Haydn nodded. “Hades will be close to Aello. If she’s lost faith in him, she’ll want him to experience the pain she felt from losing her sister,” he explained.
She stared at Haydn and tried to reconcile the change she saw in him. The angel who had declared his intentions of killing her had moments ago declared that he would do everything he could to help her find Viktor. She wasn’t sure if she could completely forgive Haydn, but she preferred having him on her side until they could settle things between them. She found it interesting how Balthazar and Alazar acted as if Haydn had always been part of the team. Whatever had happened in her absence, they had found a way to accept that Haydn was ready to work with them.
Looking over her shoulder at Liam, she winked at him. “Aello hates me and most likely wants to punish Hades. Where would she be, Liam?” she asked, hoping that he had some ideas.
He frowned and took a deep breath. “Aello’s been told that she can’t eat people, the very people you are destined to destroy. If she’s mad at Hades for curbing her appetite, she’ll act out and make him watch her rebel. She’ll use the deaths of the mortals to draw you in,” he said softly.
She squeezed his hand, grateful for his insight. “If you’re right, she’ll attack as many people as possible,” she nodded. “Tristan, I summon you!”
Liam raised his eyebrow. “He’s still in charge of the thrones.”
“I know, but Tristan will be able to sense the mortal’s fear. He’ll be able to find Aello if she’s terrorizing people. If we’re wrong, the Predznak will have to take to the air to continue their search. This is our only chance to save as many people as we can,” she said, trying to ease Liam’s fears. “Malcolm can handle things for a short time. Once we find Aello, the Nachtghuls will search for Hades and Viktor. The Predznak will help me engage her in battle.”
Tristan arrived and bowed before her. “I’m glad to hear your voice, My Lady,” he smiled. He stood at the ready, until he spied Haydn out of the corner of his eye. “Am I here to punish him?” He sounded entirely too eager to carry out the task.
She ignored his question when she saw the burn mark on Tristan’s neck. Balthazar told her about the burn, but seeing it brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t imagine the pain he had felt. “Are you well enough to use your power to help me find Aello?” she asked, lightly placing her hand on his chest.
“Aello is dead. Why am I searching for her?” he asked, confused by her question.
Alazar stepped forward to put his hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “Aello never died. She’s behind this whole setup. We think Celaeno was hiding her existence. Aello captured one of Anjali’s lovers named Viktor and most likely has Hades. You need to find out if anyone is terrified of a giant man-eating bird,” he said succinctly. “I would focus on your fear of being eaten by a Harpy that we discussed earlier.”
Tristan’s eyes narrowed when he looked at Alazar. He dismissed Alazar’s explanation and turned to speak directly to Anjali. “I’ll find her,” he said firmly.
“Hurry,” she replied.
∞
Viktor pulled at the ropes keeping him confined to the metal chair. “Release me!” he shouted at the Harpy. She ignored him and continued to stare pensively out the second story apartment window overlooking the town. She had altered her appearance to resemble a beautiful young woman after securing him to the chair. She hadn’t said a word since they left Anjali in the jungle, so he didn’t have any insight into what the creature was planning.
Their journey to the town had only taken a matter of minutes due to the incredible…and painful speed of the creature. Viktor felt like he had whiplash from flying at such an impossible speed. They had landed on the roof in the middle of a busy town and dropped down into the dilapidated apartment through a hole in the roof. He had lost consciousness briefly after being pummeled by Aello’s wings. Viktor wasn’t sure where they were, but assumed they were on the Brazilian mainland.
The room smelled of mold and didn’t have much in the way of furniture. It was; however, occupied by another of the Harpy’s prisoners. A man in a dirty polo shirt, ripped khakis and a look of pure malice that rivaled the devil, was bound in the same bonds as Anjali. He didn’t know who the man was, but he hated Aello almost as much as Viktor did.
Viktor counted the minutes as he waited for Aello to do something...anything.
