faster to drive the distance. Returning to my car was a thought, but I feared I’d be outside the barrier, if I crossed into the street. I turned to my side and found Ionia missing.

  “Ionia,” I called, spinning left then right. The girl had disappeared. Without hesitation, I glanced behind me. My car remained running in the road, but an awareness that I stood within something unknown, something protected, warned me not to risk retrieving my Jetta. My final trek to Solis would have to be on foot. Without a phone, I didn’t know the time, and I could only pray I wasn’t too late as I began the hike up the darkened path ahead.

  SOLIS

  “Where is she?” I barked, staring into the empty vehicle. The driver door stood open and the lights within the car projected into the vacant space. Headlights beamed forward, but there was no trace of Veva. I shook with rage, and a clap of thunder smacked the sky.

  “If anything has happened to her, I’ll rock the heavens,” I warned as two minions of my father circled the vehicle. Heph paced a few feet forward, breaking the stream of the headlights.

  “I don’t see footprints. It’s like she vanished.”

  My heart dropped like a leaden weight to the earth. Other organs pummeled downward as well, including my lungs, which could not contract enough air. My skin prickled with dread.

  “She couldn’t have vanished. Search for her.” I snapped the command and a crack of lightning lit the sky from within the olive grove. I walked behind the car after closing the driver door. Twirling the keys in my hand, I spoke to Veva in my head.

  Where did you fly off to, Peacock? Yet another thought came to me. Why did you follow me here, love? Snorting and huffing, Thunder stood centurion near the open gate. The entrance hadn’t been used since Persephone and Veva’s exit for school a few weeks prior. How she found it under the protective ward of Zeke was beyond me, but my girl was observant. I could only hope she was resourceful.

  Rain broke the heavens as I mounted Thunder, urging him up the drive. Focused on reaching the main house, I didn’t notice the pelts of cold rain jabbing at me like small daggers. Fire fueled my blood and steam rose off exposed skin as each crystal of ice stabbed my heated skin. A sudden crackle of lightning rippled through the sky, and I recognized the energy. Zeke had forced this storm. Although it matched my temper, Olympic Oils stirred with more than just my battle.

  VEVA

  My scream strangled under the firm hold of a hand at my mouth. Dragged by my hair, I collapsed into the mud, scrambling under my feet for solid earth. My hand clasped a small wrist whose fingers were woven tightly in the tendrils firmly secured on my scalp. Although the palm covering my lips held tight, the distinctly feminine scent alerted me to my captor.

  Mel.

  My head screamed for her to release me, but my smothered protests were in vain. The darkness of night and the imposing storm hid any effort for sight or sound.

  “Give in, you heavy cow,” she scolded behind me.

  It was only hair, I decided in that moment, and spun under the hold. My head rammed into her lower stomach with force, but tears filled my own eyes at the pain of tearing skin at my scalp. The battering of my head against her caused her to release me, and I stood to face a bent-over Mel, soaked through like the drowning rat she was. My palm made contact with her cheek, and the resounding echo of thunder heightened the intensity of the moment. She stood to face me.

  “How dare you?” she screeched, cupping her cheek.

  “How dare you?” I snarled in return. “Will you stop at nothing to get what you can’t ever have?”

  “He loved me.” Her rage matched the torrential rain, and the wind was picking up its rabid pace.

  “He loves me!” My fiery tone soared into the air, steam following the heavy exhale of my voice.

  “You aren’t one of us.”

  “I never want to be. I only want to be me, and that seems good enough for him.”

  Never had I felt so defensive of myself. Never had I felt empowered that my words rang true. It could all be a lie, but I believed in what I thrust at her in my anger. Solis wanted me, and I wanted him.

  “You have his father,” I added, clarifying her status with Zeke.

  “He’ll never be the same as the son.”

  I could imagine this was true. Solis was a Greek god in stature compared to the toned, but aged, body of his father. Solis also didn’t thrive on power like Zeke, nor did he procreate excessively to prove his own worth. Solis would never be his father. We would never be our parents, as he promised me.

  I motioned to step around her, but she blocked my path. Stepping right, she stopped me again. The only way around Mel appeared to be through her. The fiery energy that hadn’t crawled under my skin in weeks prickled and crept through me, fueling my anger. I’d never been a violent person, despite my angry disposition, but Mel fueled my wrath.

 
; “Veva.” A thunderous sound stalled my balled fist from lashing out at my target.

