by Meg Xuemei X
“Close the bridge,” Aphrodite whimpered, slouching on the ground. “Close the gate. Please, somebody.”
Her ex-husband, who strode beside Alaric with his chin high, paused to stare down at the Goddess of Love, Lust, and Beauty. “Aphrodite, heavens, you look like a crone with all the wrinkles on your face.”
Aphrodite tried to smooth out the crow’s feet with her hands, which now had age spots. “It’s all her fault. She’s a monster, the worst kind!”
“I suggest you don’t provoke Cass now,” Hephaestus said in half sympathy. “Cass is a lot of fun, but she has a temper. You discovered that for yourself when you met her in Hell, tried to seduce and steal her mates, and failed.”
“If you want to get the divorce papers, Hephaestus,” I said, “now’s probably the time.”
The God of Blacksmiths looked hesitant. “I can’t kick her when she’s down. She doesn’t have the ability to discuss business with me or anyone right now.”
“Close the gate,” Aphrodite repeated. “Shut out the creature of nightmares.”
“It’s too late,” another god sobbed. “The monster is in our realm, hunting us.”
Now they knew what it felt like to be stalked and hunted.
As we marched across the long bridge toward the city, I swaggered as if I owned the realm. Attitude is everything, baby. Then a thought clicked in my head. If we could dissemble the pure jade bridge and carry it to my mates’ and my house, it’d be worth a fortune.
Before I could voice my brilliant idea, a shimmer of white light blocked us at the brink of the bridge.
I yelped, “What the fuck?” and jumped back, but my overprotective mates only lunged forward instinctively.
Gaea materialized in her regal, shapely goddess form. She’d changed her outfit and was now clad in a black velvet gown, her hair glimmering pure white. In her left hand she carried a black sword, dark fire swathing the blade.
She’d taken the image of the Goddess of Death and abandoned the crown of plants and blossoms. Who did she intend to kill?
I tensed, as did my mates. Our focus switched to her.
“You can’t go into their city, daughter,” Gaea said. “Mount Olympus is in motion and will spin back to their own time and space. Hecate, the Goddess of Fate, activated the code and initiated the survival sequence. For the first time, they considered their world as being invaded. Once you step into the city, you won’t be able to leave it, and you won’t come back to our realm for a very long time.”
“Holy fuck!” I cried. “Did they try to trap me? They think their land is being invaded by us? That’s a false accusation!”
I looked to my mates. Gaea might have lied about it all. The gods’ shining city was within reach, open to us. I wanted that dowry.
“We’d better not take the risk, sweetheart,” Alaric said. “My father once tried to trick me into leaving with him by inviting me into spinning Mount Olympus.”
“But you turned him down,” I said.
“I did,” the demigod confirmed.
“Good mate,” I said in appreciation. “Or you would never have met me.”
“I wouldn’t miss you for the whole universe, love,” Alaric said softly.
My face flamed, and delight sparkled in my eyes. I really liked my mates calling me love.
I needed a lot of love, man. My big heart could contain them all.
I gave the golden city of everlasting blossoms, floating buildings, and flowing rainbows one last regretful glance.
“Fine,” I said heatedly. “I’ll just figure out another way to make money.”
“You have all the money you could ever need already, baby,” Reys said with a smile.
That was true.
We turned around, walking back toward the gods as they inched toward their city.
“Kill them, daughter,” Gaea instructed, her face stone cold, her eyes glacial, “before they can leave.”
The gods halted their advance, their dull eyes widening in raw fear and hatred.
They’d eradicated many species, and tried to do the same here on Earth, but being wiped out themselves was a foreign concept to them.
“Slow down, Gaea,” I said.
“We don’t have much time left,” she snapped. “We need to take them out and rid ourselves of the final threat.”
Threats to her, not to me, not anymore.
“Uh, that sounds cool, but that’s not my plan,” I said. “I’ll punish them, but not with death.”
“You must kill Zeus!” Hades shouted from somewhere, like a shark smelling fresh blood and coming alive.
