Healed by Fire Artemis Lupine 3

by Banks, Catherine

  I turned back to the issue at hand and ran forward, releasing my powers, but not my wings and used a fireball to push back the elves. Koda ran at my side, now in wolf form and snapped his teeth at them.

  Hera walked behind us at a leisurely pace as though we were simply walking through a park.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Bret with more growl to his voice than human words.

  “Saving you,” Ares said. “Now shut up and go stand by the Sidhe Queen.”

  Bret looked like he wanted to object, but he limped his way to Hera and stood beside her. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he whispered.

  I walked to stand beside Ares and smiled at the elves. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen elves bleed. I should like to draw this fight out a bit.”

  Ares laughed, sounding incredibly creepy in his half shift. “The crowd craves blood, let’s give them a show!”

  The elves charged forward, their eyes burning with blood lust. I dodged the spear one threw at me and kicked him in the chest, making him fly backwards to land on his back. An elf charged at Ares, but Ares snapped the spear in half and then impaled the elf with the end he’d broken off.

  The crowd was cheering madly, standing up and raising their fists in the air. Koda walked backwards and sat beside Bret, apparently deciding that we didn’t need help in this fight.

  The elf I’d kicked jumped up and flung dirt at my face. I covered my face, but he punched me in the ribs, knocking my breath from me. “Dirty little elf!” I yelled as I backhanded him across the face and then kicked his legs out from under him. I dropped down onto his body and began punching his face as hard and as fast as I could. Blood sprayed and it took me a minute to realize that he was dead. I stood up and walked to stand beside Ares. I had a moment to feel excited that I was standing beside my brother again in battle, before refocusing on the situation.

  Two of the elves charged at us, so we grabbed them both in headlocks and snapped their heads off simultaneously. That maneuver pleased the crowd who were all on their feet, screaming themselves hoarse.

  Ares and I looked at the final elf who now seemed scared. “How should we kill this one?” Ares asked as he began pacing in a wide circle around the elf. “The crowd wants a messy death. They want someone ripped in two.”

  “Or perhaps sliced up into multiple pieces,” I suggested, “we did end this fight too quickly.”

  Ares ripped the spear from the body of the elf he’d killed. “That is a good suggestion, but I think beheading him might be the most pleasing to the crowd. Plus, I grow bored with these Games.”

  Ares spun around and sliced the elf’s head clean off. The elf’s body fell to the ground twitching and Ares stabbed the spear into the bottom of the head, holding it up above him and then flung it into the crowd.

  Maurice raised his hand and four men blew on their trumpets. A gate to the left of us opened and the crowd grew silent in anticipation.

  “What do you suppose he’s kept hidden from us?” I asked as I stood beside Ares, watching the gate.

  “It would have to be something extremely powerful to take out both of us,” Ares said with a somewhat demented smile on his half wolf-half man face. “I hope its ogres.”

  The trumpets blew again and a spear flew from the darkness of the gate. Ares and I dodged separate ways, avoiding the spear by mere inches. The spear imbedded into the stone wall behind us. I turned and inspected the spear, knowing Ares would warn me of any attacks. “It’s imbedded over two feet. Something strong is waiting for us.”

  Ares scoffed. “I could have imbedded it five feet at least, with your body hanging from it.”

  I walked to stand beside him and stared into the open gate. “You think it’s a machine? A preternatural should have come out by now instead of cowering in there like a scared whelp.”

  A roar quite similar to Ares’ sounded and then a werewolf in half shift walked out of the shadows.

  Ares growled. “Darius. I should have known since he was always awful at all of the sporting contests we held in Lyngvi every century.”

  “Why would your King fight in the Games against you?” I asked in shock. Such a thing would never happen among the Sidhe.

  “He thinks he can best me and wants it to be public. He will soon learn the error of his ways.”

  “Why would Darren and Darius betray their own race?” I asked curiously.

  Ares smiled. “Because they think Maurice is stronger than he really is. They don’t realize how strong Victor is since he’s been hiding it and only lets me see his true power. In order to keep from being overtaken, the two cowardly wolves bowed to the Vampire King to save their own hides. That’s why Darren betrayed his own daughter and the wolves. They’re scum and I plan to kill Darius now so the pack is clean of his cowardice.”

  Darius stopped once he’d reached the center of the ring and then tilted his head back and howled. Six wolves ran out of the gate to stand behind him, all snarling and frothing at the mouth.

  “He brought some pups with him,” Ares said with a smile on his face. “It has been a long time since I’ve fought my own kind.”

  “Ares,” I whispered, moving closer to him, “Won’t you be unable to move against him if he commands you since he’s your alpha?”

  Ares laughed. “That fool has never been my alpha. He knows that I am the true alpha of the werewolves and that’s why he can’t even fight me on his own. I should have killed that bitch years ago, but my mother had seemed happy with him.” He frowned a moment and then said, “I hope she likes being a widow.”

  Maurice raised his arms and the chattering of the crowd stopped. “Today we have a rare feast for you. Today the Alpha of the Werewolves fights the Beta of the Werewolves in a fight to the death!”

