Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) (7 page)

My boots squished in the muck as I reached out and touched him. The feel of him beneath his shirt made my stomach turn, but I had to try. After all, I’d asked him to do this. The least I could do was try. After all, that would make it easier to pull him close and stick a blade in his back later. “I’ve never actually seen Robocop though.”

“You haven’t?” He shook his head. “Well, I’ll have to fix that.” He touched my hand, and the feel of his skin on mine made my gut twist in revulsion.

“Sounds like a plan.” I smiled and patted his hand just before Thes slammed into the ground next to us and grabbed me by my hair. He whirled me around, which let me tell you, hurt like a son of a bitch. My only saving grace was that he was back in human form and couldn’t throw me
that
far. As it stood, his muscles rippled from effort, and his eyes were wild with rage.

“Thes, what are you doing?” Connor asked, glancing from me to him. As he took in Thes’s face, his eyes went cold. “Stop.”

“No,” Thes snarled and turned so his back was to Connor. The movement made my hair nearly tear from my scalp, and I bit down a cry of pain as I tried to decide what to do. I couldn’t stab him while he wasn’t in werewolf form because it’d kill him. Hell, he probably knew that which was why he was human right now. The bastard.

“Let go of my hair,” I said, gripping my swords so tightly my hands hurt from the effort. “If you don’t, I
will
stab you.”

He let go, but his look was no less severe. Very slowly, he dropped his hand to his side and wisps of my hair fluttered in the air beside his fingers.

“Now you see what he is.” He shifted one shoulder toward Connor, causing his well-defined muscles to strain at the confines of his skin. “Now you will try to kill him. I know you.”

“I won’t,” I lied, but before I could say more, he leaned in to whisper something into my ear. It was no mean feat because he was six and a half feet tall, and I was five foot nothing.

“You’re lying. I can smell it.” He bared his teeth, and it seemed incredibly menacing for someone who wasn’t in rage-beast form. “Do not try.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you.” I took a step backward, sheathing my swords as I did so. I might not be able to stab him, but I could punch him in his stupid face. I bet it’d be incredibly satisfying.

“Fine.” He stood up and crossed his arms over his broad chest, causing his long black ponytail to swing behind his back like a pendulum. “So what’s your plan?”

“My plan?” I asked, suddenly caught off guard. How was I supposed to be the one with the plan? Hadn’t he been here for a while now?

“Those computers said we had to hold the line until you arrived.” He sighed. “You’re supposed to know what to do.”

“I don’t even know what the hell that thing was,” I cried, gesturing toward the sinkhole. “How am I supposed to know what to do? I mean, Jesus, all my plans are pretty much ‘go hit the thing in the face until its dead.’”

“I can deal with that,” Connor replied, stepping up between us and throwing his arms around our shoulders. I’d never seen a werewolf visibly cringe, nor one recover so quickly, but Thes did both. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

“Lillim,” Thes said, sucking in a breath as he shut his eyes. It looked like he was trying to stay calm. “That thing is Nidhogg. The dragon caught in the roots of Yggdrasil. I don’t know if punching him in the face will work.”

I instantly agreed with him because going after something like Nidhogg without a definite way of killing him was practically suicide, but I wasn’t about to say that. Besides, everyone, Dioscuri and werewolf alike, was looking at us. I couldn’t back down. Even if the thought of going after Nidhogg was pretty much the dumbest thing I’d ever do. I had a reputation to uphold. Damn, sometimes I hated being me.

“Well, we won’t know until we try,” I said, pulling my swords free and pointing them at the sinkhole like I was Johnny Rico. “Come on you apes, you wanna live forever?”

N
o one followed
me as I walked toward the sinkhole which was simultaneously completely reasonable and completely disheartening. Here I was marching toward certain death like a badass and not one of them followed me. Instead, they looked at each other with shades of horror, fear, anger, and pretty much every emotion but bravery plastered across their faces. And this was from people who had faced down who knew how many hordes of the undead.

I tightened my grip on my swords as the gravel-strewn streets crunched beneath my boots. I wouldn’t stop. No. Each step I took was a promise, and if I backed down, I’d lose them forever. Sure, I might die, but hey, my most prized possession was my pride. If I lost that, well, I might as well die for real.

