Omega Series: Omega Part 24

He used hand signals Herakles taught me, and I nodded to show I understood.

But I definitely didn't agree. His plan was to scale the wounded head in order to get to the vulnerable body of the monster.

He drew the third short sword he had at his back.

The monster charged at me. Instincts warned me against getting stuck in the corner behind me, and I darted to the side. Slas.h.i.+ng, weaving, hacking ... the dangerous dance was too fast for me to track my movements or the monster's. I didn't have a chance to think about survival I just reacted.

"Left!" Adonis' voice reached me through the haze of movement. I obeyed and ended up knocked to the ground by a snakehead rather than eaten. I rolled, feeling one tooth graze my arm and whipped my swords up blindly.

I stabbed one head through the mouth. Adonis was suddenly there, and he smashed both his weapons down on the creature's neck.

This time, the head fell lifeless next to me. I didn't have a chance to catch my breath. He stepped between me and the next attacking head to give me time to bound to my feet.

"Axe!" I cried.

We both dove to the ground and hopped up again quickly. Adonis s.n.a.t.c.hed me around the waist and whirled twice before his movement stopped, putting enough s.p.a.ce between us and the beast for us to breathe.

"Thanks," I gasped.

We stood for a brief moment, leaning against one another to recover. His scent was as soothing as talking to him was not.

"They grow back," he said.

I followed his gaze. The first head had completely healed despite the sword in its neck. "That's ... impossible!" The second had healed over but not yet grown back.

The axe fell towards us once more. We dived away from one another and were quickly back on our feet.

"Stay on your feet!" Adonis called and then bolted.

I wanted to watch. His speed was incredible. But a snakehead darted my way, and I began the deadly dance again. I smashed my sword into the fangs, and it withdrew. The c.h.i.n.k in the monster's defenses gave me more breathing room for sure, and I played it to my advantage. I moved with the monster, keeping the not yet regrown head to my weak left while battling the nearest snake and glancing upwards towards Adonis.

He wasn't getting very far. The snakeheads could move up as well as out and away, and he was struggling to climb past the monster's belt. As if fed up with him, the creature s.n.a.t.c.hed him and held him up and away with a huge hand.

He began to squeeze. I saw the grimace of pain cross Adonis' face. For the first time, I began to think we might not make it out of here. All of Adonis' speed and strength, all my training, wasn't going to defeat something like this. The sight of him in pain. Trapped, helpless ...

Well, not helpless. He plunged one sword through the hand of the monster. But I knew he was hurting, and I involuntarily ached for him.

Herakles killed my parents before adopting me. Adonis tried to rescue me before turning in to a ma.s.s murderer. No matter what I felt for either, one truth melted out of my confused emotions.

I'd never let either of them die. Deflecting the lunge of the snakehead nearest me, I dropped one sword and reached for the ribbons around the creature. They evaded me, but I had a plan. I dropped the second sword and ducked a swipe with the axe.

This time, when I reached for the ribbons, my other hand hovered close enough to catch them when they darted.

Adonis gave a roar of pain. The monster shook him hard. Two snakeheads were headed my direction, and I had no weapons within reach.

Not understanding how to disarm my opponent, I closed my fist around the ribbons, crushed them with my hand and yanked them all towards me.

The Typhon vanished. Adonis fell ten meters out of the air and landed in a still heap, his ribbons agitated and at least two jagged.

The crowd fell silent.

I looked down at the jumbled ribbons in my hand. Afraid to release them to the world in case a new Typhon formed, I did what I had done with my green ribbon and pressed them against my thigh. They disappeared. I uncurled my hand hesitantly. The ribbons were gone.

Mnemosyne had said I was born with the power to create and destroy. I'd just proved her right, and it felt ... icky. Like watching the Typhon pulverize the men it fought before us.

People were beginning to whisper, then talk then boo. Furious they were angry we survived, I looked up, and my anger faded. It wasn't us they were booing. Soldiers in urban camouflage had begun to pour into the grandstands of the arena. Boos turned to cries for people to flee before the military captured them.

I stood, breathless, and made my way to Adonis, dropping to my knees beside him.

He wasn't moving. Distracted by the invasion, I nonetheless did as he had instructed and focused on the challenge at hand. I smoothed out his ribbons with some effort, still not certain how or why this worked, and then untangled the one that was knotted. The gate nearest us rolled open, but I ignored it, continuing to work until I was satisfied the ribbons were as they should have been.

"Just hope you're not dented like the cup," I whispered. I didn't need to see the soldiers pouring in to know they were there. "Adonis! You gotta wake up!"

He did so slowly and shook his head. Pus.h.i.+ng himself up, his gaze settled past me on the soldiers.

"d.a.m.n. Here I was hoping Adonis would die." Niko's voice made me want to scream. "Good job, kid."

I twisted to see him and then pushed to my feet, exhausted. Adonis caught my arm, and instead of turning to give Niko an earful, I looked into his gorgeous eyes.

"Your old boss wants to see you, Adonis," Niko said. "Might be willing to forgive you after the money he won on this round."

My eyes widened. "No," I whispered fiercely to Adonis. "You can't go back to what you were!"

"Remember what I said," Adonis said, gazing down at me.

"That I'm beautiful?" As soon as I heard the words, I knew they were so very wrong.

"I'll protect you." Adonis was amused. "No matter what you perceive to be going on."

"Adonis, this isn't "

Ignoring me, he released me and walked past me towards Niko. "Been a pleasure, Niko," he said. "Looks like you won't be killing me today."

I turned, fuming and confused, to see the two men staring one another down.

