Divine Mortals (37 page)

Pacing away from me slowly, he looked at ease, almost calm.

My head was throbbing almost as much as my ribs, I tried to ignore it, focussing on Wills haunting green eyes as I waited for him speak.

Finally, and without looking at me, he continued.

“We have soul mates as gods, generally, no not generally, A
lways
it is another god, or demigod,” he waved his fingers in dismissal of this apparently trivial difference within his race,

“We find someone from our own people that changes us the instant we see them. There’s a shift in our entire being and we just know, it’s a magnetic draw, you can’t stop it, that person becomes your life…” he was looking into the distance, pain obvious upon his face.

“That’s what
they
say anyway.” he sneered.

Then why was Robert drawn to me? What makes you think I’m his soul mate if your soul mate can only be another God, or demigod, or whatever.

“Well I can’t comment on your feelings,” he sneered, “but for Robert its simple, other than the obvious fact that you are constantly in his thoughts, I can see your face whenever I read him,” he shook his head as though trying to clear some image from it.

“It’s also the inexplicable draw, the feeling that you get when you are around that person, an awareness of them so acute you can feel them without seeing them. Did you know he can ‘feel’ you even before he sees you, even before you see him. He knows when you are near.”

I swallowed hard, I didn’t know that. How many times had
I
been aware of Roberts presence, I was as aware of him as I would be of a ticking bomb strapped to my chest,

“Of course,” Will sighed, “Anyone could exaggerate the feelings of first love or new love to be like this but there is one give away, one telling factor that’s unique among our race, proof if you like, that you have found your soul mate.”

I waited for him to continue, barely able to breathe.

“It’s his temperature.” His eyes searched mine before continuing, “We’re physically the same as any other human, our anatomy’s the same,
until
we meet our soul mate. Once we have met our soul mate our temperatures soar and remain that way for the rest of our lives, we burn on another level, so much hotter than a normal human or a Guardian who hasn’t met their mate. Hot enough for a doctor to declare it impossible, so hot we should be clinically dead.” he shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me.

“The elders tell us it’s a physical representation of our undying love for our soul mate, the recognition of yourself in another, we literally burn for each other. Once we fall in love we cannot fall out of love like humans do.”

My mind flashed back to all the times Robert had touched me, that burning sensation I felt, as though his touch alone would leave a trail of blisters along my skin.

“I felt it from him, when he touched me that day in the field,” Will glared down at me, “You’ll remember it, after all you were spying on us.”

Think what you like Will
, I tried my best to glower back at him.

“Anyway…” he continued, the icy tone never leaving his voice, “The elders decided to allow it, the two of you I mean, my informants confirmed it yesterday.” He mumbled, “A concession they NEVER make, why they are allowing a human to be in a relationship with one of us is beyond comprehension and proof that Zeus is too soft to lead. So I’ll fix it. I will drive a stake into Roberts heart by taking you, and,” his emerald eyes flashed at me, “I’ll make it look like it was the elders, he will go rogue in his grief, a weapon turned upon its owner so to speak. His father will be distraught at losing his son, and soon enough through his own undoing Robert will join my father and be slave to us for eternity.” He finished with a twisted chuckle.

But you said that Guardians have slept with humans before
,

“Oh yeah, they’ve slept with them and ultimately in doing so killed them, but they never told them our secret, they haven’t kept a relationship with them. A Guardian is not interested in a human for anything other than physical pleasure. Humans don’t appeal to us in that way, they don’t
normally
hold enough of a draw for us to want a relationship with them.” His shoulders stiffened.

“I would never have faltered, I would have made my father proud.” his tone was ice cold.

You’re doing this to hurt Zeus?
My mind cried,
Because of what he did to your father.

“
That,” Will sneered, “Is a small part and will give me some satisfaction, the real reason is because it is time the Elders stood aside, time the Underworld had a say, they will dilute us to nothing should they allow such atrocities to happen within our race. Shacking up with a human, it’s disgusting.”

If your father is as sadistic as you are, I would have picked Zeus too.
I screamed.

