Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom) (2 page)

I smile sadly. “You can’t protect us forever.”

She studies me for a moment before turning away. “I know.”

Then, she’s off, back into the fight, as another creature steps in front of me.

This one looks mostly human—a sickly pale woman with a mouthful of gnashing teeth. A pair of broad, dark wings rises up behind her, almost fading into the green-black of the world around us. But what catch my attention are the long claws extending from each finger, like a set of kitchen knives.

My gaze freezes on her hands. The rest of the battle fades away into the periphery until the only thing left is the dull grunt and clank of other fights and the glinting of green light on blade-like claws.

My dagger is lost to the dark. I have nothing but my fangs and my novice fighting skills to protect me—and what little courage hasn’t fled at the menacing look in her eerie orange eyes.

The winged woman moves toward me, and I have to fight the instinct to back away. Self-preservation is hard to overcome, and I’m on the verge of running. Fleeing.

I feel a hand at my back.

From the corner of my eye I see Greer standing at my side.

“I’ve got you,” she says.

I nod. “Thanks.”

Together, we step forward. Some of my courage returns. With my sister at my side, I know I’m safe. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her safe too.

CHAPTER 2
G
REER

M
y heart stutters. This is the creature from my vision. Every detail is the same, like a memory come to life. Earlier today, sitting at Grace’s dining table, I saw this monster nearly slice my sister into shreds. My head throbs and my hands shake as Grace and I go after the hideous woman with blades for claws.

Seeing a vision and believing it’s true are two completely different things.

I didn’t
want
to believe it was true.

“You go right,” Grace mutters. “I’ll go left. Maybe we’ll confuse her.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, I start right.

The picture of my vision fills my mind: Grace, with this creature’s claws at her throat. I feel the same terror now as I did when I first saw this moment. Memory and reality blur until I can’t tell which is which. I only hope the rest of the vision comes true as well.

I glance around and realize Thane is nowhere in sight. The other fights have spread out beyond my range of vision in the faint light of the abyss.

In the vision, Thane saved her life.

Panic sets in. How can he save her if he’s not near enough?

My stomach heaves.

“Greer!” Grace shouts, tugging me out of memory and into reality.

And the reality is that I’m the only one who can help her now.

The clawed woman has turned to face Grace, leaving her back vulnerable to me. I watch, stunned, as the creature reaches out and wraps one hand around my sister’s throat. I stop thinking—stop remembering—and lunge forward. I grab a wing with each hand, ripping apart with all my might. My fear makes me strong—not as supernaturally strong as Gretchen, but strong enough. Beneath my palms, I feel the crack of bones snapping.

The beast turns on me with a howl. Without releasing Grace, it swings one arm wide, knocking across my temple and sending me stumbling back to the ground.

The world around me blurs and I squeeze my eyes open and shut in an attempt to clear the picture. I can’t save Grace if I can’t see.

Desperation drives me. I push to my feet, fighting dizziness and nausea as twin sets of Grace and the clawed woman—bladed hand still around my sister’s neck—move in and out of focus. When the two images finally converge, I gasp as I see the claws of the other hand moving toward Grace’s throat.

I try to shout for help, but the nausea overpowers me and I bend over, clutching my stomach.

I look up, my vision spinning, expecting—fearing—that I’ll see Grace eviscerated by the woman’s claws. Instead, I see Thane running. Sword held high, he swings it in a sideways arc, connecting the flat edge with the woman’s head.

Her hand slacks and Grace falls from her grip as the clawed woman crumples to the ground in an unconscious heap.

I want to cry with relief. Every lesson Mother ever taught me about maintaining my composure in the face of crisis evaporates, and I’m overcome by emotion. I let it overtake me.

“Are you okay?” Thane demands of his sister.

Tears tickle at the corners of my eyes and I blink them away, trying to regain control. Grace is alive. Everything is going to be all right.

“Yes, I’m—” She shakes her head. “Greer,” she says. “Help Greer.”

Help me? I don’t need help. I try to tell them I’m fine now that my vision has come true, but it sounds muffled and weak.