"Not today," Niko agreed. "Leave. Before I forget my boss's orders to make sure you make it back alive."

Adonis slid away, without bothering to look at me again, and disappeared into the depths of the gate.

I watched him go, stung, and nowhere near trusting him enough to place any amount of money on a bet he was serious about helping me. It made no sense that his betrayal hurt me as deeply as Herakles' but it did.

"Good show, kid," Niko said to me. "Time to meet the Supreme Magistrate."

I glared at him. I was in no mood to meet anyone. I had no forest to return to, no Herakles to comfort me, no choices of my own to make. The military had cleared out most of the grandstands, and the other exit was blocked by a line of them.

"Go on." Niko nodded his head towards the nearby gate.

Disliking him more every time we met, I also had nowhere else to go and moved forward reluctantly.

This isn't how it's supposed to go. Adonis was supposed to stay with me, and we were going to leave this place.

Thus far, no part of the real world lived up to my expectations. I was starting to understand why Herakles was so insistent I not leave the forest before I was ready. What he failed to understand was that nothing could prepare someone for a life like this.

Niko caught my arm as I pa.s.sed. A sharp sting pierced my forearm. "Ouch!"

Immediately, the ribbons around everyone vanished.

"I'm not taking any chances," he said and released me. In his other hand was a small gun like the one Marty had used to give me a biotag.

I looked down at the red dot of blood above an equally red ... something he put under my skin.

"We created a solution out of one of your cords. Easier than a bracelet. Not something you can readily remove, either."

"I hate you, Niko."

"But I love you, Alessandra," he said, amused. "You know what kind of bonus you earned me?"

I marched away angrily, dreading where they'd take me. A prison. A torture chamber. To feed me to another monster. My mind was whirling with horrible thoughts but it was the vision of Adonis walking away from me that was the worst.

Chapter Sixteen.

An alliance with a powerful person is never safe.

Phaedrus Maybe I died and went to Thanatos' waiting room. I stood in the middle of the open foyer of a Greek style villa of endless white marble. Airy, open, s.p.a.cious, serene. Even Adonis' apartment wasn't as beautiful as this place. A waterfall laughed from somewhere deeper in the house, and the scent of roses and other flowers floated through open windows from a garden courtyard. A crystal chandelier was overhead, and the decor was simple, sleek and expensive, if I had to guess. Two servants stood in traditional white robes, a male and female, with their eyes straight ahead of them and their poses still enough to resemble the statues that dotted the interior.

Dressed in a dusty, b.l.o.o.d.y, sweaty black SISA uniform and nowhere near fitting into the place, I s.h.i.+fted back onto the plush rug so as not to mar the pristine white marble flooring with the blood of my reopened back wound.

Niko's escorts remained at the door of the villa.

"It pleases you?"

I turned at the unfamiliar voice.

The distinguished man in his forties was well dressed in a suit, clean shaven, and radiating a similar level of confidence bordering on arrogance that Adonis did. With dark eyes and hair, he looked familiar, though I was too tired and wary to place him.

I shrugged in response.

He smiled politely, the kind of smile that was reflexive rather than sincere. No other part of his facade changed with the token gesture, and his eyes remained cold.

"This is yours," he stated. He held nothing in his hands, and he didn't point at anything either.

"What is mine?" I asked cautiously.

"The villa. It belongs to the Oracle."

"I don't understand."

"This is your new home," he said again without blinking. "It took some negotiating with a furious Supreme Priest, but Niko finally managed to bring you where you belong."

"You're saying ..." I looked at my surroundings anew. Adonis' men had claimed the Oracle was wealthy. It wasn't really clicking this meant I was wealthy.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Among others, I'm known as the Right Honorable Supreme Magistrate. Among my equals, of which you are one, I'm simply called Cleon."

Magistrate. Niko's boss. I'd seen this man on the television, though he looked a little different in real life. Maybe because the feed we received in the forest was always somewhat fuzzy.

It took me a moment to move past my surprise that the man at the top of the food chain was addressing me. What did one do when meeting such a person?

"Oh." I kicked myself for the stupid response. "Sorry. I didn't recognize you."

"I understand from Niko your upbringing was sheltered."

"I feel like I was raised on another planet."

This time, his smile was genuine, or trying to be. He quickly suppressed the warm amus.e.m.e.nt in his gaze. "I'll save the tour for later. I've called for a physician to attend you. The wound on your back appears deep."

"Doesn't hurt," I murmured. "What tour?"

"I will leave you to explore your home on your own. If you need anything, ask your servants. But the tour I speak of is of the grounds."

I started to smile. I was the one who used to get stuck with kitchen duty and maintenance of the school because I was too wild. I was the school's sole servant. I had never dreamed of having my own servants!

"You may want to be more appropriately attired."

I smelled and knew it. I wasn't sure I cared. For a man with immense power and influence, he was being ... nice.

Which wasn't good. People weren't nice. If I was learning anything about life, it was this. Yet something was subtly pleasant about this man. I innately knew his suggestions were gently disguised orders and I didn't really mind. It was a first for me not to mind being told what to do. "You're a good politician, aren't you?"

"I am adept at my position, yes."

I didn't roll my eyes but wanted to. "You're sure this ... place is mine?" I asked, puzzled by the notion. I left the forest with nothing but my knife, the clothes on my back and the gem Mismatch gave me as a child. I had never really had possessions, never been concerned about obtaining them.

"The Oracle's trust falls to her successor upon discovery."

"Where is the other Oracle?"

"She works with the G.o.ds. Once you a.s.sume the mantle of your position, you no longer need such luxuries from humans when you have the G.o.ds to provide for you."