Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

My gaze swung to Liu Wei, worried that he might be upset that his soulmate was pregnant. I mean, I could understand it if she didn't know who her soulmate was, but we all knew damn well that that was not the case.

"I killed her," he said, looking me right in the eyes as he said it. "I didn't injure her and walked away, hoping that she would die. I didn't prolong her death nearly as much as I wanted to; I reaped her soul and sent it straight to Hell."

"Then she must have been reborn," I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. I had an idea of the bitch that did that, but I wasn't going to say anything yet. Demeter never liked it that her son had chosen another woman over her again and again. The only good thing about Bin An Sha taking it upon himself to move into the Underworld was that he brought Wang Tian Mu with him… thus giving me my best friend.

It was the only reason why I kept him around as long as I did.

I often wondered why Demeter was so obsessed with her own son; it was like a reverse Oedipus Complex. Now, I knew that my brothers and sisters had no problems breaking more than a few taboos when it came to relationships, but that was sick… even by their standards. And, for the record, I never, ever slept with my nephew, no matter what the rumors said. That is just wrong on so many levels.

"Then I need to kill her again," smiled Liu Wei, adjusting his glasses on top of his nose. The smile on his face was enough to give mortals nightmares… I know just by the way the soldiers blanched when they saw it.

"The baby is innocent," I pointed out with a sigh. I had no idea what we were going to do about this whole situation, but there was one thing I knew for sure. The baby would not be punished for the sins of its mother.

Liu Wei looked at me from the corner of his eye, refusing to say anything. At the end of the day, it was his job to play judge, jury, and executioner; mine was just to give them peace at the end of it. Or torture the fuck out of them over and over for all of eternity. You know, whichever one they deserved.

I looked at the woman in Rip's arms, the one that sometimes helped me make those decision. Whether or not my fiancé was there hooking up with Liu Wei's fiancé, we were going to City A. She needed a healer, and I would damn well make sure that she was going to get it.

"Get in bitches," I said, and with a flick of my wrist, one of the RVs and an SUV appeared in the middle of the clearing. "We're going to City A."

----

I would love to say that my well-time quote was enough to get the soldiers moving, but it really wasn't. They stared at the vehicles like they were going to grow teeth and take a bit out of them.

Rip huffed, no double remembering the chaos and death that the bikes reigned down on that secret facility before he looked at me. "Are they safe?" he demanded, ignoring the glares from my men for questioning me.

"You would prefer the bikes?" I asked as they, too, appeared beside the SUV. I watched as Rip stiffened as he saw the four of them just resting there like they were nothing more than harmless motorcycles.

"I'll take a bike," said Cheng Bo Jing as he approached Ares. I didn't know why he was all of a sudden interested in death, but then I remembered that most people would not know what they were.

"Only if you want to die," I told him with a sigh. "Rip, go into the RV and get the Healer into the bed so that she can rest. Then, divide up the men between the SUV and the RV. You have ten minutes, or else I am going to leave you here and just take her with me."

"She has a name, you know, it's Wang Tian Mu. Why do you keep calling her the Healer?" demanded Bai Long Qiang, turning his attention away from the vehicles and towards me.

"Because to me, that is who she is. The one that heals everything," I answered him with a shrug, not at all surprised when Rip and a few of the other men rushed to the RV, one opening the door for Rip so that he didn't have to jostle the woman they all seemed to be obsessed with. In fact, only two of the five soldiers stayed with Bai Long Qiang.

I cocked my head and looked at them. "You aren't going to go check on her too?" I asked Cheng Bo Jing, looking back and forth between him and the other one.

"Someone needs to make sure that the Boss stays alive long enough to regret today," shrugged the metal user, and I burst out laughing at his response.

"Very true," I chuckled. The Healer was going to be in good hands. "But don't make her suffer because he has a stick up his ass. People die on missions all the time these days. There is nothing to say that it can't happen to him."

"And here was me thinking that you liked me," sneered Bai Long Qiang, not at all aware of how his statement would sound to my men.

"Hardly," I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. "You were important because of the fact that the Healer mourned for you for years. If I could save you for her, I would. But this was never about you."

Bai Long Qiang froze for a moment at my words, more than likely remembering the last few years of his life, too. "I am sorry," he said, taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "I have allowed my emotions to get the better of me, and for that, I am sorry."

I nodded my head at his apology, but in all honesty, it meant jack shit to me. "Just make sure that you don't fuck it up in the future," I said, turning away from him and to where Cerberus was, hiding in the trees. I think he was scared that some of the military guys would try to take him to City A, and he didn't know how to handle that.

"That's it?" he asked bewildered. Looking around at my guys, he seemed startled that we weren't making a bigger deal out of his temper tantrum.

"Look," I said with a sigh, not sure how to say this politely. Fuck it. New leaf and all that. "I don't give two flying shits about you and your men. You mean literally nothing to me. The only thing I am going to care about is how you treat that woman in Rip's arms. And I highly suggest that you treat him the same as you treat your teammates. You are all playing for the same one, after all. Fuck it up, piss the Healer off, and I promise you. You will not know how you died."

Turning around, not caring about his response, I made my way over to Cerberus. "You might want to hurry. Something tells me that you are going to want to follow us if you are hoping for an easy route to City A."

------

"Are you okay?" asked Cerberus as soon as I got into the cab of his truck. It felt like forever since I had last seen him.

"Hello, Old friend," I said, rubbing my hand over the steering wheel. There was a long pause as my words sunk in.

"You re—" he started before I cut him off.

"I do, but now is not the time," I answered, leaning back into the comfy cushion of the driver's seat and closed my eyes. There were so many memories overlapping, some good, some bad, but all me. "You are a lot more comfortable this way. Now I can sleep without fear of falling off."

"You never once fell off of me," chuckled Cerberus.

"There were a few close calls," I reminded him, letting out a long sigh.

"And yet, you never fell off. You are welcome," he snarked back, and I chuckled at his response. "Where are we going now?"

"City A. The Healer has been found but needs a healer. A bitch needs killing… maybe… and it is time to release Hell on Earth."

"Cool, sounds like fun," grunted the truck as he started his engine. "You just get some sleep. Hell on Earth can wait until you wake up."

"Sounds good," I grunted, taking out a pillow and blanket from my space and making myself more comfortable. "The RV is important; the Healer is inside of it. Please keep it in your eyes at all times."

"Understood. I will make sure that nothing happens to her."

"Thank you, Old Friend," I murmured before sleep dragged me under. I had been put through the wringer today and needed sleep more than I needed my next cup of coffee.

"Anything for you, My Queen."