S.A. Price (16 page)

Elise sighed. “Ok, so you’re saying that she wants to be flesh, but she won’t take a woman that’s been tortured and hurt, and she’s a sex magic kinda goddess. This makes sense.”

“Yes, and she would need a vessel that could change. A human won’t suffice, and that’s where you guys caught a break.”

“Caught a break?” she asked and went to the window.

“Yes, See Delphyne isn’t a real shifter, she is in fact a Lamia, and I think she’s the original one as well. Because of this she won’t inhabit a non-snake shifter because the partial transformation would be impossible. If your people haven’t changed yet, then she doesn’t know who isn’t a snake and who is, and that would stop her from choosing among those who did as a vessel. And it also means that those that haven’t still have a chance at doing so, so they will all be kept alive until one or a few shift for them.”

Elise didn’t know if it was providence as Astrid said but it gave her hope. “Ok so you’re telling me that if they don’t change we have a shot… and if they do we have even less time to find them?”

“Double edged sword I know, but think of it this way, it’s been happening for a while, and you haven’t heard of many deaths or finding them right? So in essence, the girls are still alive, and unharmed, to a point at least.”

“Well thank the gods for small favors.”

“Yeah, but there’s one other thing,Delphyne can only be summoned in a ritual with said vessel twice a year. On the solstice. Which gives us an even tighter time limit in some respects.”

“Meaning?”

“The Summer Solstice will be in less than a week. If any of them have changed, but Delphyne doesn’t approve of them, then they will have to wait till winter to try again. And Delphyne is a picky bitch from what Ishtar says. I don’t know if I’m just taking you in circles with all this, I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“No no, thank you Astrid, It’s been most helpful.” She sighed and shook her head. It was true, Astrid had given her a lot of information, and stuff she could use, if not now then in the future, but it still didn’t give her any more cause to rejoice. So many females missing, it meant only one thing to Elise. They were getting desperate. “I shall call you tomorrow.”

“Do, I have an Algarian text being brought to me tonight and I’m thinking it might shed some light on everything. The Algarian people were notorious for snake worship.”

“Indeed. Please keep me informed, and anything you have digital, please send to Beryl. She is hard at work deciphering that Hurons text you sent earlier.”

“No problem. Good luck Elise.”

~65~

The phone went dead and Elise turned from the coming night to look into her room, unable to put off the thinking any more. The council had gone well for both of them. Merrick had ensured her territory for the time being and she didn’t have to use her own leverage in the matter. That alone made things easier, but it still didn’t make up for the slight of the first meeting. She was still hurt, but now she had a choice in her matters, and that she would take as a small victory.

Even noticing Merrick’s enforcer with her own gave her pause. Myra was not one to idly let a strange man touch her, let alone a snake, without breaking something. That she allowed him to stroke her thigh through the whole meeting spoke well of the young snake and Elise approved even if it was just for the time being. Myra had dallied with humans for far too long, and she needed a snake companion, and the boy was just as good as any, as he seemed interested in her and not put off by her ingrained scent of pigments and turpentine.

She went to the bed and sat down, took off her shoes and placed her toes on the carpet, wiggled them into the thick pile. And what about Merrick? She had kept her distance from him, more so after he had given her the picture. He just had to play that card didn’t he? Son of a Bitch doesn’t even think what his fucking head games are doing to me.

Her thoughts were clear in her head, the possibility of him and her still, after all these years, was a hope of her heart. Even as she knew it was trying to mend from his deception. She lay back and stretched, shaking her head. She would need to shift soon, the stress and the excitement had woken the primal side of her, and she would need a shift and possibly a hunt before the new moon. She didn’t enjoy hunting off the Knossos property but depending on how long it was going to take, she might have to consider. As she mused she turned her head, hearing a small knock on her door.

Probably one of the staff with dinner. She thought as she got up and went to the door, opening it to see Merrick standing in front of her. “Yes?”

"I thought maybe we could talk... did you find out anything new from the witch?" he asked casually.

She nodded and let him in. Work she could deal with, it was leaving her heart raw on the carpet for him to step on she wasn’t overly fond of. "I did. Apparently Lamia cults only truly worship one deity, Delphyne, but like all deities, she’s got rules, and I think those rules might help us out."

"In what way?"

"Delphyne will only imprint on a vessel that has shifted, and only on one she deems strong and sexually attractive enough to use. The females she is given to choose from cannot be harmed, so raping is out of the question. They must be seduced, and willingly accept the advances. And they won’t be killed. She isn’t that kind of deity." She walked over to a side chair and sat then turned and reached under the side table for the mini fridge, grabbing two seltzers and limejuice. "Thirsty?"

"Thanks." he said taking the bottle from her. "That’s good for the girls, physically at least. So they need the attractive ones. That explains why recently they seem to have gone out of their way to get the models. There are a few that I thought would have been a little too high profile for them."

"Like?" she asked and poured her drink into a glass next to her and dripped the limejuice into it.

"Justine Wicker, she's a news reporter former weather girl. She was pretty enough and seemed to be moving up in the world. She went missing a month ago. Karen Lindsay was the pin up of the rally-driving world, hot, talented and fast as hell behind the wheel of a car. She went missing around the same time. Most recently though, was little Evelyn Rose, another rising star and definitely one to interest Delphyne. She takes me out to lunch whenever she's in town, tough little cookie."

"Well that’s not good news. Tell me; are they strong enough to put off a shift? I know Carmen put them off for months at a time before she came to Knossos. Is it possible they can hold out? They won’t be chosen regardless of how attractive they are, unless they shift. Delphyne has to have a vessel that can change or else she can’t partially change, making her a live and living Lamia. Though I gotta be honest I haven’t ever heard of a hybrid like that aside from in the myths."

