29. Faith and Lies
29
FAITH AND LIES
EVAN
“ D o you think Tessa made her run?” Kurtis asks, excitedly.
“What else could have made her drop everything and leave like that?” Dante holds out his hand, toward the now empty seat.
I worry we shouldn’t speak so freely when Instant might be spying on us, but I chime in anyway. “Maybe Instant didn’t want to deal with pretending to care about our relationships,” I offer, feeling pessimistic and disheartened. I want to believe Tessa can win, but Death warned us this might be a losing battle.
“Don’t,” Dante snaps. “I can’t fucking think about the alternative. Tessa needs to be fighting.”
I sigh and rub my face. “Sorry. You’re right. It was probably Tessa that drew her away,” I admit. “But we have no idea where they are, or what’s happening.”
We all shove our untouched plates of food away from us. We hadn’t really been in the mood to eat anyway as we had to talk to Instant about our future with Tessa .
I don’t know why Instant is going through the ruse of being someone else. She likely just wants to drain us of our souls and powers.
Perhaps she isn’t powerful enough to take us on. That thought gives me a flutter of hope. If the asshole goddess is weaker than we believe, then Tessa has a chance to win back her body and rid the world of our enemy.
“What should we do?” Kurtis looks at me for answers, but I have none.
“Stick together,” Dante says with a resolve I no longer seem to have.
It was stripped away when Tessa was.
“Let’s hole up in the game room for now,” he suggests. “We shouldn’t split up, so Instant can’t pick us off one by one.”
“Agreed.” I stand and toss my napkin on the plate of food. I have an intense urge to grab a bottle of whiskey and drown my anxiety, but we need our wits about us.
“As much as I want Tessa to win, we can’t expect this to be easy or simple,” I mutter as I lead us down the hall to the den.
When I enter like a raging storm, fond memories with Tessa and Kurtis hit me like a lightning bolt. I remember Tessa curled up between us during the early days on the couch. And when I told her how I wanted her. And when I watched her play stupid video games with Kurtis and Dante. She was so focused and competitive, even if she didn’t really care about a silly thing like shootout games. I could watch her unimpeded in those moments.
She had no idea that I was falling for her all that time. Every single smile shot my way cracked the ice around my heart. Every word was branded into my memory. Every slight, innocent touch awakened my desires to have more.
“You okay?” Kurtis asks, and I realized I’ve stalled out in the open archway of the game room.
Dante brushes past me and flops onto a leather recliner.
Kurtis stands in front of me and cups my jaw with one hand. He’s hesitant. We’re still learning our boundaries. Typically, I don’t like unsolicited affection, but I find I don’t mind the comfort he’s offering now.
“We have to have faith she’ll make it,” he whispers.
I grab him around the waist and pull him flush with my body. Then I close my eyes and get lost in the connection between us—emotionally and physically. His hard chest against mine gives me some strength to remain positive. He’s usually the pessimist or at least the most vocal.
But he isn’t wrong about faith. Gods, goddesses, and other spiritual entities use belief as a power source all the time.
I’m just about to recommend we send our belief in Tessa to her when she appears in the archway.
“What’s going on here?” she says with a bit of amusement. She looks tired. Worn out. With my Karma gifts, I can sense the power coming off Tessa is waning.
She cocks her hip and crosses her arms. “Any room in there for me?”
Could it really be her?
Please let it be her.
We are frozen with doubt.
It’s Kurtis who breaks the silence. I don’t know if he believes it’s her or is only trying to appease Instant. “Of course!” He breaks from my hold, pulls her into a hug, and then slings an arm over her shoulders, guiding her to the large couch.
Kurtis sits down with her. “Can I get you anything? Beer?”
She makes a face at the offer. “It’s me, Kurtis. You know I don’t like beer.”
“Oops. Sorry.”
How do we ask if it’s really Tessa without revealing our hand that we know Instant was possessing her?
Instinct warns me to be wary.
“I fought her and won,” she admits.
“Fought who?” I ask before the other two can comment.
Kurtis and Dante glance at me and fortunately take my cue.
“Instant Karma was inside me, trying to take over,” she says, but the way she shivers seems overplayed. Or is that the exact right response to being possessed?
Fuck . I like to believe that I’d know if it was my Tessa in control again, but what if I’m wrong? But this doesn’t feel like her.
“What? When?” I suck in a breath, playing stupid. Maybe we can catch her in a lie. I keep talking so Instant doesn’t take off again. “For how long?”
“Not long. This last week.”
“Oh, good.” I sigh with relief. “I thought maybe when we were, you know… intimate. That it might not have been you.”
“You don’t have to worry.” She smiles gently and holds out her hand as an invitation for me to join her on the couch.
Dante abruptly stands and moves toward the exit. He pauses and looks at her. “Tessa, I’m glad you’re okay. But I’m sorry. I’m not strong enough. I can’t be part of this.” He waves his hand at Kurtis and me. “Good luck,” he says sadly, then storms off.
She glowers at the spot where he disappeared from view.
He wants us to retreat. Perhaps we need a better game plan. And Instant seems like she wants us for some reason, so I don’t think she will leave.
