Demigod Down (13 page)

Alfie cleared this throat, fingers tightening
on the steering wheel, “You need medical attention.”

“Do not presume to know what I need or do not
need,” I growled lowly.

What I needed was information and a kill.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had to
stitch you up, Olie,” Grams said softly in her large bathroom.

Sitting on her pearl white toilet, I chewed
into my bottom lip with equal measures of pain and frustration.

“I want Franks’ family records,” I demanded
again as Grams tied off the last stitch.

She sighed, pulling off the surgical gloves
and sitting down on her bathroom vanity stool. “Olivia, I need you
to think this through. I know you are upset, and with good reason,
but killing an innocent human family will do nothing good for us as
a whole, only appease your damaged ego.”

I growled, resting my elbows against my
thighs holding my head in my hands. “He needs to pay,” I stated
quietly.

“He will, I have our attorneys filing suit
against them now. We will ruin them,” she stated smugly.

I sighed. “I do not feel that is
sufficient.”

Grams stood up, patting my shoulder gently.
“They fired Mercer, trust me when I say this is personal and they
will beg to have this lawsuit dropped when I am done with
them.”

I didn’t like it, but she was making solid
points. Just because my ego was bruised by the human didn’t grant
me the right to kill his entire family. It didn’t mean I wanted to
any less though. Fucking humans.

“Please tell me you have something for me to
kill.” I groaned.

Grams smiled. “That I do have. Follow
me.”

Hoisting myself off the toilet, I followed
her, testing out the stitches as I rolled my shoulders. In her
office, she pulled out a thick folder.

“There is a talking snake in the sewers of
Oklahoma. The local residents are claiming it is from the garden of
Eve.”

“Who is Eve?” I asked opening the file,
flipping through pictures.

Grams chuckled, “I forget. A human
deity.”

I nodded. “This snake is talking the
religious fanatics to their death, literally.” I flipped though the
pictures. “And leaving no bodies.”

“Snakes eat their meals whole. Only the bones
are expelled.“

“I’m not going to ask how you know that.”
Grams sat down at her desk.

“Tommy and I watched a show about them after
he watched Anaconda and was terrified to go into water.”

“Speaking of Tommy, I was hoping you could
spend some time with him when you get back.” Grams pulled down her
glasses to watch me.

“Sure, what’s going on?” I closed the file
before tucking it under my arm.

“He is having some difficulty in school.”

“Fighting again?”

“No, not this time at least not yet.”

I nodded. “When I get back. I’m no good to
anyone at this point.”

Grams nodded. “I’ll have Grant drive you back
to Blake’s. He could use the distraction.”

I went outside while I waited. While I wasn’t
leaking emotions, but I didn’t want the kids seeing me like this. I
was a bad influence in my current mood and I wanted desperately for
them to be better than I was. I wanted them to grow up safe, where
what I did to keep them that way was not part of their normal
life.

Rubbing my temples, I sighed, feeling my
frustration, anger, and inadequacy beating against my shields. I
was a pathetic guardian for such precious treasures. They deserved
someone better equipped at handling life, not a broken succubus who
was the science project of an insane vampire.

Gravel crunched under the tires as Grant
rolled to a stop on the driveway. Lifting my head, I saw him about
to tap the horn. The look on my face stopped him cold as he
swallowed hard, his hands, gripping the steering wheel with
unnecessarily force.

Pushing off the stairs, I took pleasure in
the pain my back was causing me. I deserved it. Sliding in next to
Grant, I grunted a greeting and he was smart enough not to push it
further. He depressed the gas pedal before I even had my seat belt
on and we were speeding away from the manor.

We rode in silence for a while before I
asked, “Why does Grams think you need a break?”

Grant shifted in the driver’s seat, clearly
uncomfortable. “Ali and I broke up,” he confided finally after a
long pause. “Grams warned us about getting involved, but neither of
us listened.”

“Hostile working environment?” I asked,
quoting nonsense Grams had attempted to instill into me when I had
terrified the cleaning crew.

