"Please, Layel." She beckoned him with a clipped, almost angry, wave of her hand. "Come to me."
Layel found himself on his knees once again, tears pouring down his cheeks. Still he knew this was only a trick, but what both saddened and thrilled him was the revelation that even if this had been the real Susan, he would not have gone to her. That would have been a betrayal to Delilah, and he just couldn't force himself to do it. He loved Delilah. Dear gods.
He had been punishing himself for two hundred years and he didn't want to do it any longer. He wanted freedom from the hate. He wanted to live. Truly live.
He wanted the Amazon. Now, always.
He still didn't deserve her. Nothing he did would make him worthy, but he wanted her. He wanted the chance to make her happy. He wanted a chance at forever with her, pampering her all the days of her life.
"Susan," he groaned. "Susan, forgive me yet again." He was finally going to let her go when he'd vowed to fight for her for eternity. "Forgive me."
*
DELILAH HAD WATCHED as Layel moved toward the empty pool, talking to himself, crying again. She'd been unable to budge, brought here by the gods, beings so great they'd been able to plant her feet in place and hold them there. Why had they singled her out? Hadn't she suffered enough?
"Susan. Susan, forgive me yet again. Forgive me."
There was so much pain and suffering in Layel's voice, tears burned in Delilah's eyes. She saw him, saw the sheer torture on his face. I need to comfort him--if he'll let me. But she tried to move and only managed to fall to her knees, scraping her skin.
"Why did you show me this?" she whispered brokenly. "Why?" For weeks she'd given the vampire the space he'd said he wanted. And she'd been miserable, missing him, craving him.
He had missed her, too. She knew it. He'd watched her. Every day, he had watched her, and sometimes he'd even followed her. Hope had renewed inside her, and this morning she'd decided to try yet again. She was a warrior. She shouldn't have given up so easily, anyway. Before she could find him on her own, however, she'd been whisked here.
He isn't the man for you, a quiet voice whispered. He loves another.
She stiffened. One of the gods, definitely. The voice had belonged to a female, soft and lilting, one she'd heard before a few of the challenges. "No. I don't believe that."
Even seeing him, you refuse to believe? was the confused response. Even hearing him?
Even then. She'd come to know him, his stubbornness. He was holding on to the past, not because he still desired his mate, but because he felt responsible for what had happened to her. "He needs me."
There was a crackling pause. Why do you still want him?
"I love him." And she did. He was a part of her. He was a man of devotion and passion, darkness and light. He was loyal and strong, a warrior to his core. He was the other half of her, the piece she'd always been searching for.
Your sister has failed me, time and time again. That leaves you, and I will not be kept out of Atlantis because you have fallen in love, Amazon. This time, there had been no confusion in the voice. Only anger. He is distracting you, a distraction neither of us can afford.
Be kept out of Atlantis? How could such a powerful being be kept from anything she desired? "Yes, he's distracting me from your cruel game, but I don't care. I love him, and I'm not giving him up. Just take us home. Please. We don't deserve this. Whatever's keeping you out of Atlantis, I'll help you find a way in. I swear it."
A cold laugh. You should care. I will not lose. Which means you cannot lose.
Lose? Lose what? As far as Delilah knew, only she and the other creatures were participants in the challenges, not the gods themselves. But there was no time to reason it out as she doubled over in pain. Intense heat invaded her, every muscle in her body constricting. She felt as if something were being pulled right out of her, the thing scratching at her organs, her veins. Then, suddenly, she was...free of it. Completely free.
Her emotions--gone. Her feelings for Layel--gone. She didn't love him, didn't hate him, she simply felt nothing for him. Nothing for anyone. She frowned, waiting for confusion, anger, or even relief to fill her; her obsession with him was over. Still nothing.
One day you will thank me for this, for I have just assured our victory, the goddess said.
Something's wrong with me, she thought, but she couldn't find the will to care.
Layel was still at the pool when her feet were freed, but she didn't walk to him as she'd planned. She simply turned on her heel and ambled away. She was tired. Perhaps it was time for a nap.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"YOU HAVE INTERVENED for the last time, Hestia," Poseidon growled as he materialized in the forest, mere inches away from the goddess in question.
