by G. Bailey
Storm Gods
G. Bailey
Storm Gods © 2020 G. Bailey. All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
Edits by Polished Perfection.
Cover Design by Mirela Barbu.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
About the Author
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Description
I’m the child of a goddess of karma and a higher god...and I’m destined to destroy the world.
My father is alive, and I’m the key to his plan to bring back magic to the world…and make sure it is shattered at the same time.
My only hope is three sexy gods, my family with the talking goat, and the addictive power I have no control over.
If anyone needs some good karma, it’s me.
Before it’s too late.
Storm Gods is a full-length Urban Fantasy RH Romance. RH means where there is more than one love interest. This is the final book in this series. 18+.
Chapter 1
The loud smack of the portal closing behind me almost makes me jump, the coldness of the room quickly seeping into every inch of my body. I cross my arms as I face my father, a man I thought I had managed to kill, but I was so feckin’ wrong. The bastard is alive, and my best friend is unconscious in his arms as his prisoner. The breeze from an open warehouse door near us blows through the room, shaking the doors on the other side of the room. I glance up, seeing an old warehouse structure with several bridges crossing above our heads. Looking back at the open door, I see nothing but grey waves and dark starless sky. It’s unnaturally bright, and I can hear the common sounds of a city in the distance. Where are we? Every breath of mine comes out as smoke, and I can’t help but shake as I turn my eyes to my father.
“It is colder here, wear this,” Neritous states, throwing an old blue jacket at me before covering Mads with one he picks up from a desk nearby. I want to tell him to feck off, but he has a point. Dying of cold isn’t a good idea. I put the overly large jacket on, doing up the buttons as Neritous watches me the entire time.
“Did you kill my mother, or was it Xur?” I demand an answer. I couldn’t tell if Xur was telling me the truth, and the memories my mum showed me suggest that Neritous did it. I need to know how much of an enemy the man standing in front of me actually is.
Neritous lifts his chin, meeting my eyes with his cold and unfeeling ones. “I did not kill your mother. I would not waste life, but you know that. You wouldn’t have followed me if you didn’t, Karma Kismet.”
“So you wanted me alive? You knew Maria was pregnant?” I question. He eyes me with calculated interest, and I wonder if he has figured out I’m pretty mad. Okay, very mad.
“You were the only reason I was ever with Maria. A god of fortune told me to find several women and have children with them,” he answers, and my lips tighten into a thin line. So disgusting. I bite down on my tongue, trying not to say what I’m really feeling right about now. If he wasn’t holding Mads like a doll in his arms, it would be a different discussion. “Now follow.”
He turns around, his cloak whipping around him before he walks to the middle door of five on the other side of the room. I glance behind me at the open door one more time...and I wish I could send a message to my guys. I wish I weren’t alone. I’ve become used to fighting with one of them with me or nearby, and I know I don’t want to go back to being alone anymore. Neritous waves his fingers, and the door slams open, a red haze of magic flickering in the air. When he steps into it, it covers him like a splash of water before he disappears.
I glance back at the open door one more time.
Final decision, Karma.
Gulping down the indecision and worry about what the hell I am doing, I step through the door, and the red magic feels like it burns me. I scream, falling onto the floor on the other side, rubbing my arms as the pain suddenly disappears.
“Do get up off the floor, Karma,” my father demands, sounding not too impressed. I grit my teeth and stand up, brushing off the dust from my clothes.
“You don’t get to make demands like a father would do. I have a dad, one who is kind and never once demanded anything from me. You are fecking nothing to me,” I spit out.
“But she is?” he responds with a cruel shine to his eyes. He drops her on the floor, and I jump to catch her but miss. Her head makes an awful noise as it smacks on the floor, along with the rest of her body.
“Mads!” I shout, falling to her side and picking her up onto my lap. Neritous moves extremely close to me and roughly grabs my chin, making me look up at him.
“She is a higher god now, an immortal and powerful. But make no mistake, if you cross me and don’t behave, daughter, I will kill her in an instant to teach you a lesson,” he warns me, and I don’t doubt him even a little bit. I pull my chin from his hand, looking back down at Mads, who frowns in her sleep and is bleeding from the back of her head a little bit. I reach for my necklace on instinct, but I remember it’s not there as I touch my bare skin.
“Dominic, take the blonde girl to a bed. If she wakes, call for us,” Neritous says, and a guy about thirteen with white hair, blue eyes and tanned skin runs over to us. He meets my eyes, staring a little too long at me before leaning down and picking Mads up. Knowing I don’t have a choice but to trust the kid, I let her go and watch them walk away to another door. I finally take in the large room we are in, which is the inside of an old-ass warehouse. Grey wall is made of metal or glass, showing beautiful views of a city in the distance. Unfortunately, I don’t know which city that is, and I don’t see any signs to let me know.
