Eternal Rider

Seventeen

Cara and Ares strolled across the grounds toward the gate, his pace purposeful, hers more leisurely, and he kept having to slow down and wait for her. But dammit, this was the first time she’d felt a little normal in days, and walking across a huge expanse of grass while Hal bounded around chasing birds just felt good. Relaxing, even.

“Why don’t you like hellhounds?” she asked, and Ares let out a soft growl.

“I don’t not like them.” Even loaded down with armor and weapons, he moved like a predator down the drive, his sharp eyes in constant motion, nostrils flaring as though seeking the scent of danger. “I hate them with every cell in my body.”

“That’s a little harsh.”

He swung around to her, his big body pulsing with menace, but she was instinctively aware that his mood wasn’t directed at her. “One of them killed my brother and sons.”

“How awful.” A lump clogged her throat, and she had to swallow a couple of times before she could speak. “What did you do?”

“I chased that motherfucker through the centuries. Slaughtered some of his packmates, but never managed to kill him. Eventually, he and his pack got one up on me, paralyzed me with a bite, and then spent days eating me alive.”

Oh, God. “They… ate you?”

“Thanks to my ability to regenerate, yes. I fed them well, and I felt every bite. When one of them ripped my leg off at the hip joint, I couldn’t even pass out from the agony. And then I got to watch them gnaw on it, right beside my head.”

Nausea bubbled up in her throat. She couldn’t imagine Hal, that sweet puppy who was rolling around in the grass, doing that.

“Yeah, he’d do it,” Ares said, somehow knowing what she was thinking. “He’s just a pup, but when he’s full grown, he’ll be as big as a damned buffalo with an appetite for cruelty to match his size.”

“Like the one who attacked you at your house? Hal’s sire?”

“Hal’s sire is the very hound who killed my sons and brother.”

Oh… damn. “Hal… he wouldn’t… I mean, look at him.”

Hal leaped into the air, his jaws snapping as he caught a bird he’d flushed. The poor bird was gone in an instant, an explosion of feathers floating around Hal’s head.

“Sure,” Ares said wryly. “Look at him.”

“Bad dog,” she scolded. Hal wagged his tail and cocked his head, all flopping ears and drool. How could a puppy like him become the demon beast Ares was talking about?

Ares snorted. “Just wait until he’s catching people instead.”

“Is that…” She swallowed sickly. “Is that what they eat?”

“Not usually. They’re Sheoul-dwellers. They rarely travel to the human realm unless they’re summoned or brought here.”

“So he can travel back and forth? Do his hunting in Sheoul?”

Ares inclined his head in a brisk nod. “They don’t need Harrowgates, and usually they’re invisible to humans when they’re aboveground. He might be invisible now, in fact. We can see him because we’re part of the supernatural world.”

She trailed her fingers over her chest, feeling the raised lines of the new mark through her sweatshirt. “Because of this.”

“And the bond to Hal.” His gaze dropped to where she was rubbing the marking, and the energy coming off him shifted from menacing to erotic.

Back at Than’s place, he’d said he felt things he shouldn’t. That he wanted to keep her alive for more reasons than protecting his Seal. And that he wanted to throw her down and take her until they were exhausted.

She shouldn’t want any of that. Well, maybe the sex. Opening her heart up again could be a colossal mistake. But every time she caught a glimpse of the man behind the sword, every time he wrapped her in his protective arms, it tapped into the part of her that wanted to be cared for and kept safe. Ares knew about her ability, knew what she’d done with it, and he didn’t treat her like she was a freak, and that alone scored him a lot of points.

“What is this, Ares?” She probably shouldn’t have asked, but she’d never been good at subtlety, and with all the uncertainty in her life right now, she wanted to be clear on this, at least. “I can’t read your signals, and I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m a warrior.”

“Yes, I know who you say you are, but why do you say that? Are you a warrior by birth? By choice? By circumstance?”

“All of the above.” He cocked his head toward the exit. “We should go.”

She grabbed his wrist, and he stiffened, but he didn’t shake her off. “When were you born?”

“Dammit, Cara, we don’t have time for this.” The words were angry, but he let out a long-suffering sigh, and she knew she had him. For a moment, at least.

“Humor me. I’ve done everything you’ve asked. Give me this.”

One eyebrow arched. “The orgasms weren’t enough?”

A pleasant fluttering filled her belly. “Women like pillow talk to go with them, and you denied me that.”

“I at least got you a pillow.” At her flat stare, he rolled his eyes. “I was born around the thirty-second century bc.”

