Secret Worlds (291 page)

“Another pretty pandoran.” James’s vocal cords strained under its words and came out in a wheeze.

“Oh, you’ve met us.” I gulped down the bile in my throat and stepped back in a defensive stance. “I guess the last one didn’t give you a big enough ass whooping.”

He gave a rippling laugh as he darted to the side. “He wanted you saved for last, but why should I listen? He’s ignored us for so long. I want to taste your soul.”

Yep, the keres fed on the souls of people who died violently.

“Who is he?” I asked.

He smiled, a pale resemblance of what it had been when James had lived, causing my chest to tighten. “You’re a little slow. I hope you fight better than you think.”

“I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” I brought my hands up. “But James’s will be your last meal.”

“You’re doomed either way. You should just let this happen. It’ll be quicker.” He laughed and, with the flick of his wrists, his fingernails grew into jagged claws.

He gave a dry screech and flew at me. As if a switch had been flipped in me, all the sorrow and tears boiled up inside me and became something scorching. I would rip this thing from James’s corpse and drain it until it was nothing but a memory. His claws slashed at my face. I stepped to the side and brought my knee up into the creature’s abdomen and was rewarded with a dull thud. I hopped back, sucking the air between my teeth and shaking my hand.

He laughed, a rattling of phlegm in lungs that shouldn’t work, and patted his chest. “You’ll have to hit harder than that for me to feel anything.”

My rage boiled over, filling my veins, and flames sparked from my fingers until my hands were two balls of fire. It was my own, a part of me and my resonance, and unlike my aunt’s fire, I felt no heat. He would, though. He’d scream until there was nothing but ashes.

He smirked. “The other one thought fire would help her, too. Then I drove my claws into her stomach and pulled out her innards. Let’s have a repeat performance.”

“You talk to too damn much,” I said.

I came in with my fiery fist raised to strike his head. He ducked to the side, like I knew he would. He watched my hands when he should have been watching all of me. I spun around and kicked his legs out from under him. He flopped on the ground with his eyes wide with surprise. I brought my fist down to his chest, but he rolled out of the way, and it slammed into the concrete instead.

A jolt erupted from my knuckles and traveled up my arm. The ker jumped to his feet with surprising spryness for a dead body.

“Go ahead and burn me up.” He grinned. “I’ll just find a new one. This soul is all but gone anyway.”

I swallowed and let the flames die down. As much as I wanted this thing gone, frying James’s corpse wouldn’t do it. I had to suck it up. I flexed my fingers, trying to get rid of the tingling sting, and brought my hands up. His grin stretched wider, revealing pointy jagged teeth.

In a blur of motion, he rushed at me, his claws aimed at my abdomen. I batted his arm to the side and jabbed two knuckles in the side of his throat. He grabbed my arm at the wrist and twisted, yanking me forward. My whole arm went numb, and I was forced to my knees as it was pulled behind my back. The ker leaned down so his mouth was close to my ear. The stench of rot and death gagged me.

“Do you think the Fates will tell me the future from your entrails?” he asked. “Either way, it’ll be a fun night for me.”

He raised his hand, his claws yellow in the street light. I slammed the palm of my free hand into his face and let the fire roar. His screamed echoed through the night as the flames licked his flesh. He threw me away from him as if I was a pebble and not a hundred-and-something pound girl.

I flew through the air and hit the pavement on my shoulder, forcing my breath out of me in a rush. I wheezed and gaped in shock as I pulled myself to my knees. The ker was holding my car with one hand. With a sneer filled with malic on its melted face, it tossed my freaking car at me. Metal groaned as it came rocketing my direction.

There was no way I was dodging this one.

The wind battered against me, filled with the scent of patchouli and olives, and the world blurred into an array of colors. When everything came into focus, I found myself in Hermes arms on the other side of the parking lot. My car crashed into the pavement where I had been with a boom that shook the foundation.

The screeching of crunching metal reverberated through the air, drowning out all other sounds. Fire bloomed in the air and eclipsed the pale light of the streetlamp. I winced and pressed my face into Hermes’s shoulder. As his arms tightened around me, my pulse sped up faster than it had with an evil spirit possessing my dead ex-boyfriend and trying to kill me. His emerald gaze pulled me in, and I felt like I was falling.

