Immortal Grave (22 page)

“We use these on slaves.” Ares snapped the whip. The sound echoed through the room. “That’s all you are. A slave. A tool to be used by the gods as we see fit.”

“You’re only going to get yourself in trouble, Ares.” Ree took a step back. Trying to keep her distance from the approaching maniac.

“Do not speak, slave!” Ares snapped the whip. Ree scarcely dodged the stinging lick across her chest. “What foul trickery is this?”

Ree crouched low, waiting for the next strike. Ares swung the whip over his head, before bringing it toward Ree. It cracked next to her ear, barely missing her after she moved.

“You do not move like a human, slave.” Ares moved the whip so it traced circles on the floor between them. “What have you done?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ree watched his every step, waiting for a twitch to alert her to his next move.

His eyes seemed to rake her body, lingering on her chest and the skin exposed by the toga. It was like slime crawling over her body, and she couldn’t help the shudder. He smiled, showing his perfect teeth.

“Do you know what we use slaves for, slave?” His whip caught Ree around the ankle and she gasped in pain. She ducked to the side and almost sighed in relief when his whip loosened. She risked a glance at her leg and noticed the bleeding stripe of skin that wrapped around her ankle. Every time she moved it felt like she had put her foot in a fire.

“We use them.” Ares answered his own question. “For whatever we want.” His voice oozed with menace. A loud crack filled the room, and the god disappeared. Ree looked around the room wildly. She needed to get out of there, but the hallway she used last time was nowhere to be seen. There were no doors, no windows, nothing she could escape through. Only white, shining stone everywhere she looked.

“Please, wake up. Wake up, Ree.” She chanted the words, hoping something would snatch her out of the dream.

The loud sound of Ares returning filled her ears. She spun around to find herself face to face with the god. He grabbed her around her waist and pulled her against his body. “Slaves are required to do whatever we want them to do. And I want you to please me.” He leaned down and sniffed at her hair.

Rees’ heart stuttered and fear pushed her into action. She brought her knee up to his groin and shoved away from him as hard as she could. She landed in a heap ten feet away and scrambled to her feet while he howled in rage. Ree grabbed the power and threw it at him as hard as she could. He flew across the room and hit the wall. When he lifted his head to look at her, his eyes had turned an evil red. He opened his mouth in a primal roar, a double set of fangs sliding into sight.

He battered at Ree’s shield, gaining a few inches each time he struck out. Ree could feel her energy dropping. There were no Guardians for her to pull from, she couldn’t feel any plants or animals. As he fought against her shield, the bits of their magic fell to the ground and mingled together. Ree fell to her knees, exhaustion taking her breath away. Desperately, she stared at the shimmering fragments of power. Barely feeling strong enough to pull another breath, Ree grabbed at the only other power source in the room.

Latching onto Ares’s energy, she sucked in as much as she could, feeding it back into her shield. His roars of rage seemed to grow, but Ree could barely hear anything but the sound of blood rushing in her ears. The god’s progress stopped, but his temper grew.

The sound of a loud banging drew Ree’s attention, but she didn’t dare look away from Ares. Chunks of white stone exploded into the room. Ree slid across the floor, her head hitting the wall with a loud thunk. She covered her face as gravel and stone fell from the ceiling. When she opened her eyes, Brigid, Athena, and a smaller goddess were striding into the room. The red-haired goddess had a bow and arrow pointed at Ares. Her face was frightening, her eyes flashing with lightning, similar to the way Ree’s glowed silver. She was wearing brown leather pants and a white top that made her red hair look even redder.

“Drop the shield, Alastriana. I shall handle this from here.” Brigid’s words were thick with a Gaelic accent. Ree obeyed immediately, scrambling to get even farther away from the gods.

The small goddess standing next to Brigid held her own bow and arrow, a crescent moon hanging from chain braided through her hair to lie on her forehead. Athena was carrying a spear and wearing modern-day combat clothing, complete with large, black boots.

“Go home, Alastriana. This animal will not threaten you again.” Brigid did not look at her, but Ree could feel the goddess’s fiery anger.

