My stomach dropped as my gaze skittered from him to the other shadowy form. I tried to speak, but my voice got lost for a moment. It took a few seconds for me to croak out a yes, and then I pushed away from the wall.
It was easier to crawl over to where I saw her lying. Standing up and walking required too much effort and stress on my ribs, so I slowly made my way over to her. Dusty dirt coated my palms as I reached her still legs. A knot formed in my throat as I inched up to her waist. She was facing the wall. Hand shaking, I brushed long, clumpy strands back from her face. It was too dark to make out her features beyond the dirt covering her face.
Please don’t be dead. Please, please, please.
A tremble coursed through my arm as I pressed my fingers against her neck. I gasped at the touch of cool skin. I moved my fingers, feeling for a pulse. I didn’t feel—feel anything. Jerking back, I tried to swallow.
“Is she . . . ?”
Carefully, I shifted her onto her back—or tried to. Her body was stiff and one arm appeared stuck to the floor. Her hair fell to the side and I saw her eyes were open, fixed and empty. She was—
I fell back and then scuttled backward, putting distance between us—between me and this poor girl. My brain couldn’t even process the ramifications of what this meant—what this meant for us and for the world.
“Josie?” Mitchell whispered.
Moving until my back was against the wall, I ignored the pain in my ribs and head. “She’s . . . I’m sorry. She’s dead.”
“Oh God.”
My eyes were peeled wide, staring at where she rested.
“This has to be a nightmare,” he cried. “Oh God. Oh fucking God. What . . .”
Another tremble rocked me, and this time, it didn’t stop. I pulled up my knees and wrapped my arms around them. She was dead. That girl—that bound demigod was dead, and she was lying there with us.
“She’s dead,” Mitchell gasped. “She’s dead and we’ll be next.”
Chapter 10
Seth
Back out on the balcony, I watched the sunrise and the ocean became an array of blues, lavenders, and pinks.
I’d slept like a baby last night.
Sleep hadn’t come to me easily since I’d left Josie. The all-consuming thoughts of her had kept me up, as did the constant struggle to stop myself from going to her. The blood alcohol content I’d been rocking for days probably also didn’t help when it came to getting a restful night, but after I’d . . . I’d fed and Karina had excused herself, I was out like a stoned kid in a game of dodgeball.
Feeding was different this time around.
Before, I’d be all over the place. Buzzed. Full of high-octane energy like I’d just smoked crack or something. Not this time. Yeah, I could feel the power in me, stronger than it had been before I’d fed, but I was . . . I was leveled out. Energized but calm when I woke minutes before dawn.
It had never been like that before.
But if I was to believe what everyone was saying, I was truly different now.
Bending at the waist, I rested my forearms on the stone railing and stared out over the ocean. Kernels of guilt had sprouted in my chest. There hadn’t been a damn thing sexual about the feeding, but there was no denying the level of intimacy it required. Obviously, I had to be physically close to do it. I had to touch the other person.
I closed my eyes, remembering how I’d taken from Josie what was not mine to have. A hand pressed just below Josie’s breasts. I’d done it out by the graveyard at the Covenant.
I’d done it the same way with Karina, minus the orgasm, the kissing, and all that other stuff.
Leaving Josie meant I wasn’t with her anymore, but I’d rather set my nuts on fire than be with another woman. Maybe one day that would change, but I doubted it. Just like I doubted I’d ever be okay with the idea of her being with someone else, even if that someone else deserved her.
Anger snapped alive at the mere thought of her being with someone. I’d kill the son of a bitch that touched her, and yeah, that was wrong. The whole “I can’t be with you, but you can’t be with anyone else” was another way I was leveling up in the whole stalker biz, but I couldn’t change how I felt.
Exhaling, I straightened and was about to head back inside when a door farther down opened and Karina stepped out.
“Good morning, Kyrios.” She stopped, clasping her hands together. “You appear well rested.”
“I am.” I rested my hip against the railing. “But I have a feeling you expected that.”
Her chin inclined as her dark eyes glimmered in the faint morning light. “I did.” She glided forward, and I wondered if her feet even touched the ground. “I sense that you have questions, and I find that knowledge is more easily accepted when the sun has just begun its journey.”
I arched an eyebrow at that, but she was right. I had questions. Lots of them, and while there was still a part of me that just wanted to give zero fucks, something inside me, something new and strong, refused to allow me to walk away from this—from what I was.
“I do have questions,” I answered finally, folding my arms across my chest.
Her smile was oddly relieved. “Ask away.”
“What are you, exactly?”
The smile slipped. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a pure-blood who is a priestess. I get that, but you’re no normal pure. The aether in you is stronger, almost like what I’d feel in an Apollyon,” I explained, easily recalling what it had felt like to be around Alex before and after she’d awakened. “But I was unaware that priestesses still served the gods and I have no idea why the aether is stronger in you than an ordinary pure.”
“We have been around since the dawn of time serving the gods. Just because they have retreated to Olympus does not mean we stop our service. We are just more . . . quiet in our service now.”
“You mean, you just don’t sacrifice virgin mortals anymore?”
Her lip quirked up on one side. “There is that, but those who serve the gods are chosen at birth. The gods we serve mark us all with their icons, and since we are chosen, we are simply more pure. We are more godly, which is how we have more aether in our blood. It has been that way since the beginning and will be that way to the end.”
I didn’t miss the fact she hadn’t really denied the whole sacrificial virgin question. I probably should check out the temple soon and make sure they weren’t hoarding virgins. Adding that to the to-do list.
“And you bear the icon of what god exactly?” I asked.
She tilted her head to the side, and it was pretty impressive that the elaborately coiled hair didn’t topple her right over. “You already know the answer to that.”
Maybe I did, but I waited.
Unclasping her hand, she reached up, curling her fingers along the folds of her dress. She pulled it aside, and for a moment, I thought she would expose her breasts, and well, that was going to end this conversation real quick, but she didn’t, thank the worthless gods.
She exposed only the upper swell of her right breast, and there it was, a rosy-colored birthmark in the shape of the invincibility rune, the same as above the temple.