Inescapable (Eternelles: The Beginning, Book 1) (10 page)

She turned away and stepped farther into the room, away from the windows, from the lure of the sluicing rain water. One compulsion at a time.

Adri risked a glance at Zeus. For once, he didn’t look formidable, appearing, for all intent, like a weary old man. Her heart squeezed...before she remembered.

Sorry might be the hardest word for him, but that changed nothing. She’d still been thrown down onto Earth, a land she hadn’t even known existed, let alone fathomed how to survive in. He’d publicly announced from the top of Mount Olympus that he’d withdrawn his protection from her, that she wasn’t to set foot in their realm ever again. She was a traitor, because she had dared take Ares’ side in a petty argument between father and son. Ares had berated his father for loving his demi-god sons Perseus and Hercules more than him; the sons who wanted nothing to do with him while Ares begged for a slice of attention. She’d thought he’d been right—he deserved his father’s affection, too.

Where would she be today if Ares hadn’t defied the parental authority and followed her to where she’d fallen somewhere in a land of empty green plains and great stone structures?

What else could I have expected from the offspring of Dionysos, except for her to bite the hand that fed her
, Zeus had stated....

No, she couldn’t forget. Wouldn’t forget. A century later, Zeus had apologized and welcomed her back home, but
Olympus was no longer home for her, and never would be again. She hadn’t set foot into that realm ever since.

He could beg all he wanted, she’d done nothing to deserve his wrath.

“Have you found anything?” she asked.

He remained silent, before heaving a mighty sigh that rattled the glass panes.

“You break something, you repair it with your own hands, you hear?” She turned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The thin cashmere did little to buffer the rapid beat of her heart as the organ pulsed against her wrist. “So, what did you find? Hecate coughed up or not?”

He went to stand near a window that he opened. The smell of rain rushed in on a heavy breeze redolent with moisture and cool.

No, not that. Not now. She ducked past him and slammed the window closed. The humidity in the air hovered over her like a cloak. To fight would prove too draining, so she ceded and opened her pores to the message of power in its cold comfort.

Snapping her mind closed on any connection that may have established itself between her and Dionysos, she faced Zeus again. “So?”

He let his arms hang to his sides. “There are a lot of things you don’t know, Adrasteia, and I fear the time has come to let you know about one of them.”

Shivers danced across her spine like drag racing cars taking off from the start line. “What are you talking about?”

“Hecate, Dionysos, and vampyres. You know the myth?”

She nodded. “The idiot who fathered me got embroiled with Hecate then went on to fall for Empusa, which pissed off Hecate to no end. She went on a rampage, and the creatures that resulted were vampyres.”

Zeus clasped his chin and ran a hand through his bushy beard. “There’s a bit more to it than that.”

She cocked her right hip and stood straighter. “Pray tell.”

“Hecate, as you know, is the goddess of necromancy. On that rampage that created what we know as vampyres, she brought some dead souls to life.”

Not anything good.
“Dead souls of what?”

He moved to the window again, tilting his head to stare out in the distance.

“You know how the portal should always stay closed, right?”

He must be gazing at the hint of the bridge, from where the town got its name.

“Does this have anything to do with the evil that got closed behind that gateway?” More shivers took flight up her back.

Without turning to her, he continued. “A long, very long time ago, demons and angels walked this land. Engaged in a perpetual fight, the angels were losing the war that had raged from the start of time itself. An evil power lent its support to the demons. They were so alike in so many ways. Hedonistic, sadistic, thinking themselves at the top of the food chain with humans at the very bottom, theirs to enslave. That evil drank blood for its power, and they walked the night, unable to bear the light of the sun.”

“You mean vampyres.”

He turned, and she saw his eyes. The chaos of that time reflected in their depths. Fire, death, suffering. Endless shades of sickly red...like the palette across Sera’s painting of the day before. Adri gasped.

“They’re worse than the creatures you know, daughter. That evil is the original vampire race as this world has never known. Brutal, savage, living only to enslave humanity and all other races. The Vampyre Federation you see today is but a shadow of what that race could come up with in its twisted existence.”

And if they ever managed to breach the gateway... “That’s why the portal must be kept closed at all costs.”

He nodded. “Be careful, daughter. There are forces bigger than you can understand at work here, and you need to protect her.”

Sera. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“This, we don’t know. After what happened the other night, I wouldn’t take any chances.”

He drew closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. For once, she didn’t shrug his touch off.

“Be very, very careful,” he said before dropping a kiss onto her forehead.

Then, he was gone, Adri finding herself alone in her abode once again.

No, not alone.... A presence lingered in the shadows of the doorway to one of the rooms inside.

She whirled to face the creature as he emerged from the darkness into the crystal light of the conservatory. Rain might be falling but the cover of clouds hung high and white, not low and menacing grey to smother all the brightness.

The shock that rumbled in her system when he emerged rode side by side with the stupefaction Zeus’ revelations had stirred up in her. She could barely do more except watch him as he tread toward her on a light step, to stop a foot from her.

“Des.” The name dripped from her lips on a moan.

What was he doing here? How did he get in? And how long had he been in the dark doorway? Zeus must’ve felt him, right?

He inclined his head. Locks of blond hair broke from the swept-back style to brush his wide forehead.

“Adri. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Thanks for the car, and my coat,” she heard herself saying.
What?
She must’ve lost her marbles to be engaging in idle chit chat with him.

