Twisted Fate (5, Rhyn Eternal) Page 3

wouldn’t approve of how or when I balance people.”

  “You don’t disappoint me, Karma,” he replied. “You have more to learn about who you are and your duties. You also have an eternity to figure it out.”

  She was studying him again, unusually pensive.

  “What’s bothering you?” he prodded. “You want to spend some time among humans?”

  “Well, first, I want you to know there’s no hard feelings about you putting me in prison. What you did was help balance me.”

  “Exactly. I’m glad you see it my way.” Not everyone would come to the same conclusion after being sentenced to prison for a millennium.

  “I do. You’re always right. Second.” She hesitated then took his hands in hers. Her eyes were growing dark once more, her hair as well. She was starting to short out, probably from all the exposure to the humans needing balancing around her. “You’re my brother. I do this because I want to help you the way you did me.”

  Until that moment, he hadn’t bothered to guess where she was headed with the trip, odd questions or thoughtfulness. He hadn’t bothered today to put the immense effort required into reading the destiny of a fellow deity. He’d checked her destiny yesterday, concerned about her involvement with the Immortals.

  Yesterday, his sister had no intention of doing what she was doing right now. Fate pulled his hands from her grip, about to lecture her once more about timing, when a flash of cool energy zipped through him.

  The calculations in his mind stopped so suddenly, he was temporarily distracted by the abrupt quiet where he’d never known silence before.

  Her hair was returning to normal, though her eyes glowed unnaturally.

  “Karma, what did you do?” he asked cautiously.

  “You need to be balanced, brother.”

  His heartbeat accelerated. He tried to access his powers and found them gone. Not blocked, not hard to reach – gone.

  “You have forgotten what it means to be you,” she said almost gently. “I love you. I’m going to help you remember.”

  “Karma, this is not funny.”

  “No, but it’s necessary.” She stood and stacked the journals. “You’re human, brother. Well, human-ish,” she corrected herself. “You’re deity born, turned temporary human. Whatever that makes you. Anyway, your destiny is yours again.”

  Her words sank into him slowly. “I don’t understand. My reward for a lifetime of safeguarding humanity is this? To become one of them?”

  She nodded.

  “This is punishment. You’re saying I was so off balance I deserved to be a human?” he asked, rare astonishment creeping into his voice.

  “It’s not punishment. It’s balancing,” she corrected him. “I was gentler than I could have been. I may not have timing, but I have compassion, which you’ve clearly lost since I went to prison.”

  He blinked, not expecting the rebuke from his younger, wild sister.

  “Don’t worry. Your power and status can be returned,” she added.

  “When?”

  “When you earn them back.” She shrugged. “So it depends on you.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “It means, when you’re balanced, you’ll be you again.” With a cheerful smile, she started away, carting off her journals.

  Unable to swallow the idea he was truly human, Fate trailed her. “How do I earn my power back?”

  “I dunno. Try being a good human,” she suggested. “Oh, and I reserved you a room at that bed and breakfast where the girls are staying. There’s three hundred dollars in cash on the nightstand in your room. That’ll last you … how long? Ten years?”

  “Not even close.”

  “Hopefully it doesn’t take that long,” she said. “I have faith in you, brother. You won’t be stuck here for a thousand years like I was. You’re stronger than me.”

  Coldness sank into his belly. Fate stood frozen, unable to digest what just happened. Karma stepped outside, and he forced himself to follow, not about to be abandoned in the mortal realm by his madwoman of a sister.

  Stepping outside, he shielded his eyes against the sun and looked around.

  Just like that, Karma was gone.

  Shit. He waited for her to return, to tell him it was one of her pranks. When she didn’t, he started to feel ill.

  People passed him on their path into the bar, and he held his breath, hoping to hear their fates calculated in his head as usual.

  Nothing. It was quiet.

  And he was completely alone. Powerless. Exiled to the human world by none other than his sister. His thoughts went to his history of dealings with Immortals, humans and deities alike, and he glanced at the sky.

