Soul Bound (18 page)

He pulled me into his arm and we sank to the ground together with me in his lap.  I rested my head against his chest. I should be trying to think of a way out of this mess, some possible way that I could save the man that I loved, but all I could do was lay limply in his arms, inhaling his scent and absorbing his warmth. 

The night closed in around us and I could smell the dew in the air.  I could hear the fire continually burning, the screams still emanating from the village. But it didn’t matter.  Nothing mattered anymore. 

I closed my eyes.

Chapter Nineteen

Blackness

Chapter Twenty

Blackness

Chapter Twenty-One

“Empusa, you’ve got to wake up.”

Gaia’s clear voice penetrated the black fog of my sleep.  I had been dreamless and peaceful until she interrupted my solitude.  I growled and tried to ignore my ghostly friend.

“Seriously, Empusa.  Listen to me. If you don’t wake up, Zeus will kill you and Brennan both.  Wake. UP.”

I opened my eyes.

At first it was difficult to focus and I couldn’t see.  Everything around me was blurry.  A golden shape formed in front of my face and I focused sharply on it, trying to see what it was. 

“Empusa?”

Brennan’s voice came from the shape and he was concerned, relieved… and slightly empty.  Hollow.

I quickly tried harder to see and Brennan’s anxious face came into focus, directly in front of my own.  He grabbed me to him before I could even think.

“Oh, my god.  Thank god.  Thank god.  Thank god.”

He was talking into my neck, his voice muffled and I couldn’t understand why he was so upset.  What horrible, catastrophic thing had happened?

I pulled away and stared at him.

“What happened, Bren?”

He looked at me, completely shocked.

“Empusa, do you know how long you’ve been asleep?”

I stared at him again, confused.

“All night?”

He shook his head.  “No.  You’ve been asleep for at least two months.  Maybe longer.  I can’t tell- time runs together nowadays. It’s like you were in a coma.  I didn’t know what to do.”

Shock slammed into me.  A month? 

Brennan held onto me tightly.  “I did everything I could think of.  I even tried appealing to Zeus, but that clearly didn’t help.”

He motioned toward the vision of Olympus.   A smattering of Olympians, including Zeus, were seated in the arena seats. They were all watching us, with varying expressions in their silver eyes.  My mother sat next to Zeus, and although she was calm, I could see the concern in her eyes.  Her gaze held mine and I saw a million things in it.  But nothing that she could put a voice to.  An invisible wall saw to that.

“What was wrong with you?” Brennan asked anxiously, patting down my arms as though he was checking for broken bones.   I stared at him.

“Nothing’s broken,” I told him wryly.  He actually smiled, a sight that made my heart flutter.  How I had missed that…his beautiful face.

He actually had a beard now, a blonde scruff, which I was sure was a result of our being trapped in this clearing.  I was not normally a fan of beards, but Brennan could even pull that off. 

“What is wrong with you?” he asked again.  His eyes were still full of worry and concern.  “Are you alright now?”

I shook my head.  “I don’t know.  Nothing like that has ever happened before.  I was so overwhelmed, so sad at the thought that things are not going to end well for us that I just wanted to sleep.”

“Well, you certainly did that,” Brennan answered, shaking his own head.  “I guess we see now what happens when a goddess becomes depressed.  You get your own personal coma-like getaway.”

“Don’t knock it,” I told him as I shakily got to my feet.   My muscles felt like they hadn’t moved in a year, slightly like gelatin.  “I’d like to go back.  I had no worry there, no pain.  I wonder if that is what death is like…true death?  Because I somehow doubt that Zeus will allow me to live in the Isles of the Blessed if I lose.  I’d like an eternity of nothingness instead.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Brennan snapped. “Do you have any idea how hard it is has been for me all of this time?  I couldn’t reach you, I couldn’t help you.  No one would help me, we’re trapped in this god-forsaken clearing.  To hear you talk about giving up, when I haven’t given up on you this entire time, it’s a slap in the face, Empusa!”

He turned his back on me and crossed the clearing, sitting on the edge of the stone altar.  He stubbornly refused to look at me, glaring at the ground.  If looks could kill, the grass beneath his feet would be dead.  And he was right.  I had no idea what it had been like for him, but I could imagine how it would have been for me if the tables had been turned.  Seeing him in a coma-like state for months without being able to help would have been excruciating.

