by Claire Marta
Still on my knees, I open my mouth in warning, but it’s already too late. He doesn’t see the other intruder creeping up behind him. Crashing to the ground dislodging the remnants of the vampire, he lays sprawled and unconscious.
“Calm down, sugar plum.” The woman with unusual yellow eyes and wild blonde hair hushes me, discarding the metal candle stick still clutched in her hand.
Skin-tight black leggings encase her long legs. A pair of army boots on her feet. It’s the team bitch blazoned boldly in black on the front of her red t-shirt that catches my attention.
“Why did you knock him out?”
Scratching her chin with a finger, she nudges the unconscious male with the tip of her black army boot, then shrugs. “I thought he was a guard. Ah well, he’s still breathing, so I guess you aren’t going to freak-out completely.”
“My father sent you.” I guess perceptively, getting to my feet with a wince of pain. Scooping up the large fluffy towel, I wrap it around myself before accompanying her into the luxurious bedroom.
Plucking an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table, she rubs the red smooth skin on her top. “That’s right. The name’s Karma. You’re Cassandra? Adopted daughter of Lucifer? I’d hate to have rescued the wrong damsel in distress.” Taking a bite, she eyes me up and down.
“Yes. I’m Cassandra,” I confirm with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why don’t I feeling happy about this?
“Did you know I was coming, or was that a guess? By the way, I’ll be escorting you right up to the doors of Lucifer’s fortress because I can’t risk having your father on my arse for eternity. If he doesn’t kill me or my sister first,” she babbles with a thoughtful expression after swallowing.
“You’re not a demon,” I reply, ignoring her question and aware my visions had told me nothing of her presence.
“Nope. I’m just really good at finding stuff others can’t, and your Daddy not so dearest is blackmailing me into bringing you back. He murdered my friend and threatened my sister.” Munching on more of her snack, she chews, quickly wiping the fragrant juice from her lips with the back of her hand. “So, is there anything worth stealing while we’re here? Cursed treasure? Dragon gold?”
Adjusting the towel, I move toward the closet filled with Hades’ clothes. “You’re a thief as well?”
“More like a liberator of shiny objects. The sparklier the better. I like to obsess over their prettiness while muttering ‘my precious’.” Her attention fixes on the collar I’m wearing. Thinking of anyone touching the gift Master made me has my anxiety clenching in knots.
Hand moving to cover it, I shake my head. “No.”
One dark eyebrow lifts. “Then put something on, and let’s get you home. Unless you want to do a lady Godiva because I would totally be up for streaking our way out of the Underworld and back to Hell. Oh, I have an idea, let's get you a tramp stamp on the way. A nice tattoo to show off to Daddy when you get home. We could hit the strip in Vegas while we’re at it and take in some stripper bars. Maybe rob a bank. Your foresight would be pretty handy, and we could be rolling in cash before the day is through.”
“I can’t go with you.”
She blinks owl-like at my announcement. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I think you just said something completely ridiculous.”
Discarding the towel, I tug one of Master’s t-shirts over my head, the material falling to cover my knees, his scent seductively teasing my nose. “I need to stay here, but you can give my father a message from me, and please whatever you do, you can’t tell him where I am.”
Turning back to her, I find Karma dangled in a massive scarred paw-like hand. Clawing with her nails, the pain has no effect on her captor. Demented eyes are fixed on mine through grubby, long, white hair. The hulking male is a mass of scars that look like they’ve been carved into him over and over. Molten silvery metal.
“Who the fuck are you?” Karma manages to croak.
Attention dropping to his hostage, he smiles. “I’m your new King.”
I know that voice. It whispered to me so insidiously before. Brought forth terrible predictions of carnage and pain. I edge away in panic.
“Choke me, Daddy, I’ve been a bad, bad girl.” Karma groans. Eyes rolling into the back of her head, she goes limp.
The stranger laughs amused. “Crazy yellow-eyed freak.”
Rubbing his temples, the slender blue-haired pixie staggers out of the bathroom. “She’s some bitch trying to rescue the Oracle.”
