Daughter Trilogy Bundle (125 page)

I
’m suddenly suffocating on my inability to feel the strength that’s been taken from me, and more and more surround Devin as he fights relentlessly to keep them away from me.  Streaks of blood mark the gashes he’s received from the claws of the harpies, and his ears drip with the same red tale as the sirens’ merciless screams continue to focus on him.

“
Kill the girl and the boy,” Damon screams as he flips through the air running toward me. 

“
No!” Pyrrha objects.  “I need her to find the child.”

“
With him dead, there will be no one to block the child from our sight.  You’re not the one calling the shots.  She wants her dead before she returns,” he growls, and suddenly his venture to me has reached its end.

Devin screams as he leaps toward us, but the lava pins him down.  I gasp for air as Damon
’s hand clutches my throat to bring back the foul taste of death and decay.

A small spark finally erupts from my hand with enough power to force him to flinch. 

“You bitch,” he screams, and then I feel the heat of the lava as I’m thrown into the boiling puddle to deep to claw my way back up to the surface.

My insides churn with power trying to escape, and Devin
’s struggling sounds from above provoke them all the more.  The blaring glow of the orange and red liquid sucking me under burns, but not as much as the fury from the ones forced unwillingly into hiding.

The thunder inside me rumbles as I feel the power slowly creeping through my dormant veins, and I smirk as I finally feel the long lost power I
’ve desired to taste a touch of suddenly filling me completely.

The deep pool of oozing fire forms steps for me to make my slow ascent, and the liquid clings to my body like a lava garment as my eyes burn with red swirls.

As my head emerges, the eyes of all fall upon me, and I hear the gasps as I continue to climb free from the entrapping pool they never thought I’d escape.  The even older version of Pyrrha trembles as her dry, cracked lips quiver to speak.

“
I told you not to underestimate her,” she almost whispers, and I see Damon stumbling backwards as Devin rips free and finds a chance blast him into the wall with a raging fire spiraling with deadly intent.

“
No,” Damon yelps.  “You don’t have fire,” he contests as the flames constrict around him like a flaming straightjacket.

Devin gives a smug smirk while shrugging with condescension, and then Damon screams out as his body bursts into ashes from the extreme temperatures that cover him. 
‘Pyrrha’s mouth gapes open in disbelief and her fast-paced aging forces her to release the hold on the others she can no longer sustain.

“
No,” she utters in a disbelieving, terrified whisper.  “You’re not bonded.  You can’t be bonded,” she panics.

“
Surprise again,” I mutter as the fire around me swirls brilliantly.  “This is going to hurt more than a little,” my strange voices chatter in unison as Aphrodite and Kaos mock her words, and the duo become partners of destruction to take out their old adversaries.

“
Get out,” Devin yells to the others.

“
Shit.  She’s about to go nuclear,” Kry yelps, and he grabs the hand of Ember to pull her away from the ensuing explosive burst of power.

Everyone leaps to their feet and flashes from the room while fighting their way through the mass of Rhea
’s rabid pets and loyal allies.  They don’t follow our people; they stay with Devin and me because I’m Rhea’s main focus.

“
Interesting choice of venue, considering I derive my power from the energy flowing through the volcanoes of earth,” Kaos taunts through me.

“
No,” Pyrrha pleads, and suddenly her mignon herd is trapped by the same lava she had originally used against us.  “The priestesses were forced into hiding without contact from the outside world.  How?”

The lava drapes around me to cover my bare body with more grace, and it hangs from me like the dripping dress of a goddess as the animated and sparking movement of the magma continues.

“When the Emperian dies, a temporary replacement is found,” Devin says vaguely with a smug smirk.

“
Only the old Emperian is offered the role.  No replacement can be found other than that until a long, grueling process of power determination has been performed,” she protests.  “Rhea was the prior Emperian.”

“
Surprise, surprise, surprise,” I taunt with my Aphrodite chimed tone.  “I was the last Emperian,” I announce with an imperious tone.

“
No,” she gushes.  “It’s not possible.  I would have known.  I should have known.”

“
You only knew what I allowed you to know,” Kaos boasts, and then suddenly the flames swirl faster around me as they race outward.

Devin
’s immunity offers him the chance to stand at my side while holding my hand, ready to rein me in when the time comes.  The fear in the eyes of our attackers is empowering, intoxicating, and damn does it feel good.

The fire erupts into an explosive blast, but Devin remains unscathed as the shrieking cries of all the others screech free.  Faces suddenly turn to match the black, molten phase of the cooled lava after it storms the surface for too long.  Pyrrha struggles to remain intact while her weaker fleet crumbles.

More screaming erupts as the pain they had wished to inflict me with becomes their own, and Devin’s hand grips tighter around mine.

“
No mercy,” my echoed voice pronounces, and the fire burns hotter as the ground quakes open beneath our feet to spew the liquid that’s been begging to surge free.

The breaking of the volcano
’s stability causes more pieces to crumble as my eyes glow with the swirling red controlling my irises.  The molten creatures break apart as the earth crumbles more, and Devin holds his arms up to shield us from the dusted debris and shattering volcano walls.  

The remaining bits of the structure explode around us, and the open air rushes me as Devin
’s arms lower under the red sky set aglow from my burning outrage.

The fire continues spiraling around us, and the earth wilts beneath our feet.  Pyrrha
’s aged body continues to deteriorate, and she uses her magic to force a shield up.  My power is too strong though.  She’s forced to use too much energy to counter my strength, and her aging hastens as if Father Time has been materialized in the form of a flesh eating disease.  Very liberally, the time she’s abused betrays her.

