Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series)

by A. L. Bridges

  “Airi just told me that the baby is fine, Reyna!” I announce.

  Tears continue to fall down Reyna’s cheeks, but her expression has brightened significantly. She wraps her arms around Jason and hugs him.

  “Ow! Not so tight!” Jason exclaims, holding onto the right side of his ribcage.

  “Take off the jacket.” I instruct as I walk over to him.

  Jason unzips the jacket and holds his t-shirt up with his right hand. I make an incision in his ribcage with my ring before funneling my blood into his chest from my left hand.

  “There; that should help patch you up.” I look him over and notice that his left arm is bent at an odd angle, most likely because my jacket isn’t armored on the left sleeve anymore; I move over to that side and get to work.

  “So why did he do it?” Natasha asks as she kicks Byron and he groans in response, apparently coming to. I concentrate my blood to Byron’s spine and cut off his spinal cord in his lumbar before forming a silicon carbide disc to stop any possibility of it healing.

  “He dosed you both with ecstasy so you guys would make out at the bachelorette party to corroborate the letter that was left saying that you ran away together. Then he and Hades were going to drown you and make it look like you committed suicide together. Hades was in it for the revenge against Jason and Byron was trying to put Maria in a compromised position so he could kill her and take control of the azeman.” I report, not adding the part about Jack Evari until I know more.

  “And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for your meddling blood!” Byron exclaims.

  What is it with my life and fucking Scooby-Doo!?

  Reyna stands up, grabs one of my Diamond swords off of the floor, and walks over to Byron. Byron tries to get up to run away, but finds he can’t and starts to panic.

  “Reyna wait!” I yell.

  “You aren’t stopping me from killing him, Cole.” Reyna maliciously replies.

  “If you kill him, won’t you become Queen of the Vampires? Vampire hierarchy works like that, right? Whoever kills the current king becomes the successor?” I question.

  “That is generally how it works unless the king steps down.” Reyna replies.

  “Is that really what you want?” I ask.

  “What I want… is to hurt this fucker for trying to kill my baby!” Reyna viciously exclaims.

  “And you can, but let your mother kill him. She already has the know-how to manage the vampires and you can have a normal life until the time comes when you inherit the throne.” I explain.

  “But…” Reyna says.

  “Reyna! Do you really want your baby to grow up having spent no time with her mother because you were too busy?” I ask.

  “Her mother? It’s a girl!?” Reyna asks excitedly; of course she would only hear my slip up.

  “Yes… now, do you want your daughter to grow up like you did?” I inquire, guessing that she probably spent more time with Babette than with Maria.

  “No… but—” Reyna says.

  “Go ahead and hack his limbs off if it makes you feel better; I can create an effective enough blood seal to stop the bleeding while we transport him to your mother so she can decapitate him at the wedding.” I interrupt and Reyna’s face lights up with a grim smirk.

  Byron starts dragging himself away as quickly as he can with his legs limp behind him. Reyna slowly walks behind him, toying with him like a cat with a mouse before it rips off the mouse’s head. Byron is propped up on his arms, dragging himself away, when Reyna hacks into his left elbow. She doesn’t manage to go all the way through it on the first swing, but she does get it on the second. Byron screams as he collapses on his face. He rolls over and grabs his left nub, opening up his right elbow for Reyna; she slices through his right elbow on the first swing this time. I reallocate my blood to seal off the blood flow to his nubs as Byron screams pleasantly.

  “Since I cut off his nervous system in his lumbar, he can’t actually feel that.” I tell Reyna when she starts trying to hack through Byron’s right thigh. Reyna stops and turns to look at me when I’m talking.

  “I know… but it makes me feel better.” She replies with a shrug and turns back to her work. Ten swings later, she finally gets through the thick femur and moves onto the left thigh, doing the same after a dozen swings.

  “Well… I feel a bit better…” Reyna announces while breathing heavily.

  “I’m hungry… Cole? Do you mind?” Reyna asks.

  “Go ahead; I’m not going to die from blood loss anytime soon.” I say as I plop down on the concrete floor.

