Remus (6 page)

Jenna zipped up the pack and stood. She swung it over her shoulder and glared at him.

What the hell had she been thinking? It was about the worst idea in the world to start making out in the entrance of an enemy lair. She was pretty sure that was rule number one in the make-out handbook. Rule number two was not to make out with men who were playboys only looking for one thing.

Her face flamed further with anger. She’d be damned if she’d be some conquest to him.

“What news do you have?” she snapped at him.

Rem sighed. “The Council is here,” he said quietly and glanced to the tunnel at the back of the cave. She noticed he seemed to be watching it far more than last time. “Right now they are preoccupied with other matters, but it will likely turn to talks about the lodge.”

She stared at him until he looked back her way.

“Are they a threat?” she said.

Rem shook his head. “No, but they could bring other threats.”

Jenna frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “So what will you do about them?”

Rem ran a hand along his face. “For now, nothing.”

“And later?”

The cave was silent as she waited for a response.

“Later I kill them.”

She gasped at his hard face. It was rare she saw emotion like that from him. Seeing it this way made her shake a little. There was so much about him that didn’t make sense to her.

“Give this to Titus,” he said and held out another slip of paper. Just as she had last time, Jenna shoved it in her jean pocket. “Come back in two days.”

She glanced at the dark bruising on his wrist again. Worry warred with the anger inside her. Despite what had happened, she still didn’t want to see him hurt like that.

“And I can’t convince you to come back with me?” she said and found his eyes.

Rem offered his standard playboy smile.

“If I come with you, will you make me chocolate cake?”

Jenna huffed. Even at a time like this, he couldn’t stop himself from spouting off some nonsense.

“You haven’t done anything to deserve chocolate cake,” she said and turned from him.

A low rumble from his direction made her shiver. “Oh, I think I could earn that cake if we were in a different situation.”

She shivered a little, no doubt in her mind that he’d be able to earn that cake and likely every other dessert she could make.

“I should get back,” she said tightly and headed toward the opening.

“Your cooking was excellent as always,” he called after her. And as much as something like that shouldn’t make a difference, especially after what had just taken place, Jenna still felt the little spark of pride that she had made him happy.

She frowned and tucked the feeling away. It was an hour back to the car, and she’d be damned if she spent that time mooning over a man that played with other’s emotions.

Jenna gave a huff and stormed out of the cave.

Chapter Six

“Where were you earlier?” Agatha said from the other side of the room.

Rem lifted his head off the cold steel table to see if she had removed her cloak, but the woman still remained a mystery to him. There was something about her smell that wasn’t right, but he just couldn’t place it.

“I like to have a little time to clear my head,” he said and shrugged. He might have done something else if his hands weren’t bound by the rough leather.

The short pudgy man, who he’d found out was named Harold, busied himself with work at the other table as Agatha tested him.

“I didn’t realize your kind needed to clear your heads,” Agatha laughed. The sound of it made his skin crawl.

“Of course he does,” Harold snapped from the table. “Don’t be absurd, Agatha. You’ve seen his results.”

She huffed loudly from the other side of the room.

“You’d do well to treat me with a little more respect, Harold,” she said, her voice low and laced with venom.

Harold laughed loudly, which surprised Rem to no end. The man seemed about as far from brave as a person got.

“I’m the one conducting the tests,” Harold said to her and glared across the room. “Who do you think is the least replaceable here?”

She might have seemed calm, but Rem could tell she was anything but. Her pulse quickened, and he could taste her sweat in the air. Despite his small stature, Harold had balls. Had to give him that.

Agatha huffed loudly again and made her way to the door. The sound of her heels clacking on the floor echoed through the room. When the door had shut behind her, both men seemed to relax.

“Well, she’s just a bowl of sunshine,” Rem said to Harold.

The older man looked over to him as if he was thinking along those lines and gave a weak smile.

“She wants a spot in the Inner Circle,” Harold said and shook his head.

