Chapter One.
Willow
H e was there; she could sense him. Somewhere in the shadows of this rust bucket was the creature she’d glimpsed several times but never fully caught sight of. He left dead or tortured humans wherever he trod, and Willow didn’t blame him. Humanity criminally harmed the oceans, but no one ever opposed it.
The Coast Guard did their best, but those in their corporate offices did not give a damn about the damage they were doing. Becoming an eco-warrior hadn’t been in Willow’s plans; no, she’d planned to be a teacher. That was a dream destroyed long ago when a friend of hers was poisoned and killed while swimming in toxic sludge in a supposedly safe area. A great many people died that day, and Willow had watched, appalled, as the corporation responsible got away with their crime.
Well, they had until Willow hacked them and blew the case wide open. Where the legal system had failed, public opinion hadn’t. They had shut their doors within three months of their company being blocked and targeted.
The CEO moved into another position, but the hate followed, and finally, he had retired permanently.
Willow had been nineteen when her friend died; she was twenty-five now and most certainly well-known for her antics. Come hell or high water, if there was pollution of the seas, Willow wasn’t far behind sniffing it out.
Since she’d blown open the first case which had killed her mate, Willow’s face had been splashed across the media. She was pretty damn famous.
A girl from a small village, she’d never wished to have herself easily recognised. But her parents had installed a strong sense of right and wrong, and Willow was determined to see justice done. And it appeared she wasn’t alone in that.
Several times lately, she’d boarded ships that were polluting the oceans and discovered the crew in a state of terror. Many babbled about the creature from the seas, and at first, Willow had believed they’d drunk their own toxic waste.
Then, one night about six months ago, she’d seen something slithering over the side of a ship. Her disbelieving eyes had told her she’d imagined it.
But then Willow caught more glimpses of it. She always wiped the cameras on the ships; it never paid to leave evidence of her being there behind. But on one occasion, CCTV showed a ginormous man erupting from the waves; a man who had changed into the creature. Willow had downloaded the footage before wiping it and making her escape.
Stunned beyond belief at what she’d seen, she’d watched it well over one hundred times for the images to sink in. Willow finally concluded that this was Poseidon, the God of the Seas and Oceans. She could have leaked the recording, but something made her cling to it and its secrecy. They were both battling those greedy corporate fat cats who thought nothing of destroying the seas. Those who destroyed marine life and coral reefs. Together, she and Poseidon were a team!
Which is why, when Willow sensed him tonight, she surprised herself.
“I see you, Poseidon,” she stated.
There was no movement, no acknowledgement, nothing. Willow’s lips pursed; damn it, Poseidon was there.
“I’ve seen you several times; it is you, isn’t it? Poseidon, God of the Seas and Oceans? Please, I will not film or harm you,” Willow pursued.
A dark, cackling laugh drifted in the wind.
“Hurt me? A human?” the taunt whispered on the slight breeze that’d broken out.
Willow shivered. The voice didn’t sound friendly.
“I won’t. I’m trying to help you stop these… um… bad people. You are Poseidon, aren’t you?” Willow asked, scanning the ship for a sign. She was on the top deck, but the moon was hidden behind clouds, and there were many shadows and dark areas he could hide in.
Hardly any lights were turned on. She had been filming the barrels when everything had gone black, and knowing what it meant, Willow had crept upwards towards the open air. She’d heard the screams and even gunshots, but the ship had slowly ceased all human sounds.
“You’ve left the crew alive but insane, just like the other times, haven’t you?” Willow called.
“What does it matter to you? You film and reveal these monsters. Are you looking to expose another one?”
“No! I only wish to talk. I’m trying to save the oceans, too. What these people do sickens me; they murder thousands of humans and sea life every year. I want to stop them as you do,” Willow stated passionately.
“You think human life matters to me? They are a plague on this world. They’re a disease that there’s no stopping. Kill a thousand, ten thousand, hell, even a million of you, and it would barely make a difference. Eight billion of you flesh bags ravaging this beautiful planet, destroying it for greed. If I could send a pox at you all to wipe you out, I’d do so. I wouldn’t blink twice; I’d not hesitate, but I would certainly pull the trigger as you waste of spaces say.”
Willow blinked and stepped back protectively at the hate in the voice aimed at her. She’d believed they were working together to save the planet and the human race, but now self-doubt crept in.
“You hate humans?” she whispered and shrank as a figure appeared.
