Intrigue (28 page)

“I will do anything to save Thrace! But, how do I do it? You have to help me,” I begged.

“First of all, who do you think has control over your friend?”

“I believe her name is Aglaea. She’s one of the three Graces or something. At least that is what Rafe said the night she was with Thrace.”

“That’s not good, Calli. She is powerful, and her sisters make her even more dangerous.
And,
she is one of Ares's darlings. I don’t know how they could stop her without arousing Ares's wrath. What night do the black outs usually happen?”

“They happen a couple times a week, but he wakes up bloody and beaten on Sundays.”

“So Saturday is her designated fight night. That’s only six days away. We have to work fast if we want to stop him from fighting on Saturday. First, you need to confront Rafe and find out his plan. In the meantime, we need to follow Thrace to find out where he goes when he is called. You can’t stop her once she’s in The Corner because security is too tight so we have to get to them at her staging area.”

“I think his two friends are the other two Graces victims. Can’t we just stop the guys from going to them?” I inquired logically.

“Yes, we could lock them up and throw away the key for the night, but the Graces would still be able to sense where they are and come to find your friends just to punish them. Distance or circumstance won’t matter.”

“Isn’t it better to get the Graces on our turf? We are much more likely to have the element of surprise as well as numbers in our favor if we ambush them.”

“That is a very good point, but with time running so short, we have to be realistic. There are only three possible ways to break their tie to your friends: 1) Keep the guys away from the Graces for a week and the tie is temporarily broken—until they finds and bite them again. And they will very quickly, because they win respect and power at The Corner. 2) Tell Ares you exist and ask him to stop the Graces from using your friends as gladiators as a favor to you. 3) Kill Aglaea and her sisters by any means possible. So, I will ask you again. How much is Thrace’s life worth to you?”

I just stood there and silently shook my head as I pondered this horrific dilemma. “Basically, I can either try to kill 3 demigods or barter with Ares the God of War. Are those really my only options,
really
?”

“You never answered my question, how much is Thrace’s life worth to you?”

I narrowed my gaze at him and without hesitating for I second I replied vehemently, “To
me
, his life is worth my life! I doubt Rafe or Apollo would agree, so my guess is that any plan they come up with makes sure that I am not exposed to Ares.”

“
That
certainly will be their intentions. First step: confront Rafe tonight and find out the plan. Do
not
tell him you are willing to come up with your own plan. Otherwise, he and Apollo will put their energy into stopping you rather than saving Thrace and his friends. Second, the Graces are demigods; you can’t really kill them permanently. But, based on vamp policy, they will not be allowed back in Detroit for her next go-round. To be honest, the easiest way to kill them without retribution is to let them bite you. They will depart instantly if you are really a Muse.”

My eyes widened in shock and once again I’m floored. “If they bite me, they die then are reborn somewhere else?”

“Yes, your blood is poison to all but your Olympian. But you would have to get them to bite you not break your neck during the fights.”

“We could realistically try options 1-3 all at once. Try to hide them, if the Graces show up, fight them, and let
fate
decide. We will have to find a way to separate them, so you can take them on individually. If they bite you, then problem solved if they try to kill you then just say ‘I’m a Muse’—problem solved. You leave their fate up to them. We can have back-ups armed and ready if they try to kill you rather than bite you.”

“Thanks, Dr. A, that is
really
comforting,” I snarked.

“My guess is they would try to bite you, but they are used to killing humans during their matches. You’d just be collateral damage. Of course, this would all hinge on whether you are really a Muse and if you are willing to put yourself in mortal danger.”

As he spoke the words my phone rang, I looked down saw it was Rafe and mouthed his name to Dr. A. I picked up the phone and said “Hey, Rafe. What have you found out?”

Dr. A pondered this and finally said, “Question him vigorously. Look him in the eye. Tell him that you want the truth, and there will be consequences if he lies because too much is at stake. If he doesn’t offer the information, you know it’s because they are going to protect you at the expense of your friend. Get any details on his plan and don’t fall for the ‘trust me’ plea because he is going to use it fervently.”

I absorbed his advice and replied, “How do we stay in contact from here on out?”

“Call me from your home phone tonight to tell me how it went. Not your cell phone. It’s too easy for him to get ahold of your call log. We can figure out some unsupervised time for us to meet this week. Good luck and Godspeed, Calliope.”

“Dr. A, how could you be friends with Rafe and Apollo when an immortal killed your son?”

He smiled sadly at my question, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend in this case. We are all working on a common goal—to destroy The Corner. If it were not for Hermes and Apollo, I would be dead. Their willingness to help me, and their information on what happened to my son gave me purpose when I had none. You cannot say all humans are like Jeffery Dahmer just like you can’t say all immortals are as vicious as Ares. Both Hermes and Apollo have honor and are trying to protect humans. However, in this case, they want to protect you more than Thrace and his friends.”

“That is what I am afraid of, Dr. A. And that is why I need your help,” I said as I headed for the car to meet Rafe.

Luckily, I arrived at the gym in about 10 minutes so I had time to plan my interrogation strategy. As much as I wanted to fight him right now, I also needed to make contact with something to get my anger out. I grabbed the Muay Thai Pads from the closet and wrapped my hands as I thought about the questions I needed to ask. If I asked what he had learned so far, it would be like asking him to lie to me. Clearly, he did not want to tell me about the ability of immortals to take possession of humans. So I was going to have to lead him there without giving away what I know. Rafe walked in just as I was finishing warming up. He looked tired. I wanted to go wrap my arms around him to comfort both him, and myself but I needed to stay focused.