~66~

"Don’t exist that I know of, I can put a call through to Trent though. Fuck knows he's come across some weird things in his time. Putting off a change is what my people do, it’s what I teach them to do... they'll be able to hold out as long as they're not being beaten and still have their minds."

"Then thank the gods for small favors. There’s one more rule, the ritual can only be done twice a year, on the solstice. And guess what?" she sipped her drink, watching him. He sat across from her at ease, his body language languid and welcoming. She fought every urge to slip onto his lap, like she used to do, inhaling his scent.

"It's pretty soon?" He groaned quietly.

"Less than a week away. If none of them have shifted then we have a problem, but if they have then we have an even bigger problem."

"That’s always the way of things, what did the witch say they’d do if they haven’t shifted?"

"If they think they are snakes then nothing, they will wear down their resolve. If they haven’t given any indication of being one, then I don’t know, but it can’t be good."

"So we'll just have to find them by the end of the week then. It shouldn’t be that hard once we get whatever information Beryl has found on the location."

"True. And I hope to god she does soon. Beryl has such a gift for research."

"She does."

She fidgeted. Now that work was over, things were going to veer towards them and their failed relationship and she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it. "So I should get this info to the other Archons..."

He smiled at her, "I suppose that would be best... keeping our minds on work."

She frowned. "Yes I think so..." she fidgeted once more and looked down at her glass.

"I won’t force the issue Elise," he said quietly, "No matter how much I might want to. I know I've hurt you and I don’t want to keep doing so."

"Your being here does that. Christ Merrick, do you have any idea how hard it is to sit across from you?"

"Some. I do have to sit across from you after all... being so near you and still being unable to touch you, hold you, just about kills me."

She chuckled bitterly, shaking her head. "I find that hard to believe Merrick. You have been alive all this time and knew I was alive and it wasn’t so hard for you to stay away."

He let out a strangled laugh. "You think so?"

"It’s obvious." she sighed. "If you cared one lick about me and what I was going through you would have let me know I wasn’t alone in the world."

His eyes flashed angrily up at her, the only outward sign of his anger apart from his white knuckles as they griped the arms of the chair. He took a deep breath relaxing himself before standing.

"I tried Elise, I did, but it wasn't easy. It was very far from easy... I'm sorry you have to go through what you did but, believe me or not, it wasn't just something I did on a whim to be cruel. I love you... I always will. Unfortunately if you refuse to move even an inch then all my being here serves to prove is to hurt us both."

"What do you want me to say Merrick? That I’m happy you here? I am, I’m happy that you’re not dead. Do you want me to tell you that living without you is killing me slowly, and has been for ages?

How about admitting to you that yearnings that I thought were long dead in me have been awakened now that you’re here? Or maybe that I love you so much it hurts?" She looked at him, her eyes shining.

"It would help..." He looked at her sadly, his own pain showing plainly on his face. "Even if you showed some glimmer of hope for us ‘Lise." He watched her uncertainly. "I don’t want to live without you anymore, its not living."

"Hope? I have kept hope alive in me that you weren’t dead for years John. I never mated, isn’t that hope?"

~67~

"And yet here I am Elise..." He held his arms up taking a step forward. "And every signal I've gotten from you is that you don’t want me... that you'll never forgive me. That I'd be better off dead."

Tears fell from her eyes slowly. "You put me through so much hell John..."

He took another step forward. "Then punish me for it. Beat me, shout and rage, throw things, but for god’s sake don’t push me away."

She closed her eyes, tears still falling. "No matter how much I want to hurt you I can’t," she whispered, her hands in her lap.

He moved sitting next to her on the bed. "I know... but you could slap me again. We could wrestle around and end up having angry sex on the floor, then by the time we reached the bed..." He sighed.

"It's been a long time ‘Lise. I'm too old for this."

"You don’t think I am? All I ever wanted was a life with you, and I have been denied it. This just can’t be real, I’m probably delusional and having a breakdown finally."

"Not exactly..." He lay back, staring at the roof. "I wanted a family, children of our own. Things just got complicated... I still haven’t lost sight of that day, looking after our kids instead of everyone else’s. So many times I wanted to just show up on your door..." He chuckled bitterly. "I got you flowers for your birthday... four years ago."

She sobbed, bursting into tears at the memory. No card, no note, just a vase of lilies and roses, all white and orange with a bow. She never knew who sent them, assuming that Reece and Remy sent them but now... "John I never needed you to stay... just to be with me and know you were out there..."

she looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed. "Thank you for the flowers... I had thought it was the boys, now I guess I know they weren’t lying when they swore it wasn’t them."

"They're good boys, they wouldn’t lie much. Elise I owe you a lot... fifteen years of a lot, and I want to begin making up for that but you have to let me... trust me." He sat up taking her hands in his. "I know that’s asking for a hell of a lot."

"Damn right it’s asking for a lot. I trusted you to come home to me, and you never did." She sighed and shook her head. "I needed you so much John..."

"I'm here now Elise."

"And only because a threat was posed to you and yours and you needed the help of the council.

Tell me the truth John, if this hadn’t started happening would you and I be where we are right now?"

"In this room? No... I would have come to you Elise. I couldn’t have stayed away forever."

She stood and went to him kicking him in the knee. "When? When I was too old to have a clutch?

When I had wasted my entire fucking life waiting for you? After you finally realized you had someone who loved you waiting for you? You’re a shit Merrick!" she kicked him again.

He yelped grabbing at his knee. "Enough... I would have come soon, I’ve been working up to it and this wasn't how I wanted it to go."