Aphrodite's Kiss (38 page)

“Tessa,” Donis whispered.

Hale sighed. He’d come expecting an action flick, but this was turning into a soap opera.

Straightening his shoulders, he turned to face Zoë’s mortal. “You must be Taylor.”

The man squinted. “And you must be Hale. Why the hell aren’t you in there helping her? Afraid your picture-perfect skin will get bruised?”

Hale flashed him a look of disdain, then took a step into the flames. He was summarily tossed backward like so much garbage. Landing on his rump, he then looked up at Taylor. “Satisfied?”

Fear and frustration burned across the mortal’s face, and Hale fought a wave of compassion. He didn’t want to like this mortal; this was the man who was going to one day hurt his sister the way his father had been crushed.

Taylor paced, one hand running through his hair, the other keeping a death grip on a wadded-up piece of paper. He moved toward the circle. “Zoë! Sweetheart, it’s Taylor!”

No response. Zoë couldn’t hear him.

Taylor whipped around. “What the hell’s wrong with everybody? Why can’t we help her?”

“I thought she was some kick-ass superhero,” the other mortal male said as Elmer peeked his head out of the man’s jacket pocket. “How come that bastard’s kicking her butt?”

“Hoop,” Deena said, “I told you. It’s like, she’s in training.”

Tessa’s face tightened, her eyes never leaving Zoë, her terror obvious. Donis appeared next to her. Zoë’s mother looked up, tears suddenly coming and leaving trails through her make-up. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Hale watched as, almost instinctually, his father gravitated toward the mortal. She held her hand out.

Donis moved closer. “Sorry?”

“About this. About everything.” She looked away. “About making you—”

He took her outstretched hand, then pulled her close. They both focused on the circle then, and on their daughter fighting for all she was worth. Despite everything, Hale gave a small smile.

Nearby, Taylor kicked the heel of his shoe into the soft ground. “This is ridiculous. She’s getting creamed! I don’t intend to lose her. Now, somebody please tell me what the hell I can do!”

“Lose her?” Hale repeated, his anger flaring. “
You
lose her? She’s giving up her heritage for you, buddy.
You
aren’t the one who is losing her. That’ll be her dad and me.”

Cut the guy a break
, Elmer said.
He’s in love with the girl
.

Hale opened his mouth to answer, but Taylor got there first.

“You’re not losing anybody,” he said. “Not if I can help it.” He held up the paper. “See this? This is bullshit.” He turned toward the flames, shaking the paper as the fire leaped and curled outward.

In the circle, Mordi took a running leap toward Zoë. She jumped up into a backflip, managing to avoid Mordi’s lethal legs.

“Yeah!” Hale screamed. “Way to go, Zoëster!” But he spoke too soon, and Mordi twirled around and caught her square in the back. She went flying forward, only to land in a crumpled heap.

“For crying out loud,” Taylor yelled. “He’s killing her.”

He reached out, putting his hand in the flames, then immediately pulled back, cringing.

“It’ll burn you, mortal,” Hale said somewhat peevishly, “not just hold you back. Guess you’re stuck out here with us.”

“To hell with that,” Taylor blurted. With his mouth set in a thin line, he looked at his mortal companions. Deena and Hoop eyed each other, fear in their eyes, but nodded their silent agreement. Then he turned to Hale, his face firm and determined. “If you aren’t going to help her, I am.”

“Are you brain-dead? I already told you we can’t get past the circle. This is her battle.”

He took a step toward the flame. “I...”—step—“... am going ...”—step, step—“... to help her!” And with that, he leaped forward into the fire.

“No!” Hale lunged, grabbing the back of Taylor’s shirt. Donis and Hale could stand the heat, but the mortal would burn to cinders. He tugged, keeping Taylor from sure death, but Zephron laid a hand on his shoulder and nodded toward the circle.

“Let the boy do what he has to do. If Zoë wins, he will survive. If she loses ... well perhaps death will be a blessing.”

He didn’t mean to, but his grip on the shirt weakened, and suddenly Taylor jumped into the circle. The flames leaped and danced, sucking him farther and farther into the fire.

She was going to lose.

She knew it; but, dammit, she couldn’t accept it.

