“This is the Underworld?” Marinda kept pace beside him as he crossed the span of empty black ground between him and the fortress.
“A slightly shadier part of it.” One his father would be furious about him visiting if he learned of it. “Thanatos lives here.”
“A god.” She glanced at him. “A god of what?”
“Death.” He regretted tossing that out there so casually when she tensed.
“Death? We’re going to visit a god of death?”
“He’s no scarier than my father and he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on us.” At least, Cal hoped he wouldn’t. “He spawned the necromancer breed. I figured maybe he could help us.”
“Help us,” she echoed, a distant quality to her soft voice.
He checked her, just to make sure her eyes hadn’t changed and it was only the idea of them working together that had her sounding so thoughtful, and not pleasing images of destruction and death.
Vengeance.
Cal stretched his senses out around them, charting everything.
Which was nothing.
There wasn’t a living soul in the area. Or a dead one.
In fact, the only signal that pulsed on his internal radar was directly ahead of him in the castle.
And it was strong.
Cal had only met Thanatos a couple of times, and the man had made an impression each one, but he didn’t remember him being this powerful. Maybe he always had been and it was only because Cal had Marinda with him that Thanatos now felt more powerful, and more terrifying. Now he had someone he needed to protect, someone the darker side of his blood felt was in danger.
Someone who was becoming precious to him.
Wariness washed through him and he subtly pulled Marinda closer, stopping her from straying as she took everything in.
“It’s very grim.” She didn’t look or feel worried as she glanced his way, the feel of her eyes landing on him a comforting caress.
She was safe with him, and he didn’t intend to release her at any point, not until they were back in London. As long as he kept his hand in hers, he could whisk her away in a heartbeat.
As they drew closer to the fortress, waves of power buffeted him, the air vibrating with it in a way that set him firmly on edge.
Marinda shifted her free hand to her stomach. “What is this?”
She could feel it too.
“Thanatos.” He kept his eyes on the castle and his senses on the sole occupant as the power that hummed in the air grew stronger and stronger with each step closer.
He shut out the part of him that whispered this was a mistake. Keras and Marek were getting nowhere. They needed to know more about necromancers and Cal was going to be the one to get that information.
His senses sharpened as they reached the steps that led up to the castle and he tilted his head back, his gaze tracking up the enormous height of the staircase to the building.
“There has to be at least two hundred steps.” Marinda glanced at him. “You can’t just teleport us up there?”
He shook his head. “If I teleport anywhere in the Underworld, Dad will feel it. He can’t summon me when I’m in the Underworld, but he can send a legion to bring me to him. I’m not meant to be here.”
“You’re not meant to be here?”
He pulled a face. “I might be a tiny bit banished from this realm until the gates are safe and our enemy is vanquished.”
Her blue eyes slowly widened. “That was the reason your mother was so upset you had returned. Not because you brought me to this place… but because you weren’t meant to be here.”
This time, he nodded. “Which is why we need to get this over with before someone realises we’re here, or before Thanatos tells on me.”
Thanatos was one of his father’s closest allies. The two swapped intel all the time. There was a high chance the god in the castle had already sent a Messenger to his father.
Although, Cal hadn’t sensed anyone else in the vicinity since he had arrived.
His gut squirmed as he started ascending the black stone staircase, his eyes fixed on the fortress that loomed at the top. Was the god of death waiting for him? He had to be aware of Cal and Marinda, and he hadn’t dispatched a Messenger or sent anyone to deal with them.
Did that mean Thanatos wanted to see him?
The thought that the god of death wanted to see him was unsettling.
Unnerving.
Each step he took, that unsettled feeling grew inside him, twisted into nerves and then into the first trickle of fear. He tried to tamp it down as they neared the top of the steps, taking slow and even breaths to keep his heart steady. He wasn’t going to let Thanatos see that he feared him. Fear was a weakness.
He was a god too.
Beside him, Marinda’s steps slowed.
He looked over his shoulder at her. She stared up at the fortress, a flicker of fear lighting her eyes as her fair eyebrows furrowed.
“Are you sure this is wise?” she whispered, as if she feared the god would hear her and attack them. “I mean… I have the strangest feeling… that the whole of his focus is on me.”
Cal tugged her closer to him as darkness surged through him and his canines sharpened, the urge to protect her and keep her from Thanatos blazing in his veins like lava.
Burning in his soul.
A loud boom sounded, resonating across the flat valley basin and echoing off the mountains that surrounded it.
Marinda tensed.
Cal looked ahead of him at the towering arched door as the two sides of it opened.
Cold air rushed from it and he braced against the frigid blast, pulling Marinda behind him to protect her as he shielded his eyes with his forearm, protecting his vision in case he needed to fight.
When the dust settled, he lowered his arm and stared at the enormous entrance of the imposing obsidian fortress.
There was only darkness.
Marinda yanked on his hand when he took a step forwards and he glanced back at her.
“Are you sure about this?” She looked from him to the castle, the fear that had been building in her now clear in her eyes. She swallowed hard. “Cal?”
