“Why the hell do you care?”
Enteax got in Lisrn’s face, his own transforming with rage. “We’re doing what we have to do for power. How does raping her fit into that?”
Lisrn sneered. “You said it—power. Not to mention she’s hot. I see no reason why I can’t have her. I will ask one more time, why the—”
“We have orders to leave them untouched,” Enteax said through his teeth.
Eve and Ismini glanced at each other.
“Unless you say something, how would anyone know?”
A voice echoed through the cavern. “I will. And, frankly, I’m starting to get infuriated that you would even think of defying my orders.”
Ismini’s head whipped around to find the woman who had spoken. Evesse searched, as well, but it was the way the two freaks in front of her froze that had Ismini’s attention. They tensed, almost as if waiting for an attack.
“You have your orders. The one that belongs to Fertility must die. Kill the other one, too. It’ll hurt Tranquility. But under no circumstances are you to rape either of them. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Mistress,” Enteax said, glaring at Lisrn.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Enteax. Your friend is the one with an authority issue.”
The fear on Lisrn’s face told Ismini all she needed to know. Whoever this female was, she was powerful. She was obviously in charge of the two dumb-fucks keeping them hostage.
“Mistress, you did make it clear. I just don’t understand—”
“I will never condone you raping a female, Lisrn. If you have an issue with that, perhaps I should tie you down and let the females do what they threatened.”
“Yeah, you should,” Eve said.
Ismini grabbed her arm and gave her a warning look. “Eve . . .”
The woman they called “Mistress” spoke up again. “I’m still waiting, Lisrn. Do you or do you not understand?”
Lisrn sheathed his sword and put down his gun. His expression was furious, but he stared at the ground, almost as if afraid that his mistress would see his face. “I do.”
“Good. Now get them to the vortex. It’s almost time. Oh, and if you disobey my orders, Lisrn, don’t think I won’t know. I know everything.”
“I fucking told you,” Enteax hissed, slipping a small, odd gun out of the holster he was wearing.
“Let her go. You don’t need her.”
“Ismini, shut up!” Eve cried, trying to shield her friend with her body.
Lisrn stood back, watching Enteax approach them with a scary glint in his beige eyes.
“Both of you are coming. Those are the orders.”
Ismini heard Evesse cry out and saw her try to fling herself at Enteax. He aimed the gun at Eve, and with a hiss, more of that dark energy shot out. Evesse arched, a cry ripped out of her.
Ismini shot forward, intent on catching her. She didn’t make it a foot before Enteax turned the gun on her.
Chapter 23
11 hours and 45 minutes later.
-Boynton Canyon. Sedona, AZ. (USA)
They woke in the back of a minivan, held to the walls by the same energy that had slammed them and sickened them in that alley. They’d been kept bound with that shit since then, and the longer they stayed in contact with it, the more it seeped in through the pores of their skin. It was like being in a toxic fog.
The damn minivan rattled as it made its way down the highway. Ismini’s sacrifice was to occur inside an energy vortex in Sedona. It was a place full of so much pure energy that, according to Thing One and Thing Two in the front seat, they could only teleport within ten miles of it. After that, it was good, old-fashioned travel.
Evesse shook her head. “Fucking energy vortexes! I can’t freaking believe this.”
Ismini leaned her head back, fighting her exhaustion. “It makes sense when you think of it. Those areas are said to have a huge concentration of energy. Native Americans would use them as prayer sites because of that.”
“Yeah, I guess. They say even regular people can feel the energy there. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”
Ismini nodded.
Eve motioned with her head toward the two assholes in the front of the van. “Any idea who the mystery voice that ordered these ugly ass fuckers to leave us alone was?”
Lisrn growled from the driver’s seat. “We can fucking hear you, human! Watch it or I’ll forget those orders.”
“Don’t let her goad you. She likes that,” Enteax said from the passenger seat. He had earphones in and was busy watching The Vampire Diaries on his tablet. Look at that. Even the pieces of shit animals in the Universe had a use for technology and Netflix.