“She won’t come for me,” he said, hoping to elicit a response.
“She will come,” Aello said confidently.
“She is stuck on that island and has no way to escape. She can’t come for me. You are wasting your time,” he huffed.
Aello made a high-pitched sound similar to a laugh. “You do not understand what she is capable of doing. I have seen her power with my own eyes. She will find a way to come for her Pontius. That is what she called you, is it not? I do not know how you are still alive, but it does not matter. She will come for a being that she loves,” she said nodding her head.
Viktor wanted to scream at her for not understanding the power of the blue bonds, then again, she had to understand how powerful they were if the other man was trapped in them.
He turned his head to examine the man more carefully. Why did he rate the glowing manacles? He, too, must be powerful and dangerous enough to warrant them. The man ignored his scrutiny and continued to glare at Aello.
“Why are you here?” Viktor addressed the man. He didn’t expect a reply, but it was better than sitting around waiting to die.
“Answer the man, Aello, why am I here? I demand an answer this time!” the man shouted.
Viktor was taken aback by the man’s anger that was mixed with a hint of sarcasm. The man could prove to be an ally with the right motivation.
Aello whipped around and sneered at the man. “You know why you are here, Master. Do not pretend to be innocent,” she snapped.
Master? This was the man who controlled the Harpies. Viktor wracked his brain trying to figure out who in the world could command these creatures. When the answer came to him in a blinding moment of panic, he stared at the man. “Hades?” Viktor asked, curiously.
“Master commands you to release me!” Hades shouted. “You will follow my orders, Aello!”
“Aello is done following Master’s rules. You care nothing for us. You stood by and watched Zeus kill Ocypete and try to kill me. I know what you did to Celaeno because I saw it with my own eyes. You buried my sister after you killed her. You turned against us first. You made Celaeno eat vile animal flesh instead of mortal flesh. You told Celaeno to wait until she was healed before searching for the Destroyer. I understand now that you never expected Celaeno to heal so you kept her busy with lies. I did my best to heal my sister so that we could prove ourselves to our Master, but I could not help her. We failed you and the only way to redeem ourselves was to kill the Destroyer. I wanted to hunt the Destroyer and prove to you that we were strong, but I could not leave Celaeno,” Aello screeched.
Viktor watched Hades’ expression hoping to find that their strange partnership was at an end. Hades knew how to kill the Harpies, which was valuable information; information that could be bartered for.
“You will release me,” Hades growled.
Aello crossed her arms and appeared upset by Hades’ indifference toward her plight.
“No. You will stay here and listen to the cries of the mortals below. If the Destroyer will not come for Pontius, then she will surely come to fight me when she discovers there aren’t any mortals left for her to kill,” she said sinisterly.
Before Hades could reply, Aello’s tanned skin exploded into a mass of black feathers. She let out a deafening screech and dove out the window. The screams of the terrified people spread across the street as she flew out over the city.
Hades hung his head and sighed. Viktor recognized his look of defeat.
“Far be it for me to condemn a god, but you are terrible with women,” Viktor said. He rolled his eyes and set about trying to reach his pants pocket
to get his knife. The Harpy had no idea how to properly secure a prisoner, so she neglected to disarm him.
“I’m not a god,” Hades grunted.
Viktor stopped his struggling to look at the non-god. “You are Hades, Lord of the Underworld, are you not?” he asked incredulously.
“I am Hades, but I’m one of the rulers of Hell,” he said as he lifted his head. His navy eyes were sincere, which startled Viktor.
“I thought Lucifer and Anjali ruled Hell,” he replied.
Hades chuckled darkly. “Lucifer likes to think he rules Hell, and Lady Black has other responsibilities that take her away from Hell too often. Now, which one are you? Aello called you Pontius, which is a name I haven’t heard in this century, so you must have been with Lady Black during the Greek Dark Ages. How did you manage to find Lady Black when she was missing?” Hades asked, as he looked him up and down. Viktor had the impression that Hades was assessing his mental and physical abilities but was less than impressed by what he saw.
