Cass stared up at him, her breath lodged in her throat as his scarlet eyes burned with rage.
Hades pressed forwards, his voice a black snarl.
“A life for a life.”
Chapter 35
Daimon’s entire body ached, felt as if a gatekeeper had pummelled him, given him a five minute breather, and then gone in for another round. Memories flickered across his mind as he fought a group of daemons, four adult males who were attempting to breach the barrier he and his brothers formed between the portals and the gate. He remembered the cold. The fear.
The painful thought that he would never see Cass again.
The last thing he could remember was thinking of her, and she had been the first thing he had seen upon being revived.
Gods, he had never beheld a sweeter sight than her sitting beside him.
Fighting to bring him back to her.
He owed her a thousand apologies when they were back together.
And they would be back together.
Lightning crashed down just off to this left, spraying black blood and pieces of daemon across the slick grass. To his right, flames blazed a path through another group of males, filling the air with the stench of burning flesh.
Shadows rushed across the ground, blending with the night before they shot upwards to impale a male and dragged him down as he screamed and writhed, fighting their hold.
Beyond the first wave of daemons, a second wave spilled out of the portals.
He cursed.
Marek appeared beside him.
A wall of baked earth rose up, encircling the field, cutting off the daemons he and his brothers were fighting from the next wave. Those daemons growled and snarled on the other side of the ten-foot-high wall. It wouldn’t hold them for long, but hopefully it would slow them down enough that Daimon and his brothers could deal with making sure the gate was safe.
He turned towards Marek to thank him.
One glance was all it took to see that something had gone wrong.
“I lost Cassandra,” Marek said, guilt and pain shining in his dark eyes. “She broke free of me during the teleport.”
Daimon’s heart lurched and icy talons formed over his fingers. “What do you mean, she broke free of you?”
“She hit me with a spell that sent me flying. There was nothing I could do.”
Daimon couldn’t breathe.
He bent forwards, clutching his knees as his mind whirled, thoughts spinning so quickly that he felt sick.
He didn’t know what might have happened to her, where she might be.
Gods, he didn’t need this.
He was tired, in constant pain as his body tried to complete the healing that Cass’s spell had set in motion. Remaining focused on keeping the daemons from the gate had been taxing enough, now that fragile focus was split between the battle and fear for Cass.
What if she had landed somewhere in the Underworld?
If she had, she could take care of herself. She was strong, a powerful warrior, one who had proven she could handle anything life threw at her. He had to trust that she would make it through or at the very least survive long enough for him to finish with these daemons and go after her.
A portal formed on the inside of the wall.
The Erinyes stepped out of it.
Their violet eyes fixed beyond him.
On the point where the gate was hidden.
Could this night get any shittier?
It felt as if the Moirai had answered that question with a mocking laugh as he felt the gate opening behind him.
Impossible.
He twisted to face that direction as Marek joined the fray, teaming up with Ares and Valen.
He glanced at Keras where he fought a few feet away, taking on six daemons by himself.
None of his brothers were close enough to the gate to trigger it.
It shouldn’t be opening.
He looked back at the Erinyes. The two blondes stood in front of the portal, an entire legion of daemons forming behind them, at least three dozen strong.
Was it their doing?
He looked his bare chest over, focused on his body, sure that they hadn’t managed to cut him and take his blood. Had Nemesis given some to them? Had they taken it before he had tried to kill himself?
Even if they had, he wasn’t sure it would be enough for them to trigger the gate from such a vast distance.
It wasn’t responding to him and he was standing closer to it.
He backed off, leaving his brothers to deal with the daemons as he turned all his focus on the gate.
A blinding pinprick of violet light burst into existence in the middle of the field before him, spreading rapidly to form the central disc of the gate. It hovered flat above the grass, at least five feet wide, and pulsed brightly, birthing the first colourful ring.
“What the hell?” Ares snarled from behind him. “You doing that?”
“No,” Daimon snapped. “It’s not me opening it.”
But he would be the one to close it.
