The Grey God (War of Gods 4) (13 page)

She snagged a few small rocks from the ground and approached the portal, knife in her other hand. Jenn held her breath and jumped.

She landed hard on the soft ground. The dry desert heat gave way to cool sea breeze, and a massive apple tree protected her from the sun overhead. Jenn rose warily, expecting the Others to pounce. No one was in the orchard but her.

She circled the tree, placing rocks around its trunk as she went. Halfway around, she dropped again, emerging back into the desert a few feet from the other portal. Jenn grabbed more rocks and returned to the immortal world. Placing the rocks on the ground near the return portal, she looked around.

If all was as it used to be, at one end of the orchard was the White God’s palace, a place a woman raised as a peasant had never seen. At the other end, the imperial city. She marveled at the immortal world. The colors were more intense, brighter, the air filled with the perfume of flowers.

Jenn trotted through the orchard towards the city, energized by the plentiful magic in the world around her. Using magic in the mortal world was like trying to swim a channel with arms tied. She’d forgotten how hard the adjustment had been from immortal to mortal world. Here, magic emanated off of everything and filled her with its energy.

The wall dividing the orchard from the city was the first thing she didn’t remember. Jenn climbed a tree close to the wall then leapt onto the top of the thick, marble wall. She crouched, catching sight of a guardsman several hundred feet away. The cuneiform symbols on his back were purple, marking him as a servant to the Others. She made sure he continued walking then swung herself over, dropping ten feet on the other side.

What peace she’d found in the familiar orchard fled as she looked at the charred, crumbling ruins of the once great city that lay beyond the wall. Before his enslavement, Darian had reigned over the city, as had his forefathers.

He wouldn’t recognize it now. She felt a pang of pain for him at the prospect of seeing what happened to the White God’s legacy in the immortal world. The destruction continued for miles without end, as far as she could see. The ashes had long since stopped burning, and the air was still filled with magic. Jenn stepped into the city, at once aware of the sorrow the place held. Unlike the mortal world, everything in the immortal world was alive, even the stones making up the buildings.

She squatted beside a fallen statue of one of Darian’s forefathers. One eye still glowed gold, the telltale sign of those born into the White God’s family. She patted the statue, feeling the magic cling to her as she rose.

The war between Others and Watchers had destroyed everything in this world, except for the orchard. She wondered what made it immune to the destruction.

Uneasily, she realized this was what the war would do to the mortal world. Jenn hesitated, guilty she’d indulged herself to visit a place she shouldn’t instead of protecting the world she was sworn to preserve.

But she didn’t look back. Not now. She was close to her goal. She trotted through the streets, making her way through rubble and debris to the park in the center of the city. She vaulted over a low stone wall, landing with a crunch in the dead grass on the other side. The park was over a mile on each side, hedged by a wall. There had been trees and bushes in her time, but none of them remained. Even the stone pathway winding through the stone obelisks was either buried in dirt or missing. Many of the stone obelisks were gone or broken.

Her heart beat faster as she followed a familiar path through the obelisks. She stopped in front of one at last, taking in the cuneiform writing. Each obelisk listed the members of an immortal household and their offspring. Servants—which her father and mother had been—were listed on the House of their immortal lords. This immortal House had been somewhat lowly on the immortal totem pole, evidenced by the fact it was a third the height of most of the others.

Jenn squatted to find the servants’ portion of the records. She wiped dirt from the grooves of the cuneiform.

“Midu, Tanna,” she read the names of her parents out loud. Her gaze followed her finger as she rested it on her name below theirs. She touched the two names beside hers. “Finian, Talia.”

The name of her long-dead daughter was the end of her family’s lineage. Thousands of years later, Jenn could still see her daughter’s brown eyes and curls. She released a deep sigh, finger lingering on the names from her past. For all her ability to manipulate the minds of others, she couldn’t push the memory of her family from her own thoughts. She’d buried them under the callus she’d grown around her emotions.

