But Valentina wasn’t any of them. My eyes flicked quickly, trying to count the Titans. Oliver was dead, Gage was dead, Hanna— dead, Montgomery was fighting Zane and looked for a moment like he was winning but where was Soren and where was Val?
The flames surged higher again as my smoke was spent. I collapsed over, catching myself on my knees as I took several deep breaths. I couldn’t panic, not yet, I didn’t know for sure. Anything could’ve happened, this wasn’t necessarily correlated or a bad thing.
I moved as quickly as I could toward where Aidan and Savannah were. I worried, briefly, that I would be turned around again. I surprised myself when after only a few seconds, I stumbled through and nearly tripped over both.
“What happened?” I panted, falling to my knees next to them.
“Soren drove Aidan’s lightning bolt into him.” She touched his chest where a massive wound sat bleeding slowly.
“He’ll be fine,” I said confidently, trying to assure her, when I wasn’t so sure what might happen.
“What if he’s not?” She snapped, voicing my fears.
“He’s Zeus,” I said with a shrug, “he’s the most stubborn jackass I know.”
She couldn’t help herself but laugh, “this is true.” She reached out and touched his face again.
“You both don’t need to talk like I’m not right here…” Aidan groaned through tight teeth, his eyes still shut.
“Are you healing?”
“Slower than normal. It doesn’t feel right.”
“No… You’re right. Something is wrong, Soren upped the ante somehow and I—”
“Asher,” Aidan said softly, “this has to be Asher, he wasn’t here at first.”
The mysterious God hadn’t shown up with the others. He must’ve been hanging back like Aidan had. But what kind of powers could he possibly have that would have the ability to manipulate how our powers worked?
“Do you think it’s the prophecy?” Savannah looked up at me.
“What prophecy?”
“The one Atlas was always going on about. Cronos too. He talked about something big was going to come, like he knew the details.”
“Something like this?”
“Maybe.” She scrunched her face up trying to remember what the prophecy was. “Through dark and dust do yet they rise. Once more, may they cast their eyes. Yet from their slumber, did they wake. A demon whose powers shall retake. The heavens and earth must fall. A new King intend they to install. The sun of one, and King of all.” She looked down at Aidan.
“Yet from their slumber did they wake a demon whose powers shall retake… That would be us. When our Gods woke up, we woke whatever Asher is, up as well. The heavens and earth must fall… That’s already happened. It has to be the prophecy, it’s coming true.”
“The son of one,” Aidan murmured with a deep frown. “Atlas said he released our Gods prematurely once and that’s what kick-started the prophecy didn’t he? Son of one…” He forced his eyes open, “king of all.” He said like we were supposed to understand what he was getting at. I raised my eyebrows, imploring him for an answer. “My son. Zeus must’ve impregnated someone when he woke the first time. Asher must be my son… Son of one, and king of all. I’m the king of all and only my bloodline could take that.”
“So what does that mean then if he isn’t a specific God?”
“He’s only half-God, for one, which means he can be killed. But his powers would be non-specific, I guess. He has no domain over which to rule like the rest of us. He would simply just have magic at his disposal. He’s been training for centuries for this moment, that’s why he knows so much about us—about our kind.”
“You’re still King of the Gods though, couldn’t you give him a domain to rule over like mud or something useless? Then, he wouldn’t be a threat.”
“I don’t think it works like that and the only person who would know is Atlas…” Aidan coughed, looking down at his chest, it was almost fully healed now.
“And Atlas had to be the one who trained him on how to use magic. How else would he have known about who he was and what he was supposed to do? Atlas was the only one of us that was free to reign.”
We all looked at each other, processing what this meant. This fight wasn’t over, this was probably just the beginning and we were nowhere near as prepared as we needed to be to fight him.
“Val,” I said suddenly, snapping myself out of my thoughts. “Val is missing. Have either of you seen her?”
“I thought you said she was good.”
“She was, but then I lost track of her. And you’ve lost track of Soren.”
“What does Val have to do with any of this?”
“She’s your daughter too… Does that mean anything?” Savannah looked down at Aidan, her face tight.
“I don’t think so, but we have no way of knowing.”
“Are you strong enough to go back out there yet? I need to find Val, but I don’t know if I can fight off Soren and save her at the same time.”
“I’m strong enough,” Aidan said with a grimace as he shook Savannah off him and rose to his feet. His chest was pink now with new flesh, the middle of it, still somewhat open and raw.
“Aidan,” Savannah’s voice was one of warning, but he shook his head.
“I’m fine. You stay here, we’ll be back in a minute.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said stubbornly, moving up to Hunter. “You need to go forward and break a path through for us to find Soren.” The King of the Ocean nodded his head, his hair slick with sweat and sticking to his forehead. He didn’t wait to see if we were coming as he went forward, pushing down a path for us as we moved behind him.
I followed close behind, wriggling my fingers and willing my magic to refuel itself so I could see through the flames once more. But I was outside of my realm, I wasn’t going to refuel as fast as I wanted. It didn’t matter, I didn’t have the opportunity to wait on myself if Valentina was in trouble.