“It’ll be okay.” He turned to face her, stepped down to where she was and smoothed his free hand along her jaw. “I’ll take care of you. Thanatos isn’t getting anywhere near you.”
“Why is he so interested in me?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Together. Just stay close to me.” He lowered his head and pressed his forehead to hers as his eyes slipped shut, the dark need to protect her that raged inside him calming as they came into contact. He breathed her in, her subtle scent of roses and lilac soothing his ragged nerves. “Promise me.”
Her brow moved against his as she nodded, her breath sweet on his lips when she whispered, “I promise.”
He dipped his head and kissed her, unable to ignore the need to feel her lips on his, to have this contact between them to boost his courage and settle his fears. Her kiss was soft as her lips danced with his, flooded him with warmth and emotions he didn’t want to name.
When the power vibrating in the air grew stronger still, pressing down on him, he broke the kiss.
Aware that it wasn’t wise to keep Thanatos waiting.
And he was waiting.
Cal was deeply aware of that as he led Marinda into the darkness of the castle, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the lack of light. The doors slammed behind them and Marinda jolted and moved closer to him.
“I don’t like this,” she muttered in French.
He didn’t like it either. He felt as if he was walking into a trap.
Or to his doom.
“It’ll be fine,” he said, not really believing those words, on his guard as he started moving forwards into the gloom.
Towering columns flanked him, supporting a ceiling he couldn’t make out in the darkness.
Two torches mounted on the second set of columns burst to life as he reached them. Marinda gasped
and he flinched, his eyes stinging from the sudden brightness.
He kept moving forwards, his heart picking up pace despite his attempts to remain calm. The sense of power grew stronger still as they passed another two sets of columns and more torches ignited to illuminate their path.
Cal focused on each breath and keeping his senses sharp, remaining in control despite the darkness that rose within him, pushing him to the edge as the need to keep Marinda safe built inside him.
This was just theatrics, designed to scare visitors and make them tremble before the god of death.
He was the son of Hades.
Powerful in his own right.
Powerful enough to handle this god who served his father.
They mounted another set of steps and entered a room with staircases that wound upwards on either side. A huge brazier burned in the middle of the room, the smokeless blue fire creating shadows that danced over the walls and in the crevices, attempting to distract him.
Attempting to instil fear in him.
He wasn’t afraid.
The only signature he could sense in the building was ahead of him, beyond the next set of doors.
Those ornate black doors detailed with pure gold creaked open as he rounded the brazier with Marinda close to his side.
The floor of the room beyond was as black as the others, but this one had twin stripes of gold running from the doors, the space between them inlaid with glyphs in a rare metal of the Underworld that shimmered different colours as the light caught it.
Cal halted at the doors, his eyes on the broad stripe of symbols that led from the doors to the imposing dais at the other end of the room.
That was one hell of a ward.
He studied it, apprehension running through him as he picked apart the meaning of each part of the ward. Some of it was designed to amplify the power of Thanatos, and other parts were designed to dampen the abilities of anyone who stood upon it.
So Cal wasn’t going to walk down the aisle on that twisted carpet of doom.
He swept Marinda into his arms, hunkered down and leaped diagonally into the room, landing clear of the wards.
A rich, deep chuckle rolled through the darkness. “As expected of one of Hades’s sons. You know your wards.”
“I did my study time like a good boy.” Cal set Marinda down and took hold of her hand again.
“And what does Hades’s kid want with me?” Thanatos’s bass voice echoed around the dimly lit room.
Cal kept Marinda tucked behind him as he marched forwards, refusing to show any of the fear he felt as he approached the god, catching flickers of him between the thick fluted onyx columns that lined the aisle.
“I need to ask you something. That’s all.” Cal crushed his nerves as he cleared the last of the columns and the god of death came into view.
Thanatos was a mountain of a man even when seated on his throne. His thick raven hair shone with the colours chasing over the glyphs and caught the light of the two braziers of blue fire that flanked the dais just behind him. His silver eyes were sharp and penetrating, focused intently on Cal.
The corner of his broad mouth twitched, satisfaction rolling across his handsome features.
Because he had sensed the fear Cal had tried to keep hidden.
Nothing slipped past this god.
Cal had been a fool to try and conceal his feelings.
Thanatos eased up in his black throne, the pointed toes of the obsidian armour he wore on his lower half scraping over the stone beneath his feet. He unfolded his arms from his bare chest and lowered them to rest beside him. The heavy black armour he wore around his forearms clanked against his throne and his biceps flexed as he gripped the ends of the armrests.
Behind Cal, Marinda’s pulse picked up pace and he could sense she wanted to say something to him. He squeezed her hand. She didn’t have to worry. Thanatos might have close to ten inches on him and two hundred pounds in muscle, but he would protect her.
Not that the god looked at all interested in attacking him.
Thanatos preened his glossy black wings, his silver eyes never leaving Cal. The weight of expectation in the air grew heavier, pressing down on his shoulders.
“I need to know about necromancers.” Cal somehow managed to internalise his wince when Thanatos’s silver eyes darkened to jet black.
