Daughter Trilogy Bundle (35 page)

I roll my eyes at myself.  Why did I just blurt that out?

"I… um… well… I meant," I babble.

He smirks and sits up to stare down at me.  He pulls me into his lap and kisses my forehead.

"I actually have a female cousin from my Poseidon side, so there is no mandate stating all heirs of Poseidon have to be male.  I'll able to have a daughter with you one day, if that's what you're asking."

My eyes fall prey to his dissolving gaze.  I squirm uncomfortably under the indescribable look he's giving me.

"Please don't think I'm crazy.  I wasn't saying I want or expect children anytime soon, especially not with all of this other crazy stuff going on."

His smile grows, and I realize the accidental confession I've just shared with him.  My cheeks instantly burn brighter.

"But you're planning on spending your life with me and having children with me in the future," he says softly.

Holy crap
.  I just keep digging a hole with my ridiculous inability to find a clever way out of this madness.

"I didn't mean to
… oh, I sound like a psycho right now.  I give up," I gasp while throwing my head in my hands to cover my face.

He laughs at me as he kisses me on top of the head.  He shifts me back onto the bed as he climbs out from under me.

"Did I scare you off?" I ask mildly as he walks out of the room.

I hear him laughing lightly from his bedroom, and I stand up to pull on the black satin robe.  I follow his lead with embarrassment etching its way into my face with more definition.

"Don't laugh at me," I pout, sounding a little childish.

I turn the corner to see him digging around in his bag, and I sit down on the new bed we've yet to christen.

"I'm not laughing at you, baby," he snickers out.

"Don't patronize me either," I huff.

He laughs a little louder as he pulls out a gift wrapped box.  It's about the size of a shoe box, and the gallant ribbons drip elegantly.  His laughter slowly fades as he walks over and hands it to me.

"I got you something while I was away," he says with a humorless, endearing smile.

"Why did you get me a present?"

His eyes stare into mine as they freely pour out sincerity.

"Because I missed you.  Open it," he prompts with an adorable grin.

I smile giddily as I slowly untie the decadent bow.  He kisses me on the head as I continue to unravel the lavish wrapping.

I open the lid to find a beautiful jade jewelry box.  I also find a pair of diamond earrings glistening through a transparent container.

"Wow.  I can't take these.  This is way too much," I gush.

He smiles as he pulls out something I've missed.  There's a necklace in the shape of a wavy heart.  The platinum marvel slides against my neck as he fastens it onto me.

"Devin, this is ridiculous.  I can't wear stuff this expensive," I mumble.

He smiles as he brushes my hair away to kiss my shoulder.

"You're my everything.  I can buy you some jewelry if I want to.  Look in the mirror at how beautiful you are, and try on the earrings," he prompts while lying back on the bed.

I smile a girly grin as I walk over to the mirror.  I put the earrings on and stare at the girl wearing the expensive jewels.  The necklace settles against my chest and I'm fascinated by how incredible he is to me.

"I love it," I breathe.

"Good," he says with a heart-melting smile.

I start to climb back onto the bed, but he holds his hand up.

“You might want to put that in your new jewelry box.  I'd hate for something to break or get lost before you get to wear them out in public," he says gently while rubbing my side.

I smile as I move away from the bed - the bed he hasn't even mentioned.

"How do you like the new bed?" I ask gently as I walk back over to the dresser where I left the jade box.

"It feels sturdy, but I question its sustainability against your seductive wrath," he jokes.

I giggle lightly as I open the new jewelry box, and I gasp as I look inside it.  I pull out a large, princess cut diamond ring.  I examine it closely to see green and blue sapphires made into the band.  I stare at it quizzically for a moment before I realize what it is.  I gasp even louder when I do.

I hold it up as I whirl around to see Devin on one knee in front of me.  His nervous eyes match his tone as he speaks.

