Mark of the Bear (Hades' Carnival)

by N. J. Walters

  “How?”

  “My powers are coming back a bit at a time. I’m still not at full strength and don’t know if I will be in time to fight Hades. I could not manifest this earlier, but I am glad I can now.” He fastened the simple tie at her neck, wishing he had a fancy silver and gemstone broach to close it with.

  “Thank you.” Her heartfelt gratitude filled him with pride. She’d needed and he’d provided. His bear approved.

  As much as he wanted to bask in the warmth of her appreciation, it was time to leave. “Come. We must move fast.” He held out his hand and she took it. He told himself it was because he didn’t want her to fall behind again. He couldn’t afford to lose her. The closer they got to the carnival the greater the danger became.

  It had nothing to do with the fact he wanted to touch her, to feel her small hand tucked firmly into his much larger one. He tightened his hold on her and began to move at a much slower pace through the thick forest.

  The lights of the carnival flickered in the distance. Kellsie had no idea how long they’d been walking but it had to be hours. They’d stopped twice for her to have a short rest and once at a small, trickling stream so they could drink. The sky was growing lighter so she knew it had to be close to dawn. She was exhausted and her feet hurt. It had been one heck of a long night.

  Somewhere between leaving the cave and now she’d come to grips with the fact this was real. Marko, Hades, the curse. All of it. So she had to deal with the facts.

  One, this wasn’t really a movie set. Two, she probably wasn’t going to live to spend that lovely money that had already been put in her bank account. Three, Marko really was a shapeshifter and could morph into a bear, which was kind of cool, but scary too. If he had strange powers then Hades’ demons probably did too. And that brought her to point number four. Hades was real. She knew deep in her soul that he’d been the voice in her dream, the one that had scared her half to death. Which only made sense considering who he was.

  But that begged the question, who did the female voice belong to? She didn’t want to think about some woman being trapped in Hell. Kellsie shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around her.

  And that was another thing. The way Marko had conjured the cloak out of thin air was astonishing. She only wished his powers had allowed him to bring the thing out when they’d been in the cave. It would have made things much more comfortable. But she understood that his powers were coming back a bit at a time. She was grateful to be wearing the cloak now. Rubbing her hand over the plush fur, she imagined how it would feel sliding over her naked flesh while Marko made love to her.

  No, she sternly reminded herself. They had not made love. They’d had sex. There was no way they could be in love. They’d just met. She didn’t really know anything about him other than the fact that he was loyal to his friends and was a god when it came to sex. Both great things, but certainly not enough to base a relationship on.

  She had to fight this growing connection she felt toward him. It was nothing more than proximity and the dangerous situation they were facing. It was heightening her emotions and making every reaction more extreme than it would be under ordinary circumstances.

  It had nothing to do with the fact that she’d dreamed of him before she met him. Nor that she felt as though he belonged to her in some strange fashion since she was the one to release him from his captivity. It didn’t have anything to do with her deep connection to the bear, which happened to be his animal form. She touched the pendant at her neck to make sure it was safe and snuggled the fur cloak around her. And it certainly had nothing to do with how she felt when they’d made lo—had sex, she reminded herself yet again.

  Hot, sweaty sex that had culminated in the most mind-blowing orgasm she’d ever had. Marko was the perfect male specimen. And why not? He was an immortal warrior after all. His body was a honed weapon, strong and sure. He was massive and muscular, but would that be enough to defeat Hades? According to the legend it hadn’t been enough the last time.

  Which brought her back to her list. She quickly ran through them again in her head and found the place she’d left off. Number five on her list was the most frightening. If all the rest was real then they had to survive until midnight tonight or Marko would lose his soul to Hades. In the meantime, Hades and his minions would try to either kill them both or convert Marko to the dark side.

  Kellsie frowned and came to a stop. Marko was still holding her hand and tugged her a few feet before he’d realized she was trying to pull him to a halt. He turned to her and frowned. “Are you feeling okay? We need to keep going. Are you thirsty? There’s a brook off to the right.”

  She cocked her head and listened but heard nothing. “How do you know there’s water there? I can’t hear anything.”

  He tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell it. And I can hear it.”

  “Really?” She wondered if all his senses were enhanced.

  He nodded. “I can also hear the squirrel in the tree behind you, the owl in the tree off to the left and there are several bears in the vicinity.”

  She shivered and moved a little closer to Marko. The corners of his mouth twitched and she knew he was fighting a smile. Easy for him to laugh it off, he was a bear. She, on the other hand, was very human.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” he told her. “They won’t come near unless I ask them to.”

  Good to know. This situation was well beyond the realm of her experience. In fact, some of it made no sense at all to her, and she asked him the question that had been bothering her for quite some time now. She’d had plenty of time to think while they were walking and everything boiled down to one question.

  “Why does Hades want you? Any of you?” The Lord of the Underworld had manufactured this opportunity. “Hades set up this entire thing. He had to know I’d release you. Or at least one of you.” She nibbled on her bottom lip as she thought through everything. “What does he want?”

  Marko ran his fingers through his hair. She frowned when she realized there wasn’t a tangle in his hair or a smudge of dirt on his face. Must be more of those super-duper powers.

