Frustrated, he shoved the phone into his pocket and kept on his path. He had to see for himself what was going on in Brazil, what Echidna had left behind.
"Who are you and why are you here, stranger?" The sound of a fierce, feminine voice behind him gave him pause. Well, that and the pointy, stabby tip of a weapon against the back of his neck.
Chrys raised his hands and slowly turned his head. The weapon, a spear, retreated enough to allow him to rotate his body. The woman holding it toward him, however, did not appear to want to lower the weapon. She was gorgeous, with smooth mahogany skin and ebony hair braided elaborately atop her head. She wore olive pants and a black shirt that hung off one flawless shoulder. Eerie yet beautiful yellow eyes narrowed on him.
"I can smell the immortal blood within you. Why are you looking for the vrykolakas tribe?"
"Ah, so you all did stay in Brazil. I had heard you'd moved on. That your queen—"
"What about her?" The challenge in the question was emphasized by an added thrust of the spear, stopping before hitting him in the throat.
Chrys looked down at the spear and then back up at her. "Do you mind not pointing a weapon at me while we speak?"
"I do not know you. So pardon me if I decide when and if I should lower my weapon."
The woman was breathtaking, and her warrior resolve made her even more so. Undoubtedly, this vrykolakas had to be one of the Amazons that Lamia had created. Not all of them were Amazons, but from the records at Bach Industries, those who were not had been adopted into the tribe after they were freed from their compulsion. Since they had set up a tribe, it was evident they were perhaps returning to their way of life here in the Amazon jungle, so far from their original homes in the Mediterranean despite also working toward creating lives and identities in the United States. Chrys could see why the name of this place would feel like home to them, but he didn't understand why they had come back here with what seemed like no intention of leaving again.
"As I was saying, I heard your queen had created an organization to benefit women and children."
"She did." The woman's uncanny eyes twinkled, almost glowing. He could stare at them all day, but it wasn't the time for it.
"And not all of you wished to move out of the jungle?"
"The jungle is our home. We leave when necessary." She lowered the spear, finally, and took a less defensive stance. "And I repeat my question from before: who are you, and why are you here?"
Might as well state it simply. He took a step back to give her space and slid his hands into his pants pockets. "My name is Chrysander, Chrys if you like, and I'm hunting dragons."
The woman's eyebrows raised. "That dragon will eat you alive."
He sucked in a breath. "So, it's real then?" With Bach Industries under his control at the moment, he had resources he wouldn't have had before. Could he get rid of a dragon before it could cause any real chaos and destruction? Either of which would definitely draw human attention, more so than he already had.
The woman nodded. "That's why I came back to New Amazonia. Destroyer, what the dragon has named himself, is the last child of the Titan Echidna. It wishes to avenge his mother's death. He grows larger and stronger by the day, and nothing gives him more power than his hatred for Olympians and the Satyroi."
"The…Satyroi you say?"
She nodded. "Were they not who slew his mother?"
"Shit." Well, that would cause some hatred all right.
The woman looked him up and down. "Are you a satyr, Chrysander? You wish to die on this day?"
"Negative on the dying, but affirmative on the satyr. I…didn't know he knew satyrs even existed." Echidna and Lamia were both dead. "Who told him?"
"Helios."
Ah, okay. This obviously was a situation bigger than the satyrs themselves and what occurred with Dionysus. Helios, the Titan god of the sun, still had not been captured by the Olympians and had turned to encouraging a dragon to attack Olympus, apparently. That was just peachy. It overcomplicated his trip beyond what he'd been prepared for, which, in all honesty, hadn't been much. "Please, take me to your queen so I can discuss the situation and assess how the Satyroi will play a role in hunting Destroyer before he leaves Brazil to take revenge." Chrys had little doubt the dragon would leave Brazil if vengeance motivated his actions. And with Helios whispering in his ear, it could get really bad before anyone had a chance to prepare for it.
The woman smirked. "I am Queen Myrine. And the Satyroi do not belong here. Go back to playing with your nymphs and panpipes and let the vrykolakas take care of this."
Chrys flinched out of surprise. He should have realized, but then again, how could he? "No disrespect, Your Majesty, but as the new CEO of Bach Industries, I'm cleaning up a lot of Dionysus' messes, including this one. We can either work together, or this will get a whole lot more complicated."
One moment Myrine was standing before him, calm and collected, and the next he was face down in the dirt with the warrior queen kneeling on his back and tying his hands with a length of rope. "I choose complicated. Congratulations, Satyros. You are now my prisoner, and if you do not wish to be sacrificed as a peace offering with the dragon, I suggest you start thinking up a better plan."
Chrys barely heard a word she said. Even with the pills Nestor had created, he was so turned on by Myrine's actions that he wasn't going to fight back. He'd think of a plan, all right.
A plan to get the warrior queen of New Amazonia into his bed.
12
Sage's whole body simultaneously felt lethargic
