Sin & Lightning (Demigods of San Francisco Book 5) Page 15

  Nervousness stole my breath as I reached the small clearing. Jack greeted me with a resolute nod.

  “How terrible is this going to be?” he asked.

  I looked at the bodies tied on the backs of two small flatbed trailers Bria and Jerry had towed through the trails on four wheelers. They looked somewhat fresh, with mostly no missing parts or obvious rot.

  “Not as terrible as it could be,” I answered, and Chad, standing directly behind Jack, shook his head. He clearly didn’t agree. He probably always thought it was terrible. “Okay, everyone, buckle up. I’ll slap you in and shove you off. We’re about to wage a battle with lightning.”

  An hour later, the clouds were thundering overhead, flashes of light streaking the sky between them. The moon only rained down in small patches, just enough for us to see.

  When Bria and I returned to the cabin, Kieran and crew were waiting for us in the front yard, most of them having donned the leather vests and chaps. Mordecai waited with them in wolf form, but Daisy sat in the lone chair off to the side.

  “Apparently, I’m not ready,” she said when I gave her a questioning glance. “Not for guerilla warfare.”

  “Sometimes we need to come to grips with acting as an anchor for our team,” Zorn said. “She and Mordecai will be fine in the woods behind the house. If they get taken this time, they’re on their own.”

  I frowned but said nothing. Obviously that wasn’t true, but if he was keeping them out of the fight, and giving them a little feeling of danger in the process, he was my hero.

  Zorn handed Bria and me our leathers. We pulled them on as the spirit-filled cadavers shambled after us, shaking and jerking. Jerry turned away, and I had no doubt the color was leaching from his face again.

  “He’ll get used to it,” Bria said as Kieran turned toward the trees, heading in the direction of Dylan’s previous hideout. “As soon as he sees their effectiveness, his tune will change.”

  “I wouldn’t hold out hope,” Boman said, one of the few not wearing chaps. He had on his black cargo pants, the pockets no doubt stuffed with anything and everything he thought would better prepare the whole crew for battle.

  Red was the other one not wearing leather (besides a silently watching Harding, obviously). Instead, she wore a Spandex suit with an armory of weapons strapped to her person—a gun holster on one thigh, a circle of throwing knives around the other, and a leather belt packed with pouches and pockets around her waist. Most of the contents were hidden from view, but I saw the tops of a few throwing stars. A larger knife was fastened to her calf. I’d heard along the way that her magic had to do with hand-to-hand combat, but I hadn’t seen it in action. That was clearly about to change.

  When the path through the trees narrowed into a deer trail, Jerry took the lead. The ground beneath our feet trembled as though something was going on under the surface. Rocks shook within the weeds and brush we passed. Thunder rolled across the sky.

  “Got him,” I heard Jerry say as Jack broke for the trees.

  I yanked his spirit, forcing him back in line, twitching and jerking more than the rest of them, bringing up the rear of our crew.

  “What’s gotten into you?” I heard Bria ask, the last of the living in our single-file line.

  “Don’t know. My brain is saying to abort mission and get the hell out of here,” Jack said, and I repeated for Bria. “My legs thought it was a great idea.”

  “Keep it together, man,” she said in an undertone.

  “I kinda like it when Lexi does it for me,” he said.

  “Well, put on your big-boy pants,” Bria said after I relayed his message. “Soon she’s going to have other things to do. Lexi, use that creepy spirit wind once they can see you. These bastards mostly deal with their own magical kind. Your hair blowing when there’s no wind will freak them out.”

  “If the storm kicks off, there’s going to be plenty of wind,” Boman said, glancing upward.

  A large rock, the height of my thighs, rolled from the right, cutting across the front of the line and trampling the plant life in our way as it rolled off between the trees. When Jerry reached the intersecting path, he took it, his pace increasing even more.

  “He’s on the run and they’re on his trail,” he said, his long legs eating enough ground that some of us had to jog to keep up. “He seems like he’s heading toward a few people who aren’t moving as much. Not sure what to make of that.”

