Marked (15 page)

Nick rose from the couch and moved toward the door. On the wall he pushed some kind of button connected to a wire that disappeared into the rock. “You don’t have to think about it yet. I want you to get some rest. You don’t look well.”

Acacia’s eyes flipped open just as the door creaked. A female who looked to be no more than twenty-five edged into the room. “Yes, Nick.”

Nick helped Acacia from the couch. “Helene, this is Casey. I want you to get her settled in a room upstairs. She’s had quite a day and needs to rest. Bring her anything she needs.”

Helene smiled at Nick, her dark eyes sparking, and only when she came more fully inside did Theron realize the half-breed female walked with an obvious limp.

“Of course. Hi, Casey. We’re glad to have you with us.”

Acacia glanced from Helene to Nick. “But—”

“It’s okay,” Nick said. “Theron and I have things to discuss, and you need to sleep before you fall over. You’re completely safe here. Rest, and when you wake, I’ll answer your questions.”

Acacia glanced around the room again in indecision, then finally turned her attention to the dark-haired woman. “I guess I am a little tired.”

Helene’s grin widened. “Come on then. I know just which room to give you.”

Theron watched the two women exit the office, consumed by a dark desire to follow Acacia out and up those grand stairs—which was suddenly starting to make a sickening sort of sense.

No, no, no. He had to be wrong.

“Enough with the crap, hero.”

Slowly, Theron pulled his gaze from the closed door to look toward the suddenly aggressive half-breed in his presence, ready to do battle to the bitter end. Whatever questions he had about Acacia would have to wait.

Nick’s scarred face twisted into a scowl. “I’m done
playing games. It’s time you tell me just what you’re doing here and what the hell you really want with Casey.”

Casey couldn’t remember ever being so tired. She was sore from the attack in her bookstore, emotionally spent and mentally whacked out. As she followed Helene up the wide staircase, she tried not to think about everything Nick and Theron had just told her. It was ludicrous, wasn’t it? Other races didn’t exist. And mythological heroes were just that…
mythological
, for crap’s sake.

But even as she fought what they’d told her, she had the strangest sense she was wrong. It explained so much about who she was and where she’d come from and why she’d never connected with anyone in this world.

And holy cow, she needed a lobotomy if she was so easily buying into all this.

They reached the top of the staircase, and Helene gestured down a long hallway lined with closed doors and lit with candles every ten feet. “I think you’ll like the blue room. It’s very peaceful.”

For the first time, Casey noticed the girl’s limp and wondered if she’d recently been hurt, possibly by those beasts they’d encountered earlier. “Are you all right?”

Helene smiled. “I’m fine.”

“But your leg—”

Helene stopped and lifted one pant leg. A metal bar was anchored in a Nike running shoe. “Titanium. It’s new and I’m still getting used to it. My last prosthesis bugged me to no end. This one’s lighter.”

Casey tried not to stare as the girl dropped her pant leg and kept moving down the long hallway. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I—”

“It’s okay,” Helene said. “I’ve been without my leg for a hundred years.”

Casey’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “You’re a hundred years old?”

“One hundred and thirty-six, to be exact.”

The hallway spun. Casey reached a hand out to steady herself. “How is that possible?”

Helene’s arms were suddenly around her, supporting her, as she helped Casey inside the room. “Whoa there. I take it Nick hasn’t explained that part to you yet.” She eased Casey into a chair Casey vaguely registered as being white and incredibly soft. “Our life spans are relatively long. Not as long as an Argolean’s, of course, but it’s one of the reasons we live here in the colony and not with humans.” A wry smile slid across her pretty face as she crossed the room to an armoire. She opened the double doors, fiddled inside for a few moments and came back with a mug of steaming tea, which she handed to Casey. “A one-hundred-and-thirty-six-year-old woman who looks like she’s thirty? That might garner a little attention in the human world, don’t you think?”

