Seduction (Curse of the Gods #3)

There was a pale face staring back at me, eyes closed, a small trickle of blood leaking from a gash in his forehead. A bloodied object had been stuffed into the cupboard with him—it looked like a small, stone bowl, and the unconscious guardian had been made to look as though he was cuddling it to sleep, like a stuffed toy. I didn’t even pause to think about the fact that evil Willa had gone ahead and stuffed another body into another tiny storage space, as though taking cues from me. The good Willa. I simply reached in and wrangled the hooded cloak right off his back, standing and pulling it around my shoulders before re-arranging him and closing the cupboard door.

I’d feel bad about that later, but for now, I had to sneak into the land of the gods. Again.

I had taken two steps away from the cupboard when those voices floated in through the sheeted door again. “The guardian must have fled. We have no time to hunt him down now, we need to catch the next transport to Topia. But he will be disposed of as soon as we find him.”

Disposed of? They were definitely taking their employment termination advice from Staviti. Speaking of … I needed to be on that transport. I had to get to Topia. Who knew what would be left of Minatsol if my Chaos was left to its own devices for much longer. That was the real reason I was in such a panicked rush: I was worried about the good of the worlds. Yeah, that’s right. I wasn’t needy and pathetic and missing my Abcurses.

I was a heroine.

I needed to save the worlds.

Both of them.

Sneaking to the door with as much stealth as I could muster, I managed to not make a single noise. To be fair, it wasn’t hard to avoid the single, steel-topped table that I’d been lying on after somehow beating my guardian senseless. Maybe this Chaos thing wasn’t so bad; it had already kept me from one of those skin suits, and I still had my hair.

Making it unscathed to the curtain, I quickly peered around one of the edges to find at least a dozen cloaked individuals. They were busy carting the dead out of a large doorway. Red dirt was visible in the distance. No one noticed me, and since most of them kept their cloaks right up over their heads, I hopefully wouldn’t stand out.

With a deep, fortifying breath, I slipped out from the curtain and hunched myself over as I walked purposefully to the door.

I noticed a body stretched out across a slab of timber as I passed. It was a female: she was dressed in a skin suit, her head shaved, her eyes wide open and glassy. I tried to breathe through my mouth as I hauled her into my arms, since the scent of some sort of embalming fluid was strongly emanating from her. I grunted as the solid weight fell against me. Of course I would pick the dweller who lifted weights and broke in wild bullsen with pure muscle and strength of will. Her will was so strong it was almost sinking us both into the ground.

Staggering slightly, I hurried with a few others to the doorway.

“Where is my body?” I heard a low, confused-sounding man ask from somewhere behind me. “Did someone else move her?”

There was no answer and I didn’t bother to look back. Stepping outside, there were still a few rays of sun left in the sky, so I could see everything clearly. I looked around for the cart, because random carts seemed to be the story of my life lately, but there was nothing like that in the area. Instead, the plain housed a dozen pantera, all kicking up the red dirt in a restless, irritated manner. I should have guessed; nothing but the best for Staviti and his creepy little server-creations.

The Jeffrey concept was starting to make me ill. Dwellers were treated like shit in life, and now I find out that in death they got an even worse lot. They were wiped of all free thought, relegated to slaves, and then, when they displeased a god, they were dropped in the banishment cave to waste away as trapped spirits.

Wow. Put so succinctly, it was horrendous. How could Staviti do something like that? I thought he was supposed to be a wonderful, benevolent, creator-type god. Nope. He was an asshole, just like the rest of the gods. He was the king of the assholes, actually. Just a stupid creator asshole who had made some asshole minions to serve him and his asshole imaginary friends in their asshole floating platforms.

A shove from behind cut off my internal ire, and I started shuffling along again. I bumped into more than one guardian, but when they glared at me, I only mustered up a raspy voice and snarled, “Learn how to carry a dead body! What is this, apprentice-sun-cycle?”

I was sure that I was getting a few confused glares beneath those hoods, but they were too busy to stop and question if something was amiss—which was lucky, because I was ready to bring out all my skills. I had clumsy and Chaos on my side. Ten tokens said I could take them all out in one well-timed blackout.

From the few hood-free faces I could see, it didn’t seem as if any of the guardians were nervous as they approached the panteras, despite the truly intimidating aura of the creatures. I remembered the way I’d had to meet and be accepted by Jara before I could ride her, and yet the guardians were almost dismissive of them. It struck me as wrong on so many levels. I focussed on a black and white pantera, about five yards away. I could see that it was yet to have a body placed in the roped harness across its back. It was smaller than the others, which was why I was heading right for it. Smaller seemed safer.

When I was at her side—braced for a kick to the gut, because that’s what I would have done if someone was trying to put a stinky dead body over me—I finally noticed the collar around her neck, standing out starkly against her white. It was a thin piece of wire, silver and slightly barbed, twirling and twisting around. I could see old scars where she had clearly rubbed against it, along with a few fresh marks.

“What the hell?” I murmured under my breath. The pantera turned and faced me, intelligent eyes locking onto me.

I waited for a voice in my head, but none came.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, leaning forward and draping the heavy weight across her. She was still staring at me with eyes far too wise. “Why are you helping these guardians?” I murmured, as I adjusted the ropes. I had to take a few sneaky peeks at how the guardians around me were securing their corpses, but I eventually figured out what I was doing.

The pantera started making a low humming sound, from deep in its throat.

“You can’t talk to me with that collar on, can you?” I let my hand brush just over the top of her throat, not quite touching it, as a terrible thought struck me. “You’re a prisoner?”

The Abcurses had spoken with such reverence about the panteras, as though they were old and magical, and should be respected above all others—and yet here they were, collared and stripped of their voices. I was really starting to hate the fucking gods.

As my anger rose up in a blinding force, I felt the dizziness creep across my mind.

No, not now. I don’t have time for you now.

I tried everything I possessed to shut it down, even reaching up and clutching my stone necklace which had not been removed, thankfully. But nothing was stopping Chaos when it was ready, and apparently it had something to say.