From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3) by Staci Hart
“Now, Hitchcock knew suspense. He was next-level, climb-into-your-head-and-make-a-nest-out-of-human-hair dark and creepy. Not like the cheap tricks they use now. Like The Human Centipede. I mean, I’ll give points for creativity, but come on.”
“So fucking gross. It’s not even scary, just disgusting,” Dita said with her nose wrinkled.
“Speaking of hot asses…” Perry waggled her eyebrows.
“Ew. You’re never allowed to make hot ass references in conjunction with The Human Centipede.” Dita gave her the stankiest face she could manage.
Perry giggled. “Jon’s way prettier than German dungeon horror.”
“That is true,” Dita said with a nod.
“And a smartass. Always a plus.”
“It really is so hot. I know I can get him and Josie together—if she doesn’t kill him first.”
“I can see how murder would put a damper on things.”
Dita snorted and held out her hand for a piece of chocolate. “I’m sure Artemis would do a freaking jig.”
“What kind of plays do you think she’ll make?” Perry laid a piece in her waiting palm.
Dita popped it in her mouth and thought about Artemis as she sucked on a triangle of milky chocolate. “It’s hard to say. She’s sort of immune to love. I mean, not totally immune, but she definitely doesn’t get it. She always picks some kind of huntress. Remember when she picked that gold digger in Victorian London?”
“Oh gods, that was so great. I about died when you matched her with a penniless actor. Such scandal.”
“That prat needed to be brought down a peg. And anyway, she ended up happy. That’s what counts. Well, that and the fact that I won.”
Perry shook her head. “Of all the gods, I can’t see how Artemis could ever win against you. She constantly underestimates the power of love.”
Dita rolled her eyes. “Great. Thanks. Now I have Huey Lewis stuck in my head.”
“He is a legend. Anyway, she really has to suck at this as a result of her very nature. She doesn’t get it.”
Dita crossed her arms and stared at the fire in the massive fireplace. It burned always—day, night, summer, winter. “How could she get it? She can’t stand humans, which automatically puts her at a disadvantage, and she doesn’t understand love, which dooms her when she competes with me.”
“It’s kind of sad. Can you imagine living your whole life without love?”
Dita’s lips slipped into a frown. “Maybe she’s the smart one after all.”
Perry nudged Dita with her foot. “Don’t talk crazy.”
Dita’s eyes never left the flames licking at the logs. “She does have love in her life, but it’s all platonic. And she’s had love, love, but that ended in tragedy. It’s been three thousand years, and she still hasn’t recovered.”
“Orion.” Perry’s voice was sad and soft.
“Instead of building a bridge across her hurt to get over it, she’s standing on one side, screaming about the unfairness of it all. She blames me, you know.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“We’ve argued about it plenty of times.” Dita glanced at Perry with a smirk. “You have the worst memory.”
Perry shrugged. “I need CliffsNotes.”
“Her logic is that she loved Orion, and I’m the goddess of love; therefore, I’m to blame for her feelings for him.”
“So, it’s your fault that she fell in love?”
“Apparently. I swear, I didn’t have a direct hand in it. My charms do not work on Artemis. She and Orion did that all on their own.”
“She’s so out of touch,” Perry said as she broke off another piece of chocolate.
“She’s cloistered with her Oceanids and spends all her time policing mythical creatures. You’d be out of touch, too.”
“Josie’s a lot like her.”
Dita sighed. “I know. Poor Jo. Anne’s been gone six months, but Josie’s been alone and lonely for far longer than that. Losing Anne just pushed her into the spiral that she’s in now, but she was already broken. She thought Jon was it, the end of the road, and when she lost him…well, there just wasn’t any getting over it. She’s been on a handful of dates, and they were all disasters. She’s a lot of woman; most guys can’t handle her, but Jon gets her on the molecular level.”
“Really? Because he can be a real idiot when it comes to her.”
“I didn’t say he was perfect. But he gets her. The difference between Josie and Artemis is that there’s hope deep down inside of Josie. Artemis has no hope, only the bitter aftertaste of her heartache.”
“Do you think she’ll ever get over it? Artemis, I mean?” Perry asked.
“She’s the only one who can make that decision. If she accepts her feelings and lets Orion go, it would heal her, but she’d rather seethe and blame me than deal with her own issues.”
“Mmm,” Perry said vaguely as she looked down at her fingers fiddling with the Toblerone box.
Dita narrowed her eyes at Perry. “You keep doing that.”
“What?” Her brows rose innocently.
“Giving me responses that don’t mean anything.”
Perry looked back down and dismissed her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Want to talk about you?”
“Nope,” Dita said, popping the P as she turned back to the fire.
“You’re going to have to at some point.”
“When that time comes, I will.”
Perry gave her a look.
“I wake up every day and don’t know how I’m going to feel. So, I’m taking it minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Please, don’t pressure me,” Dita begged.
“All right. I’m here though when you need me.”
“I know. And in the meantime, can you please help me avoid my feelings by watching a skinny, young Patrick Dempsey deliver pizzas with extra anchovies?”
Perry nibbled her lip. “Rain check?”
