Above them, the Keres screamed and hissed, their white bodies making them appear like phantoms against the dark sky. They beat their bloody wings and flew higher, clear of the vortex her brother had tried to use to capture and kill them.
He grunted and grumbled something else, evidently displeased the female death spirits were intent on evading his attack.
He grunted for another reason as two males tackled him while he was distracted. He landed hard with one of them on top of him, and she gasped as the other raised his sword. Both went flying before they could cut him, tiny lacerations appearing on their skin as they shot into the air.
The Keres shrieked and swooped on them, fought each other as they ripped the males apart, causing blood to fall like rain. It splattered the ground and some of the other warriors, and several of them turned fearful looks on the sky.
Calindria summoned her vines again, smaller ones this time. They shot from the earth, splitting it open, and impaled those males in several places, spilling their blood. The Keres were quick to descend on them.
Maybe she could use them to form a path to Thanatos.
That no longer became an option when Calistos growled beside her and she looked at him, her eyes widening as he bent over and gripped his thigh. An arrow protruded from it. They had archers.
She threw a glance at the walls of the fortress, trying to spot the archers, hoping it was only one or two.
She counted at least three dozen.
A volley of fiery arrows lit the sky and she was quick to raise her hand. A dense wall of brambles burst from the ground to her left, curving over to cover her and Calistos, stopping both the arrows and the Keres as they hissed and circled them. The heavy thud of arrows and the scent of burning wood shook her.
Calistos looked at her.
“Do you have a plan?” She would follow it if he did.
Their father had trained him well and he had centuries of experience now, had probably fought in countless battles.
He shrugged. “My plan was to wait for the others, but maybe we can work with this. I can handle the archers and their arrows, if you can handle the warriors on the ground?”
That was a lot of warriors. She wasn’t sure she could handle that many. Her stomach sank when she noticed how grave his eyes were. He meant handle them as in touch them with her bare hands. She was quick to shake her head.
“I can’t.” She cursed herself for that, had thought that if she let the darkness seize control that she wouldn’t feel guilty about using that power.
It struck her that it wasn’t guilt she was feeling. It was fear. She didn’t care what happened to these males who stood between her and Thanatos. She cared about what might happen to her brother, and possibly even Thanatos, if she unleashed such a devastating power.
“I will fight as best I can.” She straightened and reached out with her senses, gritting her teeth when she realised they had barely made a dent in the enemy forces and she was already getting tired.
She still wasn’t used to using this power of hers. It was more draining than she had anticipated. Maybe Calistos was right and her only way of reaching Thanatos was to unleash her death touch.
She stared at her gloves.
She didn’t see what other choice she had.
It was them or her and her brother.
Her senses blared a warning and she stiffened as she felt three powerful people appear a short distance to her right, out in the open plain there. Fear sank icy claws into her heart. More enemies? These ones felt as strong as the demigoddess. No. They felt as strong as her brother. Maybe even stronger.
As strong as Thanatos.
They had to be with the enemy, because only members of the demigoddess’s forces could teleport in this realm.
Dread pooled in her stomach to weigh her down and chill her as she turned to face the newcomers, sure that her fight was over now and she had failed.
A beautiful blonde female with large tropical-blue eyes came rushing at her, her shapely figure clad in dark blue trousers and a strange kind of corset made of thin dull orange material with narrow straps that ran over her shoulders.
Calindria braced herself, summoned her strength and readied herself for a fight, unwilling to give up, even when she was sure she couldn’t win against this female.
A female who blazed straight past her, a vicious hiss pealing from her lips as her irises turned violet.
Calindria leaned to one side so she could see past the curving wall of brambles and looked over her shoulder, tracking the female. Her eyes slowly widened as the blonde barrelled into the warriors that stood between her and Thanatos. The female fought them bare-handed, swiftly blocking any blows the males tried to land on her.
She wasn’t an enemy?
Calistos came to stand beside her, an odd smile curling his lips and a light in his blue eyes. “Look at the wife go.”
He grinned at Calindria.
“Marinda is one of the Erinyes and I think she has a little vengeance on her mind. I’ll introduce you later.” He winked and then he was gone.
She stared after him as he sprinted across the black ground to join the fray, teaming up with the female, helping her as she took down almost a dozen of the warriors in less than a handful of minutes.
“Wife?” Calindria whispered, too stunned to do anything but stare.
Calistos was married?
It hit her that she had missed so much of his life, that she had missed so much of all her brothers’ lives. Thanatos had told her that they had females, but she hadn’t expected things to be this serious. Her brother had a wife.
“Ho-ly fuck.” The male voice coming from behind her made her tense and whirl, her hands coming up to defend herself at the same time.
They instantly dropped to her sides as her eyes met wide ice-blue ones that rapidly filled with a warmth that heated her heart and brought tears to her eyes.
“Daimon,” she whispered, unable to believe it was him standing before her, scrubbing a hand over the soft white spikes of his hair as he stared at her as if she was a ghost.