Viktor was confused by the name Lady Black, but assumed he was talking about Anjali. “I can always find Anjali,” Viktor shrugged.
Hades tilted his head to look more closely at him. “That son of a bitch,” he muttered.
Viktor had no idea what he was going on about, but he didn’t like Hades’ tone.
“Care to explain what’s going on?” Viktor asked.
Leaning his back against the rain-stained wall, Hades shifted his legs to get comfortable. “I assume Lady Black is still bound and that you weren’t lying about her inability to rescue you,” Hades said as he moved his shoulders around.
“She’ll be of no help,” Viktor said vaguely. He was unclear about Hades’ interest in Anjali.
“Then we are screwed until you die,” he said, crossing his ankles and closing his eyes.
Viktor sputtered at the bleak statement. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Hades opened one eye and smirked at him. “Once Aello is through waiting for Lady Black, she will make one last effort to draw her into a fight by slowly eating you. It’s one of her favorite tricks. Typically, it works, but we both know that Lady Black isn’t coming. Once Aello takes enough bites from you, Lucifer will come to claim your soul and I will have to stare at your useless face for the rest of eternity. I will; however, enjoy watching Lady Black set fire to Lucifer and everything he owns. With any luck, she will destroy his garish Skull Throne once and for all. Sadly, there will never be peace in Hell ever again, unless Heaven allows her to kill Lucifer, or lock him in the Hall of Shadows,” he said matter-of-factly.
Viktor gaped at the lunatic, wondering what he was talking about.
Hades shrugged. “Don’t worry, all will be understood in time...servant,” he said before closing his eye again.
Mortified by being called a servant, Viktor went back to retrieving his knife. He had to find a way to hide from Aello long enough to figure out how to help Anjali. All he could think about was calling Gabriel for help. If only he hadn’t shunned him in this life, Anjali would be free.
Chapter 15
Anjali held her breath as she followed Tristan, who had found a concentrated wave of fear a few miles away. She cringed when she realized that Aello had to be in Jacarei, one of her food sources. She was mad at herself for not expecting an attack on the town. The people were already suffering the loss of their daughters and sisters, so it was the perfect place for the Harpy to carry out her plan.
Staying in the shadows between the buildings, Anjali assessed the situation. Sadly, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. People were dropping from the sky and crashing to the ground just as Pontius had that fateful day. Thankfully, some of the people had survived the fall and suffered minor injuries, but others weren’t as lucky. The mortals were seeking shelter, but it didn’t matter. Aello was smashing through shop windows and pulling people from the stores. Tristan pointed out that a few of the deceased had bite marks, but for the most part, Aello wasn’t eating them, which was a small victory.
Calin and Balthazar immediately pulled out their guns and stepped into the street. They fired at the black blur streaking through the air, careful not to hit the mortals.
“Liam, I need you to find Hades and Viktor. You already have Hades’ scent and you caught Viktor’s scent in the jungle. Find them,” she said over her shoulder. She could see that Liam was angry that the Harpy was attacking innocent people. He nodded and quickly exploded into a ball of white fur that took off like a bullet.
“We need to knock her out of the sky,” Derick said, doing his best to track her movements. She was moving so fast that Calin and Balthazar couldn’t hit her.
“I’m open to suggestions,” she replied.
“We could meet her in the air,” Haydn said, stepping forward ready to engage the monster.
Alazar shook his head. “Do you want to end up like a pancake?” he said, pointing to the unfortunate people on the ground. “She’s way too fast to engage in the air. Derick’s right, we need to get her on the ground.”
Haydn was about to speak when he heard screaming. He dove forward to catch a woman who was falling a few feet in front of them. He caught the terrified woman just before she hit the pavement in the middle of the intersection.
“Run,” he said to the crying woman. She looked around for a safe place to hide and ran toward a blue and white church.