“Did you know what you were?”

He looked up at the gray sky. “For twenty-eight years I thought I was human. My demon mother snatched human babies out of their cribs and replaced them with us. She used some sort of enchantment to arrange for our human parents to name us what she’d chosen.”

“What happened to the babies she stole?”

He hesitated. “You don’t want to know.”

No, she probably didn’t. “Where did you grow up?”

“Egypt.” He looked past her at Hal, his gaze sharpening with hate. “Now, we’re going.”

Pretending she didn’t hear him, she continued. “You had kids. Did you have a wife?”

“I’ve humored you for too long as it is—” He whirled so suddenly she yelped. “Who are you? Show yourself!”

Cara heard the crunch of gravel, as a man peered around the estate’s iron gate. “I-I’m David. I’m a Guardian.”

A deep, rumbling growl came from behind her as Hal, crouching flat on the ground, eased up to them. She dropped her hand to his head, soothing him with her touch. “It’s okay, Hal. Shh.” The last thing they needed was the hound tearing apart one of The Aegis’s demon slayers.

Ares took her hand and led her to the road. Hal followed, though his ears were still back, and his teeth were bared in a silent snarl. The Guardian wisely backed away, hands up.

The moment they stepped outside the Aegis property, the forest erupted to life. A scream caught in Cara’s throat as creatures appeared from out of the woods, out of the ground, and out of thin air.

In a graceful surge, Ares simultaneously drew his sword and threw open a Harrowgate. “Cara, go!” He leaped and spun, taking off a demon’s head as she scrambled toward the opening.

Something wrapped around her throat and jerked her backward. Gasping, she reached up to yank on the rope, digging in her heels as a gray-skinned demon reeled her toward him. A flash of black fur, teeth, and claws sailed past her, and the demon who had captured her screamed as Hal tore him apart.

“Cara!” A creepy demon with hooks for hands swung at Ares, one hook burying itself in his armor. Ares fell backward as he struck out with a dagger. It didn’t even scratch the creature. “Your presence is—” He broke off to slam his fist into another demon’s flat face. “—Affecting my ability to fight.”

She made a run for the gate, but two feet from the entrance, a green-skinned, scaly demon tackled her. She hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs. Fire replaced air as she struggled to breathe, and then terror iced down her blood at the sight of a wicked, serrated blade slicing in a downward arc toward her throat.

A roar blasted through the air, and then Ares was there, his foot smashing into the demon’s head. The blade flew out of his clawed hand, and Cara rolled out from under the now-bloody demon. She grabbed the dagger, shoved it upward as another demon swung at her. It caught the spindly creature in the gut. It screeched and fell, and another replaced it. Once more, Ares took the demon’s head off, and if that was how he fought while handicapped, she couldn’t imagine what he could do normally.

Hal ripped into another demon that launched itself at her, and blue blood splattered on the ground. A rain of arrows fell, and she looked up at Guardians running toward them, some firing crossbows and others wielding bladed weapons.

“Gate!” Ares shouted, and yes, she was trying. In the midst of the bloodbath, she crawled, finally reached the shimmering curtain of light, and went through.

She came out on Ares’s Greek island. Hal followed, landing on top of her. He was covered in blood, and she immediately put her hands on him, seeking injuries. He had a few minor cuts, and without even summoning her ability, it flashed hot and channeled into him. She hissed in both surprise and brief pain as Ares’s staff came running, and how crazy was it that demons were coming at her, and all she could feel was relief?

“Cara!” Limos ran toward her, still in her armor. “Where’s Ares?”

Cara pushed to her feet. “Demons attacked us. He’s fighting them—”

“Okay, let’s get you inside.” She grabbed Cara’s arm, and Hal let out a vicious snarl. Dancing aside, Limos went for the dagger at her hip.

“No!” Cara seized Limos’s hand. “Don’t provoke him. Hal, it’s okay. Be good. These are friends.”

A blast of annoyance came off him, but he stopped growling. Where are we?

“Safe,” she replied, blinked when she realized she’d understood him. Just like in the dreams. “This is Ares’s island.”

I patrol. I keep you safe. He slipped away, skirting the Ramreel demons and disappearing into the brush.

Cara allowed Limos to take her inside. “Will Ares be okay? There were a lot of demons. Maybe you should help.”

Limos snorted. “Trust me, he’ll be fine.”

“But there were a lot of Aegi. Ares was worried about a trap.”