Evesse’s voice dripped with poison. “How sweet. You’ve taken the time to get to know me.”
Ismini still wanted to know who the woman was. Whoever she was, she had no problem with seeing them killed, but she did have an issue with either of them being sexually abused beforehand.
Oh, yay. Somebody anoint her for sainthood.
She turned back to Evesse, fighting back tears. “I’m so sorry. I dragged you into this.”
Eve stared back at her. “Shut up. I’m doing my job as your friend, and I do believe Nylicia would say this was destined. Everything happens for a reason. And I’d rather be here with you than with anyone else, even if it means we’re going to die together.”
Ismini felt unworthy of so much loyalty. Blinking, she looked at the floor of the minivan. The only way she could imagine this working out was if she were the only one who got hurt. If she could somehow get Evesse the fuck out of there, and if, impossible as it might have been, Dyletri loved Dimithinia.
Not me. God, he can’t be mated to me. As it was, things seemed pretty impossible, and that broke Ismini’s heart more than the unrequited mating had. She and Evesse couldn’t use their powers to break out. Whatever the thing holding them was, it made any gifts Nylicia had given them obsolete.
Nylicia. Please. Please hear me. Save her. Please. And . . . if Dyletri is mated to me, then save me. Don’t let either of them get hurt. Please.
The vehicle stopped suddenly, throwing Evesse and Ismini against the energy field that held them. Their captors exited, walked around to the back doors, and threw them open.
Enteax smiled at them. “All right, pretty ones. Time to meet your destiny.”
Ismini would have loved to wipe that smug expression off his face, but it looked like she wasn’t going to get the chance. This was it.
At some point, the fuckers had left the highway and driven deep into the desert. The stars and moon lit the nighttime sky, and huge mountain formations dotted the dry landscape.
A current rippled through the air, barely a whisper compared to what she’d felt before but enough to make her skin tingle. They were close to the vortex. She felt it with her new powers, could almost pinpoint its location.
I’m going to die.
The thought finally registered. She’d always known it. It’d been a given fact for years. But now that she was being dragged into the desert, realization sank in. There was a part of her that wanted to be afraid. A very human part that was close to terrified. But there was another part of her that would be fine as long as Evesse didn’t die with her.
“You don’t need her,” Ismini said. “Just let her go.”
Lisrn turned to look at her. “No. Don’t think so. I think I’m going to have a piece of that anyway.”
“Lisrn, we have orders—”
“No, Enteax. I don’t give a fuck what Ver—”
“Watch your mouth!”
They came to a stop at the foot of one of the mountains.
“They’re going to die anyway!”
“I said shut it!”
Their restraints loosened some. Perhaps the energy holding them was reacting to the pure energy vibrating around them. The moment Ismini realized the dark energy around them was failing, the instinct to fight came out.
She took a deep breath, preparing t
o do just that, but Evesse beat her to it. And consequently got smacked right into the mountain wall with a huge sword pointed at her throat.
Enteax inched the sword closer to Evesse. “Try me, little girl.”
Ismini froze, furious and unable to move for a moment because the rage was so raw. It was a moment too long, however, because next thing she knew, Lisrn had her by the hair and was dragging her closer to the mountain. She caught sight of Enteax grabbing Evesse.
Fucking hell. Was this really it? Was this really Evesse’s fate? Ismini was already determined to fucking die, so why did she have to suffer, too?
She locked eyes with her best friend. This wasn’t supposed to happen, damn it. I’m sorry, she wanted to say. I love you. I’d save you if I could.
Eve’s eyes were tormented. “Just kill me with her, asshole. Just do it. I don’t want to live without her, nor do I want to be around for another fucker to ever try to force himself on me again.”
Lisrn quickly called out to the Illion and snapped Ismini’s head around painfully fast. He held her still while he screamed out something about the sacrifice. He said something else, something in a language Ismini couldn’t understand. Everything inside her seemed to slow down after that.
