Nicole lay awake while sunlight lit up the bedroom of the farmhouse. She felt drained, both physically and emotionally exhausted. Sara had left hours ago, but the images refused to leave with her. Last night was a series of dreams reliving the best and worst memories of her past lives. Her memory was now completely intact, from her time living among the gods on Olympus, to her short, glorious life married to Triton, and then to her countless human lives, including her life in Honolulu with Sara. All the memories were there. And that knowledge was both liberating and distressing.
Ares had imprisoned her father, ripped her from her husband’s side, and then used her to fulfill his sick fantasies. For the last two thousand years, she lived different versions of the same life. Always Ares would drop her down into the life of a human, replacing her. And then he would replace himself in the stead of the husband, lover, or worse—her master. The one time he slipped up was when he left her stranded in Honolulu for over a week. Ares had initially played the part of her boyfriend, but then he took off, leaving her abandoned. He didn’t give her a clue as to when he’d be back. Then Triton came on the scene, she forgot all about her pseudo boyfriend, and fell hard and fast for Ty. Something inside her recognized who he was. Unfortunately, Triton didn’t stay, but he did leave her with a piece of himself—his daughter in her womb. Obviously, Ares had been furious when he returned and found her pregnant.
Nicole had no idea why the war-god was so obsessed with her. Perhaps the situation made her the perfect candidate for allowing him to live out his fantasies. But regardless, she was through with it. Somehow, she’d make him pay for toying with her life and imprisoning her father.
The door cracked open, and Ares face poked in. “Hey, you’re awake.” He stepped in the room and sat on the bed. “It’s past noon. How are you feeling?”
Like I want to shove a hot poker through your eye socket. “Better, still tired.” She pushed herself up to a sitting position.
“How about I bring you up some breakfast?” he asked sympathetically. Nicole had to admit he was a great actor. Well, she was a good actress herself, and she knew exactly what to do.
“Sure. I could eat.”
Minutes later, he brought her scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. “Here you go. I cooked it myself.”
She blanched at the food. “Oh, I don’t think I could eat something that greasy. Do we have some fruit?”
He frowned and mumbled, “Sure.”
Minutes later, he came back with sliced-up oranges, apples, and grapes lain neatly in a bowl.
“Um, honey,” she said. “You know I’m allergic to grapes.”
He looked confused. Still, he gathered the grapes and popped them into his mouth. “There, how’s—”
“I still can’t eat those,” she interrupted. “The grapes touched them. Do you want me to die?”
He looked like he wanted to say something but closed his mouth, cutting off his retort and sighing. “I’ll be right back.”
He came back with a whole orange and whole apple, one in each jacket pocket. He tossed them to her. “There. Breakfast is served.
“Listen,” he continued. “I’ll be out all afternoon. If you need me, you can call me on my cell.” He stepped toward the door.
“Okay, honey. Love you,” she practically sang the words as she smiled.
He looked her over, scowling. She worried that she overdid it. But then, finally, he gave her a weak smile and said, “Love you too, sweetheart.”
Yeah, right. You don’t know what love is. But there was one thing she could be grateful for.
The house was empty!
Nicole smiled as she munched on the fruit, stepping over to the window. The truck Ares drove bumped down the long driveway, leaving a cloud of dust in the distance. Sara had warned her not to try to leave, but with Ares gone, why couldn’t she just take a little drive? After all, if he were keeping up pretenses, she should be able to run to the grocery store without rousing suspicion. Right?
There should be an old Geo Metro in the back, and the keys should be in it—if the memories of the woman she replaced were accurate.
Nicole stepped out the back door, and there the car was. An old, beat-up, blue vehicle that had definitely seen better days. She just hoped it started. She stepped toward it, searching the woods around the place to see if there was anything to be afraid of. All seemed quiet.
Her breath stole away at a mound of freshly dug earth near a lone tree just past the edge of the graveled driveway. Goosebumps rose on her arms as she stepped toward it. Could it be?
