Gods & Thieves

Chapter 2

I knew just enough about the internet to be dangerous. Don’t get me wrong. I posted on the standard social media sites when I had to. But I tended to leave that crap to the ad department. And Joey. Not to mention how I had a team of researchers to comb through the pages when I needed to get information. This time though, it was personal. I wanted to search out Jonah’s enemies. The ones he only talked about when he had to. It was enough to distract me from my memories of the night before.

I decided to focus on the one he had mentioned when we were in London yesterday morning. Seemed as good a place as any to start.

One of whom he mentioned when we were in London yesterday morning.

I let the fingers of my good hand hover over the keyboard for a minute as I recalled our wonderful day together. It was my happiest memory to date. I’d known Jonah for less than a year, but I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I wanted to protect him.

Flashes of my fight with Cyrus began to overtake my happier thoughts. The image of Janet in my bathroom mirror was enough to take the small smile off my face.

I had to focus on something else. I wouldn"t last very long if I didn"t.

Which is why I was doing this. I typed Inimicus into the search bar. Got the standard definitions. Even came across a book by that name. So, I switched my research to his enemy’s sister. Vera Haliday, it turned out, had been born Vera Hale. Said so right on her Wikipedia page.

InimicusNice.

I switched back to my original search page and typed in “Jessica Hale.” After a moment, my laptop flickered and went black.

“What the hell—?”

“Forgive me, Eva.”

I looked up to see Jonathan, the Protector Guide of the estate and Jonah’s mentor, standing on the other side of my desk. He looked so dapper. So out of place in my California office. But I grinned when I stood to hug him.

“Jonathan! Forgive you? Are you kidding? I’m thrilled to see you!”

“As I am you.” He gave me a smile that reminded me so much of a grandfatherly figure, I couldn’t help but grin wider. “Yet, you cannot be doing what you are doing.”

Jonathan gave me a look of concern and I winced. I looked like a mess, though I couldn"t tell Jonathan what happened. I didn"t dare after Cyrus" actions last night. And Joey had sworn not to tell another living soul. He spun a tale for me so that I was covered if I was asked about my injuries. I"d gotten into a fight at the office. An attempted mugging in the parking garage.

I hoped I wouldn"t have to tell anyone, but it took weeks to heal up after an attack from Cyrus. It always had.

“I"m fine," I answered his silent question without having to go into the lie. I pulled back to gesture to the set of chairs. "Now, what are you talking about? Let’s go sit down."

He followed me over and took in the L.A. view before he joined me. Jonathan tapped his fingers on the chair arm before he spoke.

“The spirits have whispered your interest in our enemies.”

“Jonathan, your enemies are mine. It is the least I can do—”

“No, my dear.” He shook his head. “As admirable as your loyalty is to Jonah, we cannot allow you to interfere.”

“Ok. I don’t understand.” I leaned forward to clasp his hand. “Jonathan, we fought together against Hera. You know that I can protect myself. And you know I will fight to my death, which is moot since I’m immortal—”

“And that is why you cannot fight, dear Eva.” Jonathan clutched my hand tight in his grasp. “Your immortality isn’t as moot as you might believe. You would perish. And we will lose our Jonah forever.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“Close your eyes, Eva.”

I took a breath and did as he requested. I felt Jonathan’s hand go over my eyes.

I wasn’t in L.A. anymore. I was at the estate. Or, at least, what had been the estate. It was a wrecked and ruined mess of its former self. I could see a wicked, truly evil-looking man and Jonah fighting tooth and nail.

I felt my heart stop when he got the upper hand. I shoved past the assholes fighting around me. I had to get to him. I couldn’t let him lose.

I willed a dagger into my hand and slammed it to the hilt into the bastard’s back. Right at the top of his spine. He released Jonah before he turned to me.

“Come on, asshole,” I snarled. “Let’s go.”