A burst of light illuminated the sky. It tainted the air until what looked like a tornado began to form. Evesse screamed in the background as the wind picked up and began ripping at them. Lightning twisted and swirled and grew until the air around them was a huge roar.
Ismini inhaled shakily, just as Lisrn yanked her by the hair, lifting her off her feet. She kicked at him, trying to fight back, trying to get him to let go. She clawed at Lisrn’s hand, nails digging deep. A shock of power slammed into her, making her fall limp.
It took a split second for Lisrn to fling her into the vortex. Ismini managed to turn her head even as she felt the raw power begin to shred the surface of her skin.
Evesse screamed out her name, tears streaming down her face. She pushed Enteax off her and ran. Helpless and horrified, Ismini watched as Evesse was sucked into the whirlwind with her.
At first, Ismini couldn’t feel what was happening to her, but she could see it. The matter that made up her body, her skin, was torn from her. Then raw, white-hot agony consumed her, mixing with the unbearable sound of the energy swirling around them.
Chapter 24
Dyletri’s opened his eyes, his entire body pulsating with blood. Ismini’s blood.
His neck cracked when he lifted his head. His muscles protested, refusing to listen when he told them to move. Sweat rolled off him, pooling on the floor.
Cringing, he forced his upper body to be useful and lift him up. He got to a sitting position before the dizziness went on an all-out assault. He cradled his head, squinting out of one eye and looking around the temple.
Gone. Ismini was gone.
He swallowed, feeling the burn in his throat. In a flash, all the memories came back. His stomach clenched, reminding him of what was inside him. A pang of hunger hit him so hard he was almost slammed on his back again. His forehead abandoned, he wrapped both arms around his midsection and rocked back and forth like a pussy, trying to keep his common sense intact.
He was all for hunting his woman down and sinking his fangs back into her, but he had to get a clear head to do it. She’d fucking run from him—he’d known it the moment he realized she was gone. He just had to pull his shit together and figure out why.
A few minutes later, Dyletri was engaged in the type of mental war that made his issues with his powers seem like nothing. His veins hurt, his blood rushing at full speed and demanding teeth. Ismini’s to be exact. If he hadn’t known he was mated to her beforehand, he would have been in for one hell of a surprise.
When he peeked down at his left arm he saw the ends of a new design etched into his skin, one that blended in with his black tribal tattoo. He didn’t need to see the whole thing to know the design reached up toward his neck. He knew it did, and he knew what it was. The colors were the same as Ismini’s aura. Enough said.
Determined, Dyletri closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He had to get himself under control, had to think past the howls in his fucking head. He focused on her blood instead, ignoring the need it caused and honing in on the connection it gave him instead.
Like the click of a lock sliding home, his thoughts aligned with her blood. Dyletri’s eyes shot open, freezing on the floor, unseeing. Ismini’s intention was clear as day through his connection with her. Everything was. He easily caught the echoes of her thoughts.
Thirty seconds after that, he realized a couple of really fucked up things.
One, he’d been knocked out, completely naked on that temple floor for over a day. A fucking day. Two, Ismini still fucking believed that he loved Dimithinia. Her panic, guilt, and pain lashed at him in wordless waves, each one hurting more than the last.
Dyletri wanted to fucking shake her until she admitted to herself that she mattered to so many beings and that none of them could imagine a world without her. Shake her until she realized that he was hers.
Only hers.
Hold it, asshole. Keep yourself together.
Easier said than done.
Misguided as his little one was, Ismini had run for the sake of a woman she didn’t even know—and for the sake of others.
And even as she was doing so, it was obvious how afraid she was. Afraid of what she suspected and something that was very much a reality. The mark on his left side said it all. If she died, he would die with her.
Whoa . . . A rush of adrenaline went through Dyletri like nothing he’d ever felt before. The Illion didn’t have shit on the raw energy coursing through his veins. He had to find his woman and make it clear that the Universe could kiss his ass, because she wasn’t dying. Hell the fuck no.
If he even contemplated allowing that to go down, she wasn’t doing it without him next to her, damn it all.