She sat in front of the obelisk, staring at all that remained of her family history. The Schism hadn’t changed everything; she’d thrown everything away. Her marriage was arranged. Unable to love her husband, she’d taken it out on the one who meant the most to her, Talia.

Pulling a knife free, she dug into the dry ground, not expecting to find the treasure she’d buried so long ago. To her regret, it was there: the leather necklace and its silver symbol that had marked her family line. She’d given it to Talia before she left then reclaimed it after the first wave of the Schism ripped through the Immortal world.

Jenn didn’t let herself remember the sights and sounds of that day. No one knew the Schism was coming when she stormed out of the house that fateful morning. She’d left them both to pursue a position among the Guardians, so she could start a new life in the mortal world.

“I got my wish,” she murmured.

When the world began to crumble, she returned to find the house in ruins and the body of her dead daughter in the arms of her father-in-law.  If she’d stayed, she might’ve died with them. Or maybe she could’ve saved them.

I’ll never know.
Sadness had long since waned, leaving only a hole that’d never be filled. She’d sworn never to be vulnerable again or to become emotionally involved with anyone.

Darian and Jonny were cracks in her armor. She’d taken pity on both men who lost their own families and ended up
feeling
more than she ever wanted to again. She wasn’t about to go through losing someone she cared about or letting Darian go through his loss again.

Feeling raw, Jenn rose. She retraced her steps until she reached the tall walls outside of the orchard. Scaling the wall once again, she dropped to her feet and was still for a long moment, using her senses to see if anyone was there. Though she sensed nothing, she’d never know an Other was there until he’d zapped her. She moved cautiously through the well-maintained orchard, back to the tree marked by the rocks.

Her gaze flickered towards the other end of the orchard, where the White God’s palace had been. She couldn’t see it through the rows of trees.

Next time,
she told herself and circled the tree. The ground dropped out from under her, and she arrived back into the mortal world. The loss of the magic from the immortal world made her feel slow and heavy as she took her first few steps. Though her trip had taken more than two hours on the immortal side, less than an hour had passed in the mortal world. She Traveled back to Jonny’s, appearing in her room.

Wired and agitated, Jenn left for the gym. She stripped down in the locker room and tossed her shirt over the animal head in the bottom of her locker. Not caring how many vamps might be in the gym, she entered and took up her favorite spot and began channeling her emotions into the punching bag.

Awhile later, someone’s voice broke her concentration.

“Look what I got.”

Jenn straightened, not yet ready to leave the gym. Her necklace felt cool against her warm chest, a reminder of a memory she wished she hadn’t reopened.

“Five of them!” Darian’s voice held a note of triumph.

She turned to see him hauling a garbage bag. Darian’s golden eyes pulsed and swirled with battle fever. He was bloodied and his clothing shredded. She couldn’t tell how much of the blood on him was his.

“I figured it out.”

“How to fight more than one without getting fried?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s not as hard as I expected. Almost got my ass kicked again before I figured it out. I brought these back for Jonny.”

“I don’t want to know,” she said, gaze lingering on the garbage bag. She glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. “Jonny’s probably hunting now.”

“I figured I’d leave these in his bed for him,” Darian said with a wink. “Seems to be the custom around here.”

“You do that.” Jenn turned away. The vulnerability she felt in the immortal world lingered. She didn’t like it. She’d kill as many punching bags as she could, until she was numb to the world again. She’d almost managed to return to the zone when Darian gripped the chain at the top of the punching bag, stabilizing it before her and disrupting the swaying rhythm.

“Something happened,” he said, gazing at her with the intensity that disturbed her.

“Leave me alone for a bit.”

“Wanna spar? Kicking my ass always makes you feel better.”

Jenn hesitated. Sparring with Darian kept her mind busy, for the Grey God was unpredictable in the ring. At the same time, she wanted him away from her.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said at her silence. “I just … let me get the blood off before the vamps start circling.” Darian stepped away to a towel rack. He peeled off his shredded shirt and wiped himself down with a towel.