“Your powers will not work here unless I allow it, and you can’t escape. The warehouse has a protective ward,” he warns me. Figures.
“They will find me, you know that? Storm is going to come for you,” I tell him, and he turns back to me. Red lightning crackles down his arm as he reaches for me, but I’m not letting him hurt me. I try to use my powers to defend myself, but it doesn’t work, so I do the next best thing. I run. I don’t get far before lightning hits my back, and I scream as I fly into the air, smacking onto a wall. I slide down the wall, sitting up as I cough through the pain. Tears burn my eyes as Neritous leans down in front of me, looking happier than the fecker should be.
“You mention that betrayer again, I will make it very painful for you while you stay here, daughter,” he warns me before straightening up and standing back. “N
ow follow me to meet everyone, and I might have a present for you if you behave.”
Fecking bastard.
He doesn’t wait for me before walking away and through another one of the doors. The tears I’ve held back slip down my cheeks, and I look up at the glass, seeing the night sky. There are no stars in the city, and I hate it. I feel a prickle of magic going down my spine just as a tiny black portal appears in front of me, and Kit flies through it, crashing into my lap.
“Kit?” I question as the portal closes, but not before I hear a familiar shout.
“NO!” I hear Storm, and I reach for the portal, but nothing other than faint traces of magic is left. He is looking for me. Storm and the twins won’t abandon me, and sitting on the floor, crying, is not going to help them find me. I need to search this place, find a weak spot, and get us out of here. Looking down at Kit, who is unconscious, I tuck him into my hood and cover the hood with my hair so no one will see him. Kit is my secret way out of here.
And Neritous is going to be outsmarted by a goblin.
Chapter 2
With a goblin tucked into my hoodie, I make my way through the door my father went through, and I step into a makeshift cafeteria, and Neritous isn’t alone. Two guys, not much older than me, with black hair, dark skin and tightly closed expressions watch me. They are twins, clearly, but they seem familiar somehow. Littered around the room are armed guards with heavy helmets covering their faces, but I sense something off about them.
“These are your older half-brothers, Kjetli and Ivar Nesby,” he introduces the guys, and I’m speechless, wondering exactly how many half brothers and sisters I have.
“Is Ruby here?” I question him. Ruby has never once left my mind, and neither has my mission to clear Jade’s name and bring back Ruby to her mother.
His eyes flash with annoyance. “Yes, she is, and I’m sure you two will get along. Both of you are headstrong and rather a big annoyance to me.”
“I would like to see her,” I demand. He inclines his head, watching me closely as an older woman walks into the room. She has the same black hair as Kjetli and Ivar, but her skin is covered in markings of flames, all flashing against the hanging lights. She is a fire god. I wonder what the twins are, I can’t pick up on it.
“A new sister?” the woman asks, running her gaze over me. “Fun. Now there are six of us left—for now.”
“Don’t be bitter, Faleria, it will be all worth it in the end,” Neritous replies, but his tone shows a lack of interest in her altogether. Faleria sits with her brothers...well, I guess our brothers, and I clear my throat.
“How many were there? Where are they now?”
Kjetli answers me when our father chooses not to. “There were twenty, well, twenty-one including you.”
“And they are all dead. Each one of them failed our father,” Faleria replies. “I am being tested next, and I will not fail.”
“What test?” I question Neritous, not wanting to comment on the level of crazy brainwashing that is going on with Faleria.
Neritous stands and walks to me, pulling out a familiar necklace in his hand. I all but jump for it as he hands me it, my hands curling around the charms like a lifeline.
“You had my necklace this whole time?”
“I took you from the prison, and I never suspected you had the key on your necklace all this time. Maria stole it from me, and I spent years searching. How did you get it?” he holds up the lightning charm mum gave me on my last birthday. The charm I nearly killed him with.
“It’s not a key, it creates lightning,” I say, and he laughs at me, slipping the charm back in his pocket.
“The lightning bolt is a key to unlock the sphere of magic. The original source of all the gods’ magic in the world,” he tells me. Well, fuck me, Neritous is the craziest out of all the higher gods. I was sure Xur took that award, but I was feckin’ wrong. “And when one of my children takes the power without dying, I will take the world. If Faleria dies, you will be next.”