  “I think I’ll be here for quite some time,” he murmured to himself. He had forgotten more misdeeds than he could remember.

  At least he was comfortable in the mortal realm. What disturbed him: not knowing how quickly those he’d pissed off over the years would find out what Karma did.

  This will be the ultimate adventure.

  Chapter Three

  “You’re not ready!” Olivia exclaimed later that evening.

  “I’m not going,” Stephanie replied. Sprawled on her belly across her bed, she was busy texting pictures of the leftover journal stock to her sister, who was one of Olivia’s biggest fans.

  “He was totally into you, not me.”

  “A sign he’s an even bigger asshole than he acted.”

  “But he’s hot. Like, really hot.”

  Stephanie’s fingers paused as an image of the charismatic yet rude man from earlier flashed through her thoughts. Tall, athletic, handsome and charming, the asshole was sexy with golden skin, wide shoulders and a smile that probably knocked normal girls off their feet straight into his bed. He’d been wearing sunglasses, but she could imagine his eyes – whatever color they were – had to be as flawless as the rest of him. She’d felt the intensity of his look, and the memory made butterflies flutter in her stomach. It was a rare day when she considered wanting something to do with a guy. She noticed a lot of guys, but they never, ever noticed her.

  “He’s not my type,” she said.

  “So, what?” Olivia countered. “Don’t read into this or overanalyze it. You’re not marrying him. We’re just having a drink.”

  Stephanie twisted to see her. Olivia was wearing a bright yellow dress and had taken the time to put on her makeup tonight. Naturally gorgeous, her eyes were as large as a doll’s and her plump lips wine colored.

  “Why do you even want to go?” Stephanie asked. “He was a total jerk to you.”

  “He apologized.”

  “So that makes it okay?”

  “No, Steph!” Olivia sat down on her bed with an exasperated sigh. “I just want to have a little fun, and I’m not going to hold grudges against a complete stranger. If some guy wants to buy us a drink, why not just go and have fun then come back here. We don’t ever have to see him again.”

  Olivia made sense. Stephanie knew when she was being unreasonably stubborn, but something about the guy made her uncomfortable. Maybe it was how he looked at her, through her. She’d spent her whole life begrudging the human race for overlooking her but if this was what it felt like to be noticed by someone else, she began to think she was better off being ignored.

  “I’m allergic to fun,” she said and shifted back to her belly.

  “You’re impossible!” Olivia rose. “I will drag you out of that shell one day and force feed you fun if it kills me.”

  “You’ve been saying that since I moved in a month ago.”

  “I got you to go on a road trip, didn’t I?”

  Stephanie rolled her eyes. “You can have fun for both of us,” she replied. “People really freak me out telling me their weird secrets. I’m so awkward anyway.”

  “You’re intense. There’s a difference.”

  “Okay.”

  Olivia laughed. “All right. I’ll be back by nine.”

  Steph nodded. She waited until sh
e heard the door close before sitting up. A small part of her wanted to go with Olivia, to sit with the pretentious man and let him charm her, just to experience what it was like to be the center of attention to someone as devastatingly handsome as he was. She’d know it wasn’t real, that someone like him wouldn’t ever truly care about someone like her, but it would be nice to let herself believe she might one day meet someone who would treat her like she was the good kind of special for once.

  Could she really tolerate being around someone so fake, though, even for a couple of hours?

  A flicker of envy went through her when she considered how often her sister and Olivia went out on dates. She hated being different but feared taking a chance at changing her life. What did that make her?

  Fighting with herself, she nonetheless stood and went to the dresser she was sharing with Olivia. She didn’t have party clothes or sundresses. The best she had was the gray skirt made of soft t-shirt material she wore on laundry days and weekend mornings to run errands. Was it dark enough in the bar for people not to notice it wasn’t exactly a formal skirt?