I’d drained part of Hades’s energy as well, but not too much, since I didn’t want his death force in me or in Earth.
Both Hades and Gaea still thought they were in control.
Gaea wheeled in the icy wind and flew toward Zeus.
Damn, the primal Earth Goddess was formidably fast. Her blue flame slammed into Zeus before my tri-fires could block it, and the King of Gods groaned in agony in his weakened state.
Hadn’t she said she couldn’t kill the Olympian gods? What a lying bitch! She’d been waiting for me to do all the dirty, hard work and then she planned to deliver the killing blow when it was safe for her.
“Don’t let her!” I called to my mates.
My mates all wanted to kill the gods, too, yet they didn’t question my directive.
Alaric moved before anyone else did.
His flaming sword flew up just in time to block the primal Earth Goddess’s final strike, her black blade inches from Zeus’s neck.
“How dare you, demigod!” Gaea hissed.
“You won’t kill my father,” Alaric said flatly, his blade holding down my grandmother’s, his dragon fire and lightning whipping around him menacingly, ready to take on the primal Earth Goddess.
A crystal tear formed in Zeus’s eyes before it disappeared. It was probably the first time he’d ever heard Alaric calling him father.
“Cassandra Saélihn, kill Zeus,” Hades ordered. “I command you.”
He thought that calling my full name would give him power over me. He thought the dark spell he’d put on me was still active and in place.
“Do what you were born to do, daughter!” Gaea demanded as well.
“Uh, problem is,” I said, flashing Hades and Gaea an apologetic, syrupy smile, “if I kill my mate’s father, he’ll divorce me. I love Alaric too much to want that. And you can see why—the demigod is fucking hot. So, I came up with a better plan.”
I turned to the gods, scanning them. “You think my grandmother would really betray me, her own bloodline?” I shook my head at them in disappointment. “She played you like tenfold fools. She used your hand to put the blade in my heart with a war god’s blood on it so my full power could be activated, so I could destroy all you dumb douchebags.”
There, just like that, I’d made Gaea the Olympian gods’ immortal and everlasting enemy.
Gaea looked at me icily.
“You’re right, granny,” I said. “You bred me to kill the Olympians, but I’ve outgrown it. We all need to grow up at some point, right, even a foul-mouthed brat like me?”
“You’re beyond wise for your age, Cassandra.” Poseidon praised me, letting out a pent-up breath of relief.
The gods were formidable, yet every single one of them was afraid of death.
“Oh, shut up, you cowardly rapist pig,” I said, sending my dragon fire to melt his hair and turn him bald in an instant. “I can’t stand the sight of you. For the justice that’s long due to Demeter and your many other victims, you’ll be the first to go when the time comes.”
“What do you want to do with them then?” Gaea scolded in cold rage, her eyes narrowing to slits like a vicious cat’s. “Invite them to your house to eat your cakes?”
“No one eats my cakes,” I said, smiling at her with my shiny white teeth on full display. “I’ll stab their tongues with my silver fork before I let them touch a piece. So, here’s what I’d
like to do. First, I suspect we can really kill the major gods. Their heads will eventually grow back on their thick necks after we behead them, after they experience excruciating pain. They’ll have nightmares after they’re reborn and will waste taxpayers’ money to go through a lot of PTSD therapy sessions.
“However, I can probably keep them all in my cells, but it’s not easy to find a suitable, well-equipped prison, and it also costs my mates’ their hard-earned money. Besides, I’ll have to drain them daily to weaken them so they won’t break out of the jail. If they escape, it’ll cause panic and havoc in the streets. Babysitting the gods will be like a full-time job for me. My mates will surely complain. They’re the best mates ever, but they aren’t the run-of-the-mill type of males who will put up with anyone’s shit or even mine. To be honest, they can be a little demanding.”
Reys and Pyrder both arched identical eyebrows. When they did that, they were incredibly hot. My heart fluttered as an image of both of them with me in bed flashed before my eyelids.