I weakly crossed the clearing, my legs shaking the entire way, and sank to my knees between his.  Cupping his face in my hands, I stared him in the eye. 

“I’m sorry,” I said simply.  “I didn’t mean to leave you and I didn’t mean to belittle it.  You are everything to me.  It kills me that I left you alone.”

“It’s alright,” Brennan said gruffly.  “You’re back now and that’s what matters.”

“It’s not all that matters,” I argued. “But it’s what we have to work with right now.  We’ve got to form a plan.  No one can come to our assistance here.  It’s just you and me.”

“And me,” a small voice announced. 

I spun around, leaping to my feet as I looked for the voice. 

“I’m here,” it said softly.  I narrowed my eyes as I looked for it, for
her
.  The voice was female. 

And then I saw her.  So transparent that she was almost invisible, Gaia hovered by the edge of the clearing, just inside the invisible wall.  She was so faded that she almost blended into the backdrop of trees and I realized that she was purposely camouflaging herself to avoid detection by the Olympians. 

I quickly tore my eyes away from her so that Zeus didn’t see me looking at her and I knelt once again in front of Brennan.  Trying to be inconspicuous, I spoke to her from the corner of my mouth. 

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.  “If Zeus sees you, you’re dead.”

“I’m already dead,” she answered calmly. 

“Fine. You’ll be worse than dead.”

“Impossible,” she answered. “Do you want my help or not?”

“How are you even here?” I asked.  “Did my mother send you?  How did you get through the wall?”

 “Ghosts can’t be contained,” she sniffed.  “I’m here to bring you news. Zeus is keeping your mother close to him at all times.  She will not be able to help you.  He has threatened your life if she tries.  Your father sent me.”

Instantly, Mormo’s face clashed into my eyes and I cringed.

“Hades,” Gaia clarified.  “Your true father.”

I expelled a breath slowly.  It was going to take me quite a while to get used to that, I could tell.  Mormo had been my ‘father’ for a thousand years.  Old habits died hard. 

“What did he have you risk your life to tell me?” I asked quietly.  I glanced up at the vision of Olympus.  Zeus was engaged in a conversation with Apollo and was not even looking in our direction.   I felt a brief feeling of relief.  “Why exactly are you here?”

“Well, he had me wake you up for one thing,” she pointed out.  “If you hadn’t, Zeus was going to kill you today.”

Her entire tone had changed when she mentioned Hades’ name and I narrowed my eyes.  “Don’t tell me that you trust Hades now,” I rolled my eyes and then glanced up at Zeus again.  He was still speaking with Apollo, who was waving his arms around.  Apparently, Apollo wasn’t enjoying their conversation.  I imagined that he was probably trying to get Zeus to just kill me outright rather than allowing this game to continue.  I turned my attention back to Gaia, who was studying me with ghostly eyes. 

“No, I don’t,” she answered.  “No more than you do.  But I might have been slightly wrong about him. He hasn’t condemned me to the Underworld yet, at any rate.”

“Don’t turn your back on him,” I warned.  She nodded.

“I won’t.  For now, I’m just going to concentrate on you,” she said quietly.  “You’ve been my friend when I had no one else.  I can’t leave you here like this.”

“What message did Hades have for me?” I asked, trying to ignore the lump in my throat.  I was strangely melancholy today for some reason. Perhaps because I was awake for the first time in two months.  That might do it to a person.

“He wants you to know that the deck is stacked in your favor.  That long sleep that you just had?  That was your body’s natural reaction to being rendered mortal.  Further, you may have been rendered mortal, but your curse has not been removed.  You will soon begin to crave human blood and souls so badly that you won’t be able to control it. You will kill Brennan without meaning to.  You won’t be able to help yourself.”

Horror slammed into me.  I was trapped here like a rat in a cage with the person that I loved most in the world.  And very soon, I would turn into a monster with no self-restraint.  Brennan would stand no chance.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“My
father
might feel that it is good news,” I replied to Gaia icily.  “But I do not.  Return to him and find out how I might be able to avoid this fate.  I don’t care what it takes.  Since I am now mortal, bring me back poison.  Give me a dagger.  Hell, I’ll take a noose.  Anything.”