Grant huffed, “Something like that.” He
paused again before words just spewed out from his mouth, “I can’t
help that I talk to the dead, any more than she can control her
powers. I also can’t help that the dead are more active in the
night and like scaring her. I’ve tried to tell her before none of
them can hurt her, but I don’t think she believes me.” His face
fell, “I really thought she of all people would understand, you
know?”

He blinked, clearly having forgotten who he
was confiding in, before returning to drive silently.

I let his words roll over me, absorbing them
and sat in silence. I finally had an answer as we stopped abruptly
in front of Blake’s elegant home. Turning to Grant, I watched him
turn pale under my gaze. “I understand what it is like to carry a
burden so vast and so wide that no one else could possibly
understand it,” I said and stopped, watching the color return to
his face with a look of shock. “I don’t know what the trick is to a
lasting relationship, but I think a meaningful one is where your
partner doesn’t judge your baggage because he or she has plenty of
their own. That in your preciously short time together, each of you
helps the other unpack it.”

Grant stared at me open-mouthed, even after I
got out of the car and shut the door. Finally annoyed with him and
slightly embarrassed at my heartfelt speech, I waved him off. He
shook himself out of his stupor, rushing away.

My words repeated in my mind as I knocked on
the door to Blake’s house, not having the foresight to get my keys
or phone before storming back to the manor.

Did I believe what I had told Grant? Or was
it a desperate attempt to justify the feelings I was having for
Blake? If I was truly, openly honest with myself, I was scared.
Terrified, that one day Blake would look around at everything I was
and finally realize how pathetic, broken, and beyond repair I
really was. He deserved better than the broken pieces of my
soul.

I loved him and he deserved the world. It was
selfish of me to keep him for myself, but I was going to as long as
he would allow it.

Alfie flung the door open. His words died on
his lips as I looked up at him. He gulped loudly before moving out
of my way. He was not smart enough not to follow me as I stomped up
to Blake’s room.

“What is it Alfie?” I asked, mentally
debating if I should shower before leaving.

He cleared his throat as we made the turn
down the hallway. “What are you going to do?” he asked
worriedly.

I sighed, making the final turn into Blake’s
room. “I am not going to kill Franks and his entire family, yet.” I
threw my duffle bag onto the bed. “Grams talked me out of it.” I
grumbled, “A law suit is being filed.”

Alfie nodded, crossing his lean arms over his
chest as I stuffed clean clothing into my bag. “And the thing that
attacked us?” he asked hesitantly.

I huffed, turning around to sit on the bed as
I undid my shoes, chewing my bottom lip, “Aside from the fact it
was a demigod with the ability to manipulate air, that he had a
buddy who wants me, I don’t know anything else nor do I actually
know where to start.” I finished, standing up tall. “If there
really are others, they will either come after me or smarten up and
walk away.”

“Aren’t you worried about them coming after
you?” Alfie asked, stepping into the room.

“I actually hope they do,” I muttered,
looking away from my quick packing. It was easy since I didn’t have
much. “I’d like to put this mess to bed.” I sighed.

“Alfie, I owe you an apology. Blake asked me
to respect his privacy in his family matter and I pushed you to
tell me. I won’t speak of it again.” I said, meeting his pale blue
eyes.

Alfie cleared his throat and smiled, “I’m
honored to receive an apology from the famed executioner.”

Giving him a half-grin, I warned, “Get out,
I’m changing.”

The door slammed behind him as I chucked my
ruined clothing into the garbage, changing into dark jeans and an
equally dark navy t-shirt before checking my waterproof, shockproof
watch, and donning my boots and leather jacket.

Dressed, packed, and ready to kill a giant
snake, I headed out of Blake’s home, not running into anyone. I had
been putting off checking my phone and after starting the SUV, I
finally did.

Hope - that damn fragile and dangerous
emotion beat against my ribs as I looked for a call or text from
Blake. Nothing. I quickly reminded myself that he didn’t actually
know about the incident so there was no reason for him to be
reaching out to me.

Other than the fact he missed me.

