Kala let Asmodeus tuck the hair back behind her ear. “You’re right. It hurts all supernatural beings.”
“Even Titans?” Kala cooed.
Asmodeus leaned in close so that their lips were inches from each other.
If Kala wasn’t in interrogation mode, she would have been tempted to have rebound sex with Asmodeus. Talk about no strings attached. At least for her. And the chemistry she was feeling between them was intoxicating. She could almost feel his lips on hers.
Asmodeus’s voice was almost a whisper, “Yes, even Titans. It’s why they kept the blades under lock and key after the Grigori and Olympians were disposed of. But it doesn’t strip them of their power like it does for Grigori. It only makes them weaker.”
Though the tension was palpable, this new information brought Kala out of the lust fest she almost dove into. She now had a weapon that she could use against all her enemies. And, hey, a knife worked on human enemies as well.
Kala pulled away from Asmodeus, more to clear her head, than anything else. “All right, let’s get back to…earth.” That sounded weird. Those weren’t words she ever expected to come out of her mouth.
Asmodeus was still half-leaning down for the kiss he expected. It was as if Kala pulling away was particularly torturous for him. “Right.” He surveyed the metal room with seeming understanding. “You want to go somewhere more comfortable.”
“You keep believing that.” Kala turned on the coldness that had propelled her into many fistfights with grown men.
But Asmodeus was different. His face showed that he kind of liked Kala’s refusals. It had become a game to him. A game that he apparently was enjoying thoroughly.
“As you wish.” He bowed. Asmodeus gently reached out and touched Kala’s arm.
Nothing happened.
Asmodeus was just as confused as Kala.
He touched her again.
Nothing.
“Uh, oh.” Asmodeus cringed.
Kala’s scenery warped and swirled until she stood in the same throne room that had been in Atlas’s memory, but this time only one Titan was in the room.
Sitting on the throne with an expression of rage was Cronus.
Chapter Twelve
“Hey.” Kala lamely nodded her head in greeting.
The room was much bigger to Kala in person. Though her Atlas memories felt as vivid as if she were experiencing them in person, for some reason actually being in the same location live felt different. It was almost as if her surroundings were extra sharp.
It was difficult to imagine fighting Cronus, since, of course, that was what Kala was trying to figure out. She had the Grigori blade tucked safely in her jacket. Knowing that it could hurt the Titan was enough for her; it was simply about how to land a hit.
Cronus’s voice rumbled as he spoke. “How dare you enter my realm.”
“Neat trick with the voice. Is that supposed to intimidate me or something?” It absolutely did intimidate Kala, but she wouldn’t let Cronus know that. Keep him off guard. It was the only way she could see of having a remote chance to escape.
“It should intimidate you because I could crush you with a mere thought,” Cronus bellowed.
Kala was an excellent poker player: she knew a bluff when she saw one. “If that were true, I’d be dead already. So why don’t we get to the point. What do you want from me?” Kala hoped the terror that she felt inside didn’t show. Unlike Cronus, bluffing was one of her strong suits so she crossed her fingers that he was buying it. And if she could garner information out of the guy, then hey, bonus.
Cronus studied Kala. She knew that look. She had certainly seen it enough when people couldn’t figure her out: surprise. She puzzled the Titan. “I see Atlas inside of you, but you are nothing like him.” He may have been thrown off by Kala’s responses, but his face was still etched with fury. Cronus didn’t like being caught off guard any more than he liked intruders. She was the enemy and he was weighing his options. Kala just hoped he didn’t pick the crush her option.
“I may have devoured your little Titan nephew or whatever, but I’m still me. And Atlas was a douche,” Kala responded defensively. Sure the superpowers were awesome, but having memories that made her feel like a total wimp were devastating.
“I’m not sure what a douche is, but it seems to describe Atlas accurately.” Cronus sat back on his throne, his eyes full of rage. “You are a conundrum.”