“No,” Gaia said, shaking her luminescent head.  “I can’t do that. I won’t help you kill yourself.”

“Do you love me?” I demanded harshly.  “Do you?”

She hesitated, knowing where I was going with this.  “Yes.”

“Then you will do it.”

“I’ll go speak with Hades,” she answered, without addressing my mandate.  And before I could say another word, she was gone. 

Brennan was staring at me.  “Gaia?”

I nodded. 

“How could you see her?  I mean, now that Zeus has taken our abilities?”

That was a good question.  

“I don’t know,” I shrugged.  “Maybe I’m still naturally inclined to see ghosts because of my connection to the Underworld?  I truly don’t know.  Gaia seemed very faded to me, almost transparent.  I thought she did it on purpose but maybe it was simply because of my weakened vision.”

“What did she say?” Brennan asked, stroking my arm gently.  I literally felt sick as I relayed Gaia’s message, every hateful part of it.  Brennan’s touch on my arm never faltered. 

“So it is done, then,” he said when I was finished explaining.  “You won’t have a choice.  You will have to kill me.”  He sounded satisfied and relieved which promptly annoyed me.

“I don’t have to do anything,” I snapped.  “Mortal or not, I have more self-restraint than anyone I know.”

“You used to,” Brennan agreed. “But you’ve never been mortal.  You don’t know what toll it might take on you.  Mortals are far weaker than you think.”

“In some ways,” I agreed.  “And in some ways, they are not.   Mortals have souls and spirit and a zest for life that some of us- those of us who have been alive for eons- lack.  That counts for something.”

He looked at me.  “It won’t count for you,” he observed. “You’ve been alive for eons.”

“True,” I acknowledged, looking around us. 

I hadn’t really examined our surroundings since I had woken up.  I found that winter had descended upon us.  Frost had turned the grass into glass-like shards and the temperature had dropped substantially.  And I was cold.  Really, really cold.

I hadn’t realized that until just this second. 

We had no provisions; no blankets, no heavy clothing.  In fact, I was still barefoot. Brennan caught my gaze.

“Food and water appears on the altar once a day out of thin air,” he said grimly.  “Other than that, they give us nothing.”

“How kind of them,” I muttered. 

Now that I had realized how cold I was, it was all I could think of.  My feet were so cold that they almost felt hot as I stood in the frost. 

 Brennan picked me up into his arms and held me against his chest.  He sank onto the altar and rubbed my hands within his as he cradled me on his knees. 

“This is a lot easier now that you’re awake,” he pointed out, moving to rub my feet.   And even though I was freezing, warm flooded my heart at the thought of him rubbing my body to keep it warm while I slept.  It was the sweetest thing anyone had done for me in a while. 

“I love you,” I told him quietly, my cheek pressed against his heart.  He stilled for a minute, then grasped me even tighter. 

“I know,” he told me gruffly.  “I love you, too.”

“I know,” I whispered. 

Brennan’s heart beat reverberated in my ear and I imagined all of the blood flowing through his veins… his warm, sticky blood, flowing in and out of his heart like a delicious fountain.  I gulped as hunger exploded within me. 

Ba-bump. 

Ba-bump. 

Ba-bump. 

The loud thud of his heart might as well have been an advertisement for a fast-food restaurant…because that was suddenly all I could think of. 

Drinking.

Brennan’s.

Blood.

I shoved away from him hard and retreated as fast I could across the clearing. 

“What the—“ Brennan started to follow me, but I cried out to stop him.

“No.  Please don’t.”

He froze uncertainly, watching me.

“Are you in pain?” he asked in concern. 

“Don’t be worried about me,” I said, turning away from him.  “Worry about
you.
  You stay on that side of the altar, I’ll stay on this side.”

“No,” he answered, as he began to walk toward me.

“You’re making it worse for me,” I snapped as I caught a whiff of his scent in the breeze.  He instantly froze. 

“I’m sorry,” he answered quietly.  “I certainly don’t want to do that.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.  I curled up on the ground and hugged my knees, trying to shield myself against the cold and protect what little warmth I had.  I averted my gaze from Brennan’s.  I didn’t want to see the pain that I knew I would find within his.