He got to his feet, stumbling only once. Why hadn’t anyone come to look for them? What the fuck was going on? But he knew. They probably believed Ismini and he were in there and didn’t need to be interrupted. Yet too much time had passed. Dyletri knew this. He was going to fucking lose his R’ma.
The thought sent his body on a rampage. Infuriated, he dematerialized and shot across Enzyria. He stormed into the compound, still naked, and roared out for Ismini.
“Huh? Who? Wha—Ah, fuck! I’m fucking blind!”
Cy wasn’t kidding. His head whipped around when he saw Dyletri, and when he turned back, his eyes had gone entirely gray. Cy stumbled, his hands out in front of him, trying to brace his fall.
Dyletri had seen that happen to other gods before. Hey, it had even happened to him. Sometimes, even a god saw shit he couldn’t handle and his brain would shut down visual processing for a bit.
Still, when Cy fell face-first into one of the statues, his forehead nearly shredding the thing, Dyletri felt no sympathy. He stormed up to Cy, grabbed him by the collar and landed a solid smack against his head. The idiot was doing it on purpose, and Dy was in too much of a hurry to put up with it.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? I’m not the one with my dick hanging out! Don’t you dare press that thing against me, you sick fuck!”
Dyletri smacked Cy again for good measure. “Ismini’s gone, you fidiot.”
Cy blinked, the gray fading from his eyes as they returned to their normal shade of gold.
He pushed away from Dyletri, focusing only on his face. “Put. Some. Fucking. Pants. On.” Cy turned away from Dy with the kind of expression that said he might never be the same. “Visions are one thing, motherfucker. Seeing that shit in person is traumatizing.”
“You’re such a little bitch.” Dyletri forced himself to materialize into his armor and then went to leave. “Something’s not right about this. Get the others. I’ll meet you the—”
He didn’t get to finish. Zen stormed in, clad in the black and red armor that he had never worn as Zeniel. No, Mavrak
had been in charge last time Dyletri had seen it on his friend.
“Evesse is gone.”
Dyletri was sure he saw Zen’s eyes flash the same color as his armor as he stormed past. He ignored it, following Zen out of the compound and dematerializing with him once they were outside. He willed himself straight to Earth, grabbing on to the bits of Ismini’s essence that he could feel.
He couldn’t let her die. Logically, he knew why she was supposed to, but logic was gone. Only instinct remained, and if that sacrifice was going to take place, his fellow gods were going to have to fling them both into the vortex at the same time. If not, he’d kill even them to keep her safe.
Plain and fucking simple.
Less than an hour later, they hadn’t found anything. Sweating, cold, and weaker than he’d ever been, Dyletri stood in Ismini’s neighborhood. In full armor, he stalked the streets, heading straight for her apartment. He couldn’t stop hoping that she’d somehow ended up there.
She hadn’t. Not even a trace of her essence. He didn’t dare linger more than a few seconds. His woman was somewhere, and there was less than hour until the damned sacrifice was due.
Ismini didn’t know where it was going to take place, and that was the one thing that calmed him a bit. The girl was crazy enough to sacrifice herself, given the chance. But if she wasn’t heading to the energy vortexes, where the fuck was she?
The others had spread out, each searching, as well. Even the human Soleria was amongst them, since she’d realized early on that both her friends that were missing.
Dyletri had realized that, yeah, he was sick, but he wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t mated to Evesse yet, but Zen was quickly losing the battle to his rage.
Dyletri rushed down the steps of Ismini’s building, not bothering to hide or disguise himself. Definitely not caring if the humans saw the big, sick-looking motherfucker in dark blue and silver armor. They would probably convince themselves it was some pre-Halloween shit anyway. His priority lay with finding Ismini.
Never in his two million years of life did he imagine that he’d catch the scent of her blood as he walked three blocks away from her house. Dyletri turned the corner and came to a stop. He caught a scent he hadn’t before and sensed something different in the air. He tilted his head up and sniffed the air just as Zen came around the other corner.
Blood Flows Deep in the Empire Page 18