“Lillim, wait,” Connor called, but he sounded like he hadn’t taken a single step toward me. Besides, it wasn’t like I could stop. If I did, I’d lose my nerve. If I lost my nerve, I wouldn’t go confront an ancient Nordic dragon. If I didn’t confront the dragon, I couldn’t punch him in the face, and I really wanted to punch him in the face. Ipso facto, I wasn’t stopping. Not even for Connor. Not even for all the Connors in the whole world.

“No,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure he could hear me because I hadn’t spoken very loudly, and I was several feet away and facing the opposite direction. “I’m going there with or without you all, and when I come back and toss Nidhogg’s head at your feet, well, know I did it without the lot of you.” I almost called them a derogatory word for female genitalia then, but since I possessed said genitalia, I refrained.

“Lillim, don’t be like that,” Connor said, and I could hear the sigh in his words. The grin in his teeth. The thing was, well, he wasn’t scared. At least not of following me down there. Maybe of something else, but not of following me.

If that was the case, he could come. Having the destroyer in my back pocket would be a hell of a thing, even if just being near him was about as appealing as having a glass-knuckled fist fight with Jean Claude Van Damme. Still, sacrifices had to be made because despite common belief, I didn’t actually want to die. Been there, done that, and I didn’t even want the crappy T-shirt.

“Connor, come with me.” I cocked my head toward him as I spoke. Not enough so I could see him. I didn’t want to see him because then I might see Thes, and from the way I could feel his gaze boring into me, I did not want to see it. “Don’t tell me you haven’t played a game just like this before.” A smile crossed my lips. “What would you do if you were playing a video game?”

“This isn’t a game, Lillim,” Thes said, and his words were angry and hard. They were worn around the edges from too much fighting and too much loss. I wasn’t sure what had happened to him while I was asleep, but it hadn’t been kind. I’d heard voices like that from newbies back from their first day in the field, and just like then, I wanted to tell him it’d be okay. It wouldn’t be okay of course, but I wanted to lie to him and make it better at least for a little while.

“Thes, when I want your opinion, I’ll bark like the yellow-bellied dog you are.” I knew as soon as I said it, I shouldn’t have. Thes was the freaking alpha out here, and I’d just insulted his cojones. That never ends well with wolves, were or otherwise.

And this time was no exception.

Thes landed in front of me with enough force to crack the cement. He wasn’t in werewolf form so I had no idea how the hell he’d managed it, but it was impressive as hell. His muscles tensed with barely suppressed rage as he narrowed his eyes at me.

I’ll be honest, for a second, I wanted to apologize and beg him not to hurt me. Only, at the same time, I almost wanted him to try. I wasn’t sure how strong he was, and evidently, my summoning two deities to fight along my side meant little. If he wasn’t scared of them, what else could he do? I’m not sure why, but it made me want to take him on in an intrinsically “Am I better than him?” way.

“What are you doing, Lillim?” He didn’t move as I approached. I didn’t think he would, but I’d sort of hoped for it, you know, in the way I always hoped having a root canal wouldn’t hurt.

“Saving you,” I replied and tried to push past him. It was like trying to shoulder-check a brick wall. To say he didn’t move was an understatement. “If you want to stay up here and die, that’s cool. If I’m going to die, I want it to be down there.” I nodded toward the hole behind him. “I want to die on my feet, running toward the horde while giving the Devil the finger. I don’t want to stay up here and let the horde devour me bit by bit.”

“You have no idea what it’s like to be devoured bit by bit,” he replied with a far off look in his eyes that almost made me think he might know what that felt like. I mean, okay it was possible because he could heal and shit, but still. Still. He wouldn’t be standing here if that had happened.

“Come with me, Thes,” I said, sheathing my wakazashi and holding one hand out to him. “Let’s do this together.”

He shut his eyes and sucked in a breath that made my bangs flutter around my face, and I knew he was going to refuse. Goddamn him.

“Psst.” The voice of Isis, whispered in my ear like an annoying imp. “Tell him if he doesn’t go down there, I’ll stab Sekhmet in the face again.”

I almost asked her why. Almost asked her why it would matter, or if it was true, or any of a million questions, but I didn’t. If there was one thing Isis knew how to be, it was manipulative. If Thes came with me, the others might follow.

“Lillim,” Thes started, and as he spoke, his voice betrayed a weight on his shoulders that must have weighed more than the planet on which we stood. “I—”

“Isis says if you don’t come, she’ll stab Sekhmet in the face. Evidently, she knows where Sekhmet is and has a very sharp knife.” I said nothing else because my words hit him like a slap across the face. Seriously. He reeled backward and everything. It almost made me feel bad.