Casey took the tea and brought it to her lips. A familiar scent surrounded her as she took a deep drink. “I smell lavender.”

“Yes,” Helene said. “It’ll help you rest.”

“You use it for healing,” she said, as images of her night with Theron flickered through her mind.

“Among other things.” Helene crossed to a gigantic four-poster bed done all in light blue fabrics and folded back the plump covers. Crisp white sheets beckoned, promising respite. “There’s a small button on the wall next to the door. If you need anything, just push it and someone will come running.”

“So modern?” Casey asked, remembering the candles.

Helene smiled. “Yes. It’s not the Ritz, but we do have electricity and indoor plumbing. A main generator powers the colony, but because we’re not self-sufficient and everything costs money, we try not to overburden it. Candles are cheap and soothing, so we use those quite a bit. Up near the surface we have a lookout station complete with surveillance equipment, satellite phones and everything we need to connect with civilization.

At Casey’s perplexed expression, Helene came around the bed. “I imagine you have a thousand other questions, but for now, try to rest. When you wake, Nick will tell you anything you want to know. Now sleep, Casey. And don’t worry. Tonight nothing will harm you.”

“Thank you, Helene.”

Alone, Casey leaned back in the plush chair and studied the room she’d been given. Pale blue walls on three sides matched the comforter on the bed. Two club chairs separated by a small side table occupied the corner. An enormous stone fireplace, already burning, took up nearly one whole wall. But the far wall held the most interest. It was made entirely of stone, and a small, naturally occurring opening formed a porthole-type window that had somehow been sealed with glass and covered by a variety of branches which, she imagined, camouflaged the opening from the outside. One look out into utter darkness signaled that this part of the cavern must form the edge of some massive cliff.

So strange to be in a room in a cave. Kind of like the Anasazi tribes in the Southwest. Big villages built deep into the rocks for protection.

Tired to her bones, she rose and pulled the small blue drapes to block out the darkness, blew out the candles on the walls, then tumbled into bed, not wanting to think about what had happened to the Anasazi. Or about hiding places or predators. Or kings or countries or gods or heroes. She just wanted to think about…nothing.

But it didn’t work. As soon as she closed her eyes she saw the fight in her grandmother’s store. The fire. And…Theron.

Why had he really come back for her?

Not to finish what they’d started in her house, that was for sure. Not that she even wanted to anymore.

Liar.

Casey rolled to her side and closed her eyes tight. Stupid thoughts. Where Theron the Wonder Hero was concerned,
she needed to watch her back, be on guard, not let him get to her the way he had the first time they met. The way he’d manhandled her on the hike up here was proof of that, wasn’t it? If he was his race’s idea of a hero, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to know more about her lineage.

She let out a long breath as her muscles relaxed one by one and sleep tugged at her. And though she fought it, she pictured Theron’s face. His dark eyes. His lush lips. The perfectly shaped nose and the small scars from battles fought and won. Saw, clearly, the smoldering look across those chiseled features when he’d bent and kissed her with the slightest brush of skin against skin that night at her house. And felt the rush of arousal in response that heated her blood.

Damn, but for all her posturing she was in deep trouble. Even with all that she’d lost today, she had a sinking suspicion events hadn’t turned her world upside down.
He
had. And that feeling had nothing to do with daemons and heroes and kings and half-breeds. It had to do with one man who, somehow, had wormed his way into her soul from the very moment she’d laid eyes on him.

Dana was in a foul mood and it was getting fouler by the minute. As she drove back into Silver Hills—a town she
thought
she’d left behind nearly an hour ago—turned onto Old Cornell Road and passed XScream, she flipped the building the bird just for the heck of it.

She hadn’t bothered to tell Karl she wasn’t coming back—
ever
—and she didn’t feel an ounce of guilt over that decision. As far as she was concerned, he could go in the back room and fuck himself for all the nasty things he’d said and tried to do to her.

