Page 67 of Vengeance of the Gods

“For thousands of years, I was trapped in purgatory here on Earth, floating around without power, no physical form, nothing but my awareness. All because I let my selfish twin brother outsmart me.” He twitched at the mention of Remus.

She soaked in his every word, waiting for him to slip and reveal something she could use against him.

Romulus stared at them like he could see through to the other side. “Remus”—he hissed the name like a snake—“trapped me here and left me to rot. Alone for the rest of eternity while he played hero and created a new world for a new people. A world he didn’t think I belonged in.” The anger was visible in the way Romulus’s muscles tensed and his body vibrated. “But little did he know, all I had to do was wait.” He gestured towards the disheveled portal. “Eventually, your curse would become my second chance at living. Marlena cursed you to a life of death, but your curse has given me life for fifty-five years… It’s let me hijack the lives of others, but now, your death will give me my own back.” He looked at Vega with longing, like he was saying goodbye to an old friend. “I tried to keep you here all those times before because it was what I needed to exist outside of my own consciousness.”

She and Bridger were motionless, their eyes following Romulus’s every move.

Romulus focused his black stare on Vega. “When Marlena cursed you, looking to banish you to another realm, her blood, your blood, my brother’s blood, our blood, called to me. It found me, tying your curse to Earth. Tying you to me, a cursed and forgotten demigod.”

He proved Marlena hadn’t known exactly what she was doing when she cursed Vega, that there were things out of her control she hadn’t known about.

The proud smile and truth behind Romulus’s words had Vega struggling to keep a look of indifference on her face. Their abilities didn’t work on Earth, but the curse did… because Romulus, the curse’s connection to their world, was already here. His essence predated the fall of the original gods.

Romulus glanced down at the portal piece in his hand. “The curse should have given me the power to kill you, to take over your life, but you took that from me when you summoned him and became a bonded group of four gods.”

Remus’s words were starting to make sense… I saved you. Do not waste this opportunity. He’d made sure the curse couldn’t take her life. Because Vega’s life was no longer just her own—it was Bridger’s, Arlet's, and Khort’s too.

But how could Chase get her so close to death this time?

“I couldn’t kill you, and then when you left, I had to go back to the in-between—to the purgatory my brother cursed me to.” An eerie smile slid over his lips. “It’s why I went easy on you in your last life with Chase… All so I could keep living, even through someone else’s body.”

Rage sparked to life inside her. A gust of wind picked up like it responded to Vega's growing anger. She longed for the bite of her electric heart sputtering in her chest.

Bridger’s fingers grazed against Vega’s wrist, reminding her she needed to breathe, to focus on what Romulus was saying. He leaned in and whispered, “He can’t kill you.”

Romulus’s attention snapped to Bridger. “There are many things worse than death, Bridger Dimico. Have you not learned that yet?” Romulus cocked his head to the side, and a new person stood in front of them—one Vega knew, but Bridger wouldn’t. “Did the dreams teach you nothing?”

Romulus turned into a chameleon, changing his appearance to all the men who’d hurt her in her lives on Earth. A mixture of different facial features, heights, hair and skin colors blended from one to another. The last one settled on Chase, his neck slit open in a gaping wound while his skin looked drained of life. “Isn’t that right, Vay?” When he took a step forward, Vega and Bridger both retreated, keeping distance.

Vega wasn’t sure if his babbling meant anything, but something inside her screamed to pay attention.

She felt his breath on the back of her neck, his words so close it felt like he’d leaned over her shoulder, but he hadn’t moved. He still blocked their path to the portal. “He’s not going to let you cheat death forever.” The portal seemed to pulse with a heartbeat of its own. “A soul has been promised at the end of this curse, and I already told you it won’t be mine.” He pulled the piece of portal from the ground and pointed it at Bridger, laughing maniacally. “He told you. I heard him. In the portal here, the broken one. He doesn’t want you to come after what’s already his.”

Bridger’s jaw flexed at his words, his hand tightening into a fist around the dagger.

No. No, this can’t be right.

Vega felt like the blood ran from her body, going cold. “Who are you talking about?” Vega asked, flipping the safety off the gun. A piece of her was afraid to hear his answer.

He didn’t answer her question. “So violent. Is that your doing, or did she come this way already?” he asked Bridger, who gripped his dagger so tightly, Vega worried it might snap in half.

“I killed you. You should already be dead,” Vega said, trying to distract him while she analyzed the broken piece of portal in his grasp.

“No, you killed an innocent man,” he said, turning into the cop. “He was a good guy. His wife is expecting their second child.” Romulus tsked. “I’m sure she’d agree you deserve a first-class ticket to the pits of the underworld for leaving her to raise their children alone.”

He kept bringing up death and the underworld. Vega shivered involuntarily.

No.

Yes, the wind seemed to hiss as it blew through the treetops above.

They all heard it. Vega knew they had by the way Bridger growled. “That’s enough.” He flipped his dagger over his wrist. “How about you deliver a message to the god of the underworld for me when you see him? If he wants Vega, he’ll have to go through me first.”

At the same time Bridger launched forward, Vega ducked to her knee, avoiding the piece of the portal Romulus threw her way.

Romulus and Pluto… the missing pieces.

Vega took aim as she stood and fired the gun, aiming directly at his heart. By no means was she a master with a firearm, but her lightning’s aim had always been spot-on.