She searched his face, seeing nothing but worry in the deep frowns and intense eyes. If he’d been there for a while, why didn’t he seem shocked?

“You heard?” she asked.

He nodded.

She hitched in a breath. “Then why don’t you look any more surprised?”

Silence met her question, and an absurd thought flitted in her mind. The words simply popped out. “You knew?”

Pain tightened his already taut features. “Yes.”

“But...how?” she sputtered. “And how did you get in? There are protections everywhere—”

“None work to bar me from any place.”

“Excuse me?”

He etched a small smile. “I’m the only one of my kind, Adri.”

“But what are you?
Who
are you?”

“It’s better you don’t know that.”

The cheek of him. She braced her hands on her hips and stared up at him. “So you’re gonna play in with an escape card every time it suits you? That’s not how it works—”

He clasped her wrists and pulled her to him.

“That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work,” he said when she landed against his chest.

Warmth emanated from him, and against her own heart, she could feel the beat of his. Blood pulsed in his body like any human; she was certain of this. So how could he be anything but a man?

She lifted her gaze to peer into his face. Bad mistake. She lost herself in the blue depths of his eyes, felt the tug of her blood drawing toward his even more than the compulsion the rain had effected on her. She stood pressed to his tall frame, every inch of him hard against her. Yes, even
there
. He wanted her, and
merde
, she craved him, too. Just like...

She gasped. And closed her eyes when he cupped her face in his palms. His heat radiated along her cheeks, seeped into her skin all the way to her bones, to her heart, to her core. Her body grew languid, heavy, thrumming with the need to be made his.

Exactly like on that terrace nearly a thousand years earlier.

Could he be that same man?

When his lips touched hers, she had her answer. The same bolt of energy zapped through her. The same awareness, the feeling of being alive for the first time, of knowing she hadn’t experienced any ounce of what it truly meant to be living before he’d kissed her.

His mouth was soft, warm. His touch on her made her feel safe, cherished. Images she’d seen the first time she had touched his hand at the gala danced behind her closed eyelids. Rocky prairies in Iron Age
England, the feel of the warm, trickling Sahara sands in her hands, Italian courtyards surrounded by exquisite architecture, and gardens redolent with sweet-smelling flowers and the song of birds.

Des. It had been him all along.

The realization shocked her, and she pulled away, trying to gather her breath as she stared at him.

“It was you. That night at the keep in
Jerusalem, before the Crusaders launched their magnum attack on Saladin’s troops.”

He dropped his hands to his sides. “Yes.”

“But...” The word died once out of her mouth. “Why didn’t you show yourself to me? Why didn’t you ever appear again in all this time?”

He smiled. “I’ve never been really far from you. Always.”

Which would account for him sharing her memories. He’d been right there along with her in all those instances. As spooky as it was comforting. She also dared not face the truth, but she had to.

“You must be over a thousand years old.”

“Indeed.”

“How old, exactly?”

He chuckled. “Let’s just say I’ve been around the block for a while.”

No, he couldn’t mean what she was thinking. He hadn’t been surprised by Zeus’ revelations. Could that imply... “You were there, when the portal was closed. You witnessed everything.”

Des simply nodded.

Adri couldn’t take all these disclosures in stride. She sank into a plush sofa near the windows and buried her face in her hands.

Dieu du ciel
—she’d finally found her mystery man, only to reckon he was a creature older than her, even. She still didn’t know
what
he was, either.

Soft hands grasped hers and peeled her fingers from her face. She opened her eyes to peer into his too-handsome face as he knelt in front of her.

“We don’t have much time,” he said. “I have information you need to know.”

“Go on,” she said on a weary sigh. At the point where she was, she might as well have all the secrets of the world revealed to her in the span of an hour.

“After I left the other night, I returned to the museum. Guess who I found there? Our mutual ‘friend’ had popped in.”

She gasped. “Harcourt?”

“One and the same. I found him skulking around Susan’s office. It was obvious he was looking for something specific.”

Threads started to assemble in a tapestry inside her mind. “The
Arles Bronze.”

“It disappeared. You heard that?”

She nodded. “But what do they want with it?”

Des clasped her hands. “Adri, do you know who Sekhmet is?

“She is known as ‘the heart of carnelian.’ Bringer of destruction on one hand, great healer on the other. Yin and yang in one.”

“She can be both, or one of the two.” He paused. “Sekhmet is prophesized to govern the vampire nation. The original one that got blocked behind the portal.”

“You think they want to bring her to life? That’s impossible.”

“You think?”

He was right. Bringing Sekhmet to life again was entirely possible, once they found a vessel.

Something people with Second Sight could find for them in a vision....

She clasped a hand to her mouth. Oh God, no! Sera was in more danger than they’d imagined. She had to protect her daughter, at all costs.

Adri started to stand, when Des tugged on her hand.

“There’s more,” he said softly.

She sank back onto the cushion like dead weight. “Tell me.”

“The creature that killed Susan. I once tailed him to the library in Alexandria.”

“You, too?” she exclaimed. “I saw him skulking in the ancient scrolls section one day. Something about him seemed off, so I watched him.”

“I know,” he said softly. “I was there.”

She blinked. She didn’t think she would ever get used to the idea of someone having shared the same moments as her throughout history.