by Mila Young
When Poseidon realized we weren’t winning, he made sure that Catina was out of the way before he jumped in and fought alongside us, too. All three of us and Elyse stood together, fighting X as one.
The unity should have had an effect, just like the powerful strength we generated when the three of us touched. Our ability should have grown, become stronger than X, overpowered him. But somehow, we still failed. We stood together, and we fought hard, but it wasn’t having much of an impact.
This was what I did best. I was the God of War—I loved to battle. When in combat, no matter the cause, I was happiest. Partly because I knew I was good at it, and partly because I usually won.
But this time, we’d lose. The knowledge hit me square in the chest, and spilled cold sensation right through me.
X laughed, his fiery eyes locked on mine. “It doesn’t matter where you are, God of War, your mind will always be your worst enemy. The moment you believe you’ve lost, you already have.”
No, he was wrong. This wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be. Because if it were the end, Elyse and Catina would die. The three gods would go back empty-handed, and that would only kill us on the inside.
“Of course,” he added with a chuckle. “Even if you think you’ll win, you won’t. You’re on my turf now, and what I say goes. This is the Underworld. This is where Death rules.”
Chapter 23
Hades
I paced my bedroom, unable to settle down. The others were in the Underworld. I felt them, almost as if they were a footprint on my soul. They were there to rescue the human girl. And Elyse had joined them.
From the moment they arrived, and the ferryman allowed them to pass, assuming my brother should be allowed, I’d sensed them.
But why hadn’t I sensed X or the human he’d taken into my house? If I knew it was where he’d hidden her, I would’ve told Elyse.
Contrary to what everyone seemed to believe, I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I cared about everything that went wrong. Granted, I hadn’t been acting that way. I pretended I didn’t give a shit. It was the easiest way to get everyone to leave me alone.
If I didn’t care, I remained safe. The fact I wasn’t able to stop caring was beside the point.
I’d experienced Elyse’s happiness when she’d found her friend, beaming in my chest like a ray of sunshine on my face. I’d felt the determination of the three gods to get out of there as soon as possible.
And I felt the tightening of my gut when X cornered them and started a fight they couldn’t win.
X wouldn’t be able to do anything to the three gods. We were all immortal, and we couldn’t hurt each other physically, just emotionally. Denting our egos. Of course, that hurt like a bitch, too. But it didn’t kill us.
Sometimes, I wished it did.
But X could kill Elyse’s friend. He’d obliterate her and force her soul to remain in the Underworld, no matter what the others did.
And he’d kill Elyse. And if he murdered her this time, she’d be dead for good. She wouldn’t come back again. Elyse had died as many times as she was able to recover from. When my brother bestowed his power on the Lowe bloodline, he’d only given them a finite number of lives before they’d die their final death. They weren’t immortal.
Technically, they weren’t even demigods.
Elyse could die. And that was what X intended. I heard his call for her death, his fury at her power as distinctly as if it were my own. He was burning with rage to finish her. And my stomach rolled as invisible fingers snaked down my spine at the thought of what X planned for her.
I didn’t want Elyse dead, losing her mortal life. She’d trained so hard, took pride in what she did. I wanted her radiating with joy, laughing, and wearing her gorgeous smile.
But the group was losing against X, and if I wanted it to stop, I would have to go down there and get involved. If I decided to stand against X, who essentially just a version of myself, it would mean openly accepting how I felt about Elyse. Acknowledging she’d taken a piece of my heart, that I craved more than anything to admit my feelings and no longer conceal them. No more hiding or running away.
Nausea surged through me. I couldn’t do that. All this time, I pushed away how I felt about her because I couldn’t afford to get hurt again. And I’d dealt with too much of that over the past millennia. I’d opened myself up to heartbreak and grief, and I’d fucking had enough.
I couldn’t do it anymore.
I stalked to the wet bar adjacent to my living room and poured myself three fingers of whiskey. The humans turned to this stuff all the time when they were in emotional turmoil. I could see the appeal. Somehow, the mortals believed it would change the course of fate if they drank enough. I wasn’t that stupid. But I’d drink myself into a state of oblivion, and I wouldn’t know what happened while I was out.
I wouldn’t feel when Elyse died.
Hollowness swallowed me, and my pulse slowed. I rested my head on one hand and breathed deeply.
“You’re an idiot,” Persephone said, appearing next to me. I jumped and nearly dropped my glass.
“Fuck. Don’t sneak up on me like that, woman. You’ll give me a heart attack.”
“Maybe a heart attack is exactly what you need to jumpstart that thing. Because it must have stopped beating at some point for you to be okay with what’s going on.”
She lifted her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me and folded her arms over her chest.
Of course she sensed the shit tornado coming. The Underworld was her home as much as mine, and she felt the intruders as well.
“She’s going to die, Hades. Don’t you care?” she asked when I didn’t respond.
I threw back the contents of my glass and let the amber goodness burn down my throat. “I’m not going.” I poured more whiskey, not stopped bothering to count how many fingers and filled it to the top. If I planned to get drunk, why do it half a glass at a time?