The resulting fight was one I would have been proud of. We both got our hits in. And I was successful in getting him away from Jonah. He needed time to recover. He would have it.

As I said, I did exceedingly well. I cut my opponent often enough to make him stumble back. I thrust myself upwards to deal the final blow. Knocked him flat on his ass.

The fucker grabbed me by the sides of my face and focused. I screamed when it felt as if my head was going to explode from the pressure he caused.

It was the last sound I would ever make. My view shifted as if I were outside of my body. I watched in horror as Jonah screamed my name before he went after my opponent. He was enraged. Horrifyingly alluring in his rage. His aura no longer the bright blue I adored, but so dark, it matched the being he savagely slaughtered with his bare hands.

Jonah was the victor, but not a single person around was celebrating. They looked as shocked as Jonah as he moved over to me.

He knelt, shaking as he gathered me up in his arms. He pressed his forehead to mine as he whispered words I would never know. I whimpered when Reena slid to a stop beside him. She was beat all to hell, but she went white at the sight of me.

“Jonah, let me help—”

“Don’t,” he choked out the word as he held my body tighter against him. “Don’t touch her, Reena.”

I moved over to them. I could see the gold in my eyes fading. Eyes that looked like marble. There was no life in them. Not anymore.

Jonah stood up with me in his arms. He passed through me as he headed to the door. I heard the others calling out to him, but I knew that they wouldn’t get through to him. And they never would again.

I gasped when Jonathan released me. He nodded once when I stared at him for confirmation of what I had seen.

“You, my dear child, are far too important for us to lose. Not only because you are Apollo’s daughter, but because you have caught hold of something quite precious. And we cannot risk losing Jonah to dark ethereality.”

“Why?” I swallowed when my voice cracked. “Why would he react by going dark? Surely—”

“You will see in time. ‘Tis not my place to say.” Jonathan squeezed my hand. “For now, promise me you won’t fight against our enemies. Not just for your sake. But for Jonah’s.”

I remembered Cyrus" threat against Jonah"s life. I wasn"t supposed to see him or any of the Elevenths ever again. But I also knew I couldn"t do that. Not even with Cyrus" threat. The dread I felt after witnessing the vision Jonathan showed me confirmed it. I had to see Jonah. I needed him in my life desperately.

“Jonathan, if he needs me—”

“Our Jonah needs you physically alive.” He stood. “He needs you to be here once the battles are over, Eva. Please.”

I studied him for a minute as I swallowed down the lump in my throat. I clasped my hand around my bandaged wrist and wondered exactly what had prompted Jonathan"s visit today. Did he know?

No. That was impossible. There was no way for him to know.

“I promise, Jonathan,” I whispered. “I promise.”

The Protector Guide patted my knee then stood. “I need to return to North Carolina. Please do not mention what I have shown you to Jonah. It would be most upsetting to him.”

“I won’t. It’s too upsetting for me, too.”

I hugged him goodbye before he vanished. I went back over to my desk then picked up my phone. I needed to call Jonah. It was crazy, but after what I had seen, I just wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to reassure myself that he was ok. At that moment, Joey decided to barge in with an envelope in his hand.

“Guess who just got nominated for an Emmy?”

“Another one?” I faked a sigh. “I’m gonna need a bigger shelf.”

Joey smacked me on the arm with the envelope, and I winced. He gave me a look of pure horror.

“Oh, God, sorry, Evie! Are you alright?”

“Fine.” I cradled my wrapped wrist against my chest. “Which episode?”

“Covington.” His smile could have lit the room. “Told you we were a shoo in. You gonna call Jonah to break the news or do you want me to do it?”

I swallowed down the knot in my throat as it tried to form there. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to see Jonah again as soon as possible, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to go for it. Plus, I didn"t know how I was going to explain my face. My bandaged wrist.

“Yeah. I was just about to call him anyway.”

I swiped my thumb over the screen of my cell phone and watched the screen go back to black no less than ten times before Joey sighed and snatched the phone out of my hands.