  “Zeke?” Mel muttered, in a faltering voice.

  “We’ve been searching everywhere for you. What are you doing in the rain?” His voice came behind me, but his visual of Mel could not be obstructed. “Mel?”

  Her face froze for a moment before curling into the falsest smile I’d ever seen. Her eyes hollowed, but her teeth bared as her lips spread, and she answered through clenched teeth.

  “I was escorting Veva to the house.”

  The silence following Mel’s lie was more deafening than the claps of thunder crashing in the sky. A bolt of lightning struck feet from our sides, and my scream pierced the surrounding trees, drowned out by the brightness of the energy crackling upward.

  “Mel, I think we need to get both of you to the house.” A large arm came around my waist, providing protection, while a thick hand reached forward for Mel’s. Mel swiped at the offering.

  “You always choose her side.” Mel’s tone clawed through the air. A menacing scraping sound lingered, sending a wisp of breath to float in the cold air.

  “I’m not taking any side. I just want to get my girls inside.”

  “I’m not…” I started, but Mel interrupted me. “She’s not your girl. She’s his.” The venom in her tone grew bitter. Poison filled the air around us.

  “I meant it figuratively. I protect my own.”

  “You only protect her. Her and her silly blonde friend.” Mel mocked.

  “I think we need to get inside. Warm you up, and we can chat.”

  “I don’t want to chat. I’m tired of your talk. You promised me things. You told me you’d show me. You’d give your power to me.” Mel stomped her foot like an errant child.

  “Mel, I’ve already told you, I can’t share with you.”

  “Solis did.”

  Collectively, my breath and Zeke’s hitched. My mind raced instantly with questions. Had Solis shown Mel his back? Had he told her what he could do? Cursing my ignorance, I scolded myself: of course he had. He slept with her, too. I weakened under Zeke’s hold. My knees gave out a little and I crumbled, but his tight embrace held me upward.

  “And when exactly did my son show off his strength to you?”

  “At the Olympiad. He tossed the bolt. Nothing happened to me.”

  I recalled watching in horror and wonder as Solis tore the bolt from his back, tossed it through the air with expertise, and then stalked toward me like he planned to own every inch of me. He jostled me away from his brother, Leos, with less finesse, and we ended up in the shower by the pool house. I nearly smiled at the memory.

  “My son is different. His power is still growing. If I share what I have with you, it will destroy you. I care too much about you to see that happen.”

  “Care about me? You care about me? How pathetic a response! How funny, when in bed, you love me.”

  I did not want to hear this, I screamed in my head. Another strike of lightning inched closer to where we stood, protected only by a small line of cypress evergreens.

  “Maybe we could take this inside?” I shouted over the rain and the threat of more thunder. The rumbles raced within seconds of each other.

  “Maybe you should shut up,” Mel snapped, glaring at me.

  “Maybe you should disappear.” A booming familiar voice spoke, and my heart leapt, but a bolt of lightning struck so close it cracked the earth between Mel and me. Clumps of dirt sprang upward as the light chased the current to the sky. Instantly, I closed my eyes and turned into Zeke. The heat from the bolt toasted my skin, sizzling me dry from the cold, pelting rain. Within seconds, the light passed, the warmth seeped away, and I shook uncontrollably. Mel was gone, and in her place stood Solis.

  SOLIS

  Seeing Veva curled into my father nearly crushed me, but the insults Mel flung at Veva broke me. I’d had enough of her whining, her power climbing, and her conniving ways. Exposing Mel to my lightning bolt was dangerous for Veva. If she didn’t possess a trace of goddess in her, the bolt could blind her, or disintegrate her with its energy. How I knew it wouldn’t happen was when she touched me in the shower by the pool house. The current lingered, and Veva’s loving kisses and tender massage would have drawn sparks of residual energy to her, if she didn’t have a history buried inside her, waiting to be released, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be exposed, by me.

  “Veva?” My tone pleaded with her to look at me. Her head buried into my father’s side concerned me. Perhaps the bolt had been too much, too close. Had I blinded her, in my anger?

  Slowly, her head rose, and she drew back from Zeke. He muttered something to her and kissed her forehead. Releasing his arm from around her waist, she spun to face me. She blinked repeatedly, as if ridding the light from her eyes.

  “Solis?” Her voice choked. Her body trembled. I didn’t think she’d make the distance across the grass to me. I stepped forward, and she took a step toward me at the same time. With another step, she leapt for me, and I caught her around the waist, her face buried in my neck as her legs wrapped around my hips. Her quaking body shook against mine.

