Isadora (Masters Among Monsters Book 2) (23 page)

“Where did she take him?”

Alasdair heard the question but didn’t bother answering. Instead, he stood and made his way over to Vasilios, who had a frown plastered on his handsome face.

“Hey? I asked you a question,” Leo said, reaching for his arm.
 

When his fingers gripped him, Alasdair spun on him, an angry growl of warning rumbling from his throat.
 

“Let go.”

“No.” Leo angled his chin up, and his eyes turned to slits. “Where did she take him? Tell me.”

“That’s
enough,
Leonidas.” Vasilios’s voice boomed through the empty hall.
 

Leo’s eyes flicked up to where Vasilios was now standing. Then Leo released his arm and shook his head, his eyes wild.

“I trusted you,” he whispered, and Alasdair wasn’t sure whom that was directed at. “You broke his bones. Crushed his windpipe…” His voice shook as the memory of what he’d witnessed hit him.
 

Alasdair remained where he was, his eyes fastened to the man now backing away from him.
 

“Yes,” Vasilios agreed. “But I only broke one bone. You should be thanking me for my restraint.”

“Th-
thanking
you?” Leo sputtered, winding his arms around his waist. “You’re a monster.”

When Alasdair took a step towards him, Vasilios appeared by his side and touched his arm, halting him in place. He sensed caution from his Ancient as they stood side by side, carefully eyeing the one they’d recently tied themselves to.

“And, apparently, you’re a god,” Vasilios announced. “Surely you are not surprised by what happened here, Leonidas. You have seen our past. We hunt. We kill. We
are
monsters. So, what is your point? Because I’m growing quite irritated, I will admit.”

“My point is,” Leo said, continuing to back away from them, “I don’t want to be tied to monsters. You had a choice tonight, just like I did the night I said I would help you.”

Disappointment and fear flashed in Leo’s eyes, and the hurt Alasdair felt from that emotion threatened to consume him. It was unnerving. Almost as much as the rage he’d felt when he had seen the one who’d tried to murder his cousins.
 

“Oh,
agóri
,” Vasilios said. “It is too late. You are already tied to us. Now, come here.”

As the order was being issued, Leo adamantly shook his head and raised his hands, and the ground under Alasdair’s feet started to shake. He looked down to the solid stone as a hairline fracture splintered between his feet, and then his eyes flew back to the man who was warding them off.

Leo’s eyes were like two grey storm clouds building and swirling with the thunder that seemed to be vibrating out of him as the massive walls around them shook. Then, as if the clouds had parted and a burst of sunshine were shining through, a blast of golden heat emanated off him, singeing their faces and their hands. The burn was similar to what he’d felt the night he’d drunk from Leo’s vein, except it was one hundred times more potent.

Leonidas
. The roaring command that hit all three of their minds was pure power. All Vasilios.
Stop this.
Now.

Once the command had found its way into Leo’s mind, he blinked and everything stilled. Silence engulfed them as they each stared at one another, and then Vasilios spoke.
 

“There. Now, I have my proof.”

LEO’S HANDS SHOOK as he stared at the two opposite him.
Holy shit. That was… What in the world was that?
He was about to ask when, without a word—or a thought, for that matter—Vasilios vanished and he was left standing in the cavernous space alone with Alasdair.

“Well, that answers that,” Alasdair said, and then he turned to walk away from him.

“
What?
That doesn’t answer shit. Elias and Vasilios both think we’re some kind of gods?” he asked as if the idea were impossible.
I mean, it is, isn’t it?

As Alasdair made his way up the walkway, Leo spun around to follow.
 

“Hey. Don’t walk away from me.”

Before he could catch his breath, Alasdair appeared in front of him and he grabbed the lapels of his robe.
 

“It explains why your blood caused me to lock up and almost die the night I tried to feed from you. It
explains,
Leonidas, why you would see my past when you put your mouth on mine, and it also explains why Vasilios is so taken by you.”

The anger at his own shortcomings was nothing new coming from Alasdair, but the jealousy in the final comment was. Leo hadn’t seen that emotion in him before, and it had him balling his fists in agitation.
 

“That’s something that clearly pisses you off more than the fact that you could be dead.”

Alasdair released him with a hard shove. “Do not get blithe with me,
file mou
.”

“Why not? Does it upset you?” he asked, getting right up in the vampire’s face.
Risky move, yeah, but fuck it.
“What are you going to do? Break
my
finger? Snap my leg, maybe?”

“What good would that do? You are more powerful than even I am with Vasilios’s blood mixing with yours.”

“
Ahh
. And there lies your problem, am I right?” Leo had to admit that it felt good to finally be one up on Alasdair. He walked around and jabbed him in the chest. “You don’t like that, do you? But which part don’t you like? The power part or the interest part?” With his anger riding him, Leo glared at the one who’d taken him in the first place and reminded him, “You tracked me down, remember? You offered me to him,
this
… It was all you.”

