Omega (25 page)

“
It’s in my nature.
Predators sometimes toy with others.”

“
I think I want my own
cell,” I complained. My body was starting to cool down and stiffen.
“Can you read my mind?”

“
No.”

“
Would you tell me if you
could?”

“
No.”

I glared at him.

“
It’s a matter of
self-preservation,” he said. “Don’t sit down. You need to learn to
handle a sword.”

I was almost looking forward to it, to
compare the training methods of the Chief of SISA and Herakles, and
to get out of the awkward discussions I had with him.

“
Basic drills
…”

For the next hour or so, Adonis showed me a
few basic moves that would’ve been useful in the arena. He was
surprisingly patient, more so than Herakles. When the basics were
done, we spared lightly in the confines of the room for another
fifteen minutes before he called it quits.

He ate like the beast I knew him to be, and
I watched, amused that someone who came across as polished held the
very definition of a feral side. “You ever hear of a fork?”

“
Ever kissed a
boy?”

I gasped. “That is not cool!” I flung my
roll at him.

He caught it and bit into
it without responding verbally, but my appetite was mostly gone.
I
hated
to be
embarrassed, to know he was probably judging me like the nymphs and
priests and everyone else did.

He lifted his head and tilted it. His gaze
went to the door a full twenty seconds before I heard a key in the
lock. A man armed to the teeth and flanked by four more guards
entered. His guards stayed outside, but he didn’t close the
door.

“
Niko,” I
growled.

“
Hey, kid. You put on
quite a show.” He gave a sly smile. “Welcome to the underworld.
This is a good place to supplement your income, assuming you
survive or know how to gamble.”

“
Ever the mercenary. Can
you get us out?” I demanded and set the tray aside,
standing.

“
I don’t plan on it.” His
gaze went to Adonis. “You in trouble, Adonis?” His smile was wide,
his expression almost gleeful. “What’s it like to view the world
when you can’t look down on it anymore?” He stepped
forward.

A surge of protectiveness, or maybe
possessiveness, shot through me. I recalled too clearly seeing
Adonis hurt twelve years ago and moved to block Niko’s progress
into our cell.

“
What do you want?” I
demanded, glaring up at him. “Like you haven’t already messed up my
life enough!”

“
Shut up, kid. You’re
damned lucky I came along when I did, or you’d be sitting on that
stump afraid to leave your forest.”

I flushed.

“
Someone like you need a
guard dog?” Niko directed this to Adonis.

If I had any idea how to twist or tug the
ribbons over him to turn him into some sort of animal, I would
have.

“
You came to gloat.”
Adonis stood at my back, close enough for me to feel his heat once
more.

“
Damn right I did,” Niko
said. “The Supreme Priest told my boss what happened with the
trial. No way even he would forgive something like this. I might
apply for your position at SISA.”

“
They don’t take your
kind.”

“
No matter.” Niko’s jaw
ticked, but he forced a smile. “Hey, kid. Your new friend tell you
about his prisons and the heretics he collects? People like the
priests you knew get thrown into melting chambers where they’re
dissolved alive. The worst end up at the House. I can’t even
imagine what kind of torture Adonis commits there.”

I didn’t back down, though I had to admit, I
was wondering about the extent of Adonis’ actions, whether the fear
of the priests and others was justified. To know he was connected
to me, that I had brought him to life, and he massacred people
…

“
Leave us alone,” I said
quietly. “Watch from the stands like everyone else.”

“
Trust me, kid, I’ll be
there next time you fight. No love lost between Adonis and me,
though I don’t wish you a slow death like I do him.”

“
I can feel the love,” I
said sarcastically. “Dosy know you’re here? Probably why she won’t
let you see your son.”

Niko reached out to grab me. Adonis snatched
his wrist with his lightning speed. I blinked but didn’t otherwise
move.

“
Watch it, kid. The
Supreme Magistrate still wants you. When Adonis is gone, I’ll be
there to pick you up, the only thing standing between you and your
fate.” Niko growled. He wrenched free, turned and left.

The door slammed behind him.

“
What possesses you to
challenge men who can beat you?” Adonis asked.

I shifted away from him and went back to my
cot to sit. “I’m not afraid of men. Monsters, yeah.”

“
You should feel the
opposite.”

“
How so?”

“
Men can think. They can
act maliciously. Monsters are instinctual by nature. Some are more
aggressive than others and some trained to fight but they’re not
malicious.”

“
You’re both?”

“
The worst of all. An
intelligent predator.”

“
Are you upset the Supreme
Priest might let you die here?” I asked.

“
I’m not the regretting
type.” He set his empty tray of food on the ground. The question
was on the tip of my tongue, the need to know what kind of horrific
acts he’d committed sending guilt through me. Herakles had killed
my parents, but what had Adonis done? How many people had died
because I let something like him loose into the world?

“
The muscles between your
shoulder blades. They get tense when you’re upset,” he
said.

“
Stop!” He was right. Not
that I’d ever noticed that, either. My wound was painful and
blazing despite the medicine he smeared on it. “How do you know how
to use a sword anyway? Are you from the same place as
Niko?”

“
The Gladiator Guild? No.”
Adonis sat on his cot. “I’m not sure. It’s from the life before I
was a grotesque. It has something to do with my mark.” He traced
his thumb over an omega shaped birthmark on his wrist.

“
I’ve got one, too.” I
pulled up my sleeve to display the double omega.

He studied it. “That explains a few
things.”

“
Meaning …”

“
Part of an old legend
that spooks the gods,” he said. “There’s a prophecy about a final
Oracle as strong as the original who opened the gate for them to
come here. The legend foretells that this second Oracle will be
strong enough to cut them off from their power and banish them
permanently from Earth.”