  Reyna drops my sword and jumps into my lap before biting into the left side of my neck. She drinks for about five minutes before Jason speaks up.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but we do have a wedding to attend.” Jason reminds us.

  “That’s still on for today!?” Reyna asks in surprise as she detaches from my neck.

  “Yeah, we told Maria and Hel to stall while we rescued you two.” I say.

  “Shit! What are we still doing here!?” Reyna exclaims and hops up while Jason picks up both of my Diamond swords and hands them to me.

  I sheathe the Diamond swords across my back before throwing Byron’s sorry ass over my shoulders and picking up Hades’s husk, not knowing what else to do with it. Jason, Reyna, and Natasha grab onto my left arm and I touch my Haglaz rune, porting us to my bedroom in Nifleheim. Jason snaps his fingers, porting us to the guys’ dressing room at the Citadel.

  “Good, you guys are back!” Ryuji exclaims and a swirl of black mist announces Hel’s presence.

  “Alright, we’ve stalled for as long as possible, but the crowd is getting…” Hel trails off when she notices Hades and then her eyes go wide.

  “Cole… is that Hades?” Hel asks like she’s praying it’s some sort of piñata.

  “Yeah?” I reply. Hel ports out of the room in a swirl of black, and ports back a few seconds later.

  “Persephone is still waiting with the guests like nothing happened, yet you killed the last head of the pantheon so she should be gone as well…” Hel says.

  “I don’t really know what’s going on, but I absorbed the golden core in Hades’s chest into my arm like I did with Horus. Then I broke the weapon that Hades used to kill his brothers and sister, and now I have the power of water and lightning at my fingertips.” I explain.

  “What!? How is this even possible?” Hel inquires in an astonishment that is out of character for her.

  “What?” I ask, unsure of what’s wrong.

  “I think you somehow made yourself the successor of Neptune and Jupiter… most likely that of Hades and Juno as well. The only way that the pantheon wouldn’t cease to exist is if there was a new head… which is you.” Hel explains.

  Shit… This is going to be trouble; I can feel it.

  “Well, we can worry about that later. I think it’s time we told the guests the truth and gave them a little entertainment.” I say while patting Byron’s back from his place on my shoulder.

  “Could you please bring Maria here?” I request.

  Hel nods and ports away before porting back with Maria less than a minute later.

  “How do you feel about a little public execution?” I ask her. Maria takes a look at Byron and works out the situation.

  “You know, I was just thinking to myself that this wedding didn’t have enough blood.” Maria says with a sly smile as her accent becomes extremely noticeable for a moment.

  “Well, let’s go give these kind people a show.” I reply with the same surreptitious grin.

  Maria and I walk out of the dressing room, up the stairs, and into the Citadel arena, where hundreds of chairs have been set up in the large meadow of wildflowers that used to be the arena grounds. I notice packs of people in the spectator seats as I notice several cameras that follow Maria and I the moment we enter. We walk down the aisle, stop in front of the raised platform, turn around, and set Byron on the ground before addressing the crowd.
/>   “I do apologize for the delay of the wedding; the bride was actually kidnapped by King Byron as part of a ploy to try and take power from Queen Maria. Reyna is back, safe and sound, and the wedding will begin shortly, but first I’d like to announce that Queen Maria will be taking over King Byron’s position as ruler of the vampires.” I announce.

  I turn to Maria, pull a Diamond sword from the sheath, bend down on one knee, and present the sword to her. Maria lifts the sword from my hands, I prop Byron up with my left hand grasping his hair, and Maria brings the sword through his neck with one clean slice.

  “And anyone who has a problem with that can bring it up with me. Thank you.” I say as I drop Byron’s severed head, take my sword from Maria, and slide it back into its sheath.

  “Oh, and can we get someone to clean this up? Thanks!” I exclaim as Maria and I walk away.

  “Was that enough blood for you, Maria?” I ask once we are back in the tunnel that leads to the dressing room. Two ushers pass by us carrying trash bags and paper towels. Maria doesn’t say anything and just smirks at me in response.

