He reached over and grasped my hand. “It’s getting late,” he said softly. “Let me walk you back to your house.”
I nodded and we turned back, walking along the edge of the water as we returned to my little cottage. The air was crisp and the breeze coming off of the lake was cold, so he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
I melted into his warmth and strength. I instinctively knew that I was meant to be here. Right here. There was no other place for me to be. I fit into the crook of his shoulder perfectly. We fell into comfortable silence as we walked and I drifted into deep thought.
I remembered a story once that my mother had told me. She had been talking about my father, Mormo. No one could understand why she loved him and she had been trying to explain why.
“There was a time, Empusa,” she had said, “When Zeus was so worried about others overthrowing his throne that he took some drastic measures. He had overthrown his own parents for the throne, you know. So, he split every soul into two and cast them into the universe. That way, everyone - mortal and god alike- would be driven to find their other half, rather than focused on taking his crown.”
Soul mates. Could that be the thing that was pulling Brennan and I together like magnets? Could that be the reason why I was able to resist drinking his soul even when he kissed me as passionately as he did? Did something, deep down inside of me, recognize that he was already mine?
I glanced at him. He was walking beside me silently, as lost in thought as I was, but his arm was still firmly draped around my shoulders as though it belonged there. He felt it too. I knew that. I didn’t want him to leave me, not even to go home for the night. How else could I explain that except that he might be my soul mate?
It had certainly been true for my mother. There was no other feasible reason why she would be so attached to my heinous father after all that he had become and had done through the years.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Brennan offered as we stepped up the first step to my house.
“They’re worth a lot more than that,” I deflected.
“I imagine that they are,” he answered. “Can I call you tomorrow?”
I nodded and gave him my phone number, my eyes frozen on his.
“You have very unusual eyes,” he told me as he moved closer. “I’ve never seen gray eyes before. They’re beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I answered, leaning into him once more with a sigh.
He groaned and kissed me again, crushing me softly to his chest. He kissed me as though he’d never see me again and I clung to him as though I believed that, too. But the thought of that scared me, which scared me even more. I couldn’t allow someone to get close to me, someone that my father could hurt. But I was terrified at the thought of letting Brennan go.
I finally pulled away, shoving my hair behind my ears with shaking hands.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said before I leaned up and kissed him lightly one more time. Then once more. I couldn’t seem to keep away from him.
He chuckled, a low husky sound in the night.
“I will most definitely call you tomorrow.”
He squeezed my hand, one last jolt of energy flooding through me, before he turned and strode down the wooden steps. I watched him until he disappeared into the night before going inside and closing the door.
I felt the separation immediately and I didn’t enjoy it. It was cold and empty. I wanted, needed him to come back. I immediately berated myself. I had only just met him. He was a mortal. There was no earthly reason that I should be so attracted to him. But the answer, I knew, wasn’t an earthly answer so logic was no longer a factor.
Wearily, I stripped off my clothes and pulled a nightgown on, dropping into the cool sheets of my bed. Listening to the crashing waves of the lake, I stared at my moonstone glistening in the moonlight until I finally allowed my eyes to close.
My mother was waiting for me.
She stood proudly in my dream with red lips and blonde curls hanging to the small of her back. She didn’t look anything like what you would imagine the goddess of witchcraft to look like. She was very beautiful and young. Appearances were deceiving, however. She was ancient. She might possess an ethereal, delicate beauty, but she was oh-so-powerful. She could crumple the moon from the sky if she wished.
“Empusa,” she admonished. “Tell me where you are. There are things going on now that you don’t understand. I sense them. I’ve seen you in visions.”
“Mother,” I answered calmly. “I’m not going to the Underworld. I’ve told you a thousand times. I do not trust Hades, even if you do.”
She shook her head impatiently.
“It’s not that I trust him,” she muttered. “It’s that he made a deal in front of every Olympian. He has to uphold it, don’t you understand? If we stand in front of him, he will release you from your curse. The second he does, he will send out search parties for your father and bring Mormo to the Underworld. You will be safe forever.”
“No one is safe forever,” I answered tiredly. “But tell me, what of these visions? What did you see?”
“I can’t be certain,” she answered, clearly unhappy with that. She was not used to imperfect clarity. Her magic was flawless, her prophecies perfect. “I cannot see for sure. But look.”
She waved an elegant hand and a scattered array of visions appeared before me. I saw myself standing in the moonlight by the lake, I saw myself talking with Daniel Delacorte in the hospital, reading him a mystery novel and smiling at him and I even saw Gaia. She was sitting in the chair in my bedroom as I slept. I’d have to talk with her about that. It was slightly creepy.
