Beaten and in agony, he lay on the ground as they threw the truth at him. The boys he saw as friends only accepted him because Zeus had commanded it.
“No one wants you here, mongrel.”
Their name-calling gored a hole in his stomach. Eros’ mongrel. Half breed.
Fury exploded. His body dissolved, taking on an eerie smoky serpent’s form for the first time, terrifying him more than his so-called friends as he twisted around, garroting them.
Still, the derisions grew as did the labels, but from afar now. Every single one of the names hurt.
The years passed, and he’d learned to wall up his pain, and he got by.
His sire never visited. Nor did his mother.
As he grew older, only anger drove him.
He fought in the arenas as a gladiator, but nothing filled the hole inside him. Then the missive arrived from the tribunal at the Gates of the Gods, conscripting him as protector to the new Goddess of Life in Sumeria…
Nik’s jaw hardened. He wasn’t that forlorn boy looking for scraps of affection any longer—Tartarus had seen to that. Besides, he no longer cared.
Tipping his head against the wall, he shut his eyes and sent his mind out, scanning the area around the basement—
A terrified cry rented the air. Nik’s eyes snapped open. He flashed across the room to where Shadow thrashed on the bed as if fighting off an attacker.
“Hey, hey—” He hunkered beside her, grasping her flailing hands. “It’s okay. No one’s gonna hurt you.”
Her eyelids flew open, her pupils eclipsing her unusual irises, appearing like black holes in her pale face. The agony in them had him picking her up and settling her on his lap as he sat on the mattress.
She buried her face in his neck, her slender body trembling against him, her silky hair brushing his neck and chin. He tightened his hold around her, willing the meager body heat he possessed into her.
“I have you,” he said quietly, gently rubbing her back, trying to calm her.
But holding her this close, witnessing her vulnerability, something more than desire crept through him. This urge to protect and keep her safe from any harm settled inside him.
After several long minutes, her shuddering body quieted, her fingers bunching his shirt relaxed, and she eased back to stare at him with unblinking, wet eyes. Recognition gradually dawned, returning her irises to the arresting starburst hues, the red streaks brighter now amidst the scattered smudges of brown and teal blue.
His gaze lowered to the stretched neckline of her faded sweatshirt. It had slipped off her shoulder, revealing the tender swell of one breast and three dull ruby stones set low on her breastbone.
“I’m fine—” She yanked her top back in place, lurched up from his lap, and rolled back onto the bed, pulling the covers over her and curling into herself.
Nik rose and stared at her form hidden under the duvet. Hell, he had piercings, too. He wasn’t one to judge.
But her weariness and terror beat at him. Nik reached out with his mind and soothed her into sleep. He crossed back to his side, removed his cell from his pocket. The display brightened. 4:18 A.M.
He needed to head out and track the other gang leader, but he didn’t want to leave Shadow alone and defenseless while asleep. Eddi hadn’t returned, either. He pushed his cell back into his pocket and dropped down on the lone wooden box again, his attention back on Shadow.
Why now, after all these millennia, did he feel this way? Feel this intense pull to a mortal that his entire mind felt as if it had fallen off its axis?
With no answers, he exhaled roughly and rubbed his jaw, then stilled.
The faint sounds of fighting reached him.
Nik shot to his feet, then cut a quick look at Shadow’s sleeping form. Hell, he was a Guardian, he had to check out this disturbance. A quick scan at the area around them revealed all was quiet, no hint of sulfur or humans anywhere close. A quick check of the locked door, he then dematerialized and headed toward the commotion just past The Refuge. The inhabitants’ fear scraped at him. Then the sulfuric stench hit.
Damn demoniis. Nik reformed near them. A wiry human fought the scourges in swift, sure moves—what the hell?
Eddi?
He ducked a blade coming at him, leaped up, and plunged his iron dagger straight into the soul sucker’s heart. Another blight dove for Eddi, and he stumbled, barely managing to evade a hellfire bolt from the third scum. The fourth grinned like a damn hyena.
“Well, now, this doesn’t seem fair,” Nik drawled. “Four against one?”
Heads snapped around in Nik’s direction, their eyes glowing like neon red moons in their gaunt faces. “Get lost. He’s ours,” one snarled.
“I don’t think so.” Nik held out his hand, summoned his Gaian sword appearing in an eddy of gray smoke.
The demoniis stilled. “It’s one of them Guardians,” one rasped.
“Eddi, move!”
The human ducked. Nik flew into them, his sword swinging, decapitating one of the scourges. A sharp pain splintered his back. Grunting, Nik summoned his obsidian dagger, and let it fly as he spun around, nailing the shithead in the heart.
A shriek ricocheted in the tunnel. The other scuttled away. Nik flashed across, his sword swinging, and he beheaded the demonii. Breaths sawing in and out of his lungs, he pivoted to find Eddi slicing the throat of the one he’d stabbed.
“I sensed you were different, even with the homeless camouflage,” Eddi said. “I didn’t realize just how much.”
Nik dismissed his sword. At the discomfort of the blade embedded in his back, he shoved it out with his mind. The weapon clattered to the ground, and the burning lesion healed.
Eddi studied the obsidian dagger he’d picked up from where the demonii had disintegrated, then handed it over. “Why are you here?”
Since the human knew about Others in this world, Nik didn’t believe in bullshitting around. “Homeless women and children are being abducted and taken to the Dark Realm—the demon world. You know anything about it?”
Lines furrowed Eddi’s brow. “Rumors, nothing concrete. Women and kids come here to The Refuge for a bit, but they leave. We don’t always know if it’s by their own will or not.”
“The gang leaders?”
Eddi shrugged. “Rough’s an asshole. Tolvi doesn’t come here, not his turf, but both are blights to this world. Rough with his drug dealings and abducting women for his own use. If he’s behind it, I don’t know. It’s why I keep my Shadow safe. They know I would castrate them if they ever come after her.” Eddi shot him a hard, warning glare.
Yeah, got it.
He wasn’t good enough for her. He knew that.
But he refused to let another innocent under his watch become a statistic. “Good. She’s asleep. Keep an eye on her. I’ll be back.”
Nik dematerialized and headed for the labyrinths beneath Tribeca in search of the other gang leader. At least Eddi could hold his own while he was gone.
But one thing was definite. He wasn’t leaving Shadow behind when he departed this hole.
Chapter 7
Nooo! Shadow jerked awake, a scream strangled in her throat at the stinging pain on her back, her heart drumming against her ribs like war drums.
As the phantom lashes on her back faded, she took in the familiar gloomy basement, a shuddering breath escaping her.