"Except that only one of us benefits from that relationship," I pointed out.
He smiled. "Well. There are advantages to being a god."
I shook my head, felt Tisiphone’s presence nearby. A few seconds later, she stormed into Hades’ office. Her normally immaculate uniform was torn, slashes as if from a sword across her stomach and arms. Her eyes were on me, shock thundering over me.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, completely ignoring Hades’ greeting.
Chapter Four
As quickly as I could, I explained, and she slumped into the leather chair next to mine. "What a mess," she said. "They need you in your realm."
"I know. I want to try opening the gateway," I said.
"The second you do that, the fighting will spill over into your realm. Ares is chomping at the bit to incite more war. The humans would be all too easy to influence, and he’d gain power from it."
"I know. That’s why I can’t fucking do it until the war ends. We need to stop it."
"I told Mollis I’ll try to talk to Zeus. Without Ares around," he added.
"You won’t get within shouting distance of him," Tisiphone said, shaking her head. "Ares won’t let that happen. And Zeus is invested in this. He’s angry that so many of the gods of the Aether joined our side–"
"Shouldn’t that be an indication to him that he’s on the wrong side?" I said.
"It should. But Zeus never admits he’s wrong," Hades said. "And I’ve tried to talk to him telepathically. He refuses to even acknowledge me that way. He’s such a horse's ass sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Tisiphone asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Good point," Hades conceded.
"Okay. So talking is out. Is that what you’re telling me?" I said.
"We’ll still try to make it happen, Mollis," Hades said.
"We don’t have time to screw around here," I said. The words were barely out of my mouth when a thundering blast made the house shake.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked, standing up, my sword appearing in my hand.
"The bastard just threw a lightning bolt at my house," Hades growled.
Persephone came running into the office, then. "What the hell is he doing?" she said. "He’s never attacked us here before." Her words were punctuated by another blast, and this time the house shook even harder. I could hear the demon servants shouting to each other about putting out fires.
"Hey, do you think he knows I’m here?" I asked as another blast hit the other end of the house. Everyone turned at once to look at Persephone.
"Oh, sure, blame me. I can’t tell anyone anything, imbeciles," she said, glaring at Hades. "He’d know."
"I’d know," Hades agreed.
"They can probably feel her," Tisiphone muttered. "The amount of power she’s throwing off is making me dizzy." Indeed. I could feel my power spiking in response to the attack, the tension in the room, and having both of my parents and their rage present, feeding me.
"Okay. So they know I’m here," I said, hearing the snarl in my own voice. "Let’s go out and play."
♦ ♦ ♦
I started walking through the door. My power was responding to the insanity around us. Another bolt hit the house, and I heard a few demons scream in pain from that area.
"Are you stupid?" Persephone asked, her voice more high-pitched than usual. "You can’t go out there. He’s throwing lightning at us. What are you going to do?"
I turned to glance at her. "Make him stop. Obviously."
And then I left Hades’ office, stalking down the long hallway that led to the front door. Except that the front door was now a charred mess. The demons who were putting the fire out turned to look at me.
"We would be honored to help you, my Lady," one of them growled, thumping his fist to his chest in the way the demons and imps had of saluting me.
"And I thank you for that," I said, my voice barely sounding like my own. "But you know as well as I do that death is your only reward should you go out there now."
"It would be a glorious death," another said.
"Not today. I may need you more later," I said, and kept walking. They watched me walk past. I was aware, dimly, of Tisiphone and Hades following me. Another impact shook the house.
"My house," Hades muttered.
"Yes, we all weep for the destruction of your monstrosity," Tisiphone said.
Hades didn’t answer. We walked the rest of the way in silence, emerging in the front courtyard of Hades’ palace. Zeus hovered in the air about a hundred feet away or so, white wings flapping lazily as he readied another blast.
I was about to confront him when my eyes settled on something else.
Three Guardians, standing not far from where Zeus was hovering.
