by Sam Cheever
Nidras shot forward, knives drawn and the air in the chamber where we stood suddenly thickened with magic and menace. Lachesis’ long, auburn-colored hair floated around her head as she rapidly gained size. “I wouldn’t do that were I you, girl.”
I flung myself at Nidras, pulling her to the ground. We rolled across the floor, with me grimacing and gasping as the wounds on my sides came alive again.
Nidras struggled against me, cursing soundly.
When one of her bony, little elbows connected with the largest of my wounds I lost my temper. “Stop struggling woman!”
Much to my surprise she stopped.
“Hermes knew nothing of this,” Clotho informed us.
Nidras’ intense lavender gaze settled on my face searchingly. “Is it true?”
“I don’t even know what this is.”
“This,” Atropos informed me, “is us trying to help.”
“We couldn’t just let her fly off and face Grimsbar alone. It would seal everyone’s fates prematurely.” Lachesis and Clotho smiled. They seemed proud of themselves over something.
Some of the angry tension left Nidras’ body and I risked loosening my hold on her.
“We shouldn’t have,” Atropos added in a sulky voice. “If it became known that we interfered, our subjects would be pestering us unmercifully to change their fates for them.” I looked over at the dark-haired beauty and read from the expression on her face that she hadn’t been exactly enthused about the idea of “helping”.
Nidras and I climbed to our feet. I looked at Clotho. “Thanks for helping me out there too, with the river.”
She inclined her head, sending a soft cascade of blonde curls into her pretty, narrow face. “We had to do something. Nidras was growing old waiting for you to show up.”
I opened my mouth to argue but decided it wasn’t worth it. “Whatever. I appreciate it anyway.”
“Now, off with you. Your destiny awaits.”
I grabbed Nidras’ arm and we started down the passageway, heading into the mountain’s core. I stopped beside Atropos and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for protecting us.”
She shrugged, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “Our work is done. The rest is up to you. And I’ll warn you, the outcome looks dubious. You are up against a powerful enemy. And you have very few resources.”
I glanced at Nidras. “You might be surprised at the resources we have, Your Grace.”
A small smile played across her lips. “May the gods go with you, Hermes.”
I touched her velvet cheek with a fingertip. “They already have, Your Grace.”
Chapter Thirteen
Destiny Awaits
The gentle, flickering light in the passageway stayed with us as we navigated the twists and turns of the narrow, rough-hewn space. I accepted the existence of the light, which had no visible source, as a final gift from the Fates.
Where, at first, our feet slogged through damp mud and sand, as the passageway climbed higher into the mountain the ground beneath our feet dried and hardened, until it was more rock than dirt.
Nidras didn’t speak for the first several moments. When she finally broke the silence, her voice was thick with emotion. “I didn’t want you involved.”
I threw a quick glance over my shoulder. “I know.”
Nidras was silent for a long moment before she spoke again. “Your presence is pure torture for me.”
I stopped, turning to her. Reaching out, I cupped her soft cheek in my hand. “I know. I’m sorry.”
She turned her head and placed a tender kiss in my palm. “Despite it all, I’m glad you’re here.”
I expelled the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and nodded. We shared a smile and turned back to the task at hand.
Ahead of us, the passage widened out suddenly. A wide, black door was set into the rock at the end of the passage. A deep, orange light pulsed through the cracks around the door.
“Do you smell that?”
I nodded. “Black magic. The place is thick with it.”
The sulfurous stench made it hard to breathe.
I could feel Nidras’ tension rising with the knowledge that her parents had most likely been subjected to some horrible type of magical torture. “We’ll get them out, Nidras.”
Her eyes, when she looked up at me, were hard and emotionless. Someone who didn’t know her as well as I did might believe she had no feelings. I recognized the brittle gaze for what it was, a need to step outside her emotions so she would be able to do what needed to be done. The impossible.
“Stand back, Hermes.”
