Daughter Trilogy Bundle (91 page)

I see a smirk spread over my face as I break through the vines they thought to be killing me with poison.

"How the hell?" Herma barks.

"Oops," my alien mouth says.

"The seer.  He never leaves her side.  Where is he?" Safina growls, but we keep our position among the jungle shade.

"You sniveling little bitch.  Who are you?  You're not the Aphrodite or you would be wheezing for air right now," she blares.

Devin squeezes my hand a little tighter as Slash drops the mask that bore my face, and Safina's ashes surge free from her body to charge him for his insolence.

Fuck.  Too soon.

The wind circles Slash and the others as it swirls the ashes around, and then I see their air elemental working against my attack.

"Now," I screech, and Devin responds by pulling the ocean in to grab her and suck her out to the pits of the unforgiving sea.

The ocean swirls violently as the battle begins, but they have their own water wielder this time.  He fights against Devin, but he's not as strong.

"That's new," I strain out as I keep my hold on the ashes.

"He's not from my family," Devin grumbles, and he pushes against the air to force the waves against the whirling wielders stepping up to aide the other guy.

Phillip joins Devin, and together they fight to press down on the suspended water.  Safina's eyes scour the hillside we're perched on, our bodies now barely cloaked by the jungle's cover, and her eyes fall on me and my hooded face.

"There she is.  Stop her now," she screams at Van.

Shit.  Shit.  Shit.

I don't know what to do now.  I was supposed to take Van out while he was distracted.  I'm the only one strong enough to attempt it, and if his eyes find mine, I'm going to be paralyzed.  This was our only shot.

I can hear the others fighting as the battle roars across the island.  Kry's blades are pinging off surfaces, and thuds are erupting all around me as lightning crashes.

Hagar is grounding their conductor in order to free the beautiful bursts of energy exuding from Persia, Jace, and myself.

The rattling thunder begins to fiercely beat the walls of the heavens as I see Van rushing toward me.

"Hold them back," Devin yells.

Everyone launches their deadly spurts at Van and his army, but they just bounce off of their indestructible bodies.

I can feel the tides surging through Devin's body as he grips my waist.  Suddenly he's thrown backwards as Van deflects the ripple I never saw Devin launch, and it strikes only him when it returns.

I close my eyes as Van finally reaches me, desperately trying to avoid the stare I won
’t be able to escape.  I feel the power stirring inside of me, warning me of the dark force about to escape, but I don't even Kaos will be strong enough to save me from this devil awaiting my eyes to open.

"It's time, Izzy," he hisses.

I feel the chills consume me as death warns me of its presence, but when I open my eyes, there's a red glow obstructing the vivid colors that were once there.

I smile as I stare into the black eyes glaring at me and forcing his strongest offense.  I don't feel the fear I'm supposed to though; I feel control, power, and the wrath of one really pissed off titan.

"You're right," my echoed voice chimes.  "It is time."

The fear meant for me now freezes him to a standstill.  His face distorts as my fearless gaze shuns his attempt to control me.  He trembles as his lips quiver under the gaze my foreign eyes are producing, and the fury of hell opens up to bring him home.

"No.  She can't…" Herma gasps.

"Adisia!  Don't let Kaos take control," Devin pleads as he struggles to fight against the swarms of the dead restraining him, hurting him.

"Too late," my hollow voice responds.

Then I feel the new surge of power breaching the gates as the green mixes with the red.

"Time to go home," my ominous double-chimed tone releases.

Van screams loudly as he crumbles to the ground in pain.  He reaches for his throat as if he's gasping for air, and I hear the others from his army screaming in agony as he falters more.

He holds one hand up to beg, but Kaos shows no mercy the way my weaker self would.  The unrelenting titan isn't wavering or forgiving.

The man standing before me shows his true self as he slowly fades into the corpse he was meant to be.

Screams erupt as the deterioration quickens.  His hand reaches out hopefully one last time to plead for the mercy that still remains absent, and he bursts into the silent flakes that once buzzed with intimidation.

The rest of the army splashes into the same unthreatening flakes, and they gradually begin floating to the ground with no chance of regeneration.

I slowly strut through the littering flakes, and all the sounds around me fade as I stalk toward the snarling Safina.  My tunnel vision for her pulses as the red darkens my view.  No other color exists, and I only feel stronger by the second.

