Soul Kissed by Courtney Cole Read Free Book Online

flawless, her prophecies perfect.  “I cannot see for sure.  But look.”
    She waved an elegant hand and a scattered array of visions appeared before me.  I saw myself standing in the moonlight by the lake, I saw myself talking with Daniel Delacorte in the hospital, reading him a mystery novel and smiling at him and I even saw Gaia.  She was sitting in the chair in my bedroom as I slept.  I’d have to talk with her about that.  It was slightly creepy.  
    But then there was Brennan.  Handsome and strong, he moved to the front of the visions.  Only he wasn’t himself.  He was shining with the light of the sun, armed in bronzed armor and gleaming eyes.   And then I realized that it wasn’t actually Brennan at all.  It was someone who looked very, very much like him.
    “What the….” I whispered.  My mother nodded. 
    “Exactly,” she answered.  “What is going on?  Wherever you are, what are you doing?  Why are you with Apollo’s son?”
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
     
    “What the hell do you mean, Apollo’s son?” I demanded.  “Brennan isn’t Apollo’s son.  He’s mortal!”
    My mother sighed, twisting her lovely, youthful features into a slightly impatient scowl as she faced me. 
    “Empusa,” she admonished.  “You should know by now that not everything is what it seems.  I assure you, Brennan is most certainly Apollo’s son.”
    “But that’s impossible,” I whispered, picturing the innocence on Brennan’s handsome face.  “He’s not a god.”
    “No, he isn’t. He’s a demi-god, like you,” my mother agreed.  “And to be honest, I doubt he even knows it.”
    “How the hell is that even possible?” I screeched.  “How can someone be a demi-god and not know it?”
    My mother leveled a gaze at me and glared.  “Watch your mouth, Empusa.  There is no need to swear like a sailor.  It’s possible because if he was born as a mortal, how would he know? He obviously would think he was mortal.”
    I stared at her in confusion and she sighed once again, apparently trying to figure out how to explain something complex to a child.  I glared back at her.  This didn’t make any sense at all and I was a pretty bright person.
    “Empusa, you know that the Olympians were trapped in the Underworld for several thousand years,” she began patiently.  I nodded.  I had been there in the not so distant past when they had been freed by Harmonia, the goddess of peace. 
    “Well, during that time, Hades sought to keep them content and pleased,” she continued.  “Several of the Olympians have… what we might call… a penchant for mortal women.  So, Hades had mortal women brought to them.  Then afterward, he would take the memories of those women and return them home. The mortals never even remembered what happened to them.  Probability would suggest that at least some of them became pregnant.”
    “And they wouldn’t have known who the father was,” I whispered, finally comprehending. “So, Brennan’s mother thought that her husband was the father of her baby.  Brennan has no idea…”
    “He has no idea that he is the son of a god,” my mother confirmed, nodding her head, satisfied that I finally understood.  “But he is, in fact, a mortal, too.  Unless Zeus decrees otherwise, he will eventually die like a mortal.”
    I knew that much was true and that realization ran through me like a knife.  I would lose him eventually.   Mortality had never been an issue for me since I was the daughter of two immortals.  I was born immortal.
    But Brennan was not.
    “Also, Empusa,” my mother continued, bringing my attention back to her.  “You need to keep something in mind.  The energy of two demi’s is more powerful and more noticeable then the energy of just one.  You will make it easier for your father to find you if you continue to consort with this boy.”
    I looked at her.  Consort?   That made it sound so seedy. 
    “Your combined energy