“You love her,” Persephone insisted.
Her words stabbed me in the chest.
“Dammit, Persephone, what do you want from me?”
“I want you to man up and accept what’s going on here. Are you just going to hide in your little corner until it’s too late? This is not the man I know you are.”
I downed the contents of my glass, my throat on fire. “And what do you know about the man I am? How can you say you know anything about me when the person you knew was only the result of a curse?”
Persephone sighed and glared at me. “You can’t hold on to that forever. It was millennia ago. Yes, Hera pulled a fast one on you. And you got caught up in something you didn’t want. But guess what? So did I. And you don’t see me moping around and wishing ill on everyone around me, do you?”
She was right. I’d tricked her into staying in the Underworld for half the year, the same place I held a grudge against my brothers for tricking me into. Essentially, I’d done the same to her. But she wasn’t miserable and bitter like me.
“Maybe you’re just a better person than I am.” I meant it, since I was hardly the kind of man worth loving. And Persephone had proven that by not returning my love, no matter how hard she tried.
“You have to accept how you feel about Elyse,” Persephone pressed. “If you don’t, you’re going to lose her, and that’s going to hurt a hell of a lot more than anything else that’s happened to you.”
I put the glass down on the bar and dragged myself to the couch in the living room, before sitting down and dropping my head into my hands. My world spun, my heart lay shattered, and I was torn in two.
“They’re not doing well down there,” I muttered. I didn’t really care if Persephone heard me, if she was listening or not.
“So? Go help them then.” She sat next to me.
I shook my head in my hands. “I can’t. I’m not going down there. She doesn’t want me.”
“Bullshit, Hades,” Persephone snapped, and I looked at her, shocked at the kind of language coming from her beautiful mouth. Through
it all, Persephone had always remained sophisticated, ladylike. I’d morphed into the dirtiest, foulest person because of my circumstances, but Persephone had held her head up high.
“You know she needs you,” she continued. “You know they’re losing down there, and if X gets the upper hand—which will be soon—Elyse is going to be dead. And you’ll lose her forever.”
“I’m not just talking about this fight,” I began. “I mean, as someone in her life. As a lover. Elyse doesn’t need me. Look at me. Who I’ve become. She doesn’t deserve this.” I pictured her smile and how I’d told myself I had to help her survive…then move on with my life. Except, I wasn’t sure I could do that.
Persephone’s eyes were soft, filled with an inner glow. “That I actually agree with. You’re a mess, and you’ll have to prove yourself to her. I wouldn’t push you to go after her if I didn’t believe you merit love. The thing is, she loves you, too. Everyone can see it. And you need to start accepting this is how it is. You may be able to turn yourself down, but it’s a crime to turn her away. Especially if she can see who you are through this horrible facade you put on for everyone.”
“But she has so many other gods to keep her busy,” I argued. “Even Poseidon, my own brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got in there with Heracles, too. But you know how he is, in love with only one.”
“Oh, for Zeus’s sake, Hades!” Persephone cried out. “Every time I think you can’t become more pathetic…I know I hurt you. I tried to make us work, I really did. I believed you deserved love when you’d been cursed, and I tried to give it to you. It’s on me that I failed. But don’t let that stop you from loving again. And stop lying to yourself. You’ll do Elyse good if you just go and help her. Be a hero for once.”
I met her gaze. Her eyes were dark and deep and serious. She sat on my couch, telling me how I should be, telling me to man up and do what I needed to do. And she was right. I hated admitting it about my ex, but Persephone knew exactly what she was talking about.
I opened my mouth to say something in return, but she disappeared. She’d said her piece and had no reason to stick around.
But she was right.
I had to stop this fight before it was too late. The darkness grew, the gods were losing, and Elyse was weakening. She wasn’t in control of her power and X was suffocating her with his energy, which had already taken root inside her after her three deaths. The bite mark he’d left on her weeks ago, which had spread and left black marks on her flesh, connected with his energy; it gave him a foundation to hook into her. The bastard knew what he was doing.
I’d fucked around too long, too scared to make a decision, but it felt crystal clear in my head now. My heart pounded for Elyse, to bring her the joy she deserved. And for me to man up already.
The moment I decided to help her, I was there, in my palace in the Underworld. A shiver curled over my nape as it always did when I returned home. But I had no time to focus on how much I loathed the place. I faced X. The others stood behind me, Elyse driven to her knees.
“Oh, look who came to join the party,” X gibed with a smug smile, his fangs exposed.
“Leave them alone,” I said to him. “You have no right to do this.”
I attacked X before he had a chance to answer. And immediately, the darkness shattered around us, as if it had been fragile all along. I knew what was happening—X lost the moment I determined to accept how I felt about Elyse. I wasn’t ready to lose her. I’d deal with the repercussions of that decision later. Right now, Elyse needed saving.
The moment the others sensed X’s power slipping, they ran to my side.
“I’m glad you could join us,” Poseidon commented next to me. He had an expression on his face I didn’t quite understand. “Thank you for coming, brother.”