  A peal of thunder vibrated across the hillside. A moment later, I realized it wasn’t thunder at all. It was a gunshot.

  “That has to be a townsperson,” I said. The twisted canopy above us strangled the moonlight even more. I blanketed the area in spirit to help me see the divots and pitfalls in the deepening night. Bria bumped into me and grabbed my shoulder, not so lucky with the extra sight.

  A bolt of lightning blistered down from the sky. The compression of power nearly took me off my feet. Thunder roared all around us, drowning out sound and shaking my bones. It was entirely too clear that this was not a natural storm, and also that I might’ve misjudged what a Demigod of Zeus could do.

  I gulped as we hurried through the trees, rocks rolling with us now, following beside us like Jerry was the pied piper on his golden flute.

  Souls popped into my awareness. I slowed, putting up my hand for Bria to stop. I needed a second to feel these people out before engaging.

  Thane, directly in front of me, slowed as well. Boman, in front of Thane, slowed, and on down until everyone had stopped with me, including the rocks.

  Another thick bolt of lightning slashed through the darkness. Sound and light hit me at once, the force of it blowing my hair back and making me stagger. The spirit-filled cadavers took off running in all directions, stomping through the brush and trees, one getting caught in a bush and flailing.

  I pulled them all back in, happy enough with them in a jerking, shaking cluster.

  The strangers on my radar pushed away from us, predators in the night. A single point in front of them hunkered down, at the very edge of my awareness. Had Dylan stopped? Was he attacking us?

  “Tell me this lightning is from the Demigod,” I whispered to Thane as Kieran made his way back to me.

  “Definitely. Not even the Lightning Rod can create lightning this intense, but he’ll be close. Same idea, just less power, like pitting you against the Demigods of Hades.”

  “What’s up?” Kieran asked, coming in close. Power hummed within his body, I could feel it. He was ready to duel with the other Demigod.

  The moon dappled the treetops and occasionally the ground, turning on and off like fairy lights as the thick clouds shifted and rolled above us. I closed my eyes, memorizing those souls. Gearing up for what was coming.

  For what I would need to do.

  “I’m pretty sure Dylan stopped running,” I said.

  Kieran nodded slightly. “Jerry said the same.”

  “I’m within striking range,” I whispered, my stomach churning at the thought. “I can assume control of the two closest and weakest. They’re on the—”

  Another slash of light lit up the world. The thunder stopped my heart. My hair blew back, but I didn’t stagger. If that bolt had hit anywhere near me, it would have killed me. Or at least ensured I didn’t run away. This was why Zeus’s descendants preferred to battle face to face. They needed to see their targets. Their blunt force worked best when all the players were represented on the board.

  “I can assume control of the ones on the outskirts of the battle, and use them to create chaos within their ranks,” I said.

  “Not yet,” Kieran whispered, looking at the sky. “I want to get a little closer to Dylan. Right now Flora is just testing the waters. She’s goading Dylan into action. This is a pretty standard game of chicken among Zeus magical workers. So far, Dylan is not rising to the bait. I’m not sure if that means she’s got his back against the wall—Jerry says there’s a big cliff face not far behind him—or if he’s decided to make a stand. I kn
ow a lot about the training and theory behind Zeus magical workers, but I’ve never worked with one. I want to strip away some of the guesswork before I engage. We’re going to watch them from under cover.”

  Another bolt of lightning hammered the ground, and I gritted my teeth against the sound and feeling of static electricity in the air.

  “But when it kicks off, Alexis, give it everything you’ve got.” Kieran covered my shoulder with his large hand, the heat of his touch grounding me. “The Demigods of Zeus can be some of the greatest war lords outside of Ares. They can handle some chaos, but there are very few who can efficiently maneuver in an absolute clusterfuck.”

  “I can do clusterfuck,” I said, suddenly out of breath, adrenaline throbbing. “I can do clusterfuck better than most.”

  “Yes, you can.” He squeezed my shoulder. “I love you.” He stayed with me for a moment longer, not even flinching when another thick bolt of lightning slammed down what must’ve been a hundred yards away, a distance I’d once thought respectable.