  She sighed, torn between wearing it or jeans. The mid-summer humidity and heat was worse here than in northern Oregon, so she went with the skirt and a simple, dark t-shirt. Not entirely satisfied with how she looked, Stephanie slid her feet into sandals and pulled her hair into a ponytail before leaving the room. It was a quarter past seven. With any luck, the stranger was running late, and she wouldn’t have to stand awkwardly in the bar looking for her party.

  She checked the lobby first to make sure Olivia hadn’t been stood up by the handsome stranger. She didn’t see her friend and left the bed and breakfast for the cozily lit street outside.

  The night was warm and air heavy. Fog hung low over the town, blocking the sky and creating fuzzy halos around street lamps. It smelled of flowers, and several people were out walking on the sidewalks past closed boutiques and open restaurants and bars.

  Beautiful and tranquil, the tiny town was as charming during the night as it was during the day.

  Except for the surplus of weirdos. Stephanie shook her head ruefully and started next door to the small English pub nestled between the bed and breakfast and an art gallery. She passed the middle of the alleyway between buildings. The sounds of a scuffle pulled her attention from her phone, and she paused.

  Four men surrounded a fifth. Three of the five were fighting. One spoke in a language she didn’t recognize.

  Her heart took off. “Hey!” she called. “Hey!”

  They ignored her.

  She pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the police!” she shouted at the top of her lungs and waved the cell.

  One glanced her way, but it was the sixth figure lifting itself off the ground that made her breath catch.

  “Olivia,” she whispered.

  Her roommate was dazed and wobbling, her sunny dress torn. She began staggering down the alley, in the opposite direction of Stephanie.

  The four attackers stood between Stephanie and her roommate. She debated what to do for a split second before sprinting away. Stephanie slammed the door to the bed and breakfast’s lobby open then tore through the downstairs area, through the dining room closed for the evening and to the entrance onto the patio leading to the quaint courtyard. She hurried through the courtyard and to the back fence entrance the registration clerk told them stayed open until ten every night.

  Stephanie raced out the gate to the alley to the left and hesitated once more at the mouth of the alley. Olivia had stopped walking and sagged against the wall of one building. She’d made it about five meters from the men who were beating the crap out of the fifth.

  Without giving herself too long to think about it, Stephanie ran to Olivia’s side.

  “Olivia!” she hissed. “Can you walk?” She wrapped an arm around her friend as she spoke.

  Olivia lifted her head, eyes glassy. She wasn’t bleeding that Stephanie could see, though one hand was pressed to her forehead.

  “Y…yeah,” she murmured.

  “Come on.” Stephanie cast a quick glance at the men nearby and half dragged, half walked her friend the first few steps.

  Olivia caught her balance and began to move.

  Before they’d gotten far, however, someone ahead of them spoke.

  “What’s this? Dinner escaping?”

  Stephanie’s gaze flew up. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn the man had fangs. Before she could get a better look at him, he had shoved her back and grabbed Olivia. She hit the ground, one hand splashing into a puddle. She wiped away droplets of water from her face and scrambled up, facing the exit and Olivia once more.

  She stood, too shocked to register what she was seeing.

  The man did have fangs. Not only that, but he sank them into Olivia’s neck while Stephanie watched and began to drink her blood.

  “Run!” someone shouted from behind her.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw the striking stranger from earlier. He’d managed to take out two of his attackers. The other two were on their feet, and they had fangs, too. But his eyes … they were out of a dream or movie. Glowing, filled with color yet colorless, the hue was like the iridescent reflection of light off the surface of a polished pearl, indescribably beautiful – and creepy as hell.

  What the fuck? If not for the stinging of her wrist from the fall, she’d think this was a nightmare.

  Olivia’s faint cry of pain snapped Stephanie back into the moment. She balled up her fists the way her kickboxing sister had taught her and strode up to the man who had Olivia. Without stopping to aim, she punched him in the side of the head hard enough to knock him away from Olivia’s neck then smashed a roundhouse kick high into the back of his neck.

