Strife: Hidden Book Four

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  “I can’t lose you again,” I whispered.

  He cupped my face in his hands, met my eyes, and the intensity in his gaze took my breath away. “You are never, ever getting rid of me, Molly. I’ll destroy the whole fucking world before I’d let anything come between us again. I am not going anywhere.”

  “I’d chase you through hell if I had to. I’d use every scary power I have to keep you safe and with me,” I told him, and the pride that roared over me, from him, was overwhelming. “You’re mine, Bael.”

  “From the moment I laid eyes on you, woman,” he said, kissing my temple, then my cheek, my earlobe. “I knew I’d never want anyone else. It took you longer to want me.”

  “It did.”

  “And once you finally did, I knew I’d do anything to keep you safe. Even if it meant losing you.”

  “And now we know I’m unkillable.”

  “And nothing is coming between us again. I promise, Mollis Eth-Hades,” he said, his voice low, intimate.

  We stayed like that a while longer, in each other’s arms, both of us knowing the moment had to end because we were still needed, both of us grateful that neither of our phones had rung yet. We showered and got dressed, and, cheesy as it was, getting ready with him again in the morning made me happy.

  “What are you smiling about now?” he asked when he caught sight of me in the mirror over the dresser.

  “What do you think?” I finished pulling on my jeans and grabbed my brush, started working it through the tangles.

  He smiled and leaned down and kissed me on his way back into the bathroom to shave. I turned the television back on. Not much had changed from the night before. There were still random battles raging, and people were starting to ask stupid questions like “why doesn’t the SWAT team just shoot them” and “why not just use tear gas?”

  Simple answer: because you can’t look at us and tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. The good guys aren’t wearing uniforms.

  Hm. Maybe we should be, I thought to myself. Not for ourselves, but so people know we’re trustworthy. Something to think about later.

  As I was finishing braiding my hair, I felt my mother’s power signature nearby. Nain felt it too, and he glanced toward me.

  “Your mom will be happy. She likes me, you know,” he said.

  “I know she does. Believe me, I heard all about it.”

  He shook his head and went back to shaving. I headed out into the loft just as E was letting my mother in. She was better than most immortals that way; she at least tried to adhere to mortal protocols about stuff like not just appearing in someone’s living room.

  As soon as she noticed me, she walked over and folded me in a hug, and I hugged her back. She stepped back and looked me over.

  “You look surprisingly relaxed, daughter,” she said. “And is that a… smile?” she asked, a look of disbelief on her face.

  I grinned, shook my head. I knew I was blushing. “Maybe.” I brought my hand up, so only my mother could see it. Her eyes lit on the hematite band on my finger, and I felt a barrage of happiness from her. She hugged me again.

  “I am so happy for you,” she whispered as she hugged me. “You deserve to be happy, my girl. And as often as you fight, I know the demon is your heart.”

  “He is,” I said, and she gave me another squeeze. We went to the living room and sat down. I glanced around. E and Ada were in the kitchen. Brennan was in the dining room, feeding Sean, who was in his high chair. He was watching me, and I was dreading some kind of anger or something there after he’d seen me come out of Nain’s room. Our room. Instead, he gave me a small smile and looked away again.

  “I wanted to check in with you,” Tisiphone said as she settled into one of the chairs by the windows.

  “I’m glad. I was hoping to talk to you. Things are bad here. We could use you and Aunt Meg and dad. A lot,” I said.

  She shook her head. “As bad as things are here, they are worse in the Nether. That’s what I was coming to tell you. And I wanted to check on you as well.”

  I took her hand, felt the worry rolling off of her. “I’m fine. She’s still fighting me, but I’m managing,” I said. “What about you guys?”

  “Things in the Nether are an absolute disaster,” she said, and Nether (the being) was starting to get all hyper, faced with one of the beings she hated. “Is she getting stronger?”

  I nodded.