"I've walked through centuries without even realizing five years had passed, but these past eight days without you have felt like a millennium.  I realized I can't be without you, and I don't want to ever lose you.  I know this is sudden, and possibly crazy, but I don't want to waste time, even if we have an eternity of it.  I love you, Adisia.  Will you please be my wife?" he asks so genuinely.

Tears have been building up the entire time he's been proposing, and now they're slowly starting to slide down my cheeks.  I swallow hard against the gigantic knot that has almost closed up my throat, and I cough out the only words I can speak.

"Yes.  I will."

Tears stream more freely from my eyes, and he flashes up from the ground to cup my face in his hands before his lips envelope mine.  His hands slowly move down my body, and he pulls me tighter into a more devoted embrace.

I can't believe this.  We barely know each other, and we're getting married.  I love him too much to have it any other way.

Chapter 13

Intuition

Thunder roars across the sky as the lightning streaks down to disintegrate all in its path.  Persia is taking on an army by herself in the suburb streets that are more accustomed to a docile night.

A woman flips wildly through the air, and that's all there is surrounding her - women.  She has no power over them, and her lightning is failing her as she weakens from the strain she's being forced to exert.

The jet black hair of one swirls freely through the wind as she traps Persia with the deadly vines that have come to life and ripped through the streets.  Persia screams out her strangled cry as the girl smiles her eerie grin.

"No Aphrodite stays alive," she hisses the blond beauty who is gasping for air..

Persia collapses to the ground, and I start screaming myself awake.  I sit straight up, and Devin's arms close around me as he soothes me.

"Hey, baby.  Calm down.  It was just a dream.  You're okay," he coos while holding me to his chest and stroking my hair affectionately.

Tears burn against my face as I try to catch a breath from the air evading my lungs.

"Persia… Look for her… Please…" I gasp incoherently.

"I can't see her.  She's been underground for a while though.  She's probably blocking out everyone,
” he soothes.

I shake my head and leap up from the bed.  I start jerking clothes free from the closet and flashing into them.

"No.  She's dying.  I can feel it.  I saw it.  We have to go now," I cry.

"Adisia, it was probably just a dream.  Where did you see her?"

I swallow hard as more tears pour down with ferocity.

"My parents' house.  A black-haired girl swore no Aphrodite would live."

He grabs his pants from the floor and pulls them on.  Then he rips a shirt from the closet and slides into it as he grabs his phone.

"What
’s wrong?" Kry says to the late night phone call.

"We've got to get to Adisia's parents' house.  Call everyone else.  We're leaving now."

The elevator dings, and I flash to it with my shoes clutched in my hand.  Devin buttons his shirt as I pull on my shoes on the way down to the lobby.

"My cars are just down the street," he says briskly when the doors open and he takes my hand.

We flash through the crowd without concern for being noticed.  Devin types in a code to a large warehouse, and I almost trip into it when I see the phenomenon with my own eyes.

There are rows and rows of cars streaming across the floor.  Devin keeps my hand in his, and opens the door to a sleek, black sports car.  He pulls the seat forward as if I'm supposed to get in the back.

"Go get in the passenger seat," he orders.

I flash into the car just as Camara pops into the backseat.  Deacon quickly joins her, and Devin takes his place behind the wheel to make the beastly car roar.

He must have seen them coming.

"Kry called us.  I knew you'd pick the Veyron.  Although, it would have been nice if you had made the bloody backseats a little bigger" Deacon murmurs dryly.

"Be glad I had any installed at all," Devin counters.

He squeals out of the parking place and jumps out of the garage to the street.  The car sparks as it bottoms out on the small dip between the driveway and the road.

He pushes a button that closes the door to the garage, and Camara interrupts my inner panic.

"Wouldn't it be faster to take a chopper?" she asks.

"Not right now.  The helicopter is across town, and it’s completely unprepared.  It needs fuel and time to start up.  This car will get us there faster, especially with me behind the wheel right now," Devin asserts.