“Can you stand?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I yelled and winced. “Sorry.”

He set me down with his hands resting on my hips as he held me close to the length of his body. I took a deep breath to calm the pounding my heart and spun away to face the ker, or should I say where the ker had stood. Flames ate away at the corpse that lay in the asphalt.

I glanced at Hermes with a raised eyebrow. “Was that you?”

He stared at the space beyond the wreck of my car. “No.”

Serenity stood near the sidewalk leading to the dorms with her arms crossed. She looked from the car to me with wide eyes as the color drained from her face. My aunt wheeled herself into the light near one of the undamaged cars in the back of the parking lot and glared at both of us. A small ball of flame formed in her right hand as her jaw tightened as her gazed locked on Hermes.

“Move, girl,” she said. “I need to clean up ya mess.”

Hermes held his hands out. “I haven’t done anything to you.”

“Yet,” she said.

I stepped in between them and spread my arms. “Hold up. He just saved me from being crushed by my own car. I really don’t think he’s doing this.”

“Were ya listenin’?” Aunt Jo snapped. “It practically said it was workin’ for him.”

“The ker mentioned a he, but he never said who.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Just how long were you listening in?”

She snorted. “Long enough to see how out of practice ya are. Now move so I can finish this.”

I crossed my arms. “And you really didn’t feel the need to, I don’t know, step in and help?”

“I was tryin’ to see how good you were.” She shook her head. “Piss poor.”

Hermes cleared his throat and put a hand on my shoulder. “As much as I appreciate it, I don’t need you to block me.”

I turned my glare to him and held a finger up. “Just go. Take Serenity and get out of here. I’ll deal with you later.”

“I look forward to it.” He smirked and gave a small bow to my aunt. “Take your time with your argument. No one is going to come investigate.”

In a rush of wind filled with the scent of olives, he vanished, leaving behind a chill in the warm fall air. I wrapped my arms around myself and walked to the remains of my Honda. Glass crunched with every step I took, shredding the little control I had. My car lay upside down with the top crunched to where the whole top bent backward. The front bumper was smashed into the car with the entire front nose bent upward.

My fingernails sliced into my palms as I tightened my hands into fists. “How in Tartarus am I going to explain this?”

“That’s the least of ya worries.” My aunt wheeled up behind me. “Ya let both of them get away. All three if ya count the girl.”

I spun around. “I wasn’t the one who burned the body. Don’t put that on me.”

“What was I supposed to do? Least now it has to find a new one.”

“Yeah, about that. You said that we were being hunted.”

She sat up straighter. “Well, ya can see that now.”

“Whose body did the ker use to chase you?” A cold pit settled in my stomach. “Was it one of my cousins?”

She snorted and waved her hand. “Like the Pyrrha would let that happen to her children. It was one of the Millers from up North.”

“So, you knew. You intentionally brought that thing here and didn’t tell me.”

“I wanted to see how skilled ya were.” She shook her head with a grimace of disgust. “We’re gonna have to start all over with yer trainin’.”

My hand shot out and slammed into her face. Her head flew back with a look of astonishment coming over her face, and the wheelchair toppled to the side as he whole body jerked from the force of my blow. My rage overcame the flash of guilt that bit at me for hitting a disabled woman. Fuck her. She deserved this one.

“My friends have died, I have been followed, and this is all one big test to you?” My voice broke in the middle, taking on a higher pitch.

“If you were doing what you were supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“So, it’s okay for you to just sit back and not even warn me.”

“I been warnin’ ya, girl. Ya just ain’t listenin’.”

“You warned me about Hermes, who doesn’t seem to have anything to do with this,” I snapped. “All your other warnings have been vague, and you said nothing about the ker.”

“How am I supposed to see if ya been keepin’ with yer trainin’ if I tell ya?”

“What about when you realized that I couldn’t sense them?”

“I worked with ya to fix it. Ya still didn’t think about the ker. Ya were too caught up in that god and his kid.”