Rem had heard of them. They were the elite few who held the keys to the kingdom in their world. No one had ever seen them, and the only path was to become a Council member. It all seemed like a lot of smoke and mirrors in order for them to have some inner politicking, with each person kissing just enough ass to make it to the next rung on the ladder.

“And you don’t?” Rem said.

Maybe this was his chance for information. Harold was more open than the other Council members. After all, he’d been the only one to even take off the hood on his robe. Rem had a feeling that with enough pushing, he might be able to at least create some sort of neutral understanding. Nothing much, but it might give him the chance later to do what needed to be done.

“I didn’t get into this for that,” Harold said and turned around to look at him.

Rem glanced at the table behind the man. Several syringes with various shades of liquid lined the table. He grimaced. It seemed like there was always something new they were testing on him. Mostly just to see how his system would react. As far as he could tell, he was damn near indestructible.

A hint of something blue reflected on the stainless steel table.

“What did you get into this for?” Rem said, his eyes fixed on the instruments of his torture.

Harold paused. He looked uncertain and seemed to be teetering on whether to tell or not. It was all the sign Rem needed.

“I mean,” Rem continued and looked over to Harold, “you just don’t really seem like the rest of them.”

Harold puffed up with pride, and Rem knew it was enough to get the ball rolling.

“I’m not,” Harold said and wrinkled his nose. “They are just users,” he said and glared at the door Agatha had used. “They don’t even seem to understand what we’re dealing with here.”

Rem frowned a little. “And what would that be?”

“Well, gods, of course.”

Shock overwhelmed Rem.

“Gods?” he said. The word seemed thick in his mouth.

Harold shook his head and turned back to the table.

“They really do keep your kind in the dark about all this,” he said and turned around with a bright blue glowing stone. The color was so bright and pure, it made Rem ache inside to look at it.

“You feel it don’t you?” Harold said and moved closer with the stone.

A hum buzzed from the stone the closer it got. It was calling him. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew it was.

“What is it?” Rem said, never taking his eyes off the bright jewel.

“It’s the essence of the gods,” Harold said and held the stone as if it were the most precious thing in the world. “The birth of your people.”

The words met his ears, but none of it made sense. Gods? It wasn’t possible. How could it be? He knew that many in the past believed their gladiator ancestors were descended from or blessed by the gods, but to think that in this age, well, it was just crazy.

“I came from that?” Rem said and tore his eyes away to look at Harold. The skepticism was hard to hide.

“Oh, not you specifically,” Harold said and turned back around to place the stone on the table. “Your essence stone has long since been used. It was your group that was the last to have it. And in the end, you were the only one to survive the full dose.”

Rem clenched his hands. Babies. This man was talking about babies as if they were disposable. He swallowed to keep down the bile that rose in his throat.

Whatever Harold believed, he had no issue wasting human life to meet his goal. But then, that was the way of the Horatius Group.

“Were there others like me before?” Rem had to know. All these years of being alone even among those who were similar to himself. It just wasn’t the same.

Harold turned to look at him. “Your group was the only one they tried the full dose on. Others had been able to withstand a partial dose as long as their DNA was mixed with that from animals, such as your friends at the Luna Lodge.”

It made sense. He knew he was similar to the Luna Lodge hybrids, but there was always something that kept him just outside of being a true hybrid.

“So we’re gods?” Rem said. He laughed at the thought.

“It’s so easy to believe you were genetically engineered but not that you are descended from gods?” Harold looked at him in shock.

Rem sighed. He wasn’t going to make any friends if he laughed at their crazy theories.

“You have to admit, hearing you’re a god is a little out there,” Rem said and give a small smile.

“Well, maybe god isn’t the right term,” Harold said and frowned. “Maybe demigods would be more accurate. But you…” He stepped forward and stared down at Rem. “You are more deity than anything.”

Harold looked down at him with awe. The wheels in Rem’s head turned frantically as he tried to both process the information and think of how to use it.

He frowned as he thought.

“If the last of the stone was used on my group, how are there younger hybrids at Luna Lodge?”