  “I’ve grown tired of your annoying presence,” Darius said to Ares. “I only wish your halfbreed bitch was here so I could kill her too.”

  Ares growled loudly. “You’ve done nothing, but sully the name of Werewolves. I intend to fix that presently. Once I’ve killed you and ripped your heart from your body, I will take my true position as Alpha and see that we are restored to our original place of honor. No longer shall we be second to the vampires, but soon we will be their equals as we should be!”

  Ares sprinted forward, slashing and punching at Darius so fast that it was hard for even my eyes to track. The other wolves started to move towards Ares, but I ran forward, cutting them off, forming a wall of fire between me and them. Koda ran from his spot beside my mother to jump on the back of the nearest wolf. He bit into the scruff of the wolf and shook his head fast. The wolf struggled against Koda, but with one more quick shake he snapped the wolf’s neck and released his hold to let the dead body fall to the ground. The other wolves turned and growled at Koda. He shifted to his man form and said, “Submit or die!”

  The wolves’ knees trembled as they fought against his command. Being third in the werewolf hierarchy made Koda’s commands very difficult to ignore. I released my wall of fire and turned to see how Ares was faring.

  Ares’ left arm was bleeding from three cuts he must have received from Darius’ claws. Darius was the worse for wear as he had cuts littering his body and a pool of blood forming at his feet in the sand. Both were fighting fiercely however, so Darius wasn’t hurt enough to be slowed down.

  I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned just as one of the wolves jumped at me. He knocked me to the ground, snapping his jaw at my throat. I shoved him off of me and stood up. “Thanks for the warning, Koda,” I said as I looked for him.

  “Sorry, I sort of have my hands full and didn’t see that one slip away,” he said where he was sitting on top of a pile of five men all whining and whimpering.

  I turned and grabbed the wolf by its throat as it charged at me again and held it up. “Charging madly will not win the fight. You must learn to be stealthy and silent.”

  I tossed him towards Koda who grabbed him and forced him to change back to man.
“Lie down and be still like the rest of your brothers,” commanded Koda.

  I stared in shock as the five men lay down and remained still. Perhaps Ares was not the only one capable of being Alpha. With the wolves taken care of that only left Ares and Darius left to battle it out. I walked to Hera and sat down on the ground beside her. “How has the fight gone?”

  “Darius has opened a few cuts and landed a few hits, whereas Ares has opened at least a hundred cuts and has landed as many hits. Unfortunately Darius does not seem to be slowing or weakening.” She closed her eyes a moment and then opened them to stare intently at Darius. “I wonder if there is some type of spell keeping him from feeling pain or from weakening. He should be slowing by now.”

  “I don’t see anything,” I said as I watched Darius and Ares exchanging blows.

  She frowned. “It could be a talisman or a stone enchanted with the spell.”

  I watched as Ares and Darius fought and sighed. “I can’t tell from so far away. Ares! He’s got a talisman or stone that’s keeping him from weakening! You have to get it away from him before you can defeat him, short of ripping his head off!”

  Ares growled and slashed at Darius’ throat, but Darius stepped back in the nick of time, missing Ares’ claws. “Can’t even fight me fairly, can you Darius?!” Ares yelled as he attacked him. Darius swung at Ares and Ares dropped to the ground, picking up a spear shaft in his hand. He swung the shaft into Darius’ upper right leg and then into his left. Darius growled and tried to grab the shaft, but Ares swung it up, connecting with Darius’ jaw and making him fly up into the air, completely off his feet. Darius landed on his back on the ground and started to get up, but Ares straddled his chest, pinning his arms with his legs and shoving the shaft against his throat. Ares ripped a necklace off of Darius’ neck and tossed it towards me. “Is that it?” he asked as he punched Darius’ face again and again. Blood sprayed from Darius’ nose as Ares broke it, but Darius just continued to struggle against Ares.

  Hera took the necklace and shook her head. “Nope.”

  Ares spun around Darius’ in a wrestling move I’d often seen humans in the mixed martial arts competitions use and grabbed Darius’ leg in a leg lock. He reached up with one hand while Darius struggled to free his leg and stuck it inside Darius’ pocket. Darius yelled and tried to grab Ares’ hand, but Ares held him down with his leg across his chest and tossed the stone to us before he could reach him.

  Hera caught the stone and gasped. “Yes, this is it. You can kill him now.”

  Ares stood up off Darius who was now lying on the ground gasping in pain and moaning. “You thought you could defeat me with a cheap stone?! A stupid spell?! I could have just ripped your head off when I had you pinned on the ground, but that’s too swift a death for you.”

  Darius shifted to his man form and whispered, “You’re not wolf enough to be Alpha. They will not bow to you.”

  Ares laughed. “You can’t even hold your form and you say I’m not wolf enough? I’m more wolf than you could ever hope to be!”

  Ares kicked him in the ribs. “That is for frightening my mate.” He grabbed Darius’ arm and bent it backwards, breaking the bone. “That is for ordering me around the world on stupid missions simply because you couldn’t stand seeing all of the females crawling all over me.” He grabbed a spear and snapped off the tip. He sat down and with skill that suggested he’d done this many times before, cut open Darius’ chest and tore his heart from it. “And that’s for giving Matt’s female to the vampires to assist in his treachery and death!”

