Grigori Returned (The Atlas Series Book 2) Read online

  Grigori

  Returned

  The Atlas Series

  Book 2

  BECCA C. SMITH

  Copyright © 2014 by Becca C Smith

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Red Frog Publishing, a division of Red Frog Media

  Visit our website at www.redfrogpublishing.com

  First published in 2014

  Cover Art by Sarah Cave www.littlebluestudios.com

  Cover Design by Stephan Fleet

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN 978-0990565000

  Printed in the United States of America

  Dedicated to my sister Julie for being the best darn big sis on the planet! Love you :-)

  DAY ONE

  Chapter One

  Kala watched Jack’s body drop to the floor with a small thud.

  She was frozen in place.

  Her mind completely comatose.

  She stared at the pool of blood forming on the ground from the hole in Jack’s head.

  He was gone.

  Forever.

  And she had been the one who did it.

  Kala killed the only man she ever loved.

  The gun dropped from her hand.

  The gun that had killed Jack.

  Jack.

  Her eyes couldn’t look away. The blood crept across the wood floor and surrounded Kala’s feet. Jack’s face was slack, empty of all life. No more smiles. No more sparkling eyes. No more kisses.

  Dead.

  Kala felt like if she moved, her whole brain would crack. She’d end up curled in a ball sobbing until her body would give up and die.

  If she hadn’t been so still, Kala probably wouldn’t have felt the slight brushing of a hand on her arm.

  “We need to go.” Penny’s voice sounded small in the silence.

  Kala still couldn’t move. She continued to stare at Jack laying at her feet.

  “I can’t,” Kala managed to say.

  “You have to,” Penny said with some urgency. “It’ll be harder to kill you now, but you can definitely be tortured and imprisoned. Asmodeus will be here any second. I won’t be able to protect you.”

  “My dad banished him to the 5th Level of Hell. He and Talan both seem to think Asmodeus will be there for a while.” Kala’s brain started to feel like it was thawing. Talking about two very powerful Grigori angels: her foster father, Owen, and her stalker, Talan, began to bring her back into reality. Using the word reality in the same sentence as angels still made her feel nuts, but the last four days had been a crash course on what was real in the world she lived in.

  Besides, seeing Penny’s face at the mention of Talan, and now her dad, was all worth it. The supernatural world had no idea the Grigori were back and it scared them to pieces. Though Penny claimed to be on Kala’s side now, she had been a royal pain in her butt since the beginning of the Atlas ride. Making her squirm gave Kala a small surge of happiness in this darkest moment of her life.

  “Impossible.” Penny sounded terrified.

  Good.

  “You keep saying that,” Kala pointed out with a little bit of snark. Right now, panicking Penny helped her break out of the shock-coma she was in.

  “Because it is!” Penny exclaimed.

  “Relax,” Kala scolded, finally looking away from Jack’s body to stare down Penny. “Why is it so impossible that the Grigori are back? Asmodeus was just as freaked. Are they really that powerful?” At this point Kala was fishing. She didn’t know much about the Grigori except that there were only a handful of them that had escaped some kind of “Heaven prison.” She did, however, have a firsthand account at some of their tricks. Talan had made a Malak explode with the touch of his hand, and had taught her a pretty nifty fire trick that allowed her to set Malaks and Demons into a fiery blaze. But her foster dad, Owen, had never revealed his true nature, so aside from banishing the king of Demons to the 5th Level of Hell, she had no idea the extent of his power.

  Penny shook her head. “It’s too much to explain. Please. I can’t bear to see him like that.” Her voice broke.

  It brought tears to Kala’s eyes. Hearing Penny so hurt at Jack’s death only reminded her that she was the one who had killed him. Kala felt a surge of overwhelming emotion. She didn’t think she could contain it much longer.

  So she nodded.

  Penny left first.