It was the creature she’d seen before, the version of Poseidon she had thought to be some sort of merman. But the eyes glowing red with rage and chest heaving angrily warned Willow to place her safety first and be wary of her words.
“Hate them? I loathe them. Because of humans, I look like this. Me, Poseidon. A human destroyed my race of people, and then we were hunted by you and had to watch you ravage this planet. A gift from God himself, and yet humans are too stupid, too greedy to understand what they have in their grasping hands,” Poseidon seethed.
“Not all humans!” Willow cried.
“All. Even you seek something from your actions,” Poseidon hissed, moving closer.
Willow stepped further away, and her back touched the ship’s rail. “I do not!”
The creature was insane. Years of godhood had weakened his mind. After all, he must have been lonely, she rationalised.
“No? You are famous now, millions know your name, people give you money, and you’re invited to talk shows. You say you get nothing from these actions? I say differently. You claim to be an eco-warrior, warriors bleed little girl. Where have you bled? Where are the scars from your battles? Show me… no? Not surprised.”
“I may not have scars on the outside, but I carry them!” Willow nearly yelled. Her mind shied away from the image of her dying friend, how yellow and brittle she’d become.
Insidiously, a memory attacked her forcing her to recall Naomi writhing in pain from the toxins in her body.
“As do we all inside. But you do what you claim to do, and I’ll rid the oceans of predators like this,” Poseidon said.
“I do help!” Willow exclaimed, feeling hurt.
“You do little except hinder me as I bring about justice. The only thing you achieve is exposing these murdering bastards to the public. Few of them actually care. They will soon, when the seas rise against them,” Poseidon snarled.
“What does that mean?” Willow demanded.
Her fear fled as she stepped forward. Poseidon’s words were emotional, which led Willow to believe he was planning something. Willow thought that maybe she could help.
Poseidon shook his head in disbelief, and Willow’s pride was stung a little. Regardless of what Poseidon said, she did help. Awareness of the oceans and sea life had increased among people. Recycling was on the rise, too. Of course, she did not take full credit for it, but she’d played a role.
A soft splash made her jump, and Willow realised that Poseidon had escaped while she had been lost in her thoughts.
With a pout, she decided he was a rude a-hole and didn’t warrant her time or attention. She quickly gathered her stuff and headed to the side of the ship. Her little boat was waiting patiently for her as she scrambled down the rope ladder and made her escape. Within hours, her footage would be plastered on social media, and the Moel Nix Corporation would be outed for their pollution.
This would be a big reveal because they diligently posted about how they handled their waste… well, the truth was about to bite them in the tush.
Poseidon/Jase.
Poseidon erupted from his mirror as he cursed the damn human rat for her interference. She’d nearly caught him on camera; that he could not condone. He would have destroyed her instrument if she had not stopped filming.
Mary Worth, Mistress of the Mirrors, stepped back, a little startled as his anger hit the room.
“Poseidon?” she asked, concerned as he sought to control himself.
Poseidon nodded at her as he gritted his teeth, struggling to stop his temper from erupting and flooding the tower.
“Do we need help?” Mary questioned, and he managed to shake his head in denial.
“I’ve got it,” he ground out.
A mirror flashed, and Dullahan rode through, his horse disappearing as soon as it touched the stone in the tower. Dullahan landed gracefully on his feet and grinned up at them. As the Dullahan/Black Crom—or the better-known Headless Horseman—it still shook Poseidon to see the head carried under the left arm.
In front of them, Dullahan shifted, and his human form, Rhett Stone, took his place.
It was a thing between the Legends. In their monster shape, they were referred to by their monster name. In their human side, they were called their human name. It mattered greatly to them.
“Good job?” Poseidon asked, still in his merman form. His voice sounded squelchy and bubbly, as if he was underwater.
Rhett carried two sins, Perversity and Confrontation. Confrontation had been Rhett’s original Sin, and he’d gained Perversity from a dying Legend.
Poseidon whispered a quick prayer for his fallen sibling before turning to Rhett.
“That little dictator was flexing his minuscule power again. He was taught a harsh lesson tonight, probably saving a thousand lives,” Rhett responded.
“Shame,” Poseidon replied.
Mary narrowed her eyes. “Be careful, brother. Your attitude will have consequences. One day…”
“One day, the human race will have blown itself sky high, and I’ll party on their dried-out bones. Nothing is redeeming about them, Mary, and I’m not sure why you delude yourself in thinking there is,” Poseidon snapped.