  He slammed into the wall, releasing Olivia, who dropped to the ground hard.

  Eyes on the man struggling to recover, Stephanie knelt beside her. “Come, on, Olivia! We gotta go! Now!” she urged and tugged at her friend’s arm.

  Blood spurted out of Olivia’s neck. In the few short moments since he’d bitten her, half of the material covering her torso was soaked with red, and blood pooled around her head and neck.

  Stephanie rolled her friend onto her back and gasped.

  Olivia’s eyes were open and blank.

  “Olivia! We have to go!” she said, shaking her.

  The man who attacked Olivia snatched her arm and hauled her up. Stephanie punched him hard and drove her knee into his crotch. He doubled over, and she yanked loose, dropping beside Olivia one more.

  “Come on, Olivia,” she said and numbly shook her friend again.

  She heard the sound of struggle behind her and hunched, waiting for the crazy man with fangs to grab her once more. He didn’t, and seconds later, he dropped unconscious beside her. She jerked away and shook her friend again.

  “Where’d you learn to fight?” the handsome stranger who visited their booth asked as he dropped to one knee beside her.

  “My sister.” She tried to lift Olivia. “Come on, Olivia!”

  “We gotta go, gorgeous.”

  “Not without Olivia.”

  “There are a dozen demons waiting to eat us.”

  She stared at him, uncertain which stunned her more, his claim or … “What’s wrong with your eyes?” she whispered. They were rapidly changing hues beneath the iridescent shimmer, mesmerizing and too surreal for any of this to be real.

  “I can explain,” he said with a smile laced with some of his earlier charm. He touched her arm. “But not here.” For a moment, it was just the two of them – and a strange, warm electricity feeding from him into her. It was as intense as his gaze, exhilarating, compelling with a strange edge of familiarity, as if they’d always known one another, or were meant to meet.

  “Oliv-” she started to object.

  “- is dead,” he said gently. “We will be, too, if they have anything to do with it.” He pointed down the alley, where several more men waited. Streetlight glinted off their
fangs. “Trust me. We need to go.” He held out his hand.

  She blinked the spell away and shook her head. “Olivia’s not …” She stopped. Tears blurred her eyes as she peered down at her friend’s lifeless body.

  “I can’t leave you here.” He took her arm and stood, pulling her up with him.

  The strange current of warmth emitted by the stranger soothed her. Stephanie didn’t resist. At a loss as to what to do, she let him guide her out of the alley, away from danger. She gazed at Olivia’s still body until the stranger pulled her around a corner.

  “We need to hurry,” he said with quiet urgency.

  She reined in what she could of her horror and concentrated on escaping the freak show behind them. He held her hand, and together, they ran through the streets of Carmel, down the hill towards the ocean. At one point, she heard someone shouting as the men gave chase. The stranger ran faster and turned a corner, and the sounds of pursuit were soon lost.

  They ran until they reached the beach then ducked behind a lifeguard post. Panting and trembling, Stephanie bent over, gasping in air.

  “I have … I have to call … police,” she managed and reached for her pocket.

  “No.” The man gripped her wrist, renewing the current of warmth between them.

  She straightened, once more weirded out by his eyes but not wanting to break the strange bond of his touch. She stared up at him, overly aware of his nearness in a way she’d never noticed anyone else’s before. He smelled of sandalwood and brown sugar, and the sense of familiarity was somehow stronger. But she’d never met this man. She’d remember if she had.

  “Police can’t fight demons,” he added with a tight smile.

  “You keep saying that word,” she said.

  “Demons?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s hard to explain,” he said.

  She waited.

  The enigmatic man gazed down at her, breathing heavily yet nowhere near as freaked out as she was starting to feel. He seemed as lost to the moment as she was.

  “This is weird, isn’t it?” he asked finally.

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you hurt?” He tipped her chin up to peer at her neck, as if he, too, had seen one of the fanged men bite Olivia’s neck.