I opened my mouth to argue but Nidras lifted her hands and power vibrated from her like heat.
Although I moved back and away several feet, the concussion from the blast still threw me to my ass and sent splinters from the door into my skin.
By the time I’d pushed myself to my feet and run through the choking dust in the passageway, Nidras was already facing off with Grimsbar. The cavernous dungeons throbbed with power.
She stood with her back to the door, her small arms outstretched and globes of power and light dancing at her fingertips. Her shape wavered in the magic-drenched atmosphere and I was having trouble keeping her in my sight.
Squinting against the thickened, smoky air, I tried to make my way to her.
The ground beneath our feet rumbled and started to roll and crack under the combined pressure of the wizard’s and Nidras’ magics.
In the game of black magic chicken, Grimsbar blinked first and threw the first bolt of power.
A fat arrow of wizard’s fire sizzled past and tore into the wall behind us like a laser through skin, easily melting a human being-sized hole in the rocky surface. Nidras dived to the side and rolled, shooting an arrow of her own type of power toward the wizard even before she’d fully gained her feet again. She spared me a quick glance. “Get my parents out of here!”
My eyes searched the smoky space for signs of the king and queen. I finally found them, hanging upside down from metal rings set into the ceiling. Cursing, I realized I’d never be able to reach them.
I had a few handy skills but flying unfortunately wasn’t one of them.
Our only hope was to stop Grimsbar before he destroyed the dungeon and Nidras’ parents with it.
With this goal in mind, I reached for my chain, only to discover that it was gone. “Shit!” It was still wrapped around the throat of the bird monster outside. My eyes frantically scanned the room looking for weapons.
A sword and a pair of knives, encrusted with jewels and forged from hard jet, were piled in a corner below the dangling forms of the king and queen. I figured they’d belonged to the royal couple.
Grabbing the knives first, I slid them through the belt loops on my jeans and grabbed the sword. Then, closing my eyes, I said a quick prayer for accuracy and shifted to a spot behind the wizard.
My feet hit the floor again just as Nidras sent a power arrow smashing into the wall behind the wizard. I threw myself sideways, losing the sword as I hit the ground and slid across the stone floor.
The sword clattered loudly away, briefly drawing the wizard’s attention. The distraction was enough to give Nidras an opening and her power arrow hit Grimsbar, ripping into one shoulder and pretty much tearing his arm from his torso.
He barely staggered under the blow. I realized then that he was so infused with power he could feel no pain.
Grimsbar smiled at me, showing bloody teeth and lifted his uninjured arm toward me. I rolled to the side and the power missed me by a hair. The place where I’d been lying was a giant hole in the rock.
I pulled a knife loose and flung it, embedding it in the front of the wizard’s thigh. The leg buckled and I used the brief opening it gave me to pull the second knife, flinging it toward him.
I didn’t see if the second knife connected. The door opened and the room was suddenly filled with Grimsbar’s guards. I dived away from another power arrow and came up holdi
ng the sword. The guards ran toward me in numbers too large to fight. But I had no choice. I slashed and fought like a madman, taking off heads and limbs and sliding the exquisitely sharp blade deep into chests. The pile of dead around me grew until I could barely lift my arms. But I gritted my teeth and fought on, the sounds of magical battle raging at the back of my consciousness.
I slashed the sword across the throat of a gremlin, separating its ugly little head from its body. Before I could turn to meet my next adversary, my left shoulder exploded with pain.
I looked up and saw a huge demon standing in front of me, his human form shed for the battle. He stood at least ten feet tall, with hard, leathery skin that showed signs of damage but which had served him well as armor in the fight.
He held a huge, bloody sword in one hand. As my shoulder throbbed and started to grow numb, I knew some of that blood was from me. The demon’s face was wide and flat, with small, orange eyes and slanted holes for a nose, like a snake. Two enormous, curved horns curled from the sides of his head to either side of his snout. Spittle ran in thick ribbons from the inhuman mouth.