Leaning forward close to Karma’s face, her captor inhales deeply. “One of the Devil’s minions. We’ll take them both, Jasper.”
Legs trembling with the fear, I keep my arms wrapped around my waist in comfort. “Let her go.”
“Hello, pretty bird my brother loves to make sing. Now you’ll sing for me.” His blue eyes glow with a golden light, insanity leaking out of him. “It’s me you’ve always been meant for. Destiny has brought you to my door, and now we are united to bring such sweet destruction.”
I feel his influence staining me, his madness licking at my mind. “No, I won’t help you.”
“You will change your mind in time, Cassandra.” Letting Karma drop, he leaves her limp and unconscious on the floor at his bare feet. “You have no other choice. My powers are semi-restored thanks to my pixie friend here and modern technology. How foolish man is to make something so powerful.”
Heart racing behind my ribs, I experience a wave of dizziness. “Hades won’t let you take me anywhere.”
The man smiles, lips stretching up in a manic grin. “This place houses monsters. Terrible things. I’ve just set them free. They’ll kill the Lord and Master of this place for entrapping them. He’s ancient and weak. His powers have deserted him long ago with his worshipers, and he won’t stand a chance. Besides, I told you. Your true calling lies with me, little one.”
“Run, Princess, run!” Karma shouts, lunging up with a knife in hand. Thrusting it into the thigh of the larger male, she then springs at the pixie with a demented battle cry.
My legs move on instinct. Dodging around them, I sprint across the room and out of the door straight into anarchy. People running, shouting, and jeering through the corridors. Flashes of anger light their faces. Glass smashes somewhere nearby. Screaming follows. It's nothing more than a mindless mob set on destroying and fleeing.
Pushing into the crowd, I’m dragged along with them in a current of looting, smashing, and burning. Hands touch my hair and pull at the shirt covering me. Slapping at them, relief comes when we spill out of the front gate into the darkness.
It doesn’t last long. Roars thunder through the air, the giant drakes above swarming to pluck prisoners from the ground.
My heart slams behind my ribs with fear crying out for Hades. I need to find him. He’s become my happy place. All I see is death, my visions choking me with a vengeance. Clutching my hammering head, a pair of claws barely miss me. Instead they grasp at air when I duck, seizing the person in front of me. Footsteps echo around me. Others evading the pandemonium.
Running blindly, I diverge from the lit path, in the opposite direction of my last escape plunging into the blackness.
33
Soren
Skin prickling in warning my steps falter. Inky black tendrils, the shadows curl up creeping from the stonework alerting me to the fact I’m no longer alone. A form solidifies taking shape in the gloom the torch light doesn’t dare to touch.
Black hair gelled back, the expensive tailored grey suit is deceptive. I recognize the honed muscular frame it sheathes. Strength draped in misleading finery. His sun kissed skin is bronzed and flawless. Red eyes burn with unholy flames. Cold, cruel and fearless. Framed in the handsome, passionless face of a seasoned killer.
“Where is my daughter?”
Lucifer sees the shock register on my face before I can hide it.
“How did you find us?”
A sly smile plays across his lips. “Your realm is shr
ouded well but not even the magic that keeps it unseen can stop a harpy bent on clearing her family's name and preventing anything else she loves from dying.”
He’s breached my domain. Infiltrated my sanctuary. Never before has this happened. I reel with the enormity of the situation. What I thought was impossible has come to pass.
“You stole something from me.” Taking a menacing step forward, he blocks my way to the woman I love. “Your armies can’t help you now. I’ve come to burn your Kingdom down and take your head in retribution.”
“Cassandra is mine.” There’s a fire in my bones. A thirst and fury that will brook no mercy. He comes to take away my beautiful Dove, and I will crush him to nothing but dust. If my love for her is to start a war so be it.
“She is family. I protect my own. There is nothing I won’t do to secure their safety even destroy a forgotten relic such as you.”
I snort at his words. “Your chattel you mean.”
“I took her from starvation,” he confides in a scornful sneer. “From a mother who cared about her next fix more than the child she had borne. Clothed her. Fed her. Raised her to be a princess.”
