Chaotic War (2 page)

“Not long. Maybe twenty minutes.”

After scrubbing a hand down her face, she stood and walked to her side of the room. He let out a sigh at her attempt to put space between them. There was no amount of space that could stop him from smelling her, sensing her strength and passion for painting. He was betting she’d had another dream. What worried him was that he couldn’t tell how bad it was because she’d shut him out emotionally.

“I’m going upstairs to talk with Drake and Seth. I think I found Rayna.” He waited for her response, which was immediate.

“Really? That’s great.” She spoke through the curtain. Her silhouette moved toward the table, and a few moments later, she picked up her paint palette and a paintbrush.

“Did you need me to bring you anything?” he stood and moved to the door.

She sighed. “No. Just need some time alone.”

He almost argued that she spent too much time alone, not eating like she should and not sleeping. But he let it go, for the moment anyway. However, his dragon wasn’t going to wait much longer before the beast insisted they claim her.

But he couldn’t do that. Not yet.

Without another word, he forced himself to leave her and crossed the basement to the stairs. He’d work in Markus’s study for the rest of the afternoon so he wouldn’t be tempted to drag Elle up to bed. They’d only end up arguing. Elle clung to her independence like a security blanket. Every time he tried to help her, she got mad and they ended up in a fight.

How in Hades was he supposed to woo her into a mating?

Once on the first floor, he sent a telepathic request to Drake and Seth to meet him in the study. He wasn’t surprised that the males were already there. What did shock him was Seth’s hair standing on end. When Seth glanced up at him, Zavier narrowed his gaze. The male had dark circles under his eyes. Eyes that held his dragon in them. “You all right?”

A low growl rumbled from Seth, then he cursed and threaded his hands through his hair, fisting handfuls along the way. “No.” He stilled and cocked his head as he stared at Zavier. “You found her.”

Holding up a hand, Zavier said, “Possibly. What’s wrong with you?”

Seth was the playful one. Next to Zavier, the male was the calmest of the five of them. However, in that moment, he made Ty seem like the gentle dragon. Power fueled by his emotions swirled in the room and thickened the air around him. Seth got up from his seat at the small, round table next to the window and advanced toward him. “Give me the address. I have to go to her now. Before it’s too late.”

Zavier stood his ground. He didn’t like to be ordered around. And he typically liked to avoid conflict, but Seth clearly needed—or wanted—an ass kicking. “It might not be her. Then what? We waste time chasing a ghost?”

“Show. Me. The. Address.” Seth growled out each word, his eyes going complete dragon.

Snarling back, Zavier stepped forward, only to have Drake step between them and grab the front of Seth’s shirt. “Get your shit together. Don’t let your dragon think for you. It’s a lonely life having to hide from others because you let your dragon rule your emotions.”

Seth stared at Drake, blinked once, and then focused on Zavier. “Fuck.” He stepped back with his hands raised. He dropped his shoulders and paced the room, his body still tense and a little twitchy.

Glancing at Drake, Zavier raised a brow. That was the most the male had spoken at one time while not actively searching for Garrick. Drake especially didn’t talk about his past. Ever.

With a shake of his head, Drake returned to the armchair a few feet from Markus’s desk. “I found Gary’s latest hiding place.”

Zavier advanced to Drake, the desire to find where Garrick hid Blair rushing through his veins. Though not as strongly as it did in Seth, apparently. Seth beat him to Drake’s side to hover over their brother’s shoulder.

Drake held up his hand then growled at Seth in warning. “Seth, so help me… I’ll nail your wings to the side of the mansion if you don’t calm the fuck down.” After taking a deep breath as if he were trying to rein in his own dragon, Drake looked at Zavier and continued. “The idiot—Garrick, not Seth—did exactly as I’d hoped he’d do.”

Just then, Markus, Ty, and Ash entered the study. Markus nodded to them as he spoke. “Garrick has a facility in the Rocky Mountains. Aphrodite just popped in to let Gwen and I know. I swear the goddess has the worst timing.”

Amusement made Zavier’s lips twitch until he noted the location Drake pointed to on his tablet. His anxiety rose several levels; worry for the teenage girl Garrick held in hopes of luring her sister to him escalating. “That’s too close to where I believe Rayna is.”