The dark-haired goddess cast him an innocent glance, not the least ashamed of her actions. Or fearful because she'd been caught. "Me? What have I done?"
"Cheated, that's what." Ares appeared in a blink. "Again and again. I should strike you down."
Apollo quickly followed, a blinding light surrounding him. Artemis was beside him a second later, ice to the sun god's heat, seeming to drain his power and diminish the aura around him. Interesting. Poseidon had never noticed that before.
Hestia gave up the innocent act and glared at them. "Like any of you are blameless. I've watched each of you save your chosen contestants and lash out at their enemies. And don't try to deny that some of you have even offered your players tips. Besides, I grow weary of waiting for the finish line. I want this game over and done, the winner declared."
Poseidon crossed his arms over his massive chest. He agreed. Evidently the other gods had the same fickle attention span and restless need for constant amusement as he did. The game had begun to lose its appeal, the weeks dragging by. He wanted back inside Atlantis, its citizens his and his alone to enjoy, and he wanted to ensure these gods remained out of it.
"How about one final challenge?" Artemis said. Her demons had been eliminated, therefore she had lost the competition already. Atlantis would not be hers, yet she hadn't left the island, apparently too curious about the end result. "A winner could be declared today."
Excitement saturated the forest. Poseidon fairly shook with it. One final challenge...surely he could help a dragon win. Somehow, some way.
"What shall the challenge entail?" Apollo asked eagerly.
"And what should we do with the losers?" Hestia added, rubbing her hands together.
"I have an idea," Poseidon said. They huddled closer to him, each grinning with anticipation.
*
LAYEL WAS STILL RAW an hour later, when the gratingly familiar challenge horn sounded. He stiffened in dread but pushed to his feet. Once Susan's image had faded, he'd dressed and begun tracking Delilah's footprints. He'd been hunkered on the ground, following her trail, but her prints had seemed to disappear.
He needed to find her, talk to her, hold her. He just...needed her. If necessary, he would beg for her forgiveness. He should have fought for her, should not have driven her away. Hopefully it was not too late.
She'll be at the challenge, he thought, quickening his footsteps, dread shifting to anticipation. I will make her talk to me.
These past few weeks, he hadn't drunk any blood, hadn't slept, hadn't really eaten. He'd been tortured with thoughts of Delilah and Susan, with need and want and pain and bone-deep suffering. All he'd wanted was Delilah, he realized now, but he'd hidden the need with memories of the past. A curtain, a shadow.
Finally he'd allowed the light inside. Nothing and no one would do but Delilah.
I've been such a fool. He'd wasted all of this time. Time he could have spent in Delilah's arms. I'll make it up to her.
The sky was brightening as he broke through the forest's trees, and his heart was pounding. Everyone was already in place. Delilah was there, too, and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. Mine. Her back was to him, and that blue hair he so adored hung to her waist in silky wa
ves. He wanted his hands in it, fisting it, jerking her face to his for a kiss. Never again would he deny himself those delectable lips.
My mate. My love. He needed her to love him, which meant he needed her to give him what she'd offered before: a chance. And once he had her, he was going to get them both the hell off this island and safely back to Atlantis, where they could be together in peace. He'd go wherever she wanted, live in the Amazon camp if necessary.
His focus stayed on her as he stalked to the beach. She didn't stiffen when he drew near her side, didn't act as if she cared at all.
Tagart, who stood guard at her other side, was less nonchalant. He hissed at Layel with the feral intensity of a hungry predator.
Layel paid him no heed. All he cared about was Delilah. "Delilah," he said, savoring her name on his tongue.
She flicked him a bored glance. "Go away."
I deserve that. Once, she would have turned to him with longing in her violet eyes. Once, her arms would have opened for him and she would have proudly embraced him. "Delilah, I want you to know I care nothing about the dragon you were with. My past has hardly been perfect. I--"
"Will leave," Tagart growled. "You aren't wanted here. By any of us."
