Fruit of Misfortune (24 page)

Galilea pulled on my arm, and I began moving
toward the exit again.

Two more Turpis entered the restaurant as we
approached the door. Galilea stopped in her tracks when they spoke
to each other.

“Shit.” She turned to look at Eros. “They
know he was with you.”

“We can’t leave him.”

“Excuse me, Sir…” Galilea called out to Eros,
watching the two demons walk toward him. As if in slow motion, Eros
turned to look at Galilea, and then at the Turpis that were less
than five feet away from his table. Eros’ shoulders tensed.

“Do you have my order, miss?” Eros asked
Galilea.

“Yes, I have her.”

“Go.
Now
!” Eros said.

Galilea grabbed my arm and hauled me out the
door with long, quick strides. On the other side of the building,
behind a dumpster, a small gray car was parked, hidden from plain
view.

“Get in,” Galilea said.

“Are you just going to leave him?”

“My block is depleted. I have no other
choice.”

I had just closed the door, when the engine
roared to life. I felt my stomach drop as the car flew down the
long strip of road.

“Dammit! Dammit!” Galilea said, hitting the
steering wheel with the heel of her hand. “It wasn’t supposed to
happen like this.”

“Wait, Galilea. This isn’t right. We have to
go back. Turn around.”

“You’re crazy! There’s too many of them.
They’ll kill us, too.”

“Turn the car around or let me out. I’m going
back.” I said, taking off the sunglasses.

“No,” Galilea said.

“Let me out!”

I grabbed the steering wheel and twisted it.
Everything beyond the car windows became a green and gray blur. I
could hear stones bouncing off the car’s metal body as it spun,
raising a tornado of dirt all around us. At last, the car came to a
stop, and the engine stuttered before it died. It took a moment for
my eyes to regain focus. Then the adrenaline kicked in, and I
started to shake.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Galilea
pushed me. “Are you stupid?”

“We—we can’t leave him. He’s outnumbered. We
abandoned him.”

Galilea tapped the steering wheel with her
thumb and looked out her window.

“Fine,” she said. “I hate having a
conscious.”

She shifted the car into gear and drove at
full speed. It took just two minutes to see the small building
ahead of us. We were a few hundred feet away from the gasoline
station, when it turned into a colossal cloud of fire. Galilea
slammed on the breaks. Three more explosions followed. I felt my
heart stop.

Galilea and I looked at each other.

“Is he—?”

“Dead? Most likely.” Galilea nodded. “This is
bad. This is really bad.”

I watched with my jaw hanging as what was
left of the building went down in flames. I couldn’t breathe. Eros
was dead. I felt the sting of tears in the corner of my eyes.
Another person was gone because of me.

“We have to go,” Galilea said, reaching for
the car’s gear stick. “We can’t be here.”

As the car began to move in reverse, a mass
of burned flesh crashed onto the hood. From the other side of the
window, a demon’s eyes peered into mine. With its serpent tongue,
the Turpis licked the glass, leaving a gel-like residue. It raised
an arm, preparing to smash the window in and I froze.

“No!” Galilea yanked me out of the passenger
seat and over to her side.

The Turpis’ hand hit the glass, and in that
same instant, an object crashed into the creature’s side, sending
it flying off the hood. Galilea sunk her foot on the gas pedal, and
the car shot back in reverse. Through the front window, I saw two
figures wrestling on the ground—one with fragments of scorched
wings, the other covered in black soot. Galilea slammed on the
breaks and shoved me off her.

“We have to get out of here,” she said.

“Wait, is that—? It’s Eros!” I said,
unlocking the passenger side door.

“No, Isis, don’t!”

My feet had just touched the gravel when a
loud clank came from the car’s roof. A seared, clawed hand slid
between the open car door and me. I screamed and Galilea jerked me
back against her, away from the demon’s hand.

The car door slammed shut, and I heard a
horrible shriek, similar to that of a dying swine. The Turpis’
severed hand and wrist tumbled onto my legs. I scrambled to get
away from its still mobile fingers, but it clung to the fabric on
my knee. I felt its claws ripping into my jeans, but then suddenly,
the hand stopped stirring. I slapped it off my leg, and I watched
as it rolled on the car floor. The stench of ammonia and sulfur
penetrated the interior of the car, causing us to cough and gag. I
put my arm over my nose and mouth and wiped the moisture from my
eyes. Filled with horror, I scanned all the windows searching for
the demon.

Outside, I saw Eros and the handless Turpis
battling to the death. Eros had the Turpis in a headlock, but it
managed to peel away from his grip. The Turpis gave Eros a blow to
the head, and Eros went down cold. The demon hurled Eros in the air
into the bushes. Then it turned its head and looked at me.

I sank back into my seat, but Galilea wasted
no time in squeezing through the space between the two front seats.
Kneeling on the floor on the back part of the car, she lifted the
backseat. She pulled out a dagger that was identical to the one
Eros had attempted to use on me.

“Take it,” Galilea said. “Don’t think. Just
aim between the eyes.”

From her boot, she fished out a set of brass
knuckles and stepped out of the car. I looked at the dagger in my
hand and swallowed. My hands were unsteady as I opened the car
door. I followed Galilea to face-off the demon.

“Isssissss,” the Turpis hissed.

“You know things are bad when the spawns of
hell know your name,” Galilea said. “Remember what I told you.
They’re fast, so act on your first impulse.”

The demon walked toward us with slow steps,
cocking its head as it glared at me. If its lips hadn’t been so
burned and deformed, I would’ve sworn it was smirking.

“Isssissss,” the Turpis said again.

