Sin & Lightning (Demigods of San Francisco Book 5)

by K. F. Breene

  He curled his fingers around the hilt of the knife in his shoulder and, without flinching, yanked it out. No blood gushed down his front—it only left a splotch around the actual wound. The knife clattered across the ground as he turned, jerking his head to indicate we should follow him into his cave.

  A while later, we all sat in the main sitting room of what looked to be a collection of giant-made caves. The walls and ceilings had the same polished-looking surfaces as the tunnels and Death Alley, and at the end of the living room was a little forked hallway leading to two other areas we hadn’t entered.

  The condition of the place proved John and I had very different definitions of “homey.” Sparse and dirty, the living room didn’t have much to offer beyond a single decrepit armchair on a grime-filled rug. The main attraction was staring out into Death Alley. The seat barely even had a view, with the small opening on the other side blocking most of the grandeur of the valley floor below.

  Jerry sat in his chair with the rest of us on the ground, fanned out around him like children. We were too tired to care. I could feel Kieran winding ever closer, probably out of his skin with fear and worry. Without any cell phone coverage up here, the only thing I could do was pump soothing feelings through our connection.

  The spirit of Jerry’s fiancée stood next to his chair, her eyes rooted to him. It was clear she really missed him, and that they’d had a great love. It was such a shame they’d been torn apart so brutally.

  “You really can see her,” Jerry started, leaning forward so he could stare me in the face.

  “Yes. I’m a Spirit Walker. That’s my jam.”

  “She said that to me all the time when we were together. ‘Wait, my knight. We must not haste today, for we’ll have nothing to occupy us tomorrow.’” His smile was sad. A sheen came over his eyes. “She had plant magic. A Chloromane. She had a talent for creating these fantastic natural scenes. Each little corner had something different. Something for every mood. She helped me take life slower. Enjoy myself more. Quell the rage that springs up out of nowhere. She was my light in a dark world. I lost all sanity when she was taken from me.”

  “What was her name?” I asked.

  “Don’t you know?” he asked with an edge to his voice.

  “No, actually. I haven’t asked her. I don’t know anything about her death, either. I was told she was killed by a Demigod, but not how or why. I can ask her, if you like. I was just giving you an opportunity to answer.”

  “Be my guest.” He waved me on before leaning back in his chair and throwing a large leg over the small armrest. It came to my attention that he wasn’t wearing underwear, and also that he needed a lot of patches for those pants.

  I looked at the lady, her hand resting on the back of his chair, and lifted my eyebrows.

  “I’m sorry for his behavior,” she said, her face pulled down. If she could cry, I knew she would be. “He is a good man. A just man. He’s in pain and he’s lost his way.”

  “Didn’t you hear him? You were the one that quelled his rage. Without you, he’s fighting to keep his head above water. Sometimes we need to lose our way for a while to find ourselves again. Maybe he still needs more time. I don’t know. He’s not much of a talker. What’s your name, before we go on?”

  “Caily,” she said. “But he calls me Sweet Rose.”

  “Well I’m not going to call you Sweet Rose.” Like I’d predicted, he jumped, and like I’d only hoped, he pulled his leg off the armrest, closing up the peep show. “Did you cross over after your death, Caily?”

  “Not at first. I didn’t realize—”

  I held up a hand. “Do you want me to tell him this, or…?”

  “Tell me everything,” Jerry said hungrily.

  “It’s not up to you, Jerry,” Donovan said from the other side of the room.

  “Yeah, Jerry, you get no say in ghost behaviors,” Thane said.

  Jerry pretended not to hear.

  “You can tell him, yes,” Caily said with a sad smile. “We had no secrets.” I gave Jerry a thumbs-up as she went on. “I still don’t know what I did to anger the Demigod. Something with the Demigod’s garden, though no one would say what. My death came out of nowhere, with my back turned. Suddenly I was standing beside my body, my head rolling away, and the Demigod’s henchman was standing over me with a bloody sword.”

  “Good heavens, what a thing to witness,” Red murmured after I’d relayed Caily’s words.