But then there was Brennan. Handsome and strong, he moved to the front of the visions. Only he wasn’t himself. He was shining with the light of the sun, armed in bronzed armor and gleaming eyes. And then I realized that it wasn’t actually Brennan at all. It was someone who looked very, very much like him.
“What the….” I whispered. My mother nodded.
“Exactly,” she answered. “What is going on? Wherever you are, what are you doing? Why are you with Apollo’s son?”
Chapter Four
“What the hell do you mean, Apollo’s son?” I demanded. “Brennan isn’t Apollo’s son. He’s mortal!”
My mother sighed, twisting her lovely, youthful features into a slightly impatient scowl as she faced me.
“Empusa,” she admonished. “You should know by now that not everything is what it seems. I assure you, Brennan is most certainly Apollo’s son.”
“But that’s impossible,” I whispered, picturing the innocence on Brennan’s handsome face. “He’s not a god.”
“No, he isn’t. He’s a demi-god, like you,” my mother agreed. “And to be honest, I doubt he even knows it.”
“How the hell is that even possible?” I screeched. “How can someone be a demi-god and not know it?”
My mother leveled a gaze at me and glared. “Watch your mouth, Empusa. There is no need to swear like a sailor. It’s possible because if he was born as a mortal, how would he know? He obviously would think he was mortal.”
I stared at her in confusion and she sighed once again, apparently trying to figure out how to explain something complex to a child. I glared back at her. This didn’t make any sense at all and I was a pretty bright person.
“Empusa, you know that the Olympians were trapped in the Underworld for several thousand years,” she began patiently. I nodded. I had been there in the not so distant past when they had been freed by Harmonia, the goddess of peace.
“Well, during that time, Hades sought to keep them content and pleased,” she continued. “Several of the Olympians have… what we might call… a penchant for mortal women. So, Hades had mortal women brought to them. Then afterward, he would take the memories of those women and return them home. The mortals never even remembered what happened to them. Probability would suggest that at least some of them became pregnant.”
“And they wouldn’t have known who the father was,” I whispered, finally comprehending. “So, Brennan’s mother thought that her husband was the father of her baby. Brennan has no idea…”
“He has no idea that he is the son of a god,” my mother confirmed, nodding her head, satisfied that I finally understood. “But he is, in fact, a mortal, too. Unless Zeus decrees otherwise, he will eventually die like a mortal.”
I knew that much was true and that realization ran through me like a knife. I would lose him eventually. Mortality had never been an issue for me since I was the daughter of two immortals. I was born immortal.
But Brennan was not.
“Also, Empusa,” my mother continued, bringing my attention back to her. “You need to keep something in mind. The energy of two demi’s is more powerful and more noticeable then the energy of just one. You will make it easier for your father to find you if you continue to consort with this boy.”
I looked at her. Consort? That made it sound so seedy.
“Your combined energy would be something to see, though,” she mused. “Think of it, Empusa. The daughter of the goddess of the moon and the son of the god of the sun. Your energy would be exquisite and quite powerful.”
I thought about the connection that Brennan and I shared, the jolting, powerful sensations. Could that be the cause? Because we were polar-opposites?
“Mother, something strange happens when we touch. I feel oddly connected to him and him to me. It’s very odd and I’ve never experienced such a thing. Is that because of our parents?”
She studied me calmly, her beautiful blue eyes full of ancient wisdom. “Tell me more, my sweet.”
So, I relayed everything that had happened from the time that Brennan and I had met. Every strange sensation, every electrical jolt, the strange attraction. The fact that I had not accidentally killed him even when I stayed in his embrace longer than I should have. When I was finished, she stared thoughtfully at me for a while before she finally spoke.
“I think it’s likely a combination of everything. You didn’t kill him because he is a demi. He can certainly die, don’t mistake that. But he is more resistant to you than a mere mortal. This attraction, though, it is interesting. I would say… and I am guessing… but I would say that you might be soul mates. If that is true, then you have found your other half. I only pray that he is a good match for you.”
She paused, a long pregnant pause and I swallowed hard. I had wondered that very thing.
“Is he?” she asked, her face betraying her worry.
“Is he what?” I asked absently, my thoughts still focused on Brennan, on the very real idea that he actually might belong to me.
“If he does turn out to be your soul mate, is he a good match for you?”
That was a very good question.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I only just met him. But he seems kind and good.”
“As you know, Empusa,” she cautioned. “Things are not always what they seem.”