“No,” Alasdair thundered back, his teeth bared, and Leo couldn’t help but marvel at the ferocious side of this male. “It was all them. Don’t you understand? I didn’t track you down because I wanted you. Your gods, they led me to you. You were designed with one purpose, and that was to lure me in and kill me. You know all of my weaknesses, you are able to see all my faults, and I know nothing of you. Yet, now, you are able to destroy me. Destroy us.” Alasdair’s tone was filled with fury and disgust at himself, and when his voice dipped an octave lower, Leo’s hair stood tall. “You stand there preaching that you do not wish to be tied to us. That
you
are the one worried about the monsters. Somehow,
file mou
, I believe the tables have turned, wouldn’t you agree? Did it ever cross your mind that I do not wish to be tied to you?”

No, it didn’t.
 

But, before he could say the words, Alasdair was gone.

Neda’s Waterfall—Present Day

THE DISTANT SOUND of falling water was the first thing Elias heard. Not just a gentle trickle, but the thunderous rush of a treacherous current. He glanced at his surroundings and shifted so he could run a cuffed hand over the surface his ass was planted on. Dewy grass and moist dirt coated his palm as he continued to scan the area. There were lush, green trees and shrubs as far as the eye could see, and directly in front of him was a large pool of water at the base of a majestic waterfall.

Where the hell am I? Heaven? No…
 

The cuffs around his wrists and the ache in his finger remained, telling him that he wasn’t dead just yet—still, there was no sign of Isadora.
 

His scrambled brain thought back to the last thing he remembered, and it was a vision he’d never forget. Isadora, resplendent in her beauty as she twisted his broken finger at a warped angle.
An eye for an eye.
At this stage, he didn’t even begrudge her her vengeance, and he’d made peace with the fact that, if he were to die, then to have it be at her hands would be the way he’d wish to go out. The only mystery left was: Where exactly was she?

“Isadora!” he shouted into the moonlit night as he got to his feet.
 

He waited, wondering if his death was to be slow and drawn out. That, however, didn’t seem her style.
 

“Isadora! I know you’re here. Show yourself and let this be over.”

As if he were imagining her, she was standing in front of him, fierce as always, her boot tips grazing the toes of his shoes.

“Over? No, Elias. We are just getting started.”

Her brilliant, blue eyes glimmered at him as he swallowed a gulp of air. Then he made himself look beyond that captivating face.
 

“Where are we?” He wasn’t sure if she would answer, considering everything that had passed between them.
 

But she looked over her shoulder at the waterfall and whispered, “We are back where it all began.”

The ache in his hand was distracting as fuck, but even without the pain, her words would’ve confused him
.
“What is this place, Isadora?”

She was silent for several seconds. Then, as she turned and walked towards the water’s edge, she said in a voice so haunting that it chilled his bones, “Hell.”

ISADORA CLOSED HER eyes and let the sound of the rushing water fill her mind. If she listened carefully, she swore she could hear the ghosts of her past calling to her.
 

“Hell?” Elias asked.

She spun back to face the man who was contemplating her with total focus. He was cradling his arm, and though the pain of the finger must’ve been excruciating, he never took his eyes off her.
 

She briefly wondered why she had brought him here. It hadn’t been her intention when she’d arrived at the Assembly Hall, but once she’d been standing there, expected to end his life, she’d hesitated. Then he’d told her how he had loved the wrong woman—and everything had come crashing in on her. Her past, her present, everything she was and had been were now hovering between her and this man.
 

He didn’t understand her at all. That she could love and had loved. But that wasn’t his fault. She’d never shown him her feelings. Never allowed him to see beyond the desire and lust. Instead, she had played the role of the busy career woman who enjoyed him night after night. When, really, there had been a lot more to it. She had been drawn back to him time and time again, and had even found herself thinking of ways to ask Diomêdês if they could keep him. In the end, however, she had let Elias go.
 

It had seemed the fairest option of all. He’d been a good man when she’d known him, one who’d deserved a woman who could give him the life he must have wanted. So, when her Ancient had demanded to meet him after suspecting a deeper connection, she had ended things.
 

The idea of trying to explain who and what she was, as well as the complicated bond she shared with Diomêdês, had seemed impossible back then.

“Back in your office, you said that you didn’t know me, and you are right. You do not. I never let anyone close enough to really know me. But, somewhere along the way, you were no longer just anyone to me. Were you, Elias? And, now, we know why. You are much greater than just…
anyone
. You are a direct descendant. A demigod sent to kill me, to kill my sire. Is that right? Well, I cannot let you do that. I will
not
let you do that. He has suffered too much already, as have I, and I think it’s only fair that, before you die”—she looked back at him—“you understand what I speak of. That you understand how wrong you are about me and our kind.”