Chapter 18 #2
A sob caught as Mama’s name left his lips and I searched his face for my own. Papa is dead, I reminded myself. ‘But you still saved me. You’re still with me and I know there’s more to you than this drunk sailor you’re so keen to portray. I’ll damn you to Vyrus till you tell me.’
He shook his head, a wry grin lighting up his face. ‘I can guarantee. He doesn’t give one shit about your threats.’
‘Evella then.’
His eyes darkened as my pulse thundered.
‘Do not utter her name around me.’
I swallowed the rising panic. ‘You’re from Obaithe then? It explains why you hide your blessing. Why you hate—’
‘I do not hate her.’
I snorted, amazed at how my voice remained steady. ‘It’s clear you’re no mere mortal.’
He shook his head once more. ‘I am not blessed by her.’
‘You can’t abide her. You—’
His gaze bore into me, my words faded. Was that pain flashing behind his eyes?
‘No. I don’t hate her. I love her. There has only ever been love for her within this fractured scrap of my heart.’
‘But.’ I furrowed my brows. Those from the Southern land of Obaithe despised Evella. They treated Anomalies as tainted as diafols. If he wasn’t from there? ‘If you claim to love her, why is there such a darkness to you when I say her name? Damn you, man. How can you not be blessed?’
The skin on my arms prickled as the flame-fuelled sun reflected in his eyes. His dark hair whipped wildly as shadows danced a macabre waltz across his face.
‘You’re the clever little Deviant.’
My breath caught as his features morphed. Morphed into the grotesque images Brothers had painted in The Chronicles. Faces that haunted me since I was a child, turning the pages of the Histories and Prophecies. ‘You tell me, sweetheart. Who am I?’
No. He… He couldn’t be… Disbelief gripped me, pleaded with me to deny the truth lurking in the lines of his face.
‘She’s why I’m here. The day she fractured my heart, I was bound to this festering hole.
My powers depleted, waning with each circuit of the sun.
I became one of you. I tried to understand her obsession.
I thought it’d solve the rot between us.
But all I found was a plague. Mortals. Petty, vile, greedy.
Always so cruel to each other.’ He raised the bottle, took a long gulp before regarding it with appreciation.
‘This is the only good thing about your lot.’
‘Your name isn’t Hawk, is it?’ A broken laugh burst from my lips. The fleeting belief I’d had that this… this demon could be my papa.
His cruel mouth hooked up. Eyes dark and more ancient than time met mine. ‘You already know it, sweetheart.’ He cocked his head. ‘So let’s stop the game and see what fate has in store for you. Tell me who I am? Let’s see what happens, Sorrow Villente.’
I dragged in a breath. Shook my head.
He raised his brow. ‘One word, Villente.’
This was madness. There was no way he could be… If I said it, said the name burning through my mind, he’d deny it. Laugh me off.
‘Not brave enough?’
‘Vyrus.’
I waited. Waited for the derisive laugh. The denial. But my blood chilled as he raised his never-empty bottle and took another swig. A laugh bubbled out of me instead.
‘You’re Vyrus. God of Vengeance.’
A grimace crossed his face and fear claimed me. They’d warned me that no one, not one person, had ever denied Vyrus his Tribute. That he’d always claim what was rightfully his.
The curses died on my trembling lips. I gripped the wolf tighter. My knees buckled as I stepped back. Every trial I’d survived, every bruise I’d borne was for nothing.
He’d come for me.
‘Creation.’ The word burst from him, a swirl of stars shot from his hand, bursting before us.
‘The God of Creation. The cosmos, the universe, each and every star burning in every galaxy. My creation. My art. My accomplishment.’ His throat worked as he took another few swigs.
‘But what do you insignificant fleas call me? The God of Vengeance.’
Pablo lowered his head as the first shrill notes of a thrush announced the new morn.
Thoughts swirled my mind. There were times I struggled to believe in the Gods and, apparently, the creator of all, a God who despised humans, wanted to kill us, who’d been denied his Tribute, stood before me, drowning his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle.
I steadied the shudders and met his gaze.
‘Prove it,’ I whispered.
The bottle hovered before his twisted mouth.
‘Prove it?’ Hawk… Vyrus lowered the bottle, his brows furrowed.
‘Have you not watched me?’ He opened his palm and my breath hitched as a tiny galaxy formed in his hand.
Swirling orbs, one so like Eusis, with patches of green land surrounded by a deep blue watery ocean, thin clouds circling snowy mountain tops.
