God of Destruction (33 page)

The familiar sight of completely black eyes
told Claire and Ziba
exactly
what he was going to do to the
girl on the floor. He opened his mouth, showing the buzzing cloud
gathering in the back of his throat.

“No!” James yelled, crossing the room quickly
as he prepared to dive between the god and the one he couldn’t live
without.

If there was anything the battling
consciousnesses of Ziba and Claire could agree on, it was that
Mainyu wouldn’t be given the chance to hurt anyone else ever again.
No matter the cost. Defenseless, cowardly Claire was speechless in
the face of danger, but, thankfully, Ziba’s vengeful spirit could
think faster. Without Claire’s consent, her hand snapped swiftly
out in Mainyu’s direction, her fingers closing around his
ankle.

“My Lord,” she whispered timidly.

Instantly, the black in his eyes dissolved
and the room went silent, everyone’s attention focused completely
on Claire as she pulled herself to her feet. Kierlan held his gun
outstretched toward Mainyu, ready to shoot when he so much as
touched Claire, but he was taken aback by the familiarity in her
voice when she addressed him. Despite his reservations, the gun in
his hand faltered.

Mainyu turned slowly to face his mortal love
with a smile on his face. When his scarlet eyes met her porcelain
face, he leaned infinitesimally closer, pulling her hands into his.
He assumed it was shyness that prompted Ziba to avert her eyes.
“Yes, my love?”

In actuality, Ziba had found the unmistakable
hint of white paper peeking out from the pocket of his robe and she
couldn’t tear her gaze away from the wonderful glimmer of
salvation. In the time it took for her to drag her gaze up to meet
Mainyu, she was already contemplating how she was ever going to
take it without him noticing. Beside that, she had no idea what she
was going to say to him now that she’d gotten his attention. She
highly doubted her true feelings, that she wanted him dead and
burning in hellfire, would help her in her current venture.

Rather than try to sweet talk him to his
face, the image that was already making her sick to her stomach,
Claire wrenched her hands free from him, disregarding the look he
gave her that warned her to cooperate. Her arms curled around his
neck in a crushing hug.

“Lady Ziba—” he began, shock evident in his
voice.

“You have been gone from me so long, My
Lord.”

While her cheek was pressed against his
chest, she felt him rumble with a deep chuckle. “I know, my love.
It feels like eternities I have waited to find you.”

Inwardly, Claire gagged at the line and the
feeling of his arms circling her back. Nevertheless, she made no
move to suggest she protested to Ziba’s actions, though she
couldn’t understand how the priestess could let him touch her,
feeling the deeply rooted resentment in their shared heart. She
sank back to the back of their consciousness, letting Ziba, the
more courageous and clever of the two, take the wheel for the rest
of this adventure.

Ziba stared up into blood-red eyes, craftily
hiding her shudder of disgust at the lust she found hidden there.
She maintained eye contact. “What happens now, my Lord? Now that we
have found each other, once more?”

He smiled, tilting her chin further up so
that he could pull her face into a kiss. His eyes closed before
their lips met, but Ziba didn’t bother with the useless show of
emotion she didn’t possess. Her skin crawled, her eyes narrowed,
and her eyes flickered downward, finding the pocket containing the
page she needed. Purposefully, she trailed her hands down his sides
as lovingly as she could fake it, fingers poised to snatch the
paper from his dirty robe. All was nearly lost when she felt his
tongue slither masterfully into her mouth.

“Claire, what are you
doing
?” Alex
demanded as James lifted her easily off the floor. She wasn’t
entirely surprised when she was ignored.

Rather than pull away from the disgusting
superhuman, Ziba pictured her first life, of her first kiss with
Bomani. When her fingers were confidently fixed around the thin,
weathered parchment, she closed her eyes, picturing Bomani’s lips
beneath hers and sank into the thin, hard body before her. Getting
a better grip on the page, Ziba went to shove it into the back
pocket of Claire’s strange clothes. The distinct crackle of old
paper being crumpled up broke her out of her illusion. Suddenly,
her wrist was captured in the grasp of long, wiry fingers.