“You stole her for her visions and your own twisted plans.”
“Never presume to know what’s in my head, Hades.”
Lunging at me savagely, I block his blow. More follow in quick succession. Powerful punches send me crashing through the thick stone wall out the other side. Dust and debris rain down in my wake. Airborne, I freefall through the darkness, the wind whipping at my clothes and hair. Gritting my teeth, I hit the ground. Sturdy as I am, the impact is only a slight irritation. Born of deities, it takes more than a fall to destroy one such as me.
The Devil lands a few feet away, leathery grey wings slowing his hovering descent.
Finding my way onto my knees and hands, I glare up at him with fury. “You may have control of the shadows, Lucifer, but I am the dark, and your minions need light to exist.”
The light is erased round us by the thickening darkness. It comes at my command. Protective, familiar. It robs my enemy of his sight but sharpens my other senses.
The Devil’s laughter rings out mockingly. “You think that will stop me? I crawled my way out of the depths of Hell when I first fell. I’m no stranger to existing in the darkness.”
Rising to my feet, I cock my head listening to his footsteps. We’re playing a game of cat and mouse. “Cry me a fucking river.”
I’ll not risk summoning Cerberus. My faithful hound would defend me until death, but I won’t risk her or her unborn puppies. If the Devil wants to dance, I’ll show him how it’s done.
“Hiding, Hades?” His smug smooth voice is a taunt, and I know he’s trying to bait me. “You have more dick in your personality than you do in your pants.”
“I think Cassandra would disagree with you there.”
A deep growl resonates a few feet in front of me. “I’m going to make you eat every last morsel of your cock for touching her.”
An explosion rips through the air, shaking the ground. Bracing myself for attack, it’s a shock when a beam of pure white light shoots skyward. It ignites the inky blackness with such brilliance I’m momentary blinded.
Energy spills out bristling my skin.
No.
Zeus is free.
My worst nightmare come to life.
How? His powers are depleted. Mortal man no longer worships him. Deserted and nothing but a myth, it’s been centuries since any of them cared.
A sudden gush of pain jolts through me sending me airborne, a weight propelling me, choking me. Flailing backward, it’s a shock to slam into freezing cold water.
Hand still around my throat, the Devil squeezes. “I will peel the flesh from your body. Your pain will know no bounds, and when you think you can bear no more, I will take it to even greater heights of agony. Now where is my fucking daughter?”
Orbs glowingly radiantly dazzle my eyes. They bob around us, closing in like piranha after prey.
The river Cocytus.
Dark and murky the dangerous waters swirl around us with the gathering lost soul. Forever condemned their hunger for the living.
Lucifer’s formidable expression bent on my destruction morphs from confusion to realization in a blink of an eye. Grip slackening, he kicks away from me.
Desperation crowds inside my chest. Powerless as I am, there’s nothing I can do to quell the dead full of fury and fated to drown forever. Once when I was worshipped. Now these damned spirits no longer heed my will. I’d not lied when warning Cassandra of the danger.
Stroke after stroke, I head for the bank. The current coils around me with the strength of a whiplash sucking the energy from my limbs. Punishing and harsh. No one ventures into the cursed river without consequence.
With brutal force, I’m not prepared when I’m yanked beneath the surface. Water fills my throat. Sinking my shout is silenced by the icy liquid as it fills my lungs. The unnatural waters encase me in the deathly touch of the forsaken dead and seep into the marrow of my bones.
I won’t drown.
I’m immortal but being drained of my life force is something all too possible. Weakened and immobile, I’ll be nothing more than flesh and bone decaying on the sandy bottom. Aware. Conscious. Entombed in a grave of my own making.
Thrashing, flailing wildly I struggle in its clutches. Pressure crushes my chest, forcing my lungs to burn as if they’re on fire. Air isn’t a requirement for me to live, but it’s a natural response to panic without it.
I sink faster.
Orbs buzz around me frenzied in their excitement. They sense nourishment. Vitality and vigor that only reminds them of the lifetimes they abused and squandered.
It’s not the darkness that disturbs me as it’s part of the very fiber of my being.