"Gas," I worry out loud.

"No gas.  Future tech," he murmurs.

Oh yeah.  Thank goodness.

My head bobs as he shifts gears and weaves through the New York traffic, which is fortunately slightly diluted due to the late hour.  He slides through barely-there spaces, and quickly springs forward to the next void as we head out of the city.

Once we hit the bridge, the car violently surges with lightning quick speed as the engine hums with a ferocious appetite.

"What did you see?" Deacon asks.

"I didn't see it.  Adisia did," Devin says.

"You have visions now?" inquires Camara.

"No
… I mean… I don't know.  It felt like I was there - I mean really there.  I know it wasn't a dream," I try to explain.

"How do we know it wasn't just a very vivid dream?" Deacon spouts.

"She saw a girl with black hair telling Persia no Aphrodite can live," Devin says in a low, almost muted tone.

Camara and Deacon exchange a panicked glance.  Then something dawns on me.  She was in control of the vines like Gemma.

"She was strangling Persia with vines shooting from the ground.  Are these women affiliated with Gemma?" I blare.

Devin doesn
’t answer.  I feel the car going even faster now as we blur down the open road in front of us.

"Women?  Plural?  And you're sure they had black hair and could use the plants as weapons?" Deacon interjects.

"Yes.  I'm positive.  What does that mean?" I squeal.

"It means we need to hurry the hell up," Camara adds.

"Can you see anything?" Devin asks Camara.

"I'll try," she says as her eyes flicker to the pale blue light.

"You can't see anything?" Deacon quizzically inserts.

"No.  Someone's doing a good job of blocking me because they're focusing on blocking me.  I thought it was Persia, but I don't know.  It feels like her signature, but I don't know why she would be blocking me this hard if she's in trouble," he says with an air of confusion.

"Because she doesn't want me to come there," I hoarsely release through my tears.

Devin's jaw clenches when he realizes I'm right.  She wants to save my life by sacrificing her own.  She was focusing so hard on blocking him that Aphrodite cried out to me.

He squeals through the streets and drifts around every curve as if he's a professional handler.

I fasten my seatbelt, but not to keep me safe.  I need it to keep me from sliding all over the car because I'm worried I'm going to break the door if I keep clinging to it with my white-knuckled grip.

Blue lights flash from behind us as a cop car tries to catch up with our hellacious speed.

"I'll get it," Deacon says while turning around.

"No need.  He'll never be able to keep up, and we're turning just ahead.  He'll keep going straight and radio it in to have others block the road we're not going to be on," Devin says curtly while cutting the headlights off completely.

Very quickly, the cop car becomes nothing more than a faint twinkle in the rearview mirror.  It's pitch black, and I can barely see the road.  Devin doesn't need his eyes to drive though.

He skids to take a ninety-degree turn once we enter my town.  We've made it here in under an hour - which should be impossible - and he blazes through the silent streets with even more vigor when he sees the sky lighting up.

I can see the lightning crashing in the distance, and my heart plummets to the ground.  Devin charges through the torrential downpour blaring against us, and I try to veil us from the whirling winds.

"Fuck.  She was right," Deacon exclaims.

Chills invade every inch of my body as I mimic his reaction. 
Fuck.  I was right
.

Devin skids to a halt, and we all jump out of the vehicle.  I flash behind him and barely keep up with him as he charges straight ahead, releasing a rippling wave through the air just before we reach the site.

I hear screams as his ripple connects with the first three women I had seen in my vision.

Persia is on the ground as she gasps for air against the strangling vine.  I pull the lightning from the sky and strike the bitch holding her down.

She flips backwards as it connects with her, and she loses her connection with the vines strangling Persia.

I slide to the ground to her side in order to protect her from the others swarming in.  Devin is a machine as he continues his destructive path.  Camara flips her fans through the air and they slice through one of the girls.