“What?” he asked, eyes wide, and I saw pain, fear, and rage flash across his features in a wild frenzy, and for a moment, I worried that he was going to try to kill me. He didn’t, but let me just say, pissing off a werewolf while in arm’s reach was scary as heck. There was no way I was ever doing it again. Well, I was going to think about never doing it again.

Thes hadn’t wanted to help me. Hell, he probably knew Isis was lying about the whole Sekhmet thing, but he wanted to believe he could save her. He was Fox Mulder, and I just had to give him something. If I did, he’d come. I mean, sure, I’d feel like the worst sort of scum, but that was fine, I could carry that burden. I could carry everything if it meant saving my people, his people, and the whole world. I’d pay for it all and whistle freaking Dixie while I did it.

“You heard me,” I replied and held my hand out to him. “Come.”

A strangled cry left his throat as he looked past me toward the ragtag group of Dioscuri and werewolves. “You’re lying.”

“Maybe.” I cocked a grin at him. “But what if I’m not? Is it worth the risk?”

Thes broke, and as he did, a wave of guilt rushed through me. I mean, okay, I had no idea who Sekhmet was. Actually, that’s not true. I knew she was a bad ass Egyptian goddess who could scorch the Earth with fire, but surely he couldn’t mean
that
Sekhmet.

“What will happen if I leave?” he replied, turning his gaze back to me. There it was. He was coming. He just needed that last little push. Just needed one last excuse to shirk his duty to whatever the hell this was out here.

I spun on my heel and faced the crowd. They were watching like any of this mattered, like we could win. Those poor sons of bitches.

“Can you guys hold the line a little longer while Thes and I go down there?” I smiled at them, trying to beat back the fear and doubt in their faces through sheer determination. “Cause if you can, we can win this.” I raised my fist. “Cause I’ve got a super-serious punch in store for Nidhogg.” I turned back to Thes and grinned maniacally. “What do you say? Want to help me punch that dragon in the face?”

He was silent until Connor took a step forward. A sly smile played across his lips as he glanced from me to Thes and back again. He knew my game.

“Either way, I’m coming with you, Lillim. Hot chicks in leather is kind of my thing.” His grin broadened as he began coming toward me, and yes, part of me wanted to shake him violently. Had he seriously just said that? “Thes, you can stay if you like, but I have no doubt in my mind these guys can hold up just fine without you. They’re big boys.”

Struggle filled Thes’s features as he stood there looking at me. I could tell he wanted to come with me. I wasn’t sure if it was just because he wanted to find out about Sekhmet, but either way, he wanted to come. Only, he couldn’t abandon his post. Like I said, he was the kind of leader who would do anything for his people, and he would not leave their side. Damn.

Thes started to say something, but as the first sounds of speech burbled out of his mouth, a chorus of cheers erupted from the gathered warriors. It pushed Thes’s retort back down his throat, and I was glad for it because that cheer meant he was going to go down into the depths of Nifelheim with me so we could fight a dragon the size of Godzilla. God-freaking-damn.

“
S
o
, you think I’m hot?” I asked, glancing at Connor. We’d been walking for about an hour. I’d sort of expected the sinkhole to go straight down, but it didn’t. Instead, it flowed down at an angle as though it belonged to the burrow of a giant worm. We’d long since left behind the remains of civilization and were now deep in the rocky strata. I wasn’t sure how far we had to go since the earth was nearly eight thousand miles in diameter, but Connor kept insisting we were close. I was beginning to think his definition of the word and mine were very, very different.

Besides, it was cold, a lot colder than I’d expected. For some reason, I’d expected it to be moist and warm, like a journey into Hell ought to be, but instead, the suffocating cold of dead earth pulled the heat from my body and made me shiver. It made me glad my Dioscuri fighting suit had extra padding in certain places.

Connor’s eyes went wide as he glanced at me. “Um—”

“It doesn’t matter what you think,” I said, cutting him off with a wave of my free hand. “Did you think making a comment about coming with me because you think I look hot was a good way to make people think I was capable?” I settled a face-melting glare on him. “Comments like that set my gender back at least fifty years.”

“I, erm…” Connor glanced at Thes for help, but the werewolf was very pointedly looking away from us, which was good because from the smile on his lips he was relishing this moment, although I didn’t know why. It made me wonder how many times Thes had seen Connor stick his foot into his mouth. Probably a lot.

