OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  Alena knew Zeus wouldn’t be able to resist making the image as large as he could so that everyone could see everything. So could she from her place in the Chair of Truth. “Did I?” The camera angle on the screen zoomed in. “What’s that?”

  They all saw the glittering golden dust in the shape of a perfect handprint on a double metal door. They looked up at Apollo in disbelief. “Do you exude golden dust spores, Raven?”

  “No.”

  The Olympians, captivated by the ugly scene that played out in front of their eyes, were right where Alena wanted them. “Do you see all of those people dying? Especially the ones that haven’t been shot; direct exposure to Major Falls kills nearly instantly. Now see the small army of men with him how hale and healthy they are? Apollo gave them something or he already knew they wouldn’t die from it, instead, they would become carriers and take the disease out of Area 51. They would spread it to anyone they came in contact with.”

  “How would I know that?”

  “You’re a God,” Alena lobbed quietly. It was time to throw in the last grenade. She reached into her bra one more time and tossed the yellowed brittle paper onto the table next to the laptop. “This newspaper is dated two months ago. Take a good look at the gun in Raven’s hand.” Then she looked up at Apollo who’d gone from a gleaming gold to a faded yellow. “I believe that’s you as well, Apollo. You snuck down there for months posing as my Son. You prodded that group of thugs forward in directions Raven wouldn’t.”

  “Go Mom!” Raven cheered from behind her, unable to believe his incredible luck.

  “Shut up,” Alena snapped at him. “You’re not totally innocent. But my Husband is. Apollo set him up and he guided Raven into this madness.”

  “It’s a ruse! A lie!” Apollo protested.

  “Oh, go on, deny it, I dare you,” Alena growled.

  “Explain this you bitch; Since I can’t fly how would I even get off this Mountain without someone knowing it?” Apollo challenged. “We all felt it when you opened the Gate.”

  The smile on Alena’s face turned wide and cold as she glanced back over her shoulder to the door on the far wall. “Did you think I forgot about the back door? It is this way I first came to this hellhole and to stand here as you berated me and belittled my Husband.” Then she looked up at Ares with a genuine grin. “Husband, would you please?”

  Ares took six steps backward, put his hand on the wall and a door appeared. He turned the knob and it opened to the stretch of blackness and the vortex beyond. “Look at that,” he remarked. “I didn’t feel anything, did any of you?”

  Alena looked directly at Zeus. “He used your little secret door, the one you used to avail yourself to when you wanted to go down and screw Mortal women without your own Wife knowing.”

  “This means nothing,” Zeus pronounced, trying to hold back his rage at the situation. He didn’t know which pissed him off more; that Apollo had gone so far in his quest for revenge on Ares or that the Fae Bitch was so goddamn smart that she’d gotten the better of all of them. “It’s some form of Dark Fae Magick, that’s all. It’s a cunning trick.”

  “This is not a trick,” Eros said as he nodded looking down at the laptop. “I don’t know a lot about these things but I know enough to know this is the truth. Apollo set Major Falls free hoping to blame the whole thing on Raven and Ares.”

  Alena sat there smiling in victory at Apollo and mouthed the words; Got’cha.

  “You bitch!” Apollo snarled as he lunged across the table at Alena, still captive in the Chair.

  Ares stepped in the way and grabbed his Brother by the throat. “I don’t think so…Brother. She bested you and him,” Ares took a quick glance at Zeus and gave him a cold smile, “just admit it, you’ll feel better.”

  “Bad man,” Rose whispered safe in the crook of her Father’s other arm.

  “Where’s the rest of it?” Alena asked, safe behind her Husband. “What did you do with the other three vials?”

  Hades looked down the line of Olympians to Apollo who was starting to turn an odd shade of yellowish-red. “Did you disperse all of it?”

  “Is there a cure? An inoculation?” Hera interjected swiftly. “Where is it?”

  “I did nothing. I know nothing!” Apollo spat we he wrestled out of Ares’ hold and brought his hand up to his sore throat.

  “I think you’re lying, Brother,” Athena whispered and the others murmured and nodded in agreement.

  Apollo pointed heatedly at Alena. “This isn’t over, I’ll get you for this, for turning my Family against me with your deceit, your lies!”