  Chapter 27: And Finally, a Wedding

  Fifteen minutes later, after porting Hades’s husk to my bedroom and changing out of my bloody suit, I’m standing behind Jason and wearing a tuxedo with Ryuji behind me and Jericho behind him. Across the alter is Natasha, followed by Cheza, Naia, and strangely enough, Katie; all of them wearing matching black halter-top dresses made out of some shimmering material. How did Katie even get here? Movement to the right catches my eye; I turn and am met by a familiar face.

  “Kira!? You’re marrying them!?” I incredulously ask… oh, this explains how Katie got here.

  “Don’t look so astonished; I am the Incan goddess of marriage after all.” Kira replies.

  The quartet (featuring two violins, a viola, and a cello) start playing, what else but Pachelbel’s Canon in D, or as most people know it: that wedding song. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Picture a wedding… now picture the music… you are now listening to Pachelbel’s Canon in D. It has been used in practically every wedding in the past seventy years or so.

  Reyna emerges at the end of the aisle, being escorted by Babette in a steel grey strapless dress that shimmers as she moves. Reyna’s strapless wedding dress is a haunting medley of lace.

  “Dude, we need to hurry this shit up!” I whisper into Jason’s ear.

  “I’m serious; I’m having war flashbacks over here! I keep hearing choppers and explosions and shit that aren’t really there!” I exclaim.

  Jason jerks his head away from Reyna’s view, while bringing his closed fist up to his mouth to bite into the side of his finger in an effort to stifle his laugh. I have a sudden attack of brain freeze, causing me to grab the side of my head.

  “Stop dicking around!” Cheza thinks to me; she must’ve had Airi impart the brain freeze… too bad I can do that too.

  “Airi, if you’d be so kind.”

  Cheza suddenly tenses up and her cheeks flush, indicating that my plan worked. Babette helps Reyna up the steps before taking a seat in the front row next to Maria (trying not to cry) and Hel (looking happy, I guess). I spot Tia and Sara in the front row, as well as Aine, Lila, Charlotte, Dagda, Brighid, and Manannan mac Lir; I would be greatly confused by this if I didn’t already know that Cheza and I were getting married after this.

  “We are gathered here today to join the Azeman Duchess Reyna Reyes, and Niflheim’s Prince Jason Mathews. Since we’ve all been kept waiting long enough, I’m going to skip the long-winded bull and get right to business. Do you, Prince Jason, take Reyna to have and to hold, even though I’m sure you’ve both already done plenty of that,” Kira whispers. “…the sickness and health part isn’t exactly applicable and neither is the ‘as long as you both shall live’ part since as one of you isn’t technically alive…”

  “Do you promise to stay together as long as you both remain in a state of animation?” Kira asks as a way of working around the ‘living’ part.

  “I do.” Jason and Reyna both say.

  “If anyone has any reason that these two shouldn’t be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Kira addresses and waits for a few moments.

  “Great. I now pronounce you demigod and azeman wife. You may kiss the bride.” Kira says. Reyna and Jason kiss to a round of accompanying cheers.

  “And switch!” Jason proclaims as he snaps his fingers.

  The ground shifts beneath me and Cheza is suddenly standing in front of me wearing a white sequined wedding dress with Katie standing behind her, followed by Natasha, Reyna (still in her wedding dress), and Naia. Jason pats me on the shoulder and smiles at me.

  “I already knew.” I tell him.

  “What!? HOW!?” Jason shouts.

  “Cheza thought that Natasha and Reyna had just run away together and didn’t find it prudent to change her dress before getting my attention.” I explain.

  “Man… I was so looking forward to seeing your face…” Jason sulks.

  “I’m confused; am I marrying you and Chezarei right now, or you and Jason?” Kira scolds and we both abruptly shut up.

  “Ahem… Do you take each other, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live, which probably won’t be all that long considering the proficiency with which Cole pisses off the most powerful beings on the planet?” Kira asks.

  “I do.” Cheza says while I glare at Kira.

  “As do I.” I reply; that sounded infinitely nerdier than it did in my head. Cheza is looking at me with a giggling sort of smile.

