Healed by Fire Artemis Lupine 3

by Banks, Catherine

“Who’s that?” I asked Victor softly.

  “His wife. He was turned while he was still with her and he could not control the bloodlust when he went back to visit her.”

  “Is that why this cathedral hasn’t been destroyed?” I asked.

  Victor nodded his head. “My father agreed to leave this building intact at Dmitri’s request.”

  A second sarcophagus sat beside Dmitri’s wife, but its lid was blank. “Who is that?” I asked as I motioned towards it.

  “No one lies there. That was supposed to be Dmitri’s burial place when he died.”

  I walked to it and laid Artemis’ body along its cold stone lid. Dmitri was still whispering quietly beside his wife’s sarcophagus and I felt immense pity for him and a determination not to be in the same situation. I arranged Artemis’ body comfortably and placed her hands on her stomach. She looked like an angel.

  I could hear Hera elsewhere in the catacombs, wailing through the wall of the tomb and felt her power beating against the stone walls. I knew I should be mourning the loss of my brother, but I couldn’t think of his death while I held Artemis’ lifeless hand in mine.

  I walked with Victor and helped him secure the front door so that any passersby wouldn’t walk in.

  “Ares think about it before you do anything rash,” Victor pleaded with me as he followed me back into the room.

  “I’ve thought about it enough. I’m going to get her and bring her back,” I answered.

  “Let us discuss it first. Seek council from Koda and your father. Please,” Victor said with such concern in his voice that it made me stop to look at the vampire.

  We’d known each other one thousand years and he’d never spoken to me with such evident worry. “Very well,” I answered quietly. I turned to Koda who had been listening passively. “Koda?”

  Koda turned his head, breaking the silent stare he’d had on Artemis’ body. Huh?

  “Do I go after Artemis or stay here and let her rot?” I asked.

  Victor groaned and threw his hands up into the air. “You’re impossible! Koda, does he go, possibly to his death, to try and possibly fail to get Artemis? Or does he stay here safe, happy and alive?”

  Koda looked at Artemis’ still body and then met my eyes. Bring her back.

  Koda was the most emotional of my brothers’ and the lack of emotion in his eyes frightened me. It could only mean one thing, he was bottling it up. That could result in a catastrophic event for him and me if he didn’t release soon, especially since he was staying in wolf form. I debated whether to force him out of wolf form, but Zeus walked into the room interrupting my thoughts.

  “Finally, someone who thinks logically. Please, talk some sense into your son,” Victor begged.

  Zeus ignored all of us and walked to Artemis’ side. He dropped to his knees and cradled her small hand between his two giant ones. “I am so sorry, child. We should have been there to save you. I should have been fighting beside my son. I have failed you.” Silent tears slid down his face as he kissed the back of her hand. “I will never forgive myself for this.”

  Victor sighed softly. “So much for logical.”

  “Father,” I whispered.

  Zeus placed Artemis’ hand on her stomach and walked to us. “Yes?”

  “Do you think I should venture to Death’s realm to try to barter for Artemis’ soul? Or let her death be?”

  Zeus shook his head. “I will have no part in this. I’ve lost one son and one daughter. I will not help you decide and possibly cause your death as well.”

  “Tell him not to go,” Victor pleaded. “Tell him to stay.”

  Zeus shook his head again. “No, it is his decision. If he goes than he does so with my blessing. If he stays than he does so with my blessing. I am neutral and will remain neutral.”

  “Thank you, Father.”

  Zeus gripped my shoulder in a sign of affection and left the room.

  “I’m going, Victor. I must. And I need to go now, before her body fully dies and Death permanently holds her.”

  Victor hissed angrily and turned towards the door. “Well I’m not going to sit by and watch you die.”

  “Thank you, Victor.”

  He met my eyes and shook his head. “I hope you get her back. I do not wish to bury your body.”

  “I love you too man,” I said in a silly tone, reminiscent of the human’s stereotypical hippie voice to try to lighten his mood.

  Victor shook his head and left the room.

  Hades had followed us in and now stood silently beside me. I could sense he did not want to do what I was asking, but I also knew that he would do it if I asked.

  “Send me. I have to get her back,” I whispered without taking my eyes from Artemis’ face.

  “You know you might not be able to get her back. If Death decides to keep you there too, I cannot return you to your body either. You may both die this night,” said Hades in warning.

  “I have no reason to return to my body if I can’t bring her back,” I answered. I kissed her lips and whispered, “I’m coming, Sunshine. I’m coming to bring you back from the darkness.”

  I lay down on the ground beside her and closed my eyes. “You’re in charge,” I told Koda who only huffed in response. I should have tried to console him since he was my only living pack mate at the moment, but I didn’t want my focus to waver from Artemis.

  Hades put his hands on my head and chest and spoke quickly in Latin. Pain surged through my body, but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt losing her. This pain I could handle. This was only physical pain. Darkness rolled over me, through me and then surrounded me.

  Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Nothing was anywhere. I growled angrily and closed my eyes, focusing on my senses and searching for any movement. Any sound. Any smell.