Harold stilled his movements. Rem could taste his sweat in the air and hear his heart as it beat rapidly in his chest.

“There are some things that you are better off not knowing,” Harold said quietly.

Rem’s stomach churned as the words settled over him. Knowing the Group, there were so many terrible things that could be happening.

“Please,” Rem said quietly. “I have to know.”

Harold turned to him, his eyes crazed with the knowledge of the inner workings of the Group.

“Not all hybrids have turned out as they should,” Harold said. His eyes glassed over and he got a faraway look. “Some need to be repurposed.”

“Repurposed?” The word itself was harmless but spoken as it was, it set his hairs on end.

Harold looked down at him on the table, his eyes wide and wild.

“Have you ever wondered what a man would be after being stripped of any link to the divine?”

Rem shook his head.

“You have seen them. Torn flesh, hollowed eyes and no soul to speak of.” Harold leaned down and whispered.

“Glycons,” Rem said more to himself than Harold.

Harold sat up and shook himself a bit.

“We do what we must to seek purity,” Harold said.

“This isn’t much of a way to treat a deity,” Rem said. Maybe if he could appeal to the part of the man that held him in reverence, he would just let him go.

Harold’s face reddened as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Yes, well,” the man said and turned back to the table. “I don’t make the rules. I only follow them.”

Rem cursed his smart mouth. He was losing the battle in the end.

“The blue stone,” Rem said, struggling to find something to keep him engaged. Maybe he’d be able to just stall enough, so they couldn’t do much. “What is the blue stone then?”

Harold glanced over his shoulder. “The ones that have the mark of Atlas,” he said. “This is their stone.”

Rem’s thoughts went to Magnus and his bright, glowing blue eyes.

Magnus. It had to be Magnus and his people. That must have been the reason they had been holding his people. Magnus and Nyx were let out on a very long leash, knowing that they would come back, so their people didn’t suffer.

“Atlas, as in the Titan? The one holding up the world and all that from the Greek myths?”

Harold shook his head. “The island of Atlas. Though you’d better know it as Atlantis.”

Rem frowned. Surely, he must be mistaken.

“Atlantis is just a tale,” Rem said. Given they were talking about gods, he found he wasn’t so certain what to believe anymore.

Harold’s laugh cut into his thoughts.

“The Horatius Group has always had a way with history,” Harold said and continued to chuckle to himself.

He was dealing with a mad man. There was no other way Rem could settle what he was hearing in his mind. It didn’t make sense. Science had been the cornerstone in all of their thinking about the hybrids. This was not science. Gods? Atlantis?

There had to be more. Maybe Harold meant it all metaphorically.

Rem opened his mouth to ask more but snapped it shut as the door clanged open.

“Harold,” said a robed man, stepping into the room. “You’ve said too much.”

Rem watched from his spot on the table as Agatha stepped into the room, Romulus close behind.

Harold turned to them, anger written on his face.

“We can’t keep hiding the truth from them,” he said and waved a hand to Rem. “If they knew their heritage, I know they would make the willing sacrifice. With them, we have made a better version of mankind.”

Agatha huffed at his words, and Rem got the feeling that not everyone agreed with Harold’s ideals.

“We don’t make those decisions,” a man at the back said, his voice raspy. “That is for the Inner Circle.”

“What good is the Inner Circle if they are never around?” Harold said and tossed his hands in the air. “They have made themselves as gods, but withhold this from the rest of us.”

“Harold!” a man shouted.

“It’s fine,” Agatha said and held up a pale hand to silence the men. “He should know.”

She stepped closer to Rem, her face still shrouded by the cloak.

“The Inner Circle is creating new life and a new sort of man,” she said. Her hands went to the hood of her cloak. She pulled back the thick, brown fabric. Agatha gave a slick smile. “Or woman, should I say?”

Her hair was a pale blond on top her head and pinned in a neat bun. Although she looked mostly human, her features were sharp, too angular really, betraying that she’d been altered in some way.