Daughter Trilogy Bundle (72 page)

Great.  Another one.

He catches my disgruntled pout, and shakes his head.  "She's my cousin," he says quickly.

Oh.  Thank goodness.

He doesn't smile at my relief.  His eyes stay intensely focused on the road ahead as if he's worried about every second that passes by.  Of course, with every second that passes, I'm feeling all the weaker.

The car slows to a halt as the engine ticks into expiration.

"Damn it.  They've already learned to control their pulses?" Devin gasps.

"That's new.  I wasn't expecting that.  Deidra and the others are still ten miles away.  Are you ready to run?" She asks emergently.

Devin flashes with me out of the door, and sand spins behind us as he digs it up too fast.

Then I'm suddenly shrieking out my pain as I feel myself collapsing to the ground, and the banshee-like screams erupt around us.

I cover my ears, and Devin yells for me just as the vines rip free from the ground and cover the mouths of the sirens.

"Not yet," a voice commands.

No!

It's the daughter of Athena I killed during my tantrum when Persia died.  She's here, and the sirens are under her authority against their will.

The vines restrain them, and Devin twists against the vines gripping him down.  This all seems too impossible to be true, and horrid memories revisit my mind.  We've been here before - both of us restrained by these fucking vines just before Safina stole his life and I destroyed the world… only this time, I don't have any power.

His cousin screams at them, "Let us go.  I'm the daughter of Poratia, he is the son of Poseidon, and she's just a sick mortal we're trying to save.  You have no reason to invite a war with us."

"You're right.  You're completely unimportant, but he's not.  Someone needs him, and I need their help in order to find that Aphrodite bitch that escapes us every time we're too close.  Sorry, but you're just collateral damage," she insults.

No.

"Actually, you're collateral damage," Jace pops off as energy bolts whirl through the air at her head.

She barely dodges the first one, but the second one rips through her side before she can wrap him up.

"You!  You're supposed to be dead," she growls.

Jace laughs as suddenly everyone else appears at once.

"Release them," Hale orders.

"The sun?  Well isn't this delightful?" A new voice sounds off as a wave of black-haired bitches emerge along with a band of possessed mortals.

Safina is possessing them, and she's talking through one of them.  The last time she did that it was my brother.

"What do you want?" Hale answers coyly.

"You don't remember me?  You're the one who held me down while all the others helped Deidra encase me.  I came to find her, and here you are instead," she chuckles out.  "Sometimes I love my luck."

The vines release Devin and his cousin suddenly as Gemma steps up.  I can't move, but there's nothing restraining me besides my destroyed mortal body.

Devin starts to flash to me, but fire blazes between us, and a girl grabs me up instead.  As her eyes connect with mine, I feel something terrible growing inside of me, consuming me… possessing me.

I get sick at my stomach, lightheaded, and then my mind turns into a thick fog I can't see through just as I'm shoved out of the way.

I start walking around as though I'm completely unaffected by the fragile state I was just in - the only problem is, I'm not in control.

"Uh-uh," my voice rattles off mockingly as my finger twitches.

"No," Devin gasps as he lunges toward me, but my hand flies up and starts spiraling the deadly around it as a warning.

My mind cries as it's pushed into the corner and forced to watch helplessly.

"Oh, isn't this sweet.  You'd do absolutely anything to save her, and now she's mine.  You've hidden her away, gotten rid of her parents, friends, and her brother.  It's as though you knew how dangerous it was to fuck a mortal, but you did it anyways.  You just didn't plan on me," she taunts.

I cry inwardly even more, and Devin's eyes drip with tears.  Persia can't free me, Theia can't save me, and Devin will have to watch her rip me apart if I can't break free.

'Fight her, baby," Devin begs.  "Fight her."

My mouth laughs viciously at him.

"Fight me?  You're such a romantic.  Your girlfriend will live if you die," she says bluntly.

"Kill me," he prompts without hesitation.

I smile a wicked grin that is not my own, and then my body casually struts with triumph too effortlessly obtained.

"Oh, now.  You're making this all too easy.  Momma always said to never accept a gift too willingly given," she snickers.

"Let her go, and you can have me," Devin promises.

"Your mignons have to stand down, and I also need to find the Aphrodite you've been hiding away," she quickly retorts.

"We don't have an Aphrodite, but my people will stand down if you let her go," he offers.

"Don't lie to me.  I can smell her on you.  I've been in this dying girl's mind for minutes, and I know the Aphrodite is near."

Devin takes a step toward her and the ash begins to spread again.  I feel something happening now, something powerful is starting to stir, rumble, and nearly erupt.

"Devin stop.  She'll kill you," Gemma begs.

Devin suddenly smirks at the bitch possessing my body.

"No she won't.  Adisia won't let her," he says with smug assurance.

Safina scowls through me as she uses my body to take a step toward him to assert her fury for his insolent remark.

"You're crazier than-"

Her sentence is cut short when suddenly the wind begins to stir, the clouds rumble violently overhead, and the rain starts its vigorous descent.

"What the-"

The words stop as the fog lifts, and I get a little more elbow room in my own mind.  My body is suddenly my own again as the ashes fade away from sight, and my possessor is expelled.

Each afflicted piece of me heals, and the power courses through my veins freely with an awakening excitement.  My blue eyes grow green, and I feel the ground beneath me quaking in disbelief as the scared mass of bitches gasp in surprise.

Jace's mouth gapes open, and I give Devin a wink as I turn to face our attackers.

"She's a fucking Aphrodite," a possessed mortal exclaims.

