believe that he will simply hand it over to you. He finally has something that no one else has ever had but the Fates themselves: leverage over you, the goddess of witchcraft. Don’t think that he won’t use it to his best advantage.”
My mother looked miserable.
“He would not dare cross me,” she announced fiercely. “I would make his life a living hell. And I am not an idiot, Empusa. There is but one thing that can destroy the Moonstone- Zeus’ sword. In which case, one would have to appeal to Zeus and ask him to destroy it. It wouldn’t happen without good reason. Trust me, he would not do such a thing for Poseidon.”
I felt an ounce of relief. Zeus would likely require a very good reason for using his sword to destroy it. My life was probably safe- for now. But the thought that my life was tied to a trinket, a bracelet that had dangled carelessly on my wrist for years… it was unsettling.
“Mother, you should have told me,” I admonished seriously. “I never had any idea of the importance of that stone.”
“I know,” she answered sadly. “There was never a good time. I told you to guard it with your life. I told you to never take it off.”
“And I didn’t,” I answered. “Because I trusted you.”
She took a step toward me and grabbed my hand. “Empusa, you’re my daughter. I love you more than anything else in all the world. I would not jeopardize you for anything. You must trust that creating the Moonstone was the only way that I could guarantee your safety.”
I yanked my hand away and took a few steps away from her.
“Mother, what do you not understand? It wasn’t necessary. You thought I wouldn’t be safe on my own, yet I’ve managed to elude you and stay safe for years. You’ve allowed who you are to cloud your judgment. You are not invincible and other people are competent besides you. I don’t see why you can’t understand that. What you have done in creating the Moonstone was not protect me but jeopardize me. You have put me at risk. You.”
Her face crumbled with my words and I felt a fleeting sense of guilt, but tampered it down. This was something she needed to hear.
“Mother, I love you. But this is not right. And you need to fix it. I am going to trust you now. I am going to find Brennan. You need to put this to rights. Retrieve the Moonstone from Poseidon. Appeal to Zeus. See if there is any way that we can remove my connection with it in order to destroy it. If not, then I guess I’ll have to remain cursed forever. But for now, see what you can do. If anyone can fix this, you can.”
I glanced at Hades and my mother only once before I closed my eyes and faded from the Underworld. My mother’s expression of pain lingered with me though and I knew that I would carry it with me forever.
Chapter Fifteen
I burst into the mortal world as I hit the ground running on the empty fairways of AdventureLand. I wasn’t sure what had made me come here. I just knew that if I was Brennan, this might be where I would stay. It was out of the way, no one else would think of it and it was the last place in the mortal world we had been together.
An early snowfall had carpeted the paved walkways in white flakes that glistened in the sun and I crunched through them as I ran toward the haunted house. A flock of blackbirds startled as I ran past and scattered screaming into the sky as I leapt lightly onto the porch.
Throwing the door wide open, I sprinted for the room that we had turned into our makeshift hide-out, bounding over the metal tracks and rubber hoses that littered my path. I almost didn’t dare to hope, but even still… I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t explain it. I just felt as though he was here.
“Brennan!” I yelled as I skidded around the corner and into the bedroom.
Brennan stared at me in surprise from the middle of the bed amidst open books and stacks of maps. He was every bit as handsome as he was in my mind, his golden hair curling up at his collar, his hazel eyes widening in surprise as he registered who I was.
“Em,” he breathed before he leapt from the bed, scattering his documents everywhere. He was by my side in one second flat. One beat later, I was clenched to his chest in a vice grip.
“What are you doing here?” he asked quickly before he crushed my lips with his own. “You’re not safe here,” he muttered against my lips before he kissed me frantically again. Then again. And again. His lips were like satin, his breath like honey. I found that I wanted to pour him into a glass and drink him and I tightened my arms around his muscled waist.
“You’re not safe here, either,” I told him with an ironic smile. I found it funny that he was concerned with my safety while there was a psychotic immortal chasing him. “I don’t have my bracelet anymore, so truly, neither of us is safe.”
“Is it bad that nothing else seems to matter as long as you’re with me?” Brennan asked quietly as he inhaled my neck. I stretched out my chin to give him better access as I shook my head and grasped him tightly.
“No. It’s not bad. It’s exactly how I feel. I love you, Brennan. Don’t ever leave me like that again or I swear by the gods that I will kill you myself.”
I felt him smile against my skin, before he lightly kissed it.
“Well, that’s romantic,” he announced as he pulled away to look at me. “Empusa, I had to leave. I have to find your mother. You’ll never be safe until I do.”
Sighing, I grasped his hand. “Well, now, that’s another story altogether.”
At his confused look, I led him to the bed and sat with him, telling him everything that had transpired since he had left Poseidon’s palace. When I was finished, he was left with his mouth hanging open. I reached over and gently closed it.
“Why are you so surprised?” I asked him wearily. “I’ve told you. In the world of the Olympians, nothing is ever what it seems. Not anything.”