“There is good in them,” Mary persisted.
“Tell that to Harpy. Oh, wait. We can’t. The humans tore her to pieces.” Poseidon growled and stormed from the tower.
Mary Worth/ Marie.
“That wound will never heal,” Rhett said, shaking his head at the pain that had radiated from Poseidon.
“No. Out of all of us, Harpy’s death hurt Poseidon the most. She was the gentlest of the females, even in her monster form,” Mary replied.
“Harpy was our sister too,” Rhett stated, his sorrow rising briefly.
“Yes. We were all created to be Protectors of the Jar, which made us siblings. But some bonds formed deeper, Rhett. Harpy and Poseidon’s relationship was special. He truly idolised his little sister,” Mary continued.
The Legends owned a strange relationship with one another. They knew they’d been born Warriors of God and raised to protect the Jar of Fate. The jar that held all the evils in the world. They hadn’t known their parents but had all trained together from an early age and were the only family they knew.
Hell, they didn’t even know if they had parents. While they understood they were not blood-related, the bonds of siblingship had formed at their young ages.
“Is everyone back?” Rhett asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.
Mary shook her head. “No, Cyclops, Loch Ness, Banshee, Ghoul, Medusa, Mummy, Phoenix, Swamp, Wendigo, and Rumpelstiltskin are still out.”
“I’ll fetch us some cocoa and wait with you,” Rhett offered.
“That, brother, would be welcome,” Mary agreed as she turned her eyes back to her mirrors.
The one linked to the lake flashed, and Marie noticed Loch Ness had just returned. A quick glimpse through the mirror that linked to the lakeside one proved her correct.
Mary smiled as she saw Ness leaping out of the water and crooning to Wolf Man, who sat by the edge. Theirs was a strange bond, but one so deep it was beautiful to see, Mary mused.
Mary looked at her mirrors. It was nearing one in the morning, but it was too early to panic. Their Sins were funny creatures. They didn’t need to feed every night, nor were they particular when they fed.
It was to protect their monster side that the Legends hunted in the darkness. Usually, they slipped through their mirrors after ten at night and returned by two a.m.
Sometimes, the Legends would slip in after twenty minutes; other times, if their Sin was in a gruesome and spiteful mood, then they might be a couple of hours. It was also possible the target might have changed their mind at the last minute, and their location was different. Mary could only send her siblings where the visions of the mirrors took her. She relaxed back into her armchair as her mind considered the next evening’s offerings.
With her ability to see through any mirror or reflective surface, Mary often encountered evil. The magic in the mirror network helped shut many innocent images out and concentrated on truly evil ones.
In the beginning, the Sins had just needed to be fed. Although the Legends held the pure versions of the Sins contained, like any parasite, a weaker version had escaped and infected mankind.
This meant that each Legend’s potent Sin needed to feed on its weaker self to keep itself healthy. Cannibalism at its very best, Mary snorted.
Unfortunately, the Sins were very damn fit. At first, the Legends could not control them, and innocent people had fallen victim to the hunger. But as time passed, they’d learned to hunt evildoers and, quite basically… eat them.
“Jase has shifted, but boy, is he pissed at something. He’s down in the gym with Durant, who has had to shift, and even Big Foot is having trouble containing him,” Rhett said, returning with two steaming mugs.
Mary’s eyebrows rose. Jase was indeed angry if Durant’s monster form of Big Foot was struggling to contain the King of the Oceans and Seas.
“Jase will be even more pissed in a few days,” Mary murmured as her mind flicked to Poseidon’s mirror, and there, she saw the fresh images.
“Oh?” Rhett asked, tilting his head.
“Don’t bother Rhett. I won’t speak to anyone’s fate or hunt, although…” Mary’s gaze flicked to Mummy’s. His mirrors revealed something that would upset his orderly life.
“You’re a tease, Mary,” Rhett scolded, and Marie laughed.
Her gaze turned to Dracula’s mirror, which flashed as it opened. He’d not been out hunting tonight but had taken his bride Emmaline out for a meal simply because Emmaline was five months pregnant and demanding ribs—and she wanted ribs from a certain place, so Dracula had indulged her. No sooner had she thought of the couple than Dracula, Vladimir in his human form, and Emmaline stepped forward.
Emmaline was batting at Vladimir’s hands as she shifted. Even today, Mary was stunned by what had happened. Emmaline was completely human, but on mating with Vladimir, she’d developed her own shifter side—a stronger, different-looking human side that had saved her when she’d been kidnapped.