Kierlan was beginning to feel sick, as were
the others in the room, as the less-than-innocent kiss between the
beautiful girl and the god turned into a full blown make out
session. By this point, his gun was held entirely at his side while
he looked to James for instruction. Taran was long gone by now and
he was feeling entirely out of sorts by this recent twist. He
couldn’t tell if Claire’s sudden change of heart was planned, but
he knew he didn’t like it either way. The sting of jealousy stirred
in the pit of his stomach.

Then, he saw the movement that made watching
the wet, sloppy kiss worth it. She pulled the paper out of his
pocket, and he knew it had all been a ruse, even without knowing
what she’d endured in her previous life. He couldn’t help but grin,
waiting for her next move in their newest plan.

Until, of course, the god’s eyes opened when
he realized her intentions and he grabbed her hand. It took Kierlan
a fraction of a second to raise his gun, aiming it immediately
between Mainyu’s eyes, high enough above Claire’s head that he
didn’t worry. He waited.

“Treacherous snake,” the god hissed.

Ziba uselessly pulled against him, her wrist
caught so tightly in his vise-like grip that she could barely take
a step. “Let go,” she ordered, shaking his arm.

“I should have known you would betray me like
this, you stupid mortal!” he growled, turning swiftly so she went
flying through the air. She crashed against the dusty floor with
the page, thankfully, still in her hand and her hair wrapped
messily around her face.

Shaking her head to get the annoying curls
out of her face, she scowled up at his approaching figure, anger
radiating through her body with a fervor that startled Claire.

“I think it is time I taught you another
lesson, young one. I do not think you fully understand the extent
of this arrangement,” he taunted, stopping before her. “Who would
you like me to destroy this time?” he inquired, raising his hand.
Suddenly, as James, Alex, and Kierlan screamed in objection, they
lifted off the ground by the invisible force he’d already displayed
once before. In his shock, Kierlan’s gun fell from his hand,
landing with a crash that thundered through Claire’s brain. Between
her and Ziba, she was the only one who knew what the modern weapon
could do.

“No!” Kierlan yelled, reaching for it as he
ascended higher and higher.

Mainyu pointed James, letting his body fall
back to the earth. “Will it be your
guardian angel
?” he
sneered. Kierlan dropped next, trying to recover his breath before
he scrambled for the gun. “Your
mortal
savior?” Alex danced
in the air, her body rocking and spinning as he played with her.
“Or will it be your
witch sister
?!”

Ziba crushed the page in her fist. “You have
taken
everything
from me! I will not let you do anymore harm
to the people
I love
! Burn in hell!”

Simultaneously, a loud
boom
shook the
foundation beneath them when Kierlan was finally able to squeeze
the trigger, opening a hole in the back of Mainyu’s head. He jerked
forward slightly, rage evident on his face. The god turned,
displaying the thick mess of unmentionable gore that had once been
the back of his skull. Before her eyes, his flesh stitched back
together like a cobweb of skin. In his distracted state, the force
holding Alex in the air let her fall back to earth, unharmed.

Kierlan’s eyes widened, the gun falling from
his hands when he realized it was useless to him. Rather than use
his godly powers, Mainyu bent down, easily lifting the man up by
the front of his shirt. Kierlan could make no sound before his body
was hurled backwards toward the skeletal wall. All the breath in
his body escaped as his back connected with the remains, his body
going limp before it even touched the floor.

When James had safely restored Alex to her
place behind him, he outstretched his palms, prepared to defend her
with everything he had. “Claire!” he called, emitting a long,
bright streak of lightning from his skin when Mainyu turned to face
them.

Ziba vaguely recalled that he was addressing
her through the cloud of pent up fury she descended from. Breathing
heavily from her most recent monologue, she looked up.

Fully engrossed in the distraction he was
creating, James continued, “Read the page!”

Kierlan coughed when his chest flattened
against the floor, all the will to stand leaving him as his breath
did. His head spun and he wondered what had happened to put him in
this state. It didn’t take long before he realized why he was
there.

The ringing in his ears eventually subsided
and he could finally hear the battle he was missing while he lay
splayed on the floor. Blinking away the dirt and blood in his eyes,
courtesy of the gash splitting his face from eyebrow to eyelid, he
studied his surroundings. He couldn’t help but notice as he did
that his gun was completely out of reach.