“Soren, come out you bastard!” Aidan shouted into the flames, egging him out. But it wasn’t working, if he was still here at least.
“Can’t you feel her Griffin?”
“Soren severed our soulmate bond. I don’t feel her at all anymore, I don’t know if I ever will.” We both frowned at each other as I moved closer in behind Hunter. He’d broken through to the other side, but Soren hadn’t been anywhere through the ring we’d walked.
“There.” Savannah pointed beyond the ring of fire. Zane was fighting Montgomery, who was slowly backing toward nothing.
“What?”
“There.” She said again more firmly. Montgomery ducked to avoid a blow from Zane’s sword and twisted himself, moving straight through nothing and disappearing.
“Someone’s made an invisible portal. It had to be how they got down here.” I didn’t wait to see if the others were following, I ran and launched myself into the direction Montgomery had. For only a second I worried I might’ve hit the wrong spot, but then I felt the familiar pull at my naval and I landed on the other side—back in New York.
“God damn it.” I looked around, spotting the door Gage had gone through earlier. I sprinted off toward it, hearing Savannah and Aidan come through the portal after me. I wretched the door open as I reached it, and stumbled through, looking around wildly.
Soren was standing there, bowing to Asher, as was Montgomery. Aidan was right. He had to be the demon the prophecy spoke of. At his side was Valentina, cuffed to a chair, and looking a lot sicker than she had been when I left her.
“Val!” I didn’t bother worrying about the other three as I moved toward her. Soren stood quickly and flicked his wrist at me, throwing me across the room and into Aidan as he entered the door.
“Welcome, father, uncle… step-mother.” Asher sneered at Savannah.
“Let Valentina go and we might let you live.”
Asher laughed. “It’s cute, you still think you’re calling the shots. You’re not the Almighty Zeus an
ymore, just Zeus. Boring old… Zeus.”
“I’ll give you boring.” Savannah moved toward the men, only for Montgomery to stand and grab her by the throat. Her eyes widened, grabbing his wrist as she tried to pry herself free.
“Foolish.” Asher shook his head, “alright. This is how things are going to go. You are going to surrender your powers to me, all of you, then as a show of my ability you will be executed for the people to see.”
“What is with you people and your need to rule the world?”
“It’s not ruling the world, Griffin. It’s the power such a position comes with. It’s like a drug, I’m sure you understand.”
My fist clenched at my side and I wished I could summon my smoke and just choke the life out of him. I would enjoy it; that would be my drug choice of the night.
“So, what do you say?”
“Go to hell.”
“Been, it’s dead. I thought someone who partied as well as you, Griffin, would liven it up a bit.”
“I have a few suggestions I’d love to run by you, if you’re open to hearing them,” I said sarcastically.
Asher grinned, “sure. What are you thinking?”
“Blood-red walls, preferably of the Demi-God kind.” He reached out, squeezing his hand into a fist and I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I choked on the air trying to get in.
“You’ve certainly gotten a lot braver. My sources told me, you were a spineless waste of a God. It looks like I might have to have a talk with those sources.” His eyes flicked dangerously to Soren, who backed away.
“So, we’re at an impasse. What do we do? Kill you all, slowly and with pleasure, or you surrender like the waste of powers you are, and I kill you slowly and with pleasure?”
“Option C,” Aidan said with defiance, conjuring a lightning bolt suddenly. He threw his hand back and tossed it toward Asher who ducked, rolling out of the way; I fell to my knees gasping for air. I looked up wildly, desperate to see where the bolt hit, praying it wasn’t Val. But it had been, except that’s where Aidan had been aiming. The bolt slammed into the arm of the chair, the force of its power shattering the cuffs that held her in place. She slipped off the chair in a helpless pile and I didn’t bother to wait until Asher recovered to stop me, as I scrambled to my feet, running to her body.
“Val?” I shifted her into my lap, pushing the hairs out of her face. “Valentina?”
She groaned softly, pulling herself closer to me. “Griff?”
“I’m here. I’m right here…” I said, my eyes jumping up to see Asher recovering. They flicked from him to Aidan, who had conjured another lightning bolt and I sighed in relief, gathering her as best in my arms as I could.
“They projected me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t really there…” She whispered, “when I took your life-force, you were giving it to Asher.” My eyes widened in horror as I looked at the Demi-God.
“He didn’t get any of my powers did he?”
“He said, when someone uses their powers on him he collects them.”
“Okay, alright, we’re going to have to get you away from him. You won’t be strong enough to counteract him if he tries to take yours.”
“He already did,” she wheezed.
I froze, feeling my muscles tense, “what do you mean?”
“He tried, I resisted… It’s why I’m so weak.”
“Do you have your powers anymore?”
“I need to recharge.”
“So he can’t take them unless you can use them.” I nodded, “good. This is good. It’s going to be okay.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“It’s not going to be okay.”
“Val. Don’t do that. You’re the optimistic one, not me.” I flinched when Asher shot something from his hand, an explosion sounding by Aidan’s feet. He pulled another bolt back and launched it at Asher again. It was hard to take everything going on around me in. Montgomery was fighting with Savannah, she’d managed to get her teeth sunk into his arm and she was holding on for dear life. It was the only thing keeping his hand from clenching around her neck again. And Soren… Where did Soren go?