  “I’d prefer that over thinking I’d hurt a kid,” Jack said, over with the other spirits and Harding near the entrance of the cave. Prior to his death, a Possessor had used his body to hurt Mordecai and Daisy.

  Why Harding had decided to lump himself in with them, watching silently and intently, I didn’t know. He didn’t usually hang out with the hired help, as he thought of them.

  “Soon enough, though, I saw the pulsing beacon,” Caily went on. “It pulled at me, promising to soothe the trauma of the event. But seeing my ruined body didn’t bother me nearly as much as knowing that I’d never see my knight again. I’d never stroll with him through our garden—a modest affair, but ours all the same. I’d never whisper secrets to him beneath the elm tree, or sneak kisses behind the sequoia grove where he proposed. I’d never get my white wedding under a canopy of vines and lilies. Worst of all, I’d never get to tell him goodbye.”

  I wiped a stray tear, the agony in her voice matching that on Jerry’s face as I relayed her words. “You can tell him now, Caily. Through me.” She stepped toward me, and I motioned her back. “No, no. Not through me, like possessing me. I mean I’ll relay what you say.”

  She turned and looked at him, and I told Jerry of her positioning so he could look back.

  “You made me the happiest I’ve ever been,” she said softly, her voice like the mist before rain. “I never thought I’d be so lucky as to find someone like you, and I am forever thankful that I got to know true love before the Great Mother tucked me into the earth. Please be easy, my love. Do not mourn. For I have a great garden in the beyond, filled with all the things we loved. I’ve even put in your moody corner, so when you join me, there will be a place for you to retreat when the vibrancy of the colors annoys your rocky soul.”

  “Ask her if she thinks he should stay in this stinky pit of despair,” Bria said after I’d repeated everything. She’d gotten comfortable, stretching out on her side with her head propped on her hand. “Someone needs to talk sense into him.”

  “I would join you now,” Jerry said, tears in his eyes and choking on his words. He wiped his runny nose. “I would join you right now.”

  Caily’s smile was sweet. “Then you would have so very few stories to entertain me with when we meet again. Live your life. Live it to its fullest. Experience everything as though it will be your last. Find love again.”

  “Never,” Jerry spat, sobbing silently. “I could never.”

  “Time does not exist where I am, my love. Live your life. And when I blink next—not before—I will see you again.”

  “I love you,” Jerry said. “I miss you, every day. Every second. I can barely think straight for missing you.”

  “Be easy. I am at rest. I am waiting for you. Gather those stories, and then we will laugh once again.”

  He hunched over, his whole body shaking as he sobbed, great heaves of his huge body. It seemed as though he was experiencing her death all over again. This time, though, he’d have closure. This time, he would be able to move on, because she had allowed him to.

  “Thank you for telling him,” she said to me, and I wanted to remember that kind smile forever. It was so loving and sweet, so joyful and full of life, yet also so sad.

  “You’re welcome,” I whispered.

  She watched Jerry for a few moments longer before turning and looking around, obviously searching for an exit.

  “Here.” I summoned the Line for her, a quick portal back to her resting place.

  Before she crossed, she half turned back to me. “I
f you have someone you love, make sure to let them know. Show them every day. Every hour. Savor each kiss, and remember each touch. You will never miss anything more than those that you’ve loved and lost.”

  I repeated her words, even as they sank down into my core. Longing, my longing, infused the soul link I shared with Kieran. I would do exactly as she said as soon as he arrived. With all the danger we faced, we could be taken from each other at any moment, ripped apart. While we had physical bodies, I wanted to make sure we used them to express our love for each other as often as possible, just like Caily had said.

  “Give me a moment,” Jack said from beside the door before getting up and walking out. Chad followed, digging his hands into his ghostly pockets. They were probably thinking of those they’d left behind, family and friends. Acquaintances they’d never sit and chat with. Jack definitely missed the times he’d cooked dinners with Donovan, the two of them cracking jokes and snickering. The other spirits stayed as they were, watching.

