But four more dahaka were jumping in through the window, hands raised.
"Watch out!" I cried, as I dove to the side.
A handful of barbs buried itself into the wall where I'd been standing. Demeter quickly twisted the dahaka she was choking, and it was impaled by the second barrage of barbs.
Darren rushed the incoming dahaka, his improvised staff whirling and thrusting. They tried to get by him to reach the rest of us, but it was no use. Darren whirled and smashed down on the back of their knees, dropping them to the ground.
"Is the potion working?" I demanded.
Jason pulled aside the plants to look outside.
"The dahaka are fighting," he reported. "It's hard to tell... no, wait! It's working! They're fighting each other!"
"Any sign of Ares?" I asked.
"No," Jason admitted quietly.
"Um," Darren interjected, spinning and jamming one end of the broomstick into a dahaka's throat. "Bit of help?"
Darren was skilled, but he was outnumbered, and the dahaka were more cautious now. They weren't stupid enough to keep rushing him one at a time. Now they were coordinating, and a few had smashed a table and grabbed broken pieces to use as clubs.
Carson locked eyes with one of the dahaka as it was about to crack Darren on the back of the head. It froze in mid-swing.
But Darren heard the strange crackling sound of Carson's powers. Instinctively, he spun and smashed the dahaka with his staff. He realized his mistake too late. His staff cracked it half.
Darren adapted quickly. He dove as a dahaka swiped at him with a club, sweeping up the second half of his broken staff. As he got to his feet, he twirled the two sticks in his hands like batons and smashed a dahaka on both sides of its head. It crumpled to the ground.
Jason raised one hand. Shards of the broken window flung themselves into the chest of one of the dahaka fighting Darren.
Two left.
But one of them managed to grab Darren's sticks and tear them away. The other leaped up and brought both of its fists down on Darren with all its strength. He smashed to the ground, his head slamming brutally against the floor.
I ran to Darren.
The dahaka heard me coming, but that didn't matter. I shut my eyes, and let the images guide me.
A dahaka swung at me. I dropped to a slide, and its arm passed just over me. I felt the searing heat of its skin an inch from my cheek. Then I felt the hardness of the dahaka's knee as both my feet crunched into it.
The dahaka toppled, howling in pain. I opened my eyes and quickly got to my feet. I kicked the dahaka in the face as hard as I could. Its head swung violently to the side and cracked into the wall, knocking it unconscious. But just to be safe, I kicked it again in the head.
The other dahaka tried to grab me from behind, but the images flickered first, and I dropped to the ground. From below, I punched it directly in the groin. My hand blistered, but the pain only made me angrier. As it doubled over, I caught its head between both my legs. It grabbed them with its hands. More burning. I swung my body up, swinging the dahaka with me. Then, I swung back down, forcing my legs down as hard as I could and smashing the dahaka's head into the ground.
Gritting my teeth from the pain, I released its head from between my blistered legs. It didn't move. There was a good chance it'd never move again.
As I got back up, I turned my attention outside. But I couldn't spot Ares. Three of the dahaka lay on the ground, motionless. They'd beaten each other senseless. That left three more. They were in a cluster at the edge of the street. They were alternately fighting each other and stomping on something on the ground.
Ares.
I ran.
What I hadn't told the others was that all powers had their limits. Ares couldn't regenerate forever, and dahaka were brutally strong. They could inflict an incredible amount of punishment.
I hopped out the broken display window. Three dahaka. One me. One injured me. Even with my powers, it'd be close.
"Hera!" Demeter shouted.
I turned. She tossed something my way. I caught it.
A knife. Still sheathed; clearly ornamental. No matter. As long as it was sharp.
Demeter would stay back to protect the Heroes and finish off the last dahaka once Carson unfroze it. Jason would help her. He didn't have the strength for much more than that right now.
I was on my own. But that was nothing new. And it'd always been enough before.
