Demigod Down (28 page)

Logan crept up the rungs hunching his massive
body under the door, putting his shoulder flush he waited another
moment before shoving up the sound of splintering wood loud in the
quiet passageway.

He disappeared from my view but I could hear
him tackle someone followed by grunting as I hauled ass up the
remaining steps and into the dim light of the computer room.

Logan’s fists connected solidly with the
guard on duty, the tech already in a pile on the floor. I couldn’t
lie, there was something very sexy watching him brutally subdue a
threat with his bare hands.

I turned away from him quickly and to the
computers in front of us, watching the dizzying display of code
flowing across the screens.

“I wish Tommy was here,” I muttered before I
turned back to Logan.

“You know what we are looking for?” I asked
woefully aware of my own short fallings. I could kill almost
anything, but computers presented a mystery I never needed to
figure out.

“Tommy walked me through it,” Logan answered
rapidly entering commands to the keyboard.

I fidgeted, not liking being idol or
depending on Logan.

Logan let out a low whistle turning to face
me “What?” I asked coming to look over his shoulder at the
information being displayed there.

He paged through it, “The location of their
current –“ he faltered for the right word.

“Private hell,” I offered.

He nodded, “Isn’t anywhere I can see, but,”
he continued to page to the end of the file, “the names and address
of everyone they have taken are.”

My eyes locked to my false name glowing in
green letters at me. “Tonight?” I asked.

“Yes,” Logan said.

“Great,” I answered turning to look at the
geek and guard. “Let’s get them into the tunnel and get back.
Apparently I am finishing this shift,” I huffed with a sigh.

Logan had hardly gotten the trapped door shut
before the voices outside the curtain rose, announcing the Boss’s
arrival. Without thinking, I pushed him against the wall, pressing
my lips hurriedly to his own. I didn’t expect the shock that ripped
down to my toes or how easily his lips parted to me. The feel of
his arms wrapping around my waist and pressing me close had my
guards slipping down as his lips gently nipped at my own.

Hands pressed against his chest, I let them
fall down to his waist, my fingers pulling out his crisp white
shirt.

A noise behind me forced me to turn as the
Boss clapped slowly, holding his hands out wide, “I told you she is
the best in the business,” he bragged to Logan.

Logan let his head fall against the hall,
sucking in a clean breath, I went to move off him, only to have him
keep me in place in front of him. “Give me a moment,” he whispered
to me.

I obliged, releasing his shirt, resting my
hands against his forearms which were braced on my shoulders.

What the fuck had just happened?

Logan finished his meeting with the Boss
leaving, but not before sparing me a long look back on the poles
dancing. I pretended not to notice, but the other girls, they
certainly did.

In the dressing rooms closing up, I realized
I was alone staring into my reflection playing over and over what
had happened with me and Logan. Should I tell Blake? Was that
considered cheating?

Heaving a sigh, I shouldered my bag heading
into the alley and into the fresh air. Before I could suck a clean
breath, the bouncer approached me, “Sorry kid,” he muttered before
socking me.

He caught me, throwing me over his shoulder
and he must have through that would have knocked me out. I played
the part, not letting my anger get the best of me.

The sliding door of a van opened and I heard
the boss and another car door opening. “Dammit Nari, she is the
best I have. Do you really have to take her?” he whined.

“Do not forget who you work for, underling,”
a cultured voice purred out as I was loaded into the van.

The bouncer sighed zip tying my wrists in
front of me and ankles together before the door closed before
launching into the night.

This was the only way to find out exactly
where the new facility was located and as an added bonus it sounded
like the sicko in charge was also coming along on this journey.

Stellar.

The tracking device on my watch would alert
the others to where I was, pending they had been paying attention
to the smash and grab. Since I wasn’t a trusting individual, I had
hidden my dagger in my boot, it was foolish of them not to check me
for weapons and it would undoubtedly work in my favor being thought
of as dumb and easy.

I refuse to comment on how that major
annoyance was now coming into my favor.