I did however, miss a call from Kass. I
dialed her as I pulled out the driveway and headed towards the
highway.

“Olie, where have you been?” Kass demanded,
clearly annoyed at being ignored.

“Sorry, I ran into some unexpected problems.”
It was my second apology today. Something must have been knocked
loose when I fell into the pool.

“Darren’s parents are heading into town in
three days!” She sounded weary.

“Fun.”

“Oh yes, especially since they are leaving
their beautiful home in the south of France to stay in our humble,
ramshackle, non-designer, home.”

“Who cares, Kass?” I merged my car with
traffic on the highway.

“They are his parents, Hannah’s grandparents
along with our unborn babies, they have to like me.”

“I fail to see how your home would make them
not like you.”

“Because I don’t buy designer clothing, I
don’t have a maid or cook, I don’t have ugly obscene paintings
hanging on the halls. My home does not have a theme, nor is it
color coordinated. I have Hannah’s art work from preschool hanging
up along with family photos snapped with a cell phone, not a
professional camera.”

“Maybe they are more like you and less like
Lorraine.”

Kass laughed and groaned. “I don’t know
Olivia, and honestly I’m not sure how many times I scrub the
baseboards even matter.”

I laughed. “It doesn’t.”

“What are you up to?”

“Heading back to Oklahoma to slay a giant,
talking snake.”

She laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve never heard of a shifter
transforming in a reptile before.”

“True, and even when they do, speech is an
advanced trait for them.”

“Well now, look at you - learning all about
shifters.”

Kass laughed. “It still scares the shit out
of me when Darren comes in as a giant lion instead of a man.”

“I could see that.” I laughed too, feeling
better talking to Kass.

Picking up on my change in mood, she asked,
“Everything okay with Blake?”

I sighed. “I know I said I would leave it
alone, but I did do some digging.” I waited for her scolding.

“And?”

“And one of his human family members got
caught as a pet to a foreign vampire who knows her law
exceptionally well.” I groaned.

“Pet? That sounds unpleasant.”

“It’s an old practice, mostly seen in the
more violent, ruthless clans.”

“Which have all either been eliminated or
modernized.”

“True.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing. He knows I will help him.” I
sighed. “I am trying to respect his decision to keep me out of
it.”

“How is that sitting with you?”

“Badly, but what’s done is done.”

“I suppose.” I could hear Hannah’s excited
cry filter through the speakers.

“I’ll talk to you soon Kass,” ending the
call.

Rubbing my forehead, I flipped open the file
next to me scanning for where exactly in Oklahoma I was headed.
Grove, Ok. It was only a half hour from Vinita, OK and the shifter
hell I had eliminated. I wondered if they were related, but I
couldn’t find a reason a talking over grown snake and the brutal
shifter camp would have anything in common.

I huffed. There was no sense in speculating
until I arrived, which according to my watch, would be in about
five hours. My day had been sucked up in the nonsense of the
demigod asshole followed by the human assholes and twilight quickly
moved into full dark as I was left alone with my thoughts and the
winding highway before me.

I checked into the hotel room well after
midnight. It was a well taken care of, but still a dated
establishment just a few miles from the reported snake sightings. I
wasn’t keen on gallivanting around in search of giant snakes at
night with limited information, so I opted for a late dinner at the
all night truck stop diner.

Grams had recently equipped me with a laptop
and smart phone that Tommy, the resident boy genesis, had helped me
learn. He found it comical, I found it a useful tool but
annoying.

Pulling up the search engine, I searched for
air gods and was overwhelmed at the results. Every culture had gods
of the wind. Some had one for each direction the wind traveled.
Trying to narrow it down was impossible.

Closing the lid of my laptop, I looked around
the deserted restaurant, tapping my fingers restlessly against the
table. Even if I could narrow down the parent of the dead demigod,
it was a long shot that would yield any information on the other
one who might or might not be coming after me.

Pulling out my phone, I toyed with it,
debating if I should call Blake. I had left in such a hurry I
hadn’t told him I was leaving and I was fairly certain that was
poor behavior in a relationship.