He focused on the gate, narrowing the world down to it, trusting his brothers could deal with the daemons without him. The gate flashed again and another ring formed, growing outwards. Glyphs shimmered to life around the ring, swirling with colour.
Daimon commanded that ring to shrink.
It grew larger.
Fear threatened to seize him, but he pushed back against it and focused harder, demanding that the gate close itself. His head turned and he pressed a hand to it, squeezed his eyes shut as his vision blurred. He could do this.
He sent another command to the gate.
A third ring formed, rotating slowly counter-clockwise.
Fuck.
“Ares,” Daimon hollered. “Can you close it?”
Ares appeared beside him, his face etched in lines of concentration as he stared at the gate. Tense seconds trickled past, filled with the crack of lightning and the sound of grunts and screams as the battle raged behind them.
Ares looked at him out of the corner of his eye, defeat shining in his gaze. “I can’t. It’s not responding to me. It’s like someone is overriding me.”
Daimon stared at the gate, that feeling echoing inside him too as he watched another ring form, helpless to stop it. He tried anyway, gritting his teeth and grunting as he exerted all of his will on the gate.
“Go… go!” Meadow yelled, and Daimon sensed the wave of daemons rushing forwards, heard the thunder of their footsteps as they charged across the grass at his brothers.
Daimon fought harder, struggling to focus on the gate and his power over it as his head grew foggy, his body sluggish and slow to respond as he tried to lift his hands.
Ares growled and heat licked at Daimon’s back, a wall of fire that wouldn’t keep the daemons at bay for long. His brother would need to keep fuelling that wall of fire, draining himself.
Daimon had to get the gate to respond to him.
He raked one of his icy talons over his arm, drawing blood.
“Are you crazy?” Ares lunged for him and Daimon leaped away, placing some distance between them.
“I need more control over it.” Daimon dragged another claw over his arm and corrected himself. “I need some control. It will respond to my blood.”
He wasn’t sure that it would.
He had never seen a gate act like this. He had never felt as if it was ignoring him. Sometimes they resisted, but it was as if he wasn’t even here.
“Just keep the Erinyes away from it.” Daimon glanced at Ares, and the grim look in his brother’s eyes said that he was well aware of what might happen if the two furies managed to get closer to the gate.
They were already making it hard enough on him, their control over it something that felt impossible given the distance between them and it.
But it had to be them opening it.
Daimon strode towards the gate, intent on closing it and stopping them.
His vision tunnelled again and he shook
his head, waited a moment for it to clear before he continued. Blood tracked down his arm and he grimaced as he raked a third line in his flesh, adding more, aware that he was going to need it.
Lightning rocked the ground and he wobbled, his left knee buckling. He staggered in that direction and managed to remain upright.
Daimon grunted as something smashed into him, knocking him onto his side.
His head whipped towards it.
A growl tore from his lips as the winged scaly daemon lunged for him again, sharp black talons slashing towards him. He rolled across the dewy grass, the scent of his blood growing thicker in the air as he evaded the daemon’s blow. Daimon raised his right arm and ice shot up from the earth, tinged red with his own blood.
Huge leathery wings beat the air towards him as the male lifted off, elevating himself away from the reach of Daimon’s ice, fading into the night.
Daimon scoured the darkness, remaining still on the grass, anticipating another attack.
When it didn’t come, he rolled onto his knees and pushed off, rushing towards the gate.
Air whooshed.
Daimon ducked, sweeping his upper body to his right as the daemon cut across him. Fire streaked across his back and he cried out, the fog in this head growing thicker as blood leaked down his side. He stumbled onwards, eyes locked on the gate as another ring formed.
The daemon swooped again.
A bright explosion of light struck the male and he flew through the air, fire licking over his wings as he tumbled and twisted.
Ares growled and launched another fireball at the daemon. “You all right?”
Daimon managed to nod.
Another two winged daemons plunged from the darkness, both of them aiming for Ares. His brother launched another two orbs of fire, hitting one but missing the other.
Daimon stretched his arm out to the gate as the daemon barrelled into Ares, lifting him off the ground and into the night.
