Nether: Hidden Book Five

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  With a little bit of persuasion from me, of course.

  Punish the dead; protect the living.

  Live my life and love my family.

  I'd find a way to make it all work.

  It's what I do.

  Epilogue

  One year later…

  "Now, you can't just hack at it like that, you buffoon. Give me that before you hurt somebody."

  Gaia waved Heph away and took the butcher knife from him. Then she went to work, carving the gigantic turkey Ada had roasted. My mother and aunt tried to keep Zoe focused and busy, while she seemed intent to use her newly-achieved ability to run and dodge to grab at all of the breakable stuff on the long dining room table. Sean threw a football across the living room, and Brennan told him for at least the fifth time that we don't throw stuff in the house. Meaghan sat on the couch, where she held her and Heph's son, Michael, on her lap. He had his father's dark hair and eyes and Meaghan's mellow personality.

  Shanti, Zero, and the other vampires gathered around the television, shouting as the Lions fumbled yet again. Stone waved at the television in disgust and walked away. The game had technically been on earlier in the day, but we'd recorded it so the vampires could watch it with everyone else. I kind of regretted that decision now.

  On the brick wall behind them, there were dozens of framed photographs, and I smiled every time I looked at them.

  Me, Nain, and Zoe on a beach in Hawaii.

  Nain, Heph, Meaghan, Brennan, Zoe, and Sean sitting around a campfire at one of the wooded cabin hideaways Nain had attained over the years.

  Zoe, dressed as a tiger for her first Halloween.

  We'd done our best to try to actually live, to make our family work alongside our roles as protectors. Sometimes, we managed all right. And when we didn't, Nain and I still had each other's arms to find comfort in.

  Every day with Zoe was an adventure. We'd discovered that not only did the presence of other creatures of the Nether soothe her, but being in the Nether itself did as well. She spent a lot of time with me there when I worked. I just hoped that, as she got older, it would be enough to keep her sane.

  Nether still slept, still granted me every one of her powers, and I tried to make sure I let her know how grateful I was. It was another of the many things I hoped held together.

  I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned back toward the kitchen, where my family and friends were beginning to plate up food for the huge Thanksgiving dinner we'd prepared.

  Nain and I helped Ada, Demeter, Asclepias, and Persephone load the table with so many side dishes and platters that I wondered how the hell we'd eat it all.

  And then I remembered how much Heph and Nain can eat, and wondered if we'd have enough.

  I kept checking my phone for any updates about trouble.

  "We've got people out patrolling," Nain reminded me in a low voice as he passed me carrying yet another platter of something.

  "I know," I said.

  "Relax."

  "Make me."

  He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind. "Later, I definitely will, woman."

  "Horny demon," I muttered, even though I couldn't hide the smile stretching across my face.

  "That's how we got into this mess to begin with, isn't it?" he rumbled in my ear, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He lowered his hands, settling them over my stomach, gently rubbing the barely visible bump there. Happiness mixed with that ever-present demonic rage alongside his need for me. It turns out that, given enough time and effort, I'd managed the same thing as my mother: life grew within me, and it was another thing to be grateful for.

  I gently bumped back against Nain, and he groaned.

  "All right, either get a room or cut the fondling shit so we can eat," Heph bellowed, and the rest of the team laughed and started walking toward the dining room.

  I turned in Nain's arms, and he pulled me close.

  "Can we please, please kick their asses out now?" he asked, bending down to kiss me.

  "Ugh, holidays," I said, grinning, and he nodded.

  He leaned down and grabbed Zoe as she tried to run past, and swung her into the air, and she shrieked happily. "Papa!" she giggled. Nain turned her upside down and she laughed harder.

  "Happy Thanksgiving, baby," he said, leaning down and kissing me.

  "You too, Bael."