  “Let’s all take a minute,” I said, leaving Jerry to his emotion and standing, moving deeper into the caves.

  “Wait, are you gonna snoop?” Bria asked quietly when she caught up. “Because I’d be in for that.”

  Red and the guys hurried to catch up.

  I waved them away. “Oh my God, you guys, no! I was going to sit down and maybe rest my eyes for a moment. I’m freaking tired. We’ll give Jerry some time to calm down, but we need to have a chat with him before Kieran storms in and undoes all the bridge-building we’ve done.”

  “I just wanted to get out of that room. That guy is a buzzkill,” Donovan said.

  “I didn’t want to be left alone with him, either,” Thane admitted. “I’m all for a good cry, but not around strangers. That shit makes me uncomfortable.”

  I rolled my eyes, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Fine. Let’s have a little peek at how far back these caves go, really quick, and then we’ll chill, okay?”

  We traveled through a bedroom with a worn-out mattress on the floor and very little else, beyond a small area with a bucket for a privy and a horrible stink, and into a long rock hallway with the smooth sides and a rounded ceiling customary of Jerry’s rock work. Camping lanterns dotted the way, so far apart they created a very low light, hardly enough for visibility. We supplemented it with our phones, taking the first right we came to into a half-made room with rough walls. Almost like a little dug-out nook. A similar nook led off that, then another long hallway with a slight breeze.

  “Did you ever hear back from those rats?” I asked Bria. My voice echoed down the hallway.

  “They never came back,” she replied. “I was too preoccupied to keep much of a focus on them.”

  “I feel a breeze,” Donovan said.

  “Me too,” Thane said.

  “I wonder if it’s another way out,” Bria whispered, reducing the echo.

  “Or another way in. How can one guy guard two entrances?” Red asked.

  “We shall see,” I said.

  But we didn’t see. Or we just couldn’t figure out how. The rooms and hallways all seemed to interconnect, twisting and turning and then cutting back on themselves. The inside of the mountain was a labyrinth, created by a bored and listless individual who had nothing to do but exercise his magic. None of the rooms or nooks had anything in them, including bones. Yet camping lanterns dotted the way. He’d need to refresh those pretty regularly.

  “He must leave this mountain occasionally, or where do the supplies come from?” Red asked.

  It was a good question, but we had bigger concerns. Before long, we were hopelessly lost in the tunnels, the giant not the only danger on this mountain—we didn’t have the sense of direction to get us out of this jam. I doubted Jerry would come to our aid, either. We were on our own.

  6

  Kieran

  “They aren’t scared like they were a couple hours ago,” Henry said as Kieran led them up the narrow road littered with rocks.

  “Alexis is worried,” Kieran said, trying to calm the inferno within him.

  Alexis and the others were alive—that was the main thing.

  “What were they thinking?” he said for the millionth time as he picked his way around the boulders, obviously placed as a warning. They were a damn good warning of the giant’s power. Some of the boulders were massive. “I had a plan for meeting him. I had it worked out.”

  Silence answered his words. They all clearly thought Kieran wouldn’t have been able to close the deal. Alexis and the others had put themselves in harm’s way to get the job done. Commendable, but they had no idea what they were getting into.

  Kieran had seen this sort of scenario play out before. People as powerful as the giant weren’t allowed to disappear from the magical world. The life of seclusion they envisioned often became a life of harassment. They were sought out, taken against their will more often than not, and put right back into the rat race, bound by a blood oath they hadn’t agreed to or wanted. It was a part of the magical world no one ever talked about. Binding someone against their will was illegal, but once a magical worker was bound, they could be silenced. Without proof, a Demigod wouldn’t be judged for their crimes. Business resumed, the rule breaking swept under the carpet.

  Kieran’s father had partaken in the practice. He’d called them “pilgrimages,” and he’d dragged Kieran along on a few.

  This giant hadn’t been taken down yet, which meant he would be exceptional in his defense. He’d be ruthless in his execution. And he’d be closed off in his thinking, assuming everyone was out to trap him.