He moved so fast, like a bolt of lightning, and then, almost without knowing how I got there, I was in the spring, the icy water closing quickly over my head. I kicked desperately for the surface, struggling as the pain from my side shot white hot needles across my chest. Without the use of my hands I barely managed to break the surface, I couldn’t get a full breath of air, the gag, now drenched, was heavy in my mouth and I sucked back as much water as oxygen.

“See you at my place. I can’t wait to introduce you to my father.” He smirked as I surfaced, before slapping me as I sunk back below the water. Letting myself sink this time, I waited for my feet to hit the bottom, my lungs were screaming long before I felt the silty floor beneath me. Bending my knees I pushed up, breaking the surface again, I kicked hard trying to prolong the height of my jump, trying vainly again to swallow in some air and again not getting enough. I began to sink once more, knowing already I didn’t have enough breath for another jump, wondering if it would hurt much to drown. As I dropped below the water level once more my eyes caught the flash of something red across the field, reflecting brightly as lightning lit the entire area, then darkness. I watched in a detached sort of way as the bubbles from my hair floated past my face back towards the surface. I tried to kick, struggling in vain back towards the night sky, but it was no use, with my hands tied I didn’t have the strength or ability to make it again, my lungs stung with the pain of thousands of tiny pins.

I
closed my eyes, I had to breathe, I couldn’t wait any longer – this was it. As I opened my mouth to inhale the water I felt a pull, a sharp tug on the back of my shirt and then I was rising again. I broke through the surface and instantly the gag was gone, I turned my face to find blazing green eyes only inches above my own, I screamed in fright, trying to pull away.

“Dammit Ava be still!” Allison growled, “Are you …” her sentence was cut short as Will hit her hard from behind, driving her into me and ploughing us both into the ground, my head flung back connecting with a loud crack against a log as we were driven backwards. My vision blurred, going instantly fuzzy around the edges, and I felt myself being dragged towards unconsciousness.

I lay in the rain, my eyes shut, focused only on the pain, the heat of my ribs, freshly cracked, and the deep throbbing pulse matching my heart beat just above my eyes. Everywhere else I was numb, chilled to the bone by the incessant rain.

It was too much to take in, I couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, whenever I tried to call to mind the happenings of the last few minutes I drew a blank. My brain seemed to have turned to cotton wool, everything blurry and unclear, nothing made sense now and yet everything made sense.

Wills blinding jealousy of Robert, his undying rage at the injustices he felt had been done to him.

And on top of that, he was a child of the underworld. The son of Hades. This was his Disneyland, suffering, death, war.

He was the unseen, the evil that Robert had been told about. But even Robert didn’t know yet exactly what the unseen entailed.

I gripped onto the only thing that was of any comfort.

Robert.

He was my soul mate. That indescribable feeling, the draw I had to him was not normal, it was unique to us, a part of whatever he was, a part that involved me, that had control of me as much as it had of him.

For whatever reason, we had been created for each other, two halves of a whole, however impossible that was, we were two totally different beings from two totally different worlds. Not even Robert knew what lay ahead for him, for us, we were an unknown oddity even in his world.

I whispered his name, my voice breaking and muffled as I called to him, wishing him to me, knowing at the same time that it was hopeless. Will would finish what he had started.

Finally I opened my eyes, I could no longer hear Allison and it terrified me. I had to look, had to see what was to be our destiny. Rolling my head to the right it took me a moment to find them, they were some distance away, Allison and Will, rolling madly across the ground in a mix of indistinguishable arms and legs. Will rolled throwing Allison from himself, the same as I had seen him do to Robert weeks earlier, I felt the eerie sense of de ja vu as she hurtled high through the air. Like Robert she landed neatly, instantly on her guard, her stance projecting a great strength that she was trying to keep in check. They stood staring at each other, each on opposite sides of the field, a powerful rage reflected in both pairs of emerald green eyes.