Herma steps up, but with a wave of my hand she's thrown from the land and into the deadly clutches of Devin's sea.  I feel a small stinging sensation in my hand, but it's not even enough of a hindrance to inspect.

My attention has to stay on Safina.  Her ashes took the lives of our people in reality and in my horrid vision.  Her power is the greatest, and her death is the most necessary.

The wind swirls around her, and she screams as it lifts her into the air.  It grabs me and pulls me with it, and we spiral through the air opposite each other as the raging cyclone carries us away from the others.

I drop her to the other side of the island once we're clear from my immortal loved ones.  She
thuds
in a clumsy roll while I drop to my feet with the intimidating badass entrance I fully intended to make.

"You bitch!  You think you can kill me without killing everyone else?" she scoffs too cockily, and then she wipes her bloody mouth with her sleeve.

Her orange and black eyes swirl while her streaked hair rolls through the vicious winds.  She shrugs off her jacket, and I tilt my head to the side as the green rejoins the red.

"That's the plan," I menace.

"I'm not a man, so your green doesn't scare me.  Your red offers me little pause, for ashes can't be burned.  You can't handle all three at once," she laughs.

I smirk as I feel her taunting remark pissing off the prideful entities inside.  The white surges to the surface, and I feel the burning in my hands as the fire forms around them.

"Can't I?" My voice echoes with several tones at once.

Her smug smirk fades instantly as all three reveal themselves in unison.  I feel the power rushing through me with more glorious power than I ever thought possible, and I know she's mine now.

"No… You can't… No…" she stutters while stumbling backwards.

A new sensation floods me, and the fire shoots free.  The white burn of Asteria's cosmos mingles with the flames of Kaos's fire, and Aphrodite's passion intensifies the white blaze that much more as it begins swirling in a ferocious ring around Safina.

"I've learned a thing or two since our last encounter," I taunt.

The sight of the delicious fear staining her eyes empowers me that much more as the white flames begin closing in around her, confining her to the small space like a fiery cell,

She starts to scream, but she's silenced as the white flames rush into her gaping mouth.  She chokes on the fire she ridiculed with underestimation, and she suffocates on the power she never thought could exist.

The orange and black swirls in her eyes begin to slow as the fire lifts her from the ground to burn her from the inside out.  She gags as the power floods through her more viciously, and I see the cold taking her to the grave as her body wilts under the scorching heat.

My fire
can
burn ashes, but she realizes it too late when her body suddenly bursts into the ashes she once controlled.

I smile at the intoxicating win, and I'm no longer afraid of anything this world can offer.  This war is now ours without pause.

The winds swirl around me again to lift me, and they drop me into the center of the chaotic fight that should already be over.

Herma is striking at Persia who is dodging the deadly vines, and the waterlords are doing their best to strike down my man as the sand wielders pull Devin downward.

I smirk as I flick my wrist, and the white blaze shoots free to bring Herma to a crumbling pile much quicker than the resistant Safina.

Eyes flash toward me, and fear erupts as everyone sees the three entities existing in one body.

I smile bigger as the ones attacking Devin begin to retreat, but there won't be any survivors today.  I pull them back with the restraining arms of the wind, and they scream as the fire takes them to the pits of the underworld to join their fallen.

Devin's eyes widen in disbelief as he frees himself from the sand trap.  The dead outnumber the living, but this time it's not our body count littering the ground
… it's their's.

"Devin, you have to bring her back.  Don't let them live too long inside her, or she'll die," Kahl pleads.

Devin flashes to me, but so many still stand in his way.  The earth scorches beneath my fiery feet as I slowly stride toward his gravitational pull.

He struggles to free himself while fighting through the thick of the war.  I'm too strong for them to touch me, and I'm too hot - literally, too hot - for them to stand too close.

The herds part involuntarily as my radiating heat pushes them back, and Devin finally reaches me just as more power erupts from me and explodes around him to bring down so many of the remaining masses.

"Fuck, stop her before she goes nuclear and kills us all," Kry yelps.

Devin's arms touch the body no one else can at this temperature, and his lips consume my sizzling ones as my clothes finally singe free.

His hands grip me, and his body pulls mine to him to force his kiss to fully push me back into control.

I collapse in his arms, and I look around to see the fallen flock I've almost single-handedly obliterated.  The sound of jaws unhinging rattle the air, and I sigh in relief when I see I've managed to fully miss our people during my little tantrum.

