Rifts (13 page)

"Must you swear at me, Grace? They balked at first since you're well known for the Romance titles, but they went for it after they read it. I wasn’t able to get as much as I would have for your next Rom title, but they want to know when they can get the next one out the door." The irritation in her voice was obvious. Marisol made less money when
I
made less.

"Write one book in a month and everyone thinks you can keep that up. What am I? A machine?"

"Have you worked on the second book? Have you worked
at all
in the last month and a half?"

Guilt pinged my conscious half and I muttered, "No. Remember when I said I needed a vacation? I wasn't kidding."

"Well, stop vacationing and start writing the next one."

"Technically, the Publisher has
two
of my books on deck. I shouldn't
have
to write another one for at least a year."

"Well, vacations don't pay the bills, dear. At the very least, outline it for me. I need to show them that you have more on tap."

How in the world was I going to outline this story? I hadn't finished it yet. Who knew
when
I'd finish it?

"By the way, dear, they looooove Adonis' character. Tell me the truth; did you base him off of Drew? Because darling, he is
dreamy
. You should tap that ass."

"Whoah, back the truck up, lady." My voice held humor but really, she needed to back that truck up.

"Where are you? You sound tiny."

"I'm in the middle of nowhere. The point was to get away from civilization." I had thought that this would do it, but again, nobody escapes Marisol for long.

"Well, come back home or bust open your laptop and start writing."

"Marisol, I can't yet. I'm tapped out at the moment. I've got nothing. I have no idea what that character is going to do next."

She let out a beleaguered sigh and continued breathing heavily into the phone. "Is it me, Grace? Are you just trying to destroy my sanity?"

"You used that line on me two books ago. It's not going to work this time. You have other authors to keep you in Riviera Vacations, Marisol. Harangue them for a few months. I've got shit to take care of."

"I don't know if I like this new un-pushable Grace," she muttered. "You used to be so easy to manipulate. Don't forget that the Publisher wants an agreement on the date of the next in your Rom series."

"I know. Frankly Marisol, I feel like at this point I could copy and paste different paragraphs from previous novels, change the names around and call it good."

"Dear God, don't do that! You'll ruin me."

I groaned. "I didn't say I was
going to
do it. I just said I felt like I could. Give me six months."

"I'll give you six weeks. You wrote this new book in less."

"You're killing me."

"You won't think so when this buys you a new summer home in Tahiti."

My bark of laughter startled nesting birds in the trees overhead. The flapping and chattering increased before finally dying down.

"What in the hell was that? Are you in the Rain Forest?"

"Nope. I'm not telling you where I am. The last thing I need is you para-gliding to my location to force me to write. I'll call you when I'm back in town. Tell the Publisher that I'll have the next book before Christmas. I'll even make it a Christmas tale. They like those."

"You're a doll and I love you."

"I'm a doll and you love my money, you maniac. Now leave me alone so I can be at peace!"

She made kissy face noises on the other end of the line and then cut me off. A sigh of relief was too kind a phrase for what left my body. Why couldn't I have won the lottery? Writing was cathartic on so many levels but having deadlines and worrying about marketing and book tours and deadlines… did I mention deadlines? Before Diana, it was the perfect life. After Diana, it was just a pain in my proverbial ass.

Oh, for the love of peanut butter and jelly. Guilt always won. Always. Paying the mortgage was still important even if I wasn't currently living in the house. Did I even pack my laptop in my last moments of rage and bitterness? I don't think I did. Briefly, I considered selling the house and just living here in Olympus where it was safe.

Safe is such a relative word.

"Hello, husband stealer." The voice was calm - if not a little snotty.

Immediately, my kukri materialized in my hand and I bounced on the balls of my feet, looking around me for the voice.  If only I had a nickel for every time I forgot the obvious plot twists, I'd be a rich woman and the need to write would be moot.  Does the busty co-ed ever stay with the group, even though you're yelling at her through the screen? No. Villain monologuing? Hero saves the day only to trip over the wire setting off the nuke. No matter how many times you read the line "They never bothered to look up," it's always the same cliché.

Did I bother to look up? No, I whirled around in a circle, desperately hunting for the voice - desperately trying to ready myself for what could be my last battle.

She dropped down on top of me and pounded my head into the flagstone path a few times before jumping off and laughing at my bloodied face.

Frustration and seething rage boiled up inside of me. I'd spent countless hours preparing to meet her again and she not only got the drop on me, but I think she broke my nose in the process. I
hated
this bitch.

It went beyond sibling rivalry. She was just evil.

"Laugh all you want, bitch. At least when he fucked me, he got me pregnant."

