As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Twenty-Three

“It’s not what it sounds like,” I snapped. “Now, get Jo to safety before you have a meltdown.”

“How can it not be what it sounds like?” Vir protested, easily keeping pace with us as he adjusted Jo in his arms so she stopped bouncing as much.

Sometimes, I hated him and his ability to do everything effortlessly.

“Dani,” Vir said. “Do you have any idea—”

“Nope, and don’t care,” I said, pushing my legs faster, blowing past Aaron and the rest of his team.

I ran faster than I’ve ever run before, my legs flying over the field. Yet still, somehow, Vir managed to keep up.

“You’re not even breathing hard,” I growled. “This isn’t fair.”

“I’m a god, Dani,” Vir said as if he needed to remind me about that fact some more. “I don’t tire very easily, and certainly not from running like this. You won’t outpace me.”

“No need,” I growled as we reached the edge of the Aldridge’s property, and the trucks came into sight. “We’re here.”

I waited in silence for Aaron and his team to arrive, ignoring the incredulous looks from Vir.

“You should probably ride in the other truck,” I told Vir as the group arrived, looking back and forth between Vir and me suspiciously.

“No,” the god said.

“Fine.” I looked at Jo. “I’m really sorry for this.”

“You got me out of there,” she said. “And you took on Lars. And you beat him. I saw the way you hit Eric as well. He went down like a sack of potatoes. That was amazing! When did you get so strong?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, unsure of the answer.

“Whatever, doesn’t matter. That was badass,” Jo said, slipping out of Vir’s arms as he set her down into the rear seat.

My jealousy noticed the reluctance in her movements, the way her fingers dragged down Vir’s arm as she slowly let go, and a spike of anger filled me.

No. I sent the mental command firmly to my Soulbond, giving it a vicious lashing. Jo was my friend, and she had no idea who Vir was, nor that he and I had a dubious connection. Besides, I was going to see that link severed before long, and then Jo would be free to do whatever she wanted with Vir. So, I wasn’t going to get unnecessarily mad over an innocent act like that.

“Oh, my,” Jo said, yawning abruptly. “I’m tired.”

“Go to sleep,” I said, moving past the others and hugging her. “You’re safe now.”

Jo nodded, and a moment later, she was passed out. I closed the door gently and turned to find Vir right in front of me.

“Dani,” Vir moaned, his gorgeous features twisted in anguish. “You stole the Idol?”

I nearly slapped him. “Your complaining is starting to get on my nerves,” I growled. “You’re thousands of years old. Start acting like it.”

“But the Idol,” Vir protested.

I rolled my eyes and got in the front seat of the truck as Aaron slid behind the wheel. Vir followed, sitting behind Aaron so he could look at me and also because Jo was still sleeping directly behind me.

“Urk,” Vir said, his knees jabbing into the back of Aaron’s seat. “Can you move your chair up?”

Aaron paused, looking in the rearview mirror. “No.”

I snickered.

“Dani,” Vir began, already ignoring Aaron.

“I stole the stupid Idol from Lars, Vir,” I snapped. “Did you miss that little bit? I took it from Lars.”

Vir shut up. I could see him mentally replaying the conversation, his eyes unfocused as he thought back to it all.

“I see,” he said slowly.

“Exactly. I didn’t take it from your precious city or her temple. He already had it, and I took it from him.”

“Well, that’s not that bad,” Vir said slowly. “I guess.”

“I’m so glad you approve,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my tone. Vir ignored it. So I turned to Aaron. “What did you do with it?”

Vir gasped from the backseat. “You stole it and gave it to him?!”

“Oh, for—Shut. Up!” I snapped, turning to glare at Vir. “Seriously. Until a few days ago, you were nothing more than words in a dusty old textbook. Nobody was going to take that seriously.”

“But you gave it to him?”

“Yes,” I said. “I did steal it. I took it from Lars, and I gave it to Aaron to pay for his services so I had someone to help me look for Shuldar. There. Are you happy? You know the full story. Any more protests for how I defiled this or that and blasphemed everyone you know?”

Vir fell silent.

Thank. God.

Or Gods. Or whoever actually existed.

I focused my attention back on Aaron, who was staring straight ahead and leading the other truck as we made good on our escape of sorts from Aldridge Manor.

Normally calm, collected, and cool as ice, Aaron’s rock-hard features were twisted in something that I’d never seen on him before.

Discomfort.