Dita’s cheeks heated up. “Oh, um, of course. I’m sorry. No pressure, right? Just save me from all my sadness real quick in your spare time.”
Perry laughed. “Let’s watch one tonight. It’s just…I’ve barely seen Hades since we came back from Greece.”
Dita held out a hand to stop her and gave her the most comforting smile she could muster. “Don’t, please. It’s fine. Let’s just plan on some point tomorrow. I really am sorry for monopolizing your time. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you and your love.”
“Or chocolate. Or bad jokes.”
Dita hoisted herself off the couch. “Okay. I’m gonna go and get out of your hair so it can get pulled by your husband.”
“You are such a creep.”
“Said the Queen of the Underworld.”
“Bye, Dita.”
“Bye.” Dita patted Perry’s foot and called for her dog, who followed her into the elevator.
She took a heavy breath on her way up to her apartment as panic crept in at the prospect of being alone for a minimum of twenty-four hours.
She stepped into her foyer, feeling her pulse in her neck as her eyes scanned her apartment. Going upstairs wasn’t an option, not with the gossiping gods milling about and Ares potentially around every corner. It would be fine. She could stay in her apartment and read or watch a movie by herself. She didn’t need someone to distract her. She’d be fine. She was capable of being alone with her thoughts.
Get it together, Dita.
She clearly wasn’t fine, but another day wouldn’t kill her. Plus, she could always go to Heff’s. Maybe he would play backgammon with her. Dita perked up a bit. The thought of his smile made her feel better, and she turned for the elevator once again.
Dita was halfway across the room when the elevator opened. It was empty, and her brow quirked as she came to a stop in the entryway. She felt a warm breeze and noticed a bend in the light, and when she dimmed the lights, she found Echo before her.
“Echo,” Dita said with a smile. She hadn’t seen the nymph in a
Echo shimmered as she moved, her head down. When she lifted her eyes, Dita saw the sadness even though a smile graced her lips.
“For you.”
Echo’s hands moved into her robes, and she pulled out the gilded mirror Dita had given her ages before. Heff had forged and enchanted it for her, and her breath caught when she saw it.
“I…I haven’t seen this in so long. I’d forgotten all about it. But why…”
The nymph looked at the mirror, which rippled and shone. When it came to rest, she saw Adonis through the looking glass.
“Gods,” Dita breathed, her fingers to her lips, her eyes locked on the mirror.
Echo extended it, and Dita took a step, outstretching a trembling hand to take it.
Adonis ran through the brush of Elysium with his bow drawn, and when he loosed, the arrow flew straight into the heart of a doe as she cut in front of him. He let out a whoop, and his smile was brighter than the sun as he chased the beautiful creature.
Dita’s breath hitched, and she clutched the mirror to her chest. “How can I ever thank you?”
Echo held out a hand to stay her, the pain on her face lessened by a degree at the sight of Dita’s relief.
“Thank you.” Dita bit her lip to stop herself from crying.
The nymph glimmered as she bowed, her eyes lingering for a moment longer on the mirror before she smiled graciously and turned to leave.
Dita walked to her couch and sank down, her hands tingling and her eyes never leaving the mirror. There he was, right there in her hand, as real as he had ever been. He wouldn’t remember her, but she knew everything about him, knew every plane and angle of his face, every curve of every muscle, knew the depth of his eyes and the feel of his hands on her.
He was there, right there.
She could feel his presence, could feel his soul as he opened the deer and worked on cleaning it, but the gore of it all didn’t even faze her. She couldn’t look away.
Day 3
JON’S DAMP HAIR FELL into his face as he reached for his laptop to pack it into his leather messenger bag just as Tori walked into the kitchen behind him. Her head was tilted as she fastened her earring with her hair done up in a fancy bun and her heels clicking on the hardwood. She gave him a smile and bumped him with her hip as she walked by, jerking her chin at his lock pick set on the table.
“You’re packing the big set?” she asked while she poured herself a cup of coffee.
He tucked the picks into a pocket of his bag and flipped the flap closed. “I’m doing recon today. A jewelry dealer in the Garment District needs some help locating some lost goods from his ex-partner. I’ve got to look around the guy’s apartment to see if they’re there.”
“You’re sure he stole them? What if the guy who hired you wants you to steal them?”
“I’m not touchin’ anything. I’ll tell him if I find them, and he can hash it out with the cops.”
“Or with a Glock,” she said with a frown. “Sounds dangerous.”
“You know me. I’ll be careful; don’t worry.”
“You’d better be. How come you can’t have a job pushing paper somewhere?”
He locked the buckles and straightened up. “Because I’m addicted to adrenaline, and I’m pretty sure I’d go through some wicked withdrawals if I had to sit in a cubicle all day. Breaking and entering is way more fun.”
Lola ran in and stopped in front of him, her blue eyes beaming. “Daddy, you like my kitty-cat dress?” She smoothed her hand down the front of the dress that was covered in illustrations of kittens with big eyes and long eyelashes.
He knelt down and smiled. “I love it, baby. This one’s my favorite.” He pointed to one near the hem. “You ready to go to Gram and Pop Pop’s?”
