Ravaged: An Eternal Guardians Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (7 page)

Her brow lowered as she stepped closer and looked at the tiny red flags stuck in various locations across the earth. They were scattered all over Europe, Asia, North and South America, even the Arctic. But it was the symbol on each flag that made her eyes widen and her stomach draw up tight. A bow and arrow cut by the Greek symbol for sigma.

“What in Hades are you doing in here?”

Ari’s voice boomed at her back, but Daphne didn’t turn to look, didn’t move, couldn’t take her eyes off the map.

“You’re supposed to be gone.” He moved back to the door, mumbled, “Skata,” then yelled, “Silas!”

Daphne’s gaze swept over the map, both disbelief and dread swirling in her belly to form a hard, tight knot. “You’re tracking Sirens.”

“Where the fuck is Silas?” he demanded.

She couldn’t believe it. Silas had made her think Aristokles didn’t hunt Sirens on purpose, but this map proved otherwise.

She whirled on him, no longer caring if he was upset she’d invaded his space. He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, his face flushed from the cold outside, his dark hair mussed, his bare feet insanely sexy against the hardwood floor, but she ignored the way he looked and focused on the facts. “Why are you tracking Sirens?”

His gaze narrowed. “How do you know what I’m tracking?”

She pointed toward the map. “Because I’m not stupid. I know the Siren symbol. You are hunting them.”

A steely look crossed his features as he stepped slowly back into the room. “What do you know about anything I do?”

“I know—” Her mouth snapped closed when she realized she was about to give everything away. “I’ve heard stories. About an Argonaut who hunts Sirens. It’s you, isn’t it?”

He glanced toward the map with all its little red flags, then back at her. But he didn’t say a word.

“Answer the question,” she demanded.

He still didn’t speak. Just stared at her with hard, narrowed eyes. And she knew instinctively that he wasn’t going to answer, but she needed the truth once and for all.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him, no longer caring how this impacted Silas’s silly plan or what Zeus wanted. “Silas is gone. He left to get supplies. Why are you tracking Sirens?”

“Stupid half breed,” Ari muttered. He glanced toward the map. Still didn’t seem to want to answer, but after several long seconds said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but this is for avoidance, not tracking.”

“Avoidance of what?” she asked skeptically.

“Sirens. I have a personal distaste for their Order. I started mapping their movements years ago so I could stay well out of their way. That’s why I picked the Snoqualmie National Forest as my home base.” He pinned her with an annoyed look. “Happy now?”

No, Daphne wasn’t happy. She glanced back at the map. There was only one Siren flag in the Pacific Northwest, south of their location, but still close enough to Stonehill Hold where he could get to the location quickly if he wanted. “What happened to those Sirens?” She looked back at him and pointed toward the map. “The ones marked there in Washington?”

He scrubbed a hand over his forehead. “I’m not going to get rid of you, am I?”

“Not until you answer my questions.”

He dropped his hand to his side. “I’m going to fucking kill Silas.”

When she only continued to glare at him, he scowled. “I don’t know why you care but there was only one Siren in that location, and I never personally ran into her. She, luckily, was too interested in a different Argonaut to taunt me.”

Sirens didn’t taunt. They lured. But Daphne didn’t bother to explain the difference because she knew it would be lost on him.

She looked back at the map, taking in the flags all over Europe, following the intricate lines he’d created of the Sirens’ movements, thinking of the hours and months and years it must have taken to compile this information. But her awe drew to a shuttering stop when her gaze landed on a collection of flags marking a location in Northern Greece.

“What is this?” She stepped toward the map, her eyes growing wide. “Why are all these flags grouped together in the Pindus Mountains?”

“What are you looking at now?” he muttered.

Fabric rustled, indicating he’d moved further in the room, but she didn’t care how close he was. The pressure pushing on her chest was all she could focus on. “Here.” She pointed. “Marking this tiny village.”

“Because Sirens were there. Just like every other mark.”

“I get that,” she said calmly when all she really wanted to do was scream. “But why so many? And what does the black flag in the middle mean?” Her gaze skipped over the rest of the map. There were only a few other black flags on the map, randomly scattered over the continents, but if there was a pattern to their marks, she couldn’t see it.