“I’m not sure I actually believed that commander when he said you needed help… that you were… shit… alive… free… I don’t know.” He chuckled, sounding a little crazed.
She felt as if she was heading that way herself.
The urge to hug him was strong, but she denied it, looked back over her shoulder in the direction of the fight, the hope that had been fading in her growing stronger and stronger as she saw that Calistos and his wife were now decimating the enemy forces.
She looked back at Daimon and realised he wasn’t alone.
Beside him, a very beautiful and elegant dark-haired female wearing a flowing, figure-hugging black dress, gently touched his shoulder, smoothing her fingers over the navy material of the top that covered him to his wrists and his jaw.
The soft look in her pale blue eyes was the complete opposite of how she sounded when she spoke, her words hard and laced with a strong accent Calindria couldn’t place.
“Talk later. Fight now. Mari needs help.”
“Are you really here?” Calindria reached for him but didn’t touch him, needing to stop him from leaving. She just needed a moment. She needed to know this was real. “Only the enemy can teleport in this realm. You could not have teleported here.”
He grinned. “I didn’t teleport. The missus transported us. A term for teleporting that Cass here insists is different to teleporting, but I’m not buying it.”
“It is.” She frowned at Daimon.
“Anyway… Cass is a witch. Guardian of Marinda, the furie who is having one hell of a field day out there.”
“A witch?” Calindria had never met one before, but she had heard of them.
“Best witch there is.” Cass raised her hands, her palms facing the sky, and Calindria tensed as bright colourful light burst from them.
She tracked the blue and green orbs as they shot high into the air and flinched as they detonated. She cou
“Now no one can teleport.” The witch smiled wickedly. “Fair is fair.”
She disappeared.
“Sweetheart,” Daimon hollered, a frown etched on his face. “I told you about doing that.”
He glanced back at Calindria, his scowl turning to a look that told her that he was eager to get going now that his female had transported herself elsewhere.
“What do you need?” he said.
“An opening. I need to get through to the building.” She sensed more males approaching, these ones coming from the direction of the town. Their forces were arriving. Hope bloomed stronger in her heart. They could do this. “Can you help?”
Daimon nodded. “One path coming right up.”
He casually swept his left hand out towards the battlefield without taking his eyes off her and she gasped as two thick walls of ice swept towards the fortress. Calistos grabbed Marinda, tugging her back as one of the walls almost hit her, and he said something to the blonde female. Whatever it was, it had her bearing short fangs and breaking free of his grip.
Calistos huffed and kicked off, leaping over the wall of ice as Cass appeared near Marinda.
“Go with him.” Daimon flashed her a smile. “I’ll take care of the ladies.”
Calindria nodded and raced towards the tunnel he had made for her, catching up with Calistos. Her breath fogged in the air as they sprinted along the corridor of ice that stretched all the way to the building. Calistos shoved his hand forwards as they reached the wall that blocked the end of the tunnel, sent rock flying as he blasted a hole in it.
Dust choked the air, blinding her as she clambered over the rubble, into the building.
“Which way?” Calistos’s voice came from behind her.
“This way.” She focused her senses on Thanatos, her heart thundering as she raced along the hallway.
They reached a large room and she skidded to a halt as several big males, each as tall as Thanatos, rose from the seats that surrounded a feasting table in the middle of it.
“Go, I’ll deal with this lot.” Calistos gave her a hard look when she glanced back at him, one that told her that he could handle the warriors who had all turned to face them, had picked up weapons and were looking at her brother as if he was next on the menu.
She nodded and ran for the door opposite her, ducked as the nearest male swung a heavy club at her, narrowly dodging it. He grunted as he was suddenly hurled into the wall near the door, shaking mortar loose, and wind hit her in the back, propelling her forwards.
Calindria sprinted along the hallway on the other side of the door, breathing hard, her legs tiring as adrenaline took its toll on her. The connection she could feel to Thanatos grew stronger, giving her the will to keep going.
She pushed herself past her limit when she sensed him just ahead of her. Her gaze locked on a door at the end of a wide corridor, and she ran at it, sure he was on the other side.
Calindria mustered her strength as she sensed the demigoddess there too, tore her glove off her right hand and slammed into the door with her shoulder, barging it open.
Her eyes leaped around the torch-lit room.
Landed on Thanatos where he stood in the middle of it.
And then the silver-haired demigoddess before him.
Calindria’s eyes widened, heart lodging in her throat as the nude female brought a dagger down, aimed at his chest.
She screamed.
“No!”
Chapter 30
Thanatos’s head whipped to his left, his eyes landing on Calindria as she burst into the room, and time seemed to slow as something in the region of his heart clenched and fear washed through him.
It turned out he didn’t want to die after all, but now he feared he was too late to stop it. He could feel the shift of the air as Harleena plunged the dagger towards his chest, couldn’t convince his body to move as he stared at Calindria, right into her widening blue eyes.
Eyes that gained a crimson corona.
“No!” she screamed, the sound carrying for a long time as he tried to convince himself to move, to knock the demigoddess away, to stop her from stabbing him through the heart.