Seeing the complete and utter lack of respect for life all around her, Anjali’s anger quickly gathered to the point where she wanted to torture Aello before killing her.
“Can we tempt her?” Anjali shouted in frustration.
Tristan shook his head. “She’s not from our world. She was created by Zeus, who was deriving his power from the mortals. Tempting her won’t work, and as far I can tell she doesn’t fear anything.”
Anjali ground her teeth. There had to be something they could do to stop her.
Balthazar holstered his guns and joined her in the alley. “Let’s try something else. If you can get her attention, we can try a sword or a blade. Our bullets aren’t hurting her from what I can see,” Balthazar said.
She acknowledged his suggestion and smiled. According to Hades, annoying people was her specialty. “Hey bird face, want me? Come and get me!” she shouted as she stepped onto the street, hoping that Aello would stop attacking the mortals.
The black blur never slowed down long enough for Anjali to see Aello’s face until she was suddenly suspended over the city high above the clouds. Aello’s clawed feet dug into her wrists and kept a tight hold on her.
“I should have dropped you instead of Pontius,” Aello squawked.
“It wouldn’t have killed me,” Anjali said snidely. “If anything, it would have set off a huge blast, killing you and your sisters.”
“Let’s find out if that’s true,” Aello said, releasing Anjali’s wrists.
Anjali swore at her stupidity as she felt the wind rush past her. Her dress flapped in the air and hindered her sight. She swatted at the fabric until she could see the clouds rushing past her. The city was nothing more than a speck below her, but was getting closer by the second. She had no way to stop herself from falling. If she used her power to disappear, she would still hit the ground at the same rate of descent and be smooshed even faster. She wanted to scream, but refused to give Aello the satisfaction of knowing that she was scared.
She searched the skies for her angels, but they were nowhere to be found. Aello appeared in front her and fell at the same rate for a moment to mock her. “You will die and I will finally be redeemed,” Aello laughed.
“Redeemed?” Anjali shouted. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Master never forgave us for allowing you to live. He has been punishing us ever since,” she snapped.
Anjali had trouble hearing her over the air whistling past her ears, but she understood that Hades was mad at Aello, which confirmed that he knew his Harpy was alive. She would skin the bastard, if she survived the fall.
Seeing motion to her left, she rejoiced. Alazar reached her first, but Aello’s sharp eyes spotted him and changed direction. She dove at Alazar’s black wings that were straining to move faster. He spread out his wings and slowed himself before Aello could hit him. He turned and slashed at Aello’s stomach with his dagger, but she banked to the left to avoid the hit. Alazar increased his speed and reached out to grab Anjali, but Aello was too fast. She flew between them and bit his left arm.
“Bitch!” Alazar shouted. He fell a few feet, distracted by the pain, but managed to keep himself aloft.
Aello swooped around Alazar and climbed higher only to turn in mid-air and fly straight at him. She rapidly twirled her long body, wrapping her wings around her and dove at him like a spinning missile. He had no way to prevent the impact and took the hit full on. Alazar fell from the sky, unable to stop himself.
Balthazar hovered in the air to Anjali’s right. He had waited until Aello was distracted to fly high enough to catch her and take her to the ground, but Aello somehow saw Balthazar. She looped back around and taunted Balthazar by buzzing past his head as her claws gouged his face.
“Balthazar!” Anjali yelled when she saw the deep cut on his forehead.
Balthazar pulled his sword from the sheath on his back just in time to swing at Aello, who laughed at him. The sharp blade skimmed across her dense body, only cutting two or three feathers away.
“You attack a Harpy with a knife. How pathetic. You cannot defeat me,” she said shrilly.
Balthazar changed course and flew at Aello, who tipped her wings to the left to avoid Balthazar’s outstretched hand, but she misjudged the distance. Balthazar managed to grab Aello and put his sword against her neck. Her sharp claws dug at his stomach until he was forced to let her go.
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