It’s the silence.
Eerie. Still.
Is this what true death feels like for the Gods? Do we dissolve into nothing? An echo in the minds and heart of mankind and only remembered in books and myths?
Drifting, drifting, I continue my journey. A bed of gently swaying plants comes into view below. Strands wrapping around my legs, they snag me in place. Heart hammering behind my ribs, I float, my weighted feet hitting the bottom.
A sense of anguish rules my heart. Not for myself but for the newly found love I’m about to lose.
Cassandra.
An image of my little Dove dominates my fuzzy, oxygen deprived mind.
I’m going to lose her. The realization is crippling.
A roar of denial rumbles from my chest muffled by the water.
I will fight for her.
Cassandra.
Her name becomes a chant in my head.
Cassandra.
It vibrates through my sinew and bone.
Cassandra.
Blood and muscle.
Cassandra.
My love burns. All-consuming, it has the power to destroy. It courses through my veins in a way I haven’t felt in eons. Sublime, intoxicating. Power surges through my being. Belief. I sense it. One small fragile flicker that burns with such ferocity it has my diminished abilities awakening with a strength that leaves me reeling.
Cassandra.
She believes in me. Her hope flows through my soul.
Kicking my legs, magic blooms filling every cell. It propels me upward, pushing past the lost souls, cocooning me in protection. Breaking the surface of the water, I gulp in air, spluttering and coughing. Something tugs at my feet.
Panicking, I tense, leaping with superhuman speed to the shore. Hitting the rocky ground my fingers claw into the earth, heaving in shaky breathes.
Screams and shrieks reach my ears. The smell of burning wood and the metallic scent of blood reaches my nose. Chin hilting up, I see flames leaping from some of the windows of Tartarus. Smoke bellows out interweaving with the fierce orange. Above the Wyverns flock, talons clutching prisoners who have tried to escape.
A gentle hand touches my shoul
der. “We need to move now. Zeus released the prisoners. We’ve managed to contain some of them, but it’s going to take the guards time.”
Breanna.
The Fury’s beautiful features are etched in graveness. Taking my hand, she hauls me up onto my feet.
Pushing away from her, I swagger for the entrance. “I need to help.”
“It looks like Jasper and Lucien betrayed us.”
The horror of what happens only intensifies. My home is burning. All the prisoners who have been kept here under my watch, fleeing. A sudden thought strikes me, jerking my heart to a stop before thudding rapidly.
Cassandra, Miranda, Jellybean, Cerberus.
The four I care about most in the world are caught inside.
“Breanna, go and release Cerberus and get her away from the prison,” I yell, sprinting toward the opened doors. Smoke greets me charring my lungs, flames scorching my skin and singing my wet clothes. The tears are instant, washing down my cheeks when the cough wracks my body.
Guards pass me in the chaos, shouting, others hurrying with buckets of water. Bodies lay scattered here and there. Adrenaline keeps me jogging through the inferno. Battling my way down spiraling staircases and narrow passages, I arrive at my target.
“Cassandra! Cassandra?” I shout, flinging my apartment door open. She’s nowhere in sight. In the bathroom, I find a pile of ash. A vampire? Cold dread sets like lead in my stomach.
My Dove is gone. Has Zeus taken her? Is she out with the rest of the prisoners? Has Lucifer reclaimed her?
Fears and possibilities whirl through my head as I take off in the direction of the others dear to my heart.
I pass some guards severely beating some inmates into submission. Ignoring their stares, I rush down some narrow steps.
The cell I’m after lays open. Panic tightens my throat. No attachments mean no weaknesses. Yet I’ve let these women seep into the cracks in my empty heart.
“Miranda? Jellybean?”
There’s no answer to my shout.
Cautiously I peer through the door. The walls are bright with painted murals. Paintings of sunlight, trees, and a vast ocean filled with fish. The room itself is empty but for the dusty stone statues positioned around the room. Clothes littered on two mattresses. A flash of pink catches my eye. Striding to the bed on the other side of the room, I crouch to scoop up the pink princess doll.