  And she really was getting sleep-deprived if she was concerned about Marko’s hair, no matter how sexy and touchable it looked.

  Still, she wished she looked half as fresh. She was sweaty and dirt coated her clothing where she’d tripped once or twice during their hike through the thick woods. She didn’t even want to think about what her hair looked like.

  “He wants us to lead his armies.”

  Now that wasn’t exactly what she’d expected to hear. “Why? Doesn’t he already have plenty of demons for that?” Didn’t sound sensible to her, but then again, she really didn’t know Hades, and she hoped to keep it that way.

  He shrugged. “Why do the gods do anything? Power. He can’t risk the other gods knowing he plans to overthrow them and steal their power. Our energy is already here in this world. They would suspect nothing until it was too late.”

  Now that wasn’t exactly comforting. “What exactly do you mean by power?”

  He framed her face with his hands, his expression grave. Kellsie got a sinking feeling in her stomach. This wasn’t going to be good. “He wants to rule the world—your world. Hades has always craved power, never been satisfied with what he had.”

  A light bulb went off in her head. “That’s why he attacked the Lady of the Beasts.”

  Marko nodded. “He wanted her power, though it was starting to fade by then.”

  Now Kellsie was lost. “Why was it fading?” Didn’t gods and goddesses have a set amount of power? To think of it as a fluid thing was a new concept, and a scary one. Because if a god could be stripped of his power as Hades seemed to want to do with his contemporaries, then a god could gain a heck of a lot of power too. Unlimited. Out of control.

  Marko dropped his hands and she immediately missed his touch. He spread his arms wide to encompass the forest and mountains around him. “Mankind changed. Developed. No longer did t
hey worship nature or live in harmony with it. They settled in towns and cities and subdued nature. They worshiped new gods, ones that would bring them money, wealth and power.”

  His arms came back down by his sides, the muscles rippling. She marveled that he could walk around bare-chested and not even notice the cool night air swirling around them.

  “A god or goddess gains power when people worship them. The Olympians were gaining strength as the old gods were weakening and dying. My Lady was weakened but still happy. The children of man would always need food, and therefore animals were still held in esteem. She was content and craved no more than she had.”

  “But not Hades?” She knew the answer before he gave it.

  “No, Hades wanted what she had, but he misjudged her. And us.” Pride rang from his voice as he continued. “We battled, long and hard.” He shook his head. “I have no idea for how long the battle raged. Eventually, the sheer numbers of Hades and his brothers’ minions began to take their toll. Even we could not hold out much longer.”

  It was easy for Kellsie to picture Marko fighting in both forms—man and bear. Relentless. Powerful. Massive. There would be no quit, no give in him. If the rest were like him they would be formidable foes. Yet Hades had defeated all but one of the warriors released.

  Something painful swelled deep within Kellsie. Marko could not die. Hades could not have him. The thought of him being tormented for eternity was unbearable.

  Marko’s voice brought her back to the present. “The Lady used the last of her waning power to cast the spell, to place the curse on us.” He practically spat the last word. “I would rather she saved herself and let Hades kill us than to end up his prisoner.”

  “Marko.” Kellsie didn’t know what to say. There was such pain, such self-loathing in his words.

  “No. We have been imprisoned in our animal forms for these thousands of years, but we’ve been able to absorb the world around us and learn. It’s enabled us to keep our sanity when all seemed lost. We could only share thoughts on occasion, but we had each other. Our Lady has been alone, locked in the darkest pits of Hell all these years.”

  His shame was palpable even though she knew it wasn’t his fault his Lady was imprisoned. Marko would have fought until the bitter end. Kellsie went to him and rested her hand on his forearm. It felt like a steel slab beneath her fingers. “Maybe she knew something you didn’t. Maybe the curse was her hope.”

  A new tension invaded Marko as she continued. “Maybe she gave you this chance because she trusted you’d defeat Hades this time.” She thought about it another moment and nodded, certain of her reasoning. “If you escaped the curse and Hades and gained back your strength wouldn’t that mean she would get stronger?”

  Marko stared down at her, dawning wonder on his face. “You are amazing, Kellsie.” He leaned down and kissed her. The embrace was hard and fast but still packed a powerful punch.

  She shrugged off his praise, not willing to admit to herself how much it meant to her. “It only makes sense.”

  “We have to get going.” He grabbed her hand and started back down the trail toward the carnival. “Maybe we can release Arand and Leander. At the very least, we can get your netbook and try to contact Roric. Maybe he can tell me how to defeat Hades and rescue the Lady.”

  Kellsie realized she’d momentarily forgotten her role in this drama. She was last on the list, the most expendable. The Lady and his fellow warriors came first. Once again, she was last.

  The ache in her heart made breathing difficult but she battled through it. What had she expected? That he’d suddenly declare his undying love for her after spending a few hours with her? She wasn’t an idiot.

  It had taken her a little time to figure out what was going on, what was real, but now that she had, she would face it head on. She knew she was a pawn in this game between immortals and gods. Bitterness swelled inside her, but as suddenly as it had risen, it receded.