And who the hell was Nick to
order
her to go to the colony anyway? He might be a good lay now and then, but that didn’t give him the right to tell her what to do.

Her blood pressure shot up a level as she neared the lake and thought about the stupid-ass men in her life. Had she seriously thought Nick was forever material? Man, she really was delusional. She needed to get out of this town and away from the Misos before she did something stupid, like murdered Karl, and outed the colony to the humans once and for all.

As if
that
would improve things for her.

Dana blew her bangs out of her eyes as she pulled into Casey’s driveway. She knew Casey wouldn’t be home yet from the store and figured that was a good thing. She wasn’t in the mood to chat, and she hated drawn-out good-byes. The one at the store had been bad enough. She’d only come back here because she realized too late that she’d left her cell phone at Casey’s house the other night, and she needed it back if she was going to keep
tabs on the colony. Even
she
wasn’t stupid enough to cut all ties. The GPS Nick had put inside everyone’s phones was her one link back if things got hot for her out in the
real
world.

As she killed the engine and stared at the front of Casey’s cute one-story, she couldn’t help thinking back to the way Casey had looked today, standing behind the counter in her store, surrounded by all those books.

And she couldn’t help but think of the way she’d smelled either. The scent of death was growing around her. When Dana first picked it up at the club, she’d hoped she was wrong, but every time she’d seen Casey since that night a few weeks ago, that wretched scent was getting stronger.

A wave of despair washed over her, and for once she wished she was full Argolean and not prone to stupid human emotions. Misos were supposed to be stronger than the average human, but in Casey’s case, that wasn’t true. And dammit, it wasn’t fair. Especially because Casey was one of the sweetest people—Misos or human—Dana had ever met. The only bright spot was that Casey didn’t know what she really was.

Man, Dana, your powers truly suck
. Of all the gifts a Misos could have, she’d been saddled with the worst one of all. She could sense disease, but she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. She wasn’t a healer. She wasn’t anything important. She was simply…a sensor. The prelude to the Grim fucking Reaper.

With a scowl, she pushed the useless thought out of her head as she popped the door and eased out of her red Saturn. She was ninety-eight years old and she had a couple hundred years to go before she made it to the Isles of the Blessed.
If
she made it to that elusive plane where the favored heroes dwelt. Knowing her dumbass luck, she’d wind up stuck in Tartarus for all the bad shit she’d done in this world.

And since that was just the king of all depressing thoughts, she wasn’t going
there
either.

She trudged up the three porch steps and dug around in the potted yellow chrysanthemums Casey’d planted until she found the hide-a-key. Shaking her head, she told herself to convince Casey to find a better hiding spot. Any two-bit thug would find this in a heartbeat. That despair came back full force when she realized neither of them would be around for that conversation.

Don’t dwell on it. Not your problem anymore anyway.

The house was cold and empty when she stepped inside. She flipped on a light in the living room and glanced at the coffee table where she was pretty sure she’d set her phone the night she and Casey had watched
National Treasure
and polished off a bottle of wine.

No phone.

Deciding that maybe Casey had moved it to the kitchen, she headed for the back of the house, twirling her key ring around her fingers as she moved while humming a few bars from Linkin Park’s “In the End.”

She was so preoccupied, she didn’t notice the change in temperature until it was too late. Until she was already stepping into the room and her breath was curling in wisps of white around her in the suddenly frigid air.

The first daemon stepped out of the laundry room, green eyes glowing, and studied her from head to toe. “You are not the One,” he growled.

Oh, shit.

Panic clawed up Dana’s throat. She didn’t think, just let instinct rule as she turned to run. And made it as far as the couch in the living room before the second daemon emerged from Casey’s bedroom, blocking her path to the front door. This one drew in a long whiff and uttered only one word.

“Misos.”

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

Dana’s adrenaline spiked. The daemon from the kitchen had followed her and effectively cut off her only other means of escape.

“Where is the One?” the second growled.