The memories and images were still fresh in Nicole’s mind of the woman she replaced, and her husband. Her husband was a stern man, but he loved his wife fiercely. His wife, the one in Nicole’s head, was a troubled woman with low self-esteem. She loved spending her time in the garden, working the soil. They desperately tried to conceive a child. All the woman ever wanted was to be a mother. To have a child that looked up to her as the most important person in his or her life. But she would never be able to experience that feeling now.
Nicole swallowed the lump in her throat.
A shovel was propped up against the tree, beckoning her to dig and perhaps solve a mystery. Nicole took the shovel in her hands and drove it into the soft earth. She dug down several feet before she heard a thump. She carefully dug around, trying not to disturb the contents in the ground. She would have used her hand to carefully clear away the dirt, but she really didn’t want to touch whatever was buried there.
Something white peeked from within the dark brown dirt. She used the shovel to clear the earth away. Her breath came in quick gasps as she unearthed more and more of the object. It was a bone—a big one. It looked to be a pubic bone, and it was gouged with deep marks, as if something had been gnawing on it.
She was no expert on anatomy. It could be an animal bone.
The shovel shook in her hands spilling dirt as she scooped up the bone and set it on the ground beside the hole. She’d only just begun to dig again when she hit something else. A smaller bone—long and slender. That one, too, could be an animal bone. The wind picked up, and the leaves rustled restlessly in the tree above.
As she lifted the next bone, white shone below it—another bone. She cleared away the earth, and her heart slammed against her chest.
This was no animal.
A hollow eye socket of a skull looked at her from within the grave. A whispered voice blew over her skin as she trembled. She shook hard as she shoveled the bones back into the hole and dragged the dirt across the ground to cover the evidence. She looked carefully to see that it looked the same as she’d found it. Ares couldn’t possibly know she’d seen this.
Nicole shook her head. They were dead. And who was she fooling anyway? She’d known the couple was most likely dead. But seeing the skeleton made it all too real.
No matter what Sara said, she just couldn’t stay here.
Putting the shovel back against the tree, she rushed to the car. She skidded to a stop at the creature sitting atop the vehicle. It was a monster, a demon with wide, black wings like those of a bat. His leathery wings collapsed against his body as he sank into a crouch.
“You were not supposed to see that,” he hissed. “The captain will be displeased with you.”
“Do you mean Ares?”
“Hmm. You remember.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. “What are you?”
His raspy voice chuckled. “I’m your guardian angel.”
“You don’t look like an angel.” She darted a look toward the house—about fifty yards away. “More like a devil.”
He leapt off the car and landed in front of her. Nicole jumped back. “I can be,” he said. “I can be as cruel as any devil.” He circled her, his eyes wandering over her. His forked tongue flicked out and back into his mouth as if to taste the flavor of the air. “But I didn’t used to be.”
She needed to get to safety. But the house was too far away.
“You didn’t use to be what?”
“Cruel.”
Nicole was frantic to escape, but she didn’t see any way out of this. So she did what she always did when faced with difficult situations. She conjured some attitude and opened her mouth.
“Really?” She straightened up and raised an eyebrow.
“I was once quite the gentleman.” His smiled widened, showing white teeth stained red along the gum line.
Nicole barked a laugh. “I can’t quite picture you a gentleman.”
He stopped in front of her and faced her full on. She wanted to cringe away, but she didn’t. She stood her ground and smirked.
“I have the captain to thank for that. Using a power born from the Underworld, he brought me and my troops back from our graves. He restored us and breathed life into our dead corpses.”
“You don’t look like zombies.”
“Not zombies, vrykolakas. He brought us back stronger, better, more powerful than we’d ever been in life.”
“So what are you doing here?” She looked at the quaint farmhouse.
“We’re here to keep others away from you.”
“We?”
“Me and my fellow troops.” He looked at the trees lining the clearing.
“What do you do when other people come around?”
He smiled and licked his lips. “I don’t think you want to know.”