The dahaka were too intent on tearing each other to shreds to see me until I was on top of them. I unsheathed the knife and drove it hilt-deep into the back of one of their heads. It dropped.
The second swung at me with its arms, hoping to grab me. I shut my eyes and hurled myself to one side. It didn't catch me, but its arm brushed my shoulder. Pain seared through me.
Before I could get to my feet, the dahaka raised its hands and fired its barbs at me. I rolled. The barbs glanced harmlessly off the asphalt.
The dahaka leapt on me. Its legs heated my clothes. I could feel my skin starting to burn. I struggled but I was pinned. The dahaka grinned, its mouth revealing a pair of mandibles that clicked excitedly.
I didn't bother to close my eyes. I only had one option. I thrust one of my hands upward, driving at one of the dahaka's eyes. It caught my hand easily. Its grip seared my flesh. I stifled a scream. But while its attention was on that hand, I struck as fast as I could with the other, punching it directly in the throat.
The dahaka croaked for air. It collapsed to the side, hands around its throat, still struggling to breathe. I got up and stomped on its neck.
Arms grabbed me from behind. The other dahaka. This time, I couldn't stop myself from screaming as its boiling arms gripped my bare skin. It felt like it was burning right through me. The pain was excruciating. It was hard to think, but I wasn't going to win by strength. And I had to win.
I flung my head back as hard as I could. I hit something hard. Nose. Mandibles. I couldn't see what. But it was enough that the dahaka loosened its grip.
I stomped down on the dahaka's foot, but it still didn't let me go. So, with what little room I had, I elbowed it as hard as I could in its stomach. I felt the dahaka pull away.
I moved gingerly. I was covered in burns. But I had to help Ares.
The dahaka and I glared at each other. I was fuelled by desperation, the dahaka by magickal rage. We both charged at the same time. It lunged. I punched. It knocked me to the ground again, but I punched it solidly in the jaw. The skin on my hand bubbled, but the dahaka yowled in pain. More importantly, it was dazed. I wasn't.
I jammed my knee upwards. I missed the dahaka's groin, but I hit it solidly on the thigh, enough to knock it off balance and give me enough room to wriggle free. I couldn't risk it pinning me again.
As I clawed my way along the ground, the pavement scraping my fresh burns, I felt the burning grip of the dahaka on my leg. I kicked back with my free leg as hard as I could. I missed. The dahaka began to pull me backwards. I had nothing to hold on to, no way to stop myself.
I kicked again. This time, I hit something. I kicked again. And again. Finally, the dahaka let go.
I scrambled away as fast as I could and got to my feet. I could run, lure it back to the store. But as crazed as it was, it might not follow. It could go back to stomping Ares.
I couldn't risk it. Athena had died because of me. If another god was going to die, it wouldn't be Ares. It would be me.
I whirled to face the dahaka. It had already healed. I could barely stand. I was bruised; burnt; bleeding. I was exhausted.
It wasn't a fair fight. But that was life. I just wasn't used to being on the unfair side, the mortal side.
The dahaka lunged again. It was strong and fast. There wasn't much I could do to hurt it when it healed so quickly, and I couldn't fight forever. I was already brutalized.
I closed my eyes. I could dodge at least. I didn't have much choice. It swung, and I moved. It swung again. I moved again. If I only I had more st
rength. But I didn't.
I had no choice. I did something I hated to do, something I almost never did.
I called for help.
The dahaka rushed in, but I was nowhere nearby when it reached me. I kicked it solidly in the groin, and it doubled over. But it was back up before I'd even taken two steps.
I turned to see if anyone had heard me. A fatal mistake. The dahaka grabbed the back of my hair and hauled me backwards. I should have seen it coming, but I hadn't.
I smelled the revolting stench of burning hair. "Demeter!"
A searing hand wrapped around my throat. I burned. I couldn't breathe.
Then nothing.
I was free.