  “Shh, Veva. I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.” My hands caressed up and down her back for a moment.

  “I’m late,” she muttered into my neck.

  “You’re here.” I kissed her hair. “And that’s all that matters.”

  Her legs dropped, and I scooped her up, cradling her against my chest. Her cheek hadn’t left my neck.

  “Tell me you’re real,” she mumbled before kissing me under my ear. “Tell me I’m not imagining everything.”

  “I have no idea what you’ve seen, but I’m very real. You’re really in my arms, and I’m about to prove how real the rest of me is.” I didn’t release her as I strutted through the main foyer, over the tiled sun, and straight out the backdoor. I circled the pool and broke a new path to my cottage. I didn’t stop to set her down but walked us into the shower. Still holding her against me, I fumbled with the dials, releasing a new rain shower, this one warm and inviting.

  Placing her feet on the tile floor, her body shook as the heated spray covered her clothed body.

  “We need to get you out of these cold clothes.”

  She nodded numbly, her teeth chattering. I worried she’d suffered shock like she had before. She would unravel before me, and run for the hills, cursing her return. Which reminded me that Veva had found her way here.

  “How did you get here?”

  “Photographic memory,” she stuttered as the chill seeped out of her and the steam rose around us. I worked with shaky fingers, unbuttoning her transparent blouse. The tremble came from nerves. I’d already told myself I’d do nothing with her, but warm her, hold her, but as her skin pinked and her shivers subsided, a new energy sputtered to life between us.

  “Why were you here?”

  “You were here,” her voice trembled, and I slipped the wet shirt over her head. Her arms crossed instinctively, attempting to cover her saturated bra, but my fingers at her wrist lowered her shield. I’d already seen what peeked through the wet material. I’d already tasted the heat of her skin and the spark of those nipples. My dick leapt to life. My heart thudded in my chest.

  “You followed me?” My voice shook, the words falling low, rasping from my lips.

  “I followed you. Will you follow me?”

  “Wherever you go, Veva. I will follow you.”

  “Can you follow my lips?” A tiny smile curled her mouth. She pecked at my chest. Then I bent at the knees and kissed over her racing heart. My fingers fumbled with the button at her waist.

  Her mouth covered my right nipple, and she sucked at it, lingering to ripen the peak.

  I bent forward at the waist to meet her right nipple and nip at the point protruding through the wet, silky material.

  “You have too much clothing on for me to follow you properly.”

  “Take it off of me.” Her gentle command snapped tenderly, and
I followed her demand. Slipping the wet covering over her, my breath caught at the sight.

  “Veva,” I growled. “You’re so stunning.” I corrected my attempt to follow her lead and sucked at her right breast. The nipple drew tight in my warm mouth, and my tongue flicked over the hardened nub. My fingers multitasked as they worked the zipper of her jeans. I pulled back, awaiting another command.

  She dropped to her knees and slipped down my jeans in one motion. She didn’t even respond to the lack of underwear, but licked at the tip of my length. Her mouth opened, and drew me in, and my knees nearly buckled. My hands reached for the tile wall, bracing me as her lips assaulted me in the most heavenly way. I bucked as she took me deep. Within moments, I was too close. While I’d dreamed of this type of release from her, I had other plans first. I lifted her to stand.

  “I wasn’t finished,” she snarled, no sting to her words.

  “I’m not either.” Falling to my own knees, I removed her jeans and underwear in one swift tug. She stepped out of the heavy, wet denim and stood before me in all her glory.

  “I love you, Veva.” I praised her. Without waiting for a response, I worshipped her, feasting at her core. Her back fell against the tile as I knelt at my favorite altar and offered up tongue and lips and fingers.

  “Solis, I’m going to fall.” Her breath caught as her hips rocked subtly with my homage.

  “Never,” I muttered. I’d never let her fall, only fly. The intensity of that promise increased, and she sang out my name in response to my offering.

  The shower stall wasn’t enough. I needed more of her. Turning off the warm spray, I wrapped her in a lush towel and walked her out of the small bathroom.

  “You have a bed?” She hadn’t seen the new addition to the cottage when I carried her in.

  “Space for a queen,” I said, sweeping my hand forward. The queen-sized, four poster bed was dressed in silvery grays with dashes of bright orange, fluorescent yellow and my favorite shades of blue in the dozens of pillows at the headboard.