Power(27)

She gave him a look of severe irritation that was plain even to Marius’s unstudied eyes. “This is true.” Her voice barely allowed for any emotion. “It is a city where the strong survive and the weak are hunted, flayed and enslaved.” There was a flash of anger in her eyes that was unmistakable. “As well you know.”

“As well we both know, I think,” Janus said, glancing at her. “It seems to me that Marius here is in the midst of Rome for the first time without help or idea of what to do next. We would be very poor hosts to allow him to wander about into the nets of whatever hunters might find him to their tastes.”

Diana’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Marius, and he felt himself quail before her, feeling as though she would run him down if he tried to flee. He actually flinched beneath her gaze. “He will last less than one more day on his own, that much is true. Jupiter or Alastor will catch up with him swiftly and he’ll be done.”

“It would seem to me that we should protect the lad,” Janus said, and he offered a smile to Marius that felt … oddly warm.

Diana’s nostrils flared and Marius only just kept from taking a step back at the hint of anger from the woman. “There is no ‘we’ in this. If you mean to make it your pet project to take in every spawn of Hades and Persephone out of some misguided effort to recapture what you lost—”

“Diana,” Janus said, and it was as though a veil fell over his emotions, “it would seem to me that Zeus has taught us both enough about his appetites and the misfortunes that fall upon those who oppose him. Perhaps we might aid someone—some prey—whom we see staggering toward that waiting trap, yes?”

Her expression became even more murderous, but she fell into a moment of silence. “Perhaps.”

Marius caught that same glimmer in Janus’s eyes again, as though he had won some hard-fought victory. Marius had felt that feeling himself once or twice, most memorably when he’d gotten the old man to let him stay in his barn. “I will take that perhaps as a yes, for I know it is all I will get from you,” Janus said. He looked at Marius and gave him a smile. “I know that things are most likely difficult for you. You left your home behind, afraid because of the secret you carry with you.” He pointed to Diana, then to himself. “We have felt much the same at points in our lives. Your burden is great, and I would … offer you assistance, if you would have it.”

Marius felt a hint of fear, all the talk of prey and hunters leaving him with a bad sense of what was coming. No one helps me, not without reason. Why would they? And he says he knows about the secret I carry? How would such a thing be possible? “Why?” he croaked out.

Janus pursed his lips, and looked once more to Diana, whose face softened and went expressionless. “Because,” Janus said, and he smiled, his face becoming warm as he looked back to Marius, “We are like you.”





Chapter 15


Sienna

Now





The sound of the first shots striking the metal sides of our SUV was followed an instant later by the squeal of tires as Reed slammed on the brakes. The noise of the rubber ripping at the freeway, trying to keep hold of the asphalt was nearly drowned out by the roaring of the guns to either side of us. I saw the vans pull half a car length ahead of us, the flash of the gun barrels hanging out the open doors casting tongues of flame at each other.

A crunching sound preceded the impact of a vehicle into our rear bumper by only milliseconds. My head jerked as I turned to see a third van slamming into us from behind, the driver’s eyes visible out the back window as it shattered.

Time seemed to slow down as my adrenaline kicked in. Shards of safety glass flew around me, twinkling in the light from the moon roof. I heard the engine gun again as Reed floored it, and the SUV struggled to cope with his urgent demand.

There was a moment’s silence from the vans in front of us, presumably while the drivers readjusted their aim to cope with the fact that we were no longer directly beside them. I wondered if Reed’s sudden slamming of the brakes had caused them to shoot each other. I hoped it had. Fervently.

The smell of smoking rubber filled the SUV, and I coughed once to clear it from my lungs. Grey smoke hung in the air around us. I could hear the whine of the tires against the highway again, even over the sound of crunching metal from behind us.

“MOVE!” I shouted at Reed. He did not bother to acknowledge me. It probably wasn’t even necessary, since he was already trying, but I couldn’t help but add my command. I could see movement behind the driver of the van that had smashed into us—the movement of men with guns. Their black tactical clothing was visible through the van’s broken windshield, and I pulled my pistol, a brand new Sig Sauer P227, from under my coat.