“Listen up, human.” Limos brushed her fingers over her throat, and her armor melted away, leaving her in the Hawaiian gown again. “He’s immortal. As long as there weren’t any hellhounds there—”

“There were,” she lied.

Limos froze. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Cara swallowed, feeling bad about the lie but not willing to risk Ares’s safety. “Please. Help him.”

“Fuck.” Limos threw a gate, but before she stepped through, she stabbed a finger at Cara. “Stay here, and don’t leave the house for anything.”

“Cara told you what?” Ares snarled at Limos as he pinned the last demon to the ground with his sword as if it was an insect in a display case. All around them, Guardians were cleaning up from the battle, triaging their own. Looked like all were injured, two critically, and one was dead. Dead, along with several dozen demons that were already disintegrating.

The rest had fled when Cara escaped through the Harrowgate. Clearly, once their target was gone, they hadn’t felt like sticking around to be slaughtered by Ares and his Aegis sidekicks.

Limos wiped her blade clean in the grass. “She lied. I’m going to kill her.”

“Not if I get to her first.” Her lie had left her without a Horseman to protect her. Ares yanked his sword out of the demon. “Has Than come out of his rage?”

“Yep. He’s gone to New Zealand to follow up on a lead about a fallen angel.”

“Help him,” Ares said. “We need one. Now.”

Limos popped a salute. “Yes, sir.” Her sarcasm was tempered by an impish smile as she zapped a Harrowgate and stepped through.

Ares did the same, and came out in his great room, where there was no sign of the human.

“Cara!” he roared.

Torrent appeared from the kitchen with a steaming plate piled high with roast lamb and vegetables, Rath darting between his legs. “She was here a second ago,” he said.

“Dammit!” Ares stalked through the house, fear spiking his anger. She wasn’t in the master suite, or any of the other bedrooms. His anxiety grew as he checked rooms and kept coming up empty.

And then a sudden suspicion nearly laid him out.

The room.

With dread running like sludge in his veins, he charged to the end of the hall just past the storeroom. The door to the stairwell was ajar, confirming his suspicion. He took the stone steps down three at a time. The narrow, unfinished passageway was dark, but a light from the room at the bottom burned bright.

He insisted the room be lit. Twenty-four-seven.

He hit the bottom of the steps and skidded to a halt. Cara stood at the ancient bookcase, angled so he could partially see her profile. She’d opened the tiled box he kept there and was holding the items that had been inside. Irrational anger hitchhiked a ride with adrenaline and fear for Cara’s safety, and he lashed out.

“Get away from that.”

Cara jumped, whirled around, and nearly dropped the clay horse and dog. Jesus. If the toys had broken, he would have… just… Jesus.

“I’m sorry… I was—”

“You were going through my things.”

Carefully, she placed the toy animals in the box, along with the wooden rattle. But she ran her thumb over the bronze ring and the milky green emerald set into it. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

His throat closed up. “It was my wife’s.”

She set it in the box. “And the other things?”

“They were my sons’. Now get out.”

“The light was on—”

“Get. Out.”

“I only wanted to know more about you.”

“I told you my family was killed. What more do you need?” He stepped inside, and the room closed in on him. He hadn’t been in here in decades. Vulgrim kept it clean and the light working, but Ares hadn’t had the guts to visit. The knowledge that he’d been so cowardly ramped up his temper even more. “Get out.”

Pity flashed in her eyes, and wasn’t that just the icing on his shit cake? “I’m sorry about your family.” She closed the box lid so softly he barely heard the click of the tiny latch slide into place. Her gaze traveled around the room, which held all of the possessions he’d been able to retrieve from the time he was human. “Why was the light on?”

How many times had he told her to get out, and she was still standing there, asking about the lights? He should toss her, but he didn’t trust himself to touch her. He was too angry, and he wanted her too badly.

“I keep it on always. My youngest son was afraid of the dark.” He’d thought it was stupid at the time, hadn’t understood childish fears, because he’d never been afraid of anything as a child.

The room was getting seriously claustrophobic. He didn’t bother telling Cara to leave again. He got the hell out of there. Sometimes, the best strategy was to retreat and regroup.

Cara called out to him, but he kept going, didn’t stop until he was in the private, three-walled patio off his bedroom. He just wanted sixty seconds alone—

“Ares.”