“Is that good or bad?” Kala tried to gauge if Cronus was preparing to hurt her or not.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he mused, his voice laced with anger.
“I vote for good.” Kala eyed her surroundings, waiting for anything Cronus might throw at her.
Cronus stared at Kala, his eyes fuming. Maybe he always looked like that. Either way, it made Kala nervous. She felt like a very tiny mouse near the maw of a very large cat. “Atlas’s blood runs in your veins. I can smell it.”
Rub it in.
“That’s what happens when you swallow a god, I guess,” Kala answered sarcastically. “Why did you bring me here?”
“How did you consume him?” Cronus leaned forward, examining Kala as if she were a lab rat. “HOW?!”
The room shook violently.
Kala stumbled but kept her footing. She tried not to sweat. This was way out of her comfort zone. What she wouldn’t give for a sniper rifle and target. Kala had thought her life was hard then. Looking back, that was just child’s play.
“I’ll never tell you.” Probably because Kala had no idea how she ate the Titan, but she wasn’t about to tell Cronus that. I don’t know never sounded as good at I’ll never tell.
Cronus leapt out of his chair and in one swipe of his arm, Kala flew through the air, her body smacking a nearby pillar.
Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. All her limbs were still intact despite the crater her body had just created. But Kala knew how to fight better than anyone. And this was just a very odd fistfight.
Kala pretended to be knocked out from the blow. The way she situated her body was strategic. Her legs were bent for an easy stand-and-run while her hand rested on the hilt of the Grigori blade.
“Your human form makes you pathetic,” Cronus crowed, overconfident.
Exactly what Kala needed him to be.
Kala heard, then felt, Cronus walking up to her still form.
A slight nudging of her body from Cronus’s foot told her that he bought her unconsciousness act.
The Titan leaned down and Kala felt his hand as Cronus turned her head to examine her face.
Right where she wanted him.
Here goes nothing.
Kala flipped her body and thrust the knife hard into Cronus’s gut.
The Titan screamed in anguish, reeling back from shock as Kala twisted the Grigori blade for added damage.
Kala knew she had to act fast. Her momentum would be gone in milliseconds. Pulling out the Grigori knife, Kala slid across the floor and slashed Cronus’s Achilles tendon on his left foot as she went.
Cronus howled in rage.
He was so much faster than Kala could have imagined.
Cronus’s hand was around her neck before Kala could make her next move. He tossed her like a rag doll clear across the giant hall. Remembering how graceful Asmodeus had been when Kala threw him, Kala tried to land with some kind of decorum.
Nope.
She was all limbs as she smashed into the marble wall. Another crater.
Cronus was on her fast. He lifted her up by her hair this time and crashed her down on the floor.
It shocked Kala that she was still alive. Not only alive, but only slightly beat up. The Atlas part of her could apparently take quite a beating. The human part of her wanted to demolish the Titan.
She started to understand why everyone hated Cronus.
He appeared to have healed completely from the wounds Kala inflicted. She knew she had been reaching, but she had to try.
As Cronus made her
fly across the room again, Kala had enough sense to survey the chamber at startling speeds. She looked for an exit. Kala had no idea how to get out of the 5th Level of Hell, but she was a resourceful girl. She’d find a way. As her body collided with Cronus’s throne, she saw the entrance at the other end of the hall.
Wracking her brain for Atlas’s memories of this place, she suddenly recalled that there was a room outside this chamber than led to Iapetus’s chambers. Kala knew Atlas’s relationship with his father was strained, but she was technically Atlas now, so maybe she could make amends enough to ask Iapetus to teleport her back down to earth.
It was all she had.
Desperate, but Kala had to try.
Cronus charged.
This time Kala used a simple Aikido move on him. Using the momentum of his advance, Kala leaned in, blocked his grasping hand with her arm, and used his own force to throw him into a pillar.
Where Kala’s body had left a small dent, Cronus’s snapped it in two.
He was utterly surprised at the blow.
When Kala rushed him, she suddenly found she couldn’t move.