“Stop punkin’ out, Evie,” he said as he shook his head. “What would all the bad guys think if they knew you were afraid of making a simple phone call?”

“Joey Lawson, you give me that back.” I reached for my phone that he held just over his head. “I’m going to call him, dammit. I’m just trying to figure out what I’m going to say.”

“Right.” My friend clicked his tongue against the front of his teeth. “What is there to say? How about just ‘Hey, J! Come help me celebrate my Emmy nomination!’”

“Oh, be quiet.” I reached out my hand. “Jonah’s got a full plate right now. I’m just trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject and not seem like a burden.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “I’d buy that if you two hadn’t snuck off to play in Santa Fe the other day.”

I ignored him and held out my hand. “Phone. Now.”

“No go, Chicken.” Joey grinned as he pressed a single finger against the screen. Within moments, I could hear it ringing.

“Look, I’m just not up to being laughed at. And Jonah is going to laugh.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Besides, when did you turn into such a traitor?”

“Hey, J!” Joey grinned as the call connected. “Listen, Evie wants to ask you something. Hang on.”

“Thanks, Joey,” I grumbled when he handed me the phone. I pressed it up against my ear with a sigh. “Hey, Blueberry. What’s up?”

“Same s**t, different day,” Jonah responded. “Wishing we were back in the desert.”

I couldn"t help but smile at that. I started to tell him to come get me. But that wasn’t the reason I had called.

“Same,” I admitted. “I wish you would go out on the road with me. We"d have a great time."

"Evie"s a wimp!” Joey called out from behind me and I picked up a pen and chunked it at him. “Alright, alright. I"m out. Don"t forget to ask him!”

“Ask me what?” Jonah still sounded anxious despite my attempts to reassure him that I was fine. “You need a temporary co-host or something?”

“No,” I frowned. “Wait. Does that mean you"d actually consider being on Grave with me and not just work behind the scenes?”

Grave“Evie-"

“Ok, ok,” I laughed a little. “So, Covington is up for an Emmy. You, Reena, and Terrence are cordially invited to be my dates for the ceremony. You down?”

“A date. To the Emmys.” Jonah sounded distant, which was good. Maybe he wasn’t really listening. “And you didn’t want to ask me for what reason?”

Ok. So, he was listening. I tapped my fingers against the glass top of my desk as I stared out the window. “It’s not that I didn’t want to ask you, Blueberry. You should come visit me sometime. Take a week, and we’ll hit up L.A., let me show you life outside of the desert. But I know how you are. Visiting me is one thing, but I knew that showcasing your talents at some Hollywood venue might be a bit of a stretch.”

Jonah laughed. “You know me too well. And for that reason, I’ll do something you won’t expect for a change and take you up on the offer. When do we need to be there?”

I was relieved that Jonah took that stance, but I was even more surprised by the rustling I heard on his end.

“How did you manage to sneak in potato chips past Reena?” I asked shrewdly. “Don’t deny it. I can hear the bag in the background.”

“We all have our secrets, Superstar,” Jonah chuckled again. “I’ll never tell. Now answer my question. When do we need to be there?”

I tilted my head to the side as I pulled out the letter and accompanying schedule that Joey had left on my desk. “Theia wants you here by Tuesday to get fitted. Appointments for hair and makeup start Saturday morning at nine, and we have to be on the red carpet by eight that night.”

Jonah got quiet for a second, and I silently prayed to Apollo that he would hang up on me. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to see them all again.

Especially Jonah. I was drawn to him. I couldn’t help it. But I also knew how much trouble we tended to get into when we got together. I closed my eyes as I remembered our first meeting back in North Carolina. We had all become targets of Hera, who had pulled us onto the Astral Plane to strike me down. But her plot flopped, and she got punished by her husband, Zeus, to remain in the mortal form of Juno Helakos, a billionaire heiress identity she used as her mortal cover on Earth. Despite her oath on the Styx that she’d leave us be, she’d promised me that she’d have her revenge. But that was a while ago. I hadn’t heard a peep out of her since that time. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried.