I cringe as she collapses to the ground, and my eyes flash over to Deacon.  He's holding a metal rod tattooed with snakes, and he's blasting them with an invisible force surging from the conducting rod.

"Another one!" A girl yells as she glares at me.

"No," Persia screams as she jerks me to the ground and pulls the sky down on the girl.

The lightning consumes her as the swirling winds rip her to the heavens.  She drops down in shambles, and I rise up in time to inflict my own damage on a new face seeking our blood.

I free the lightning in gulping blasts, and the girls collapse under my wrath.  I gasp as I see them fall lifelessly to the ground.

They're dead, and I'm the one who killed them.

The first girl I struck yells to them.  "Get out.  We have to go," she screams.

They flee from the larger fight than they were prepared to encounter.  I smile as I look down at Persia, but it quickly fades when I see her eyes barely holding on.

"No.  I saved you.  You can't die," I cry while dropping back down to her side and throwing my arms around her.

She forces a smile as she strokes my hair.  I don't get it.  Why is she dying?

"Athena's poison," Devin growls to answer my silent question while he grips his head.  "Shit."

Persia's eyes begin to cloud as she tries to speak.

"I got them out.  Your father and your mother are safe," she breathes weakly.

I feel the tears pouring out of my eyes as I try to fathom this impossibility.  This doesn't make sense.  Why did I get a vision if I couldn't stop the outcome?

"You're my mother, too.  Please don't leave me again.  I need you," I cry louder.

People start emerging from the safety of their homes, and I see that my parents' house has been shattered by the violent crashes.

Persia cries as she chokes slightly against her wheezing, labored breaths.

"I love you, Adisia."

Tears flood my face, and my sobs reach higher howls as I choke on the overwhelming emotion filling me.  The clouds thunder above me and the slackened rain starts pounding back down vigorously.

"I love you," I sob.

I look up at the despaired faces surrounding me as headlights blind my eyes.  I stare at Devin hopefully.

"Please.  Tell me Theia can fix this.  Please save her," I plead through the tears.

He kneels beside me, and his hand slides up my back.  He shakes his head as his eyes drop helplessly to the ground.

"They injected her with Athena's poison.  It's only deadly to an Aphrodite.  There's nothing we can do.  I'm
… I'm sorry," he stammers.

I cry louder as the sobs hit new ranges and the winds begin breaking limbs from the fragile few trees around us.  Kry runs up with Theia and Phillip, all of them halting with pitying eyes and gaping mouths.

I wail into the chest of Persia as she draws her last breath.  My pain can be felt for miles, and the storm strengthens around me to make sure no one escapes the pain I feel right now.  I want blood to be shed by the masses for this.

The wind stirs into a swirling threat above our heads, and the lightning begins crashing in bulk.

"You have to calm her.  Persia is a trigger, too.  She'll crush this town and everyone in it," Theia warns, but I don't give a fuck right now.

My drunken state has fully returned, and I'm not me anymore.

I feel the surging power consuming me with all of its divine vengeance seeking to be released.  Everyone can die for hiding like cowards while my mother died in front of their eyes.  They're too scared to see the truth and too pathetic to stand up for someone in need.

Too many.  Too many daughters have died while others did nothing to stop it.  Too, too many,

My eyes glow green as I stand to my feet, completely possessed with Aphrodite's wrath burning through me.

I hold out my hands and the car in the driveway beside us slams through the house across the street.  People begin screaming and running in panic as I lose all control.

"Stop.  Adisia, you have to control it.  You'll kill them," Devin pleads.

"They deserve to die.  They just stood there and watched my daughter die," my voice echoes, but it's not me talking anymore.

"Holy fucking shit!  Aphrodite is completely controlling her.  What the fuck?" Kry panics.

I'm riding in the backseat of my own body as the swirling winds erupt across the flat land behind the subdivision.

The trees rip free from their roots and shoot across the land like missiles.  The glowing green is stronger than my blue, and I can't climb back in.