Dana backed up against the TV cabinet. She opened her mouth, but fear rendered her speechless. She started to shake.

“She doesn’t know,” the first said.

“She knows,” the second growled, moving closer. “Where would she go?”

Dana’s trembling intensified.

“To the colony,” the first said, easing forward. “If you want to live, tell us how to find her.”

“I—” Dana choked back a sob. “Please,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

A look passed between the two just before they lunged.

Dana never had the chance to scream.

Theron was not in a mood to go a round with this half-breed. He suddenly wanted answers that had nothing to do with Nick or the colony.

“I asked you a question, hero,” Nick snapped. “Of what interest is Casey to you?”

Theron’s jaw clenched, and impatience bubbled through him. He needed to find Acacia and figure out what in Hades she was up to, but the aggression flashing across Nick’s face held him up. The half-breed was itching for a fight, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t about to let Theron out of his sight until he got his answers.

Theron decided that being honest—to a point—was the best way to handle Nick so he could get the hell out of here and go find Acacia. “The king’s health is failing. He wants to meet his daughter before his time is up. I’m to take her to Argolea unharmed.”

Nick’s amber eyes grew wary. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Bullshit.” Those amber eyes flashed. “Either tell me the truth or I’ll have my soldiers throw you out by the scruff of the neck and beat you to a pulp in the process.”

Theron’s muscles flexed. “Try it.”

Nick’s upper lip peeled off his teeth. “Argonaut or not, you don’t scare me. We’ve existed for hundreds of years without your help. I doubt there’s anything good ol’ King Leonidas wants that Casey could provide. And I don’t for a second buy your load of bull.”

Theron didn’t answer.

Nick crossed the room in two long strides and got right up in Theron’s face. They were roughly the same height, close to the same size, and as the man got close, once again Theron had that strange recognition he’d had back in Acacia’s store.

“You’re dangerously close to death, half-breed,” Theron warned in a low voice. “I’d rethink what you’re about to do.”

“I don’t know what the hell is going on here or what you really want with Casey,” Nick said, his face inches from Theron’s, “but I intend to find out. And that means she’s not leaving here with you or anyone else until I’m satisfied with the answer.”

“Nick!” The door to the study burst open and two women spilled into the room, saving Nick from dismemberment.

The first Theron recognized from earlier—Helene, the one who’d taken Acacia to her room. The other was of average height but thick around the middle, with dark hair pulled into a braid at the back of her head. Both looked upset, but the dark-haired one was frantic.

Nick’s gazed snapped to them. “What’s happened?”

“It’s Dana,” Helene said. “No one’s heard from her or seen her since yesterday.”

Nick’s focus shifted to the dark-haired woman. “Leila, when did you talk to your sister last?”

“Yesterday morning.” She ran a nervous hand over her hair, unknowingly pulling strands from her braid. “She called from town. I thought she’d stayed over at her blasted apartment, but now I’m not so sure. Something was wrong. She didn’t sound like herself, was talking about
new starts and making changes. She said to call her on her cell if I need her. I’ve been trying all afternoon and can’t get through to her. Nick, something’s happened to her. I feel it.”

Nick moved behind his desk and flipped open a laptop Theron hadn’t noticed earlier. Beneath all this rock, it had to be wired to a satellite somewhere on the surface. Nick’s fingers ran over keys and his eyes scanned the screen as he searched. His brow lowered. “Her phone’s at Casey’s house.”

“Whose house?” Leila asked.

“The woman who came in with Nick today,” Helene volunteered.

Leila’s frantic eyes flicked between Nick and Theron, as if she’d just realized Theron was there. “What is Dana doing there? She knows she has to check in.”

Nick closed the laptop with a snap and jerked his jacket from the desk chair. “I didn’t say she was there. I said her phone was there. I’m heading over to take a look.”

For the first time, Theron noticed the dread darkening Nick’s features. Whoever this Dana woman was, she was out there alone, and if she’d gone to Acacia’s house, odds were good she could have run into daemons.

