Omega Series: Omega Part 13

The reminder of how unnatural his skills were didn't help my irritation. He motioned me out of the cell. I went, mostly because I was afraid to push him when I was trapped in a room that small. The nearness of Adonis made my instincts so sensitive, everything agitated me. A guard escorted us out of the prison building.

I couldn't take the thick silence between us or the fear I was in the kind of trouble I didn't know how to get out of. I kept telling myself that Herakles was free and would come for me. I just had to survive on my own here a day or two, and I could do that.

But this ... I stared at the back of his head, not understanding how I was dutifully following him down the corridor like a puppy when I knew I should at least try to run.

Because he knows me. I wanted to learn more about being an Oracle and my past, and this man claimed to have that knowledge, if I could survive him long enough to learn.

"On a scale of one to ten, one being stuck on the couch again tonight and ten being flayed alive, where am I in terms of trouble?" I asked finally.

"Three."

I invented the scale and had no idea what that meant. What alarmed me: his response wasn't one. "So you are upset about Herakles leaving?"

"Not at all. He served his purpose. I didn't impede his escape."

Holy Zeus. Adonis knew all along. He was toying with me, once more the predator.

"Then why a three?" I demanded.

"You moved slower than I expected. I'm a little disappointed."

I almost choked to keep from speaking. Stop falling for it, Lyssa! He's playing games with you! It was unnerving. I had to stop folding to my discomfort and just shut up, as Niko had ordered me.

So I did. I said nothing all the way back to his apartment.

He left me there. Alone. No guard. No handcuffs.

This was the part of his game where I cringed and admitted he was right. I was blindly volunteering to stay in the hopes he at least enlightened me about who I was before he did whatever they did to Oracles.

I had the distinct feeling I'd one day look back on this moment and wish with all my heart that I'd run.

But for now, I was staying put.

Rustling came from the direction of his bedroom. I started towards the open door but stopped.

I'm not alone. This instinct was the worst.

Turning, I spotted someone in a military urban camouflage uniform dropping onto the balcony from the direction of the roof. He was followed by four more men, all armed to the teeth. They entered the open s.p.a.ce.

"Sorry, kid. Boss wants you back now." Niko pulled off his mask. "You gonna come quietly? Help Uncle Niko get a second bonus?"

"Whatever I can do to help you pay your child support," I retorted. I was really starting to hate him.

He held up a pair of handcuffs. "Well then come on, you little s.h.i.t."

He was an a.s.shole, and Herakles believed Adonis was bad news. I needed to know who my parents were but at what cost? No one I'd met yet seemed remotely trustworthy. The weapons of his men were trained on me. He wasn't taking chances this time.

"Let me get something first," I replied and strode into the bedroom before he could object.

A man like Adonis had to have some sort of weapons around. He was always lightly armed compared to the other SISA members and the military guys with Niko, but there had to be something.

The teddy bear on his bed made me look twice. If I had time, I'd have laughed at the idea that a demiG.o.d slept with a teddy bear.

I ransacked his closet and chest of drawers without finding anything but clothing. He had the personnel here needed to secure a prison with one occupant Herakles and a single doctor to run a DNA scan. The only markings on the walls were for the prison, the only offices in use for the doctor and one government employee, and no armory was anywhere in the compound I could find.

If it weren't so improbable, I'd have thought this place was a trap for one person. I was beginning to suspect that poor idiot was me.

"C'mon, Lisa," Niko called.

I possessed nothing to use as a weapon, not even my lucky knife.

With no real options before me, I decided to go with Niko and wait for an opportunity to escape. The odds were better facing him and his men than Adonis. I emerged from the bedroom.

Niko and his military guard weren't alone. Four men in dark purple the color of the Royal Guard, the security arm of the Silent Queen stood behind Dosy. This time, the High Priestess was dressed for a fight, well armed and wearing fatigues like her men.

Before I could figure out what was happening, the door to the apartment opened. Adonis entered, flanked by two of his own men. Not that he needed them. If he showed up alone, it was enough for the others to be uneasy.

SISA. Military. Royal Guard. It didn't take Leandra explaining what was happening for me to understand what was going on. This was a Triumvirate turf war over me.

Adonis was the first to act. He launched at Niko and smashed him into the men with him before he kicked Dosy back. Settling into a fighting stance, he waited.