“Uh, I need to rest and think about what I need. This is all a lot to process. And I haven’t slept right in days.” I watch for her reaction. “I hope you understand.”
Her jaw flutters with irritation, but she tries to keep her face neutral.
“Fine,” she grumbles.
Kurtis frowns. “I should probably do the same. We all need to assess what’s going on. You said some pretty rude things to me via text.”
The same texts were tampered with by Instant, but I don’t bring that up. It’s a good enough excuse.
“But that wasn’t me,” she snaps.
“Karma advised us to be cautious about starting new relationships, as we were on our healing journey. This drama is triggering me,” Kurtis admits, and damn if he doesn’t sound sincere. I think he is. “I hope we can talk tomorrow when my head is clearer.”
Tessa’s quietly seething as we walk out.
Kurtis glances at me a few times as we climb the stairs, but he doesn’t say a word.
We pop into Dante’s room without knocking. He’s pacing and pulling on his dark locks. “The Club,” he mouths.
Without hesitation, we all transport to just outside of Tessa’s sacred circle and then cross over into the space.
“That wasn’t her.” Dante appears to be losing his mind. “Do you think Tessa… that she’s…”
“We should contact Death,” Kurtis suggests.
“No. Hypnos,” Dante counters. “One of us can try dreaming to call to him.”
“I believe I’m the only one of us who can lucid dream,” I say. “Which we’ll need to use to our advantage.”
“He might not even answer,” Kurtis argues, grabbing my arm like I’m about to jump off a cliff. “What if he isn’t really helping us, but Instant.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. If he kills me, so be it,” I say bluntly.
Kurtis clasps the sides of my face and kisses me hard. “Fuck. I love that you would do this for our girl, but I fucking hate that you might be lost to me if you do.”
Stunned by his passion, I stutter a promise. “I… I’ll do my best to make it back to you.”
I make myself comfortable on the tent’s rustic style bedding. I briefly imagine what it might be like to spend the night here with Tessa and Kurtis… if we get her back.
No. I can’t leave room for doubt.
“Ready?” Kurtis asks.
Karma’s powers give us the ability to put someone to sleep and into a dream cycle so it will be much quicker than doing this naturally, and hopefully before Instant figures out we’re missing from the mansion and where we are, and what we are up to.
“Ready.” I nod and close my eyes, focusing on creating a plan once my dreaming turns lucid.
Using his Karma gifts, Kurtis’s warm fingers press over my brow, and I’m gone.
In an instant, I’m dreaming about taking Tessa and Kurtis on a date together. We end up back at the tent.
Before I can get swept away by the fantasy, I recognize this as the dream it is.
I call out to Hypnos. “God of Dreams, Keeper of the Little Death, Hypnos, please hear my call and answer my questions.”
I repeat my plea and suddenly I’m in a dark cavern.
“Hello, dreamer.” A tall, dark-haired god greets me with a cautious expression. “You’ve come for your mate?”
“Is Tessa here?” I ask, glancing around into the surrounding darkness.
“No. She’s fighting and losing the battle for her life.” Hypnos sounds concerned. Perhaps he wishes for her to win. Could this Greek god give a shit? Not likely, but maybe he does if he has a stake in the battle.
“Can’t you help her?” I demand rather than ask.
“No. But you might be able to.”
“How?”
He gives me a sad smile. “Belief. Prayer. But to your personal goddess—Tessa. Give her the power of your faith. Give her your thoughts and your love. Your devotion. It might tip the scales in her favor. She might feel it.”
Might . Hypnos has his doubts.
But perhaps he’s right. I had the same idea earlier. She is a descendant of a god. And she is our goddess, isn’t she?
“Anything else I can do for her?” I ask.
“Distract Instant. She isn’t as powerful as she was before Death vanquished her. It’s why she’s targeted you and the other two. She intends to slowly consume your souls to keep herself powered up. To keep Tessa’s magic alive.”
Shit. I realize the reason Instant collected us and placed us all on the same team was a setup for this very thing. Instant wanted to steal Tessa’s body and soul for its power, and then claim our souls to keep it going.
But Tessa thwarted the goddess before she could do that, setting her back to almost nothing. Unless she can reclaim us and finally win.
“You’ve been helping Instant come back, haven’t you?” I question Hypnos’s intentions. “Why should I trust you now?”
“Because Tessa gave me hope that my love, my mate, is out there. For that alone, I owe her a favor.” He shrugs and his dark wings ruffle behind him. “And I never cared much for Instant anyway.”
I glare at the intriguing and baffling god. He’s a dubious ally, but I sense what he just said was true… at least for the moment.
“Thank you.” I nod my head in appreciation. I don’t need to piss off the god connected to my soul every time I sleep.
“Go, save your woman, handsome dreamer.” He gives me a wink. “I’ll see you soon.”
Well, that’s disconcerting. I may never see this image of him again in his godly form, but I’m sure if I survive the battle with Instant that Hypnos will be keeping an eye on me.
If gaining another god’s attention is the price for getting Tessa back, I’ll gladly pay it.
I’d pay with my very life if it means she can live freely again.
If I’m gone, I know Dante and Kurtis will be good to her.
But damn, I want to hold her in my arms and kiss her one more time.