"You didn’t get them all?" I growled, glancing at my mother.
"We have been hunting for those three," she said. "Now we know why they were so hard to find." She watched me, a look of understanding on her face. "We’ll face Zeus. Do what you need to do."
I nodded, stalked toward the Guardians. Another of Zeus’ bolts hit, fairly close to me, but I ignored it, my focus completely on the three beings in front of me.
Eunomia’s sisters. Who had betrayed everything they were supposed to stand for and helped Hermes and Enyo in their stupid plot to control me.
Who had abducted Brennan.
And tortured him, from what I’d gleaned from Tisiphone right after, during the crazed trip back to the gateway.
"Hey!" I shouted, stalking faster toward them. My voice echoed across the mostly-empty street leading to Hades’ palace. They were already looking at me, of course. Fear, hate, rolled off of them. One of them went so far as to hiss.
I tossed fire at her effortlessly, and she went up in flames, screaming. One tried to run, but I unleashed a barrage of mental knives (I hardly ever used them, because they were so gruesome; one of the powers I’d stolen the night Nain had died) and she fell to the ground, bleeding, screaming. The best way to describe it is I can cut someone from the inside, out. I don’t know how it works, or why.
Right then, I was just happy I had the power to make her hurt. As each of the first two Guardians died, it was easy for me to get into their thoughts, to sift through them, find the day they’d taken Bren.
I watched what they did to him, as I stalked toward the third, who was backing away, then taking flight, a look of absolute horror on her face.
They’d beaten him.
Broken his bones.
Sliced his body.
Taunted him with a lifetime of the same, all in the hopes of drawing me out, forcing me to comply with Hermes' demands.
And he hadn’t given them the satisfaction of screaming. It pissed them off. And they’d taken it out on Eunomia when she’d busted her way in to save him.
The third Guardian rose into the air. I threw fire at her, but it missed, and she banked to the left. My power coursed through me, almost painful, augmented by my anger that she was getting further away from me.
I glanced at my wings.
Flapped them a few times, testing them, and was shocked when I actually rose into the air.
You can do it, Mollis, Hades said in my mind. Trust your instincts. Don’t think about flying. Just let your body do what it wants.
I took a breath, eyes on the rapidly shrinking form of the Guardian as she flew further away.
Damn, she was fast.
I stopped thinking of anything but destroying the creature before me. Barely noticed as I rose into the air and started following her. Someday, I’d marvel at the idea that I was flying. Right now, there was only one thing on my mind.
I flapped harder, hurtling myself forward faster, not taking my gaze off of my prey. I was catching up to her, each flap of my monstrous wings bringing me closer to her, and she knew it. I felt her panicking. She banked hard to the right, and I nearly lost control trying to follow her at that speed. I turned too sharply, found myself turning, flailing. It took a few panicky seconds
to right myself, and then I glanced around, hoping I hadn’t lost her in my stupidity.
There. I saw her ducking into the forest, undoubtedly hoping to lose me in the trees. It wasn’t a bad plan, really. She could finesse her way between the branches with her shorter, nimbler wings. I didn’t have a chance in hell of flying through there with my wingspan.
I put on a final burst of speed. My wings ached with it, but I ignored the pain, pushed myself forward, harder, faster. She was just lowering herself into the forest, falling below the very tops of the trees.
There, the branches were still thin enough for me to break through.
I flapped three more times, hard, and hurtled myself into her. She screamed and we fell, hard, a couple hundred feet to the ground.
I made damn sure she hit the ground before I did. We pounded into the forest floor hard, a plume of leaves and pine needles, soft soil flying up on our impact.
She screamed as her wing snapped beneath us.
"Please stop," she said, voice weak. Pathetic. "Stop. Don’t kill me. Take me to the Furies. Please. I’ll go quietly."
"Why did you do it?" I asked her. I stood up, feeling much more spry than I should, given the way we landed. I looked down at her, and my sword appeared in my hand. Her eyes flicked over it, and the fear and pain coming from her was so good I could have lived off it forever. Perfection.