  “Death!” I yelled into the void.

  I still couldn’t sense anything and my wolf side did not like that fact. It was too close to being in a cage or being trapped for me. I inhaled and yelled, “Death! Show yourself!”

  The darkness stirred and a hooded figure stepped out in front of me. Its cloak looked like it was formed from the darkness that surrounded us and made me wonder if it could consume a person if placed over them. The scythe it carried was at least seven feet long, a full foot taller than Death and had a wicked sharp edge that gleamed even in the darkness.

  It raised its hand and instead of the black void where I had been, I now stood in a royal chamber and Death sat upon the throne. The carpet and upholstery were black instead of red like most kings would have. I supposed that black was a fitting color for Death’s throne room, though I personally would have gone for a less cliché color myself, probably blue. Or purple, like Artemis’ eyes.

  Death stroked the scythe, which was now sitting beside it like a king would stroke his scepter. “Ares Lupine,” it said in a voice like rocks grinding against each other, “I have longed to see your face in my realm.”

  “I regret to inform you that I am not yet dead.”

  Death laughed and said, “I am aware of that, Ares. I am also aware of the fact that you are here for the two souls I received during your battle.” It was odd not to see a face while talking to someone, but then again Death wasn’t really a person.

  “I will take Achilles’ soul back with me if you permit, but if you only allow me one soul than I will take my mate back. It is not her time. She still has a prophecy to fulfill.” I walked closer to Death, wondering what game I was going to have to play to get Artemis back or what price might be asked of me.

  Death stood and motioned for me to follow. It walked down a hallway lined with what looked like black velvet and with sconces made of bones. Pictures of beings in various states of torture hung every ten feet along the wall on the right side while paintings of battlefields pooling with blood lined the left side. I knew this was all just a conjured image, but it was going a long way to keep up the charade for me. Was there some point it was trying to make?

  The sounds
of moaning and wails began to echo down the hallway. The hair on the nape of my neck stood up and the wolf within me grew uneasy. Was this a trap? Or perhaps it was going to test me somehow?

  The hallway ended at a large metal door and Death pushed it open. The wailing grew incredibly loud as I stepped through the door to stand on a stone balcony overlooking a black river. Glittering silver specters swirled around inside the river and I realized that’s where the moaning was coming from. “The river Styx?” I asked in shock.

  Death nodded its head. “Some of the beliefs of each religion are true. It is unfortunate the humans could not come together to understand the complete truths of each.”

  A young girl, no older than seven years old, walked across the bank on the opposite side of the river towards the water. Her eyes were lost and full of fear as she stepped into the water, but as soon as it closed over her head her fear evaporated and a smile spread over her face.

  I stared at the writhing black water a moment longer before asking. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “There are some who would die to see this,” Death quipped.

  Death was trying to joke with me. At another time I might have laughed, but there was no humor in my heart at the moment. “Are you going to make me swim through it to find my mate’s soul?” I asked.

  Death laughed. “You would not survive the waters. The others would eat you alive if the water did not take you first. No, Ares Lupine, I have brought you here to see the truth of fate. There is no heaven or hell. Your soul simply glides around the waters until I release it to disappear and let you rest.”

  That was partially reassuring since I’d always assumed I was going to Hell for all of the beings I’d killed, but also slightly disheartening to know we simply vanished.

  Death walked back to the first room and sat on the throne. “Why have you come to me?”

  “You know the answer to that question,” I replied angrily.

  “Yes,” Death said with amusement in its voice, “But apparently you, do not.”

  It waved a hand and Artemis appeared in human form beside Death. A light pulsed where her heart was, her soul, but a second light pulsed in her stomach as well.

  “I’m surprised that you would so easily give up the soul of your unborn child,” Death said mockingly.

  I stared in shock at the small pulsing light in my mate’s stomach as Death’s words sunk in. Artemis was pregnant. That’s why she had been throwing up. I’d thought it had been nerves, but obviously it was more than that.

  “What price would you pay for your mate and your child’s souls?” asked Death as it ran a hand along Artemis’ side.

  I did not like it caressing my mate in such a manner. I tried to reign in my anger so as not to upset it. I couldn’t afford to piss it off and lose my mate and my child. How could I have been such a fool? How could I have let this go unnoticed? “I have given you thousands of souls and I will give you thousands more for their lives. Give my mate and my child back to me!” I commanded, losing control at the sight of it continuing to touch Artemis.

  “Only gods may command me, Ares of the Werewolves,” Death answered slowly. The taste of its fear tickled my tongue and excited the wolf within me. How long had it been since Death had been afraid? I wasn’t naive enough to assume I was the first to frighten it, but I was angry enough to want to be the last to. It grabbed its scythe, standing up and blocking my view of Artemis.

  My body began glowing as my anger grew and my Sidhe powers released. I moved faster than a human eye could track, stopping inches from Death. I had no fear of this thing and I had no fear of death. It had angered me and I was tired of its games. I yelled, “I AM THE GOD OF WAR! Give them to me!”

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