“That’s enough.” Cronus dusted himself off as he stood.
No matter how hard she tried to break free, she wasn’t budging.
“Afraid of a fight?” Kala couldn’t stop herself from taunting even if she wanted to. “You have to use some kind of spell to stop me? You’re a bigger ‘fraidy cat than I thought.” Kala laughed. “Hiding in the 5th? Afraid of Grigori? Afraid of everyone! You’re the pathetic one!”
Cronus was all fire.
He stood in front of Kala. Ten feet of raging fury.
“I’m afraid of nothing,” Cronus roared.
“Sure, buddy, and I have some swamp land in Florida I can sell you.” Kala rolled her eyes.
Chances were the Florida joke went way over his head, but he must have surmised the meaning because he spat, “I could never be afraid of a puny Titan like you. You’re not even worthy of my presence.”
“Then why am I here? Send me to earth if I annoy this much.” Kala decided to make a Hail Mary move. Briar Patch anyone?
Cronus smiled wickedly. “So, you’d abandon your Grigori boyfriend just to get back to earth. Where’s the loyalty? Oh yes, I’ve forgotten to whom I’m speaking. You may have another skin, Atlas, but you’re still the same traitor you’ve always been.”
Kala struggled hard at that, but she was still frozen in place. “What did you do to Talan?”
Ignoring the traitor talk, Kala’s heart sunk. Roberta must not have been able to reach him. Or worse, Talan had decided to stay and look for Kala despite her assurances.
“What I plan on doing to all Grigori,” Cronus snarled.
A pile of what looked like thick logs appeared above Cronus’s head. With a flick of his wrist, the logs flew at Kala’s still form and dropped at her feet.
Talan.
Hacked.
In pieces.
His head staring at her, lifeless.
His limbs were bloodless, as if they were frozen.
“YOU KILLED HIM!” Rage burned inside Kala like lava.
Cronus laughed. “You’re not the only one with a Grigori blade. And I have the other eleven. Speaking of which…” Using his Titan-telekinesis, Cronus pulled the knife from Kala’s unmoving hand and into his own.
She barely noticed.
Kala couldn’t see straight.
She’d never been this furious before.
Kala stared at the most powerful Titan of them all and felt no fear.
“YOU WILL PAY!” she screamed.
Cronus started to laugh again, but stopped when the whole chamber started to shake violently. His looked around in disbelief. “How are you…”
BOOM!
The invisible bonds that secured Kala in place exploded with a deafening roar.
Cronus was downright mystified and to Kala’s delight…
Scared.
The ground shook even harder.
Pillars crashed to the floor.
Cronus’s throne shattered into a million pieces.
“NOW YOU WILL DIE!” Kala’s voice was not her own. It was like the moment when she had consumed Atlas. Something deep inside her, speaking for her, saying words she didn’t understand.
Cronus’s eyes filled with terror as part of the ceiling crashed down on him. “The Grigori is still alive. They can’t be killed. Another Grigori can put him back together,” Cronus sputtered in a panic.
Kala wanted to give into this inner voice. This inner depth that could crush Cronus where he stood, but she knew that it was wrong.
Talan was alive. In pieces but alive.
The bellowing rage disappeared. Whatever was inside her, crawled back down to her subconscious.
But one thing it left her with.
Knowledge.
Knowledge of powers Kala hadn’t been aware of.
For one: telekinesis.
“I’ll be taking what’s mine,” Kala said and made the Grigori blade fly back into her hand.
Cronus stared at her, afraid she would destroy him.
And for another: she could teleport.
Kneeling down next to the mound of body parts that were Talan, Kala gave Cronus one last snarky grin. “Later.” She saluted.
Kala touched Talan’s body and they vanished.
Chapter Thirteen
In a sudden rush, Kala landed in the last place she imagined.
The Compound.