I shook my head, trying to clear it of the effects of the Nether. "Why?" I repeated.
"You should not be," she said weakly. "Hermes promised us he would find a way to end you."
"Did he tell you he was going to try to use me to usurp Hades and Zeus? Or did your pal leave that part of his plan out when he sold it to you?" I heard the snarl in my voice, and watched with an underlying sense of glee as she recoiled from me.
"He did not share that with us. I swear."
"You attacked your own sister over this, when she tried to save the mortal you took," I said.
"She was compromised. Guardians do not get involved in the lives of mortals. She has lost her way," she said, and, even through her pain, I could feel her disgust for Eunomia.
"Maybe she just finally found her way," I said. I gripped the sword harder, my knuckles ached from the tension in my hand.
Gods, I wanted to end her. Slowly. Painfully. Seeing what they’d done to Brennan, the other two I’d taken out got off too easy.
I could do that. So easily.
"Stand up," I growled.
"My ankle is broken," she whined.
"Ask me if I give a fuck," I said, yanking her up, and she screamed in pain, and I made sure to knock into her broken wing as I released her, making her scream again.
So I’m not above cheap shots. As if this is a revelation.
"I’m taking you to my mother. And she’ll punish you. And, every once in a while, I’ll be visiting you, too," I said, and was rewarded with a tidal wave of fear. "Just imagine the pain I could cause locked in a room alone with you," I said. Then I reached out and grabbed her arm. "Walk."
She did. Whimpering, limping. We weren’t far from the edge of the forest. I could still hear the occasional boom not too far off, screams, shouts. Smoke filled the sky, the smell of wood and flesh burning.
Once we were out of the trees, I grabbed the back of her tunic (making sure I hit her wing as I did it), and rose into the sky. I spotted my mother at the edge of the battlefield with my aunt, and I flew to them. I dropped the Guardian at their feet, and she screamed in pain again, calling me a few less-than-nice names as she writhed on the ground.
"She’s all yours," I said to my mother, meeting her eyes.
"You didn’t kill her," she said, glancing down at the still-writhing form of the Guardian.
"She deserves much worse than death," I said. "I wish I’d kept the other two as well."
Tisiphone nodded. "This one will get special attention from me, daughter. You have my word."
"Thank you." My aunt walked toward the Guardian, stopping only to give me a quick hug as she passed me, then she lifted into the air, the Guardian dangling from her grip by her non-broken leg as they flew off. I watched them for a second, then turned to my mother.
"Hades and Artemis are keeping him busy. Apollo is refusing to fight, saying Zeus is taking it too far."
"Has he joined us?" I asked, watching Zeus as he shouted and readied another bolt.
"No. But Artemis believes he will."
I nodded. "Where’s Ares?"
She shrugged. "Not here. Which is really strange, considering that whole God of War thing."
"That can’t be good," I muttered.
"I agree," Tisiphone said. "Do you want me to see if I can find him? Or stay here and fight?" she asked me.
"Let’s just try to work on Zeus now. He’s going to burn the whole damn Nether down if we don’t stop him."
She nodded, and we both flapped our wings, lifting into the air. "Go that way," I said, pointing to the left. "Circle around. We’ll meet a mile or so behind him."
She gave one final nod and flew off, and I went in the opposite direction, calling my sword forward again.
Maybe I could spot where Ares was lurking, in the meantime.
As I flew, I scanned the ground beneath me for any sign of Ares. As I did, I finally took a second to marvel at the fact that I was flying.
And then, I remembered that I was freaking flying and I hated heights.
I felt my stomach twist. My hands started sweating, and looking down made me want to puke. I closed my eyes, shook my head. Just keep flapping, I told myself.
Yes. It is unlikely that a fall from just about any height would actually kill me. I knew this. I also knew that even if it didn't kill me it would still hurt like a bitch.
I chanced a look down again. Bad idea.
