“So, no secret weapon or spell or whatever that will save us?”
He chuckled, and a pang zapped through my heart. God, even though I didn’t want to feel anything for him anymore, I couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was, especially when he was smiling.
“Unfortunately, no,” he said, already in a more serious note.
“That’s a shame.”
“I agree.”
Our eyes locked and images of our time together flashed in my mind. It felt like too long ago, almost as if it didn’t happen at all. Like it had been a dream. A vision.
I knew he felt the same. I could see it in his sea-green eyes.
Clearing my throat, I stood. “Well, Keisha likes to start training early. I better go back to sleep.”
I grabbed my plate, but Victor reached across the table and took it from me.
“I’ll wash this,” he said.
“I don’t mind doing it.”
“Me neither,” he said, standing. He held his mug in one hand and my plate in the other.
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
I retreated a step. “All right, then. Thanks.”
“Good night, Nadine.”
“Good night.”
I walked out to the hallway and inhaled deeply, as if the air inside the cafeteria had been too dense to breathe properly.
Walking back to my room, I realized Victor and I might not have been in love as I first thought, but I could never wish anything bad for him, as a god or human. In fact, I wished him the best. I wished he would find his scepter, restore his powers, defeat Imha, and forgive Ceris.
How stupid of me. Wishing Victor would forgive Ceris when I was sure I would never forgive her myself. However, he had to spend eternity with her. I just had to endure her for a few months, or however long it took us to defeat Imha. Then Micah could honor the Soul Oath, and I would be free of this pain that scorched me on the inside.
18
“What’s up?” Keisha asked the next morning during breakfast. She sat across the table from me and sipped from her coffee as if nothing was wrong with the world. “You look tired. Didn’t sleep well?”
“I’m not tired,” I said a little too harshly. I busied myself by stuffing my face with a forkful of boiled eggs.
What could I tell her? That I had barely slept all night because I had another nightmare with my family dying around me? That I woke up and had a conversation with Victor in the middle of the night? She didn’t know the whole story of what happened a few months ago, and I wasn’t in the mood to fill in the blanks for her.
“… if we have time,” Keisha’s voice cut through my thoughts. She frowned at me. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, something about training.”
“Sorta. I was saying training will have to wait because Lady Ceris is back, and we have a meeting. Where is your head?”
I shrugged. “When did she get back?”
“About an hour ago. She called the meeting as soon as she stepped foot in the bunker.”
Twenty minutes later, we huddled in a conference room. I sat in a chair near the middle of the oval table. Keisha sat at my right side; Morgan sat to my left.
Victor entered the room and our eyes met. He nodded at me then at the others.
“My Lord,” Keisha and Morgan said together.
Sometimes I wondered if I should be calling them Lords and Lady too, but I always decided against it. It felt awkward treating them that way. Almost as awkward as I felt looking at Victor right now, as if we had done something wrong, like sneaked out in the middle of the night to make out.
Victor took a chair at one of the heads of the table as Micah stepped into the room.
“Morning,” he said.
“Good morning, my Lord,” Keisha said at the same time Morgan said, “Morning, my Lord.”
I didn’t say anything as his eyes breezed past me. His expression was bothered, as if he had gotten out of bed too early.
He offered me one of his smug grins, his black eyes shining with mischief. My cheeks warmed, and my heart skipped a bit. I looked down at my hands, embarrassed by the way my body reacted to a simple look.
Keisha nudged her elbow on my arm. I glanced at her, and she raised an eyebrow at me. What? She couldn’t possibly have noticed that. She stole a quick peek at Micah then stared pointedly at me.
Oh, God.
Shaking my head, I sunk into my chair.
Micah took the chair at the other end of the oval table.
Edgy silence occupied the room the entire two minutes it took Ceris to burst through the doors. Her white dress and long hair trailed behind her, making her look every inch the goddess she was, but what intrigued me was her expression. Tense and worried.
As if we weren’t even there, she paced.
Three minutes passed before Micah leaned back in the chair and rested his heels on the edge of the table. “Ceris, are you going to tell us what’s up, or do you prefer to just leave a mark on the floor?”
Sighing, she stopped and looked at him. “I … I’ve never seen anything like it. Imha and Omi declared full war. They attacked Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, and any other major city you can think of.”
“But …” I couldn’t process it. “That’s millions of people.”
“Yes.” She avoided my gaze. “All dead.”
“By the Everlast,” Morgan whispered.
“And they aren’t hiding anymore,” Ceris continued. “People have seen them. News shows, where they still have one, recorded them. Humans have seen them, with their powers and all. Humans are going crazy over it.”
“They know about us?” Victor asked.
“Yes, and the creed fanatics are acting up too. Some are sided with Imha, and they are performing her crazy acts on their own, be it with their neighbors, at schools, at churches, and so on.”
“That’s horrible,” Keisha whispered.
“It is,” Ceris said. “And I’ve never seen this many demons before. There are too many, everywhere. I couldn’t stay in one place long, or they would have found me.”
“Okay, okay,” Victor said. “We get it. It’s terrible and because of that we have to do something.”
“Exactly.” Ceris smiled. “Which is why I looked for allies. I didn’t approach them; I just watched them. I wanted to know where they are hiding, or fighting from, which ones seem to be on our side. Things like that.”
“And?” Micah asked.
“I couldn’t find the other gods, but I found some deities that are fighting against Imha. In particular, a forest protector, Zelen. His forest is the only one still green and abundant. He’s doing a fine job, and he would be a great addition to our team.”
Team? That was the first time I had heard Ceris call us a team. Thinking about it, I guess she was right, though the word still sounded foreign to my ears. Us, a team? The way everyone seemed ready to jump at each other’s throats? It was almost a joke.
“Good.” Morgan nodded. “A forest protector is a powerful deity. If he and his accolades join us, we’ll have better chances.”
Keisha spoke up. “Is it possible there’s more than one hero out there? I mean, if there is, we could bring them in too.”
“It is possible,” Morgan answered.