The weakness hits me, but it's not what scares me.  I feel the burn
… the poison… Athena's poison.

I open the hand I had felt the sting in earlier, and I see the small thorn that has just brought my eternity to an end for the second time.

Devin screams out as he stares at my fading blue eyes, and he grips me to his chest as he begins flashing through the silenced crowd.

Muffled echoes of his voice barely find a coherent flow as the jostling rush pulses the throbbing sounds of death through my ears.

"Do something," he begs.

"I can't," Persia sobs.  "There's nothing to do."

"Please, do something," he begs as he spins around to face all the helpless eyes staring back at him.

"Devin," I murmur softly, my bare body shivering as death invades.

"No," he scolds.  "You're not dying.  We just won.  You can't die, not now.  This wasn't part of the plan," he cries.

I tighten my lips, and he shakes his head in disbelief.

"You never planned on surviving, did you?" he barks as the pain floods through him.

"I didn't plan on dying," I cough out.  "I only wanted to keep everyone else safe.  You're alive.  That's all my plan needed to be considered successful."

My breaths become more labored as I wheeze for each one.  The poison flows through my veins, burning me with an unwelcome sting, and the seconds begin counting down.

"Kry, give me your blades," Devin screams.  "Jace, keep her heart beating.  Zap it as many times as you have to," he orders.

"I love you," I murmur in goodbye.

"No.  You're not dying, Adisia," he demands, but the light fades from my eyes as soon as I feel the small slice of a blade against my hand.

I feel the bursts of energy uselessly striking my heart.  It won't be enough though.  I never thought of living through this, I only ever wanted him to keep breathing.  I won.  He's alive, and I'll die happily just knowing that.

Devin's screams fade into a faint, distant echo before nothing at all.  The last sensation that finds me is his tears falling to my numbing skin.

Chapter 16

Against all odds

The lights burn against my closed eyelids, forcing its orangey-red glow through the thin barrier, and I slowly peel them open from their glued shut state.

I see the open window and feel the warmth of the sun shining through it.  An arm rests across my body, and an embrace is holding me so incredibly close.

I'm too weak to move right away, but then my mind starts searching for answers.

Why?  How?  Where?

I feel the soft sheets beneath me offering a slick enough surface to help me slide around to face the sleeping man draped around me.

"Devin," I scratch out, and I realize my throat is beyond parched.

He stirs lightly, and his eyes lazily lift until they meet mine.  They widen in relieved disbelief, and he jerks me to his body as tears stream mercilessly down his cheeks.

"Oh, baby.  You're awake," he rejoices.  "You're really awake."

"How?" I croak out again, and this time I'm forced to grab my throat as the pain strikes from my strained attempt to speak.

"You're probably dying for a drink," he mutters in excited panic.

He scoops me up from the bed, and flashes me down a winding staircase.  He screams to the rest of the house.

"She's awake.  Get up.  She's awake," he announces with such sad but jubilant enthusiasm.

"How long have I been out?" I ask curiously, instantly regretting trying to speak once again.

"Adisia!" Persia squeals and she rushes over to hug me as Devin places me on a plush, orange couch.

"Oh, thank heavens.  She's really alive," Kahl sobs.

His tear-soaked face nestles mine as he pulls me into a fatherly embrace.  I feel awkward hugging him so affectionately, considering he's still more of an estranged father figure.

I've actually come to see Persia as a second mother, but I still need time to adjust to Kahl.

Kry flashes in and scoops me up to pull me into his lap.  He hugs me to his chest, and I hear his heart pounding against my ear.

"You have no idea how worried we've been for the past two weeks," he breathes out in a shaky tone.

"Two weeks?" my raspy voice repeats.

Deacon rips me from Kry's arms and swirls me around in the air before I get a reply.

"Our little powerhouse is finally awake," he squeals, and I see a tear slide free.

I'm jerked away from him as Hale takes his turn swirling me around as he lifts me under my arms and raises me to be over his head.

"You did it.  You turned Safina to ashes, and you did it without breaking the world in half," he gloats.

Ther scoops me up to kiss me on top of the head before relinquishing me to Phillip for a brief moment.

Again I'm pulled into a new embrace and Jace smiles as he lowers me to allow my feet to touch the ground for the first time.  I wobble slightly, but his strong arms are holding me tightly to his body.