  “Only in your perverted dreams,” Alena whispered back. While the moment was at its sweetest she looked Zeus in the eye. “Let me out of this fuckin’ chair.”

  Zeus stood staunch and still.

  “Her testimony is over,” Hera snarled.

  With a grunt of disapproval, Zeus waved his hand in the air and the invisible hold on Alena let go. She stood up then turned around to show the Olympians her unblemished backside as further evidence of her truthfulness. Then she turned back around to face them as she stood in front of her Family. “No lies. No tricks. The Defense rests. What do you say? Render your verdicts on my Husband and my Son.”

  With Apollo not allowed a say in the matter, Zeus’s was the sole dissenting vote, Ares was proclaimed Innocent and Raven was found Not Guilty as the Olympians could not determine Raven’s true part in the matter from what Apollo may have done or been responsible for.

  Ares picked up Alena and swung her around in her arms as he smiled and covered her face with kisses. Standing there watching them, for the first time Raven thought he understand why Ares loved her so much. She might not be much to look at so small in stature and so frail in appearance, she might not be able to bench press two-hundred pounds, she might never wear heavy armor but she was one hell of a warrior anyway. She met the enemy bravely, she fought fiercely, with much cunning intelligence and no bloodshed she emerged victorious. Raven doubted many people could ever say they got the best of Apollo, let alone Zeus.

  “What about him?” Raven’s voice broke through the celebration as he pointed at Apollo. “He’s killed millions, and millions more are going to die because of him. What’s his punishment?”

  All eyes turned to Zeus who sneered at Raven with open hatred. “Nothing, I’m still not convinced of your innocence and until I am, I refuse to put Apollo on trial.” It was not a lie, there was no arguing with the evidence Alena presented, and Apollo was guilty as hell, the Golden God stabbed his own Father in the back but Zeus couldn’t let that anger show. He couldn’t let Alena know she’d been able to bring to light something he should have known months, if not years, ago.

  “Hypocrite!” Alena shrieked. “He’s wiping out your precious Mortals but just to spite me you’re going to let him get away with it.”

  “In the end, Fae Bitch, Olympians are free to slay as many Mortals as they like until I say otherwise.” Zeus whipped around and swiftly walked out of the Counsel Chamber seething in defeat.

  Alena looked to Hera for guidance and back up but found none. “He’s right, the Mortals are completely within his discretion, if he doesn’t want to put Apollo on trial for these heinous acts, as King of Olympus he doesn’t have to.”

  Athena looked down the long table to her Brother standing there stern and silent. “The rest of us will never look at you the same again, Apollo. We will not forget what you have done.”

  Angry but knowing she couldn’t do much about it, Hera stepped forward to turn her colorful eyes on Apollo. “If you have any hope of saving face with us, you will tell us what you did with the other three vials. You will tell us if there is a cure or some way to help the Mortals. You will try to set right that which you have set so wrong.”

  “Yes, you will,” Aphrodite agreed with a ready smile.

  “Nothing quite like the Ex-Lover getting the upper hand, is there Brother?” Ares chuckled as he took in the radiant grin on Aphrodite’s
face. The grin that was usually reserved from him when she had him backed into a corner.

  “I’ll say it to the day I die; I don’t know anything about this. She’s turning all of you against me because she’s here to destroy us. You’re letting her,” Apollo protested before he too stormed out of the Chamber.

  “Well done.”

  “Thank you, Great Mother.”

  “Truly exceptional, Alena,” Athena agreed.

  “Expertly played,” Eros offered.

  “I haven’t seen Zeus that pissed off in centuries!” Aphrodite squealed. “It was awesome.”

  “A compliment? From you?” Alena questioned.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Ares slipped his arm around Alena’s waist, “let’s go home. You can tell me everything, I’m dying to hear all about how you pulled this off.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Sundown

  After the sudden turn of the tide left him defeated and incensed Zeus, for appearances sake, waited a few hours before he stormed over to Apollo’s Temple. Not bothering to knock upon the door, he simply blew it off the hinges with a lightning bolt from his staff. When the marble dust cleared, the sight of naked exhausted Nymphs was the first thing to meet his old eyes. In the midst of them was Apollo, naked as the day he was born, his golden cock stiff and dripping cum. He was grabbing the spent Nymphs, some of them bruised, some of them bleeding, turning them over looking for one that still had some energy left in her. “What the hell are you doing?” Zeus thundered as he walked up to the remains of the orgy in which Apollo had been the centerpiece. “What is this?”

