Authors: Gabrielle Evans
Syx was on his feet instantly, barking orders for the vampires to go back to the basement, and Mac to round up the others. “And bring Gage,” he added after a significant pause. He met Echo’s eyes and shook his head. “I’m not even going to try.”
Good to know they were finally beginning to accept his usefulness. Or maybe they were just tired of arguing with him. Either way, Echo took it as progress. He paused on his way out of the kitchen and looked back at Jinx and Syn. “You know how to work the space heaters? You’ll be okay?”
Jinx rolled his eyes and snorted. “We’re not stupid.” Then he waved him away. “We’re fine. Go be fierce.”
Echo nodded and threw a wink at the vampire.
“Wait!” Syn called. “I want to help!”
Echo thought it over for a moment before jerking his head. “C’mon then.”
“I’m coming, too,” Jinx said vehemently as he took a protective stance in front of Syn.
“I really don’t have time to argue. If you get yourself killed, it’s on you, man.” Echo hurried out of the kitchen, Syn and Jinx right behind him. “Do you even have a power?” He felt like an idiot for not asking before now.
“Jinx has photographic memory,” Syn said proudly. “He can remember anything he’s ever seen or heard like it’s nothing.”
“Hmm.” Echo didn’t know how that was going to be helpful in the war, but the Oracle apparently had a plan for them. Besides, it would be kind of neat to have his own living Rolodex.
The others were already gathered in the foyer, Gage arguing with his mates. “You’re not going,” he growled. “Go upstairs and stay out of trouble. I’ll come get you soon.”
“I can help,” Sony protested. “Let me help!”
“But Mac can’t,” Gage said gently. “Take care of him.” He kissed Sony’s forehead and gave him a little nudge toward the stairs. Sony huffed, but took Mac’s hand and led him up to their room.
“You can’t keep him locked away forever, ya know?”
Gage turned to look at Echo and sighed. “I know, but I plan to for as long as possible.”
Fiero snorted. “Good luck with that. You see how well that worked with our mate.” He dipped his head at Echo and winked. “You might want to get over thinking you’re the boss. Things go much smoother that way.”
Echo punched his lover in the arm. “Shut up.”
“Yes, sir.” Fiero kissed Echo’s cheek, then jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Echo’s elbow. “Brat.”
“Oh, just open the damn door.”
Hex looked over his shoulder, both eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. He looked like he wanted to say something. Instead, he smirked and shook his head in defeat. “Waste of breath,” he mumbled quietly.
Echo beamed. Finally, they were getting it! He made a “go on” gesture with his hand, his other fisted on his hip as he waited for Hex to open the door. There was no sense in prolonging the inevitable, so they might as well get on with it.
Syn and Jinx crowded his back, looking apprehensive but determined. Fiero and Eyce had moved together, their backs to Echo, blocking him from charging out the door. Okay, so they still needed to work on their overprotectiveness. At least they were trying.
They both reached back, holding their palms up, and Echo placed his hands inside his mates’. Squeezing gently, they urged him forward between them. “Do your thing, baby,” Fiero whispered to him.
His thing?
Echo’s eyebrows drew together in puzzlement before comprehension dawned on him.
Oh!
Closing his eyes, he allowed his lovers to lead him out the door as he concentrated on drawing as much of their power as he could. It seemed a little silly for him to be absorbing both fire and water, but whatever. He’d never tried to syphon more than one power at a time before, and he found the task harder than he imagined.
He felt himself lifted and moved off of the porch, but still he kept his eyes closed and focused on feeling his mates’ energies flowing into him.
“Ares,” Hex said flatly. To say he didn’t sound pleased to see the god would be a horrible understatement.
“Hex,” Ares drawled. “Have you reconsidered my offer?”
That did it. Echo’s rage boiled just under the surface and suddenly everything seemed very clear. It was like he could reach out and touch Eyce’s and Fiero’s gifts, pick out the pieces he wanted, and tuck them inside his pockets. Sometimes righteous anger really was a wonderful thing.
When he’d taken as much of their powers as he needed, Echo’s eyes snapped open and he released their hands as he pushed through the other warriors to stand beside Hex. “Why won’t you just go away?” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the god.
Though he felt sure Hex would be angry with him, try to silence him even, the leader just snorted. “Good question, babe.”
“You insolent, little—”
“Oh, nice word usage!” Echo called sarcastically. “I think that’s at least a triple word score.”
Ares raised his hands, electricity crackling off the ends of his fingertips as he stared daggers at Echo. Smirking, Echo held up his own hand, trying to hide the shock as a swirling ball of firewater appeared in his palm. He could feel the wetness of the water, the heat of the fire, and watched as the orange flames leapt inside the liquid orb.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
Hex lifted his eyebrows at the phenomenon. “That’s new.”
Ares apparently didn’t like being ignored, so Echo continued to do it. “It’s kind of neat, right?” he asked Hex, watching the water rotate in his hand. “I wonder if it hurts?” Then without warning, he launched the ball at Ares.