“That god just saved my life,” I said. “And his kid has acted more like family than you or the Pyrrha have. All you ever do is throw me into danger.”

Aunt Jo’s whole face paled and took on a green tint. “Yer gonna go there after what it cost me to save ya as a kid?”

Heat flushed my face, and I tightened my still clenched fists. “I wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place if you and Aunt Dahlia hadn’t pushed my mom into going after Hecate in the first place.”

She crossed her arms as a vein ticked at the side of the temple. “So this is what it’s about? Yer ma was the Pyrrha then. It was her responsibility.”

“To go alone?” My bitter laugh echoed through the night. “Y’all knew it was a goddess she was taking on, way more powerful than a daimon. That should have been a group effort. More to divide the power.”

“She wouldn’t let us,” Aunt Jo said in a strangled voice. “We tried to tell her, but she wanted to protect us. She thought she could handle it.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the heat traveled through my body, leaving goose bumps in its wake. “I doubt Aunt Dahlia tried so hard. She always wanted mother’s position.”

“And she had to fight for it. Ya know it’s not passed down.” She sighed and shook her head. “I think it hit yer aunt harder than ya think. She just don’t show it.”

I glared. “Please. She never gave a damn. She was all too happy to hop into Mom’s place.”

Aunt Jo sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Cassi …”

“Don’t,” I said. “I’m tired of hearing your lies. I’m tired of all of it.”

I turned and walked into the darkness, letting her voice die on the wind. She would have to pick herself up from this one.

The sun beat down on my head, and I shifted from one foot to another as the pastor’s voice echoed through the cemetery. Sheridan should’ve been put into the ground with gray clouds and the sky’s tears. Mother Nature had a different ideas, and greeted us with a bright blue day. I bit my lip and rubbed my wrist at the slight tingle.

I’d reported to my insurance company that I’d rolled my car into a ditch. They’d questioned how I’d manage to escape without any injuries. Just lucky I guess. I snorted. At least I didn’t have to explain why it had been in the University parking lot. Yesterday morning, I’d found my car in usual parking spot at my apartment with a note from Hermes. Once again, he’d looked out for me despite the whole thing about us being enemies.

I stared at his head close to the front of the mourners. He’d given me a quiet nod when we’d seen each other before this started. His eyes had promised words and so much more later and had sent my heart racing.

I shook my head and bit the inside of my cheek softly. Besides hiding stuff that almost got me killed, my aunt may have had a point about a few things. Was I letting this attraction to Hermes get in the way of my duty? I still wanted him, even though he was a god and Serenity’s father. And when had I started thinking of this as my duty?

When people started dying,
a tiny voice whispered in my head.

With a sigh, I turned away from the funeral and wrapped my arms around myself. Serenity stood under a tree several yards away with her head bowed. I gave a quick glance behind me and headed in her direction. She kept her gaze averted as she traced her fingers over the rough bark.

I cleared my throat. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said.

“You don’t want to join everyone else?” I nodded to the crowd of mourners standing in front of the open grave and polished wood casket.

“We don’t deserve to be down there.” Her voice was hoarse. “We failed her.”

My heart constricted in my chest, and the tears rose up over the wall I had blocked them with. They hung on the lashes, in the corners of my eyes, and threatened to fall onto the bright green grass.

“No,” I said. “This was my fault. Not yours.”

“I was supposed to watch over her. She seemed all right.” She gave a choking sound. “I should have seen it was all a lie.”

“And I was supposed to find this thing. I didn’t. Not in time, not even now.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “It never stops, does it?”

“What?”

“As much as we pretend we’re human.” She nodded to the mourners below. “Pretend to have a normal life, we can’t have it.”

I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. We did a good job for three years.”

“It’s all a lie. We’re more like him.” Serenity’s glared in Mercer’s direction. “Able to masquerade, but never able to really be a part of this world.”

She turned and marched down the concrete path toward a small group of mausoleums that probably belonged to some old, rich families. I doubled stepped and caught up with her, placing a hand on her arm. She jumped and pulled away.

“We may never be able to fit in with humans,” I said, “but we have each other, right?”