The Demigod (Seven Sins MC #6)

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Nox

I didn’t truly expect him to agree. I mean, it was asking a lot. To be subjected to unending torture for the pleasure of wicked gods.

But he was going to be tortured either way. At least with my plan, there was a chance to put an end to it. If we found Nemesis, it would stop. He’d be free. The humans would stop suffering too.

Of course, there was always the chance that once he was free, he would run off. But, well, I had to take that chance. I had no other choice.

I was barely holding on.

I’d hardly ever used my powers before. They hadn’t even fully manifested until this “waking up,” to use the term the demon used.

But each time I wrapped the cloak of darkness around me, it sucked energy out of me. Putting someone into a deep sleep was worse.

And because I was so desperately searching for Nemesis, I didn’t have much time to rest and recharge.

I needed help.

“Sweetness?” he asked, that smooth voice rolling like cool water over my skin. A shiver even worked its way down my spine. “The key?” he prompted.

“Right,” I agreed, nodding. I took a few steps forward, feeling warmth emanating off of him. “Why are your teeth chattering?”

“I’m cold.”

“But you’re hot.”

To that, a boyish smile tugged at his lips. “Thanks, sweetness. Always good to hear how fuckable I am.”

My face felt hot.

Because while I didn’t mean that, he was. Hot. Fuckable.

“No, like… feverish,” I said. “I can see my breath, but you’re emanating heat.”

“Right. That’s a demon thing,” he explained. “But I’m freezing.”

“Oh,” I said, stepping forward toward his outstretched arm.

Up close, the scent of him beckoned me closer. It was woodsmoke and coal and conjured up thoughts of sitting around a campfire, warming my hands, enjoying the romantic ambiance.

“Think it’s unlocked, sweetness,” the demon said, making me realize I was just standing there after turning the key.

“Right,” I agreed, going to his other arm. “Do you, uh, have a name?” I asked, glancing up at him as I stuck the key in the lock.

“Daemon.”

“Daemon,” I repeated. “Daemon the demon?” I added, lips twitching as the key turned.

“Thank fuck,” Daemon groaned as his arms fell, the life likely coming back to the limbs. “Legs?” he asked.

“Right,” I agreed, dropping down to work one free. I cast a glance up at him between ankles.

“That’s… a good…” he started, but caught himself. Before he said, what? Whatever it was supposed to be had his eyes looking all heavy-lidded and warm.

I had to force my gaze away, finishing with the locks, then moving away.

“How long do you usually have before they come looking?” Daemon asked.

“They will party through the night. Sometimes for two days straight before resting. But, for obvious reasons, I prefer to move at night. Can you help me with him?” I asked, making my way over toward the man slumped down the opposite wall.

I tried to keep my gaze on the task of removing his chains. I couldn’t let myself look at his wounds. My stomach couldn’t handle it.

“Do you think he’s going to make it?” I asked when I noticed Daemon inspecting the man’s body as he reached to lift him.

He wasn’t a small man.

Carrying him should have been a strain. On the two of us. But Daemon didn’t even wince as he cradled the man.

“Depends on how soon he can get some medical care,” Daemon said. “How far are we from a city?”

“Far. But if you can carry him through the woods, I have a car parked. I can drive him to the local fire station. Someone can get him care from there.”

“I can carry him,” he assured me as we made our way to the steps.

We were both silent as we moved away from the estate, both aware of the home full of gods, of the potential to be seen or heard.

But once we were in the thick of the woods, Daemon turned to me. “What makes you so sure that Nemesis is being held here?” he asked.

“I heard Oizys mention it once when I was sneaking around. They said something about having her bound. But I don’t know by what.”

“Magic?” Daemon suggested.

“Maybe. I just don’t know. Honestly, this is all just… new to me.”

“How is it new to you?” Daemon asked. “You’re practically immortal.”

“Fifty years isn’t that much time. I just barely outlived my father. I… I had no idea what was ‘wrong’ with me that I wasn’t aging. I’ve been to a bunch of doctors who all just tell me I’m in great health and must just have fantastic genes.

“It wasn’t until all of this,” I said, waving out at the world at large, “started happening that I started to put things together.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“Well, I heard about all the things going on. And they kind of… reminded me of this class I took once on mythology. So I went digging in my father’s library for my old books.”

My father never threw a single book away. He had the old manuals for how to work Windows XP and for explaining how the internet itself worked.

“I’m assuming you found more than just your old textbooks.”

“I found my father’s journals,” I told him. “Except they weren’t exactly journals. At first, they seemed like the ravings of a man who was losing his mind. Except my father was sharp right until the end.”

“They were about your mother?” Daemon guessed, tone conversational. He wasn’t even out of breath, despite carrying a large grown man in his arms as we trekked through the cold woods.

“Yeah. Just notebook after notebook. The first ones were mostly just about their, uh, encounter.”

