Gideon [The Marujan Brothers Series] Book Two (18 page)

actually
dying. You were momentarily weakened. Deorci must
have drugged you or something. That's exactly how I felt when I
first got here that night three years ago." Esyth paused when she
saw his eyes darken and rushed on. "I guess it only lasts a few
minutes so you'll be fine. In the meanwhile, we have got to get out
of here. Deorci intends to use you to lure Hadaen and the others
here so he can trap them!"
   Blowing out a firm whistle, Gideon managed to
reach to his feet, flexing his slightly fatigued legs. "Nice
plan."
   She nodded. "Yeah. His regime is blown to pieces.
He only has a single team left down in some field, I heard him
talking about."
   Gideon smirked. "There is no team. I blasted
those fuckers back to Hades some time ago. But if what you're
saying his true...." He paced back and forth a moment. "Then that
means Deorci is all alone."
   Esyth tugged on his arm impatiently. "Yes! But
we've got to get out of here. Haven’t you been listening? I think
there is something weird going on about this room. My powers are
not working here.” She gave the room on quick onceover and
shuddered. We have
GOT
to leave!"
     Gideon nodded, forcing back a grin.
She was as bossy as she'd always been. And he wouldn't have her any
other way. He pulled her up to the only apparent exit he saw: a
large wide door that seemed as if it was welded in. Hell, he'd need
his
mana
at its
peak to open this one. Gideon took one look at the goddess next to
him and smiled. She made him feel as if he could accomplish
anything.
     He had taken a deep breath, summoning
his mana from his core, and his right palm pressed against the cold
exterior of the door when he felt her arm circle his waist. He
looked down and saw her looking back, eyes glossy and damp. Aw
hell, she wasn't going to cry again, was she?
   Esyth opened her mouth to speak, bottom lip
quivering, and then slammed it back shut. Swallowing down the lump
of emotion lodged in her throat, she sighed and met his eyes firmly
this time. "Th...thanks for c-coming back for me."
   Gideon felt something twitch inside him, an
electric bolt running up and down his spine. Damn, this woman
certainly knew how to make him feel. A small burning reached its
way to his eyes.
Oh shit,
now he wanted to cry! Tugging her into his arms,
Gideon crushed her slender curves against him, running his hands
along the curve if her back and over his ass. Esyth blinked,
gripping into the front of his shirt.
   "Baby, I couldn't stay away even if I wanted to!"
he hissed, to tone of his voice, begging her to see this. He then
captured her lips in a swift kiss, his tongue exploring and getting
a taste of all the promised pleasures that was yet to come. He
could stand here kissing her forever if he had his way but like
she'd said, they needed to get out of there. "Now let's go wring
the neck of a certain asshole so that I can get some of this
ass!"
   He gave her a firm slap on the butt and grinned.
The delighted shriek that had escaped her lips only made him
harder.

• * * *
  

‘He didn’t know what was
defeating him, but he sensed it was something he could not cope
with, something that was far beyond his power to control or even at
this point in time comprehend.’

―
Hubert Selby Jr.,
Requiem for a Dream

E
ven his feet were threatening to fail him!

He had to think of
something quick! Deorci marched down the long dark hall leading out
to the open field that marked the exit of his dungeon. His plan was
not working. The other Marujans were supposed to follow the fool.
It would have been an easy capture then for he had incensed that
room from floor to ceiling. Yeah, he knew that much about the
Marujans’ life source—their
prana
. Incense weakened them, made
them momentarily disoriented. They would not have access to their
powers for minutes and that had been his plan all along: to get
them all together in that room and set it ablaze with a roaring
endless fire.

His right foot slammed
hard against a rock near the wall and he growled heavily, cursing
all the gods to hell. He was screwed. No…he was
fucking
screwed and even he knew
when to admit that. His regime was completely wiped out so he had
no one there to use to buy him more time for escape. He had to
leave before they caught up on him. Perhaps then he’d manage to
find a new hideaway, some new willing men and plot a new scheme all
over again. Deorci nodded to himself. Yea, that would work. That’s
what he’d do. He would not go down like this. Before he took his
very last breath—and that’s if he ever did anyway—he’d see to it
that the entire Marujan kingdom was obliterated.