"You really lived," he chokes out.

Devin returns, and he doesn't hesitate to pull me from the clutches of Jace as he hands me a bottle of water.  He scoops me up and carries me bridal style to the couch before sitting down with me firmly attached to him.

His lap is warm, and I curl into his chest as I almost inhale the bottle of water.  He strokes my cheek affectionately, and his lips continue to press against me as if he's making sure I'm real.

"How am I still alive?" I ask with a less scratchy resistance.

Devin tightens his lips as if he's fighting off a wave of tears, and Jace lowers his somber eyes as he dwells on the memory of my near death encounter.

"Devin took my blade and cut a place open on your hand," Kry starts, and then he pauses as he shivers slightly.

Theia pats his shoulder and very strongly takes over the explanation.

"Jace kept your heart beating by pulsing the electricity from his hands to your chest.  Devin used the healing powers of the ocean to enter your body and extract the poison.  It's never been done before.  No Aphrodite has ever survived Athena's poison without a rewind."

I tilt my head up to meet the eyes that have been calloused with worry.  I feel a tear sliding down my cheek as my hand touches the side of his face.

"You saved me," I breathe.  Then I turn to Jace.  "You too," I murmur appreciatively.

Jace gives me his proud, though slightly haunted smile.  I turn back to Devin, but his lips find mine before the words I've already forgotten escape.

His hands grip against me as he pulls me into his body to let me feel the relief exuding from him.

"When's the wedding?" Kry coughs out with a chuckle.

The mood in the air lifts once the heavy conversation leaves the table, and the animated room breaks out into wedding chatter.  Jace remains silent on the matter, and that's better than saying what I know he wants to.

"As soon as possible I hope," Devin finally answers over the roaring laughter and excitement.

"Can we bring everyone home?" I ask curiously.

"Yes, baby.  Everyone can come home now.  In one fatal swoop, we've damn near killed anyone who even thought about coming for us.  Anyone else is too scared to mess with your family.  They should be safe," he soothes.

I smile with a little excitement coming to me.  "Then let's plan the mortal wedding to be three weeks from now.  It'll give everyone time to come home, plan ahead, and we can have the wedding at the inn now.  We can have our immortal bonding as soon as possible," I giggle out.

"Sounds perfect.  Three weeks it is, and I'll call a priestess to see how long it will be to get her to bless our bonding," he says so gently.  "I love you so much."

"I love you too," I utter, and his lips cover mine once more.

He scoops me up to carry me away, and I hear the excited voices behind us planning our second wedding.  I smile as Devin's grin grows, and he lifts me higher to bring his smiling lips to mine.

"It's over, babe.  We're still standing, and now we can just live," he sighs.

I wrap my arms around his neck much tighter, and I smile when I feel the bed beneath me.  He slides up to be beside me, and his finger trails up my stomach.

"So we don't have to worry about anyone at all?" I inquire.

"I'm sure there will still be some ambitious threats, but we'll be ready when the time comes.  For now, though, we're completely safe," he gloats, and his lips cover mine before abruptly pulling away.  "You're probably hungry.  You've been out for two weeks.  I'm so sorry," he rattles off with guilt.

He scoops me up and starts toward the door, but I hold my hand against it when he tries to open it.

"I can wait a while longer to eat," I seduce.

He tilts his head curiously, and a dangerous smirk appears.  Then his eyes flash with concern.

"Are you sure?  You just woke up from the longest two weeks of my life, and I didn't think-"

My hand presses against his mouth to silence his worried rant.  I smile a little as I wriggle free from his hold, and I show no unsteadiness when my feet touch the floor for the second time.

"I just want to be with you right now," I breathe, and he responds with erupting passion.

His hands grip the side of my face, and his lips consume mine with vigorous need. I feel the bed once more, and his ravaging lips work against my neck as if he's been starving for me for years.

My voracious appetite for him overwhelms me as the currents flow over us with seductive intent.  The bed vibrates beneath us as our thunderous passion remains unkempt, and it ignites the long, deserted excitement of true freedom.

Only a twinge of uncertainty plagues me as the thought of it all coming too easily slithers through.  I quickly toss the unbidden thought to the dark corner of my mind to gather cobwebs as I throw myself back into the man I've never wanted more than I do right now.

We can enjoy the windless calm before I start fearing the unknown storms that could be ahead.