Ree stood up and limped for the hole they had blasted in the wall. Her ankle wasn’t healing the way it would have in the real world, but she didn’t have time to figure out why. Hecate appeared at the opening and motioned for Ree to hurry. The twang of bow strings sounded behind her, but Ree didn’t look back. As Ares roared, she scrambled over the rubble and grabbed the outstretched hand of Hecate.

“Go home, love.”

***

Ree woke immediately, sitting up in bed and scaring Paden. He immediately wrapped his arms around her.

“Ree! What happened? I couldn’t wake you.” Paden turned her face toward him and frowned.

“Paden, she’s bleeding.” Juliette was standing at the edge of the bed and pulled the bloody sheet away from Ree’s leg. “What the hell caused that?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Whip.” Ree muttered.

Paden shook with rage, his fangs sliding out to press into his bottom lip. He closed his eyes and tried to reign himself in. As gently as possible he ripped her jeans from the ankle to the knee. Moving so he could inspect her leg, he cussed when he saw the damage. He pressed his glowing hands to her wound and stared at the blood surrounding her leg. Ree could feel the wound knitting back together, but it hurt more than any of the other wounds he had healed. She hissed through her teeth and looked away from her foot.

There were five people crowded into her room, not including Ree and Paden. All of them looking worried and angry. Roland’s fangs were down, his fists clenched at his sides. He was standing in the doorway, where her splintered door hung from one hinge.

“What happened?” Roland looked at Ree, and she was glad for the distraction. “When we got in here, no one could wake you.”

“Ares took me.” Ree gasped in relief when Paden finished. She looked down at her ankle and couldn’t help the frown that came at the sight of the scar wrapping around her leg.

“Took you how? You were here the whole time, Ree.” Paden looked up at her with haunted eyes.

“In a dream. I’ve crossed over before, but never really understood how it happened. I guess this time, he took me once I fell asleep.” Ree shook her head. “I really don’t understand. If Brigid and the other goddesses hadn’t shown up, I don’t know if I would have escaped.” She looked at Paden and thought about all she had to lose. “I don’t know how they found me, but they got there just in time.”

“Paden called for Brigid.” Melanie moved closer to Ree, reaching over to grab her hand. Paden’s despair had scared all of them. She could see the relief in their eyes battling the worry over what they had just gone through.

“She was… fierce.” Ree told them, remembering the goddesses’ ire. Ree took a deep breath, remembering how rude she had been to Brigid not that long ago.

“She wasn’t here long. Just enough time to touch your forehead and tell Paden she would take care of you.” Melanie squeezed Ree’s fingers. “There was nothing for us to fight, no way to protect you.”

“I fought. I’m not sure what else anyone could have done.” Ree couldn’t help the shiver that slid down her spine when she remembered Ares’s red eyes and fangs. “Fangs. He had fangs.” Ree went to jump out of bed, but her leg got caught in the sheets.

“What are you talking about?” Paden steadied her with a hand on her arm.

“Ares had fangs. Not just fangs, but two sets!” Ree spun around looking at them. “He had four upper fangs! Just like Della!”

“Ree, the gods don’t have fangs.” Roland looked at her worriedly.

“He did. At the time, I was just trying to get away, but now I remember it clearly. He growled at me when I threw him across the room.” Ree looked around the floor for her shoes.

“You threw the god of war across the room?” Paden’s face was blank.

“There were no doors, so I couldn’t run.” Ree turned to look at him, confused by his tone.

“How did you throw the god of war across a room?” Roland moved closer, his eyes trained on her face.

“When he told me what they do to slaves… I—I panicked.” Ree swallowed. She didn’t want to relive the moment. Being pressed against Ares had been vile enough. And if Paden knew, he was likely to go into a rage. “So, I grabbed the power and shoved it at him. Well, actually, I kneed him between the legs and then shoved him across the room.”

Juliette held her hand up and Ree reached out to return the high-five. Roland narrowed his eyes at Ree and she was pretty certain he knew something of what had happened. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything, understanding it would only make things tougher for her to deal with.

“So, you were able to use the power against a god.” Roland stated the fact with surprise.

“At first.” Ree saw the toe of her shoe sticking out from under the bed and reached down to grab it. As she bent to put it on her foot, she stopped. Her white sock was now blood red and her jeans hung in tatters. “He started to beat down my shield, but I was able to get enough strength to last until Brigid and some other goddesses showed up. Hecate and I think Artemis. Not sure who the other one was. She sort of looked like Brigid; long red hair and scary expression.”