  “Go away, Father, can’t you see I’m busy?” Apollo snarled, still turning over Nymphs left and right.

  Not in the mood for game, Zeus slammed the bottom of the staff on the marble floor so hard the stone split, it cracked in a great fissure that spread out in a spider’s web. The Nymphs were jolted to wakefulness as Zeus railed at them. “Get up! Get out of here!”

  They scrambled to their feet in all their naked glory but Apollo grabbed at them as they tried to run away. He got a hold of Daphne by the ankle and brought her back to the ground. “I’m not done!” he hissed at Zeus before kneeing her shapely legs apart and settling between them.

  Before he could thrust his golden hips forward, Zeus hit him with a forceful bolt of lightning sending Apollo flying across the parlor. “Yes you are.”

  Daphne got up on unsteady legs and ushered her subjects out of the parlor as Apollo screamed for them to come back.

  “What is wrong with you?” Zeus snapped, looking down at Apollo crouching on the floor. His golden skin smoldered from the bolt of electricity but his cock was still standing at attention. Apollo’s lips were pulled back in a cold sneer revealing sharp teeth as his golden eyes shot daggers at his Father. “You’re like a horny rabid dog! Get up and get dressed! Stop staring at me like that.”

  Taking in a deep breath and holding it only to let it out slowly, Apollo tried to get hold of himself as he let out a low growl and rose to his full height adorning himself in a pair of linen trousers in the process. The hard-on, so stiff and so strong, pushed against the thin material until it made a sturdy tent. “Make it quick, Father.”

  “Quick? You’re lucky I don’t kill you where you stand.” The God of Gods paced back and forth in a short line. “How could you do this?! How could you go behind my back this way and wreak such destruction on the Mortals?”

  “I was only doing what you wanted,” Apollo grunted, “remember? You wanted Ares and Raven dead, that was the deal. I was delivering it to you but that bitch got in my way!”

  “That bitch? She outsmarted you, that stupid Fae wiped the floor with you. You took me with you! I never sanctioned anything like this. I told you set them against each other, I didn’t tell you to kill millions of people in the process.”

  “That’s what I was doing!” Apollo kicked the sweaty cum covered pillow littering his floor as he strode over to the table and lit up a joint while he poured a fresh chalice of Nectar. Inhaling the smoke long and deep he drank down half the chalice before letting the smoke exit his lungs. “So a few of the Mortals got hurt, so what? They were killing each other in the streets already. Neither Raven nor I had anything to do with that.”

  “A few??? Put that out! Stop smoking that shit!” Zeus ordered and zapped the joint out of Apollo’s hand. “You smoke too much of that, it’s clouded your mind.”

  Apollo snickered and lit up another joint. “This?” he pointed to the smoldering paper in his hand, “keeps me calm, it’s you who did this to me Father. You and your spells, your potions, trying to make me fertile again, that’s what did it. While I may still be shooting blanks, I’ve never felt so energized, so alive. This is what takes the edge off, keeps me from fucking everything in sight.”

  Zeus chuckled, “Not from what I can see.”

  “You’re just jealous. You can’t get it up anymore, can you Old Man?”

  The remark wiped the smile off Zeus’ face and his old water eyes turned cold. “You were supposed to get into Raven’s head, make him kill his Mother then Ares would kill Raven…”

  “Then you’d get the pleasure of killing Ares for the offense or maybe, even better, in the fight Father and Son would kill each other. All I did was up the stakes in your game.”

  “That’s what you did? You’ve killed twenty million people!” Zeus roared so loudly the air from his lungs shook the Temple and blew back Apollo’s golden hair. “Worst of all, now they think I was in on it. To prove them wrong I have to punish you.”

  “Punish me?”