  And that seemed to be Nether’s cue to add her two cents. Damn right I am, you worthless piece of—

  I held a finger up, signaling for my mom to give me a second, and I focused on shutting Nether out again. After a few moments, her raging was just background noise again, and I opened my eyes and looked at my mother. I shook my head. “Yes. She is.”

  Tisiphone reached out and took my hand again. “I wish there was another way. This is asking too much.”

  “It’s not. I’ll deal with it,” I said, shrugging. “Stop stalling and tell me about the Nether.”

  She rolled her eyes, exasperated with me. “Fine.” She took a breath. “It’s bad, Mollis. Tartarus is weakening. You know that Tartarus is a living thing too, yes?”

  I nodded. “And its strength is dependent on the strength of the Nether, so weak Nether equals weak Tartarus.”

  “Right.”

  “That was kind of poorly planned. Why are they tied together that way?”

  “I think the plan was that the power of two powerful beings keeping the souls of the damned and other monsters imprisoned was that it would never fail. Apparently, Tartarus and Nether became more entwined as time went on. I don’t think anyone foresaw either of them ever weakening, though. I know I didn’t. We just assumed they’d remain the same forever.”

  “So, escapes then?”

  She nodded. “There have been all manner of nasty things getting out. And because Hades and Meg and I are the ones who imprisoned them, they’re not too happy with us.”

  “Are you getting much help from the Aether gods?”

  “Some. Artemis and Apollo. Asclepias. Mostly it’s your father and aunt and I.”

  “Are they complete morons? Why aren’t they helping you?”

  She gave me a look. “Do you really need me to answer that? You know how they are.”

  “Do you want Heph and E to come and help?”

  “You just said you need more help,” Tisiphone said. “I can’t take two of the most powerful beings on your team.”

  “Well if you guys aren’t able to fight back the things escaping from Tartarus, this will look like fun in comparison.”

  “If it gets to that point, I’ll tell you. Right now I would feel better with both of them here. Hopefully the mess you’re currently dealing with will get sorted out soon.” We both glanced at the television at that moment, as one of channel seven’s field reporters cut in with an update.

  “While fights continue to pop up around the city, we’ve seen an increase in violence in downtown Detroit in the past five minutes or so. We’re seeing large mobs of supernaturals now, and they’re very clearly fighting against one another. I also want to take a moment to say that, watching this, it’s very clear that some of these beings are more bent on destruction, and others are focused on protecting innocents and getting people out of the crossfire. I would suggest that any children leave the room before we go to video that we shot just a few minutes ago.”

  The video started, and Tisiphone and I stood up. Downtown looked like a war zone. Buildings were on fire, windows smashed. Shifters, demons, and immortals fought. I could clearly hear the sounds of screaming, booming in the distance.

  Nain came out of his room, jaw set. He bowed his head to my mom. Both of our phones rang.

  “Ready?” he asked me, and I nodded. I hugged my mom, and she held me tightly.

  “Be safe, my love,” she murmured against my ear.

  “You too, mom.”

  At that moment, Hades showed up.

  “What the hell are you doing here?
” my mom asked. “The Nether—“

  “Threw all of us out and we can’t get back in. I don’t know what the hell is going on,” he said, worry rolling off of him. “Meg and I are here now.”

  “Good. We need you,” I said, pointing to the television. He nodded, and he and my mother winked out of sight.

  I took Nain’s hand.

  “You shouldn’t,” he said, realizing what I was going to do.

  “We need to get there fast. I’ll be fine.”

  He planted a hard kiss on my lips, met my eyes. I squeezed his hand, and focused on the streets downtown where the news had showed most of the fighting. We went through the familiar, painful experience of being pulled apart and rematerializing, and the second we did, we were greeted by screams, shouting. Flames everywhere.

  I love you. Be careful, I thought at Nain.

  I love you too. Let’s hurt some fuckers.

  Now that Nain and I had appeared, we were both immediately surrounded by a mixed group of demons and shifters. I recognized one of them.

  “Elsoloth. You bastard,” I growled.