  THE END

  * * *

  Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first book in the next HIDDEN series

  Soulhunter: Guardian

  Available Now

  Guardian: Chapter One

  I stood on the sidewalk outside of the loft in Detroit’s Cultural Center. I could have reappeared anywhere, of course. The sensible thing would have been to appear in the living room, or the kitchen. Except, then I would not have had this moment; this ridiculous, nonsensical, blissful moment of looking at the limestone building against the backdrop of a perfect blue-skied Detroit autumn day.

  Home. That word is one I never really understood. Homesickness, even less so. It was a concept that made no sense to me. There was never a reason for me to comprehend the idea of it. And what I’d thought of as family, compared to what I have now, compared to the people who lived in the loft, was like comparing the light of a candle to the brilliance of the sun.

  There is no comparison.

  I took a breath, breathing in the familiar scent of car exhaust and leaf decay, a perfume so quintessentially Detroit that it brings me back here every time. I’d been looking forward to this day almost since the moment I’d flown away nearly two years ago. I’d left. I’d left my best friend, my sister, my queen and god, at a time when she needed me.

  I’d left, hoping I could come back stronger and better able to serve her. I still hadn’t found what I was looking for. Perhaps I never would. But I did feel somewhat less lost. I traveled. I lived. I thought. I still did not know what this life expected of me. Perhaps I’d figure it out at Mollis’s side after all.

  I took another deep breath, then walked into the parking garage and hit the button for the rickety elevator that would take me up to my friends. An imp met me as I waited, and gave me an approving nod.

  “Welcome back, Guardian,” it said, its coarse voice a welcome intrusion into my nervous, excited thoughts.

  “Thank you,” I answered, giving it a nod in return. “How is our Lady?”

  It gave a toothy grin. “Terrifying as always.”

  I smiled. The elevator came to a stop, and the imp and I stepped in. I hit the button to take us up to the loft. I focused, feeling the power signatures nearby. Several imps, as was always the case when the Goddess of Death was nearby. The shifter. The frenzied, chaotic power signatures of at least two children.

  And, roaring over all of it, her power. I practically jumped up and down, giddy over seeing my friend again. The elevator came to a stop, the doors opened, and I heard a crazed cheer from inside the loft. Within seconds, the gleaming wooden door was thrown open, and Mollis Eth-Hades, Queen of the Nether, Goddess of Death, was flinging herself at me, tears rolling down her pale cheeks.

  I hugged her just as hard as she was hugging me, and we laughed in each other’s arms.

  “You’re back. You’re back,” she murmured.

  I squeezed her harder, enjoying, more than I would have imagined, this simple embrace. I had not realized how the simple act of hugging could be so satisfying.

  One of many, many things I’ve learned since my world was turned upside down.

  I patted her back, squeezed her one more time, and we pulled part. We looked at each other, both of us with tears streaming down our faces, and Mollis laughed.

  “Look what you made me do,” she chastised, wiping the tears away. I laughed. “Oh my god, E. I’m so happy you’re back.”

  “I am happy to be back, demon girl,” I said, and she smiled at the familiar old nickname. She took my hand and pulled me into the loft after thanking the imp for escorting me up.r />
  The loft was the same, and not. The brick walls, the gleaming wood floors, the huge windows looking out over the city, the large empty area in the middle where the team members trained and sparred… all of that was the same.

  And yet, it was different. Family photos, framed in matching black frames, covered the brick wall near the living room. Toys were scattered throughout the living room and dining room. And, at that moment a blond-haired boy was chasing a raven-haired toddler across the training floor.

  “No running!” an exasperated voice called from the kitchen. I turned in that direction, and the shifter, Brennan, was standing there, looking exactly the same as he had the last time I’d seen him, though his blond hair was longer, and his beard was shorter, as if he’d shaved and then decided to re-grow it. A t-shirt and jeans covered his muscled frame. “Hey, E,” he said in greeting, his slate-blue eyes flicking over me, seeming to take in every detail. “Glad you’re back,” he added.