An inhuman squeal nearly burst my eardrums. Now would have been a good time to teleport out. Oh right, they hadn't taught me that yet. I struggled to my feet and wiped my bloodied nose with the back of my hand before gesturing to her to 'bring it.’

She charged at me, and I brought my sword up at the last second, slashing her outstretched arm. Logical Grace should have been concerned that she didn't feel the need to call in weapons when battling against me. Logical Grace had left the building after the first knock on the head.

Pissed off Grace called in a Colt .45 and fired three bullets point blank. The bullets pierced her chest, arm and shoulder. Unfortunately, it didn't slow her down at all. She ducked under my arm and knocked me backward toward the ground. I wasn't going down again. She had a tendency to do pretty horrible things to me while she had me pinned.

My body twisted. I slashed out with my kukri toward her back and fired again. She compensated and moved with blurring speed, dodging the bullets and the sword.

Calling out to the ground below her feet, I pulled a series of short bricks to the surface, trying to slow her down. This would have worked so well if I hadn't needed to move out of her way in just that moment.

She spun and charged me, this time with daggers flashing in her hands. My feet scrambled backward and I tripped over my own stupid brick. Thrown off balance, I wasn't able to twist in time and the steel slammed through my breastbone, puncturing a lung.

My breath rattled and blood filled my mouth as I fell backward. Not enough to kill me because the nanites would work to repair the damage, but it hurt like hell and I was having a hard time pulling in enough oxygen to keep me moving. Did I even
need
to breathe?

She yanked the dagger out of my chest and smiled with pure malice. "Let's see if you can still be funny without your mouth, dear sister."

Her daggers crossed themselves and drove toward my neck with blinding speed. I pushed upward, trying to buck her off my body. It didn't work. She just gripped my waist tighter with her knees making it harder to breathe.

It was so bloody unfair. I'd never done anything to this woman to deserve this hate. I'd taken a beating from her for
no reason
whatsoever and the injustice of it all filled me with fire.

My body burst into living, breathing flame. The smell of charred flesh reached my nostrils and I realized with an ugly smile that it wasn't mine.

The louder she screamed, the higher I raised my body's temperature. She finally had the presence of mind to call down a Rift and leap through before her singed hair caught fully on fire.  My body slumped in relief. I was still on fire, but the fight or flight instinct wasn't in control anymore.

"It looks like you've learned how to control your temperature. You can come to the forge tomorrow and start your training." The voice - like a river rushing over rocks - sounded behind me.

I twisted my head around with a stare of disbelief. I couldn't see him, but it didn't stop me from mouthing off. "Were you going to just sit there and watch her kill me?"

"Naw, I would have stopped her before she'd completely severed your head." He sounded bored and
that
pissed me off.

"Wow, that's just generous of you."

"We've all got lessons to learn, Grace. It would do you good to perhaps learn your sister's as well." With that he turned and walked down the lane toward his compound.

"Dick!" I called out.

"You'll pay for that one tomorrow," he called back.

I was torn between disbelief that Heph had actually left his house and anger that he could have stepped in sooner but had chosen not to. Disbelief won. Hephaestus hadn't left his compound in over two-thousand years, as far as anyone knew. He'd literally not stepped foot outside his door.

My flames extinguished and I crawled to my knees. Will miracles never cease to amaze?

***

It took me an hour to limp home. The nanites had mostly healed me, but breathing was still a challenge. As I neared the main quarters, déjà vu struck. It felt like I'd seen this scene before.

People were moving with a hasty sort of purpose. Some were crying. A feeling of dread seized my gut and I moved into the rushing queue, following the pack to the destination.

As we ran I turned my head to someone I vaguely recognized and asked, "Another attack?"

She nodded and looked me straight in the eye before saying, "Casablanca was buried under a tidal wave. Tangier was set on fire."

I staggered and nearly fell to the floor. My brain couldn't comprehend the devastation. "Oh my God."

The Hunter pulled me forward with her, ignoring my minor meltdown. "All hands are on deck. Everyone is meeting in the Situation Room for assignments. I can't remember, are you a Healer?"

I dumbly shook my head. "No, earth and fire."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. We need someone with some Earth mojo. Posy is going to recede the tides, and we need barriers created to make sure they aren't allowed back in."

"Posy?" I hadn't heard of a demi-god named Posy.

The Hunter smiled and nodded. "Yeah she's one of Poseidon's kids. He's maintaining the primary source to ensure that none of the other Northern African coastal towns are affected. She's focusing on Casablanca."

"Who's dealing with the fires in Tangier? For that matter, how do you know all of this?" I skidded to a halt and looked at her, trying harder to remember where I'd seen her before.