A stray bullet hit the wall to the far left of me. Apparently, minion number three had heard about his comrades perishing at the hands of the goddess. The third lieutenant had been harder to track than the first two. His men were expecting our visit, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. Besides, I had a reputation to uphold.
The men continued to spray bullets in our direction. Sure, I could use my goddess powers to kill them quickly, but they hurt someone that I will always consider my friend. They had to pay for what they did to Alex. They had to die as badly…no worse, much worse. I needed to kill them slowly. I needed to feel their life drain from the worthless skin sacks that they inhabited. As much as I needed this, Dianna needed it more.
“What’s the matter? Having performance issues?” I yelled in between shots.
“You gonna die, gringa,” the moron in front yelled. They were pissed. That was good. It would make this more fun.
Dianna crouched silently behind a car, waiting for my signal. She’d been ready to rush in, but I convinced her that we needed a plan first. Her judgment was clouded by rage and grief. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Luckily for her, this was my specialty.
I held up a hand, signaling her to wait, and listened for Segador’s men to have to reload their weapons. It didn’t take long for them to run dry and have to pause. That was our window. Their bullets wouldn’t kill me. It would just hurt like hell. Dianna was a different story. Their bullets would definitely kill her, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. The only way I could get her to stay away and let me handle this would be to imprison her. That would just cause more damage, and she had been through enough. She was stubborn and wanted revenge. I could relate. She was a lot like me, other than the whole ancient goddess part.
With a wink and a smirk, I stood up and aimed my two fifty caliber desert eagles. I shot moron number one and his sidekick, each in the middle of the head. As I turned to aim at another minion, one of the lesser imps tried to rush me.
I heard a gun fire behind me, the bullet streaming by my right side and hitting the rushing man center mass. Spinning, I saw Dianna lower her Glock. She returned my previous wink with one of her own. Maybe we were related after all. She definitely had my family’s spunk and could drink like a madman. I could see many drinks in our future. Ours was a friendship brought together by loss and forged in battle.
“Ready?” I mouthed, and she nodded in reply. Here we go. Together we approached the large front doors. We quickly dispatched two goons each before kicking in the door.
“Wakey, wakey!” I yelled. Sure, it wasn’t tactful, but it got the job done. Besides, I’d had enough tact for one day.
I led the way into the rooms, Dianna following close behind. We covered each other and worked in silent unison. The only sound was the release of the hammers and pop of each shot. The spent rounds fell r in seeming slow motion, clinking against the marble floor. If we kept going this way, I’d be greeting El Ray in no time.
We left a trail of corpses behind us as we cleared the building. When we got to the last room, we paused. Two armed guards were standing in the doorway, and I signaled to Dianna. We split up and snuck behind the men. With a quick slice into the carotid artery, they fell lifeless to the floor.
She held up a fist to me and waited. The confusion must have shown on my face because she laughed and bumped her other fist to it, showing me what to do before holding up her fist again. This time I bumped my fist against hers.
“I’ll teach you a few things yet,” she teased.
“Hey, even an old goddess can learn new tricks.” We laughed, and for a moment, all the ugliness of the world melted away.
Our reprieve was short-lived, and we got back to work. The room was large and decorated as if it were a throne room. I wondered if El Ray knew one of his pets had delusions of grandeur?
I recognized Segador from his picture on our evidence board. His name roughly translated to Reaper. They sure did think highly of themselves. He was long and lean, wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt, tie, and dark suit pants. His shoes probably cost more than my house, and that was saying something. His sleeves were rolled up to expose his muscular tattooed arms. His hair was neatly cut and slicked back. He looked the part of a high-level gangster. Honestly, if I hadn’t wanted to tear him into tiny shreds, he may have even been handsome. All I could focus on was the rage, and it didn’t give a damn about how he looked. Today I would feed my inner monster because she was hungry and pissed.
We stalked toward him, quickly dropping his protection detail. Segador was left standing with the bodies littering the floor around him.
“You bitch,” he spat out.
“Doesn’t feel so great when you are left with no one to protect you, does it? Where is this army I was promised?”
“Where is your army, gringa?” He tried to sound intimidating.
I laughed and teleported across the room, appearing next to him. He blinked rapidly as if his mind could not comprehend what happened. I grabbed him by his throat and lifted him about two feet off of the ground.
“I AM the army!” I yelled at him and threw him across the room and into the wall next to Dianna. The plaster cracked, and bits of it fell to the floor with him. Segador slumped to the ground, his suit ruined from the impact.
“Oh no, you don’t! You are going to give me answers,” Dianna shouted as she stalked over to him. He wasn’t a danger to her at the moment, so I teleported next to them and watched as Dianna smacked him across the face and shook him.
He was knocked out cold. Perhaps I threw him too hard. Oh well, he was alive and would be able to give us the information we needed. Then he could join his fallen comrades.
“He may be out for a while. We should take him back to our place to interrogate him,” I offered.
“I know you’re strong, but do you really want to carry him back to the car and drag his sorry ass all the way back? We could just do it here.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to be interrupted. We need to find out where El Ray is as soon as possible. People’s lives depend on it. This isn’t just about retribution. We have to bring them down…all of them.”
Dianna nodded quickly and looked around as if trying to find something to drag him on. When would she learn what it was to run with a goddess? I laughed at the thought of her dragging him out of the building, cursing him the whole way.
“I’ll send my secretary back to my car. It will be faster if I just teleport us back.”
“You mean me?” Dianna squeaked, and her complexion paled.
“You’re not afraid, are you? I could fly instead, but this way will be faster,” I reasoned, as if we were picking a flavor of tea. Reluctantly, Dianna nodded.
“Okay, just get it over with. My father said it makes you feel like you have a hangover the first few times.”
The memories of Alex’s reaction to teleportation brought a smile to my face.
“What is it?” Dianna asked.
“Just memories of your father. I’ll have to tell you some stories after this is all over.”
“I’d like that.” Dianna smiled too, but it couldn’t hide the grief lingering underneath.
Without another word, I walked over to Dianna and our sleeping beauty. I picked him up and slung him over my shoulder before wrapping my other arm around Dianna. Within moments we were back in my living room. Dianna swayed, and I tried not to drop our guest while still supporting her weight.
“If this is too much, we can restrain him and question him after you get some rest.”
She blinked her eyes and tried to focus.
“No. No, I am fine, just a little woozy. Let’s keep going. But where?” She scanned the room.
“Where are we going to restrain him?”
I laughed out loud. Clearly, her father had not told her everything. Dianna stood on her own and smoothed her hands over her clothes as if the simple action could repair the blood and tears in the fabric. Maybe once this was all over, we could have a girls’ day and go shopping.
“Follow me. I have something to show you.”
I led Dianna down the stairs and into my hidden vault. It’s basically a panic room that I occasionally used as an interrogation room.
“It’s soundproof, has a drain for easy cleanup, and has the perks of being able to keep him in and others out.”
Dianna looked around the large room. “What, no jail cell?” She joked just before she spotted the cell at the far end.
“I stand corrected,” she teased.
“You have a lot to learn, young one,” I teased back.
“I keep forgetting that you are ancient.”
“Sometimes I forget that too.”
Rainbow Brubaker is a disabled Army veteran, former Deputy Sheriff, wife, and mother. She is passionate about her family, her craft as a writer and her country. She enjoys painting and reading in her spare time. She loves Greek and Roman mythology, all things mythical, mystical, magical and supernatural. She loves to work on her novels, blog and her role as Athena for #ThePantheon. She enjoys spending time with her husband and children. Together they have adopted a special needs teen. She has 4 boys and 1 girl, currently. She states that adoption may again be in their future one day.
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