Omega Series: Omega Part 21

Maybe some part of the man I knew twelve years ago remains. I hurried after him, grimacing at the pain in my back.

We stepped out of the bright arena into the low lit area behind the scenes where a line of fifteen guards with guns stood waiting for us. These were mercenaries if I'd ever seen them. Dressed differently than one another, some unkempt, in different levels of quality of dress.

"This way." One motioned for us to head down a hallway wide enough for a car.

I walked with Adonis, and we trailed the man who spoke down a long hall. It emptied out into an area of crude cells, some with handcuffed men and others with men lying on cots or eating.

We got our own cell, this one with four concrete walls, as if his boss had a clue what Adonis became at night. The man we followed opened the door, and we stepped into it.

"You fight again first thing in the morning," he said as he closed the door behind us.

A small first aid kit and two trays of mushy cafeteria food and rolls sat on one cot. A five gallon container of water was at the foot of the second, and the corner contained a metal toilet and sink. At least a curtain shielded the bathroom area from the rest of the cell.

"Home, sweet, home," I murmured and looked around.

Adonis went to the first aid kit and picked it up, opening it to check its contents. "Shirt off. We'll get bandaged up and work on some moves."

I hesitated. I'd never taken off my clothes in front of anyone. He glanced at me.

Turning my back to him, I peeled my shirt over my head without removing it completely. I used the material to cover my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Ow!"

He said nothing. The moment his fingers touched my bare back, I jumped. Embarra.s.sed, I cursed myself silently and was still when he tried again. He cleaned the wound quickly.

"You take a beating well," he stated.

"Thanks."

"It's more important than people realize."

I sighed. His version of small talk sucked. "Do you have a plan?"

"Survive until my boss forgives me or makes enough money on the odds that he's appeased."

"Or they leave you out at night."

"He knows what I am. That won't happen."

Will he let you die? I didn't want to know the answer to the question and kept it to myself. The silence was awkward, and I sought a new topic. "So you kept Mrs. Nettles all this time without remembering why."

"I a.s.sumed she came from my childhood."

"Why couldn't you remember anything?"

"Why couldn't you?"

I had no idea. Was this a secret Herakles would know? "You know it's not normal for a toy to walk and talk, right?"

"It's not normal for a man to turn into a grotesque every night. I knew she was special. Just not why."

"Did you feel a connection to her?" I asked, mind on the gem at my chest.

His hand paused. "Of sorts."

I tugged the gem free and turned. "This is yours. Do you remember it?"

He wiped his hand on his pants and lifted the gem, studying it. "It's familiar. But I can't remember."

"You gave it to me after I awoke you."

"From the Temple." He met my gaze. "I see glimpses of the past. I was someone else before I was stone."

Feeling a little claustrophobic with him so close, I pulled the gem free and turned once more. "I didn't know you then." I focused on the ribbons in the room around me as he finished. "I need to learn to use them."

"Swords?"

"No." I waved at the cell. "I can ... see strands of ... life. Around everything. I smoothed out one of yours and you remembered me. I used them to bring Mrs. Nettles to life when I was little and to ..." I paused, not sure I was ever going to be ready to figure out what I had done to Herakles.

"To what?"

"I'm not sure. I changed Herakles. Somehow."

"Herakles." His voice was a pitch lower. "You remembered something that makes you doubt you should've saved him?"

"No, never. I'll always save him."

"Something changed."

"Nothing."

"You were a terrible liar before you fixed me. It's easier for me to tell now. You're curling your toes."

"How in Hades do you know that?" I looked down, not realizing I was doing as he said until I focused on my toes.

"I can feel what you do."

"What?" Pulling my shirt back over my head, I faced him and stepped back. "That's kind of creepy."

"Your ribs on the left side are stiff, probably bruised, and your wrist is burned from the belt."

I rubbed my wrist. "I take it back. That's freakish."

"When you felt the connection, it was normal. When I do, it's freakish?" He tossed the rag he'd been using on my back.

"This," I swept my hands down my body, "is mine to know what's going on. Don't mess with me! None of your d.a.m.n mind tricks, Adonis!"

He gave one of his almost smiles. "I wasn't this time."

"Oh, but you do admit to doing it before?"

"It's in my nature. Predators sometimes toy with others."

"I think I want my own cell," I complained. My body was starting to cool down and stiffen. "Can you read my mind?"

"No."

"Would you tell me if you could?"

"No."

I glared at him.

"It's a matter of self-preservation," he said. "Don't sit down. You need to learn to handle a sword."

I was almost looking forward to it, to compare the training methods of the Chief of SISA and Herakles, and to get out of the awkward discussions I had with him.