Before he could manage it, a wall of black brambles with long sharp thorns burst from the stone floor, rapidly filling the space between him and the demigoddess. He grunted and flinched as several of the thorns jabbed into him and he heard Harleena shriek in pain as they attacked her too.
One of the vines pierced him through his left forearm near his elbow, the needle-like spike punching easily through his flesh.
It threw his little goddess—no—his little warrioress off her game.
She rushed to him, the demigoddess forgotten as her eyes darted over his arm and the six-inch barb protruding from it.
“I’m sorry.” Her gaze leaped to meet his.
“I am fine. Stop the female.” He grabbed the vine and yanked it free of his flesh, grunted again as pain tore through him and blood rolled down to his elbow.
Calindria whirled away from him.
But it was too late.
He could feel the demigoddess was gone, and he wanted to growl at that, wanted to curse and unleash the rage that poured through him, but held it back, aware that if he did, Calindria would feel as if she had done something wrong.
When she had done nothing wrong.
He was the one who was at fault.
“Calindria,” he started but wasn’t sure what to say, how to apologise for what he had done.
Her eyes landed on him and his strength faltered, fear quick to chip away at it, to fill his mind with thoughts of her leaving him. She would never forgive him. He steeled himself, refusing to believe that. His little female had a kind heart. There was a chance that if he told her right now the things he had done, she would forgive him. If he kept them to himself and she learned of them from the demigoddess though, she would be furious with him, might even turn her back on him.
“What’s wrong?” Her gaze darted over him and the scarlet in her eyes brightened. Her fangs flashed between her lips as she spoke, anger etching her delicate features with darkness. “The bitch touched you didn’t she? I will kill her.”
“Wait.” He lunged for her, shook off the fog that rolled through his head as he moved too quickly. Fear she might hear this from another drove him together with fear she would get herself hurt. He didn’t want her to leave his side, not even for a second, never again. “Calindria… the drug… no… She was talking and I wished to keep her talking and I… I placed my hands upon her waist and my lips upon the vile flesh of her throat.”
Calindria’s face blackened, her lips flattening as the fire in her eyes blazed brighter. Brambles burst from the ground around her feet and he reached for her, aching to seize hold of her and keep her with him, to force her to stay at his side until she accepted his apology. He needed to know he hadn’t messed up everything.
“I… I am furious with myself and I should never have… I hate what I have done and I need you to know I stopped and I…” Thanatos pulled down a breath and released it, hopelessness swift to invade him as it leaked from him. “I understand if you could never forgive me for betraying you, but know it will never happen again.”
She stepped up to him rather than backing away, stared deep into his eyes, her brows knitted tightly. “How much drug is in your system?”
He shrugged. “Enough that I am finding it very difficult to concentrate right now, with you standing before me. Enough that I thought perhaps dying and risking resurrection was a good method of escape.”
That seemed to please her, smoothed some of the sharpness from her expression, softening it.
“I forgive you, Thanatos, because you are not yourself, but know this.” She squared up to him, and he had never seen her so dark, or so damned alluring. “If you ever think to get information in such a way again, I will not be so lenient. The thought of another knowing these lips makes me want to rage, to level this land and kill all in it.”
She brushed her fingers across his lips.
He shivered.
“Gods,” he uttered, had to shift his left leg forwards as his leathers pinched, her words and the sight of her wreaking havoc on him.
Rose stained her cheeks and her eyes darted down to his crotch. “Are you—Did I just make you—?”
“Hard?” he mumbled. “Like stone.”
Her blush deepened.
“Forgive me, and do it quickly. I ache for your kiss.” His gaze fell to her lips.
The corners of them lifted, and she stepped up to him, the feel of the form-fitting supple black leather she wore driving him wild as she brushed against him. She tiptoed and kissed him, and he growled and seized her mouth, couldn’t hold himself back as the drug and the fact she had come to rescue him amplified the need he always felt whenever he was near her.
He mourned the loss of her lips against his as she broke away from him and tugged at his shackles, huffing at them. He stared at her, aching for more than just a kiss, so fiercely that he almost missed what she was saying.
“My brothers are here too… well, two of them. Calistos is here.”
He looked at her, caught the tears that shimmered in her eyes as she said that and saw in those eyes that she was still trying to process the fact her brother was alive. He wanted to hold her when she looked like that, conflicted and overwhelmed by emotions he could only imagine. No. He could well imagine how she felt. He would feel the same way if he had been kept away from his twin, had believed him dead, and had been reunited with him.
And he wanted to hold her even more.
Calistos burst into the room, the blonde furie hot on his heels, both of them breathing hard and covered in blood.
“What happened?” Calistos was quick to cross the room to Calindria, and Thanatos noticed how the male stopped himself from touching her at the last second.
Calindria had told him of her power then, and now Thanatos knew why she was conflicted. She wanted to hold her brother just as he wanted to hold her, but she was afraid of doing it. Her hands shook as she pulled a glove back onto her right hand, hastily covering it now her family were near her.
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