His jaw tightened. “Your mother meant well, I’m sure. But…”
I interrupted him. “I know. She has inadvertently put me at risk. I told her. And I have told her to fix it. And I have faith that she will.”
“And in the meantime?”
I sighed. For the very first time in my life, I wasn’t sure what to do.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Brennan raised an eyebrow. “No?”
“No.”
“Well, I have an idea,” he suggested, slipping one arm under my knees and scooping me to his chest.
I laid my forehead against the warmth that I found there and sighed with contentment. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so happy to be here. I had brought nothing but danger to Brennan’s life. But I couldn’t deny it. There was no place else I’d rather be.
He sat on the edge of the bed and balanced me carefully on his legs. “Rest for a while, Emmie. You seem tired. You’ve been through a lot. You must be exhausted. Let me hold you while you sleep. I promise you, no one will get to you.”
I hadn’t realized how tired I actually was, how bone weary, until he pointed it out. But I was so tired that my legs were literally shaking. Even still, there were things we had to discuss. I resisted the urge to lean my head against him and close my eyes.
“Brennan, I don’t think you understand. My mother said that it is too dangerous for us to be together, that we can never be together. If that is true, what will become of us? I can’t stand the thought of being without you…but I can’t bear the thought of any harm coming to you, either.”
A tear slipped down my cheek and Brennan seemed bothered as he wiped it gently away with his thumb. His forehead was wrinkled in thought as he bent to gently kiss the spot where the tear had been.
“Emmie,” he began softly and my heart contracted at his voice. The very sound of it set me ablaze. “I don’t care what anyone says. You and I will find a way to be together. I don’t care what it takes, how long it takes or what I have to do. You belong with me. Got it?”
I nodded silently, finally allowing my eyes to close as I breathed him in… his strength, his scent, everything. He was right. I belonged to him and he belonged to me. I alm
ost pitied the person who tried to tear us apart because I would take them down limb by limb.
“You’re a feisty little hellcat, aren’t you?” he murmured as he read my mind. I smiled without opening my eyes.
“I keep forgetting you can do that now,” I answered sleepily. “I’ve got to be careful. I don’t want you to learn all of my secrets.”
He laughed, a gentle, low sound in the dark.
“I already know your secrets,” he replied confidently. “And I’m still here. So you see, I’m never going anywhere.”
I snuggled closer into his arms and allowed the darkness to overtake me as Brennan settled into the pillows behind us. But my sleep was interrupted before it had even begun.
“Empusa,” a calm voice said near my ear. I startled to attention and sat straight up.
Gaia stepped from the edge of the shadows and knelt by my side, her jewelry jingling as she moved. I sighed a breath of relief and Brennan grasped my arm.
“What is it?” he asked worriedly.
Gaia smirked. “He doesn’t know you can see me?”
I glared at her. “It’s not because I was keeping it from him. I just haven’t had the opportunity to share that particular thing.”
Brennan leaned forward and murmured into my ear. “Who are you talking to? Or do I not want to know?”
I met his gaze. “It depends. How do you feel about ghosts?”
He raised one blonde eyebrow. “Ghosts? Really?”
I nodded. “Definitely. One loud-mouthed ghost is perched on the edge of this bed. Her name is Gaia. She died in ancient Rome and she is one of my best friends in the world.”
Brennan sighed patiently, his hazel eyes flickering toward Gaia’s general vicinity. “And you know this how?”
“I’m over here, Romeo,” Gaia announced, making a circular motion in front of her face. I glared at her.
“As if he can see you.”
“And you can?” Brennan asked. He almost looked amused by this point, as though nothing surprised him anymore. I decided that was a healthy attitude for him to have and nodded.
“Yes. I can see her. I can see all ghosts, actually. It’s an ability I have because of my mother. Ghosts fall under her realm.”
“Ah, yes. The moon, witchcraft and all things dark?”
“Now you’ve got it,” I commended him laughingly. “All things dark.”
“And I come from all things light,” he mused. “It’s no wonder we’re supposedly incompatible.”
I shook my head. “Apparently it’s not that we’re incompatible. It’s because our combined energy would be too much for us to control or something like that. It’s hard to say if my mother was telling me the whole story.”
Gaia interrupted. “How exactly would your energy ‘combine’, Empusa?” I glanced at her to find her concealing an ornery smile.
“You know exactly how,” I mumbled. “We’d probably have to… well, we’d have to…”
“You’d have to have sex?” she chirped impishly, knowing full well that this topic made me uncomfortable, particularly with Brennan next to me. I swatted at Gaia, my hand swiping fruitlessly down through the air.
“Yes,” I answered clearly and defiantly. “In order for our energy to combine, I think we’d have to have sex.”
Brennan’s head snapped to attention, his eyes twinkling.
“Really?” he asked hopefully. “Then perhaps we should test that theory out. There’s no way to rule it out unless we perform an experiment. I’m up for it,” he offered. “Just so you know.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes toward Gaia. “Mortals.”
Brennan laughed, a sound so delicious that even Gaia paused to appreciate it. She cocked her head and studied him thoughtfully.
