Jagged Embrace

Chapter 15 - Will

Will rubbed his face. They'd made good time. He glanced at Maeve in the rear-view mirror. She was sleeping. Kinda reminded him of an angel. Not those stupid wingbacks he dealt with most of the time, but the pictures of the gorgeous ones in books. The ones that made you believe there wasn't anything shitty or bad in the world, and it wasn't just because of some bullshit power, but because their existence somehow made it better. He shook his head. What the fuck was that about? He pulled out his flask and emptied it. He hadn't even fucked her yet, and he was having absurd thoughts.

"Did you recognize what language Maeve was speaking?" Ander's quiet voice interrupted his thoughts.

"No." Will gripped the wheel tighter, he didn't want to think about it.

"It was Greek, well, a form of Greek. I was recovering, but I am fairly certain."

"Greek?" Will raised his eyebrows.

"I think it was ancient Greek, but I would need to hear it again to be certain."

"How the fuck did you know it was Greek to begin with?"

"I recognized the sound."

Will flicked his eyes over to Ander and shook his head. He always was a nerd for history. The only thing Will cared about historically was weapons.

"I have been listening to Greek for the past hour and have matched some words."

"You've been listening to Greek?"

"That is what I said," he replied.

Good thing Ander had been there. Will wouldn't have the tolerance to sit and listen to a bunch of Greek to sift through a bunch of words he didn't know to find one or two he wanted.

"How'd you remember what she said?" Will asked, anticipating Ander's answer, but wanted him to confirm he was still zoning out.

"You are aware that I can remember things if I focus on them long enough," Ander mumbled.

Exactly. So he'd been quiet for the past couple of hours because he was zoned out again. "What words did you figure out?"

Ander flicked through several screens on his phone. Will turned his eyes back to the road.

"Most other languages have a base." Ander paused and grimaced. Will was relieved he was gonna skip the crap he didn't care about. "I have figured out the words: you, him, no, his, I, serve, alone, are, and I think, mortal."

He was even more glad Ander had stopped himself from some lengthy explanation about languages, and some historical timeline about how words change over the years, or some such shit. "Is that in order? 'Cause it doesn't make sense."

Ander glared at him from the passenger seat. "No, that is not in order, obviously. I do not have the full translation yet," Ander answered in a snippy tone. "Does Maeve understand she spoke Greek?"

"I don't know. I mean, she'd have to, to talk to it, right?" Will grumbled. It was why he'd cut the thing's head off to stop the entire train of thought.

"Also, there is the matter of the blood," Ander said, his voice tight.

"What about the blood?" Will asked, his irritation grew by the minute.

He had plans tonight, and Ander was pissing all over them. If things worked out how he wanted, Ander would be playing with the corpse all night, investigating, and he would be playing with Maeve all night. The memory of her mouth on his filled his mind. His stomach settled.

"The gorgon's blood is venom. When you cut her head off, where it hit your skin, it burned you."

Will nodded. It stung like a motherfucker, but it was okay now. Even their kiss had been painful. Everywhere he'd touched her and the gorgon's blood had hit burned him, but it was worth it. He had licked her lips to get rid of the gorgon blood so he could taste her, and not that filth.

"If you were not resistant to that type of damage, you would have been poisoned," Ander continued.

Will nodded again. In retrospect, it was stupid of him to ingest even trace amounts of the monster's blood. He was naturally immune to a lot of things and healed quickly, mostly thanks to their tattoos and taking precautions. His actions tonight had been fueled by his lust and stupidity.

"Maeve is not," Ander finished.

Fuck. The blood was all over her. It splattered on her torso, arms, neck, and face. It was fucking idiotic of him to take it's head like that. She could've been hurt or died, but she hadn't. In fact, it didn't burn her like it did him. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. His jaw locked.

"You sure the blood is venom? I mean, isn't that from books or whatever? It's not like any of the other soldiers have encountered a gorgon before," Will responded. Ander had to be wrong.

"I suppose. I will check once we reach Mason's, but it should have at least caused discomfort," he answered.

Will gritted his teeth. Maeve might speak Greek. That wasn't a big deal. Weird, but no reason to freak out. The blood... maybe only men got fucked up. Didn't Medusa hate men or something? Will debated whether to bring it up, but kept quiet. He'd wait until Ander finished his experiments and then talk to him.

"Let me know what you find, once you're done looking at everything," Will told him and turned the music up to end the conversation.