“Behind you!” Something heavy came down on my head and I crumbled, seeing the darkness behind my eyes as they rolled back into my head. Valentina fell from my arms as I lost momentary control over my functions.
“Griffin!” I was too weak to move out of the way; the object came down on me again and I groaned under its weight as it pressed me into the floor. Soren lifted me up magically and threw me across the room again, my body landing with a crack against a reception desk.
“Griffin!” My eyes shot open,
the only thing trying to work again, as Valentina screamed once more. Soren had her by the hair, hauling her to her weak feet. Another crack of lightning burst open, lighting the room up too bright to see. I threw my arm over my eyes, the effort nearly keeling me over completely.
“C’mon heal. Heal damn it!” I urged my immortal side on, willing my strength to return. I needed to get over there to Soren, then I was going to end this once and for all. I needed to get Valentina out of here.
I felt the feeling in my legs return, allowing me to push myself to my feet. The effort was staunched, but it helped me get going. With every step, I felt myself getting a little bit stronger than the last. I could do this. Valentina needed me. Montgomery shook Savannah off, flinging her across the floor into a sprawl on my feet. I leaned down quickly and pulled her up.
“Get out of here.”
“Not without all of you.”
“If you aren’t going to fight him magically, you have to get out of here.”
Her face burned red as she bit down on her lip, “I have no magic left.”
“You need to go then.” She looked at Aidan, torn between protecting him and her friend and saving herself. “We’ll be fine, Aidan will kill me later if I don’t make sure you’re okay, so get out.”
“Get Valentina out too.”
“She’s coming out next, I promise.” I squeezed her hand in a strange gesture of alliance. She nodded her head and didn’t even pull away from me.
“I’ll wait outside for her by the portal.”
“Okay.”
I let go of her hand and turned back to Soren, he was hovering over Valentina with one hand reached out, gripping her wrist. Her face was twisted in pain, what was he doing? I ran then, full tilt, and ducked my head with the intention of ramming him. All I could think about was skin-to-skin contact, I just needed skin to skin contact and I could suck his life-force out.
I didn’t see the fireball he conjured in his hand, I didn’t have time to contemplate how he had managed to do it, or where he had gotten those powers from. The only thing I saw when I finally tilted my chin up enough to see my target, was the ball of fire shoot towards Valentina.
Chapter 24
"NO.” I threw myself, willing my body to stretch and become a blanket. My arms reached for her, my fingers brushing her body and she screamed. My body fell short of hers by centimeters, but I could feel the heat emulating off her. It was unbearable, and the smell of human flesh burning, was even worse up close.
But the thing that did me in, was her screams, her gut-wrenching, heartbreaking screams.
“Val, Val, Val, Val.” My hands slammed down on her body as fast as they could, smothering the flames with a speed that would never feel fast enough. Every time I uncovered another bit of her body, I was made privy to the condition that irreparably lay underneath.
“Valentina, look at me. Open your eyes.” Her mouth was frozen in a silent ‘O’. Her soft, creamy flesh turned black and ashy. “No,” I gasped, pulling her closer to me. “Valentina, open your eyes,” I said more firmly, hoping to command her as her Prince. But she didn’t move. “Val. God damn it, please do something!”
My eyes burned as my vision blurred. I didn’t want to see her, but I needed to see her. I fought with
myself and with the tears came so quickly, I couldn’t stop them.
Soren laughed from behind me, a deep full-belly rumble. He was enjoying my torment. “Slow and painful, like promised.”
“YOU BASTARD!” I must’ve dropped her, because the next thing I knew, I was on top of Soren, my fingers jabbed into his eye sockets and his body convulsed as his life force flooded me with an unrelenting speed. He withered and greyed beneath me, and even when I couldn’t feel anything else coming out of him, I didn’t stop. I didn’t stop until he was a raisin under my hands. A mummy who was barely recognizable as human. This was his real form, this was the monster underneath.
I dropped him, turning to Val desperately, and grabbed her hand. I knew I didn’t have the ability to bring life, but if there were a spark, she could take it. She would take it. I squeezed her hand under my own, not even registering it crumbling under the pressure. I willed the life-force to her, I forced the coolness out of my body again into hers, but it didn’t turn to warmth.
“Not enough,” I whispered in realization, turning desperately to look around the room. Aidan hadn’t noticed yet, maybe he wouldn’t. I spotted Montgomery, ready to make a move, and I ran for him. I launched myself onto the bigger man’s back and pressed both my hands to his face, sucking and pulling his life from him. He didn’t need it, Val needed it. I needed to give it to her.
His knees buckled and we both went down, Montgomery screamed like a girl. If I wasn’t so crazed, I might’ve laughed; but all I could think about, was I needed his life, it belonged to me now.
Like Soren, Montgomery slowly withered under my touch until he was nothing but a shell of the former mass he had once been. His life-force zinged through my body, tingling and humming in excitement. This was good, this was enough. I could feel myself glowing and I was going to give that glow to Valentina.
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