“Evening,” Vladimir said with a scowl.
“No ribs?” Mary asked.
“Oh, Emmaline had ribs, and then a rare steak, followed by three desserts,” Vladimir replied.
Rhett snorted as Mary held her own laugh back.
“The baby is hungry,” Emmaline whined.
“Again?” Vladimir demanded, horrified.
Mary had to admit Emmaline was eating four times as much as usual and not putting on any weight. Her diet had changed from well-cooked meats to rare bloody steaks, although no one could break her of her BBQ rib craving.
But with Emmaline carrying the first Legendary child, nobody knew what would happen. Hell, they had no clue if she’d go into labour early or not. It made Vladimir paranoid and Jase overprotective. Emmaline was the only human that Jase would tolerate. Add in Durant, Shay, and Salah; five incredibly worried Legends jumped every time Emmaline opened her mouth.
“Jase is in a foul mood,” Mary explained to Emmaline, who nodded, avoided Vladimir’s grasp, and darted out of the room.
“She’s my mate,” Vladimir warned Mary.
“And the only connection Jase has with humanity, he’s got a lot of upheaval coming. I’d let them bond,” Mary said.
Instantly, Rhett and Vladimir turned curious looks on her, and Vladimir settled on the arm of her chair.
“Gossip?” he murmured.
Mary chuckled. They were so damn nosey.
“None for you,” she demurred.
Vladimir argued, “But you—”
“You better find Emmaline before Jase starts cooking her another steak,” Mary said.
Vladimir jumped to his feet and stomped off, throwing her a dirty look.
Mary giggled.
“That was cruel.” Rhett laughed.
One of them having a fated mate was a learning curve for all of them. They’d quickly learned that Vladimir lost the plot when someone else fed Emmaline. It seemed to be a mate thing.
Nobody knew what to expect, apart from maybe Andie. The human side of Pandora knew a lot, but even so, Andie kept her mouth shut.
Archere and Andie had been spending a lot of time together lately. Archere possibly knew something nobody else did. But if he did, he certainly wasn’t saying; the Hunchback was damn good at keeping secrets.
Jase/Poseidon
Jase heard Emmaline before he saw her.
She swung into the gym and headed right for him.
Jase sighed. Emmaline wouldn’t stop coming for a hug because he was in a foul mood. Durant puffed up, ready to defend his Heart-Sister, but Jase would never hurt Emmaline. He dropped his fighting stance and hugged her as she barrelled into his personal space.
“You’re all sweaty,” she complained before hugging Durant. “And you stink.”
“Nice,” Durant noted.
“Why are you in a mood?” Emmaline asked Jase bluntly, turning to him.
“Because life sucks?” Jase offered.
“Well, tell us something we don’t know. Come on, golden boy, who peed in your chips?” Emmaline demanded.
“What the hell?” Jase asked, amused. Where Emmaline got her sayings from, he didn’t know, but she was full of them.
“You know what I mean. Who upset you?”
“That damn eco-warrior was on the ship I went to cleanse,” Jase complained.
“Willow King?” Emmaline questioned, knowing who he meant straight away.
Jase huffed silently; he supposed he had been vocal about her.
“Blasted human keeps turning up. She needs to keep her nose out before she gets hurt,” Jase growled out.
“Are you going to harm her?” Emmaline asked curiously.
“No! I don’t hunt innocents.”
“But you wish the human pestilence would disappear from the planet,” Emmaline retorted mildly.
“All of them apart from you,” Jase argued.
“Well, we all know I’m special,” Emmaline teased, and Jase felt a reluctant smile cross his face.
“You better be looking after my Godson,” Jase said and patted her protruding belly.
“I had the bloodiest steak in the restaurant. I think it still mooed. Vladimir looked a bit sick as I ate it,” Emmaline admitted.
Jase and Durant laughed. Emmaline had gone from hating even a hint of blood to craving the raw meats that Vladimir usually had, and it was playing havoc with the Vampire.
And speaking of his brother…
Vladimir barrelled in and snatched his mate in his arms. Emmaline immediately glowed in happiness, and Jase experienced a pang of jealousy. Not for the first time.
He knew Vladimir finding a mate meant, hopefully, somebody was out there for all of them.
Still, Jase found it hard to believe there was someone for him. If there was, God help them if they were freaking human!