  This was bigger than her. The fate of mankind was depending on the outcome. Marko had to survive. His mission meant more than her life. She was in a life-and-death situation, but this time it wasn’t a movie. It was real.

  It was the role of a lifetime.

  She wondered if they eventually defeated Hades if anyone would remember her part in it or if she would be a forgotten footnote in history.

  No. Not only no, but hell no. She was Kellsie Morris, scream queen extraordinaire. This role was her chance of a lifetime, even though it wasn’t quite in the way she’d expected. No way was her last starring role being forgotten. They were going to win. If nothing else, Marko would remember her. And strangely, that was all that mattered.

  Shaking off the exhaustion that clung to her, she followed Marko along the dark forest trail toward the lights of the carnival.

  Chapter Twelve

  Chanting. It was faint but it was there. The Lady cocked her head to one side and listened intently. She no longer felt the blistering heat on her bare flesh. What clothing she’d worn had long gone to dust. She could manifest more but didn’t want Hades to know her power was slowly returning to her.

  Her long hair blanketed her body, offering slight protection from the sharp rocks protruding from the walls. She closed her eyes and swayed to the music that filled her ears. It was beautiful, a song of peace and rebirth. What she wouldn’t give to lie naked in a mountain meadow, smell the sweet perfume of the wildflowers, feel the cool breeze against her skin and the warm earth beneath her. To watch the birds soar in the sky and the forest animals run free.

  Her eyes snapped open as she heard a sound and she peered around her. The darkness seemed to swallow everything in its path. The tunnel she was in was narrow and rocky, hot with barely enough air for her to breathe. In the distance, a light flared.

  She couldn’t for a moment forget where she was. Such forgetfulness led to death. None of Hades’ demons could touch her, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to throw obstacles in her way.

  She knew when Hades was watching her. She also knew when he wasn’t. Sometimes some of his minions kept an eye on her, but not always. Sometimes she was utterly alone in this putrid realm of Hell. Right now, she could feel a set of malevolent eyes watching her every move.

  Keeping her head down, she put one foot in front of the other. The skin had been burned and ripped from her soles, leaving bloody blisters behind, but she didn’t care. Pain meant she was still alive. The flickering light of the fires of Hell and the cries of its prisoners meant she was no longer buried in the bowels of the earth but moving closer to freedom.

  The chanting seemed to come from the left. It gave her comfort and hope and she felt the urge to move toward it. She flexed her right hand beneath the cover of her hair, feeling the skin healing and the blisters disappearing. It also seemed the song was healing her, giving her a much needed boost of strength.

  She would not stop now. Not ever. Events had been set in motion and nothing could stop them. One by one, all the warriors would be released. Whether or not they survived was entirely in their hands. Well, not entirely. The special women chosen to help them in their mission held the lives of the immortals in their hands. The bond between man and woman needed to be strong if both of them were to survive.

  Stay strong. She didn’t say the words aloud but thought them, pushing them toward Marko. He needed to protect the woman and himself in order to be free of Hades.

  She was not worried about herself. She would find a way out of Hell or she would perish here. Either way, her imprisonment would end.

  With renewed determination, she ignored the three-headed demon watching her from the corner, ignored the cries of the damned and slowly edged her way down the dark, winding path.

  “She’s reached the second level.”

  Mordecai ignored Brittany’s observation. The succubus was clinging to his left arm and running her free hand over his chest. He forced himself not to shiver with revulsion. The image she projected was one of youth and beauty, but he could se
e the real creature beneath the glamour and it wasn’t pretty—thick, leathery skin and glowing red eyes, short horns protruding from the top of her head, sharp teeth protruding from her gums. He’d rather use his hand to get himself off than sleep with such a creature.

  That he’d never had sex with any of the demons annoyed them greatly. They’d made it into a challenge of sorts to see who would be the first to break down his resistance. He could have told them they were wasting their time. He had bigger worries to contend with than who he was having sex with, or not having sex with in this case.

  He was taking a risk by being in Hades’ chamber when the god wasn’t here, but it was one he was willing to take. He had to find the bear and Kellsie before Hades arrived for the next act in this unfolding drama. The only way to do that was to use the ancient bronze mirror on Hades’ wall. It was spellbound and allowed the god to see any part of his realm at any time, but it also allowed him to see into other worlds for one hour every turn of a day. Hades used that power sparingly.

  After discovering that Marko and Kellsie were headed back to the carnival, he’d been unable to resist checking on the Lady. He stared at the mirror that allowed him to see any part of Hell at any given moment, watching her stagger through the dark corridors, inwardly wincing when she stumbled.

  He was the only other being in this realm who could access the power of the mirror. Being in Hades favor came with some perks. It was also a very precarious position to be in, as Hades wasn’t known for his loyalty to his minions. If he thought for one minute Mordecai might be getting too powerful, Hades would not be happy. He might even destroy Mordecai.

  He couldn’t let that happen. He had plans for his life, if you could call his current existence actually living. He fought the urge to clench his hands into fists. Anything was better than the imprisonment he’d endured.

  “Are you listening to me?” She tugged at his arm.

  He turned his head and peered down at her. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s impossible not to hear you.”