“That’s why Ty and Seth will go check out the address you got for Rayna, and you and I will go after Blair. Ash and Drake will watch the house. I want this to be an in and out, no fighting with Gary right now. I hate being away from Gwen for long periods of time.” Markus worked his jaw.

The tension in the room spiked. Each of them hated to leave the pregnant goddess. Gwen had wormed her way into each of their hearts, as had Ash and Elle. They were family now, and no one messed with the Sons of War and their family.

Not even one of their own.

You’re fucking weak
.

Elle painted while her mind reeled with thoughts of Zavier holding her as she slept. Usually, his touch muted the invasion of the visions, but not this time. Images that she didn’t recognize, which had grown more and more fuzzy the longer she was awake, had disturbed what would’ve been a peaceful sleep.

She shouldn’t be surprised, though. The dreams had been getting worse. And so was the increase of power running through her veins. It was as if something inside her was waking up. What, she didn’t know. She sensed something dark, which pushed her to do more research on Nyx, her mother and the goddess of night.

Nyx had mothered a number of gods and daimons, including the two spirits of death; the keres were female daimons of cruel death, and Thanatos was the god of non-violent death. Although some scriptures considered Thanatos a daimon. But it was the blood-hungry keres Elle fixed on. The she-daimons were vicious and violent.

Elle’s blood ran cold with fear. What if she turned into a creature like her sisters?

Then there was the threat on Zavier’s life. She gripped the brush tighter. Garrick would die before she let him harm anyone she cared about, including her dragon. Although she wasn’t sure she wanted to mate him just yet, she knew it would come to that one day.

“You should get more sleep.”

Elle shook her head at Gwen’s soft command. “I can’t.”

“Did your nap help?”

Casting her friend a narrow-eyed glare over her shoulder, Elle pursed her lips. After a moment, she relaxed and set her brush and palette on the worktable then sat on the leather loveseat in her half of the room. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a peaceful sleep. I’m not sure I’ll ever have one. Zavier stirs up too much emotion.”

The dragon frustrated her, turned her on, and made her want things that were impossible—like a normal, vision-free life.

Gwen sat beside her and took her hands. “You let fear drive you. I can feel it surrounding you. Fear fuels the darkness. You must learn to use it in a positive way.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not half daimon.”

“True, but not all daimons are bad. Sure, because they’re Nyx’s children, they’re more powerful than daemons and many have god-like strengths, but...” Gwen hugged her and leaned her head against Elle’s. “Search inside yourself. Find your light and let it shine.”

Elle let a soft chuckle escape. There was a time when Gwen would have boldly spoken her mind. However, since her powers had been unlocked, she’d had to learn to be less bold and more vague. She was, after all, a goddess of fate, so her words could alter one’s future if she weren’t careful. Sometimes things slipped out and Aphrodite had to come in to do damage control.

“It’s hard when my dreams are filled with so much death and gloom.” Elle pulled out of Gwen’s embrace, stood, and then paced the floor. “Part of me wants to open the floodgates and unlock my powers. I mean, I can feel them getting stronger, but the headaches are worse. What if unlocking them makes me insane or kills me?”

Gwen jumped to her feet and gripped Elle’s shoulders. Elle stared into her eyes, shocked at the speed her friend had moved. Power whirled around the room a moment before Gwen spoke. “You will not die.”

Silence filled the air for several long moments. Then Gwen frowned and released her. When she stepped away, Elle reached for her, but Gwen held up a hand.

Crap
. Gwen had used her powers to… to what? Make Elle immortal? When Elle opened her mouth to ask what it all meant, a zing of power drifted into the room, changing the pressure of the air slightly. Turning around, Elle expected Aphrodite, but the goddess who materialized wasn’t her.

Black mist shifted into a tall, beautiful goddess with hair the color of night and eyes that mirrored Elle’s. Nyx wore a long, black gown that covered her feet and spilled out onto the floor. Her black hair cascaded over her shoulders and hung down to her hips.

Elle stood, staring at her mother. She had called to the goddess so many times in the last few months. And Nyx picked this moment to show. Elle didn’t know whether to be mad or happy to see her. There were so many lies and unanswered questions.