She looked at his teeth—pointed, sharp, and about the same space apart as the gouges on the bones. “You kill them, don’t you?”
“If the captain allows it.”
“Do you eat them?” she asked, not knowing if her stomach could handle the answer. But Sara said she was going to bring help to free her. Nicole needed to know what situation her daughter was coming in to.
“Human blood is delicious and soothing to my dry, parched throat, and the flesh…” He smiled, closing his eyes as if he were savoring the memory. “Mmm, so succulent.”
Okay, there was absolutely no way she’d let her little girl near a creature like this. Nicole just needed to think of a way out of this situation herself.
The monster’s eyes sparkled as he raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure the captain would be interested to know that your memories have returned.”
Nicole pressed her lips together. She’d been stupid to mention Ares. Once he found out she remembered everything, her chance for escape would be over. She really needed to make a plan. First, she needed to know what she had to work with.
“Why do you follow him?”
“I owe Ares my undead life. He led my fellow troops and me in battle years ago. As long as we obeyed his orders, we could not be defeated. And then even after we were dead, he brought us back from our graves—stronger, more powerful.”
“So his strong, powerful undead army is on babysitting duty? Why would you do such a menial task?”
“The captain loves you.”
“Ha! Ares doesn’t know what love is.”
“He risks much to be with you.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I cannot say.”
“Have you ever loved anyone? You said you used to be alive,” she reminded.
His brows furrowed. “Why do you want to know?”
Nicole shrugged. “I was just curious.”
He looked at her through narrowed eyes. “I did have a family—a mother, father, brother, and sisters. And then I had… Caroline.” The last word came out in a reverent tone.
“You loved her.” Nicole couldn’t help the surprise in her voice. It was obvious this hideous thing loved a woman. Nicole looked at the creature. He had seemed so inhuman at first, but now he looked more man than a monster.
“Why do you ask me these questions?” he hissed through his sharp teeth.
“How would you like to return to your old life?”
He shook his head. “Impossible. Caroline is dead; my whole family is dead.”
“If I could send you back in time to your loved ones, would you want me to?”
“You could do this?” He fingered a narrow, gold chain at his neck. A simple ring hung on the chain.
“I can. Do you want me to?”
“I would need to be human again.”
“I could do that.”
He stepped toward her, the glint of a bloody tear in his eye. “Yes, I do want it—more than anything.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
“Why?” he sneered as he leaned in mere inches from her face. His breath smelled strange, like dust and spiders with a hint of rotten jerky.
“If you aren’t here, you can’t tell Ares my memories have returned.”
“Hmm. That makes sense. But, if you are lying and can’t send me back to my Caroline, I don’t care what the captain ordered. I will kill you, drink your blood, and bathe in your entrails—and not necessarily in that order.”
Nicole swallowed and nodded. I sure hope this works. She raised her trembling hand and said, “I’m not lying. Take my hand.”
He hesitantly wrapped his long, clawed fingers around her hand. His skin was hard, crackly, and cold. Nicole went over in her mind exactly what she’d say. She only had one shot at this, after all. I wish I could go back in time to my family and be fully human. Yeah, that should work.
“Now,” Nicole said, “repeat after me.”
“I wish I could go back in time to my family—” she began.
Nicole was horrified when he began to speak before she could finish.
“I wish I could go back in time to my family.”
“And do it—” she rushed to continue.
He disappeared.
What have I done? Nicole swallowed, looking at her empty hand. Flakes of black skin clung to her sweaty palm. She really hoped she hadn’t condemned an innocent family to die.
The wind picked up, and goose pimples broke out across her skin. The trees fluttered in the distance, and she felt eyes boring into her.
We.
He’d mentioned his fellow troops. That meant that there was more than one of those monsters!
Nicole sprinted toward the house as the wind blew harder, whipping her hair around and pelting her with gravel and dirt. The sun darkened as shadows spread across the ground and crept up the side of the house. She thought she heard hissing and murmured voices on the gusts as her feet hit the porch step.