  “I am sorry, my lady,” he sneered. “She promised me more than you could ever give me.”

  I snarled and struck out, and Nain and I made our way through most of our attackers, but Elsoloth managed to slip away. Brennan had arrived in the meantime, and fought nearby. I could feel Levitt nearby, as well as Heph and E. My mom and my aunt Meg fought, back to back, about halfway down the block. I was at the corner of Griswold and Congress. The skyscrapers around us just made every scream, every roar echo louder. Cars were stopped at the intersection, their owners having abandoned them once fighting broke out. The windows of the sandwich shop were all blown out already, and the awning of the Ford Building was crashed in, as if something or someone heavy had been thrown into it.

  Over there, Nain thought at me, and I looked toward the Guardian Building. A group of demons was stalking toward me, Elsoloth at their lead.

  I held out my hand, and my flamesword appeared. I had brought up the enchantment to hide my wings, knowing Normals would be seeing us and not wanting them to connect me to Nether’s little exploit on Hayes. I let my eyes glow, though, because it freaked my opponents out. I started stalking toward the demons, letting myself fall into my rage, letting myself embrace destruction.

  Letting myself be what everyone’s afraid I’ll become.

  Within moments I was surrounded by demons. I was punched, kicked.

  They were eviscerated by my sword. They donated limbs to my cause, and I watched them fall. I cut another one down and glanced to my left, where Nain was.

  He was now in full demon form, as the other demons we’d faced had been.

  This was only the second time I’d seen him in this form, and he was completely terrifying. Reddish black skin, glowing red eyes. Bunching muscles. He stood around seven feet tall in this form. Claws on his hands, two vicious-looking horns on his head.

  He was looking at me.

  This is a good look on you.

  You’re ready to jump me, aren’t you? He thought back at me.

  I rolled my eyes, didn’t have time to answer before another group of assholes surrounded us. Fighting had shifted, just about everyone fighting near the Guardian Building now. It was clear who the assholes wanted, and now that I was there, they had gravitated to me. I cut my way through a few shifters, heard Nain roaring as he ripped the head off of a demon’s body. (Not a pretty sight, that). Levitt and Heph were fighting some warlocks a few feet away, and I could see E finishing off a witch. My parents were making short work of the mixed group of shifters and demons they were fighting, and here and there I’d catch sight of one of my imps (who I’d summoned back once it was clear how bad this was) stabbing or cutting our enemies.

  Vicious little bastards. I loved them.

  The only real problem was that we were majorly outnumbered. There were around twenty of us, between our combined teams, my family, and Jones and the shifters he’d brought with him. Strife’s people? They just kept goddamned coming. Mostly demons. The bitch had taken all of my demons, plus done additional recruiting, it seemed. She also had plenty of shifters, along with witches and warlocks. Sprites, who seemed intent on facing off against my imps. Plenty of beings with powers. Normals with just a touch of something else. She had a couple of pyros, and I wondered which of them had set my house on fire. She had a chick who could melt your skin with a touch. A couple of telepaths.

  “Mental shields up,” I roared, and I heard my team echoing the call. Fighting raged on. I watched the sun setting and knew it was only about to get worse. Yeah, we were outnumbered now. But the vampires had fallen pretty solidly on Strife’s side. We’d have maybe another dozen or so coming from Rayna’s family, but that was nothing compared to the number of vampires who hated me and her and everything we stood for. Vampires who chafed under our rules and control.

  I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Another demon rushed me, holding a huge axe similar to what Terror had used, and I fought him off. He was strong. Old, and my bones rattled every time I blocked his ax with my sword.

  I wanted to use my powers. Wanted to destroy as many of these beings as I could and keep my friends and teammates safe before something went wrong. But I knew I’d need them more later, when the vampires arrived and joined the fight. They wouldn’t stay away. This was their chance to be out in the open and show what they really were.

  So I fought, and I seethed, and I tried to keep an eye out for my teammates. I was proud of them. They were more than holding their own, and our enemies’ bodies littered the street and sidewalk.