  “If anyone has any reason that these two shouldn’t be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Kira says and looks to her right, behind Cheza.

  Natasha’s face looks torn as her right hand toys with something on a chain around her neck. She opens her mouth, but abruptly closes it.

  “No, it’s better this way… I can’t be what is needed… Chezarei and Cole are perfect for each other, so I’ll hold my peace… even if it breaks me.” Natasha thinks in the involuntary image she sends me.

  “I now pronounce—” Kira starts to say.

  “Hold on, Kira.” I interrupt and Cheza starts looking really nervous. I give her a wink to let her know everything is okay before I walk over to Natasha, who looks at me with confusion. I quickly embrace her.

  “Tasha, I’m sorry… I can’t be everything that you wanted, but know that I will always be your friend.” I whisper into her ear. I feel her tears hit my earlobe before they roll down my cheek as Natasha turns her face towards mine.

  “Idiot… don’t worry about me and go get married.” Natasha whispers.

  I pull away from her and see a sad smile, but I can tell that she’s happy for me. I return to my place across from Cheza and nod at Kira to continue.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Kira says and I embrace Cheza before giving her light kiss.

  (Marriage 101: from now on, all orders will be given in question form, and remember that the nuance between her wanting you to do something, and her wanting you to want to do something, cannot be more different)

  I resist the urge to laugh while Hel stands up in the first row.

  “This concludes the ceremony. The reception will be in one hour at Niflheim Palace.” Hel announces.

  Hel snaps her fingers, porting the entire first row and alter to the courtyard of the palace. The courtyard has been decorated with white flowers for the reception. A long table is at the back with about thirty round tables dispersed throughout the rest of the courtyard.

  “Cole, I need to speak to you.” Hel says and snaps her fingers, porting us to a sitting room that I’m almost certain is inside the palace, but I’ve never seen it before. She sits in a leather armchair and motions for me to sit across from her.

  “We need to discuss what you are going to do.” Hel says.

  “About what?” I ask.

  “You need to go tell the Greek/Roman
pantheon about Hades’s death and that you’re now the unofficial supreme head of the pantheon…” Hel states in a tone that implies her thoughts on how that’s going to go over, and the answer isn’t ‘smashingly!’

  “I’ve already come up with a plan for that. What do you think of Persephone as the new ruler of Hades?” I inquire.

  “I think she’s capable enough for the job.” Hel replies.

  “Alright… well, I’m going to take Hades’s husk to Mount Olympus. I might be a little late for the reception.” I tell Hel and port to my bedroom.

  I change into my jeans and jacket before grabbing Hades’s husk, just in case.

  “Airi, this is going to work, won’t it?”

  (Perhaps…)

  I was hoping for a slightly more definitive answer… since I’m King of the Gods now, perhaps it’s time I ported like one. I think of Mount Olympus, snap my fingers, and find myself at the gate.

  “Cole?” Cheza questions.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll be back in a little bit, Honey… Darling… Sweetness… we’ll figure out pet names later… that is a requirement of marriage, right?” I ask.

  “…Yes!” Cheza exclaims in a delayed fashion that makes me think she’s lying.

  I close the connection and snap my fingers again, thinking of the palace.

  “YOUR NEW KING HAS ARRIVED!” I shout, but to no response. I think of everyone assembled in the courtyard in front of me and snap my fingers.

  “I said your new king has arrived!” I announce and toss Hades’s husk at their feet.

  “Not for long!” Apollo exclaims as he draws back an arrow loaded in a bow that appears to be made of sunlight.

  “Tsk tsk Apollo. Don’t you realize that if I die, I take all of you and anything related to the Greek/Roman pantheon with me?” I rhetorically ask as my left arm flushes black, feeling slightly different than when it has before and with a noticeable lack of that bizarre sensation in my eyes.

  I wave my left hand down in Apollo’s general direction; a lightning bolt strikes down and fries him, rendering him unconscious. I chuckle as I show everyone the purple lightning bolt on the back of my left hand before it fades away again.