“Black means they wiped it out.”

Everything inside Daphne went cold. “Wiped what out?”

“The entire village.”

Daphne’s heart felt as if it skipped a beat, then picked up speed until it was a whir in her ears. Her hands grew sweaty. Her legs swayed. He couldn’t be right. The map blurred in front of her eyes, but somehow, she found her voice and asked, “H-how?”

“Gods, you’re curious.” His feet shuffled. “If I tell you, will you go?”

“Yes! What happened?”

Panic was rising in her voice. She could hear it herself. Several minutes of silence ticked by, but she didn’t turn to look at Ari. Couldn’t because she was too afraid of what she’d see. Truth? Lies? She wasn’t sure which she wanted at the moment.

“It was like twenty years ago,” he said at her back. “Zeus has always had a thing for nymphs, and this village was made up of nothing but nymphs. There was a female there he wanted. Simple thing. Wasn’t interested in Olympus or the gods. But you know Zeus. He always gets what he wants. He pursued her, but she repeatedly turned down his advances. When he grew aggressive, she threatened to call the Argonauts in to protect her.”

“Argonauts aren’t sworn to protect nymphs.”

“They’re sworn to protect the human realm from otherworldy threats. Zeus can be a definite threat. Anyway, Zeus didn’t like the ultimatum. He backed off, let her think she’d won. When enough time had passed and she’d let down her guard, he sent his Sirens to teach her a lesson.”

No.
No, no, no, no, no.
It couldn’t be true.

“I heard they burned the village, top to bottom,” Ari said. “When they were done, there was nothing—and no one—left. Nice girls those Sirens, huh? Now you know why I avoid them.”

The room spun around Daphne. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be.

“You seem shocked by this,” Ari said. “Sirens have killed hundreds of thousands over the years. Anyone Zeus wants gone. What does one little village in the middle of nowhere matter to you?”

The map blurred. Flames flared in Daphne’s memory, cries for help echoed in her ears. Hot, burning tears threatened, followed by a wave of pain she thought she’d put behind her long ago.

“I...” Pushing away from the desk, she bolted for the door, rushing past him, needing space, needing to think, needing to figure this out before the memories swept her under and devoured her. “Get out of my way.”

* * *

Ari was cold, wet, and more than a little frustrated. He’d spent the last twelve hours tracking a horde of daemons across two ridges before losing them in the snow. All he wanted was a hot shower, food, and a few good hours of sleep—in that order—so he hadn’t been happy when he’d stumbled into his rooms and found the nymph who was supposed to be long gone invading his space.

Only now, food and sleep were the last things on his mind. Now all he could think about was the way she’d bolted out of this room as if she’d just relived a nightmare.

He looked at the map again, eyed the flags marking the location where that village used to be, then pictured Daphne’s sickened face. And finally put two and two together.

“Skata.”

He turned out of his room before he thought better of it. Was on the stairs before he even realized where he was heading. And pushed her bedroom door open before he could stop himself.

The room was empty.

For a fleeting moment, he thought maybe she’d left, then realized there was nowhere in this wilderness for her to go. He turned out of the bedroom and headed back for the staircase. Halfway down, he caught a flicker of movement through the tall, arching windows across the great room and stopped.

She was out on the deck. He watched her hair blow in the wind for several moments and told himself she wasn’t his concern. He could go back to his rooms. Forget about the nymph. Forget everything but sleep. The sooner the nymph was out of his life the better. But that stupid duty inside him wouldn’t let him walk away like he wanted.

 He crossed the great room and pulled open one side of the double glass doors. The nymph stood at the railing looking out over the dark valley, snow already collecting in her thick locks. Her feet were bare, and dressed in nothing but the T-shirt and baggy sweats she had to have gotten from Silas, she was already shivering, though he doubted she even noticed.

“Come inside,” he said.

She didn’t move. Thinking she might not have heard him, he stepped out into the snow, the cold immediately penetrating his own bare feet. “Come inside before you freeze to death.”