  “I am glad to be back,” I said. He smiled, then bent down and listened intently to the little girl, her mass of black curls bouncing as she talked to him, the lisp of her baby voice seeming to charm him. He crouched next to her, listened, said something in a firm voice to his son, Sean. The boy nodded, then took the girl’s hand.

  “Zoe has grown so much,” I said, watching Sean and Zoe as he led her toward a bin of blocks in the living room. I remembered that she’d just had a birthday. How quickly the time had passed.

  “She has. And she has every male in this household wrapped around her little finger, apparently,” Mollis said, ribbing Brennan.

  “And… how are things?” I asked, nodding toward Zoe.

  Mollis gave a rueful grin. “Some days are better than others,” she said. “We have to spend a lot of time in the Netherwoods. Which I guess works out because this whole God of Death thing kind of never lets up.” Mollis had found newborn Zoe beside the infant’s deceased mother. The woman had tried to give birth to her daughter alone, in an abandoned home, and it had apparently been too much for her. What Mollis hadn’t known when she’d made the decision to raise the baby herself was that she was a half-demon, half-shifter. It was a combination that almost never happened, which was a blessing. The shifter side constantly repressed the demonic side, causing insanity, rages, and violence. Even upon learning that, Mollis had been determined to raise Zoe as her own. In all honesty, it seemed to have made her even more stalwart in her dedication to the baby. “We’ll work it all out,” she said after a moment, giving me a small smile.

  I took her hand in mine. Like all creatures of the Nether, she had cool skin. We were similar in that way, among others.

  I could already feel myself relaxing, just being around her and her daughter. Another type of homecoming, and I relished it.

  “And where is the new addition?” I asked, glancing around. Mollis and Nain had sent photos of their new baby, a child who should have been an impossibility. Demons and death deities are not known for their ability to create life, and it had been a shock when Mollis had shared the news. I’d been in New Mexico at the time, and an imp, as always, had found me to tell me they’d come through the birth fine, and had given me a small stack of photos.

  Mollis smiled. “Sleeping,” she said.

  “Finally,” Brennan added as he settled another toddler dispute in the living room.

  “Finally,” Mollis agreed. Her hand was still in mine, and she pulled me toward the kitchen. “Hot cocoa?” she asked, and I smiled.

  “As long as you have marshmallows,” I answered, and she made a face. An old joke between us, and the comfort of it, of being here in the place I’d come to think of as home, soothed me.

  “I do,” she said. “Just for you.”

  I laughed, and she let go of me. I took a seat on one of the stools at the granite countertop in the kitchen, the sounds of Mollis’s household surrounding me. The oldies station playing on the kitchen radio, the boisterous sounds of children playing, Brennan’s deep tones as he talked to Sean.

  I watched Mollis set the pan on the stove, add milk. She stirred it, glanced at me and gave a small smile.

  “I love your hair like that. You look amazing, E,” she said.

  I ran a hand over my hair, forgetting how different it looked since I had last seen her. I had always worn my dark hair in a long braid. In New York, I’d had it cut into a sleek bob, with long layers at the front and sweeping across my forehead.

  “Thank you. It is much less heavy than it used to be,” I answered, and she chuckled. She added cocoa powder and sugar, stirred some more. “Where is the demon?” I asked, noting that her mate, her husband, the demon known as the Nain Rouge, was not around. If Mollis was nearby, Nain usually was as well.

  She was still smiling. “He’s on patrol. He should be back soon, assuming nothing stupid happens.”

  “And…how is married life treating you?” I asked.

  She blushed a little, and I knew then that things were good between them. Nain was the only one who could put that particular expression on the face of the God of Death.

  “Married life is good,” she said softly. “Not that I don’t want to kick his ass often, but it’s good.”

  I laughed, watched as she poured the cocoa into two white mugs. Milk glass, I remembered. She collected a lot of antique things. Well, antique to one who hadn’t even been alive for forty years, I amended. Though I did have to admit that the things she collected were often quite pretty. And I benefitted as well.