I had never heard my name sound so hideous. I
could feel sweat forming on my palms. I raised the dagger, and my
hand trembled. The blade’s handle started slipping from my grip,
and before I could take it with the other hand, it landed with a
clink on the ground. The demon charged toward me, and Galilea
jumped forward between us. The Turpis lowered its head and slammed
into Galilea’s stomach. Galilea flew to the other side of the car,
and I was left alone, staring into that macabre face.

I scanned the ground for the dagger, but the
Turpis was standing on it. I felt its searing claws at the back of
my head. My head jerked back as it pulled my hair, forcing me to
look into its wicked face. Suddenly, a shiny metal tip appeared
between its brows, and the Turpis rolled back its eyes. Horrible
wails cut through the air, sending pain straight to my eardrums. I
saw two hands take hold of the demon’s horns, and then I heard a
loud crack. The demon’s head split in two, vermin spilling from the
inside out. It fell on the ground where its body turned into black
ashes. A small segment of earth parted, and the Turpis’ remains
seeped in through the crack like a small whirlwind. The ground
shifted back into place, closing the gap, and I watched in
disbelief. As I stared at the ground, a hand reached for the two
daggers that rested where the demon’s ashes had fallen.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” Eros said,
looking up at me. “Are you alright?”

I held back the impulse to hug him because I
knew he’d react in some way that would only irritate me.

“I—I thought you were dead.” I could hardly
get the words out.

“For a minute, I thought I was, too. Where’s
Galilea?”

“Oh, no! Galilea…” I said and ran to the
other side of the car.

Galilea was sitting with her back against a
tire, holding her stomach.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No, I’m not. Look at this.” She lifted her
shirt and pointed to two smoking holes on her stomach. “That
bastard son of a swineherd! How am I supposed to wear a bikini,
now?”

“She’s fine,” Eros’ voice came from behind
me. “That’ll heal in a few weeks.”

“Not before the summer ends. I had plans.”
Galilea frowned up at him.

“You should’ve thought of that before you
tried to steal her away from me. Why, may I ask, did you do that?
It’s not nice to take what doesn’t belong to you.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t belong to you,” I
said.

“Yet,” Eros said. “So, Galilea?”

“Can’t say. I’ve sworn an oath and all that
deity crap they make us do.”

“Who made you swear?” I asked.

“Can’t say that either. We need to get out of
here before another horde comes. Did that thing touch you?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Did it burn you?” Eros asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“Let me see,” Eros said, moving aside the
strands of hair covering the back of my neck. “Not a scratch.”

“Nothing at all?” Galilea looked puzzled.

“See for yourself.” Eros extended his hand
out to Galilea to help her up. She didn’t take it.

“I don’t need to see,” Galilea said, standing
up on her own. “Let’s go, Isis.”

“I don’t think so,” Eros said. “Isis and I
have an agreement. She’s coming with me.”

“Um—about that—” I said.

“You gave me your word.” Eros frowned.

“I changed my mind. I got a better deal with
no strings attached.”

“Bargaining for wives again, Eros?” Galilea
cocked her brow. “Tsk, tsk. You’ll never learn, will you?”

“How—?” Eros narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not the same stupid girl you knew
thousands of years ago. I know things. Don’t cross me, or those
things may end up as whispers in the wrong ears,” Galilea said, and
Eros gave Galilea a cold stare. “Now, let’s get moving.”

“You’re serious about going with her—breaking
our arrangement?” Eros looked at me.

“It’s a good opportunity, and I’m taking it.
I don’t understand why you’re so surprised. After all, isn’t that
what you did to me?”

I opened the car door.

“Don’t say your good-byes just yet,” Galilea
told me. “My stomach is killing me, and I don’t trust your
recklessness behind the wheel, so—” She glanced at Eros. “You’re
driving.”

“Him? No. I can drive,” I said.

“Why do you have to use excuses?” Eros gave
Galilea a hostile look. “Why can’t you just ask me to come along in
case you run into another horde? Why can’t you just ask me for
help?”

“I’m doing you a favor. I can make us all
invisible if we do come across them.”

Galilea opened the back door, and pulled
herself onto the backseat.

“You’ve always been so proud, Galilea,” Eros
said, “and you’re still not very bright. I wasn’t planning to let
you leave without me in any case. But if you use your abilities
again to make me forget anything—however insignificant it may
be—I’ll strip you of even the most minimal love that Galen feels
for you. I’ll strip you of every ounce of love that anyone has
ever, or will ever, have for you. And I don’t care who you run to
and tattle about the
things
you know.”

Galilea’s lips were tight as she stared back
at Eros.

“That’s low, even for you,” I told him. “Like
I said, you never cease to amaze me.”

“You don’t know her. She plays just as
dirty.” Eros glanced at Galilea one last time before he slid into
the driver’s seat. “And Isis, for future reference, an agreement
with a deity cannot be broken. The deal stands, my sweet.”

“But—”

“You would’ve been better off selling your
soul to the devil,” Galilea said from the backseat.

“I think I did,” I said.

I stared out
the window watching the green and russet blur of trees and
mountains race by and thinking of how much I had screwed up. David
was back in Athens, and it wouldn’t take long before he put two and
two together and came the conclusion that I had left with his best
friend. I knew it was unforgiveable, but I hoped that someday he’d
understand that, since he wouldn’t do it himself, it was the sole
option I had to save him.

The unexpected and second worst part of my
plan-gone-wrong was that I was in a car with two people I didn’t
trust and who didn’t trust each other. I doubted they trusted me
either. What a fine entourage I was stuck with. I glanced at both
of them through the rearview mirror. Galilea was asleep in the
backseat, and Eros’ brow was knit tight as he concentrated on the
road.

I wondered what Galilea’s and Eros’ story
was. They hated each other—that was evident—but why? The fact that
Galilea wouldn’t say who had sent her to find me intensified the
distrust I already felt. What secrets did she know about Eros? What
was her interest in helping me find my father?