The drive was long, windy, and frustrating as
I rolled around the back of the empty van, until I rolled into
something soft and warm. Shifting on the floor I caught sight of
Carmen’s idle form along with another body illuminated by the
shifting moonlight through the windshield of the van.

We stopped forty-five minutes later according
to my watch and I kept my eyes open as the driver and Nari came
around to the back to pull open the sliding panel door.

He was a handsome man with bronzed skin tone,
dark chestnut curls, and piercing brown eyes flecked with
undertones of copper accented with defined cheek bones and ruby
lips.

“Nari.” I said with certainty.

He smiled , a charming playful smile, “My
dear girl, finally we meet.”

“I’ve had fun destroying your projects,” I
told him watching his eyes closely.

Nari smiled, unaffected by my jab. “I am
certain you have. Very clever finding my feeding grounds, but I do
believe your time as executioner has come to an end,” he gloated,
slicing through the bonds at my feet before hauling me up.

“Care for a tour?” he asked.

“What about the others?” I questioned,
turning to look as the driver hauled Carmen and the other girl onto
a flatbed cart.

“You should save your worry, for yourself
pet,” Nari hissed, stepping closer to me his grin turning
deadly.

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is this supposed to
be your scary face?” I asked unimpressed.

I saw the fist coming and let it connect
solidly with my jaw.

Turning back, I licked the blood that had
trickled down from my split lip. “So is this the part where I cower
in fear?” I rolled my eyes, “I am so unimpressed.”

Nari pulled me toward him by my white tank
top, fisting the material before slamming his lips against my
own.

Idiot.

I bared my teeth biting down into the soft
tissue of his bottom lip. “Bitch!” he screamed, hitting me
again.

“You are going to have to try harder than
that,” I told Nari, cracking my jaw.

“By the time I am done with you, you will beg
for mercy,” he hissed at me, his anger wafting off in hot
waves.

I could only smile. The fucker would be dead
before the sun rose. I would guarantee that.

Nari pulled me towards the square building
illuminated by the bright yellow moon in the cloudless night. A
shiver ran down my back as anticipation heightened my senses, more
than ready for a fight. Nari laughed, confusing my glee with fear.
Foolish man.

Into the belly of the beast, Nari dragged me,
anxious to show me his new cages. This facility was newer than the
one I had eliminated, the stench of filth and shit lesser as he
dragged me down the row of cages already filling up with
half-crazed human beings and shifters.

“You’ll have to excuse the lack of inventory.
We are currently restocking,” Nari informed me, casting a gleeful
glance behind me.

I scowled at his back. This fucker was taking
far too much pleasure in the torture of living beings.

Nari stopped pushing open a stainless steel
door into an office gesturing for me to go first. Stepping closer
to him, than I would have preferred I inhaled the scent of dust and
decay. Nari had a date with the underworld and I was going to
arrange it.

Pulling out a metal chair, he shoved me into
it before seating himself across the table.

“We have much to discuss,” he began tapping
the table with his long sculpted fingers.

I was done playing games - done beating
around bushes and so done playing politics with idiots, which is
why I had sliced through the bonds at my wrist.

Free hands made shoving the metal table into
Nari’s solar plexus far more rewarding.

“Bitch!” He hissed at me doubling over and
holding his stomach.

I smiled and I hoped the depravity of my
enjoyment of beating the shit out of him shinned out clearly, the
only way to fight psycho was with psycho.

“So tell me Nari, as the God of Chaos and all
that other crap what is your special power?” I asked, leaving my
blade hidden. Sometimes I just needed to tear apart something or
someone with my bare hands and Nari, he better be a fucking
challenge.

“My talents are more subtle,” Nari stated
smiling, “Turning the shifters into beasts in under a day has been
my crowning achievement. The vampires secret was just a hunch I
played. Who would have guessed they would turn psychotic at such a
simple things as eating human flesh?”

He cracked his knuckles, saying, “You don’t
really want to play with me kitten.”