  Kala forced herself to look at Jack one more time, knowing this was the last time she’d ever see him. Watching him lying there, the pool of blood now a lake surrounding his body, Kala hoped that Jack was in a place like the heaven Talan had shown her. It may have been a prison to the Grigori, but it was the most beautiful place Kala had ever seen. Jack was the best person she had ever known and if anyone deserved to be in an eternal paradise it was him.

  Tearing her eyes away, Kala followed Penny out of the building.

  As she walked through the exit door, Kala fell to her knees.

  A flash of light and she was suddenly in a gigantic chamber. There was a throne the size of a large house at the end of the enormous space. Pillars lined the walls on both sides. A man sat on the throne, surrounded by five men on his right and six women on his left. They were huge! Well over twenty feet tall.

  Kala looked down at her body and noticed that she wasn’t in her body. She was in a man’s body.

  As she viewed the giants more carefully, Kala realized that she actually knew them.

  With a certainty that fascinated her more than scared her, Kala realized that she was seeing one of Atlas’s memories. Somehow when she had swallowed the Titan whole, she had apparently swallowed his memories as well.

  It was Cronus sitting on the throne, with his sisters and brothers beside him.

  Kala immediately recognized Atlas’s father, Iapetus, by his disapproving glare. Then Kala cringed as she sorted out Atlas’s lineage in her head. All the Titans that stood in front of her were brothers and sisters. But this was where Kala’s disgusted-bell went off. Iapetus’s brother and sister, Oceanus and Tethys, had a daughter, Asia, and Atlas was the offspring of Iapetus and Asia. So Atlas was the product of some serious inbreeding. Kala shuddered. There were only twelve of them around back then and the pickings were slim, but still.

  Asia was nowhere to be found, but Grandma and Grandpa were scowling at Atlas/Kala in the same way that Pops was.

  At first glance Kala had registered the twelve figures as human, but the more she looked at them, the more otherworldly they seemed. Aside from their size, they had a deep blue glow around them as if they were outlined in light. Their faces looked like they were carved in stone, they were so symmetrical. Their presence was intimidating for Kala, but she could feel it even more so for Atlas. In this memory, he was downright terrified.

  Kala took a deep breath.

  This was who she was now.

  Atlas’s past was her past.

  This must be a part of the integration process, she rationalized. But why this memory?

  Kala had the sneaking suspicion she was about to be scolded by some serious mojo-toting gods. She tried to remember the rest of it so she wouldn’t have to go through it in real-time, but it wasn’t working. She even tried calling out for Penny, hoping she could pull her out of this dream-state. Kala probably still stood in the doorway to Jack’s hideout, drooling in the sun, or collapsed on the front porch.

>   But nothing worked. She was there to stay.

  Kala shrugged.

  It looked like she’d have to take her licks. She just hoped it wouldn’t last long.

  Then Kala spoke, or at least, Atlas spoke. Kala was just along for the ride in this flashback.

  “They threatened me! I didn’t have a choice!” Atlas whined like a baby. Kala wished she could change the memory and say what was really on Atlas’s mind. He was furious that his plan hadn’t worked. Apparently, there had been another war between the Titans and the Olympians and Atlas had picked the wrong side.

  Again.

  Kala was really starting to hate the fact that she had to share any part of herself with Atlas. To her, he was a coward. A guy who picked the team he thought would win with no loyalty. And when he inevitably lost, he groveled. Kala despised people who did that. She had seen enough soldiers like Atlas to make her skin crawl.

  Cronus, apparently, felt the same way as Kala, because he leaned forward in his throne. “You are pathetic, Atlas. A sniveling rat who begs for his life after betraying your father.”

  Kala wished she could shut Atlas up, but as this wasn’t her memory, she cringed when he yelled, “You castrated your father to take over the world!” Kala felt Atlas calming himself. “I just sided with your son. Is that really a crime?”

  The other Titans stayed silent, waiting for Cronus to speak on their behalf. “Yes, Atlas, it is a crime.”