“
I’ve heard that before.
It’s what I’m supposed to do. And bring back the Old
Ways.”

“
Do you know what it would
take for them to return?”

“
Please don’t say
Armageddon.”

“
Then you do
know.”

Such destruction was beyond my ability to
imagine. But I could see Adonis setting fire to the world without a
second chance. “Why … how can you be this way with me and scare
everyone else to the point they’ll commit suicide rather than deal
with you?”

“
You want to know if I’m
as bad as they say.”

My mouth was dry. I nodded.

“
Yeah. I am.” His features
were calm, his gaze steady. “Does that change things for
you?”

I no longer wanted to discuss this with him.
I looked away, seeking yet another subject that wouldn’t end with
my body so tense, I felt ready to pop. “Do you think the same
person wiped both of our memories?”

“
It’s possible. It
happened around the same time, and we knew each other.”

I nibbled on the last of my food then sat
back.

Adonis and I stared at one another. In
addition to his bright eyes, his perfect features were worthy of
visual exploration. Wide shoulders and chest, a lean frame and long
legs with thick thighs completed the man I could not for the life
of me figure out. I wasn’t even certain I wanted to. While I
respected his physical prowess in the arena, I was uncomfortable in
the downtime when his attention was on me. I always had been.
Always wanted to put more space than I had between us. His
admittance to being what he was rumored to be – and having no
regrets – crushed me on a primal level I didn’t yet understand.

My eyes went over his head. He had five
ribbons when normal humans had three and monsters had four. He was
special, something more than a half-beast.

“
You used to be able to
manipulate them,” he stated, ever aware of where my mind and body
were.

“
Yeah.” I had half a mind
to experiment on him but feared hurting him as well. Was it wrong
not to hurt someone who had hurt so many? Did that make me
weak?

I glanced around and stretched for a plastic
cup on top of the jug of water. I set it down on the cot beside me
and focused on the ribbons. First I pulled at the blue one.

The cup collapsed on itself.

“
Hmm.”

I tried to repair it and managed to return
it to its shape, save for a dent. Little-me had brought creatures
to life with green ribbons. I looked over my head but didn’t see
any ribbons at all.

Adonis rose as I played with the cup and
went to the back of the cell.

“
Come to life, you damned
thing.” I leaned back, frustrated, and glanced at the ribbons
flowing off the cot beneath me. “Or you. Someone.”

With my focus on the ribbons, I didn’t pay
him any attention until I heard rustling. I glanced over my
shoulder and back, and my jaw went slack.

“
What’re you doing?” I
squeaked.

He was naked, his backside to me. My eyes
went over his muscular back to the narrow hips and waist and the
ass that looked … amazing. Was an ass supposed to look amazing?
Every part of Adonis was incredibly perfect – except the part of
him that specialized in hurting people.

“
It’s time,” he
answered.

“
For what?”

“
For me to
change.”

“
You couldn’t change
behind the curtain?” And then I understood. He wasn’t changing
clothes. He was turning into a monster. Here in our cell. “Never
mind.” Uncertain whether to be concerned or awed, I stood in mild
alarm to watch.

Adonis took a deep breath and released it,
his shoulders moving up and down with the movement. Wings sprouted
from the blades, growing faster than I could track with my eyes.
His skin flushed grey, and his size increased noticeably but not by
much. His hair disappeared to leave his head bald, and his head
changed shape. A tail sprouted.

The magnificent creature I had seen at the
lake was suddenly before me, as incredible and real as I had
imagined. In my dream, and from a distance, he was intimidating,
but nowhere near as imposing as he was mere meters away. I found
myself retreating towards the door.

He turned to face me, the fantastical beast
that first warned me my world wasn’t what I thought it was. He
tucked his wide wings around him, and his tail tapped the wall.
Teal eyes glowed the same color as my gem. My eyes skimmed down his
body, and I flushed when they fell to his groin.

“
Thank the gods. Monsters
come with …” I motioned to him and silently screamed at myself for
being stupid. “… loin clothes.”

I can remove it if you find
it offensive,
the soft whisper came from
inside my mind.

“
No! Oh, my gods!” I’d
never been more humiliated.

He was amused. His fanged smile was scarier
than Herakles’.

“
Okay,” I said and
swallowed hard. “We survived your first change.” Although I felt
like hyperventilating at the thought he could morph into a
creature. He resembled a gargoyle with his heavy, uneven features
built to scare.

You clench your right fist when you’re
scared.

“
Wait a minute!” I yelled
and shook out the tension of my right arm. “A teddy bear talking in
my head is one thing. You don’t get to do that!”

I cannot communicate with you otherwise.

“
I’m good with not
communicating. Be a good monster and don’t talk to me.”

He tilted his head and pointed behind me. My
eyes stuck to the long talon extending from his grey hand. He had
torn four men limb from limb to protect me. I had the sudden desire
to sleep with a sword this night.

He pointed again.

I turned and leapt back. The cot and cup
were both alive. The cot was bumping silently against the wall. The
cup rolled back and forth, unable to right itself with the handle
in its way.

“
Holy Hades,” I breathed.
“I really did it.”

The cot changed directions and started
towards me. I backpedaled, amazed yet sort of freaked out by the
weird display. I smacked into Adonis, who steadied me. Shoving his
hands away, I tripped over the walking cot and went down with it,
both of us tangled and thrashing. Something ripped, and I shoved
the cot off me and scrambled to my feet.

“
Shit. Okay.” I caught my
breath. The cot had gotten stuck on the other one and torn down the
center. The cup began to roll towards me. “Nope. We’re done with
this.” I plucked the green ribbon from it and the cot and lowered
my hand, not sure what to do with them. Light as air yet mine to
control, I finally patted them against my thigh. They
disappeared.