Free Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) by J.A. Cipriano

ancient Greek Gods. Only Thes wasn’t Greek. He was Native American. I should have been able to come up with a comparison to a Native American deity or hero, but I couldn’t.
    “Lillim,” he said, dark brown eyes flashing with anger before his gaze turned toward Connor so he wasn’t looking at me when he continued. “You’re awake. I’d heard it was true.” The rage in his voice snapped at me like a whip, and I probably would have taken a step away from him if Connor hadn’t stopped me by putting his hands on my shoulders.
    “Thes, be nice,” Connor said. He let go of me as he spoke and took a step in front of me. He had one hand out, like he was ready to push Thes backward. I was about to tell him to get out of my way because if Thes wanted to throw a punch, well, he damned well could, but I realized he had one hand up toward me too. No, he wanted to keep us both apart. Interesting.
    “I told you I didn’t want you bringing her here,” Thes snorted and looked away from Connor. “I don’t want her here.”
    The way he said it made me wish I hadn’t come. Sure, the entire universe seemed to want me here, but at the same time, I respected Thes. He’d gone to Egypt to save Connor in my place. He’d done everything the right way, and now he seemed to hate me for it. I wasn’t sure how or why he did, but the absolute last thing I wanted to do was cause him pain.
    “I told you, you’re a jackass, and I don’t care what you think.” Connor glanced at me, and his face softened. “Lillim is a badass, and we need all the badasses we can get.”
    “The fates say she’ll fold at the end and kill us all.” Thes gestured at the battlefield. “We’ve advanced today. Not just held the enemy back but advanced. I do not want to throw all the lives we’ve lost today on the chance she won’t fold.”
    I wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. The computers back at base thought I’d fail? The ones inhabited by the fates? It seemed crazy, and if that was true, why hadn’t my dad mentioned that? You’d have thought it would have come up when he was trying to get me to run off and stop Ragnarok. Only, what good would that have done besides make me second guess myself?
    No, I was going to stop Ragnarok if it was the last thing I ever did. I would not go down in history as the girl who folded under pressure. If Dirge could give her life to save the Dioscuri, then I could sacrifice mine to save the world. At least, I thought I could. I had to believe I could.
    “Only two of them think she’ll fold.” Connor crossed his arms and the glance he gave me chilled me. He believed in me, but the Dioscuri super computers that predicted everything, didn’t. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “The other thinks she’ll seal the deal. Isn’t it worth that chance?”
    “I’m done taking chances.” Thes turned and began moving back toward the command tent. “The last time I took a chance, you became the darkness that killed all of Heaven.”
    I opened my mouth to say something in my defense, even though I wasn’t sure what it was because I was too busy being torn between wanting to punch Thes in his smug face and wanting to run away and hide in case he was right. Fortunately for me, the world decided to screech to a bloody stop on its axis right then and take the focus entirely off our petty human problems.
    The ground beneath my feet lurched, throwing me and everyone else off our collective feet. As I smacked painfully into the pavement, the buildings to my left collapsed into a sinkhole the size of Madagascar, and a single serpentine claw burst from the earth and came crashing down with enough force to drop an entire city block into the sewer.

9
    “ H oly mother of frig !” I cried for the second time today. I scrambled to my feet as deafening roar erupted from the gaping sinkhole in the earth. My eardrums popped, and a blast of warm air hit me like a fetid breath. The smell of rotten eggs and dead fish