Gods of War (War of the Gods Series) by Jory Smith Page B

nothing miraculous had happened to save him from his fate.
    Oh well I sure did have a great run. Nicolai thought.
    Nicolai saw the guard, who over the controls was the same one that had been harassing him. He had a smug look on his face.
    “Nicolai Altukhov— you are being put to death for the murders of deputy Leonid Smirnov and his daughter Lyusya Leonidova,” Nicolai could have sworn he heard “and every other victim we couldn’t pin on you,” but the guard continued. “On my mark we will commence with execution. One, two, fire.”
    Once the guard said “fire” Nicolai felt a jolt of electricity run through his body. But something was wrong. It didn’t hurt at all. Then he started to smell something burning and noticed that the smell was coming from the straps that covered his skin. He saw that he was free and everyone was freaking out. Now was the time to act.
    He jumped towards the guard and put his hands on the man’s throat to choke him. As soon as he touched the guard, the guard started to scream out in pain as his flesh dissolved.
    Nicolai turned toward his other marks, hearing shots coming from behind him but again, felt no pain. He looked down and saw a pile of ashes. It seemed that as soon as the bullets struck his skin, they turned to ash. The guards noticed the same thing. They threw down their weapons and ran away.
    Nicolai turned his attention towards the judge. It was a mad scramble of people trying to get away in the viewing room. Nicolai walked towards the room, put his hands on the glass, and watched it melt away. Two of the judge’s bodyguards stepped in front of her, trying to protect her.
    “You have two choices,” Nicolai said. “Either you leave the judge now and live, or stay and die with her. It is up to you.”
    The bodyguards looked at each other, and one of them grabbed the judge and pushed her towards Nicolai. He grabbed her, kissed her on the cheek, and whispered in her ear. “You should have never signed the warrant.”
    After dropping her body to the ground, Nicolai walked out of the room searching for Celeste’s father as the judge withered on the floor, dying.
    With the prison on lockdown, it was a total mad house. Nicolai walked past the people still in the room, getting the attention of one.
    “You,” Nicolai said pointing to one of the woman hiding behind a chair. “There was a business man here. Where did he go?”
    The woman started stuttering, telling him that she didn’t know where he went. Nicolai cursed but kept on walking. When walking into the hall he began to smell a sweet perfume coming from the end of the hall. As he followed the scent, he found where it was coming from, Aphrodite.
    “Nice little gift you have there, Nicholaus. If I were you, I would hold back on using your powers. We are trying to utilize you guys as a secret weapon. If you keep using your powers, Ares and Hades will be able to track you down.”
    She started to slowly walk towards Nicolai. “Anyways, we need to go.” She ran her hand across his shoulder to the other side and grabbed his hand. “So if you can just follow me, we can get you out of here.”
    “No,” Nicolai said pulling his hand back. “I need to find a man I was searching for. There is a long debt that has been overdue.”
    She looked at him for a minute. “Come, I will take you to him.”
    Aphrodite took Nicolai’s hand again and started walking down the hall. Nicolai noted that they were not being noticed by any of the people around.
    “Why are we not drawing any of their attention? Are you doing something?”
    “Yes and no. I don’t have that gift. But you do. The only thing I am doing is controlling it, since you don’t know how to yet. Here we are. Here is the person you are looking for.”
    Celeste’s father was frantically trying to open up a door that was chained shut.
    “Hello Joseph, it has been a long time.”
    “Nicolai.” The man stopped what he was doing and turned around to face Nicolai.