“Spit it out!” I waved my katana at him. Blue sparks leapt from the surface as it shined with pale indigo light. It was the only thing keeping us from absolute darkness, and while I wasn’t sure if Thes or Connor could see in the dark, I certainly couldn’t. I’d managed to make it about a hundred yards in the dark before I turned on the light.

Sure, if something saw me it’d know exactly where I was, but come on, we were following a hole made by Nidhogg. It probably wouldn’t matter if he could see us coming or not since he was likely to smell us well before we came into view. I mean, yes, optimally, no light, but there was no way I was walking miles underground in the dark.

“That wasn’t my intention.” Connor shook his head and had the decency to look embarrassed.

“Of course it wasn’t. Guys never think about it like that. They think, ‘oh I’m complimenting her,’” I said, and the urge to punch him in his stupid face was nearly overwhelming. “Let me be clear here. You wouldn’t have said that about He-man over there.” I jerked a thumb at Thes. “He’s like a Greek freaking god, but I didn’t say ‘hey, Thes, come down here because you have big muscles, and I’m a tiny girl who needs a big strong man.’”

“Lillim,” Thes said, and the way he looked at me, made me think I was being unfair. “Maybe you should chill a bit. I think we can all agree Connor is an idiot.”

It was possible I was overreacting. I mean, I hadn’t started off this annoyed, but as we’d progressed down through the darkness, I realized the last thing my people had heard before I left was that the destroyer was going to follow me down here because I was pretty. Screw that noise. Connor wasn’t just some guy. He was the Dioscuri’s boogieman. That kind of power had responsibility.

“I am an idiot,” Connor replied, examining the scuff marks on his Chuck Taylors like they were the most interesting shoes in the world.

“Yeah, why else would you wear shoes with patented nineteen fifties’ technology for a walk to the underworld?” Thes shook his head. “You’ll have blisters the size of mountains by the time we get there.”

“Firstly, I make these look good.” Connor clicked his heels together like there was no place like home. Unfortunately, he remained put. “Secondly, why don’t you put on a shirt or some pants?” Connor put one hand over his mouth, and the next bit came out in a startlingly clear rendition of Darth Vader. “I find your lack of pants disturbing.”

Before Thes could reply, I socked Connor hard in the shoulder. He winced and let out a yowl as his eyes fixed on me.

“I’m being serious,” I snapped, glaring right back at him. “If you ever do that shit again, I will cut off your balls and hang them beneath my pickup truck. I don’t even own a pickup truck, but I’ll get one just for the occasion, capiche?”

“Yeah,” Connor said, shaking his head in a way that made me think he was blowing me off, chalking my reaction up to hormones and general bitchiness. I swear if the next thing out of his mouth was “I was on the rag,” I’d kill him. “I get it. I will never call you pretty again.” He crossed his heart.

“Ugh!” I said, throwing my hands up as I marched past them. I had enough body issues to deal with without people thinking I was incapable.

“I swear, Connor, it’s like you’ve never talked to a girl ever,” Thes said, shaking his head. I glanced sidelong at the werewolf to see him watching me carefully. I wasn’t sure what the gleam in his brown eyes meant, but I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

“Admittedly, most of the girls I talk to start the conversation with ‘Ick, go away.’ There’s not a lot to say after that.” He shrugged, and as he did, I remembered something. Connor might have been joking about being unable to talk to girls, but he’d dated Thes’s sister, and the last time I’d seen her had been when a sniper had put some silver bullets into her. My heart leapt into my throat. Was she okay?

“Speaking of girls who think you’re icky,” I said, spinning around and walking backward so I was facing the two of them. It was probably unwise since we were heading toward certain doom, but at the same time, this trek was boring. Yeah, I know, complacency kills, but you know what else kills? Boredom.

“What?” Connor asked a lot more hesitantly than I thought he would.

“How’s your sister, Thes?” I said, ready to put on my best apologetic face. I mean, I hoped she was okay, but I hadn’t seen her out there. Was she dead? I hoped not. I mean that too. I really, really wanted Charity to be alive, and not just because it’d make me feel less guilty.

“She’s fine. She’s with Halcyon on the other front.” Thes shrugged. “I didn’t know you cared.”

“I care,” I sighed. “I mean, I was right there when she got shot.”