Not now, Cass, not now. I chastised myself sternly.
I cleared my throat. “They want me to spend a lot of quality time with them.” I grinned at the thought of how we would hang out for eternity. “It’s understandable, since we’re newlyweds. And always babysitting the gods will hurt my marriage.”
I slanted a glance at my mates. We weren’t exactly married.
“We’ll make it official tomorrow, dulcis,” Lorcan said. “And of course, there’ll be a grand wedding ceremony to your liking.”
“And rings and vows and four sets of expensive wedding dresses?” I pressed, my eyes brightening.
“All those things and more, Cass baby,” Pyrder said. “We’ll even go shopping with you to get whatever you want. No bargains needed.”
“There’ll be wedding cakes, the largest in the world,” Reys also promised.
I pressed a palm to my chest as my poor little heart beat in such joy, but then my heart sank a little. Wasn’t it customary for the bride’s parents to pay for the wedding?
“And who’s going to pay for the honeymoon?” I asked, sending Gaea a meaningful glance, but she only glared at me, as if I was the worst disappointment in the world.
Which meant she wasn’t going to spare a penny.
“We’re paying, of course, love,” Alaric said with a light chortle, and the rest of my mates also chuckled.
“Fine,” I said, waving a hand. “We can talk about a marriage proposal and contract among ourselves later. Right now, we have a more urgent matter at hand.” I trained my gaze on Gaea while I watched the gods from the corners of my eyes in case they made a stupid monkey move, though my mates’ team was watching every god closely with their blades at the ready.
I spread my arms. “You see, granny, I have such wonderful, generous mates, so I can’t let the gods get between our relationship. So, between killing the bad Olympians, babysitting them, or exiling them, I choose to send them into the limbo zone in an eternal prison.”
The gods all started talking at once to issue their objections, but our warriors shushed them harshly.
“How are you going to achieve that, Cassandra?” Hades demanded, yet wicked delight brimmed in his eyes.
He obviously loved the idea of banishing his long-time nemesis.
“Never underestimate what Death can teach you,” I said enigmatically. When I fused the door of life and death and walked through it, all the genetic knowledge in me had been unleashed in my mind like the explosion of firecrackers. That moment of soul-tearing agony was all worth it for what I’d gained.
I’d known and accepted my true self.
I was the monster, an ultimate predator in the universe.
But this monster protected her own.
My own mother had once locked the monster in a cage to spare the world, but I hadn’t destroyed the world but saved it, because I was loved.
Because my four mates were my forever bright light, and even the massive darkness in me could never snuff it out or dim it.
So I put my dark power that held the door of life and death to good use. My darkness weaved and weaved until it became an unbreakable net that transcended time and space, until it cocooned every god whom I would deport into the phantom zone in deep space.
“What have you done to us, Cass?” Ares asked, choking on his own rage and terror.
“Release me now, Cassandra, or you’ll regret—” Poseidon demanded, as if he were in any position to threaten or bargain.
I didn’t give him a chance to utter his garbage, as I’d promised that he’d be the first stinking cargo to go.
The sea god vanished into the dark vacuum, his scream drowned out by a force mightier than him. My fires sealed the cocoon, and none could break free of the jail until I decided to release the unfortunate prisoner by my sole will.
“Where did my brother go?” Zeus asked, beads of sweat forming on his broad forehead.
“You will all enter a cocoon of a cell that will drift in the universe like a boat floating on the endless black sea,” I said. “None of you will get off the boat until I find mercy in my heart and cut you loose. You should use the time to reflect on your past sins and repent.”
“Don’t do this, Cass,” Zeus said. “Let me go to my realm, and I vow that we’ll never return to Earth.”
Their race wouldn’t return even if I begged them, as long as this monster of nightmares was here. I sent Alaric a glance, but he didn’t say anything, his jaw clenched. He’d let me make the decision.
“You’re King of Gods, Zeus,” I said. “Your people will need your leadership even in exile.”
