Rise of the Blood

The aircraft bucked again, and I screamed myself. Apollo’s arms went around me, and we fell hard into the seat beside us, into the laps of an elderly man and woman who looked dumbstruck. The armrest between them dented my side. As we scrambled to right ourselves, the plane started to roll. I screamed again and gripped Apollo for dear life. If only I could freeze the air like I could people, but I couldn’t stare it down. Eye of the Storm was just an expression and anyway, we were locked tight in its abusive embrace.

Thunderclaps crashed to our left and right as if trying to crush us between them. The plane was blown forward and shot ahead like a torpedo, momentum giving it momentary stability.

Then the miracle happened… We stayed that way. The plane rocked from side to side, but the gut- wrenching roll had halted, and we started to level off.

Apollo and I looked at each other, as close as lovers on the bony knees of the old couple we’d crashed into. The man bounced his knees upward at that moment as a prompt to move, and Apollo helped me stand. We both held to the back of the surrounding seats, sure the reprieve was only temporary.

Someone snapped a picture with a cell phone camera, which I knew only because it took the pic with the totally unnecessary shutter sound. I whipped my head around to look for the source and was stopped by Serena’s death glare. She was turned around in her seat, glowing green eyes taking us in.

Glowing green.

Crapcakes.

I turned back to Apollo. “Um, about Serena…is there anything you want to tell me?”

Apollo looked toward the woman in question, but the glow in her eyes was gone. Now she looked more miffed than outright homicidal. Had I truly seen what I thought I’d seen or was I now imagining monsters where none existed? Was my mind playing tricks on me, turning simple jealousy into a literal green-eyed monster?

“Serena?” he asked, “What do you want me to tell you? You wanted the press off your back, the new film’s PR guy wanted a little off-screen romance to help sell the movie…it seemed like a win-win. Surely you’re not jealous.” He was watching me closely. Too closely. “I thought this was what you wanted.”

He was right. It was what I wanted. Maybe. Possibly. Anyway, it was what had to be. There was Armani. And besides, Apollo would swallow me whole. With those turquoise eyes and that toned…everything…and the sparks that flew between us… It was amazing the oxygen in the air hadn’t ignited on our spark. But he was also a god, and even if ancient history wasn’t full of cautionary tales about trifling with gods, my own experience would have been enough to warn me off.

“Yes,” I lied. “That’s what I want.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“Fine.”

“Great,” Serena cut in, rising from her seat. “Then if everything’s back to normal, perhaps you’ll unhand my co-star and return to your…class.”

I ignored her, especially since I hadn’t “handed” him to begin with, and turned back to Apollo.

“What do you think happened?”

He gave Serena an in a second look before answering. “I’d guess we flew out of range or they ran out of power. I think that last thunderclap was meant to be the coup de grace.”

“But they missed.”

“They’ll try again—themselves or…well, they have adherents still in the old country.”

“Oh joy.”

“I have to go,” he said, as Serena’s glare seemed to gather force.

He started to move past me, and it hurt, even though it shouldn’t. I was with Nick. He had the right to be with whoever he wanted, for real or for show. “Thanks for…” What? He hadn’t done anything. But then, neither had I. “For being there,” I finished lamely.

He gave me a look over his shoulder that mimicked my regret. “You too.”

Dammit.

I made my way back to Nick, who was staring intently at the curtain through which I’d disappeared. He breathed a huge sigh of relief as I came back into view. But there was something else in his eyes…pain, maybe. The pilot came over the loudspeaker, talking about the plane being damaged by the storm and an emergency landing. The passengers set up a subdued cheer at that. I wondered how many would be brave enough to continue on to their final destinations.

I dropped into the seat next to Nick, and he looked like he couldn’t decide whether to hug me or throttle me. I made the decision for him, launching myself at him and holding him as tightly as I could. After a moment, he held me back and stroked my hair. I put Apollo behind me in the reality of Nick’s strong arms and feelings I knew to be all mine with nothing ever done “for my own good” without my consent. I breathed Nick in—his spicy, woodsy scent, as if he’d just been for a run in the woods instead of a near-death experience. His body was radiating heat, and for a second, I wanted to drag him back to the bathroom, tear off all his clothes and celebrate our survival… only I’d been in there earlier and was fairly certain it wasn’t remotely possible. Not unless I was some kind of contortionist and his shoulders were a lot less broad. But since I wasn’t and they weren’t, I just held him and held him and held him.

“Don’t you dare ever do that again,” he said finally, his breath warm, almost hot, on my ear.

I almost asked, “Do what?” but really I knew. Regardless of why I’d done it, I’d run out on Nick in the face of almost-certain death. I’d chosen to spend what could have been our final moments with another man. But it hadn’t been like that. I hadn’t picked Apollo over Nick. I’d chosen to DO something rather than huddle up when the storm struck. The fact that I hadn’t made a bit of difference shouldn’t matter. I’d had the best of intentions. Still, I’d have felt a helluva lot less guilty if I’d had anything to show for leaving him alone. The fact that we were all still alive was nothing short of miraculous. I should have been there for him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking away. “I thought…I thought maybe I could do something.”

“And did you?” The hand stroking my hair had stilled.

“No,” I admitted. “It was all the pilot’s skill and maybe the gods running out of steam.”

Nick let out a heated breath. “So then we have no way to fight them if they come at us again?”

“They’d have finished us off if they could,” I answered. It wasn’t nearly as comforting as I’d meant it to be.

“Great.”

When Nick would have pulled back, I held his hand and refused to let it go. He didn’t fight me, but it was an awkward silence that fell between us, full of a million and one things we didn’t know how to express.

The emergency landing was a rough one. Really rough. But the passengers cheered again, with more fervor this time, as we touched down and slowed to a stop. Some even kissed the tarmac when the ground crew brought stairs to get us all out rather than taxi us to a gate. Others held up the line by picking a fight with the flight crew and threatening lawsuits. I felt terrible for them, especially since I knew there was nothing they could have done.

We waited for Jesus on the tarmac, since he was even farther back on the plane than we were. The lights of the runway lit his face quite clearly. All the color had fled, and the usual swing had gone straight out of his step.

“I think I found God,” he said as he approached us, eyes as big as peanut butter cups, which sounded incredibly good right then. Or, just pure chocolate, hold any pollutants like nuts or caramel.

“Which one?” I asked.

Chapter Four

Jesus didn’t turn back for home, though he complained loudly that he would talk to Apollo about hazard pay. We didn’t turn back either. It wasn’t so much bravery as stubbornness—on my part, at least. Zeus and Poseidon were not going to ruin the first reunion I’d had with my family since the Rialto Brothers Circus had given me the heave ho. They weren’t going to ruin my cousin Tina’s wedding with a funeral. I felt pretty