“Yeah,” Thes said, but didn’t elaborate. Was that why he’d been so pissed at me? It made sense. I’d be angry at me if were him. After all, I’d gotten his sister involved. If I hadn’t, she wouldn’t have gotten shot.

“Sorry,” I said because I didn’t know what else to say.

“It isn’t your fault.” Thes shrugged, and I realized he really needed to stop with the whole shirtless werewolf thing. He was way too hot to go around bare-chested, and not the good kind of hot. No, he was the bad kind of hot. The kind of hot that made me want to hook up with him just so I could feel him pressed against me.

I wasn’t even that kind of girl, and I had a boyfriend, who while he wasn’t there when I woke up, was pretty damned hot himself, and yet I still wanted Thes on an intrinsically human female level. A lot. It was scary, especially because I knew Thes knew that. He’d lamented about it before, and as much as I’d wanted to tell him it was okay and he was wrong, it wasn’t okay and he wasn’t wrong.

To be fair, he probably didn’t want to be dressed in only gym shorts, but that whole shifting into a werewolf thing tended to completely destroy clothing. I wasn’t sure why the gym shorts hadn’t torn to shreds, but I was glad he had them. Let’s just say, if I saw any more of him, I might not be able to contain myself. I’d leap on him, push him to the ground, and well, you can finish that thought.

Besides, how would it look to do that after I’d just admonished Connor for the same thing? No, I was keeping my thoughts to myself.

“That’s nice of you to say…” I swallowed hard while trying to make eye contact. It was hard because my eyes kept dropping to those V-shaped muscles beside his abdomen that were like my version of kryptonite.

“It’s true though.” He smirked at me. “I mean, yeah, you can totally blame yourself if you want to do it. I’m not going to stop you, but she should have smelled that sniper long before he got a shot off.” Thes tapped his nose, drawing my eyes back to his face. “That’s what Halcyon told her too.”

“So are you saying she
does
blame me, and your alpha told her she should have been better?” Thes nodded, and I knew in that instant Charity would probably never forgive me. It was one thing to be responsible, but it was quite another for others to tell Charity to get over it because it was her own fault. I didn’t believe Thes when he’d said I was innocent any more than Charity probably did. While he might be a golden-furred wolf god now, he hadn’t been before. He’d have gotten shot too if that sniper had been around.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Connor said, shooting me a wide grin. “But I told her how hot she looked in bandages and she got over it.”

I’m not sure what the look on my face was exactly, but Connor actually cringed. It was unfortunate too because I really wanted to be able to repeat a glare that could drive fear into the heart of the destroyer. C'est la vie.

I spun around and let out a small sigh. Well, so much for small talk. So far I’d managed to bitch at Connor and make myself feel guilty. Awesome.

“So, whas a fine lookin’ shawty doin’ round here?” The guy in front of us had appeared so suddenly, I hadn’t seen him until he was all up in my grill. He wasn’t tall, per se, especially when compared to Thes. Maybe five ten on a good day, but he was also all of three feet from me.

He pulled on the straps of his stained wife-beater while staring at me with creepy brown eyes, and I knew, just knew, he was picturing me naked. A shiver ran down my spine as I surveyed the squirrel tattoos covering every inch of his exposed flesh. Squirrels playing hoops, jumping rope, using a rocket launcher to assault other squirrels. It was nuts.

“Excuse me?” I said, pointing my katana at him.

“Who the hell are you?” Connor said, taking a step between us. His hands were curled into fists and actual black smoke drifted off of him in a dark haze. He was pissed, and while I sort of wanted him to deck the guy, I’d sort of like to know who he was beforehand. He didn’t strike me as particularly powerful, and I had the destroyer and a werewolf with me. We could probably chat before we turned him into a puddle.

“Wasn’ talkin’ ta you. Damn Great Value god. Think ya all that? You ain’t shit. Friggin’ discount destroyer,” the man sneered as he wove around Connor and stepped in front of me. It happened so fast it was almost like he had vanished and reappeared. Hell, maybe he had. I knew things that had been prone to do that. “I was talkin’ to this fine lil’ shawty. She built stupid good.”

“You need to step back,” I said, but before I could do more, his hand snapped out, grabbing me by the hair. He jerked me toward him with so much strength I thought he’d ripped my hair out from its roots. I stumbled forward into him, and his smell, like cigarettes and cheap beer hit me full on. I probably would have gagged, but before I could my entire world exploded into blinding starlight.