She’d been lucky recently, for her meager skills were no match for Mordi’s years of training. Still, by Hera, she was going to go down fighting.

Across the circle, Mordi stalked her, biding his time. Above her, the shadow across the moon deepened.

It was almost time....

Almost, and she hadn’t managed to retrieve the stone.

She couldn’t see anything past the circle of flames, but somehow she knew Donis and Hale were there. She wasn’t going to let them down.

With renewed strength, she tore across the grass, launching herself at Mordi. His eyes went wide—comical—as if he’d never in a million years expected her to be so bold, or to take such an unsophisticated tack as a plain, old-fashioned football tackle. Arms locked, they rolled over and over until—
yes
—her fingers closed around the stone.
Thank goodness
!

She sprang backward, tearing the stone away, crouching like a tiger as Mordi retreated backward. He looked as if he was planning to leap at any moment.

Steady, steady
. Just a few more minutes and the eclipse would pass. She just needed to hold on to the stone until—

Ka-thwang!

With just one look, he sent her tumbling, backward and backward, over and over, until she hit the wall of fire and fell forward onto the grass.

She opened her hand....

Still there!

But Mordi was right there, too, a rather smug expression on his face. No question about it: her cousin was moving in for the kill.

Well, damn.

But she wasn’t licked yet. She hauled herself to her feet, her fingers locked around the stone as she wondered if maybe the Zoë Smith superstare would work on Mordichai. She was just about to try when—-

“Zoë!”

The familiar voice was far away, as if coming from deep within a well. She spun around, trying to find him, her blood running cold when she saw Taylor caught in the flames and writhing in pain. Just like in her dream...

As Mordichai raced toward her, she raced for Taylor, thrusting her hands into the white-hot fire to grasp his outstretched fingers. She barely had time to look into his eyes when she felt Mordichai’s power lifting her up and away.

“No!”

She and Taylor yelled the word in unison, and, with a final tug, she broke free of Mordichai’s hold and Taylor broke free from the flames. He burst out of the fire, and her heart leaped with joy when she realized he was unharmed.

“Zoë, look out!”

Ka-thwap
! She twirled around just in time, catching an unsuspecting Mordi in the chest with the side of her foot and sending him careening to the far side of the circle. He slammed into the wall of fire and crumpled to the ground.

“Good job,” Taylor said.

“Thanks.”

He patted himself down. “What the hell? I’m not even singed.”

She took her eyes off Mordi long enough to glare at him. “What are you doing here? You’re in danger.”

“
I’m
in danger? I’m here to help you.”

She held up the hand holding the stone. “I’m fine. I just have to hold out a little longer.”

On the far side of the circle, Mordichai climbed to his feet.

“And then what?” Taylor waved a piece of paper. “Become mortal? Are you nuts?”

Gnawing on her lower lip, she glanced at the approaching Mordichai, then turned back to Taylor. “I’m not sure now is the time. I’m a little busy at the moment.”

Mordichai launched himself toward her, and they went tumbling to the ground. She twisted, trying to get out of his grasp. He was stronger than she, and Zoë struggled against his grip until, finally, she managed to spring away.

Taylor caught her, his arms strong and sure.

“Look out!” he yelled, and she whipped around, stopping Mordi’s rush with an outthrust leg and shoving him back against the obelisk in front of the observatory.

Taylor rushed forward and landed a solid punch in Mordi’s gut. Mordichai doubled over, but not before managing to shoot a couple of particularly nasty bursts of energy Taylor’s way.

“Duck!” Zoë cried.

Taylor threw himself to the side, and Mordi’s blasts scorched the grass instead of Taylor. “Don’t you dare give this up because of me,” he yelled as he climbed back to his feet.

A lump rose in her throat as she leaped backward to escape Mordi’s lunge.
Dammit
. She didn’t want to deal with her cousin, or stones, or legends. Here was the man she loved, and she needed to think. With a renewed burst of energy, she caught Mordi by the throat and held him firm against the obelisk as she turned to Taylor. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“I love you, Zoë,” he said, tearing her Intent to Select Moralization form into tiny pieces. “
You
. And I’m sorry I didn’t say it before, when you were so worried about how I’d react.”

Could he really love her? Did he really?