  And then darkness fell, and within minutes, the street swarmed with vampires.

  And immortals, who arrived by their side.

  Aphrodite. Zeus. Hera.

  “Oh, fuck,” I heard Levitt mutter behind me.

  I felt Athena’s presence nearby. Artemis and Apollo. Athena put a hand on my shoulder.

  “I hope you remember what I taught you, Fury,” she said. “We’re going to need it.”

  “Thank you for coming.”

  She nodded. “Once the Nether and Aether kicked us out, it was clear that a few of them were planning to join your opponents. They blame you. Idiots.”

  And then I felt Persephone. So did Hades, who was standing near me. She walked toward us, and a demon charged her.

  A tiny dagger appeared almost out of nowhere, and was soon sticking out of the demon’s throat. She snatched her dagger out back from its body and kept walking toward us, leaving him gurgling on the ground.

  I stared at my stepmother. Former stepmother. Whatever.

  She was watching me. “I’m not here for him,” she said, gesturing toward my father. “I’m here because this is the right side of things.”

  “Thank you,” I said, and she nodded. Asclepias was behind her.

  “I will do my best to heal. You know I’m not a warrior,” he said apologetically.

  “Healing will be needed, my friend,” I said. “Thank you.”

  Fighting had resumed again after the pause that the arrival of the immortals had caused. I said a silent prayer to whatever there is left to pray to, and charged back into the fight.

  Shanti, Rayna, and Ronan found me.

  “Where do you want us, Angel?” Ronan called in greeting.

  “Wherever there’s a piece of shit who needs his or her ass kicked,” I called back. “Try to make sure none of our people are isolated.”

  He nodded and stormed off with Rayna. Shanti stayed and fought beside me. She had her favorite weapon with her tonight, the katana, which she’d taken up after joining Rayna’s team. It suited her.

  “Okay?” I asked her.

  “This is freaking terrifying. What the hell?” she said, and then grunted as her sword made contact with a demon’s torso.

  It was worse than I’d imagined. Nain was fighting off to my left, and blood streamed down his chest, his arms. Too much of it was his own.

&nbs
p; It was time.

  I waded into a group of our enemies and released flames, setting them all ablaze. Around a dozen demons and vampires fell, the stench of burning flesh surrounding me.

  I walked out of the flames and was charged by another group of vampires. I could feel panic setting in. They’d become complacent, sure I wouldn’t use my powers. And I’d pay the price. I was already in agony, just from that one attack. Nether was raging, massively excited by the fight, battling me for control. I released mental knives at the vampires, and another ten or so fell, screaming. That wouldn’t kill them, though, and I was proud of Shanti for knowing what needed to happen. She followed me and beheaded each of them as they lay writhing on the ground.

  My team felt better, seeing me use my powers. They needed it. It energized them, and they fought harder. Heph charged into a group of vampires, swinging the light silver sword he’d fashioned for himself. He cut them down like a lawnmower, and released an exuberant battle shout, which was echoed by the rest of our team amid the chaos and screams of battle.

  I torched another group of vampires and watched them fall. My nose and ears were gushing blood now, my flesh splitting along my hands and neck. I gritted my teeth against it, determined to stay strong. The only good thing was that all the pain and fear I was causing was feeding me. I could keep going as long as I needed to. I could ignore the pain.

  I could almost even ignore Nether raging within me, her screams, her curses. Her constant attempts to gain control of me.

  The tides seemed to be turning. We were still badly outnumbered, but our enemies were afraid. My immortals made it their job to keep the other immortals busy, which seemed to cancel out the effect of having them there at all. I could have kissed each and every one of them. Even Persephone.

  Athena was enjoying herself as she fought against Zeus. He constantly tried to throw lightning bolts, and she struck out at him before he was ever able to get an attack off. Which affirmed my impression of Zeus in general: privileged asshole who never actually had to fight for a damn thing. Against a seasoned warrior, he was nothing. A one trick pony who’d had his trick taken away from him.