“
No!
”
she screams one last time just before she crumbles to dust from her own doing.

The fire doesn
’t cease, the power still rages in me, and it continues to climb outward as my drunken state drags it across the surrounding lands.  Devin’s hand grips mine, and I hear the faint voices of our party pleading with him from a distance.

“
Now, Devin.  Now!”

Suddenly the lips of the man I can
’t live without envelope mine to calm the storm I can’t produce outside.  The fire spins to a slower rhythm until halting all together, and my nails grip into his bare back as my magma attire drops to the ground and shatters like black glass when the liquid chills instantly to a brittle form.

His lips feel like velvet drawing me in, and reality becomes less of a fantasy I
’ve been set aside to observe.

The loss of Kaos
’s presence is sudden, and Aphrodite slowly sinks back in to leave only me in the arms of the man I love.  His breath tastes like divinity, and his hands feel like heaven’s blessing.

             
He scoops me into his arms, and I break apart when the tears finally fall after the overwhelming truth of our teeth-scraping escape from death.

This game becomes more dangerous each time we play it, and the stakes seem higher with each passing day.  They
’ll never stop until Rhea is dead.  I’ll travel to the center of the earth and kill her myself to end it.

“
Easy, baby,” Devin coos, and I feel a blanket draping over my exposed body.

Hale smiles softly after providing me with the modesty I lacked once more, and Camara
’s eyes are stained with the tears I saw the lizard trying to shed in the suffocating and unforgiving air which had been drenched only in heat.

“
I didn’t think we’d make it in time,” she cries, and then her arms wrap around me as Devin gingerly puts me down.

“
We barely did,” Jace murmurs, and then his arms pull me to him in a less than brotherly embrace.

“
You made it in plenty of time,” I soothe.

“
Your powers came back just when we needed them most,” Kry says while adoration oozing from his tone.

I offer a faint smile, and then my eyes turn to gaze into the smoky blue ones smoldering against me.  Devin
’s fighting the same urge to give into our passion right now.  The separation has been excruciating since the bonding was acquired.

“
All I needed was Devin,” I almost whisper, and that’s his undoing.

He rushes me, and my legs wrap around his waist while I cling to the blanket.  His lips devour my needy ones, and the passion gushes like waves of desire into our mouths.

“I do love a good reunion,” Hale chuckles out.

“
The scent is strong again,” Jace grumbles.  “It’s building quicker than usual now.”

“
I don’t mind it,” Faith seduces, and I’m sure her eyes are staring directly into his with her Apollo swirls.

I tune them all out as I become lost in the love I
’ve never thought possible.  The passion between us has intensified even though I thought it couldn’t get any stronger.

“
It’s over?” Persia gasps and Devin very reluctantly releases my lips as we turn to face the late arrivals.

Theia and Phillip look to be disappointed.  Kahl and Persia seem distraught and riddled with heaps of guilt for having missed my rescue.

“Adisia went thermal nuclear times ten,” Hale explains as he motions to what used to be a gallant, monstrous volcanic mountain that now lies in shambles. 

“
How did she crumble the mountain?” Persia inquires.

“
Kaos,” Devin murmurs blandly.

“
That’s impossible,” Theia gasps.

“
That’s not the freakiest impossibility,” Kry interjects.  “Devin used fire as if it was his own.”

Our parents
’ eyes widen in gaping disbelief.

“
You used fire?” Kahl asks with a dry, trembling tone.

“
I reached for water, but fire was there,” Devin explains.  “Our bond is so much stronger than we’ve credited it.  With the actual bonding being made official, I felt her weakness and her strengths.  That’s how I found her.  I felt her presence from so far away.  Though, it almost took me too long to pinpoint her exact whereabouts,” he almost whispers, and his arms wrap around me with a stronger grip to ensure himself I’m really okay.

I nestle into his chest as his steady, calm breaths soothe my still shaken and rattled air.  His soft lips caress my forehead while he pulls me up slightly to keep from bending.

“This is absolutely astonishing.  Nothing like this has ever been heard of before.  It’s as if the two of you are rewriting the rules of our world,” Theia releases breathlessly in awe.

“
I can’t believe Kaos awoke after being blocked,” Persia murmurs to herself.  “What about Asteria?” she asks curiously.

“
She still sleeps,” Devin answers.

“
We should go,” Phillip inserts.  “The mortals are sure to be here soon to investigate.”

Devin nods, and everyone starts flashing to the vehicles, although Devin doesn
’t permit me to walk on my own.  He scoops me up and holds me close to his chest and his eyes burn against my flesh as though he’s examining me.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Your face is still bruised and cut from the Jaculus’s attack,” he strains through wounded guilt.

“
It’ll heal,” I say reassuringly.  “I don’t even feel it anymore.”

He pulls open the blanket to peek inside at my bare body once we sit in the SUV, and then he shakes his head. 

“And this?  Do you feel this?” he insists while his eyes stare pointedly at the dark purple and black emersions.

“
No.  Devin, I’m alive, and now I’m back with you.  Where the hell are we?”  I murmur to shift the topic away from his guilt.

“
Mount Shasta,” he answers dryly.  “You were so close, and it took us days to find you,” he rattles out with even more guilt and angst.

Well that backfired. 

“I’m glad there weren’t any mortals around when I blew it up,” I murmur with fear for what might have been.