And then Zeus was gone. His fellow gods, who had fought against us, followed, sent into the dark vacuum. They vanished one by one, or in groups, floating in the dark space that none but I could see.
Hades roared with laughter. “That’s even better than killing him. Suits him well.”
“You should’ve killed them all, Cassandra.” Gaea sulked. “They’ll forever be out there, the potential threat always looming. I’ve dealt with them for eons. My mate had to leave this galaxy because the Olympian gods placed an unbreakable dark curse on him.”
She wanted to eradicate the Olympian gods as the last threat to the Dragon God and her. Yet unknown to her, that was exactly the reason I’d spared the gods, so I could save them for her.
She’d learn soon that I, Cass Saélihn, played dirtier.
I didn’t forget. And I never forgave.
“What fun can I have if I kill them all?” I smiled humbly. “I have eternity, and I don’t want to grow bored.”
I flicked my wrists, weaving my dark cocoon once again and sending the remaining few gods off the shore.
The last to go were Apollo, Ares, and Artemis, all who begged for mercy and understanding.
The bridge started to tremble. The countdown had begun, and Mount Olympus would return to its original time and space.
Hades strode toward the shining city, his stance proud, his black and silver cloak draping the long jade bridge. Death fire trailed after him like a menacing pet.
“Well done, Cassandra,” he said. “You can have the Underworld all for yourself. Take good care of it.” He paused for a second to savor the last, sweet moment. “As the new King of Gods, I’ll lead the Olympian charge into the glorious days ahead.” He’d probably take them all to hunt in a new galaxy. “We’re going home, but we’ll return to Earth one day. Until then. Au revoir, daughter.”
He even said goodbye in French to mock me.
“Not so fast, Hades,” I said with a sweet smile.
My dark mass lashed out, bundling him in a cocoon. He threw his death fire at me, but I swallowed it as nutrition.
“Uh, Father,” I said. “You can’t really kill me. I’m Death. And I hold the door of life and death, which is the one I use to trap you. That is the final trick I learned when you tried to place that nasty curse on me in Hell’s Diamond Room.”
My tri-fires sealed the eternal
prison I’d prepared for the Lord of the Underworld.
“So, while I trained you and taught you the games, you pretended to surrender to me?” Hades bellowed in rage. “You little brat, you used me. You deceived your father!”
“I’m sorry, Father,” I said. “You taught me too well. But you should have learned a bit more about me before you took me in as your star pupil. My mates all know that I don’t like a crappy deal. And I’d never allow anyone, any curse, or any force to separate me from my mates. I love them!”
My mates’ eyes glowed with love and appreciation.
They were my anchor, the rain to my drought, and the light to my soul. They gave me humanity I wasn’t born with. They set me free from an unbreakable cage and offered me a safe home and loving arms. As long as I had them, I would never be lost.
Persephone came forward, her blue gaze darting between her husband, wrapped in darkness, and the glistening Olympian city.
“Come with me, my queen,” Hades pleaded, stretching his hand toward her in his limited prison space.
“Persephone!” Demeter warned, extending her hand toward her daughter.
A shadow of sorrow passed over Persephone’s face, and then she grabbed her mother’s hand.
“Au revoir, father,” I said. “Join your brethren and have a safe journey. You won’t grow bored, though. In the phantom zone, your king Zeus, your former god pals, and you will all be able to enjoy each other’s company. You can still debate. Find a good topic, and you’ll benefit from it, perhaps even learn something.” I raised a finger to emphasize a point. “And I promise you, this banishment isn’t forever. In the end, you’ll have a fighting chance.”
Just not on my Earth under my watch.
“No, Cassandra!” Hades yelled. “No, daughter, please, I order you—”
I flicked my wrist and sent him to join the other gods in the vacuum of darkness in deep space.
The bridge beneath my feet vibrated violently.
Time was running out.
“Go, Demeter. Take your people and go home,” I said. “Be a good queen to them.”
Tears glinted on Demeter’s blond eyelashes. “Thank you, Cass. You take care.”
