Page 55 of Merciless
The Sha tilted his head as if considering my words. "Not you specifically, but your blood. Even with all my power building and becoming concentrated, I still needed to bond to a human to take physical form." He stepped closer, to the point of looming over me. "I needed someone with a mind that was broken and weak to be the first of my many drone soldiers. Do you know who that was, Mariposa?"
There was a long beat of silence as I gazed up at the Sha's roughly-canine face under the hood, that smug toothy grin that I hated so fucking much.
"Fuck you," I spat. "My father was never weak.Youbroke him and discarded him like a toy."
"He served his usefulness," the Sha said dismissively. "But oh, that post-traumatic stress disorder," he clicked his tongue, "provided so many delightful nooks and crannies for me to settle into." The Sha perked up as if excitedly remembering something. "Your man Shadow has many of the same."
"No." I wanted to scream the word but it came out as a defeated whisper. "You did not get inside Shadow, or Reaper. They're too strong, toogood."
"Conquering them was a most thrilling challenge," the Sha continued to goad me. "But I must award the title of my favorite conquest to either your little spy, Andrea, or," he grinned wider than ever, "your mother."
"You piece ofshit!I'll kill you!" I finally found my voice, but my shooting hand remained stubbornly at my side. The fucker was still influencing that part of my mind that wanted to fill him up with bullet holes. I was aware, pissed beyond all reason, and could easily raise my gun to shoot a hole in the ceiling. But he had pinched down on that desire to kill or injurehim.
And judging by how the guys at my sides struggled and grimaced, they were dealing with the same issue.
A bitter laugh erupted from my throat. "You're such a fucking coward."
"Mari." Horus barked out my name in a gruff warning, but I was already seeing red.
"You'reweak, Set," I went on. "I'm not addressing your earthly form, I'm talking to you, the god. What kind of god needs to control thousands of people to be considered powerful?"
The Sha tilted his head, another throaty chuckle emerging.
"Mari, don't." The warning came from Hades this time.
"What kind of god," I stepped forward until I was directly under the Sha's hood, "hides behind an army of thousands? Behind barricaded doors and armed guards infused with godlike power themselves?" I tilted my face up until my nose was just inches away from that long snout. "One who's afraid of a little gunshot wound?"
The Sha growled and a burning pain sliced through my forehead, forcing me to clutch my head with a hiss and stumble backward.
"I've held back this long because your human antics have been most amusing," the Sha rumbled. "But it seems the obvious has escaped you, Mariposa. I cannot die. Look at me."
The Sha threw back his hood to reveal a roughly dog-shaped head with triangular ears. His neck was longer than a human's, but his arms, shoulders, and torso were humanoid, covered in dark gray skin and a layer of fur-like hair.
"What am I?" the Sha taunted, spreading his arms to the sides. He took another step forward, knees bending backward like the legs of a bird. "I am neither human nor animal, unlike your pets. Something like me was never meant to live." He brought a clawed hand to his chest, that toothy grin maniacal. "Therefore, I cannot be killed."
"Let's test that theory," I shot back. "Let us go. No matter how nonsensical you are, you're still made of flesh and blood."
"I think not," the Sha purred. "As amusing as you have been, I'm tired of your thorns in my hide. Chaos must spread like the beautiful sickness it is, until all humans have fallen to it."
"Coward!" I yelled in his face. "You think you're so fucking powerful, but you're afraid of us!"
"Mari!"
Whoever yelled my name was too late, the pain felt like my head was being split apart by a crowbar. My knees hit the floor, but that was nothing compared to the agony driving through my skull.
He's overpowered the bonds!I could barely hear Freyja's frantic voice in my head over the scorching hot poker driving into my ears.I can't shield you from him, daughter!
Buried underneath the pain splitting my head apart, my desire to kill the Sha returned with a vengeance. He had finally released his hold, but now my brain was being literally scrambled and beaten within my skull. I couldn't even tell if I was holding a gun anymore.
I’m gonna die. Oh fuck, it hurts so bad…
"You're not dying that quickly, human." The Sha's voice cut through everything—my head, my skin. It stabbed through every organ in my body, twisting and plunging deeper. "You still doubt my power? I am not flesh and blood, but agod."
"Stop...please..."
I hated that I was begging, but I also didn't care anymore. The pain went so deep, was so constant, that I would have given up everything to make it stop. My breaking point was miles behind me. I had been dragged across it, over jagged glass shards and with burning hot hooks embedded in my flesh. The only reason I was still alive was because the Sha wanted me to experience this agony.
"I'm just getting started with you," the Sha purred pleasantly. "I hope you enjoy these scenes as I have."