  Kieran moved away, taking the lead again. Strings of lightning spiderwebbed through the clouds above, shedding light onto the world for an instant. The tree canopy flickered like a projector. Smoke curled up in the distance, barely seen through the trees. Thunder growled all around us, cutting out all other sound, making it impossible for us to communicate over it.

  Jogging now, Jerry designing our route to get us around the Demigod’s team without being seen by them. We eventually cut back in, heading back toward the solitary soul whom Jerry had thought was backed up against a cliff and that was why he wasn’t moving on. And while there was a cliff face a ways behind him, that wasn’t keeping him here. As we got closer, more souls pinged onto my radar. Dylan was standing in front of six tightly clustered. I recognized two of them as the older woman and man from the café. Somehow they’d gotten mixed up in this mess, and Dylan was trying to make sure they didn’t go down with the ship.

  My heart ached for him. He’d come here for a quiet, peaceful life, trying to get away from the pain and suffering of the magical world, but the magical world had come for him.

  A shadowy figure stood in a clearing with others loosely gathered at her back and sides, facing the way in which we were quietly working. Light from above flickered on creamy skin and carrot-tinged hair. The woman had her hands out, palms facing each other, as though she were ready to clap. Something horrible would probably happen the moment she did.

  I gritted my teeth as Kieran ducked between two hemlocks, Jerry after him, neither of them disturbing the reaching branches of needles. My band of zombies would crash through it, probably taking half the branches with them and making it rain pine cones or whatever else existed on that tree.

  The rolling thunder cut off as though a switch had been flicked. I froze and forced the zombies to freeze with me, not an easy task when their normal operating procedure was to jerk and convulse. The lightning above dimmed. A woman’s voice rose into the uncomfortable silence.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Amell,” she said, her tone deep and commanding and brimming with arrogance. This whole situation was clearly a waste of her time. “I know about your past. It wasn’t pretty, and I understand why you’d run like a coward. But this isn’t the answer, living out here with Chesters like some wild mountain man of little status. This existence is beneath you. You were made to be great. You were made to be the right hand of a Zeus Demigod. I will make sure you find your rightful place.”

  Dylan’s voice rang out. “What happens if I don’t want to take what you think is my rightful place? If I don’t want a job in the magical world at all?”

  She laughed, the sound condescending and haughty. I balled my fists, doing everything in my power not to grab her soul.

  Thane stared at me from five feet away. He jerked his head just a little, signaling for me to walk on.

  “And waste a Zeus-given talent like yours? Ridiculous,” she spat. “But have no fear: you will want for nothing. I will make sure you can slowly acclimate to your new life. Your duties will be light. Your body will be your own.”

  I shivered in disgust, thinking of the alternative.

  “If you come peacefully, I will not hurt those repugnant Chesters,” she said, and her soul moved forward a few feet, indicating she was advancing on him. “They will be free to go.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Sadly, if you do not come quietly, there will be casualities. It cannot be helped.” She obviously meant she’d kill them out of spite. “You will lose, Amell, we both know that. You are a marvel, but I am a Demigod. You are no match for me.”

  I took a step, and my foot crackled in the dried underbrush. I froze and grimaced, looking at the shadowy figure with the red hair, standing erect with her hands out, at the ready. She didn’t look back.

  “How’d you hear about me?” Dylan—or was it Amell?—shouted. Thunder rolled overhead, and I jogged into the trees, branches slapping me in the face as I worked closer to Dylan. I made my zombies jog after Bria.

  “That child of a Demigod isn’t as locked down as he thinks. He’s made enemies out of those he thinks are loyal, and enemies talk. He’s nothing. He’s already run from here like a little coward, in fact. He is no match for me. The descendants of all other gods bow before the line of mighty Zeus.”

  I rolled my eyes. She was mighty hard to listen to.

  Silence drifted through the scene, my senses saying it should be peaceful but for the ominous flickering of the lightning overhead and the expectation for violence pounding silently through the unsaid words.

  My heart thumped as Thane slowed. He stepped back, motioning me on again. Dylan’s soul waited fifty feet away.