Standing up, Ree went to her closet and pulled out some new clothes and socks. She ducked into her bathroom and pushed the door closed. She would be able to hear them through the door no matter what.

“You were in a room with no doors or windows with nothing but a very angry god for company.” Roland moved closer to the bathroom. “Where did you find the strength to fight him off? I’m assuming you were most likely on Olympus and the room you were in was one of the detaining rooms. You can’t sense anything through those walls.”

Ree bit her lip while she slipped on her jeans. She had found more than enough power, but she wasn’t sure who might be listening in on their conversation. If Brigid and the others hadn’t noticed that she had been taking power from Ares, she’d rather not call attention to the fact. Many of the gods already acted like she was some type of threat and she was just beginning to understand why.

“I’m not sure.” She sat down on the edge of the toilet to pull on her fresh socks and stopped. The smooth, shiny scar on her leg curled up from her ankle and around her calf muscle like a snake. She traced it with her pointer finger and frowned. At the rate she was going, she was going to be a side-show freak by this time next year.

Shaking it off, she put her shoes on and stepped out of the bathroom. Roland was leaning against the wall next to the door, his eyes narrowed on her face when she stepped out. Paden had put on a new shirt and was pulling on combat boots. His eyes flickered to hers and she could feel his frustration at having not been able to protect her.

“You aren’t sure?” Roland’s voice pulled her eyes back to him and she could almost hear him asking, Or you don’t want to say?

“Maybe a burst of adrenaline?” Ree looked at him, not sure how to respond.

“Or desperation.” Roland jerked his chin once and Ree was certain he understood she couldn’t say. She didn’t put it past him to have come to the right conclusion.

“Right. She was backed against a wall and did what she had to.” Juliette nodded her head as if that ended the discussion and in many ways it did. No one else asked about it, whether they understood she couldn’t say or didn’t care, she didn’t know.

She headed out of her bedroom and went straight to her office. If napping wasn’t an option, she’d use her time planning. Someone had taken a map and circled spots in different colors. She leaned over to study it, trying to figure out what the colors all meant.

“The blue ones are the homes of people we know are of immortal lines. Green are the offices of jobs of people we know have immortal blood.” Melanie stepped next to Ree and looked at the map. “The purple circles are the people we suspect of having some kind of extra in their blood. The red circles are houses we know have hidden Dark Ones in the past and the orange circles are places the Dark Ones have been known to frequent.”

“Do you guys see what I see?” Ree stared at the map, her eyes trailing over the circles. There were clusters of orange circles along the busy areas like River Street and Broughton. Red circles strategically placed in each neighborhood area, near apartment complexes. More importantly, they were all arranged in a pattern.

“Yes. Looks like they are protecting something.” Melanie frowned down at the map.

“The college.” Paden put his hand on the small of Ree’s back. She could feel his need to be near her, and she was glad to have him close by.

“Melanie?” Ree looked up at her friend. “When was that special effect conference being held?”

“Um, not for another week or so.” Melanie looked down at the map. “You think that is when they are planning the final showdown?”

“That’s when they were planning the final showdown.” Ree narrowed her eyes at the map. “But, we’re going to move the show up a little bit.”

“What are you thinking, Ree?” Paden circled the college with his finger. “That they were going to go after you with all of those people there?”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Ree shook her head. “But I’m not planning on waiting for them to decide when it’s time. And I’m certainly not going to let them choose a time where they have hundreds of potential casualties."

“So when are you thinking?” Roland’s voice was quiet, but serious.

Ree looked over her shoulder to where Roland was standing, his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans. “Tonight.”        

The energy in the room shifted dramatically with that one word. Roland’s eyes gleamed and Ree could feel Paden behind her stand up taller. Melanie’s eyes narrowed for a minute, taking on a grim look. Shifting her eyes around the room, she looked at her friends and tried to gauge their thoughts. There was a sense excitement, but under that was nervousness. This was a huge moment for their group. In a few hours they would be facing destiny and Ree hoped they could claim it for themselves.