I fell to my knees, gasping. When I looked up, I saw Demeter. Her eyes were pure fury. She was hauling the dahaka away, a smoldering scarf looped around its neck.
She shook with force. The dahaka tried to claw at the smoking fabric, but Demeter mercilessly jerked it to one side and then the other, up and down, throwing it off balance. It had to drop its hands from its neck just to keep its face from smashing against the pavement. Not that it mattered. Its face was turning blue, then purple.
Demeter unfurled more and more scarf, pushing the Dahaka down with her knee and then with her foot. She stood on top of it. With one last tremendous wrench, throwing her whole body into the motion, she snapped the dahaka's neck. She dropped its lifeless body and rushed to my side.
"How bad is it?" she asked breathlessly, brushing my hair from my face to examine my neck.
"I'll be fine," I assured her.
A strange coolness was slowly swallowing the pain along my neck. Without realizing it, I had pulled out the macuto in my pocket. It glowed faintly in the light.
"Sorry it took so long," Demeter said. "The last dahaka in the shop was tougher than the others, and then another one woke back up and surprised us."
"They heal too damn quickly," I agreed, as she helped me to my feet.
"No kidding," she said. She looked contemptuously at the dahaka on the ground beside us. "But not from everything."
Jason, Carson and Darren were heading towards us. I went over to where Ares lay on the ground. Seeing him, I wanted to look away. I'd never realized how literal being beaten to a bloody pulp could be. I forced myself to study his face, smashed beyond all recognition. Past the blood and the bruises and what I feared was exposed bone.
"Is he..." Demeter began softly, her voice breaking.
I shut my eyes. I fought down the rising tide of panic.
Images came.
"He's alive," I breathed, my voice shaking with relief.
"You're sure?" Darren asked tightly.
"Yes," I replied, opening my eyes. "He just needs time. Let's get him inside."
"What if more of those things come?" Carson asked.
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could, images flew before my eyes, so fast I could barely follow them.
I felt Demeter's familiar, strong hands steadying me.
"What's wrong?" she asked. I don't know what she saw in my expression, but all the colour drained from her face. "What did you see?"
I couldn't believe the next words as they came out of my mouth, but I couldn't deny them either.
"It's Ares. I was ... wrong. He's going to die."
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
"But you said he was going to be fine!" Carson said.
"I know that!" I snapped. "Something must be wrong with my powers."
"Wrong? Like what?" Demeter asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But that can wait. Right now, we need to help Ares. We'll go back to the hospital. Ana can help us."
Jason pulled out his keys, and we all headed to his van.
As I opened the door to get in, I realized Sabine had joined us.
"I want to come with you," she said. "I want to help."
"You did," I said. "But it's not safe with us."
With me.
"I can't just stay here and do nothing," she protested.
"It's too crowded," Demeter said, as she hopped into the van. "We need to lay Ares in the back. We don't have room for one more. Sorry."
"I can take my car," Sabine insisted. "Please."
"Fine," I said.
Anything, if it meant we didn't waste any more time.
I shut the door behind Demeter. "I'll go with Sabine and hear what she has to say."
As they loaded Ares into the van and then pulled onto the road, Sabine and I walked to her car.
"Where are we going?" Sabine asked, once we were inside.
"St. Mary's," I answered. "There's a nurse there who can help us."
I paused. "She put us in touch with ... something. It calls itself Erinle."
Sabine nodded as she drove away from the store.
"Erinle is an orisha," she explained. "A spirit messenger in the Santeria religion. I would've thought you two might have, I don't know, met before or something?"
"There are many worlds, and many beings in them," I answered. "But we keep to our own kind. Out of respect, and to prevent … conflict. Besides, our purposes are different."
"Different how?" Sabine asked.
"Gods worry about the big picture," I answered. "The balance between Order and Chaos. Whatever it is that orishas are worrying about, it isn't that."
I doubted Sabine was satisfied with that answer, but she was diplomatic enough to move on.
"So, you think Erinle can heal Ares?" she asked.