Will leapt high into the night sky, but he didn’t land, he floated, hovering just above the ground, he
was…flyin
g! I shook my head, the blackness continued to creep in and I had to squint to focus. Allison didn’t hesitate to follow and leapt up as well, hovering just as Will was, two strangely godlike beings lit from behind by the full moon and shrouded in mist, both looking more angelic then evil. Allison dove at Will driving him through the air and back down towards earth, hitting the ground with a deep thud.

She stood quickly, Will didn’t move, was he unconscious? God was he dead?

Allison didn’t wait, she flew back towards me, swooping as elegant as any ballet dancer, before landing on her feet gracefully in front of me.

Squatting quickly she bought her hand to the side of my face before drawing it back swiftly, her expression one of complete shock. I noticed vaguely that she was bleeding, and badly, the dark red running thickly down her hand and dripping from her wrist.

“You’re bleeding Allison.” I murmured feeling sleepy,

“No,” she said, deathly white, “That’s your blood Ava.”

I saw him then, rushing at Allison from behind, his eyes holding nothing but hate, he was possessed.

I couldn’t warn her, I tried to speak but my body wouldn’t obey my mind, I felt as if I couldn’t move. Allison tipped her head to the left regarding me quizzically, I recognised the gesture.

Behind you!
My mind screamed,

I saw surprise register in her eyes but it was too late, I closed my own surrendering to the sleep that tugged at my core and waited for the impact that would drive Allison into me, the impact that would crush me against the log and complete Wills mission.

There was a whoosh of warm air, a loud grunt, and then nothing.

I relaxed, pleased only to be able to surrender to the dark.

I must have slept, everything was black and I felt as though I had no body, unfortunately it didn’t last. I vaguely became aware of myself once more, and the heat, burning me, burning my face. A sudden gust of wind blew my dripping hair from my shoulders and I shivered. A loud bang of thunder sounded directly overhead, my eyes popped open with a start. A dark shadow was reaching towards me, I cowered, pressing myself back against the log, causing more pain to shoot down my side, my ribs felt like they had been replaced with hot irons.

The hand withdrew quickly and I heard him inhale in shock. I looked again, squinting to make him out, my vision clearing slowly.

Was I dreaming? Was I dead?

He was here, standing in front of me, his eyes a mixture of agony and fury.

“Ava?” his hands were everywhere, my face, my arms, running down my ribs, his eyes taking in my cuts and bruises, I watched him tense in anger. Leaning forward slowly, his mouth hovered next to my ear.

“I’m so sorry.” he breathed, his voice warm on my skin, before pulling back, his dark eyes searched mine. The look of pain that crossed his features broke my heart. His gaze shifted, fixing on something over my shoulder, before returning to me again.

His gold brown eyes burned into mine, just as his hand burned against my cheek.

“Ava,” he whispered again, his voice full of fear as he reached out to me once more.

“Ava, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Something warm ran down my cheek and it took my mind a moment to clear itself of its fog and realise I was crying.

“I’m so sorry Ava.” he gathered me gently, holding me against his warmth.

“I’m so sorry,” his voice broke in pain, sending another wave of tears cascading down my checks.

“Rob…” I whispered, his touch, his voice, the most exquisite thing I had ever heard.

He sat back again, his smouldering hands cupping each side of my face,

“You’ve never called me that before,” his smile was strained, “I like it.”

His eyes searched mine, “You’re really alright?”

“I don’t…”

“Rob…” Allisons voice broke through from behind, lowering me back with exquisite gentleness he went to Allisons side, some thirty yards away, in the blink of an eye.

I saw then the reason behind the urgency in her voice. Allison had Will pinned to the ground, but he was struggling, Robert said something to Allison, I couldn’t hear him over the rain, but a look of disbelief came over her and she shook her head frowning. Robert continued to argue with her and then, finally, she dropped her grasp and stood back. Will was on his feet in an instant, but Robert was faster, slamming his fist into Wills abdomen, causing him to curl over in shock.

“Why?” Robert demanded, his voice so cold and so full of authority it struck me to my bones.

The fog was creeping in again and I blinked trying to clear it, my body was desperately seeking sleep, I willed myself to stay awake, blinking slowly, feeling as if all my movements where in slow motion.