Fuck. He didn’t turn around. Instead, he looked out over the sea as the last rays of sunlight cast a sparkling sheen on the water. This was his favorite time of day, when the sun-worshippers were winding down and the night-dwellers were just starting to stir. In this brief window of time, everything was quiet. Back in his military days, they’d called it the time of “peace shadows,” because no matter how fierce the fighting had been, it slowed, for just a few minutes, as everyone adjusted their tactics.

“What happened?” she asked quietly. “I mean, how did it all go down?”

In the distance, the Greek shoreline began to light up, and wisps of smoke from kitchens and beach fires formed lazy, spiraling tendrils that reached for the handful of clouds. He figured that for this topic, there should be gale-force winds, driving rain, and maybe a tornado or two.

“I was twenty-eight. Home with my brother, my wife, and my sons. At the time, I thought I was human, and I didn’t know the men who overran our city were creatures from hell in human skins. I sent my sons with my brother, and they escaped the city, but the demons captured me and my wife. They forced me to watch as they tortured and killed her. Afterward, they released me. Later, I learned that it was hell’s calling card. Time for me and my brothers to come home.”

“What did you do?” Her voice was as soft as the breeze, nonthreatening, and that was the only reason he continued.

“I found Ekkad and my sons, and we gathered my army as demons poured out of hell in their true forms. Limos escaped from Sheoul during the upheaval, and when she found us, she explained the truth of our existence. That we were meant to join the forces of evil and use our knowledge about humans to destroy them. She warned me that the demons would do anything to get us on their side. That if I didn’t join, my sons would die. I didn’t listen. I believed I could protect my family.”

He snorted, shook his head. “I was such a fool. For two years, my siblings and I battled demons. Ekkad was my right hand, my strategist, and I taught my sons to fight. They were like me, even as young as they were, they were strong, fast, and they healed quickly. One day, the fighting was worse than usual, we were badly outnumbered, and I sent my boys back to the command tent with Ekkad. When I returned, I found them.” He closed his eyes, but the darkness didn’t blot out the memories. “The hellhound had…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to say any more.”

“Yeah, I do.” He blew out an unsteady breath. “My brother and sons died because of me. Because the demons knew exactly how to hurt me. And on that day, I turned as evil as I could have been without my Seal breaking. I went insane with rage. I gathered more humans for my army… bribed them, coerced them, forced them. Men, women, children. Didn’t matter. All I wanted was for the demons to die. The humans were disposable to me. I rejected strategy that would take longer but save lives and instead went for quick victories by sheer numbers. In essence, I sent them to their deaths for my own needs. My brothers and sister helped, and it went on until we were brought to heel by angels and cursed.”

He could practically feel revulsion wafting off Cara. He definitely heard it in the rasp of her voice. “Why are there no records of this?”

“Because the angels fixed everything. They erased memories, created alternative scenarios, and destroyed all written evidence. Basically, the world started over from that point on.”

The sound of ocean waves breaking on the rocks below filled a long silence. “If demons killed your family…”

“Why do I employ them?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “I found Vulgrim when he was a child. His herd had been wiped out by plague. The ones who weren’t dead were dying. All except Vulgrim. Limos thinks his father was from another herd that had developed an immunity to the disease. He was too small to take care of himself. I don’t know why I didn’t leave him, I’ve never been fond of Ramreels, but I took him. Brought him home and nursed him back to health with goat milk.”

“That was kind of you.”

He shrugged, still looking out at the sea, which had darkened, though beneath the water, light-absorbing algae were glowing, little landing strips in the waves. “He turned out to be a good kid. Cranky teen. But a capable adult, and his loyalty to me can’t be questioned. He looks upon me as a father.”

“And now he’s your… servant?”

Ares laughed. “He likes to act as if he’s being forced into servitude, but he’s not. I’ve treated him as an equal, offered to set him up in his own place, wherever he wants. Instead, he stays here. He lives with his mate on the other side of the island, and he’s in charge of all the staff. The Ramreels here are all part of his herd, and his son, Torrent, is his second in command.”

“You’re very fond of him.”

More than he would ever admit out loud. He remembered trying to teach Vulgrim to ride a horse, and only after a dozen falls did he realize that Ramreel physiology made it practically impossible for them to ride. Vulgrim liked to recount that story whenever he felt Ares needed to be humiliated, and Ares would act all irritable, but in truth, he liked the teasing that few others would dare.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder if he’d have gotten along with my sons.” Had they not been… yeah.

There was another long silence, and then, “Did you love your wife?”

He smiled, but she couldn’t have seen it. “Love was never part of our life. It was an arranged marriage. My wife knew what was expected of her, and she pleased me well enough.”