She nodded with her pink little lips bending into a smile.
“Okay. Go get your backpack.”
“I’ll go get it!” She ran out of the room.
Jon shook his head as he stood. “Does she walk anywhere?”
“Nope.” Tori took a sip of her coffee. “You sure you’re good to take Lola to my mom’s?”
“Yeah. Your dad doesn’t scare me.”
Tori laughed. “He’ll never get over the fact that you knocked me up and didn’t make an honest woman out of me.”
Jon snorted. “Honest. Ha. Anyway, he knows we would have killed each other.”
“Yeah, well, our feelings on the matter mean very little to him,” she said with a shrug. “We’ve been living together all this time. I’m sure he thinks we’re still banging.”
“In your dreams, Victoria,” he gibed, knowing she hated being called by her full name. “It won’t be for much longer if I keep picking up jobs and you keep busting your ass at lawyer waitressing.”
“We can only hope, Jonny.”
Jon looked down, hooking his thumbs in his belt loops, his eyes tracing the seams of the wooden planks of the floor. “It feels like we’ve been living together forever. Wonder what it’ll be like to live alone.” And without Lola. That thought in particular cut to the quick.
She smiled wistfully. “It’ll be glorious. I can walk around in my underwear and pee with the door open.”
“You do that anyway.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be able to do it with no fear of retaliation.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Hey, I meant to ask…do I always pick scissors when we play Rock-Paper-Scissors?”
“Every time. Why?”
“Josie said something about it the other day.”
Tori raised a blond eyebrow. “Ah. Still hung up, huh? You’ve surpassed your twenty-four-hour mourning period.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”
“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Tori rolled her eyes. “Maybe your hands-off approach isn’t the way to handle it. I’d probably march over and plant a fat, sloppy kiss on her if I were you.”
“You’d probably perform heart surgery with a sledgehammer, too.”
“Probably,” she said with a shrug.
He slung his bag over his shoulder. “You do realize that your way isn’t always the best way.”
“But it usually is.” She punched him in the arm and waved as she rounded the corner. “Have a good day,” she called from the entry.
“You too.”
Jon let out a sigh.
He loved Tori—she knew him better than anybody did—but they weren’t meant to be together. They had both known that since before they broke up and before they found out Tori was pregnant.
For a couple of years before they’d broken up, they’d dated and lived together, and when they’d found out about Lola, it’d just made sense to keep living together. It was the easiest way for them to care for their daughter and the easiest way for Jon to take care of both Tori and Lola. It fulfilled him to do it, and he and Tori worked seamlessly together—as long as they weren’t trying to be together.
They’d driven each other crazy when they dated, fighting about everything, but once the pressure of romance had been removed from the equation, they’d been able to find a level of companionship and respect for each other that made them an excellent team.
“I’m ready, Daddy!”
Ruby, the stuffed dog, was cradled in Lola’s arms, and she had on her pink backpack with a giant white kitten on the back.
“Well then, let’s get going.” He held out his hand, and she grabbed two of his fingers.
They walked in the chilly morning to Tori’s parents’ house where he dropped off his daughter under the watchful eye of Tori’s father, who scowled at him from behind her cheerful mother.
As he walked out of the building and toward the subway, he marveled again at the vastness of New York. Growing up in Louisiana, he had known every kid within five miles, easy. In New York, you could live next door to a kid your age and not only never meet them, but not even go to the same school as they did. T
Jon smelled roses, and he looked up, confused for a split second before realizing he was a few buildings down from the Midtown South Precinct. He decided to stop and check the board, and as he pulled open the door, he remembered seeing Josie for the first time since he’d moved back.
He was struck again by the deep desire to help her with Anne’s murder and wondered if maybe Tori was right. Maybe it was time he pressed Josie for information about Anne.
When he rounded the corner, he found her standing at the board like déjà vu, like he imagined so often, just exactly as she had been a month before. When he remembered to breathe again, he straightened himself out and put on the most charming smile in his repertoire, hoping it would be enough to blast a crack in her shell.
The station bustled around Josie, but her focus was on the Wanted flyers plastered on the police bulletin board. She flipped a page back and snapped a picture with her phone.
“Dibs on the meth head.”
Josie jumped at the sound of Jon’s voice, and once the rush of old desire passed—because it always showed up, every time, without an invitation—she found herself instantly agitated.
“You’ve got to quit sneaking up on people, Jon. One of these days, you’re going to get accidentally shot.” She didn’t meet his eyes. Instead, she kept them on the board and pretended to go about her business even though her brain had come to a skipping, grinding stall.
“Well, I only sneak up on you, so I’m pretty sure I’m safe.” He leaned against the wall at her side to face her, but she still wouldn’t look at him.
“Lucky me. And no, I’ve got the meth head. You can have the pedophile. I always have trouble not shooting them.”
He watched her. “How are you doin’, Josie?”
“Fine,” she clipped as she flipped another flyer out of the way. “Do you want the gas-station robber?”
Jon stuffed his hands in his pockets with his eyes on her like a couple of ten-pound weights. “Nah, you can have him. How about the missing girl?”