I landed (which was an adventure all its own. Now that I wasn't in rage mode, I was actually thinking. Thinking and landing were really not a good combination for me.) I tried to mimic the way I'd simply settled down to the ground when I'd landed near Tisiphone earlier. Instead, I came in too hard, lurched, tripped, and fell.
I laid there for a minute, trying to get my breath. This was stupid. Afraid of heights. I'm a god. I'm a killer of gods. I looked back up into the sky for a while. Well, at least I knew I could do it when I had to.
But, right then, I didn't have to. And I sure the hell didn't want to.
I stood up and started walking in the direction I'd indicated. Tisiphone would easily beat me there, but that was fine. I needed the time to get my head straight before I did something stupid.
After a bit of a stroll, I saw Tisiphone standing, looking around, a worried look on her face. When she spotted me, she ran up to me. "What happened?"
"Huh?"
"Why aren't you flying? What took you so long?" she asked, her worry washing over me, another layer of irritation. I just shook my head, waved the question off.
"Mollis?" she asked me.
"Nothing happened. What about you? Any sign of Ares?"
She watched me for a minute. "No, no sign of him. The only thing that could make him miss a scene like this," she said, and I could hear the distant booming of more of Zeus' bolts, "is planning something worse."
"Maybe this wasn't planned," I said as we started walking toward where Zeus was.
"Probably not," she agreed. "Zeus is trying to show you how powerful he is."
"Am I supposed to be afraid?" I asked, and she laughed.
"I think that is the plan, yes," she said, and I shook my head. "It would work against most of us, actually. Those lightning bolts hurt."
We had come within about a hundred yards of him. And I smiled. I could tell the instant he sensed me. Anger, disgust, concern flowed from him. "Watch this," I told my mother.
I kept walking toward Zeus, and he turned to look at me. His face was a mask of rage. He looked like a freaking giant; the same height as my father but with a lot more bulk.
"You know, you could have just knocked nicely and a
sked me to come out and play," I called across the distance between us. "I've been looking forward to some quality time with my uncle."
"I am no family of yours, godslayer," he roared, and lifted his hands to ready another bolt.
"Aw, come on. We're just one super dysfunctional group of inbreds, aren't we? How's Dionysus doing? I hear my aunt has been having some fun with him while he's in custody."
That did it. Zeus roared and, in a flash of white light, hurled a lightning bolt at me. I jumped away, ended up flying up to avoid it. I landed, kept walking, grateful that I'd managed to land on my feet that time.
"Your aim sucks," I said. "Go ahead. Try again. Even you can't miss at this distance." I stood about twenty feet from him now. "Typical privileged asshole. Never has to practice being good at anything, because you just bully your way through life. Taking what you want, throwing temper tantrums when someone bigger and badder than you comes along."
He laughed then, malice evident in his eyes when he looked at me. "Yes, little Fury? Are you the bigger and badder we're talking about?"
I drew my sword, watched his face as he looked at it, examined the black flames licking along the blade. "I know something else about you, Uncle Zeus," I said, enjoying the disgust he felt when I used the name. He just glared at me. "I know that I'm much, much stronger here than you are."
And then I rose into the air, flying toward him. He readied a bolt, tossed it, and I had to spin out of the way to avoid getting hit. Once I steadied myself, I dove toward him.
At that instant, Ares appeared next him, and, in the blink of an eye, they were both gone.
I stopped in mid-air, looking around. Tisiphone flew up next to me.
"Where did they go?" I asked her, still scanning the area.
"Back to the Aether, most likely," she said. "Let's make sure."
I nodded and we flew, side by side, surveying the area. From that height (I tried really, really hard not to think about that) I could see fires dotting the landscape, demons and other creatures working to put them out. I could see Cerberus sitting near the tall stone walls of the Pit, a very visible deterrent to anyone who was considering escape. Hades' home was no longer in flames, but now one entire wing of it lay in charred ruins.
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