He grasped Nick’s arm as the half-breed brushed by. “I’ll go with you.”

“I don’t think so.”

His grip tightened. “Don’t be an idiot. You’ll need my help.”

“I fucking doubt it.”

When Theron’s grip didn’t lessen, Nick turned his fiery eyes Theron’s way, and in them Theron saw disgust and a hatred bred for hundreds of years. “I know your kind, Argonaut. And I’ve seen your help.” He pointed toward the door. “Every Misos in this colony has seen the way your kin
helped
us. They have the scars to prove it.”

The mutilated faces Theron had seen in the colony outside flashed in his mind. Followed by the king’s admission
that the half-breeds’ existence had been kept secret because there weren’t enough of them to make a difference.

He looked deep into Nick’s eyes. “I knew nothing of this colony or ones like it until I came here to find Acacia. When I return to Argolea, the Argonauts will look into this matter fully.”

“How do I know you won’t send your kin to kill us all?”

It occurred to Theron then that Nick’s hatred for the Argonauts and Argolea as a whole ran much deeper than what was evident on the surface. Somehow, this Misos was connected to Theron’s world in ways no one in this colony could begin to understand. And Theron intended to find out what that connection was.

But not now.

“You have my word as leader of the Argonauts. No harm will come to you and your people by our hands.”

Nick searched Theron’s face for some sign he was lying. Both women in the room were silent as the seconds ticked by on a clock somewhere on the wall. Theron released Nick’s arm, but he didn’t avert his eyes. And neither did Nick.

“You’ll stay here, hero,” Nick finally said. “But only because I don’t want to have to watch my back with you around.” He pulled on his jacket. “Casey has to willingly go across the portal, and considering everything that happened to her earlier today because of you, I think it’s safe to say she’s not going anywhere with you right now. You sit tight until I get back.” His eyes flared again as he stepped around the women. “And you better fucking believe we’re going to finish this then.”

He glanced toward Leila. “I’ll call when I find her.”

When he was gone, the woman called Leila finally turned her attention Theron’s way. “Are you really…?” Her gaze swept to Helene. “Is he really…an Argonaut?”

Helene nodded slowly. “It looks that way, doesn’t it?”

Leila seemed stunned stupid. Both continued to stare at him as if he had a third eyeball stuck smack in the
middle of his forehead. Neither appeared to know what to say.

And then Leila stepped toward him, spat in his face and rushed from the room.

Theron wiped a hand slowly down his cheek and looked toward the one woman who had the stupid sense to remain in the room with him. “Where is Acacia?” he asked as calmly as he could.

Helene regarded him with flat eyes. And he saw then it wasn’t stupidity but strength born of circumstance. “Upstairs. Sleeping.”

He headed for the door and paused only when he realized she wasn’t about to stop him. “Why are you not afraid of me?”

“I’ve seen too much to be afraid of someone like you.”

“I sense your hatred for me and my kind. You could have kept me from her.”

“Could anything keep you from her?”

She knows.
He turned and stared at her. Then slowly shook his head.

“Then my helping you is irrelevant,” Helene said. “But you’d be wise to remember one thing, Argonaut. Even the original heroes were part human like us. Misos from the very beginning. She’s not all that different from you. And neither are we.”

The woman brushed past, leaving him standing alone in the doorway to contemplate her words, a strange sense of unease and foreboding mixing in his veins.

Half human. Like me.

He glanced toward the stairs. His human side had been repressed for over two hundred years. Could that be what he was tapping into? And if he was, did that mean Acacia was the cause?

As he climbed the stairs two by two, he rubbed the heel of his hand against his sternum. And felt that pinch all over again.

After mere minutes of searching, Theron found Acacia
in a room near the end of the hall. Helene had been right. He’d have found her without the woman’s help. He could have located her simply by breathing deep and focusing.