“Claire!” James screamed, ducking when a
surge of the buzzing black mass exploded from Mainyu’s mouth. Where
his head had just been, it crashed into the wall, shaking the
entire room with the force of the assault. Curling his body
protectively over Alex, he outstretched his arm and blindly threw a
bolt of his signature lightning. Mainyu roared when the attack
scorched his face, momentarily collapsing to his knees as he
cradled his head in his hands.

Taking the opportunity, James shoved Alex
toward Claire and waited for Mainyu’s next move. “Read it now!”

Ziba easily deciphered the markings on the
page, but she knew that the ancient parchment was useless in her
hands. She’d never possessed the same affinity for the ancient
powers that her sister had. Even if his terminology was crude,
Angra Mainyu was correct in calling her a witch. Without Shireen,
the last remaining page from the magical Book of Eternity was as
useful as a blank sheet. Unless, of course, they could find a
proper substitute, she amended mentally, gaze shifting over the
girl beside her.

“Claire!” James snarled.

“Alex!” Claire countered, grabbing her
friend’s hands in both of hers. Wordlessly, she let the ball of
paper fall into Alex’s hand.

Alex looked from her hand to Claire’s face.
“What do you want me to do with this?”

James opened his mouth to voice his demands
again, but he was suddenly propelled backwards, the black particles
spilling off him like water. Claire cringed away from the mess,
pulling Alex with her when the smaller girl tried to grab for her
boyfriend.

“No!” Claire shrieked, shoving her away from
James and diving away from the tidal wave behind them. She knew all
too well what it did to mortal people and that they could only hope
that he would be alright. “Don’t touch it!”

Alex didn’t even look at her. “Let go!
James!” she screeched, shoving against Claire.

“There’s nothing you can do to help him now!”
Claire insisted, shoving back as hard as she could.

Tears welled in Alex’s eyes. “I can’t let him
die
!”

Ziba knew the feeling. Love. Helplessness.
Her stomach roiled with nausea when she thought of her initial
sense of unadulterated…
anguish
when she found Bomani, lying
cold and unnaturally still on the floor of the temple. If Alex was
suffering through even
half
of that, it could destroy her.
Ziba had to put a stop to it.

“There
is
something you can do to
help!” Ziba exclaimed, straightening out the page in Alex’s
hand.

Alex sniffled, blinking away hot tears.
“What?”

“Ziba!” Mainyu bellowed, nearing the two
girls with murder coloring his face.

The blonde didn’t look back at him, keeping
her hands closed around Alex’s wrists. “You have to read it.

Alex glanced quickly down at the scrawl on
the parchment. “But…but Claire, I can’t read this.”

“We have a few things to discuss!” he
continued tauntingly, waving his hand.

Claire screamed as her feet left the ground,
but she managed to recover enough to form words. “Alex, you
have
to remember!”

Grinding her teeth as she looked from
Claire’s floating body to the black, tar-like mass hardened around
James’s body, Alex tried to think of what she was supposed to
remember. Wincing when she realized that he
had
to be
suffocating in there, Alex glared impatiently at the faded
characters on the yellowing paper. When no miraculous remedy
arrived, she let the paper hang at her side. “What, exactly, am I
supposed to be remembering?” she growled.

Claire flailed through the air, trying to
swim into a better position. Her body smacked harshly against the
wall, once, twice, a third time until she went slack, the slight
drip of blood trailing down her chin. Mouth curled in a grimace,
she sobbed under her breath, spitting red. “Stop,” she mumbled,
above begging, for the time being.

“You can make the pain stop, Ziba,” the god
said. “You know what you have to do.”

She shook her head, bracing herself for the
impact with the wall. Her head spun, thoughts muddled.

“Hey!” a voice suddenly yelled, breaking her
daze. Ziba’s head slowly lifted, vaguely recalling the deep timber
from the memories of the girl she shared a body with. The man who’d
yelled stood behind Mainyu, the shiny black weapon he was so fond
of held tightly in one hand. The business end was pressed firmly to
the back of the god’s head.