He smiled at me with a wistful expression that usually had me smiling back, “I take it we are not sparring today?”

I smiled as I said, “I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that what you are going to tell me is going to piss me off. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone. You talk. I hit.”

“That works fine, Calliope. You ready?”

“Let’s start with kicks, and let’s start with who has been biting Thrace,” I took him off guard as I threw him the pads to hold. He grabbed them and put them on as I got into my stance.

I started with front kicks, and it felt good to actually make contact with something. Rafe answered cautiously, “It was Aglaea, again.”

I immediately shot another question at him before my next kick. “She would have had to do it multiple times a week. How did she find him to bite him again, and why would he end up all beaten up?”

I think my questions drove him backwards more than my kick, “We think he attended another rave. The night we went to the haunted farmhouse.”

“Ok. That was one time. How did she track him down so that he would have multiple black outs per week usually days apart?” I wouldn’t get all the information out of him at once, so I was trying the baby step method.

He hesitated and took a deep breath before he said, “Calli, another fun immortal fact is that once we bite you we can call you to us for a short period of time.”

I was impressed that he confessed one piece of the puzzle to me, but we had three more to go: possession, The Corner, and the plan. I wanted him to trust me enough to confess all. I was leaving our fate and my life in his hands without him ever knowing it. “Put the target down and look at me. Ring….Ring….Is Thrace on that harpy’s speed dial? Explain calling to me.”

Time to pull the trigger on the next question. “So if she is so attached to him because she’s calling him all the time, why is she kicking his eyas on a regular basis?”

He seemed to ponder this for a moment before he lied to my face. “I don’t think she deliberately tries to harm him. I think she just gets overzealous in their amorous activities.”

I was pissed at the lie he just tried to get by me on the chance that I would be too uncomfortable talking about my ex’s sex life. I just spit out, “Put the targets up!”

I released my disappointment for a couple of minutes by punching and kicking the pads as hard as I could. When I was done, I bent over to catch my breath and to calm my temper. I straightened and looked him directly in his eyes as I loudly clarified, “Rafe, my mom’s a nurse, and I have a black belt in karate. He didn’t get those bruises from a little too active foreplay. He got them from someone punching and kicking him. So stop sugar coating and don’t
ever
lie to me again.” I made sure my gaze was locked with his the whole time, just as Dr. A advised me to do.

“I didn’t get to personally examine him like you did, Calli. But Aglaea is not known for punching and kicking her humans. She is known for getting a little carried away in other areas. I was just posing a possibility,” he said in a snit.

“What happens in your world on Saturday nights? He always wakes up Sunday morning bruised and beaten.”

“Saturday is much like any other day to us since most of us don’t usually have a typical work week. And the last time I had contact with Aglaea was at the rave when you and I first got together.”

Both of those statements were likely to be true, and both of those statements were evasions to keep me from learning the truth. It was clear that Rafe was not going to tell me about possession or The Corner. My bitterness was boiling over. I had to focus because it was time to get to the plan—after I got to hit him for a while. “Put the targets up!” Another ten minutes went by again before I was ready to deal with the plan.

“What is the plan to save Thrace?” I snapped unable to hide my anger.

“Apollo and I haven’t worked out the details yet. We need to shadow Aglaea and learn her patterns before we decide on a course of action,” Rafe said matter-of-factly.

“What happens if we locked him up so he couldn’t answer her call?”

“We would be better off by either bargaining with her or distracting her with a more athletic specimen. She has a short attention span when it comes to human men. Trust me….whatever plan we put in place, we will protect Thrace from Aglaea.”

I started untaping my hand so I wasn’t meeting his eyes when I lied, “I do trust you, but we are talking about my best friend’s life. I want to know the plan.” I finally looked up to meet his gaze.

He threw the targets down and put his hands on my waist as I immediately leaned my forehead into his chest so he wouldn’t try to kiss me, “I will tell you as soon as it is in place.”

“Thanks,” I muttered into his chest then “I have to get home.” I pulled away from him and went to pick up my bag.

Just as I reached the door and started to open it, Rafe pulled me back into the room, leaned my back against the door and my front against him, and laid his forehead on mine as he begged me, “Please, Calli. Don’t hate me for what others of my kind are responsible for. That is not
me
! The only two things I desire in life right now are your affection and to protect you from the depraved aspects of my world.”

Because of both of those desires, Rafe would never come up with a plan to save Thrace that included my participation in any way. And as disappointed as I was, I understood. I finally gave him what he wanted to hear, “I don’t blame you for the evil deeds of that harpy. And my world has plenty of depravity with its serial killers and child molesters, and you don’t judge me by those examples of the human race. I will let you protect me from your world as long as it doesn’t endanger other people I care about.”

He smiled at me with his eyes blazing before he kissed me as if he was still pleading for my understanding. For several minutes, I got to escape this horrific dilemma. After he had temporarily bedazzled me, he finally said in a husky whisper, “It’s a deal.”

As I drove away, I planned what my next move would be because clearly I was on my own.

I called Dr. A from my home phone and discussed Rafe’s explanation of events. After I got done with my recap, Dr. A finally chimed in, “Yes, the Graces will probably feed off their decoys, but they have gladiators in Thrace and his friends that have won several matches so far. They will just find them again when their gladiators lose.”

“I need a Plan B then. Will you be on Team Calli?” I begged.

“Of course, my dear. I know you are disappointed in Rafe, but you are his Aegis and he must protect you at all costs—even if Thrace is the cost.”