Brand strode to the warrior's side and gripped his arm, probably holding him back from a sure fight. A fight Layel would have craved only hours ago, with blood, with death and staggering amounts of his enemy's pain. Today, there was only one thing Layel wished to fight for and it wasn't the death of a dragon.
He breathed in Delilah's scent, a fragrance of femininity, the essence of pleasure, and savored every drop in his lungs, his mind accepting his adoration without protest. Peace truly was his for the first time in centuries.
"I need you," he told her, and they were words straight from his soul. "I need you more than I've ever needed another."
Her gaze finally returned to him, but her eyes were devoid of emotion. Violet yet...blank. Gone was her warmth, her laughter. "I'm sorry, but I'm no longer interested."
Again, deserved. She'd once asked him to reveal the worst thing he'd ever done. Now he knew. It was causing this, this change in her. She looked colder. Harsh. Hard. He battled despair. "You should never be sorry. Not to me. It is I who owe you a thousand apologies. I know a thousand will not be enough, but however long it takes, whatever I have to do, I am willing. For you, anything."
"Go away," she said again, just as bored.
Never. "All I ask is that--"
There was a screech, high-pitched, infuriated, and then a spear was sailing toward him. Lightning fast it happened, yet he watched as if the world had slowed to a crawl. He heard the whistle of air and managed to reach out and catch the limb just before it penetrated his heart. A second longer, and he would have been dead. As it was, the razor-fine tip managed only to slice his skin.
There was no time to search out his attacker. No need, either. Nola was shoving him down before he could drop the weapon. He allowed her to pin him, punch him and claw at him. He had vowed never to let anyone hurt him without retaliation. But her, he let. She was avenging her sister.
Delilah watched, her blank expression never changing.
A hard right was delivered to his nose, and the cartilage snapped out of place. Nails scored his cheek, drawing blood. Another right, then a left.
"That's enough. Stop!" Brand had issued the command with enough force to halt the Amazon's fist midair.
She glanced at him, murder in her eyes. "Don't interfere, or you'll be next."
Then someone was lifting Nola off Layel, and she was cursing in outrage.
Zane, he realized. The warrior held the now struggling Nola, and released a roar the likes of which Layel had never heard. "Be still, woman! And be quiet."
Zane, willingly touching a female?
"I warned you what would happen if you neared her again!" Brand launched himself at the vampire.
Layel scooted back, out of the way. A war had erupted, it seemed. The three rolled on the sandy beach in a tangle of fists and kicks. Both Brand and Zane tried to shove Nola aside as they punched and bit at each other, but she kept returning, going for Zane's throat every time.
Her fury was like a living thing.
I was like her, Layel mused. He'd been filled with hatred and anger, not really living for anything but death. Susan would have been ashamed of him had she met the man he'd become. But Delilah had found a way to love him, anyway.
She was a gift. A treasure.
And she was striding toward the bloody trio, he realized. He popped to his feet and dashed to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. She turned to him, still expressionless.
"Release me," she said.
"Stay here. Please. I will help your friend." It would be his pleasure, giving her something she desired.
She opened her mouth to reply, but another voice stopped her.
"Actually, we will stop them."
Layel's stomach clenched as the trio was frozen in place. How he despised these gods and their seemingly all-consuming power.
In a blink, the fighters were on their knees, bowing, blood trickling from their wounds. They were panting as a clear jellylike being materialized in front of them. No, not one. But five. Five beings. Layel's eyes widened. He'd known there was more than one god pulling the strings, but hadn't expected so many.
"I admire your vehemence, vampire," one of them said, solidifying into a tall, muscled, dark man. Fire blazed in his eyes, fierce and war-hungry. Ares. Ancient scrolls and portraits of the gods had once filled his palace. After Susan's death, Layel had removed them. He'd felt forgotten, abandoned, and had wanted no part of the beings who seemed more concerned with their own selfish pleasure than with the well-being of their children.
"Enough is enough," another added, solidifying, as well. Hestia. She was plain of face yet somehow so sensual she would have made any other man hard as a rock in seconds. Any but Layel. His body existed only for Delilah.