  Mostly, of course, he’d be right. That was the angle Kieran had hoped to use. Kieran wasn’t there to trap the giant—he was there to offer him the choice of a new life.

  Except he would kill the giant if he had so much as put a finger on Alexis.

  “He must be holding them captive,” Henry said as they found an inlet laden with trees. A small path led through a ravine and likely up to the ridge that would take them to the giant’s lair. This route was well documented in the inner circles. Of course, the only people who’d survived to tell the tale hadn’t made it very far. “They are mostly staying in the one area.”

  Kieran stepped up onto a boulder and followed the trail out of the trees and up. The path narrowed to the point that he had to hold on to the side and carefully watch his footing.

  “If he shakes this mountain, we’ll be thrown off,” Henry said, directly behind him.

  “That’s part of his defense. I probably would’ve sent you all back at this point. Gone it alone.”

  “He wants to play with his food before he eats it,” Zorn growled, taking up the rear.

  Kieran gritted his teeth, remembering the rush of disgust he’d felt from Alexis a while back. One finger. If that giant had laid even one finger on her, Kieran would rip his arm off.

  “She’s fine, sir,” Boman said with utter conviction, the only one who had been talking Kieran down. “She is like a misfit whisperer. She has a knack for making people feel understood. She probably learned it with spirits, but she’s done it with all of us. If anyone can charm that giant, it is her. And if she couldn’t, she would’ve ripped his soul out and stuffed it up his newly evacuated body’s ass. Have faith.”

  “I’ll have faith when I see her. Right now, I’m running alternative plans through my head.” Kieran took it easy around a particularly tight corner, not bothering to look down. He wouldn’t fall. He couldn’t, not when Alexis needed him.

  A slight rumble disturbed the small rocks at Kieran’s feet and made the rock under his palm tremble.

  “He knows we’re here,” Kieran said, speeding up. He called down a thick fog, blanketing the sky with it, creating a cocoon for them. He knew the giant could sense them through the rock, but if he had any sort of viewing system set up, the fog would shroud them from view. “Watch your step.”

  The sound of stone grinding against stone caught Kieran’s attention.

  “Down
!” He hunched, compacting into a tight ball. Not a moment later, a boulder launched off the cleft next to them, skimming Kieran’s shoulder as it passed the groove of the path. It crashed down on the slope ten feet below before continuing its descent. “Speed up. Fast as you can.”

  They worked along the ledge at a breakneck pace, senses alert for more falling debris. Another boulder came at them a moment later, smaller than the last, skimming past them and carrying on.

  “He’s not shaking us off—he’s trying to knock us off,” Henry said.

  “He likes to play with his food, as I said,” Zorn murmured, barely audible.

  “Maybe he can’t shake the mountain this far down,” Boman added.

  Kieran shook his head as the path flattened out just a little. In a moment, he saw why. An inlet ran off the ledge into a short tunnel. Beyond that, cloaked in white fog, was an area open to the skies. Alexis was deeper in the mountain and farther right, but not higher. She must’ve entered through this passageway.

  He ducked into the tunnel, lifting the fog just enough to see the ground ahead. Rocks of various sizes littered the way, some smashed in half, some gathered in little piles.

  “Look.” Boman pointed above them, where the sleek and shiny tunnel ceiling had cracked. Dirt pooled in various places, hinting that the damage was recent.

  “You are not welcome here,” a voice boomed out, filling the tunnel before leaking out. The ground beneath them rumbled. The sound of rocks grinding together spoke of a larger defense just out of view. A strong current of fear flooded his middle—Alexis!

  He was moving before he could think it through. Rage, hot and heavy, lodged in his chest. Terror drowned him.

  “Zorn, go gas,” Kieran barked, wondering if the giant could feel a Djinn in gas state through the rocks. No matter: Kieran would make sure the giant was plenty distracted. “Get past him and look for the others. Boman and Henry, stay with me. If you see an opportunity, take it.”

  He didn’t need to be more specific. They were experienced enough to read the situation and respond appropriately to whatever opportunities arose.