"I'm not picking a fight with you, Adonis," Dosy said.

"You entered a SISA property without permission. I call that picking a fight," Adonis replied.

"Agreed. Whereas I was invited," Niko said.

"You were not invited," Adonis replied in the same tone. "I've already alerted the Supreme Priest who will ensure the Silent Queen and Magistrate are aware."

"This was authorized," Niko replied. His preference for the military over SISA began to make sense. Niko was one of them.

"Same," Dosy said and stretched for the knives at her back. "By all rights, protocol, custom and tradition, she was supposed to come to us first. I was authorized to use lethal force. How about you boys?"

Niko glared at her.

"Thought so. May Ares bless your weapons like Artemis has mine." Dosy drew her weapons and lowered into a fighting stance. "The usual rules. No firearms. Let's get this over with."

Mesmerized by the three of them, I could deduce several pieces of information. The first: they all knew each other well enough to tell me this type of politics happened often. Second: if they were messing with each other, their leaders weren't all on the same page like the news claimed they were. Third ... Dosy could fight.

And that made me extremely happy after being told by the nymphs and priests at school fighting wasn't a proper womanly pursuit.

The three all drew weapons and began circling one another. Their companions stood back. I a.s.sessed my situation. The fastest and safest exit strategy was probably going to be the balcony and the ropes Niko's men had used to drop onto the balcony. I couldn't see whether the rest of Adonis' forces were outside the closed entrance door of the apartment. Three of Niko's men were between me and the balcony. With their attention on their fighting leaders, I just had to time this right.

Sparks flew off the weapons smashing into each other. Dosy had started and Niko joined in. The three began a deadly dance as skillful as it was scary. Adonis was unmatched as far as speed, but Niko and Dosy managed to team up on him between taking swipes at each other. The two of them were amazing, and the dynamic of all three of them locked into a battle to the death held me in place.

Until I realized the others were equally entranced, and no one seemed to think I was capable of anything like I planned. For once, I wasn't upset about being underestimated. I inched closer to the men in my direct path, eyes on the three warriors holding nothing back. I was secretly rooting for Dosy, hoping Adonis didn't get killed and not at all concerned about Niko.

Their fight moved away from the balcony, pulling one of the military members with him. With two between me and escape, I didn't wait.

Snagging a knife from the nearest, I smashed him over the back of the head with both hands then sprang forward to knock the other off balance as he turned to see what the noise was. Herakles had taught me to disable rather than use lethal force, though I knew how to kill as well.

But I didn't. I smashed an elbow into the second man's nose then punched him in the throat. He bent over, gagging. I slid the hilt of the knife between my teeth and darted to the nearest rope. The courtyard below held five of Adonis' men.

"Up it is," I murmured. With a quick tug, I confirmed it'd hold and began to half pull, half walk my way up the side of the wall. I was close to the roof when I heard someone shout to alert the three fighting.

The sound of them pounding into one another ceased. I focused hard on moving as quickly as possible, not caring about my burning arms and thighs as I neared my destination.

"Kid!" Niko shouted and grabbed the rope I was on, wrenching it back from the wall. Dosy was scaling her way up a second rope. Adonis had disappeared.

I'm not a kid! Clamping down on the knife so hard it hurt my jaw, I hauled myself the rest of the way up with upper body strength and reached the top. I dragged myself over the top and dropped, panting from the effort. Not about to give someone like Adonis the time to take the stairs to the roof, I decoupled five of the ropes rapidly before starting to cut Dosy's free.

"Go back, Dosy!" I called, sawing through it.

"Not on your life!"

She was as stubborn as Niko. I didn't bother to check and see if she was okay after the rope snapped free but stood back and looked around wildly. Niko's men had gotten up here somehow; I could escape the same way.

My gaze settled on the grappling equipment on the far side of the roof. I dashed towards it and caught myself on the wall, leaning over to see the rope dangling into another of the plentiful courtyards. This one b.u.t.ted up against the wall of the compound. With any luck, I could scale that wall too or find my way back to the exit I'd found earlier for Herakles.

People were shouting from somewhere in the buildings. I wasn't sticking around to find out which of the security forces was going to win and grab me. I slung one leg over the edge of the roof and gripped the rope.