Taking a sharp turn, he shrugged off
his annoyingly flapping coat and flung it to the ground. He didn’t
need it anyway. Sweat beaded his nose as he dismissed the sudden
feeling of defeat that was slithering its way into his head. He did
need such thoughts now. He turned right now, nearly flying around
another corner and slammed straight into a wall.

“Going somewhere?”

“
Fuck!” Deorci let out a
furious breath and shook his head fiercely as he looked up. Okay,
so it wasn’t a wall. Quite frankly, he would have preferred if
it
had
been a
wall that he’d slammed into because at least then he could just
shrug it off and get on his way. He sighed and ran a hand over his
then loosened hair.
This is going a long
day!
He clenched his jaws tightly, trying
desperately to maintain his composure. “Malakai, I thought you were
dead.”

The boy barked out a laugh. “You
thought I was dead? Come on. We haven’t seen each other in three
long years and that’s all you have to say?”

“
Yes, yes. Now get out of
my way!” Deorci reach out, shoving Malakai by the shoulder. To his
surprise, he hadn’t even moved the boy an inch. Narrowing his eyes
suspiciously on his ex-right-hand-man, Deorci pulled back his hand
and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve grown, I see.”

Malakai gave him a wide
grin, a mocking one at that. “Not a boy anymore, you realize. Not
Malakai of the Kankuls anymore,
Deorci
,” he spat distastefully.
“I’ve made a name for myself.”

Deorci could help but laugh. So the
boy was here to kiss up to him then? Alright, he could accept that.
As long as he was quick about it. “Let me guess? You want to come
back, don’t you? There’s no need to grovel, really—”

“
You are one stupid piece
of shit!” Malakai snarled, eyes burning with insult and fury. “Does
the name Baamel ring a bell, Deorci?
No
? Thought so. Doesn’t matter
anyway. Long story short: I’m here for your head.”

Yea, join the line,
fool.
Deorci thought, getting extremely
frustrated now. He needed to be on his way. And if it meant killing
the boy, then so be it. “You and Marujans and every-fucking-body
else! Now move!”

This time, it was Malakai who threw
the first punch…and it connected him squarely in the face. Deorci
had felt and heard the crunch of his own nose breaking as he was
slammed rather forcefully into the adjacent wall. Damn it, when had
the boy gotten so strong? Before he knew it, the boy had him by the
throat, fingers digging into his windpipe. Managing to throw
Malakai a solid uppercut, Deorci wrenched from the death-grip and
gasped, clutching his throat and wiping his bloody nose with the
other hand. Anger spurted through him like sparks from a fire. Now,
he really had no choice but to kill him. At his feet, Malakai was
momentarily slumped on his knees and taking in swift sharp breaths.
Breathing hard himself, Deorci summoned his dark energy and reached
down, grabbing the boy by his collar and landing him another
eye-popping uppercut.

Malakai wheezed and shoved away in
lightning fast speed. He then reared back and slammed in his fist
into his ex-leader’s jaw, cracking his jaw and sending the arrogant
bastard hard into the wall again. Deorci slid down the wall and
fell like a heap on the floor.

“
I’ve got it now!” Malakai
spun around quickly, trying to locate who had just spoken. He could
here running feet coming from up the dark hall. It wasn’t for a
moment that he made out Gideon Maruj rushing towards him, a
familiar-looking blonde leading the way. Then the woman drew to an
abrupt stop, the Marujan slamming into her back, both almost
falling over. “What’s
he
doing here?”

“
Shh
,” Gideon murmured. “He’s the one who helped me find this
place.”

“What
? You expect me to believe—”

“I expect you to
trust
me,” he said
firmly, staring deeply into her eyes.