My tongue feels like a sponge, growing and expanding in my mouth until I feel like it’s going to choke me from within. I frown, trying to comprehend this strange sensation.

Thane is at my side instantly, pulling his backpack off and digging around inside. He’s frowning. He’s worried about me. No one ever worries about me.
Greer can take of herself
, Mother always says.
If she cannot, she will not learn how by being coddled.

I can’t take my eyes off Thane’s face, the serious and concerned look wrinkling his forehead. It’s a good forehead. Strong, solid. Loyal.

What an odd thought.

The boy is loyal
, a faint, foreign voice echoes in my mind.

“She’s been scratched,” Thane says to Grace.

She asks, “Is that bad?”

He doesn’t answer.

I don’t even care.

He saved her. He saved Grace and my vision came true. I have to let him know, have to tell him about the vision. He should know that he’s supposed to be here, that I knew what would happen. I have to at least smile. My mouth refuses to cooperate.

“Damn it,” he curses as he pulls a bottle out of small zippered bag. “Forgot cotton balls.”

“Here,” Grace says, followed by the sound of fabric ripping. “Use this.”

Thane takes the piece of shirt Grace offers him. He twists the cap off the bottle, pours some of its contents onto the cloth, and then reaches for my face.

Stormy gray eyes meet mine, and I’m transfixed.

“You’re going to be fine,” he says. “But this is going to sting.”

The instant he dabs the cloth on my cheek, I see stars. Bright, bold streaks of light flash across my vision even though my eyes are open, like shooting stars inside my head. Like when I held the pendant of Apollo in my palm to seek out how to get Gretchen back from this awful place.

The pain is so sharp, I feel my consciousness fading.

“What happened?” I hear Gretchen ask.

Thane replies, “Keres venom.”

“Hell,” Nick utters.

“She’ll be fine,” Thane says, like he won’t allow anything less.

Grace insists, “Of course she will.”

I can hear the fear in her voice, but I refuse to be frightened. I refuse to drag my attention away from Thane’s eyes, sure and steady and focused on me. He keeps dabbing the wet cloth on my face—on my forehead, my chin, my lips—but his gaze doesn’t shift. Something in his eyes pulls at me. I need him. I know nothing about him except that he’s Grace’s adopted brother, but I feel myself getting drawn, deeper and deeper, into the dark gray of his eyes.

As the liquid sears my face, his eyes anchor me, keeping me strong.

Soon, though, even that is not enough.

Finally the pain gets to be too much, and I succumb to the lure of the unconscious. As I close my eyes, I whisper, “You saved her.”

He whispers back, “You knew I would.”

I open my eyes, but nothing changes. I saw black, and I still see black. Blinking several times does nothing to change my vision. Natasha must have drawn the blackout shades. I have asked her countless times not to do that without alerting me. Waking up to sunlight is far preferable to encountering utter darkness.

Perhaps I will have Mother speak with her this time.

No, I will handle it myself. No need to bother Mother.

I draw in a deep breath—and practically choke on the stench. Why does my room smell like decaying garbage?

When I try to move, pain pulses through my body.

Oh, yes. Now I remember. Not my room. Not my house or even my realm. Memories wash through my brain like a vision, but these things have already happened. The monsters. The battles. The creature that almost killed Grace and knocked me off my feet.

“Ugh,” I groan. That explains the throbbing pain.

“Greer?” a male voice asks in the dark.

I smile.

“Thane?” I realize I’m lying down and attempt to sit up. “Where are you?”

“Shhhh,” Grace says.

An instant later the world around me lights up with a warm yellow glow. Grace, flashlight in hand, appears in front of me. Strands of hair hang loose from her ponytail, but she is smiling and unhurt.

We’re in a tiny space, barely tall enough for her to sit up without brushing her head on the ceiling.

“What’s going—”

She pushes a hand over my mouth before I can finish the question. “We’re in a cave,” she whispers, “waiting for Gretchen and Nick to get back.”

Thane appears in the glow next to her, bent over in the cramped space. He fills the cave with his body and the energy of his presence—strong and certain, not afraid like before I blacked out. He looks relieved.