My heart pounds in my chest as he walks away, creating a portal and disappearing into thin air. Feeling the eyes of my siblings on me, I choose a random door and walk through it into a room of bunk beds. All of them but the one at the very end look used, and on the bed next to it is a little girl with bright red hair in a blue dress, who must be about nine. Hoping she is who I think she is, I walk over and sit on the made up bed opposite her. The little girl looks up, her ruby eyes locking onto mine, and I take in her tiny cat-like ears poking out of her hair. She rubs a silver bracelet on her wrist with two charms hanging off it.
“Who are you?” she asks.
“Karma Kismet,” I reply, offering her my hand. She eyes it before looking up at me with a stubborn set of her jaw that reminds me of myself. Crossing her arms, she sweeps her eyes over me.
“Another sister?” she asks around a yawn. “I’m Ruby, but I’m not going to be your friend. I want to get out of here.”
“Same,” I tell her, making her pause. “And your mum, Emerald, is looking for you. I met her, and I was good friends with Jade. I am here to save you.”
“Mum?” she asks, her hands falling to her sides, and her lip wobbles a tad. “She is looking for me? Father said she thought I was dead.”
“You can’t trick a cat that easily. Do I have to tell you that?” I say, and she smiles, a full beaming smile before jumping on me, wrapping her tiny arms around my neck. I hug her back as tightly before she suddenly freezes.
“You have a goblin in your hood. Do you know they bite?” she slowly asks me, leaning back. “I’ve read books about goblins, and they are bad luck.”
“This is Kit, and he isn’t bad luck. For us, he is the opposite, I promise,” I whisper as Ruby climbs off my lap and I pull Kit out of my hood to show her. “And he is how we get out of here. I need to hide him, so is under the beds safe?”
“Yes, I clean in here. It’s my job,” she whispers back and pulls out a spare pillow from her bed. I place Kit on the pillow, and Ruby pushes it under my bed before standing up, her hands going to her hips. “Karma, you will have to pretend to be on Neritous’s side. He isn’t a good person.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I tell her and take her small hand. “Can you show me around?”
“Yep, and I will show you good places to hide. Don’t trust the twins or Faleria, but Dominic is nice. He cries every night when he thinks no one is looking...can we save him too?” she asks me, and I nod once, making no promises.
I will get Ruby to her mother for Jade and save my own ass because I don’t want to die here. But unless I’m sure, I’m not taking a crazy sibling back to my family. Gods, I fecking miss them, but at least I’m not alone anymore.
And we are getting out.
Chapter 3
“Here’s your friend,” Ruby says, pointing at the black steel door with a little window. “They put anyone who fights and tries to run in there.”
“Thanks, Ruby,” I say, placing my hand on her shoulder. She grins up at me, and for a second, she reminds me of myself. Crap on a cracker, I have a sister that looks up to me. I’m not a good role model.
“Do you like peanut butter? Dominic makes these cookies, and they are so nice,” she asks me, and I smile at her. Feckin’ hell, I’ve missed peanut butter. Turns out I share that addiction with my siblings.
“I love peanut butter,” I answer her.
“I will get us some!” she cheers and runs off. I can’t wait to introduce Ruby to my mum and brothers, they will love her. I just know it. Knowing I can’t put it off any longer, I walk to the door and push it open, seeing Mads awake on the bed. Two gold cuffs hang on her wrists, glowing slightly, and now I know how they keep her in here. She turns to me, and the empty look she gives me hurts my soul. I rub my chest as I walk into the room and stand opposite her, leaning my back against the wall.
“Mads,” I whisper.
“My name is Madison, not Mads. Are you here to fight me again?” she asks me, and I shake my head
. The higher gods have done one hell of a job on her. I can sense her power from here, even if she can’t use it in this place like me. Her blonde hair is now white, but it only adds to her beauty.
“I want to say I’m happy my best friend is immortal and a god now, but fecking hell, I’m furious. If I could kill the higher gods that did this to you all over again, I would,” I tell her. “Pey is missing you, I’m sure. Do you remember him?”
“No,” she snaps at me, standing up. Her hands shake, and I wonder if some little part of me is getting through to her. “Get out or fight me!”
“Nope,” I draw out the word, annoying her more. “Pey always said you were a saint for putting up with my stubborn ass, and he was right. He was always right, but don’t tell him that.” I chuckle, and she shakes her head even more. “We have been best friends since we were eight years old. Both of us are complete opposites. You were mortal, with no family, and in general you were sensible and kind. I was a goddess with a crazy family and headstrong, clumsy and immature. Yet you were my best friend, and I love you. You love me too, even if you don’t remember.”
“Shut up!” she shouts before she punches me hard in my cheek. I fly to the floor, tasting my blood in my mouth as tears prick my eyes. She jumps on me, lifting her fist to hit me again, and I just lie there. She pauses, halting above me. “Fight me back! Don’t just lie there!”