"The time has finally come to end this." Another female. Dark-haired, lovely. Dressed in a bright yellow robe. Artemis.
"I, too, am tired of waiting." A man. Blond, muscled, casting an aura so vibrant Layel had to squint. Apollo.
"Vampires, Amazons, dragons and nymphs. At last we come face-to-face. You've become predictable, the lot of you. My amusement with our little game has rapidly waned. You were to prove your strength to us, as well as demonstrating which race is superior to all others." Dark hair he sometimes changed to gold, male, tall and muscled, with eyes as blue and fathomless as the sea. Poseidon. "We could not decide, you see, and fought amongst ourselves. You were brought here to settle that argument, but all you've done is prove you are as weak and foolish as the humans, placing your hearts above your own survival."
"What more do you want from us?" Layel asked them, inching in front of Delilah to shield her. He didn't trust these beings, and wouldn't tolerate their attention being turned to his woman. "We've done everything you've asked."
He was on his stomach a moment later, writhing in pain beyond imagining. Dirt filled his mouth as he gasped for breath.
"No questions are allowed, vampire," Ares said. "Damn, but I'm disappointed in you! You should have slayed them all by now."
"And you." Hestia looked at Delilah and tsked under her tongue. "I had such high hopes for your independence and strength, yet you focused on a man and lost sight of the true prize."
"I know you," Delilah said, frowning. "Your voice. You were there. In the forest. You--"
"Enough from you," Hestia rushed out, and then Delilah, too, was on her knees. At least she wasn't writhing.
"Enough from all of you. You had your chance, yet here you are. While we admire your fortitude, your continued refusal to remove the threat of your enemy has been...disappointing," Ares said to the still-bowing trio. "The time has come to narrow the combatants to only one creature per race. That means you three are no longer needed. Brand, Zane, Nola, rise."
Hestia stepped forward as
they obeyed. All three blanched, opened their mouths to protest, he was sure, but no sound emerged. "Dragon, vampire, you fought over the Amazon, and so you shall soon be surrounded by them. We are sentencing you both to be their slaves."
Zane roared with fury and terror, leaping backward, away from the crowd. "No." Finally, sound. "No!"
"I'm begging you not to do this," Brand gasped out. "I never wanted the Amazon. She is like a sister to me."
Their cries went unheeded. Each of the gods waved their hands through the air, an eerily synchronized movement, and the two warriors disappeared, only the imprints of their feet left behind. Layel had been reaching for his soldier, trying to grab hold of him. Beside him, Delilah remained unmoved. With his other hand he grabbed her calf, stroking, offering comfort though he could see she felt no fear.
"Great Ones, please," Nola said on a shaky breath, backing away. "I beg you, do not--"
"Silence!" Artemis bellowed.
And so there was silence, even the insects ceasing their songs.
"Better." Hestia relaxed, her expression softening. "I don't like the thought of a woman being enslaved, nor do I like the thought of destroying you when you have not yet had a chance to truly live. And so you will not be given to the vampires or the dragons."
Gradually Nola, too, relaxed. Until...
"Therefore, because you failed time and again to kill your targets," Hestia continued, her tone cold, "you will be sentenced to watch them live, unable to be seen or heard by those around you." The goddess paused. "Let this be a lesson to you. When a goddess demands a favor of you, promising a reward beyond imagining in return, see it through. Had you done so, you would have known a different outcome this day."
All color leached from Nola's cheeks. Shock and terror filled her eyes, and tremors rocked her body so forcefully even the ocean's waves undulated. "No. Please, no. I didn't pit them against each other. I didn't. And I tried to kill the king. I did, but he--" Nola disappeared, her words gone with her.
"Return her. Now." Delilah stood and strolled forward, the casual movement at odds with her words, as if she was doing what she knew she should but couldn't bring herself to care about the action.
Layel latched on to her ankles and jerked. She hit the sand face-first and came up sputtering. Though still in pain, he pushed to his feet and moved in front of her. The few creatures left standing were pallid, quiet. He wanted to tell Delilah there would be time to save their friends later, but kept silent, unwilling to incite even more divine punishment.