I studied the poster hanging up on the wall across from my desk. It was the first poster used to promote my television show, Grave Messages. I was standing in front of my former co-host, Elliot Lancaster, by a gravestone with Joey balancing his camera over his shoulder just to the right of us. It seemed as if we had shot that picture just days ago, but the truth was, it had been nearly five years since we started. And so much had changed since then.

GraveMessages.I was brought out of my thoughts when the phone in my hand made a loud buzzing noise.

“Jesus, Jonah.” I put the phone back by my ear when he stopped pressing the button. “I"m here. What did you say?”

“I said, will Cyrus be there?” Jonah asked. “Cause I don"t want to be around him."

That made two of us. I cradled my wrist against my stomach. I should have told Jonah. He"d ask questions when he got here on Thursday. I couldn"t do it.

"He shouldn"t be.”

“Hang on. Let me go get Reena and Terrence. They have a say in this, too.”

“Alright. I’m putting you on the speaker.” I heard a strange buzzing noise and pulled the phone away from my ear. “Hang on. My phone is messing—”

I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence as the shadows cast by the late California sun shifted into human forms around me. I ignored the clatter my phone made against the desk as I shoved my chair back.

“Who are you?” I willed my short sword into my hand as the dark forms inched closer. There were six of them total, each identical to the other.

“Shades? Stalkers? Tourists who took a wrong turn at Sunset?”

They responded by simultaneously launching themselves towards me. I grunted as the first one slammed me back into the desk, which sent my phone and the nasty pomegranate juice I’d been drinking to curb my wine consumption flying. Even the papers from the file I had been working on scattered across my rug. I went down beneath the bastard hellbent on ripping me apart.

I had seconds to react. I knew that. I slammed the palm of my hand into his throat then shoved him as hard as I could. He gagged and, in the sunlight, I saw blood on his teeth.

His blood? Or someone else’s?

I could hear Jonah yelling my name through the phone, but I couldn’t answer as beings that could loosely be classified as men surrounded me in the small space before they all launched at once.

I rolled over as the rest of them scrambled towards me. I tucked my broken wrist against my side to protect it then charged headfirst back into the fight at hand.

I’ll admit that my thoughts flew at a hundred miles an hour as I dodged one blow after the other. They couldn’t have been sent by Hera. She had sworn on the Styx, after all. Yeah, she’d vowed revenge and all that, but she couldn’t buck her oath. Who else could it be, though? The Erinyes? Athena?

Cyrus in an attempt to teach me a lesson?

But I couldn’t think about that now.

I did the only thing I could do. I fought. I stabbed the first man with my sword, then shoved him back. I brought my elbow back and cracked a bone, but I wasn’t quick enough. Teeth began to tear at my arms, and I gasped from the sharp bite of pain.

I may have gasped, but the asshole who bit me began to scream. He erupted in a flash of fire, and I knew at once what he was. A vampire. I’d encountered only one before in Romania, and he had met his demise the same way.

“Jonah!” I yelled over the screeching as the group began their assault again. “Vamp—”

My words were cut off when something hard cracked against my skull. I released a scream that was cut off as they converged onto me. Each one ripping at me with their teeth, and each one experiencing a horrifying death as the result.

By the time the last vampire was nothing more than a pile of ash, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think about anything except the fire that raced across my skin from the gashes they had made. I had buried my face into the crook of my arm at some point, but the echo of boots across the hardwood floor made me lift my head.

“Perfect.”

The shadow of a man said before he stepped on my phone. I heard it c***k beneath his weight as he lifted me and threw me over his shoulder like a rag doll. I wanted to fight him. I needed to fight him.

I didn’t have the strength to do either of those things as he stepped into the shadows and my office vanished.