“Excuse me,” Mordi croaked. “This is all very heartwarming, but my father’s waiting for results and I need to kick a little ass.” He struggled under her grip, but Zoë’s arm felt like iron.

“Zoë ... don’t give up on me because I was an idiot,” Taylor shouted. “Let me love you. Hell, let me help you.”

She watched as the little pieces of her mortalization form sparked and sputtered, disintegrating before her very eyes. He really did love her. She wasn’t ever going to be June Cleaver normal, but he loved her anyway. It was there in his eyes, and she wanted so much to jump into his arms, to cry out for joy. Everything she’d ever wanted, right here, laid in front of her like candy. Love, a family, her heritage.

And it could all fizzle away in just a few minutes, because there was still the little matter of Mordichai, who, at that very moment, had raised his head and was aiming a burst of pure energy right at her—

“No!” She cried as she was thrown clear.

Zing
! With no warning, Taylor threw his body in the way, then was hurled by Mordi’s blast into the wall of fire. Plastered against him, the living flames licked his body.

“Taylor!”

“I’m all right,” he shouted, sounding surprised.

“For now,” said Mordi. Rubbing his throat, he circled around Zoë until he was just below Taylor. Casually he looked up. “Apropos, don’t you think? Once the ceremony is complete—once I win—those flames will consume him.” He smiled. “Surely that will put me in good stead with my father.”

“You’re too late,” she said, steeling herself, and hoping against hope she could hold out for the last few moments. “It’s over. I’ve got the stone.”

He merely smiled as a shiver rippled down her spine. Her hand opened, her fingers utterly ignoring her brain’s desperate plea to close. The stone hovered for a moment, then zipped through the air to land with a soft thud in Mordi’s black-gloved hand.

“And now you don’t,” he said.

She closed her eyes and sank to the ground. Over. It was all over, and she and Taylor hadn’t even had a chance.

Tilting her head back to look him in the eyes, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you dare give up,” Taylor screamed, lashing out against the fingers of fire binding him.

Above them, the sliver of the moon faded to blackness. Zoë stared at Taylor with sorrow in her eyes.

“It’s not over,” he yelled. “You can beat him.” He pounded his fist against the wall of flame. “Do something; do anything. Shoot him with your superstare, kick him in the gut, levitate something and throw it at him.
Anything
!”

The stone in Mordichai’s hand started to glow as the darkness over the moon deepened.

“Ah,” said Mordichai, “but my cousin has never quite mastered that. Have you, Zoë dear?”

She met his gaze, wheels turning in her head.

“Mastered? No.” But she could manage—in a pinch, when it mattered.

Her eyes darted to Taylor.
Oh, sweet Hera
. It mattered now. But she needed help. She couldn’t do it alone. Not and be sure. And time was running out....

She met Taylor’s gaze, silently imploring, and hoping beyond hope that what she saw in those deep brown eyes was more than just love—that it was understanding, too.

The stone glowed brighter. The circle of flame danced and leaped behind Mordi, the fire thinning with the fading moonlight. She drew a single deep breath, readying herself.

The stone burned, radiant with inner fire.

She focused, remembering little Patty in the library, the cafeteria, Davy ... remembering Taylor, always Taylor. His touch. The way his kisses had her floating on air.

And when she felt it all—the emotion, the need, the desire, the
love
—well up inside her, that was when she looked at Mordi. With all her strength, she caught him in her gaze and concentrated like she’d never concentrated before.

“I can, Mordi. When it matters, I can levitate anything.”

“Way to go sweetheart,” said Taylor.

Mordi must have heard Taylor’s voice right behind him—an unusual fact, considering Mordi had pinned him to the wall of flame a good five feet above the ground—because he tried to twist around, stumbling a bit when he realized his feet were no longer connected with anything solid. As Zoë fought a victorious grin, Taylor yanked his foot back and let loose with a kick that would have made an angry mule proud. His foot struck pay dirt, slamming into Mordi’s arm and sending the stone flying out into the night.

Zoë exhaled, and Mordi fell to the ground. Immediately he started crawling around on his hands and knees, searching for the lost gem.

The circle of flame vanished, and suddenly Taylor was right there, sprawled at Zoë’s feet, battered and bruised from fighting the flames. She threw her arms around him and held him close as he rocked her back and forth.