“That sounds… traumatizing,” Daemon said, shooting me a smirk.

“You could say that,” I agreed. “I mean, we all know our parents have had—and likely continued to have—sex. But it’s another thing to see an entire notebook about it.

“Anyway, as the notebooks went on, it became more of an analysis about my mother. Things felt… odd to him about the encounter.

“Then, one day, she showed up again. With me.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would she show up with you? Did she… adopt out all of her children?”

“No. The problem was that I wasn’t a god myself. She told my father that I ‘wouldn’t survive’ with her. Then she just… walked away.”

“Harsh.”

“A mercy, I think. Now that I know about what happens in the primordial realm. It’s… elemental chaos there. I was too soft, too warm, too… human. Giving me to my father was actually the most motherly thing she could have done.”

“Did your father know that something wasn’t… right with you right away?”

“No. I grew slowly, but not even slowly enough for doctors to worry. It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that my aging all but stopped. But he suspected for other reasons.”

“The shadow thing?”

“Yeah. Apparently, I used it even as a small child to play hide-and-seek. Then, once, we were rehabilitating a wounded dove. My father kept saying that what it really needed was to sleep to recover. So as I was petting it, I told it to sleep. And… it did.”

“He never told you about his suspicions?”

“What were the chances that I wouldn’t have thought he was insane?” I said, shrugging. “I just thought I had great night vision and was good at ‘blending in’ when I was out at night. People seemed to look right through me. Honestly, it created a bit of an insecurity for most of my life.”

“Right. Because anyone who actually sees you wouldn’t stop and stare.”

“Anyway,” I said, uncomfortable with the way my heart fluttered at his words. “The last notebook was just before his death. He, apparently, saw the signs of the old gods waking up well before the rest of the world started to feel it.

“Knowing he was fading himself, he wanted to write down everything he could for me, detailing who he thought I was, who my mom and siblings are, and what he thought I should do if the worst comes to pass.”

“What was his advice?”

“Hide.”

“Not good at following advice, huh, sweetness?” Daemon asked as the woods started to thin, and I could see my car sitting mostly hidden behind a crumbling old stone shed.

“Maybe I could have. If so much suffering wasn’t happening. Already. I can’t imagine what is to come as the gods get bolder.

“Humans are… somewhat predictable with things like this. Once they realize what is going on, they will all break up into factions. They will worship their gods while shunning those who worship others. Wars will break out. Millions will suffer and die. While the gods laugh.”

“And feast on their battlefield blood,” Daemon said as he waited for me to open the door so he could deposit the man across the backseat.

“Yes.”

“So, you set off to restore balance.”

“My father had a lot to say about Nemesis,” I told him, turning over the car and cranking up the heat. “He thought she might be the only one of my sisters that I could get along with. Are you coming?” I asked when Daemon just stood outside the car.

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” he said, jumping in, then pressing his hands to the vents to warm them. “How’d you find these other siblings?”

“They weren’t exactly being subtle. In this area, suicide rates skyrocketed out of nowhere. Enough that it was actually being investigated by health officials. To me, it sounded like Eris, Oizys, and Moros running amok.”

“So you came, saw what you saw, and decided to find the missing sibling to restore balance.”

“That’s the story, yes.”

“What makes you think she’s around here somewhere?”

“Honestly? Because the gods are lazy. They want to party and overindulge. Then they want to toy with their powers. And rest. They don’t actually like work. They would never do more than the absolute bare minimum with Nemesis. They’d want her nearby to make sure she wasn’t breaking out of their prison.”

“But you’ve been looking for weeks.”

“The woods are vast and full of mountains, old buildings, and abandoned mines. It’s been a slow process. Especially because I have to take time to sneak into the basement to free the prisoners. And, well, do this,” I said, gesturing to my car.

More than half of my time was spent freeing innocents and getting them to safety and healthcare.

I knew that with each day I didn’t find Nemesis, I was only allowing for more suffering. But I also couldn’t bring myself to stand by and let these humans be tortured to death right before my eyes.

It was a never-ending battle with my conscience.

“Having help will, hopefully, make the difference,” I said aloud as I watched the headlights slicing through the unending dark of the backroads.

“How will I know what to look for?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “But she’s a god. I’m assuming you will know her when you see her. Or maybe you will even be able to sense her power. I’m not sure.”

“And if she’s bound by magic?”

“We cross that bridge when we get to it,” I said. Even if I’d been wondering the same thing since the very beginning. Secretly, I was kind of hoping my sister could tell me what to do once I found her. Even if she couldn’t speak, I figured I could just ask her a million questions until one seemed to get some sort of reaction out of her.

“You have no fucking idea what you’re doing, do you, sweetness?” Daemon asked.

I turned, finding him watching me with a light in his eyes.

“No,” I admitted.

“Well,” he said, lips curving up. “It’s lucky for you that no one would ever accuse me of making smart decisions. Let’s find us a goddess.”