"He healed Darren," I replied. "But I'm hoping it won't get that far. Ana has power of her own."
I patted the macuto in my pocket. Thanks to it, my burns were already fading.
"Why not just take Ares directly to Erinle?" Sabine pointed out. "To be on the safe side."
"Let's just say Erinle doesn't do anything for free," I answered.
I didn't give her the details. That was Jason's story to tell, or not, as he chose.
"Anyway, Ares can heal himself," I continued. "He just needs someone to stabilize him until his powers can recover. Assuming they're still working."
"I think your powers are still working," Sabine offered, guessing at what I was hinting at.
"Then why did I see a false future? Why didn't I see the truth right away?" I demanded.
She hesitated. She was choosing her words carefully.
"I think what you saw was a future," she said slowly, "but it was the future you wanted to see. It wasn't the real future, the future that was likely to happen. It was like, in that moment, you wanted, no, you needed to see what you saw. Like you wouldn't accept any other reality. So your vision was forced into the shape you made for it. It had no other place to go."
"So, what you're saying is the problem isn't my powers," I said. "It's me."
I was so tired of failing. I'd gone millennia without it, if you didn't count my marriage to Zeus, which was a whole big bag of fail. But that was both our faults. When it came to everything else though, I never used to fail. Failure was once as foreign to me as fear or doubt or need or weakness. Now, all of a sudden, it was like I couldn't help but fail, no matter how hard I tried not to.
"If it makes you feel better, it happens to most seers I've met," Sabine replied.
"I'm not most seers," I reminded her. "I'm a god."
"You're in a mortal body now," she countered. "That comes at a cost."
Before I could reply, Sabine pulled over. "We're here. I'll drop you off and then come find you."
The others were already there. No sign of Ares. Or Jason.
"Where is he?" I demanded, as I got out of the car.
"With Jason," Demeter answered. "In the bushes."
She pointed to a little park beside the hospital.
"We didn't want to attract attention," Carson explained.
"Is he any better?" I asked.
"No," Darren replied. "He's getting worse."
I didn't bother asking how he knew. In a few minutes, he could've become an expert in first aid. A bit longer, a
nd he could replace a first year medical intern.
"I don't understand," Demeter said. "His powers should be doing something."
"Unless the dahaka drained him completely," I replied. "I'll go get Ana. You guys, stick together and watch Ares. Darren, take over for Jason. Monitor Ares. If things get any worse, take him inside."
I headed into the hospital with Demeter right behind me.
I stopped in front of the intake station. One of the nurses looked up at me. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Ana," I said. "She's a nurse here."
"Sorry, she's not working tonight," the woman replied.
But her face told a different story.
"What's wrong?" Demeter asked.
"Are you friends of hers?" the woman ventured hopefully.
"We've been through a lot together," Demeter said, smiling her most genuine smile.
"Well, then I guess there's no harm in telling you," the woman decided. "I tried calling Ana when she didn't show up for her shift tonight, but there was no answer. It's just not like her. I mean, once, she had the worst flu I've ever seen and she still managed to call in sick."
"We'll go check on her," Demeter promised.
"Would you?" the woman asked, relieved.
"Of course," Demeter said. "What friends are for."
We turned and headed back outside.
"Can you see where Ana lives?" Demeter asked.
"That's not exactly the future," I pointed out. "It's just a random fact."
Demeter sighed.
"We'll use Sabine," I said.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked when we joined the others.
My face must have said everything.
"Ana's not in tonight," I said. "She might be in trouble."
"Do you think Ekhidna…" Carson started. She left it hanging.
"Maybe," I admitted.
Sabine was walking up from wherever she'd parked.
"I need you to find someone," I told her bluntly.
"Okay," she said. "But I'll need some things."
"We don't have time for that," I replied. "We need you to do this the old-fashioned way. No stuff. Just magick."
Hera, Queen of Mortals (Goddess Unbound) Page 16