More specifically, General Turner’s lab. Kala remembered this room. It was where Turner introduced her to the tranquilizer gun that helped her fight Malaks and Demons. The actual size of the room was huge, almost the size of a football field. There were computers, wires, electronics, and robotic parts covering almost every inch of the place. After teleporting herself for the first time, Kala felt a little dizzy from the onslaught of metal and lights. She was still kneeling with Talan’s body parts at her feet.
“Lieutenant Hicks?”
Kala looked up, General Turner stood above her. He appeared more curious than shocked. Something she was getting used to with the man. When he saw Talan’s bloodless limbs, he glanced at her with concern. “Is that a person?”
Kala stood up, shaking her head. “It’s Talan, the angel you met before. And, apparently he’s not dead. He just needs to be put back together.”
Turner nodded to two scientists working at their respective stations. They walked over like mindless servants.
Inspecting the room, Kala noticed that aside from the two scientists, there were only three others in the giant space.
“Get a table and put him on it,” Turner ordered. As the two men left, he turned to Kala. “This is the angel that you wanted Roberta to contact?”
“Yes.” Kala tried to use as few words as possible. Her mind still reeled from what had just happened.
Turner scrutinized the Talan pile. “Fascinating. You said this is the same man who appears to my wife as Pierre?”
Kala nodded. Revealing that might not have been a great idea, but desperation had made the decision for her. And for no reason it appeared. Kala damned Talan for being stubborn and loyal, traits she normally admired, but now made her feel horribly guilty.
“Pierre taught my wife powerful magic. That’s where she learned how to make that ooze that works so well on Demons.” Turner seemed quite chipper for someone who stood next to a pile of body parts. He was definitely an odd one. Then he said something that made her pause. “I’m assuming he’s actually Dr. Fortski as well?”
Kala laughed, it threw her off so much. Her mission was to destroy Fortski’s work, but he was so brilliant Turner thought that the doc had to be supernatural. “Nope. Fortski’s the real deal.” Kala didn’t elaborate because she didn’t want to reveal her mission. She also didn’t want to divulge any more of Talan’s secrets. He’d be mad enough at her for the whole Pierre thing. Nice name by the way. Wonder how long it took him to come up with that one.
The two scientists returned with a metal table on wheels and began piecing Talan together. After a few moments, they had loosely connected his body together. They left without a word, returning to their stations.
The current circumstances were bizarre enough, but the two scientists only added to the weirdness factor.
Kala detached herself from the situation to keep her head on straight. Having Talan thrown at her by Cronus awoke something inside her. It terrified Kala. She couldn’t admit that to anyone but herself. The supernatural world needed to believe that she was not only unshakeable, but someone to be feared. Her legs shook from the confrontation. Not because of the fight, but because she didn’t know where her power came from. Kala had consumed Atlas and if she was honest with herself, she knew that she could have done the same thing with Cronus.
He knew and she knew it.
And he was scared.
…But so was she.
“Clifton can’t know I’m here.”
Turner threw Kala a look that suggested he wasn’t an idiot. “If I can hide Mr. Echolls under Clifton’s nose, I think I can hide you. And I’m assuming after you’ve put Humpty Dumpty back together again you’ll be on your way?” Turner examined Talan with fascination.
Derek.
“Is Derek okay?”
Turner kept studying Talan’s body parts with fascination as he talked with Kala. “Mr. Echolls is fine. I thought you would make more use out of him.”
“Trust me, that wasn’t my idea. Talan thought Derek would be safer, and considering what happened to him I think it was the right call.” Kala’s heart squeezed as she stared at Talan.
Turner nodded at the disassembled body. “It appears so.”
Kala ran her hand through her hair, observing the room. “I don’t even know how I got here. I’ve just discovered that I apparently have teleportation powers and it was a quick exit. I guess my brain sent me somewhere familiar,” Kala rationalized.
“Well, you’ve only been to this lab once, but I’d say it was a pretty productive trip the last time you were here,” Turner observed.
Grigori Returned (The Atlas Series Book 2) Page 8