A throwing knife grazed my calf, and I glanced down. It pinned my pant's leg to the wall behind me. There was only one man I'd bet money on to make that shot, and I wasn't about to let him near me. I bent over to pull at the knife only to find it was too sleek to grip. Dropping the cable rope, I strained to wriggle the knife free frantically.

"Stop now, Alessandra!" Adonis warned.

"G.o.ds dammit!" I straightened and wrenched back.

The knife didn't give on the first try, so I yanked again.

This time, it did, and I toppled backward, clutching at the rope. A rush of adrenaline flooded me as I began to fall. A sense of deja vu swept over me, and I was once more in my dream, falling ... falling ... waiting for Herakles to catch me.

Adonis s.n.a.t.c.hed my wrist, and I looked up, startled. I shook off the weird sense.

"I won't let you fall," he said.

I laughed. "It's okay. It's not far and I'd rather have a broke leg than ..." I yanked at his grip. The rope was right beside me anyway; I wasn't going to fall more than a couple of feet.

"You're a fool!" he breathed.

"Yeah. Now let go!" I tried to pry his hand off my wrist with my other hand. When that failed to work, I reached for the red cord around my wrist.

"Stop!" Adonis s.n.a.t.c.hed my other wrist. I heard the sounds of more than one person running towards us. From the look he cast over his shoulder, they weren't his men.

He kept his grip on the wrist with the red cord and released my second hand. I expected him to draw a weapon but he s.n.a.t.c.hed the rope. Seconds later, he leapt over the edge of the roof.

The man had a serious set of feline reflexes. I could barely register what was happening, while he was reacting. He grabbed me around the waist and slid us both down the rope until my feet hit the ground. It happened too fast for me to react, and the moment we were safe, the arm around my waist was around my neck.

"If you kill her, Adonis ..." Niko yelled from the roof.

I was able to see the shadows of him and Dosy on the ground, along with several other forms of their guards.

"Game over. Leave, both of you!" Adonis returned.

"Don't give up now!" I called.

"The Triumvirate wants you alive. They don't care if you're missing limbs. Do not tempt me." These words were for me, spoken close enough to my ear for his warm breath to brush my skin. I shivered. His grip was tight but not yet severing my air supply. Herakles would say he was going for control rather than the kill. I was hauled against his hard body, once again aware of his scent and the strange sense of familiarity I hadn't yet shaken.

This wasn't the calm Adonis that challenged me to a race. This was the Adonis who was about to use one of the weapons he carried, and I didn't think even he knew who he was going to use it on.

I stretched for my knife, not about to ruin the only good escape opportunity I had.

Dosy was descending the wall rapidly. Niko was gone, and I a.s.sumed he was taking the stairs.

Adonis hauled me to face Dosy, one of his weapons out. I waited until she was close enough to engage him then smashed my heel into one of his feet, stabbed him in the arm with my knife, and wrenched away.

Adonis released me. I stumbled away, caught myself, and bolted. He showed no sign of pain but deflected Dosy's strikes and then pushed her aside.

"If you run, you'll never know who you are!" he called after me.

I stopped at the mouth of a pa.s.sageway. The words were kryptonite. I wanted away, yes, but I wanted to know who I was, too, why I was important.

"Run!" Dosy cried. "You don't know what they'll do to you."

"I can return your memories to you," Adonis added.

I turned to face him. "No one can do that."

"It's one of the benefits of working for a demiG.o.d representing the G.o.ds on Earth. A direct line to Mnemosyne."

I glanced at Dosy, who hadn't yet lied to me that I knew. "Is that true?"

"Probably, but it's irrelevant. a.s.suming you survive the trials, the Supreme Priest and Supreme Magistrate will enslave you with your magic."

It sounded a lot like what the priests had told me.

"I'll spare the girls and priests we found in the town nearest your compound," Adonis added and took two steps towards me.

My breath caught. The other priests had died because of me. I couldn't let that happen to those remaining or to the nymphs, however many hadn't escaped. They were in SISA control because of me.

"Okay." I dropped my knife and raised my hands.

"Alessandra," Dosy objected.

"I'm with SISA. For now," I replied.

Adonis strode towards me, none too pleased, and kicked the knife away. He pulled my arms down and cuffed me.

"Leave, Theodocia," he said to the High Priestess. "Take Niko with you, or I'll toss him in prison."