“I can tell you’re angry with me. Maybe I deserve that. But there’s more. I sense an internal struggle. You shouldn’t be angry at yourself either.”

“Is that your motherly advice?” Elle couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out, nor did she feel sorry for saying them once they had.

Nyx didn’t seem fazed by Elle’s outburst. The goddess moved around the room, stopping at each painting as she went. “You had a mother figure in your life when you needed her.” She turned and motioned to Gwen and continued. “Then a friend when you needed her.”

What in Hades was she talking about
? Elle glanced at Gwen, who shrugged before focusing back on Nyx as she surveyed the paintings. She guessed the mother figure was her human mom and then Gwen’s mom after Elle’s parents died. When Gwen’s parents had been murdered, it was just the two of them. It was Gwen who kept shit together as they moved from town to town, running from a crazy dragon.

If she followed the pattern of thought, then Nyx being here could mean Elle needed a mother again. That didn’t make sense. “I don’t need a mother now.”

“No, but you need something only I can give you.”

Elle knew what she needed, but when dealing with the gods, it was always safer to make them say the words. “What is that?”

“Free passage into the Underworld and the means to save your dragon.”

Yeah, that’s what she needed. However, she had hoped for a little compassion, maybe a hint of emotion from Nyx. Averting her gaze to the paintings, Elle tilted her head. “Why are you staring at my paintings?”

Nyx faced her and drew her brows together. “You don’t see it?” The goddess stepped back and swept her arms wide, motioning to the paintings. They rearranged themselves. “You’ve relived the Sons of War’s history and their present. The painting you are currently working on tells you what you desire. Only your actions can tell your future.”

Elle eased forward, staring at what she’d never noticed before. Mostly because she dreamt the events out of order, they didn’t make sense to her. Now that each painting was in the order in which the event happened, she saw it.

Starting with Ares standing in front of his son, the drakon
Ismenos, dead at his feet, to the rise of the Sons of War.
The next several were of different scenes from the war against the gods and their Earth-bound children. Then one of Sophia’s death. The next one was of the Sons’ banishment from Olympus. Then Garrick’s vow for revenge as he held the Divine Dagger. The last one was the one she’d started to paint when Gwen came down.

Images from the dream flooded her mind, but to her surprise, there was no headache. Zander—the drakon in charge of guarding the Dagger—roamed the dark paths of what Elle assumed was the Underworld.

Pointing to the unfinished painting, Elle spoke to no one in particular. “That’s Zander. I thought he was in Tartarus with his father?”

“He escaped like Markus believes, but he has not left Hades. Only you can go collect the Dagger from him and bring it here to be guarded by the Sons of War.” Nyx moved in from behind Elle, and Elle turned to face her.

Dark energy filled the room. It was familiar, like the power that ran inside her. “Why me?”

“Because you are my daughter.”

“How is me being your daughter going to make him give it to me?”

Nyx cupped her cheek, making it impossible for Elle to move away. Why would she want to? She’d longed for the day she would meet her mother, see where her powers came from. The goddess was beautiful, dark, and a mystery.

“Only you can retrieve the Dagger. You must ask Zander for it. Be aware, the drakon is insane. But he’s infatuated with me and owes me a favor.”

Her mother’s words drifted in Elle’s mind as if spoken only to her. “I don’t understand.”

“You will when the time is right.” Nyx leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Suddenly, pain shot through her temples and her body felt like it was on fire, inside and out. She screamed as she held her head and crumbled to the floor. Footsteps surrounded her, followed by voices that seemed to mesh together.

So hard to focus
.

“Here, give this to her.”

Was that Thea? Or was it Ariel? Wait. Why were the nymphs in her studio?

Cool liquid met her lips and she drank, relishing the soothing nectar as it slid down her throat and tamed the raging fire inside her. A few moments later, she felt sleepy, still not able to focus on the people in the room.

“Rest.”

Gwen
? Elle started to speak, but her best friend took her hand. She knew it was Gwen from her floral scent and the sound of her unborn child’s rapid heartbeat. A groan escaped Elle, but Gwen said, “Shh. Close your eyes and sleep.”