  “May I remind you that I have to do my job or you won’t have a world to rule.” Kala could tell Atlas was trying to remind the Titans that he had some value.

  Cronus nodded and laughed. “That was your punishment for siding with us, your true family. If you had stayed loyal, we could have made Zeus lift this burden from you.”

  Atlas must have seen something in Cronus’s eyes that Kala couldn’t, because his fear level jumped drastically. “It’s fine, really. I like my burden. Just doing my part to keep the earth spinning and such…” Atlas started to back away.

  Kala began to see what Atlas saw. Cronus’s smile turned into a wickedly cruel snarl, as if he had just swallowed a canary. “Atlas!” Cronus announced as if he were making a decree. “The next time you complete the cycle, you will be stripped of all your protections, and we’ll see how you fare against everyone you’ve wronged. The four-day curse is still your burden, and after this cycle we will no longer hide you from the ones who want to stop you.”

  Kala searched her brain for any kind of thought or memory as to what happened to Atlas after he completed his next cycle, but she came up with nothing.

  She could feel Atlas in a complete panic. “But if I fail, you lose everything! Why would you risk that?” Atlas couldn’t fathom why the Titans would drop their protections over him when it could mean the end of the world.

  “Making you live in constant fear and shame over what you did is worth the risk. We can always find another if you fail. We’ll have to force my son Zeus to comply since he is the one who created the curse, but torturing him will be extremely satisfying.” Cronus stopped smiling as if he were now officially bored with this conversation. He leaned back in his throne. “Go. Do whatever it is you’re supposed to do.”

  Cronus snapped his fingers.

  Kala’s eyes opened and she found herself sitting on the front steps of Jack’s hideout, leaning against the iron railing.

  Penny was next to her. “What happened?” she asked, more curious than concerned.

  “Memories,” Kala grumbled. “So am I going to pass out every time I have a new flashback of Atlas’s?” Kala stood up, annoyed.

  Penny joined her and motioned for Kala to walk with her. “Something like this has never happened before, so I have no idea. What did you see?”

  Kala followed Penny’s lead as they walked down the street toward the train station.

  “Some big-ass Titans scolding Atlas for switching sides. They said they were going to take away his ‘protections’ as punishment. What happened to Atlas after that? Please tell me he got his butt kicked.” Even though Kala was officially the same person, she still despised him. He represented the complete opposite of who she was.

  Penny was silent for a few moments, then she spoke quietly. “That’s when I took him into hiding and showed him how to trick the first human. He never lost his protections from the Titans because he never completed the next cycle on his own, his surrogates did.”

  Kala rolled her eyes. “Of course he didn’t. What a dick.”

  “You’re missing the point here, Kala. You’re Atlas now.” Penny stared at her knowingly.

  But Kala didn’t understand what Penny was trying to imply. “Yeah, so?”

  “So, this is the next cycle. After it’s over, it’ll be you that loses those ‘protections’.”

  Kala groaned.

  Chapter Two

  Kala didn’t say a word after that information bomb. She had too many other things to think about anyway. First off, the most important piece of knowledge she gained from her trip down memory lane was the fact that Zeus had created the four-day curse and was the only one who could break it. It literally tore her insides to shreds to think that there might have been a way to stop killing Jack. She blamed herself for not finding out about Zeus and the curse earlier. It had never occurred to her that Zeus even existed let alone was hanging around somewhere and she could have forced him into taking Atlas’s curse away. Of course, that probably would have required handing over Atlas as opposed to what she had done when she swallowed him whole.

  Thinking about that moment brought a chill to her bones. Kala hadn’t had any idea what she was saying when she confronted Atlas. It was as if someone else had been speaking, like she was a puppet on strings. Kala started to remember the words of the prophecy Penny had been so sure was about Jack, but ultimately had been about Kala. One cannot live while the other one exists. A new Atlas shall reign; and the potential must die. A beginning to the end; and an end to the beginning. A new paradise shall be born. The Fated One will be the last.