I couldn’t remember the last time Poseidon had called me “brother.” It was as if he really cared. I wasn’t sure what had changed his mind about me. And with it came a light-hearted feeling that maybe all wasn’t lost between us.
“How are we going to end this?” Apollo asked, clapping palms with me after Ares did.
“Together.” I looked over my shoulder. “Elyse, get out of here. We’ll finish up.”
Elyse stared at me, a look of shock on her face. She hadn’t expected to see me here. But there was only one way I could change her mind about me, and that was to show her.
“I’m staying to fight.” She squared her shoulders, lifting her chin defiantly.
“You’ve done all you can. We need to work out how to stuff X back into the box where he belongs. It’s up to us now. And I owe my fair share of fixing this shit for a change.”
She stared at me for a long pause, almost convincing me she’d fight me on this. Except, I spoke the truth. The battle would simply be about gods’s energy against energy, otherwise I’d welcome Elyse to fight alongside me. She could fight as well as any of us.
Finally, she nodded and helped her friend off the ground. “Come on. We’re going home,” she said. She glanced at me one more time before I wrapped her in my power to send them back to Earth. A moment later, Catina and Elyse disappeared.
“Right.” I nodded when the four of us were alone. “Let’s wrap this up.”
Chapter 24
Elyse
A week had passed since we’d rescued Catina. In some ways, it felt like it had only been yesterday. In others, it felt like a lifetime ago. The gods had taken on X for Hades to regain control over him, something I couldn’t do with them because I wasn’t a god. Whatever! But in the end, they failed, and X escaped their clutches. The monster had eaten so many souls, leaving him close to unstoppable.
So, the five us would need to work as a solid team to find a way to overcome him. And while it sucked he got away, part of me couldn’t stop thinking about Hades’s decision to finally join our fight, to stop hiding and take responsibility. My heart beamed that he was on our side for a change. So even though we hadn’t won yet, we’d gained Hades in a way. And he was the key to ending X’s killing spree. That gave me hope to believe we could win, and a reminder not let myself drown in sorrow, and to keep fighting, to have faith in a bright future and not to forget to do the simplest things like smile. Otherwise, X had indeed won.
Since we’d all returned to Earth, I’d started training again. I learned how to control myself more than ever. After all, I needed to keep myself safe—I couldn’t die again. Knowing I could recover after death had been a kind of buffer I didn’t realize I’d relied on. I’d been fearless, charging headlong into battle, because I figured I wouldn’t die permanently.
But that was over. This time, if I died, it’d be the end. So I had to make sure that didn’t happen.
“Right, let’s begin/” Heracles entered into the training center. I’d already warmed up.
“Great of you to join us,” I joked.
Heracles was in town now and then. He kept his word, saying he was going to do hero work, and he helped the humans out where he could through his secret vigilante ways. I mean he was a god, and no human stood a chance against him. But if it brought him joy to carry out heroic work, all the power to him.
And Heracles was enjoying himself keeping the humans safe. It was what he’d done for a long time, ages ago. How he had made a living, and how he’d ended up meeting Megara, the love of his life. It brought me joy he’d found a path for himself. All this time, I’d assumed he’d been sneaking out to date, except he’d been dealing with his own demons his way. And I respected that a lot.
“What weapons have you ordered?” he asked.
“Nothing new. I figured I went through so many great weapons before, it would be a good idea to make sure I can wield all of them. It doesn’t help to be a jack of all trades, but master of none.”
Heracles chuckled. “You humans and your silly sayings.”
I picked lint from my top. “Ready to get started? Or are you scared?”
He laughed out loud, throwing his head back. I loved seeing h
im like this. In the beginning, he never smiled and laughed as much as he did now. He truly was happy, and I wanted that for him.
“Scared?” he repeated. “Me? Did you forget who I am?”
“Nope.” I dropped into a battle stance. “But you seem to have forgotten who I am. I’m Elyse Lowe, protector of the humans, appointed by Zeus. And this isn’t going to be an easy fight.”
My words had barely left my mouth when I attacked, spinning around and kicking Heracles in the chest when he’d expected a punch.
“Oh, look at you, veering from your normal routine. I like it.”
“Me, too,” I said. “Predictable will get me killed. And I’m trying to avoid that now.”
“It took a long time for you to get there,” he added between punches. “But I’m glad you’re starting to see it that way.”
“I have to,” I responded before spinning around and aiming for his knee. “I still have a job to do here on Earth. I can’t die yet.”
Heracles and I did some hand-to-hand combat, sparring and bantering back and forth before we got serious. I took my weapons from my duffel bag, and laid them out before us. I decided to begin on one end and work my way through. It would take a day, but I didn’t mind training for hours on end.
X was still out there.
The four gods hadn’t provided in-depth details of the battle, except to say it was a tug-a-war of their godly power, and X was stronger than any of them could have guessed. Ares did mention that if I was there, X would have drawn my energy and probably killed me. I preferred to imagine that they had beaten him to a pulp, showing him what it was like to go up against four gods who were serious about who they were protecting.