“Well… enough? Sounds like it was fun to be her.”

“She had a good life.” It was her death that was the atrocity. “No need to be outraged on her behalf. I didn’t beat her, I allowed her to spend coin on luxuries, and I didn’t take mistresses.”

“How considerate of you.”

He turned to Cara, reached out to brush a wind-blown lock of hair off her face. “It had nothing to do with being considerate. Truly, I was a bastard. I simply had no interest in women. Fighting was my life.” He waggled his brows. “The Greek god, Ares, is based on me.”

She rolled her eyes. “That must have been an ego boost.”

“I miss the days of the Greek empire. It was cool being a god.” He sighed. “Then the single-deity religions came along and ruined everything.”

“Gee, I’m so sorry.”

He laughed at her sarcasm. “Makes things simpler for humans, I guess, but they’ve gotten most of it wrong. Today’s population has no idea how much manipulation of facts has taken place over the centuries. Still amazes me that people spend more time researching a new vehicle than they do the religion they entrust their souls to. They should CARFAX their faiths. The history would shock the hell out of people.”

One delicate eyebrow rose on her forehead. “I think someone’s bitter about not being a Greek god anymore.” Her mouth quirked in amusement, and she crossed her arms over her chest, which plumped her breasts out nicely. “But you and your brothers and sister must have had a blast, watching history happen and being part of it.”

“At times,” he admitted. He turned back to the sea and focused on some bobbing boat lights in the distance. “But mostly we spent our time watching events take place and wondering if they were portents that would bring about the breaking of our Seals. And unfortunately, we spent way too much time goofing off when we should have been trying harder to locate or protect our agimorti.”

“I’m sorry,” Cara said softly. “I’ve been a little selfish.” He felt her palm on his back, and he was too stunned to move.

“Selfish? You’ve had everything taken away from you. How are you being selfish?”

“I didn’t think about how awful this has to be for you. Your brother has turned against you, and it might be only a matter of time before you succumb to the same fate.”

Jesus. She was serious. She actually gave a shit about how he felt. He wasn’t sure if he liked that or not, but he did know he didn’t want to talk about it. “Why did you lie to Limos?”

Her hand slid up to his neck and her strong, flexible fingers massaged the tense muscles there. After all he’d just told her about the evil he’d done, she still wanted to touch him. To soothe him. He didn’t deserve it, but he didn’t do anything to stop her.

“Cara? Why?”

“Because I was worried about you.”

On some level, her admission pleased him. But on a much higher, much darker level, it pissed him the fuck off. Did she think he couldn’t take care of himself? Did she not give a shit about her own life? He rounded on her. “That was stupid, Cara. You left yourself vulnerable. Do you like being attacked? Is that it?”

“N-no.” She recoiled, and something desperate flashed in her eyes, a haunted shadow he had seen far too many times over the course of his life.

Shit. He reached for her, but a vicious snarl froze him to the ground, and hot, fetid breath against his ear sent his heart rate into a galloping speed even Battle would envy. He didn’t need to look to know Hal was crouched on the wall, his teeth just inches from his throat.

“Hal.” Cara spoke so calmly that no one could have guessed that just a moment earlier, she’d looked like she might break down. Damn… all this time, he’d wanted her to toughen up, but she was already there. She bounced back easily, fully, and most impressively. “He isn’t going to hurt me.”

Still the beast snarled, clearly not buying what Cara had to say. He lunged, and suddenly, his mouth was clamped down on Ares’s throat. The teeth didn’t puncture, but Ares couldn’t move without being bitten or scratched.

“Cara,” he gritted out. “What. The. Fuck.”

She licked her lips. “Your anger scares him. He thinks you’re tricking me.”

“Convince him otherwise.” After this, he was going to find a shaman, wizard, sorcerer… someone who could break a hellhound bond, because this asshole mutt needed to die, and his sire along with him.

Slowly, she eased up to them both. She curled one hand in Hal’s scruff, and put her other hand around the back of Ares’s neck. Her breasts became a soft pressure against his chest, and then she was on her toes, putting her lips on his. And what do you know, Hal’s growls grew quieter.

“See, Hal,” she whispered against his lips. “Ares won’t hurt me.” She squeezed his neck, her fingernails digging in so deep he hissed. In pleasure. “Will you?”

“No,” he said against her mouth. “Never.”

But he was a warrior, and if it came down to hurting her or saving the world, he knew what he’d choose. For the first time, the idea truly bothered him, and for the first time he actually felt like War.