I didn’t know what to make of that. I’d expected gloating and smugness as he lorded his payment over Vir’s head. Taunting him with it, or even just chuckling. Yet, he wasn’t taking the time to do any of that.

“Where is it?” I asked him. “Let’s go get it.”

To my surprise, Aaron shook his head. “I’m not giving it back.”

I sighed. “Think about it, Aaron. It’s only money. Vir’s gonna pay you with more of his treasure. You get to take more of his money. That should make you happy, no?”

Aaron’s face still didn’t change. No surge of delight flickering through his bright eyes, no twitch of his pale cheeks. Nothing. He was like ice.

“What is it?” I asked quietly. “What’s wrong, Aaron?”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I don’t have it.”

I blinked slowly. “You. Don’t. Have it?”

Aaron winced. “No. I had to give it up.”

That didn’t seem like Aaron at all. But then, I’d given him the Idol as his fee for the entire team. So, maybe he’d had to pay them.

“Please don’t tell me you melted it down into bars to pay your team,” I moaned.

“He didn’t,” Vir said, speaking up.

I turned to look at him. “How do you know that?”

“The magic would prevent that from happening.”

“What magic?” I asked. “There was no magic about it. Nothing that I could sense. It was just a lumpy little statuette.”

Vir stared at me. I ignored him. Nobody in their right mind would think to call the Idol of Amunlea a crafted masterpiece. That would be impossible because it wasn’t. It was a lump with some slightly carved features. Nothing more.

“Trust me,” Vir said quietly. “There is magic. If you held it again, you’d believe me.”

“Why? Why now?”

“Because,” Vir said quietly, “a lot has changed in the past few days. The Idol will be awake now.”

I fell silent. As much as Vir was on my nerves right now, I wasn’t inclined to call him a liar. After all, he’d lived with the thing a thousand years ago. He knew what it was capable of.

“Okay, fine,” I said after a moment more of thought. “We go get the magic thing from whoever you gave it to, Aaron. Then, we take it back to Lars, give it to him, and get my parents back. No big deal, right?”

“No, we can’t do that.”

“You can’t give it to Lars!”

I stared at Vir and Aaron, both of them protesting over top of one another. Holding up a hand, I waited until they subsided into silence.

“One at a time,” I said, then pointed at Aaron. “You first because I’m tired of hearing him preach about the horror I’ve inflicted on his little action figure.”

Vir sputtered and protested wordlessly, but both Aaron and I ignored him.

Aaron shifted uncomfortably in his seat under the double scrutiny. I was amazed. I’d never seen anything ruffle his feathers this way. Just how bad was this going to be?

“Talk. Explain why you don’t have it,” I said, growing tired with both of them. For people who were supposed to be old, like Vir, or whatever Aaron was, they sure were running scared from one tiny, ordinary shifter like me.

“I sort of had to use it,” Aaron said. “To pay off a debt of my own. So, I don’t have it.”

Vir groaned audibly from the backseat, leaning forward to rest his head against the back of Aaron’s seat, his long black hair falling forward, hiding his face but not his reaction.

“Sacrilege,” he moaned. “I can’t believe you just used the Idol like a lump of gold.”

“It is a lump of gold,” Aaron and I said at the same time, glancing at one another in surprise.

“Okay,” I said, trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach that Aaron’s gaze had produced. “That’s fine. Vir will just get some of his treasure, and we’ll pay this person off. Give them a premium to make it worth their while. Who has it? We’ll go get it.”

“It’s not that easy,” Aaron said, yanking his eyes off me and staring at the road again.

I noticed his knuckles getting white on the steering wheel. Was he scared?

“Why not?” I asked, exasperated. “Where is it?”

“You’re not going to like the answer,” Aaron said, hedging.

“I already don’t like anything coming out of either of your mouths,” I said dryly. “I’m not sure how this is going to change a thing. How much worse could it get?”

“A lot,” Aaron said quietly.

There was silence in the cab of the truck. Then, from the back seat, I saw Vir stiffen and stare in horror at the back of Aaron’s seat.

“No,” he said quietly. “You did not.”

“I had no choice!” Aaron said sharply, twisting his hands on the steering wheel. “He called it in.”

“What the fuck are the two of you talking about?” I snarled, angrily looking back and forth at them. “Who called it in? Who are you talking about?”

Aaron stared straight ahead. “Uh, would you believe me if I said Hades?”