Jenn’s gaze took in his lean body. There was no part of him that was soft, from the chiseled abs and hips to his thick biceps. His was a body that had been honed until all that stood between muscle and air was a thin coat of skin. She’d always had an eye for a man with a body, and Darian’s was perfect.

As if sensing her look, Darian turned. He met her gaze, his intense look steady. Jenn felt warmth bloom in her body in response to his stare.

It’s not going to happen,
she told herself, striding to the ring. She wasn’t going down the path Xander said was hers. Darian was a god, one betrayed by the only woman he’d ever loved. She was the last in a long line of servants. Even if her position among the Guardians was among the highest levels, she still considered herself a slave to her duty. She tried to tell herself this was why she couldn’t let them get close. As good as she was a lying to others, she didn’t believe herself.

“Go easy on me,” he said, entering the ring with her, sans shirt and shoes. “I just took on five Others. You can have the first—”

Jenn didn’t wait for him to finish but launched a kick straight for his head. Darian ducked, eyeing her as he moved away.

“Someone’s not playing today,” he murmured. “All right, c’mon.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Jenn launched a quick sequence Xander helped her perfect. He’d taught her a few things during the two weeks he toyed with her, among them, how to combine her flexibility and speed into something more lethal. He’d taught her to dance in the ring to outmaneuver the seven-foot vamp’s hard strikes.

“Nice!” Darian breathed, reacting to the quick succession. He missed one strike, and she pulled the punch, not wanting to hurt him despite her anger.

Where Xander used brute force to subdue an opponent, Darian was wily. The moment she paused, he pounced, reminding her of just how fast he was. Jenn adjusted her stance, keeping more of a distance from him than she would Xander to give her more time to react. Darian pierced her defenses twice. She braced herself for the blows before recalling he’d never struck her full force. Unlike Xander.

They sparred hard for several moments, until Darian’s upper body carried a sheen of sweat. He eased back so they could both catch their breaths.

“You’ve learned a few things,” he said.

“Darian, I swear you’ve gotten even faster.”

“You’ve gotten slower.”

She glared at him.

“I don’t mean that how it came out,” he said quickly. “What I mean is that the world moves more slowly. I don’t know how else to explain it, except it’s how I beat the Others, too.”

“It makes sense. You have more magic now. It’ll react differently with your natural abilities.”

“You move differently,” he said, gaze sweeping up and down her frame.

“Xander taught me how to use my body.”

Darian’s gaze flew up to her face. “He did what?”

“You know,” she said with a wink, unable to resist the urge to mess with him a little. “You ready for round two?”

“
How
did he teach you to use your body?”

Jenn almost laughed at his sudden intensity, both flattered and terrified to see just how interested in her he was. The part of her job she’d never tell people: Sometimes she loved messing with the dangerous men she spent her life around. Instead of answering, she lashed out at him, following her kick sequence with an elbow to his chest. Darian deflected it and dropped his hip, sweeping her legs out from under her.

Jenn shifted her weight and rolled into a somersault, leaping up before he could pin her. Darian anticipated her first kick and snatched it, sweeping her off her feet again and falling with her this time to keep her from escaping. Jenn broke his first chokehold and elbowed him in the back of the neck, this time at near full-strength. She expected the blow to faze the Grey God, but it didn’t. He reacted too fast for her to counter, snatching her forearms and shoving her onto her stomach. His weight kept her from moving.

“Don’t tell me you slept with him,” he said, his hot breath on her cheek.

“It’s what I do, Darian. You know that,” she snapped. “You’re two seconds away from me kicking your ass.”

“Make it sixty. I’m enjoying this too much.”

So am I.
She didn’t know where the thought came from. His magic warmed her from the inside out, the gentle current spreading through her body the longer they remained in contact. She’d sparred with Darian hundreds of times and never noticed the way he smelled or the heat of his body against hers. They both breathed hard from their battle. His breath tickled her neck and sent shivers through her body.

“I’m serious, Darian,” she warned again. “Two seconds. One.”

“I surrender,” he said without moving. “I’d rather die here than elsewhere.”