“He’s sexy, Empusa,” she declared. “I’ll give you that. But I do think that you’re mother might be right. There’s a chemistry between the two of you. I can feel it in the air, even when you’re sitting here doing nothing. If you did anything…er, else, I’m afraid Hecate might be right. Your energy would be too hard to contain.”
“First, it’s not polite to talk about someone when they can’t hear you,” I told her. “Second, it’s very possible that we might have a problem outside of the bedroom as well. I think that as Brennan’s powers further develop—that fact itself might cause a problem for us. Our powers might be contradictory or something. I only just now thought of that when you pointed out the electricity in the room right now. I feel it too and it’s stronger now than it was before.”
Brennan nodded seriously in agreement. “I feel it too.”
“It would be impossible not to,” Gaia grumbled. “It’s practically making my hair stand on end.” She needlessly smoothed her neat long hair as she spoke. “I think you might be right, Empusa.”
The more I thought on it, the more convinced I was that I was right, as well. And it wasn’t a comforting thought. I wanted Brennan to improve upon his abilities. I wanted him to master everything he was capable of. But at the same time, the thought terrified me now. The stronger he became, the more danger we posed to each other. How unfair was that?
Brennan read my mind. I could tell because he watched my face and as soon as my thoughts registered with him, his forehead wrinkled…a tell-tale sign of his concern.
“Crap,” he muttered.
“Yikes! Crap is right!” Gaia exclaimed, digging in her cloak as though she’d forgotten something. I watched her curiously.
“What is it?”
She found what she was looking for and extended her hand to me. I opened mine and she dropped my Moonstone bracelet into my waiting palm. My eyes widened immediately as Brennan took a sharp breath behind me.
“What the hell? How…”
“Your mom sent me with it,” Gaia answered proudly, obviously impressed that my mother trusted her enough for this sort of important mission. “I was supposed to give it only to you. She also sent this.”
Gaia handed me a small rolled papyrus, tied with a soft crimson cord. I tugged the cord free and unrolled the missive. My mother’s flowing hand spilled onto the page.
I do hope that this is proof that you can trust me, daughter. I love you more than life. Protect the moonstone until we set everything to rights.
I looked up at Gaia, my eyes wet with tears. “How did she get it back from Poseidon so quickly? Why didn’t she bring it herself? And how did she know to give it to you?”
Gaia stared back at me. “Your mother knows far more than you give her credit for,” she answered carefully. “She knew that you wouldn’t want to see her right now, even though apparently she could have used the Moonstone to find you. It is what led me to you, as a matter-of-fact. And I don’t know how she got it back from Poseidon. I think she had leverage of some sort.”
“Well, obviously,” I answered absently. “And knowing Poseidon’s nature, I’m sure he’s given her plenty of ammunition for leverage throughout the years.”
“No doubt,” Gaia agreed, her eyes glittering in the dark. “Now what, princess? Your mother has gone to the Spiritlands to discuss this situation with Zeus. You’ve got to keep yourself away from your father until everything is resolved and you’ve got to avoid internally combusting over this guy.” She gestured toward Brennan.
“I’m not going to internally combust,” I replied, reaching to grasp Brennan’s hand. He rubbed his thumb in a circle over mine, a familiar, comforting gesture. “But we’ll have to be careful. I just wish I had more information to go on. My whole situation is so strange. If only…” My voice trailed off as an idea popped into my head.
“What is it?” Brennan asked curiously. “What have you thought of?”
“Harmonia,” I answered slowly. “She’s the only one who even comes close to knowing what I feel like. She was cursed because of a stone- the Bloodstone. It ended up being because Zeus’ blood was embedded within it, which eventually saved all of the Olympians from the Fates. But Harmonia didn’t know that until everythi
ng was finished. That Bloodstone controlled her for thousands of years. I want to talk to her about it.”
“But didn’t you say that she lives in the Underworld?” Brennan asked hesitantly. “We’re not dead. How would we go about getting there?”
“You could do it the old fashioned way,” Gaia suggested with a shrug.
“You mean the dead way,” I clarified. Gaia smiled as she nodded.
“It’s not so bad,” she answered. “You’d never age.”
“I never age as it is,” I replied wryly. “I’ll think we’ll go in another direction. Hades took me with him awhile ago. We went straight to the Underworld. We were able to bypass the ferryman, the gates, the Judgment room, everything. I’ll just summon Hades.”
I shrugged like it was no big deal, like interacting with the god of the Underworld was a normal, everyday thing. Like he didn’t want to keep my soul in the Underworld with him forever, like he wasn’t sexy as hell and almost impossible to resist.
I sighed. If you were going to live, you might as well live dangerously.
Chapter Sixteen
“I knew you’d come to me sooner or later, little kitten,” Hades purred smoothly. He stood proudly in my dream, looking exactly like a rock star. He wore an unbuttoned white silk that flowed around his wrists, black leather pants and a black cloak that seemed to swirl around
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