‘What would you have me do, Sorrow Villente?’ He crushed the world in his hand.
Crumbling the remnants into dust. ‘Destroy the world? Tried that. Didn’t work out too well for anyone. ’
‘Have…’ I cleared my throat. ‘Have you come for me?’
Vyrus sneered. ‘Don’t know if you’ve noticed, sweetheart, but I’ve been trying to get away.’
‘But I was your sacrifice?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah. Again. Another cruel mortal idea.’
Pablo approached, his ears low as he nuzzled the God’s fingers.
‘Where does it say in The Chronicles, I want ten charred mortals every decade?’
It was my turn to furrow my brows. It didn’t. It was the Brotherhood of Tribute who’d always claimed we faced the end of time if we failed to present Vyrus with his Tributes.
So, if he didn’t want me dead, why was he here?
If he truly was Vyrus, the God whose jealousy sought to destroy our planet, then surely the Vyrium would be under his control. And if he could control Vyrium, then surely, he could…
I grasped the still-hovering dagger and thrust it towards him. His eyes widened as he took it from me. ‘It won’t work on me.’
‘No,’ I said, resolve strengthening my voice. ‘I imagine killing an immortal is quite the challenge.’
He barked out a laugh as the glade began to brighten. ‘Though not impossible.’ He tapped his chest. ‘Rather fragile hearts, remember.’
‘Can you remove the Vyrium? Control it?’
‘And there was me thinking you’d set me a real task.’
He raised his other hand and I smirked, noting how the bottle had gone.
It was now clear he called it into existence whenever he needed it.
With an almost bored expression, the Vyrium that a sweat-riddled blacksmith had imbued with the steel rose into the early morning light in tiny glinting bronze motes.
With the merest flick of his fingers, they danced between us, swirling around my head, till Vyrus’s hands dropped to his side and the Vyrium fell to the mud.
With a huge smile, I glanced from the Vyrium to the God.
Pablo stood, a gentle whine escaping him as I blew out a shaky breath.
This man… this God could save us. Save Matthias.
A giggle burst out of me as I almost offered a silent prayer to Evella.
Only, for once, it wasn’t her saving us.
It would be Vyrus, the God who’d spent eternity planning our demise.
‘You can help me. You can help Matthias.’
A scowl passed over his face. ‘No.’
He turned on his heel, storming away, and for a moment I was frozen, watching him go, till I clutched Pablo and sped after him.
‘No?’
The shaky form of Vyrus halted, his shoulders drooped.
‘You heard me, sweetheart. No.’
‘But you’re already helping me.’
He rounded on me and I skidded to a halt, almost slamming into him. Red tinged his cheeks.
‘If you—’
He raised his hand. My voice died as my mouth worked. A wicked glint sparked in his eyes as I shaped the words. The prick had stolen my voice.
I stamped my foot.
‘Now, sweetheart.’ He crossed his arms, an amused tilt to his lips as I mouthed the worst swear words I could muster.
‘This is the deal. I’ve been on this festering planet for almost a thousand years.
Searching high and low. She thought if I came here, became one of you, I’d understand why she left me.
What it is about the little parasites crawling all over this world that was more exhilarating than her bond to a god.
I’ve tried being kind, being rich. I battled in wars and yes, I even fucked a couple of you, but I could never work out why she preferred mortals to me.
’ He ran his hands through his beard as I glared at him.
‘The only thing that’s made this entire experience bearable is the narcotics and alcohol.
I have to give you mortals that. You seriously know how to get shitfaced. ’
The glint left his dark eyes as he came close.
‘There’s… you’re…’ A muscle ticked in his cheek as though he wanted to say more.
‘I get you to the rebels, then I’m gone.
You breathe a single word of who I am and I’ll…
’ He glanced down to Pablo, shook his head.
‘I’ll kill your sister.’ He laughed at my expression.
‘Yep. You tell a single soul about me, and I’ll take her away from you. ’
He walked away, and seething and silent, I followed in his wake.
By the time we’d returned to our camp, the sun warmed my skin.
Judging by the way he kept peering back over his shoulder, he found the entire thing highly amusing.
But as I fought back the tears, I worked through different ways in which I could force him to help us.
I was determined Vyrus was staying with me. God or not, I’d drag him back to Asmar and there, we’d free Matthias. He could abandon us and drown in his bottle afterwards, for all I cared. But there was no way I’d let that God out of my sight till he’d returned Matthias to me.