  “Come out, Amell, don’t make me come in,” the Demigod demanded, losing her patience.

  A bolt of lightning seared my eyes as it dropped down, smashing into a rock not far in front of where I knew Dylan waited. The boom of impact rattled my bones. I took a step back, my primal senses telling me to run, the zombies trying to break free.

  Body shaking, ears ringing, I felt Thane’s strong hand on my arm. He escorted me past Boman and behind Red and Donovan looking out through the branches, and to a waiting Kieran at the front with Jerry just off to the side.

  Instead of staying close to me like Kieran had directed, I was momentarily distracted as I felt Bria move in the opposite direction, through the ranks of zombies and beyond, out of my range. I looked back, but the trees obscured my vision. Where the hell was she going? Had Kieran changed her role in this?

  Before I could inquire, I caught sight of the large cliff face Jerry had mentioned. Rough rock rising high into the sky, there was no way to climb it without serious supplies. A small shelf stuck out near the bottom, and around it were piled various-sized boulders and rocks, creating a small alcove. Within that alcove waited all six souls Dylan was clearly guarding.

  “Come out, Amell. I won’t give you another chance,” the Demigod called.

  Twenty feet in front of the alcove, hunkered down within a collection of trees and rocks, sat Dylan. If not for the placement of his darkened, smoldering soul, I would’ve missed him completely, so still was he within the branches and immobile rocks. With a start, I realized that the plane of his face was pointed directly at me. Although we’d been careful not to attract attention, sneaking up from the side, he knew we’d come.

  I hoped he didn’t mistake us for the enemy, because we had nowhere to hide.

  “Don’t I get to the count of ten?” Dylan called, and something had changed in his tone. His soul throbbed, a flash of beautiful brightness, before reducing back to smoldering ash.

  “Must we play these games?” the Demigod answered.

  Kieran gave a thumbs-up. Nothing happened for a moment, but then I caught Dylan flashing a handsome smile in the flickering light from above. He mimicked Kieran’s gesture.

  Kieran countered with five fingers, counted them down, and then made a fist. I wasn’t sure what he was
trying to relay, but Dylan seemed to understand, giving Kieran another thumbs-up.

  “It’s on,” Kieran said, turning to me. “Time is ticking. Cause havoc, Alexis. Bring out the big guns.”

  “When? Now?” I asked, putting my hands out like I was bracing for something. Truth was that I fell into a momentary slide toward terror. He was turning me loose? Did he know how easily I could mess everything up?

  “Go—”

  “Sure, if you want,” Flora said, and a dirty, frayed lightning bolt lit up the sky. When my ears stopped ringing, I barely heard, “One.”

  “—go, go, go!” Kieran’s hand was at my back, urging me on.

  I hurried in the direction of the zombies, expecting to feel Bria pop into my radar, for her to be with them and waiting for me. As I neared, though, she was still nowhere to be felt or seen. It was like she’d slinked away when she thought I’d be distracted.

  Confusion stole over me. That wasn’t like her. There had never been a battle where she wasn’t in the thick of it with me. If Kieran had told her to be somewhere else, if it wasn’t on the front line, she would’ve gone against his wishes by now. She didn’t have a blood oath—he couldn’t control her. Not now, not ever. Her slipping away right when things were getting hairy wasn’t her MO.

  Flora’s words seemed to echo in my head.

  He’s made enemies out of those he thinks are loyal, and enemies talk.

  18

  Kieran

  Kieran watched Alexis hurry away, her face screwed up in terror. The fireworks were about to begin, and she would send this whole place scrambling in a way no one else could.

  “Wait for it,” Kieran said to Jerry, putting his hand on the giant’s shoulder. “What she did on the mountain was nothing. Wait for…”

  He paused as a flash of power rolled through his flesh and bone. The lightning cracked down, this bolt a little closer to Dylan than the last. Great god of the sea, the Demigod of Zeus had some mighty power with that lightning. It felt like it was drawn directly from the heavens and aimed together with Mother Nature herself. The spectacle set him on edge.