I stared at him for a long moment, realizing I was outgunned and under-fueled for the fight ahead. Sighing, I lifted the sword and saluted him with it. “Here’s to achieving the impossible.”
With a roar I dived toward the demon and drove the sword into his middle. The thing’s skin was so hard the sword only pierced a few inches of flesh, not enough to take him to the ground.
He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me off my feet, holding me high above the ground as he opened the soggy maw of his snout. I grimaced at the snake-like, purple tongue writhing within his mouth. “That’s nasty, man.”
My eyes fell on Nidras, still fighting gamely on against the wizard and several of his guards. She was covered in blood and looked exhausted. I figured her chances weren’t good for success.
I struggled against the demon’s iron grip. Nidras needed my help and I wasn’t going to let her down.
But it was no use. The demon was huge and incredibly strong.
Suddenly, magic in the form of light and heat smashed into me, throwing me out of the demon’s hands and into the wall. I lay there writhing under the powerful stream of it, feeling as if my organs were melting inside my body.
I was vaguely aware of a shrill screaming that disturbed me, especially when I realized it was coming from me. My body twitched uncontrollably on the ground for what felt like several minutes and I lost track of what was going on around me.
When the pain gradually slid away, I realized my body was strong again. I felt invincible and whole. Jumping to my feet, I threw myself at the demon with a roar. Grabbing the thing’s horns in my two hands, I wrenched them sideways, feeling the bones of his neck break beneath my hands.
I landed softly beside the dead demon and looked across the room just in time to see Nidras leap twenty feet in the air and land on the wizard, taking him down to the ground.
They struggled for a moment as I rushed toward them. I watched in horror as Grimsbar shoved a hand into her chest and threw her backward on the end of a bright orange stream of power.
Nidras landed in a crumpled pile across the room.
“No!” I ran at the wizard, intending to run him through with the sword but, as I approached, he lifted his good hand and my sword flew away from me.
Empty-handed, I looked into the black gaze of a truly evil madman and saw my death in his eyes. In desperation, I reached for the only weapon I had left, the vial Atropos had pressed into my hand in the Garden of Life and slammed it into his teeth.
The vial broke and the liquid inside trickled down his throat, choking him. He spat glass toward my face and I rolled away, shooting to my feet and bracing myself for his attack.
The wizard flew off the ground and hung, suspended high above my head. His gown danced around him on a breeze created from sheer power.
I watched his face carefully for signs that the potion was affecting him. I didn’t know what to expect, Atropos had said it contained a Cupid’s power. I grimaced at the thought. The last thing I wanted was for the wizard to fall in love with anybody in that room. Particularly me.
But when I finally witnessed the change I was waiting for, it wasn’t love I saw in his face. It was submission.
That’s when it hit me. A Cupid’s real power lies not in the power to give love but in the power to coerce others to accept it.
She’d given me a vial of coercion.
The wizard’s black gaze dropped to me and his face was a mask of terror. He realized what I’d done. His will had been magically commandeered by the potion. It now belonged to me.
He had to do my bidding.
And he knew what that would be.
“What would you ask of me, Cupid?” The words were visibly forced from his throat.
I glanced at Nidras, unmoving, a small, terrifyingly still form on the floor. I feared she was dead. My heart broke and my knees threatened to buckle beneath me. My gaze slid across the limp, unmoving bodies of her parents, hanging upside down from the rough-hewn ceiling of that death-filled chamber.
The room smelled like a meat locker. The blood of dozens of the wizard’s guards stained the floor in puddles and dried in crusted streaks on my hands and arms.
The evil creature hovering on the air above me had caused all of it. All the pain and terror and loss in that room was a direct result of his lust for power.
My gaze lifted toward Grimsbar and he gasped, seeing the end of his existence in its depths. It took only a single word to end it all.
“Die.”
