Page 119 of Bonds of Hercules
Dark emotions were rising between us—killing wasn’t enough—we needed to hold Alexis as she told us every bad thing that had ever been done to her, then avenge it all.
“When she said grizzly—” Kharon bit out. “Does she mean the antique semiautomatic weapon I was researching for our initial prototype bodies and—”
“It’s a type of bear,” I said.
Kharon made a face.
An hour—and four dead men—later, we’d learned Alexis and Charlie had once lived in a trailer with two supposed parents, but the father was arrested for killing the mother, and they were homeless orphans.
Also, this trailer park had a problem with men hurting women.
The only men who seemed nonviolent in the park were a group of elderly guys who lived at the edges, and a young man named Paul who wouldn’t stop talking about birds and …government drones? He wasn’t well.
“I can’t believe someone threatened them to let kids live in the fuckingwoods, and they all did nothing.” Kharon kicked a rock, and it shattered against a distant tree. “Why the fuck would anyone do that? Do you think it was their foster father?”
I clenched my teeth. “The scars on Alexis’s wrists and her ear.”
“They’re old injuries.” Kharon stilled. “She must have been a child because her Spartan healing hadn’t kicked in yet … We need to pay a visit to the prison.”
I nodded in agreement. “That one woman said something about a tattooed man helping them—let’s find out.”
The last trailer, positioned at the edge of the forest, was maintained better than the rest.
As we moved toward it, Kharon’s face became blank, the whites of his eyes filling as he activated his Chthonic powers. He stopped walking.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
Seconds stretched into minutes as I waited for him to do or say something.
Just when I was convinced he needed medical help, the blood receded and his blank expression disappeared.
His expression was livid. “We have a problem,” he said darkly.
I pointed to the last trailer we needed to investigate. “Save it—we need to finish what we started.”
Kharon looked like he was going to argue, but he eventually nodded and stalked forward.
“Open up or we’llshoot!” Kharon kicked at the front door.
The door swung wide immediately. “How can I help you gentlemen?”
The man who answered was about our age, slightly shorter, and his face was covered in satanic symbols.
He smiled pleasantly.
Without preamble, I stabbed my powers into his mind.
Solid darkness greeted me. He had mental defenses,extremelystrong ones.
I pressed against them, searching for weak points, but they were heavily fortified. Animalistic growls echoed in my head each time I pushed against the solid rock. The only minds I’d ever felt that were somewhat similar were—
I withdrew from his mind. “Shoot him,” I ordered.
Kharon fired, but it was too late.
Smoke billowed and there was nothing but empty space where the man had been standing.