Esyth frowned and then looked over at
Malakai who was staring at something—rather someone—slouched over
on the floor. Inching closer, she narrowed her eyes on the figure
and then shrunk back almost immediately. Grabbing on to Gideon’s
arm, she muttered, “That’s Deorci! What happened?” She turned to
look at Malakai. “What happened here?”

“
Knocked him out, that’s
what happened,” Malakai grumbled. He looked pointedly at Gideon.
“What now?”

Esyth chewed on her lip
and then gasped. “The spell! I’ve been working on it for two years.
We have to use it. I have to do it.
Now
. Before he wakes up!”

“
What spell?” Malakai and
Gideon asked.

“It’s…it’s a transfer spell…” She
paced back and forced, tapping her fingers against her temples.
“It’ll send him far away from here, I can tell you
that.”

“
How far?” Gideon
said.

“Straight back to his maker:
Hades.”

All three exchanged contemplative
looks but it was Malakai who spoke. He nodded and rubbed his palms
together. “Okay; far enough.”

“
Okay, okay. You two are
going to need to step back,” she said, ushering both men aside. “I
have to do this right. I might only have one shot.” Esyth stepped
anxiously up to Deorci’s unconscious body and did not waste a
moment. She got right to it. She’d waiting for this moment for a
very long time. “
Shalem cuhnek marle
seiiii….cortehhk morahles Hadeea…sehkare!
”

“
Are you sure you’ve got
this right? You won’t end up going with him
this
time?” Gideon’s voice came,
dripping in worry. A sharp elbow from Malakai hushed him
up.

“Shut up!” Esyth grounded
out between clenched teeth. “I know what I’m doing!” She repeated
the spell again and Gideon stepped back as they saw a deep black
fog forming up from the ground and around them. Esyth continued
chanting. “
Shalem cuhnek marle
seiiii….cortehhk morahles Hadeea…sehkare! Shalem cuhnek marle
seiiii….cortehhk morahles Hadeea…sehkare!!”

The fog grew thicker, surrounding them
more swiftly, rushing like a spear towards Deorci’s form. He
stirred a second, causing them all anxious flinches. What if he
woke up? What if they were too late? What if the spell didn’t work?
There was an eerie sound, a high-pitched screeching that rose up
along the path of the fog.

Gideon on as Esyth’s green glow now
shot out and around her like a blazing fire. Her hair stood up
straight on her head, her body gently levitating. It was working!
He tried not to smile…yet.

Deorci stirred again, this
time his eyes fluttering open. Esyth chanted harder, fiercer; the
fright in her voice now evident. “What…what the—” He attempted to
move but the fog encircled him, pushing him back down. “What the
hell are you doing to me? Get this shit off me now!” But Esyth
continued to chant, the screeching continued and neither Gideon nor
Malakai moved an inch. Deorci fought against the surrounding voice,
but it only entrapped him further until he was completely
surrounded and covered by it. Esyth said the chant one last time
before her voice fell to a low pitch and she uttered, “Bye
bye,
bitch
!”

The screeching ceased. The fog swelled
and twisted swirling like a tornado until there was
nothing.

Absolutely nothing!

All three stood there, mouths agape
and they stared at…nothing. Deorci was…gone?

“
Deorci is gone,” Esyth
muttered slowly. She even sounded as if
she
could hardly believe it. She
reached an arm out to Gideon who immediately pulled her towards
him. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and
grinned.

“
Yeah, I can’t believe it
but he’s gone.” He spun her around t face him, the grin on his face
reaching ear to ear. “You did, babe!
You
did it.”

Esyth giggled, blowing out
a breath of relief and sank her face into his chest.
“
We
did it,
babe.”

They stood there for a moment in
silence until Malakai’s irritated voice drifted through the air,
“Damn it, I was looking forward to having the bastard’s
head!”

Esyth and Gideon chuckled together. He
then held out a hand to Malakai who shook it readily. “Me too, man.
But he’s gone. Just…thanks…for everything.”