The Return
Page 50

For a moment I couldn’t move. I was frozen. My palms pushed into the dirt, my back aching from the blow and my entire body burning. I could hear them grunting, could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. The sky lit up a bright amber color, like tawny lightning.
Hyperion laughed.
We were going to die. The panic dug in deep. I lifted my chin, saw the shotgun, and saw my grandfather’s body. Tears blurred my vision. I didn’t want to die. Not like this. I didn’t want Seth to die.
Calling on every bit of strength I had, I rolled and grabbed the shotgun. Hands shaking, I shifted onto my back, rolled up, and leveled the weapon at the Titan. He had Seth by the throat. I threw up a prayer and pulled the trigger. The kickback flattened me back down, but I saw the buckshot hit Hyperion in the back. He dropped Seth and stumbled to the side. Smoke wafted out from the decent-sized hole in his back. Turning around, he smiled as he spit out a mouthful of blood that coagulated the moment it hit the dirt.
Holy crap.
“That wasn’t very nice of you.” He took a step toward me, and he actually smiled. I shot him in the back and he smiled!
My fingers trembled as I tried to squeeze off another round, but in that same moment, Seth shot up behind him, spinning with lethal grace.
Something whizzed over me, making a high-pitched whistle. Hyperion staggered back and then went down on one knee. I hadn’t pulled the trigger. Seth hadn’t delivered a blow.
An arrow was sticking out of the Titan’s shoulder—a wooden arrow that caught fire then disappeared into a poof of ashes. Another slammed into his chest.
A hand curled around my shoulder, pulling a startled shriek out of me. I twisted, ready to unload the weapon, but I came face to face with what could only be described as an ethereal, beautiful woman.
She looked like an elf.
A Lord of the Rings kind of elf.
Pointy ears and chin. High cheekbones. Long brown hair. And her skin had a faint sheen, a dewy glow. She wore a skintight, forest-green jumpsuit, and her eyes were all-white as they focused on me. I inhaled sharply, and all I could smell was rich soil and sun.
“Your father sent us,” she said, her voice as light as spring showers as she propped a crossbow on her shoulder.
Us?
Then I saw them—dozens of them coming out from the woods. All the females were just like the one kneeling next to me. There were men, too. They wore some kind of animal-skin pants. Their skin shimmered in the sunlight. All of them carried bows.
She helped me onto my feet. “You must go. The poison will only hold him for a few minutes.”
Breath catching in my throat, I looked down at Hyperion. He was frozen on one knee, staring straight ahead. “Poison?”
“Blood of Pegasus,” she answered, smiling slightly. “It freezes anyone and anything for a limited period of time.”
Seth was on my other side, staring at the woman with a mixture of awe and trepidation. “You’re a nymph, but…” He trailed off as he glanced at the male striding up behind Hyperion, pointing an arrow at the back of Hyperion’s head.
“We’re all nymphs,” she answered. “Contrary to the stories they tell, there are both males and females. Now you two must go. His body will adapt quickly.”
“Thanks. Have fun with this douche.” Seth sheathed his dagger and then started to pull me toward the Porsche.
I dug my heels in. “Wait. My grandmother—”
“Gone.” The nymph was suddenly in my face, at eye level. Seth stiffened next to me as sympathy crossed her face. “She is gone. There is nothing alive in that house.”
Her words thundered through me, and I cracked open. My heart hurt in a way that felt so very real, that shattered me straight through. My grandparents had raised me. They had loved me, and I had loved them with everything I had in me, and now they were gone. There just a few minutes ago and now gone, and for what? I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t process as Seth gently pulled me away from the nymph, leading me to the passenger side of the car. My eyes were dry, but I could barely see. I was quiet, but it felt like I was screaming myself raw.
When he opened the door, a male nymph was suddenly there. Up close, I realized, numbly, that he was as unearthly pretty as the female. “Your mother is safe,” he said. “Your father made sure of that.”
I stared at the elfin creature, unable to speak. Seth loaded me up and I sat in that front seat, staring straight ahead but not seeing anything, not hearing a single word Seth spoke to me as he got behind the wheel and spun the Porsche around.
It wasn’t until we hit the rural road that I realized I still clutched the shotgun to my chest.
Chapter 16
GODS, THAT couldn’t have gone any worse.
Fucking Hyperion. Apollo had been right. The Titan had gone straight for Josie, and he’d tried to tag her—maybe he had. He’d had his hands on her, positioned in the way to feed. I knew how it was done that way.
My hand tightened on the steering wheel and a flare of pain danced over my aching knuckles. The fucker had a hard head. My knuckles weren’t the only things hurting, but I wasn’t concerned about the ass-kicking I’d just gotten handed or even the fact that the Titan had been the only thing in a very long time that could kick my ass.
For the hundredth time since we got into the SUV, I glanced over at Josie. She was still, her eyes on the road ahead. At some point, she had let go of the shotgun and it now rested across her knees. The only words she’d spoken to me since we’d left the house were when I asked if she was okay, which was a lame-ass question. Her lip was bleeding again. Blood had dried along the front of her throat, but the bruise around her neck was painfully visible, forming a handprint, and wasn’t that a punch in the gut to know that Hyperion could have choked the life out of her or snapped her neck, while I’d been right there.