  “Yes, I want you to take your filthy Nymphs and get off Olympus.”

  “You’re exiling me?” Apollo laughed as he pointed to himself. “That’s priceless. Listen, Father, if you so much as try to take away my dessert, I’ll tell all of them how it was all your idea. How you set it all into motion. I’ll even tell them about the Black Magick you’ve used on me and Aphrodite in your pursuit of true Immortality. What do you think they’ll do then? Been a while since there was a coup on Olympus, hasn’t it? Maybe you’ll get to find out how Kronos felt when you cast him into the Pit.” He raised the joint to his lips again and shook his head. “No, Father, you’re not going to do a damn thing to me or I’ll cut your throat.”

  “You dare to threaten me? Zeus, your Father, the God of Gods?”

  “Now you’re getting the picture,” Apollo grinned as he took another hit and let it out. “Fix my door on your way out and remember to knock next time. I do so hate unexpected company.”

  “I don’t believe this!”

  “Better start,” Apollo advised calmly.

  Caught between a rock and a hard place Zeus only had one thing left before he took his leave and started plotting his revenge. “Is there a cure? What did you do with the rest of it?”

  Apollo put his hand over his heart and let out a mournful sigh. “Oh, how touching, Father. Thinking of those peasants of yours right up until the very end. It’s very, very, ahhh-oohh,” he shook his head, sniffed, and mockingly wiped away a nonexistent tear from the corner of his eye. “I hardly know what to say to that other than there is no cure. As to whether or not any of those vials still remain in my possession; I think I’ll keep that to myself, a little insurance to keep you in line. You can’t save them, Father, all you can do is watch them fall. Watch them die out like a candle’s flame on a spent wick.” Taking his hand away from his chest he said, “Don’t you want the answer to Alena’s question, Father? How did I know those men with me would become carriers?”

  “Well, since you’re in the mood to gloat, go on and tell me. What did you do?”

  “Do? Do? Nothing. I only sniffed them out.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  Apollo took the last hit off the joint and the last swallow of Nectar from the chalice. “There’s a lot of Ichor down there, did you know that? Of course, it’s been diluted to the point that it’s nearly water but it’s still t
here. Those men with me were all descendants of ours; yours or mine or Hera’s, Ares’, all of us. I smelled it in them, I knew they wouldn’t get sick. Do you know what? Only those Mortals who haven’t a drop of Ichor in them will succumb to Major Falls. Soon, two or three generations perhaps, that Ichor will start growing potent again, until it overcomes the weak blood in their veins. Soon there’ll be a whole new race, a better, a superior race, of…”

  “Mutants!” Zeus spat.

  “I was going to say demi-gods but, all right, have it your way,” Apollo scoffed as he rolled his golden eyes. “Isn’t that you wanted, Father? More Olympians.”

  “I wanted to restore the glory of Olympus with pure, full-blooded Olympians, not turn the entire planet into a science experiment!” Zeus paused a moment as another thought formed in his old head and then spilled through his parched lips. “What of Us? What you have done to Us? Are we carrying this disease?”

  “Oh, yes, you are Father.” Apollo winked a golden eye at Zeus. “We’re all infected, but don’t worry, it’s not like any of us will die from it. But soon Ares’ little Mortal whores are going to start dropping like flies.” The Golden God began to snicker. “Maybe even Alena, she has no Ichor, and from the looks of her weeping wound I’d say she’s been directly infected. Didn’t you want her dead, Father?”

  “Have you completely lost your mind?” Zeus couldn’t believe what he was hearing it was all so unreal. Apollo fixed it so that even if the Olympians could find a way to help the Mortals they would be unable to act. If they went down to the Mortal World they’d only infect more people everywhere they went. “You’re insane, Apollo.”

  “Me? I’m insane? Wasn’t you who stole something precious from Trinity’s dead body and put it in Aphrodite.” The grin on his face slowly faded as he talked. “Isn’t that how Hunter came about? You were unsatisfied with Trinity so you thought you’d try your own hand at making a superior Olympian. What do you think they’ll say about that?” Apollo’s smile became a mocking frown as he pointed toward the gaping hole in the Temple wall that had been his door. “That way. Now.”