For a long moment she didn’t answer. Then softly, so softly he barely heard her, she said, “Were you there?”

She was talking about the village.
Her
village.

Skata.
This is not your concern. You don’t have to answer.
“No.”

“It was the middle of June. So hot I could barely breathe. I asked my mother if I could run to the creek to cool off. She didn’t want to let me go, but I persisted. Finally, she agreed, but only if I took Argus with me.”

Dammit, he’d been right. Though he wanted nothing more than to run now as she had then, his feet wouldn’t let him. “Argus was your dog?”

She nodded as she continued to stare out at the darkness. “I lost track of time. When I realized how late it was, we ran back as fast as we could. I knew my mother was going to be so mad that I’d stayed late.” Her eyes drifted closed, and pain etched her features. “I heard the screams first. By the time I cleared the trees, everything was in flames. I was seven.”

Ari knew what it was like to lose everything—your hopes, your dreams, your future. And as much as he wanted to stay indifferent to the nymph, now he couldn’t. “I’m sorry.”

It was a feeble thing to say. His Argonaut brothers had all told him they were sorry when his soul mate had died, and it hadn’t changed a thing. He watched as she stared out at the black swirling storm. Her face was as stony as the rocks in the cliff below them. Except for the tears that slid down her cheeks in silence.

“And you’re sure it was Sirens?” she asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“But you weren’t there. You can’t know for certain.”

Her protest didn’t surprise him. As a nymph, she’d probably been taught that the Sirens kept the gods’ peace. Denial was the hardest hurdle to clear. He knew that better than most. “There was one survivor, besides you. A boy. Eton, I think was his name. He was gathering firewood at the time of the attack. He saw what happened from the ridgeline and ran. After, he sought refuge in a Misos colony in Eastern Europe. He confirmed it was Sirens.”

“I knew him.” Daphne’s eyes slid closed. “He was a few years older than me.”

She stood still several long minutes, the wind whipping her hair, snow collecting on her dark locks, her clothes, her face, her arms and legs. And as much as Ari knew she needed this time to deal with her grief, the inch of snow that had collected near her ankles since she’d come out here told him it was time he got her inside. “Daphne—”

Abruptly, she turned back for the hold. “I have to go.”

Thankful she was heading back in, Ari moved into the great room and shut the door at his back. But instead of heading for the stairs and the solitude of her room as he expected, she rushed for the entry to the hold.

She shoved her feet into the first pair of boots she found, then reached for the massive door handle. It took only two seconds to realize what she was doing.

Ari slapped his hand against the hard wood before she could pull the door open.

“You’re not leaving like this.”

“Get out of my way.” She pushed his hand away from the door and yanked. “You wanted me gone, so consider me gone.”

Cold air swept into the hold. But before she could get two steps outside, he captured her around the waist, pulled her back against him, then shoved the door closed with his foot. “I said you’re not leaving.”

She dug her fingers into his forearms and struggled against his grip. “Let me go!”

She was a strong little thing. Stronger than he expected. Twisting her around, he pushed her back against the wall and closed in at her front, bracing his arms on the walls near her head so she was trapped with nowhere to go. “Running after them won’t do any good.”

“How would you know?” She pushed at his arms but he held them still. “You don’t know anything about where I’m going.”

“No, I know everything about where you’re going. I’ve been where you are right now. I’ve wanted them dead for what they did. But I also know there is no such thing as revenge against Zeus’s army. The Sirens are too many.”

Her struggle slowed. She looked up at him and glared, and in her heated look he knew that he was the closest target for her pain. But as their eyes met, the glare slipped away and was replaced with a sea of emotion. And he noticed for the first time that her eyes were a deep, emerald green. As green, he guessed, as the woods around her lost village. And completely and utterly mesmerizing.

 “My mother’s name was Eleni.” Tears filled her gemlike eyes, and she blinked rapidly to hold them back. “I saw Zeus in our village days before it happened, talking with her, but I never put it together. I didn’t know she was the reason...”

Her voice trailed off as tears overtook her. She lifted her hands to her face, her slim shoulders shaking with her sobs. And before Ari realized it, she leaned into him and rested her forehead against his chest.