"Basic drills ..."

For the next hour or so, Adonis showed me a few basic moves that would've been useful in the arena. He was surprisingly patient, more so than Herakles. When the basics were done, we spared lightly in the confines of the room for another fifteen minutes before he called it quits.

He ate like the beast I knew him to be, and I watched, amused that someone who came across as polished held the very definition of a feral side. "You ever hear of a fork?"

"Ever kissed a boy?"

I gasped. "That is not cool!" I flung my roll at him.

He caught it and bit into it without responding verbally, but my appet.i.te was mostly gone. I hated to be embarra.s.sed, to know he was probably judging me like the nymphs and priests and everyone else did.

He lifted his head and tilted it. His gaze went to the door a full twenty seconds before I heard a key in the lock. A man armed to the teeth and flanked by four more guards entered. His guards stayed outside, but he didn't close the door.

"Niko," I growled.

"Hey, kid. You put on quite a show." He gave a sly smile. "Welcome to the underworld. This is a good place to supplement your income, a.s.suming you survive or know how to gamble."

"Ever the mercenary. Can you get us out?" I demanded and set the tray aside, standing.

"I don't plan on it." His gaze went to Adonis. "You in trouble, Adonis?" His smile was wide, his expression almost gleeful. "What's it like to view the world when you can't look down on it anymore?" He stepped forward.

A surge of protectiveness, or maybe possessiveness, shot through me. I recalled too clearly seeing Adonis hurt twelve years ago and moved to block Niko's progress into our cell.

"What do you want?" I demanded, glaring up at him. "Like you haven't already messed up my life enough!"

"Shut up, kid. You're d.a.m.ned lucky I came along when I did, or you'd be sitting on that stump afraid to leave your forest."

I flushed.

"Someone like you need a guard dog?" Niko directed this to Adonis.

If I had any idea how to twist or tug the ribbons over him to turn him into some sort of animal, I would have.

"You came to gloat." Adonis stood at my back, close enough for me to feel his heat once more.

"d.a.m.n right I did," Niko said. "The Supreme Priest told my boss what happened with the trial. No way even he would forgive something like this. I might apply for your position at SISA."

"They don't take your kind."

"No matter." Niko's jaw ticked, but he forced a smile. "Hey, kid. Your new friend tell you about his prisons and the heretics he collects? People like the priests you knew get thrown into melting chambers where they're dissolved alive. The worst end up at the House. I can't even imagine what kind of torture Adonis commits there."

I didn't back down, though I had to admit, I was wondering about the extent of Adonis' actions, whether the fear of the priests and others was justified. To know he was connected to me, that I had brought him to life, and he ma.s.sacred people ...

"Leave us alone," I said quietly. "Watch from the stands like everyone else."

"Trust me, kid, I'll be there next time you fight. No love lost between Adonis and me, though I don't wish you a slow death like I do him."

"I can feel the love," I said sarcastically. "Dosy know you're here? Probably why she won't let you see your son."

Niko reached out to grab me. Adonis s.n.a.t.c.hed his wrist with his lightning speed. I blinked but didn't otherwise move.

"Watch it, kid. The Supreme Magistrate still wants you. When Adonis is gone, I'll be there to pick you up, the only thing standing between you and your fate." Niko growled. He wrenched free, turned and left.

The door slammed behind him.

"What possesses you to challenge men who can beat you?" Adonis asked.

I shifted away from him and went back to my cot to sit. "I'm not afraid of men. Monsters, yeah."

"You should feel the opposite."

"How so?"

"Men can think. They can act maliciously. Monsters are instinctual by nature. Some are more aggressive than others and some trained to fight but they're not malicious."

"You're both?"

"The worst of all. An intelligent predator."

"Are you upset the Supreme Priest might let you die here?" I asked.

"I'm not the regretting type." He set his empty tray of food on the ground. The question was on the tip of my tongue, the need to know what kind of horrific acts he'd committed sending guilt through me. Herakles had killed my parents, but what had Adonis done? How many people had died because I let something like him loose into the world?

"The muscles between your shoulder blades. They get tense when you're upset," he said.

"Stop!" He was right. Not that I'd ever noticed that, either. My wound was painful and blazing despite the medicine he smeared on it. "How do you know how to use a sword anyway? Are you from the same place as Niko?"

"The Gladiator Guild? No." Adonis sat on his cot. "I'm not sure. It's from the life before I was a grotesque. It has something to do with my mark." He traced his thumb over an omega shaped birthmark on his wrist.

"I've got one, too." I pulled up my sleeve to display the double omega.

He studied it. "That explains a few things."