The behemoth of a god sat up straighter, his hands squeezing the arms of his throne as he leaned towards Cal, looking for all the world as if he was about to launch from it to kill him.
Those pretty black wings looked infinitely more terrifying as Thanatos spread them and they almost spanned the room.
“Speak not of their foul breed in my presence,” Thanatos barked, his words rolling through the room like thunder, shaking the floor beneath Cal’s feet.
Apparently, it was a sore subject.
Cal was starting to see why none of his brothers had sent a Messenger to ask Thanatos about the necromancer breed.
“I know the one who killed my sister.” Cal refused to back down. The information this god could give him was vital to him, and to Marinda. “We can’t find him though, and even if we did, I’m not equipped to fight him. I need better knowledge of his kind. You have that knowledge. You spawned their breed, whether you like it or not.”
“Whether I like it or not?” Thanatos’s handsome face twisted in dark lines. “The answer to that question was not. I did not choose to spawn their wretched kind. I was not a willing participant in their creation.”
The god glowered at him, blue fire igniting in his eyes as the room grew colder, so frigid that Cal could see his breath.
“I was defeated in battle.” The way Thanatos bit out those five words, the venom and anger he placed into each one, was understandable. No god liked to be defeated, but the one who had claimed a victory over Thanatos had gone one step further. They had abused and humiliated him. “Drugged. Held captive. My seed stolen.”
And now the reason Thanatos lived alone in this fortress and viciously dealt with anyone who set foot near it made a lot of sense.
He no longer trusted anyone.
But he had allowed Cal to come to him. Because he was a child of Hades and Persephone?
Cal grew aware of Marinda where she remained behind him, hidden from view, and what she had said echoed through his mind.
Thanatos’s focus had been on her.
The god of death had allowed them to enter his home because of her.
Thanatos canted his head and looked straight through Cal. “Why do you hide, little one? It has been so very long since I have met an Erinyes.”
Cold swept through Cal.
Marinda was a furie?
She stepped out from behind him before he could stop her and he didn’t like the way Thanatos eyed her, the blue fire in his irises flaring brighter.
“I’m a what?” She straightened beside him, a valiant attempt to hide her fear that had Thanatos chuckling softly again.
“I see she does not know her breed.” Thanatos flicked him a look. “The son of Hades does not know this realm as well as I believed.”
Cal scowled at him. “I know enough.”
Now that Thanatos had announced her species anyway.
Before he could tell Marinda about her kind, Thanatos spoke.
“You are young for a member of the Erinyes. Weak. How old are you?” Thanatos leaned closer, peering at her in a way that set Cal’s blood on fire because there was far too much interest in it.
“Twenty-six… actually… twenty-seven today.” She moved a step closer to Thanatos.
“So young, and separated from her sisters.”
Marinda jerked another step forwards. “I have sisters?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Cal said, not wanting her to be disappointed or hurt in any way. She wanted a family, and while it might sound like she had one again, they weren’t siblings in the usual sense of the word. “The Erinyes are a trio of deities, bound to each other as far as I know.”
“They once served my mother, Nyx, as well as other members of my family.” Thanatos’s black eyebrows pinched hard as he pursed his lips. “That was centuries ago. I have not heard of them doing much in the last hundred years at least. And how did an Erinyes come to be in the mortal world? Do not look surprised. I know this one is exiled there so it is the only place you could have met him.”
Cal inched closer to Marinda. Thanatos might be curious about her, but Cal was more worried.
“I’m bound to others like me?” Marinda looked at Cal.
“There’s always three Erinyes. Your mother must have been one.”
“But why would she have wanted to hide me?” Her eyes darted from him to Thanatos. “Do you know?”
Thanatos gravely shook his head. “It is unusual for you to be separated. Perhaps something happened to the others. I have no knowledge of this.”
But he did have knowledge of something else that Cal was beginning to feel could prove vital.
“The necromancer I came to ask about is hunting her.” As those words left Cal’s lips, Thanatos’s face darkened again.
His eyes narrowed on Marinda.
“Why would one of that foul breed want you?”
Cal wanted to know the answer to that question too. “I know the Erinyes are powerful, and old. Ancient. I know they served Nyx, and have served my father in the past. When they served my father, it was before Nemesis came to be in the service of this realm.”
“Nemesis?” Marinda whispered, glancing at him.
He locked gazes with her. “A goddess who issues punishment to any who have committed a sin.”
Her face paled. “Like… vengeance?”
Another chill swept over him.
“What did the Erinyes do for your mother?” He turned to Thanatos.
“Dispensed justice to those who wronged her and my family.” Thanatos slid his eerie glowing blue gaze to settle on Marinda. “It is her power. Her calling. She was born to serve justice.”
“Why would a necromancer want someone who is driven by such a need?” It didn’t make any sense to Cal.
The necromancer was a Hellspawn, able to come and go between the Underworld and the mortal realm. He wasn’t a daemon, one of the breeds that had been banished from the Underworld after the last uprising against his father. There was a chance he had a personal vendetta against Cal’s family, since he had been responsible for attacking him and Calindria, and murdering her.
Calistos: Guardians of Hades Series Book 5 Page 20