“Stay still,” he warns. “The poison is still in your system.”

“Poison?” At Grace’s warning look I lower my volume. “What poison?”

He leans closer. “The antidote to the Keres venom,” he whispers right next to my ear. “It’s a poison your system can process, but it takes time.”

Grace moves to my side. “Thane saved you. He knew exactly what to do.”

I don’t miss the look she gives her brother, but his eyes don’t leave my face. She’s asking a question he isn’t ready to answer yet. I have the same question—and then some.

He reaches out and gently touches my face. I wince at the slight sting.

“The wounds are healing,” he says. “Shouldn’t be much longer.”

He drops his hand, but he doesn’t pull it away. I feel the heat of it right next to mine, like he wants me to know he’s right there if I need him.

“How did I get here?” I ask. “What happened to all those monsters?”

There were so many of them. I know we were holding our own, but Grace and Thane had to stop to take care of me.

Grace shrugs. “They’re gone. A few of them are dead. Some ran away. Gretchen and Nick are dragging the unconscious ones into another cave and tying them up so they can’t bring back reinforcements.”

She says it casually—a few of them are dead—but I can tell the deaths bother her. She’s too kindhearted for them not to. They don’t bother me. After seeing one of those horrible creatures nearly slice Grace’s throat open, I’d be happy to see every last one of them drawn and quartered.

“After they finish, Gretchen and Nick are going to scout around,” she continues, “to make sure there aren’t any more in waiting.” She nods at her brother. “We brought you here so you could recover somewhere safe.”

“The antidote is almost as bad as the venom,” Thane says. His thumb brushes against my palm, and a shiver races up my arm. “But it was the only way.”

I hear his unspoken meaning. It might hurt like hell, but it’s worth the pain. Better the unpleasant side effects of the antivenom than the alternative—death. He didn’t just save Grace’s life, I know. He saved mine.

And he barely knows me.

I have to thank him. I have to
tell
him—about the vision and our strange connection and my gratitude. But not in front of my sister—
his
sister. My head aches. I hope that’s not as complicated as it seems. He’s not
my
brother.

I glance at Grace and find her watching me. She flicks her gaze at Thane and then back at me, raising her brows in silent question. I don’t know how to answer. I don’t understand what’s going on between me and her brother any more than she does.

She flashes me a quick smile and then twists her head toward the cave entrance.

“Hey, did you guys hear something?”

Thane shakes his head, and I say, “No.”

“I’m sure I did,” she says, turning back to me with a wink. “I’d better go check. I’ll be right back.”

She hands the flashlight to Thane and then turns to crawl to the front of the cave. She’s giving us some privacy.

The moment she’s out of the light, I say, “Thank y—”

His mouth brushes over mine before I can finish, strong but soft. It’s gone just as quickly, but he stays close, his face hovering inches above mine.

“Don’t thank me.”

I shake my head. It makes no sense—he saved our lives and we
should
be thanking him—but if he doesn’t want my gratitude, then I won’t force it on him. He’s earned that consideration.

I won’t keep the rest of it inside, though. I won’t keep my vision—and his fulfillment of it—a secret. I have to share it with him, so he understands. So he knows why I needed him to come with us, why he’s supposed to be here.

Why I know he’s supposed to be part of this story.

“I saw it.” My voice is barely a whisper. I don’t want Grace to overhear, but I need to say it out loud to Thane.

Even if he already knows.

I can’t stop the tears stinging my eyes. “I saw you save her. Back in the apartment, when you said you wanted to come with us. I saw precisely what just happened. I knew you were going to save Grace.” I blink away the moisture. “I didn’t know you were going to save me.”

“I know.”

That is the craziest part. He
does
know.

“But
how
?” I ask.

I have no idea how or why I see what I see. The entire process is a mystery that feels more like chance than skill. I know I inherited Medusa’s power of second sight, while Gretchen got Sthenno’s super strength and Grace got Euryale’s autoporting ability. I know that I have visions of things and that those visions are coming true. I have no control over it, not yet. And I have no idea how Thane fits into the picture.