Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(77)

I stared at her, unable to believe what I was hearing. Ernie flew close to my head and whispered softly. “The huntress sides with you. You are gaining allies whether you know it or not.”

The huntress. Artemis. The female reporter gave me a slow nod and a salute.

Theseus’s heart gave one last beat, then stopped, and I uncoiled from him.

But the night wasn’t over. As if an unseen signal had been given, vampires poured out of the courthouse, running every which way.

Dahlia and the rest of Remo’s crew drove Santos’s people out and away. My heart lurched. Where was Remo? With the adrenaline gone, the reverse shift took me, and I was on the cool grass, buck naked, shivering and unable to stand, my body aching from all quarters, from my mouth and head to my legs and feet. I glanced down. The sword of Theseus had to have been coated in the fennel oil. Even as I thought it, the burn began deep within the sword wound in my side, the power of the oil spreading through my innards. I cried out and fell. I’d stopped him, but at what cost?

Hands caught me up. “We need a healer,” Ernie yelled.

A gentle voice spoke, one I didn’t know. “I can help with that. She has earned her stripes, protecting her friends. Protecting everyone.”

Heat and cold flushed through me, one after another. I gasped and sat up, staring into the face of a woman whose blue eyes made me think of the neon-blue frosting I’d used on a birthday cake once.

“Who are you?”

She smiled. “I am Panacea, healer of the pantheon. Artemis and I . . . we don’t agree with what Hera and Aphrodite are doing. They’re being stupid again.” She brushed her hands on a long, loose skirt that pooled at her bare feet. “While we can’t directly help you, we will do what we can. Because until Zeus pulls his head out of his ass, this is going to be harder on you than it needs to be.”

She pulled a cloak from her shoulders and swept it around my bare ones. “Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and are different for every generation. You are the hero now, Alena. Do not forget it.” She bent and kissed me on the forehead. Cameras clicked and bright lights seemed to intensify, and then she was gone. Like she’d never been there.

The pain and wounds were gone as suddenly as Panacea, though they were replaced by a bone-deep fatigue. Clutching the cloak closed around me, I stood and looked around. “Remo?”

“I’m here.” His voice was fatigue filled, but as he approached I could see he wasn’t hurt, at least not badly.

Behind us a muffled cry resounded in the night air. I turned to see Sandy in her human form, on the ground next to Beth’s now human body, her head off to one side. Sandy’s shoulders shook as she sobbed over her friend. I hurried to her side and folded my legs under me to rest on my knees.

“Sandy, honey, we have to go.”

Her eyes were swollen with tears when she looked up at me. “I can’t leave her here.”

Remo stepped up beside me. “We’ll take care of her. We won’t let her stay here.”

I tucked a hand under her arm. “Come on, let’s go home.”

She leaned into me, as naked as I was. The curse of a shifter. “Tad,” I said, “give her your jacket.”

My brother jogged over, his eyes downcast, but he slipped off his long jacket and wrapped it around Sandy’s shoulders.

In a matter of minutes, Remo, Dahlia, Tad, Yaya, Sandy, and I walked in a tight group toward the front of the courthouse, where we’d parked. Somehow we managed to exit the building at the same time as Judge Watts. He glanced at me, stopped when he saw my obvious state of undress beneath the cloak. He spluttered once and shook his head. “Your divorce hearing is tomorrow at one in the afternoon. I suggest you be there, Ms. Budrene.”

I slumped, defeat finally taking me. “Why, so you can just take it all from me? Pretend I don’t really exist, even after I saved your life?”

He pursed his lips. “Perhaps don’t argue with the judge who can change things for you, yes?”

I slumped further, turned, and walked away. Yaya caught me around the waist with one arm. “You know, you’re getting really good at this ass-kicking business. Perhaps you could charge money for spectators. Like a staged wrestling match.”

I smiled but couldn’t even manage a laugh. We’d lost someone this time, someone who’d been a friend. I couldn’t stop seeing Theseus as he took Beth’s head, lopping it off as though she were nothing to him.

Because she was just another monster. And he’d been able to do it only because I’d bitten her. I’d mortally wounded her. Tears tracked down my cheeks as I finally began to process the events of the night.

“Alena.”

I stopped, sniffed once, and turned to Merlin. He didn’t smile, but there was a light in his eyes. He ran a hand over his slicked-back hair.

“What?”

“I think . . . I think I made a mistake. I need to speak with you.”

Why did I think that wasn’t going to bode well for me?





CHAPTER 21


We arrived at Merlin’s house ahead of him. “Why would he ask us to meet him here?” Dahlia asked.

I had a feeling I knew, but I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to jinx what was left of the night by saying my thoughts out loud. The last thing we needed was more drama, bloodshed, or fighting. But I expected we were going to get more of that sooner than I wanted.