Safina is still here; she just found a new mouth to do her dirty work.

"She's controlling this shit.  That's impossible," an Athena bitch screams.

The tornadoes descend, but there's no air to stop it.  The lightning crashes, and there's no conductor to derail it.  I smirk dangerously as they begin to scream in panic while my unkempt, merciless storm rolls wildly across the desert.

"I'm back," I murmur with the taste of
badass
lingering in my mouth.

"Go.  Go now.  It's happened.  Go," Safina yells through the mortal.

The others quickly begin launching their attacks, and the sirens squeal out their shrieks as their gagged mouths are released.

Hale breaks open the sun from his body, and the sirens scream louder as they flee from its grasp.

Too many are retreating, and none wish to fight.  It's the complete opposite of last time.

My green eyes flash brighter, and Hale stands beside me to send his light swirling in all directions as I use the winds to corral the shrieking monstrosities.

The sirens continue collapsing with their shrill screams of pain.  The sands steady themselves as I release the storm, and Hale claps his hands together as the last siren falls to the ground.

The daughters of Athena have fled with Safina and her followers, and the ashes of the fallen slowly fall from the windless sky to creep back to the surface.

I slowly turn to face the relieved faces staring at me, but only one demands my attention.

Devin's smirk is enough to send chills throughout me, and my eyes refuse to flip back blue.  The seduction is calling, the power is glorious, and the taste of immortality is radiating through me.

I saunter with a saucy strut as I gradually approach him with a slow seduction.  My bare feet graze the surface of the sand without sinking, and it only adds to the lusting need he feels.

His eyes flash with mischievous and provocative desire, and my wicked grin stays intact until I finally stand just in front of him.

"Hi," I say playfully.

"Hi," he smolders, and his hand grips the back of my neck while the other one grabs me at my waist to pull me into his inhaling kiss.

My hands tangle in his hair, and he lifts me off the ground to keep from bending.  My body heats against his, and the electricity begins coursing over me, offering him a pulsing desire.

His smile grows behind the kiss, and the passion is almost overwhelming as it consumes us both.

"Ah-hmm," a woman's voice interjects.

Devin doesn't release me, and our kiss only deepens despite the exasperated eyes burning against us.

"Well, Aphrodisia is definitely back in full swing," Hale grumbles.

Devin finally lets a small chuckle escape, and he draws back to brush the hair from my face.  His pure elation is all the more tantalizing, and my eyes can't tear themselves away as the throbbing from within becomes stronger.

"Can I have a formal introduction?"

I turn to face Devin's cousin.  She was apparently the throat clearer who was trying to gain our attention.

"Sorry Lana.  This is Adisia, my fiancée and soon my wife," Devin says proudly while turning me back into his arms and kissing me with a softer touch as he continues just for me, "Very soon."

"Wow.  I didn't realize how serious this was," she remarks with a startled release.

"How do you feel?" Hale asks as he interrupts Lana.

"Like a goddess," I offer with a tempting smirk pointed at Devin.

His lips reclaim mine, and he scoops me into his arms.  Jace seems to be in complete shock, which is confusing to me.

"You can open the skies?" he asks with baffled intrigue.

"My mother and I both can.  Prometheus," I answer while reluctantly withdrawing from Devin's lips.

"That was stronger than Prometheus.  That was too strong for you to be so in control over so soon," he argues.

"She's amazing, and she had to learn her control quickly the last time," Devin inserts.

I smile at the adoring eyes gazing wonderfully into mine, and his lips cover mine once more.

"I thought I saw fireworks over here.  Is that all the sirens?" a new voice questions.

I turn around to see a woman in her late thirties bearing an arrogant stare.  Her soft, auburn curls bounce against her shoulders as she stalks toward us very deliberately with too much confidence for my comfort.

Devin shifts slightly and answers her with a very businesslike tone.

"It's all that was here.  We had Hale."

Her eyes shift to Hale, and he seems oddly discomforted by her gaze.  He lowers his eyes to the ground, and she speaks coldly to him.

"So that's where you ran off to.  Typical male; never around when you need them."

"Sorry, Deidra," he humbly apologizes while bowing to her.  "I came to help Devin.  Serena and I have been clashing rather fiercely lately.  I hope you accept my sincerest apology," he answers like a devoted servant.

She takes a deep breath but doesn't acknowledge him further as she shifts her eyes back to Devin with a bit of agitation.

"Recruiting my people without my permission?  That crosses a line you don't normally stretch.  Explain yourself," she demands.

"Safina is back," Devin says somewhat curtly.

He's the only one besides Theia that doesn't seem to be cowering down in front of this redheaded diva on a power trip.

"Impossible," she snorts out.  "I encased her.  She's not capable of returning."

"She has returned.  The laws we laid out were circumstantial; obviously this is a line that we'll be crossing more often as the war nears.  They just ran this time, but last time… no one survived," Theia answers as she steps up to take the lead.

"Theia, I'm disappointed in you.  Since when do you rewind time without telling me?" Deidra snarks with condescension.

"I didn't rewind time, and we're keeping our phone conversations on this matter very minimal.  We've been going for face time because of the secrecy of this mission.  We needed the upper hand, and it's good we kept the element of surprise.  If they had seen us coming, we wouldn't have been so fortunate tonight," Theia boldly dares.

"Your tone upsets me.  Need I remind you whom you're speaking to?" Deidra threatens.

"I'm speaking to a titan, just as you are.  Need you be reminded of that?" Theia warns.

Deidra's obvious distaste for Theia's remark is shown, but then she calms down a little while continuing.