  “Oh, you got it! Good,” she said, looking at my t-shirt. It was a black Van Halen t-shirt from the 1980s. I had mentioned in one of my many letters that I was working my way through learning modern music and things like that, so she began sending me vintage concert t-shirts, usually with a letter telling me which songs I should check out by whichever band was on the shirt. It was one of the many ways my best friend and I had stayed connected over the past couple of years.

  “Van Halen is not my favorite,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “But I love this shirt.”

  “It’s a great shirt,” she agreed.

  “You are not going to stop giving me these now that I am back, are you? I am starting to understand this obsession you have with collecting weird objects.”

  “You started buying your own, didn’t you?”

  I nodded. “They are not easy to find, but I have come across a few.”

  She grinned. “I’m more than happy to keep your collection going, then,” she said. She sat next to me, and we blew on our cocoa. I added several marshmallows to mine.

  I took a sip, the explosion of chocolate making my toes curl in my boots. I took a few more sips, and glanced at Mollis to see her watching me.

  “What?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “You have adapted much better to this world than the rest of them, other than Heph. Do you know that Artemis still wants to carry her bow and arrows with her everywhere?”

  I laughed, not at all surprised. “Well, they all had some semblance of life in the Aether.” The realm of the immortals, the world I hail from, is divided into two legions. The Aether is the realm of most immortals. These are the ones most humans have heard of: Zeus, Hera, Ares, Aphrodite. There is also the realm of the Nether, home to demons, death deities such as Furies and Guardians. I am, technically, one of the latter. We all served one immortal, the being known as Hades. Now, those of us that remain serve His daughter, Mollis. “And the rest, as well,” I continued. “To me, it feels sometimes, as if my life didn’t even begin until that night you avenged your husband.”

  Mollis nodded, a shadow crossing her features. Even now, even after getting him back, after bonding with him again, after creating life with him. Even now, that night, the night he died, haunted her. I wondered what it would be like to love that deeply. In all honesty, it seemed terrifying. To give someone that kind of power… it was, perhaps, another of those things I probably would never completely understand.

  “I’m going to take them to the p
ark for a while. They need to get out,” Brennan said to Mollis, and she nodded.

  “Thanks, Bren.” She got up to bundle Zoe into her little red coat, put a hat on her head, which Zoe immediately pulled off with a glare that she must have learned from Mollis herself. After a few moments of negotiation, Mollis got her to keep the hat on, and Brennan left.

  We ended up taking our cups into the living room, each of us curling into an end of the huge leather sofa there. “So. That guy in Texas? What happened with him?” Mollis asked me, and I rolled my eyes.

  “It was Oklahoma. And he became clingy.”

  “E, you were there for like two weeks. How clingy could he really get?”

  “Clingy enough to make me happy to bid him farewell,” I said, and she laughed.

  “And the girl from Wisconsin?”

  I shrugged. “She is sweet. We remain friends.”

  Mollis nodded.

  “I know what you are thinking,” I said.

  “I thought I was the telepath here,” she answered, lifting an eyebrow.

  “You wear your every thought and feeling on your face, my friend. You always have. You worry that I will never feel like I belong here. You want, so badly, for me to find something here that comforts me.”

  She was silent for a few moments. Then: “Fine. I don’t think I’m quite that obvious, though.”

  “You are,” I answered. “And I love that you care enough for me to worry.”

  “I feel responsible, somehow,” she said.

  “Of course you do. You believe you and you alone are responsible for fixing every single thing wrong in this world. If you were not immortal, I would warn you that you are going to worry yourself into an early grave.”

  She rolled her eyes, set her empty cup down on the end table. “You want it too, though. You want a place in this world, and you don’t believe you’ve really found it yet.”

  I studied her. “I am beginning to believe my place is at your side,” I said softly. “I am content there.”