As hoped for, the god was unprepared to fend off the attack, and the force of it caught him square in the chest, dousing his clothes in flames as though Echo had held kerosene instead of water. Unfortunately, it lasted only moments before the fire flickered away, leaving Ares looking more pissed off than ever.
“Oops.” Echo shrugged innocently. He didn’t fear Ares. For some reason the god wanted him, and Echo figured he wouldn’t be much use to anyone if he were dead.
Movement to the left caught his attention, and he watched from the corner of his eyes as two men stepped from the tree line, both sporting large guns slung over their shoulders. He didn’t recognize them, but figured if they needed weapons, that meant that lacked any type of supernatural ability. The knowledge did little to calm his racing heart.
“Are we done here?” Echo asked with more bravado than he felt. They overwhelmed their enemies in numbers and strength, but Ares still held the upper hand. All he had to do was threaten one of Echo’s lovers, and he’d give the man anything he wanted—even turn over himself. His mates were fast, strong, and powerful, but even rogue demons were no match for automatic weapons.
A crunching noise snapped Echo’s focus to the trees on his right. Darkness had claimed the forest, the moonlight no match for the shadows, and he could see nothing. Myst could easily subdue the two on the left, but they couldn’t fight what they couldn’t see. How many had Ares brought with him?
Ares laughed darkly as though he could read Echo thoughts. “Not so cocky now, are you?”
“If you’re supposed to be some all-powerful god, why do you need backup anyway?” Echo heard several groans behind him, but he couldn’t stop his mouth from running away with him.
“Be unafraid and turn away your doubts,”
a feminine voice drifted into his mind.
“Or lose that which matters most,” Echo recited under his breath. He mulled the words over for a moment, then snapped his head up to lock gazes with Ares. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said loudly.
“Echo,” Hex growled in warning, but Echo ignored him.
Ares tilted his head to the side and surveyed him shrewdly. “Go on.”
“Leave,” Echo demanded, “and if Fiero fails in his task, I’ll go with you willingly.”
“No!” Fiero roared from behind him. He charged forward and grabbed Echo by the shoulder, spinning him around roughly. “I forbid it.”
Echo peered up at his lover, pleading wordlessly for his trust. When Fiero looked like he would argue again, Echo turned his back on him and refocused on Ares. “Do we have a deal?”
“If any of your…
lovers
,” he sneered the word, “fails in their task, you turn yourself over to me.”
“And you’ll leave us alone?” Echo questioned doubtfully.
“Until the equinox.” Ares smiled evilly. “Then all bets are off.”
“But we won’t see you again until then,” Echo continued to prod. He needed to cover all the loopholes.
“Oh, I’ll be back.” Ares sounded as though this was a given and Echo was very slow for not catching on to it. “But I give my word I will come alone and without hostility.”
“No one will be hurt?”
Ares merely nodded his agreement.
Echo’s mind worked frantically, the neurons in his brain snapping in rapid succession as he tried to think of something he’d missed. When he could find nothing, he dipped his head once. “Deal.”
He watched as the men to his left drifted back into the trees, gone as though they’d been nothing more than figments of his imagination. The night sounded unnaturally quiet. No wind blew, no sound carried from the trees, not even the house made a groan or creak.
“Until next time,” Ares said jovially. He bowed ceremoniously and simply vanished from sight.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Fiero exploded. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
“No one will be hurt,” Echo answered calmly. “That’s all I care about.”
Fiero threw his hands up in the air and growled. “Do you honestly think that cockroach has an honest bone in his body? Why didn’t you just strip naked and bow down at his feet?”
“It’s cold.” Echo bit his lip and took a hurried step back when Fiero looked at him murderously. So the big demon wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Good to know. “As long as you each complete your tests, there’s no need to worry,” he tried again.
“You really are that naïve.” Fiero looked at him with a mix of pity and rage. “So, I guess you just get to make all the decisions now? Is that it? You’re a one-man show and don’t need any of us lower life forms?”
Echo didn’t think that was fair at all. “I was trying to save our asses,” he argued vehemently.
“No!” Fiero roared. “You were trying to run the fucking show, just like you always do! Did it ever occur to you that we’ve been around a hell of a lot longer than you have? We’ve seen things you can’t imagine in your worst nightmares.”
“I don’t think that has anyth—”
“No,” Fiero cut him off, his voice cold and hard. “You didn’t think. You didn’t think about a damn thing besides yourself.” He looked as though he’d say more, but instead, shook his head, turned on his heels, and marched toward the house.
Echo looked around him, searching for support and solidarity.
He found none.
His lovers and his friends just stared at him, and not kindly either, before they all turned their backs and followed Fiero inside, leaving Echo alone in the cold.
Well, screw them. He’d done what he thought was right—the only thing he knew to do to protect the men he loved. If they couldn’t see that, then they could all just go straight to hell.
Trudging toward the front door with a heavy heart, Echo realized that if he failed, if his plan backfired, that’s exactly where they’d go.
And the fault would rest solely on his shoulders.