The wizard shuddered once and cried out. His evil, black gaze slid to his one, good hand as it started a slow, jerky trip toward his chest, power building in his palm to form a black, swirling ball of wizard’s fire. As the hand landed on his chest, directly over his black heart, he opened his mouth and screamed, the horrific sound vibrating against the rock walls of the dungeon until his heart disintegrated and his mind shut down.
I turned away with a heavy heart, intending to gather up Nidras and get her out of that horrible place.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to carry through on that particular plan.
Nidras was gone.
*
“You once offered me your help if I ever needed it.”
Nidras’ father lifted sad, black eyes to me and nodded, sighing. “I gave you my strength in the dungeons, when you fought the demon.”
“I appreciated that, believe me. But I need to ask one more thing of you.”
Nidras’ mother joined us in the drawing room, tucking her arm through her husband’s and leaning against him as if she hadn’t the strength to stand alone. “Nidras is gone, Hermes. You must accept it.”
I shook my head. “Nidras didn’t need to leave. The payment was due only if she slew the wizard herself. She didn’t slay Grimsbar. I did.”
The queen’s beautiful lavender eyes widened in surprise. “Are you certain of this?”
I nodded. “I’ve been pestering the Council of Gods unmercifully for weeks, trying to get a ruling on it. The decision finally came through today.” I handed them the proclamation and stepped toward the fire, leaning gratefully into the heat it emitted. I’d had trouble getting warm ever since the day Nidras disappeared and no one would tell me where she’d gone.
I could have told the king and queen that Nidras’ release from her obligation had been accomplished with considerable help from the Fates, as well as Christian and Arion, who, as his granddaughter, fortunately had a lot of influence on Zeus. But I didn’t care about any of that now. All that mattered was finding Nidras and telling her I loved her.
When I turned back, a shadow had lifted from the queen’s beautiful face. “This changes everything.”
But the king shook his head. “My daughter is very stubborn, Hermes. If she even guesses that you might be searching for her she will disappear and we’ll never see her again.”
“She won’t disappear, Your
Majesty. You have my word on that.”
“How can you be sure?”
I smiled. “My entire happiness in this world depends upon it. I could have no greater incentive.”
He stared hard at me for a long moment before finally nodding. “I would risk losing her forever, if it meant a chance to gain my beautiful girl her happiness. For she is truly miserable without you, Cupid.”
“I plan on fixing that, Sire. As soon as I can.”
Chapter Fourteen
Together…at Last!
Nidras grabbed another handful of jeans from the rack and slid them into place on the wall display. Her hands lingered on the softly bleached denim, her mind sliding traitorously to Hermes before she was even aware of it.
Hermes had loved his jeans. He’d worn them wherever he’d gone, whether fighting wizards or exploring the demon nightclubs of Olympus. The soft denim had hugged his perfect, round butt so wonderfully. She licked her lips as a wave of pure lust swamped her, locking her breath in her lungs.
“You can leave now.” Nidras’ new boss was a tall, prickly woman who wasted no time on warm fuzzies. Nidras glanced at the woman, nodded and turned away. She could feel her boss’ speculative gaze as she left. But the woman never asked the questions she obviously harbored about her new employee.
The woman’s standoffishness suited Nidras just fine. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to stay there anyway, hidden among the cheap and garish clothing of the human teenager. If Hermes tried to find her again she’d have to run.
No sense getting attached to anyone.
She shuddered and went to get her things from the backroom. She didn’t have much, just a small purse to carry makeup, money and keys for her new apartment and car. Thoughts of the car at least made her smile.
She’d cheated a bit on the car. Though she was trying to keep a low profile, she’d needed something that would make her feel better about losing the love of her life.
The Porsche definitely helped.
Whenever her mind started obsessing over Hermes, leaving her panties dripping with need and her nipples straining against the thin t-shirts she wore in her attempt to look like everyone else on Earth, she’d get into the Porsche and hit the highway, driving as fast and as far as she could before exhaustion overtook her.
