Storm Gods - G. Bailey
Chapter 1
The loud smack of the portal closing behind me almost makes me jump, the coldness of the room quickly seeping into every inch of my body. I cross my arms as I face my father, a man I thought I had managed to kill, but I was so feckin’ wrong. The bastard is alive, and my best friend is unconscious in his arms as his prisoner. The breeze from an open warehouse door near us blows through the room, shaking the doors on the other side of the room. I glance up, seeing an old warehouse structure with several bridges crossing above our heads. Looking back at the open door, I see nothing but grey waves and dark starless sky. It’s unnaturally bright, and I can hear the common sounds of a city in the distance. Where are we? Every breath of mine comes out as smoke, and I can’t help but shake as I turn my eyes to my father.
“It is colder here, wear this,” Neritous states, throwing an old blue jacket at me before covering Mads with one he picks up from a desk nearby. I want to tell him to feck off, but he has a point. Dying of cold isn’t a good idea. I put the overly large jacket on, doing up the buttons as Neritous watches me the entire time.
“Did you kill my mother, or was it Xur?” I demand an answer. I couldn’t tell if Xur was telling me the truth, and the memories my mum showed me suggest that Neritous did it. I need to know how much of an enemy the man standing in front of me actually is.
Neritous lifts his chin, meeting my eyes with his cold and unfeeling ones. “I did not kill your mother. I would not waste life, but you know that. You wouldn’t have followed me if you didn’t, Karma Kismet.”
“So you wanted me alive? You knew Maria was pregnant?” I question. He eyes me with calculated interest, and I wonder if he has figured out I’m pretty mad. Okay, very mad.
“You were the only reason I was ever with Maria. A god of fortune told me to find several women and have children with them,” he answers, and my lips tighten into a thin line. So disgusting. I bite down on my tongue, trying not to say what I’m really feeling right about now. If he wasn’t holding Mads like a doll in his arms, it would be a different discussion. “Now follow.”
He turns around, his cloak whipping around him before he walks to the middle door of five on the other side of the room. I glance behind me at the open door one more time...and I wish I could send a message to my guys. I wish I weren’t alone. I’ve become used to fighting with one of them with me or nearby, and I know I don’t want to go back to being alone anymore. Neritous waves his fingers, and the door slams open, a red haze of magic flickering in the air. When he steps into it, it covers him like a splash of water before he disappears.
I glance back at the open door one more time.
Final decision, Karma.
Gulping down the indecision and worry about what the hell I am doing, I step through the door, and the red magic feels like it burns me. I scream, falling onto the floor on the other side, rubbing my arms as the pain suddenly disappears.
“Do get up off the floor, Karma,” my father demands, sounding not too impressed. I grit my teeth and stand up, brushing off the dust from my clothes.
“You don’t get to make demands like a father would do. I have a dad, one who is kind and never once demanded anything from me. You are fecking nothing to me,” I spit out.
“But she is?” he responds with a cruel shine to his eyes. He drops her on the floor, and I jump to catch her but miss. Her head makes an awful noise as it smacks on the floor, along with the rest of her body.
“Mads!” I shout, falling to her side and picking her up onto my lap. Neritous moves extremely close to me and roughly grabs my chin, making me look up at him.
“She is a higher god now, an immortal and powerful. But make no mistake, if you cross me and don’t behave, daughter, I will kill her in an instant to teach you a lesson,” he