Page 30 of Nexus

Chapter Twenty-Three

WITH THREE ENEMIES coming at me and a fourth one still lurking around, I didn’t have time to pick and choose my weapons carefully. Spying a nearby spatula, I stomped on it to flip it into the air. I caught it, then smashed the toaster into the closest vamp’s head, knocking him into one of his cohorts. Number two on my kill list lunged at me and I rammed the handle of the spatula into his chest. He looked down in disbelief before transforming into ash.

The poor toaster was now in pieces, so I let it fall to the floor. I snatched up some tongs just as the pair of leeches untangled themselves and came at me again. Hands reached for my throat and fingers sank into my neck in a chokehold that had no effect on me. Up this close, it was easy to skewer them with my kitchen utensils. The tongs made a far larger entry wound than the handle of the spatula, but both crude weapons were deadly.

Sensing the injured and toothless bloodsucker behind me, I spun around just as his arm was descending. He’d picked up a rolling pin and was about to club me with it. I managed to cross my arms and halt the rolling pin before it could smash into my face.

While beheading or staking leeches through the heart was the easiest way to kill them, they were vulnerable in other areas as well. I raised my knee sharply and it connected with my enemy’s gonads. His eyes bulged in fresh agony and he staggered backwards. Ramming the handle of the spatula into his chest, I watched him die, then looked around wildly to see if any new foes were going to appear.

Clapping came from the table and I turned to see Crowmon was on his feet. The bells on his cap jingled merrily as he applauded me. “Well done, lass! I’ve never seen anyone use a spatula to kill vampires before. I must say I’m impressed with your skills.”

Fate remained silent as I trudged back to the table. The utensils vanished from my hands before I reached my chair. I glanced backwards to see the room had been restored to its original size and the carpet had returned. All signs of the battle and my opponents were gone. “Did I pass your test?” I asked sourly.

“How is your throat?” Fate asked, gesturing at my neck where the vamp had tried to strangle me and had failed miserably.

“It’s fine,” I shrugged. “It takes a lot to hurt me. My mom is the same. All of the Sterling women are built tough. We have to be in our line of work.”

“Your ancestors have been hunting monsters for over two millennia,” Crowmon noted, taking his seat to read my resume again.

“Have they?” I asked in surprise. I knew we lived for a long time, but mom didn’t know much about our early history.

“Indeed,” Fate confirmed, then read more of the document. “Your line was originally human, until one of your distant relatives mated with a creature from the underworld.”

“Did she know what she was sleeping with?” I asked, intrigued by the history I hadn’t known about.

“She found out soon after her baby was born,” Crowmon replied. “Her daughter wasn’t normal and the villagers wanted to kill them both. She fled and raised her child in secret, hiding her from the world. Eventually, her daughter also mated with a denizen of the underworld. This practice has been repeated over and over again, mixing your DNA until each new generation of daughters became a jumble of species.”

“Why do we keep mating with monsters if we all hunt them?” I asked in puzzlement.

“You only kill the ones that deserve death,” Fate told me. “You could say it is in your genes, along with finding a suitable male to father your only child.”

A horrible thought occurred to me. “Is that why I feel the need to sleep with supernatural men lately?” After shagging Clay the werecougar, I’d sought out a few other shifters to get naked with.

“It isn’t your time to procreate yet,” Crowmon denied. “But your body is gearing up for the event. You’re searching for a male who can provide you with what you need.”

“Getting back to my mixed heritage,” I said. “Why are the women in my family compelled to find supernatural sperm donors?”

“Their directive is to eventually produce a child who will possess the necessary talents to save this world,” she said.

Suspicion raised its ugly head. “And I’m the result of all that monster humping?” I said incredulously, then burst into snickers. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m no hero. I’m not the sort of person who can save an entire world from Chaos, or whatever the hell it is you expect me to do.”

“We wouldn’t be here if you weren’t the right candidate,” Crowmon said solemnly. “My lovely wife was careful to set events into being. She’s guided your ancestors to choose the beings they mated with in order to produce you.”

I stared at him blankly, then anger stirred. “Are you saying she’s been manipulating the women in my family for two thousand years?” I asked, voice rising in volume as I pointed at the hooded being sitting beside him. “What the hell gives you the right to mess with us like that?”

“It is my job,” Fate said with a slight shrug. “My purpose is to keep as many worlds safe from Chaos as I can. Unfortunately, I am not always successful. Sometimes, my champions fail.”

This was a lot to take in, quite frankly. “What’s your purpose?” I asked Crowmon. “Are you going to pop up every now and then and throw a rubber chicken at me?”

Instead of being insulted, the deity chuckled in amusement. “I would if I were allowed to, lass. I’m afraid this is the only contact we’ll be able to have with you. In the past, Fate’s champions were given no warning at all of what their purpose was. My beloved has learned it’s best to appear to them in a dream and advise them of the tasks ahead.”

“Why?” I dreaded the answer, but I had to know.

“I have found that showing my champions the price of failure gives them the incentive they need to succeed,” she told me. “Your case is slightly different.”

“In what way?”

“The other champions all had partners, family or close friends to save from the coming disasters,” Crowmon said. “The thought of losing their loved ones was enough to spur them to win.”