  The crowd exploded in cheers and began chanting, “Ares!” over and over again.

  Ares threw the heart up into the pulpit at Maurice’s feet. “A gift from the new Alpha of the Werewolves to the King of the Vampires. Don’t say I never gave you anything.”

  Maurice glared at us from his seat. “You’ve won this time,” he said angrily.

  Ares smiled and touched his pointer finger to his forehead in a mock salute. “We’ll see you soon, Maurice.”

  We walked back to my mother and she grabbed onto us, teleporting us back to the training ground. I looked down and sighed. “I’m covered in blood and dirt.”

  Ares shrugged, motioning to his own dirt and blood covered body. “I’m worse.” He shifted back to full man and looked around expectantly. “Where would they have taken her?”

  Bret dropped to his knees on the ground and grunted in pain. “Thank you.”

  Ares pushed him on to his back and started examining his wounds. “You’re welcome, but I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Artemis. She would have been very upset if you were dead.”

  “Artemis? She’s here?” Bret asked excitedly, trying to stand up.

  Ares pushed him back down. “Stay still. Yes, she’s here, but she’s sleeping. You need to lie still for about an hour for your wounds to heal properly.”

  “I need to get back. I need to find my people,” Bret said as he tried to sit up again.

  “Lie still!” Ares commanded. Bret stilled, unable to ignore Ares’ command. “What people? Tell us how you got into the Games in the first place.”

  “I found the villagers from the town Artemis and I grew up in. They all had your brand, but they were living in the middle of nowhere on the run from vampires who had apparently tried to kill them. I’ve been protecting the descendents for the past one hundred years.”

  Ares groaned. “Artemis is going to want to run out and find them when she hears of this.”

  “Do we have to tell her?” I asked.

  Ares smiled. “As much as I would like to keep it from her, we should tell her. Besides, Bret won’t lie to her about it. Bret, we will wait until after tomorrow’s battle to tell her though. I do not want to have her focus waver during the battle. Do you understand?”

  Bret nodded his head. “Yes, Alpha.”

  “I’m going to clean up. Ares, you should probably do the same so Artemis doesn’t faint when she sees you.” I started for the main building where my quarters were.

  “You don’t think she would view it as sexy?” he asked as he stood up and flexed his biceps.

  Koda laughed. “Artemis would if she had been in the battle with you, but since she was left behind she would only be worried.”

  Ares fingered his left arm where Darius had scratched him. “I hate when it’s healing and it starts to itch. If you scratch it too hard you reopen it and it has to re-heal which then makes it itch again.”

  Koda smacked his hand. “This is why you have to suffer through it until it doesn’t itch anymore.”

  “You’d be scratching it too if you were covered in dirt and blood and had cuts that were healing,” Ares grumbled as he headed towards the main part of town where a public bathhouse was run by Poseidon, a blue Sidhe who loved water.

  I looked down at Bret who was still lying on the ground. “You can’t move, can you?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t sit up at least.”

  “I’m going to wash up and change quickly and then I’ll be back. Just relax and let your wounds heal.”

  “As if I can do anything else,” Bret muttered angrily.

  I ignored him and continued to my room. I really wished to soak in a bath, but I felt bad leaving Bret alone. I would feel much better once the blood and dirt was washed off my skin.

  ~~~

  ARTEMIS

  Chapter Twenty

  My eyes opened slowly as I regained consciousness. I was surprised that I did not dream while I had been asleep, but being put in a spelled slumber was not the same as falling asleep. The room was dark, no lights on anywhere. I sat up and was met with three pairs of eyes watching me from chairs in front of the bed. My night vision kicked in and as I looked around I recognized my surroundings as Achilles’ chambers. “Have they returned?” I asked nervously.

  Theseus nodded his head. “They returned a few moments ago and are waiting for you in the training grounds. We are to escort you there.”

  I stoo
d up and smiled. “I’ve no need of an escort.” I closed my eyes and focused on the image of the place I wanted to go and summoned my power.

  Nothing happened.

  “You cannot teleport while restrained in magical chains,” said Erebos in his deep voice.

  I opened my eyes and sighed. “Fine, escort me.”

  “You know we do not like doing this. We were ordered to guard you,” said Heracles as he came to unchain me.

  I nodded my head. “I know. I do not blame you or hold anger towards you.”

  Surrounded by the men who had been holding me prisoner I now walked in a circle of protection. I knew that Ares and Achilles had forced me to stay behind to try to protect me and not having to wring my hands in worry had been good for my nerves, but I felt betrayed.

  We walked through the halls of the main building of the Sidhe court and out through a set of large doors to the open grassy area used for training. Our pack of halfbreed wolves was all around Ares with eyes intently fixed on him. Ares looked up and smiled at me. There was something different about him. He seemed bigger somehow. I shook my head at the ridiculous thought. He couldn’t have gotten bigger. So what was it?