I smiled, circling him, “Oh sweetheart, there
is nothing I want more.”

We hit each other with the force of a train
and the pain felt wonderful. Our shoulders slammed bone on bone
with Nari pulling back, grimacing.

I smiled lowering into my stance. He grunted
before charging me again. This time I swung connecting solidly with
the side of his face enjoying the sound of his cheek bone breaking
under the force of my blow.

Nari bellowed in pain before lashing out with
his own fists, blocking him I stepped back with the strength of his
blows guarding my head. He had no professional training. His hits
came in wide and sloppy. Ducking under his last blow, I kicked out
connecting with his knee relishing the sound of his bones breaking
before I sent a punishing upper cut to his chin throwing him back
onto the concrete.

Nari dragged himself up, his body healing
faster than my own, but still slower than a shifter or vampire.
Interesting. The God of Chaos had healing powers.

“I am a God!” he bellowed at me.

“Demigod, sweet cheeks, half-human and
completely able to be killed,” I gladly reminded him.

The door behind me swung open and I turned,
pulling my knife, two on one deserved a weapon.

Logan stood in the doorway, breathing
repressed anger and hostility.

“About time you showed up,” I informed him,
straightening up and turning back to Nari.

“Where the hell did he go?” I asked,
searching the room.

“Have you seen Kass?” Logan asked and I swung
back around to him, my skin growing cold.

“Why would Kass be in Oklahoma?” I asked,
terrified of the answer.

Logan moved to the side to reveal a terrified
Lorraine. “Because he took Lorraine and Kass from St Ann.”

Lorraine fisted her small hands into Logan’s
back.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

Logan nodded once, we turned as one as I
heard the cages behind Logan unlocked.

“Not good,” I whispered. “You need to get
ready to shift,” I told Logan, securing my grip on my dagger.

“He can’t,” Lorraine said between shakes.

“What do you mean he can’t?” I hissed
annoyed.

“He is too unstable. He can’t control
himself,” Lorraine said wiping the last tears away from her
pristine makeup.

“Good,” I said, not seeing the problem. “We
have a small army of shifters who have been forced into beasts and
vampires who now like the taste of flesh, being in control is going
to get us killed.”

Logan sighed as I rounded on him, running a
hand through his sooty hair, “She’s right. I’ve been ignoring my
lion’s instincts for too long. I can’t control them.”

“You don’t control instinct, you hone it,” I
forcefully informed him, stepping into his personal space. “We can
survive this together or die separately. Choose,” I think I just
quoted history.

The answer was in his eyes, pretty sure that
was a song. The clear caramel depths flecked with dark brown,
rounding as his snout pushed forward and canines elongated.

Smacking him on the shoulder, I smiled, “Now
that is what I am talking about!”

It was just in time as well as eerie howls
and cackling calls echoed off the walls to reach us. Using my
dagger I sliced Logan’s belt off.

“That was a gift!” Lorraine screeched to be
heard over the growling coming at us.

“You should never buy a shifter a real
leather gift, it’s insulting for one, and second, they can’t shred
it in a battle when a quick shift is needed,” I scolded her,
cutting Logan room for his massive calves as his shoes were
destroyed by the claws sprouting where his toes use to be. I had
time for a few more quick cuts on his tie and dress shirt before
the sounds were given form.

Lorraine whimpered behind us. Logan moved
slightly forward anticipation and glee in his half shifted head as
he grinned back at me.

“By all means,” I answered, shifting back
slightly. The entryway wasn’t large enough for us to fight side by
side and given Logan’s repressed beast, he needed to rip beings
limb from limb. Really, who hasn’t been there?

It took a few, long, painful moments of
waiting until the deranged beasts realized fresh meat was only a
jump and a skip away, once they made the connection they tore
through each other’s limbs to get to us.

Logan was impressive. Nothing made it past
him with slashing claws and snapping teeth, he destroyed everything
that came at us.

I’m not going to lie, I was turned on by his
ferocity.