  Kala felt a surge of hope. If she was the Fated One and the Fated One would be the last, then maybe that meant she’d talk Zeus into letting her out of this four-day contract. The prophecy did mention paradise being born, that had to be good, right? Kala’s head started hurting. Her whole life was making her sick.

  “In here.” Penny nodded towards a small brick building.

  It was nondescript and blended into the blocks and blocks of brick row housing. If Penny hadn’t stopped, Kala wouldn’t have even noticed it had been there. Penny opened the door. Inside was completely empty except for a twin mattress on the floor and a small desk in the corner with papers stacked on top.

  “Is this yours?” Kala asked with curiosity. Somehow, she had imagined Penny living in some plush, fancy penthouse somewhere in the swanky part of D.C., not this grungy heap of squalor in Alexandria.

  “What did you expect?” Penny walked over to the desk and started shuffling through the papers looking for something.

  “Not this.” Kala shrugged. “What are you looking for?”

  “I have a copy of the Ancient Texts. Now that we know you’re the Fated One, we need to know everything we can about the rest of the prophecy,” Penny said as she continued her search.

  “Wait. There’s more to the prophecy?” Kala would have gulped if she had it in her. But Kala still grasped onto the words paradise and the last. Maybe the rest was just details on how to corner Zeus and make him lift the curse.

  “Of course there’s more,” Penny snapped. “We need details.” Penny didn’t even look up.

  Kala could see that Penny was frantic, as in, something personal was at stake. There was no way Penny was this concerned about Kala, of that she was certain. Kala gathered that her being the Fated One meant something more to Penny, more than she was letting on anyway.

  Kala walked over to Penny and grabbed her arm. “Hey, what’s all this about?”

  Penny shrugged her off and practically scowle
d. “I thought you of all people would want to know what your destiny is?”

  “At this point, I’m thinking I find Zeus and beat the crap out of him until he breaks the curse. I was hoping you’d point me in the right direction seeing as you’re his… what… niece or something?” Kala’s grasp of Greek mythology was still lacking, but from the family chart in Kala’s brain from her brief encounter with the Titan memory, it was a safe bet that Penny or Pandora… Pandora…

  Penny had confirmed that she was the one and only Pandora to Kala before she had to kill Jack. Kala’s brain hadn’t had time to process what that meant or if it was of any importance to her at all. But her curiosity got the best of her. “Was there ever a box?” Kala asked referring to the one legend she did know. Pandora was given a box and opened it, despite being told not to and that was how all the evils of the universe were released. Supposedly, Pandora closed the box before it all leaked out and hope was still contained inside.

  “No. Like most of your human histories, it’s more of a symbolic version of the truth. The box or jar, whichever legend you go by, was my part in helping Atlas trick the humans into taking his job. So, in a sense, I did release all the evils of the world onto humanity, by making people responsible for keeping the balance of good and evil in check,” Penny said as if she had prepared to answer that question a long time ago. “And, no, I’m not Zeus’s niece. I’m his granddaughter. Hephaestus is Zeus’s son and Hephaestus is my father, and if we don’t figure this out, he is going to die.” Then Penny looked at Kala like she was a nut job. “And even with Atlas’s super strength, Zeus could crush you, so I wouldn’t be too keen on picking a fight with the guy. Besides, the Titans keep him locked up in the 5th, so good luck trying to get to him.”

  “Wait a minute. The 5th? As in the 5th Level of Hell? That place my dad sent Asmodeus? Isn’t that where the Elders or whatever are?” All these new places and vocabulary were making Kala’s head spin.

  Penny stared at Kala as if she were an irritating gnat. “Who do you think the Elders are?”

  “Some kind of old super Demons or something?” Kala had figured that, since Asmodeus was the king of Demons, he answered to… other Demons. She hadn’t given it much thought.