Damn it.
He peered into the darkness, scouring it for his brother, his heart shooting into his throat.
A huge burst of flame flashed about eighty feet above him and then it was gone.
He pivoted on his heel as he heard Ares grunt somewhere behind him, spotted him close to Marek as he tackled three daemons, battling them with spears of solid earth.
Shadows sliced through the daemons, severing limbs, and swirled around Ares, forming a protective wall as he struggled onto his feet.
Lightning blinded Daimon as it forked from the sky, splitting into a dozen jagged white-purple points. Daemons shrieked as the bolts connected, the sound carrying in the still night air.
Mortal authorities would be coming. By now, someone would have reported the sounds of the fight coming from the park.
He had to move quickly.
Keras could freeze time for any human in the vicinity, but he couldn’t do it when he was fighting too. His oldest brother would have to focus, and that wasn’t going to happen when dozens of daemons were coming at them in waves, forcing him to use his shadows to protect himself, the gate and his brothers.
Daimon wasn’t sure Keras could freeze time even if he could concentrate.
Valen had told him about what had happened in the villa outside of Rome, how Keras hadn’t been able to completely stop time for the daemons there. Apparently, even Keras had his limits.
Daimon glanced at the daemons surrounding them, doubting his brother would be able to stop them.
Shadows ripped through the ones nearest Keras.
His brother might not be able to stop them in their tracks, but he could stop them in another way.
Agonised bellows filled the night as Keras went to town on the daemons.
Satisfied that the enemy were occupied and he had time, Daimon turned back towards the gate.
Grunted as pain spread across his stomach.
He looked down at the delicate feminine hand close to his hip.
Gripping a blade that sank deeper into his flesh as she pushed forwards.
Daimon swayed towards her, blinking to clear his vision as he struggled to lift his eyes to the woman before him.
“She said not to kill you,” Melody hissed as she leaned closer, bringing her mouth to his ear. “She didn’t say anything about not maiming you a little.”
She yanked the violet blade free of his flesh, jerking him forwards with it, and he staggered and fell into her, was quick to grab her. She screeched as his ice swept over her bare shoulders, shoved him in the chest and broke contact with him. Her purple eyes brightened dangerously as she inspected her reddened shoulders and narrowed as black bruises formed beneath the ice that melted on her skin.
“Bastard.” She backhanded him.
Everything went dark for a second and then the world was sideways.
It took him a moment to realise he was on the ground.
Melody grabbed him by his ankle and dragged him.
Towards the gate.
He tried to teleport, but nothing happened. Tried to summon his ice, but his head turned and he almost blacked out. Heat spread through him, a strange sensation that stemmed from the wound on his stomach. He blinked to clear his wobbly vision and looked at the blade she clutched.
The wraith’s blade.
Toxin.
She had hit him with the poison that coated it.
If he wasn’t healed soon, he would die from it.
He angled his head to his right and stared at the gate as they approached it.
Although he had a sinking feeling that death would come for him before the toxin could kill him.
The furie lifted her arm and he flew over her head, slammed into the earth in front of her and grunted as blood burst from his lips, his vision dimming again before it came back.
“Daimon!” Valen’s frantic bellow echoed in his ears and he sought his brother.
His eyebrows furrowed as he spotted him, Marek, Ares and Keras fighting Meadow and the horde of daemons spilling from the portal that had opened between him and them.
Daimon weakly kicked at Melody, trying to break free of her.
She clucked her tongue and leaned over him, backhanded him so hard he blacked out again. He was vaguely aware of the battle that blazed only fifty feet from him, of his brothers as they fought to reach him and called out his name, and of Melody as she gripped his hair and hauled him onto his knees before the gate.
The colourful light of it shimmered across his eyes as they struggled to focus.
Fear and hopelessness washed through him, a cruel combination that left him cold as he stared at the blurry gate.
Were the furies opening it for Nemesis so she could pass into this world and destroy it and his own one?
Melody yanked his head back and poised the blade at his throat.
Ready to cut him the second the gate had fully formed and spill enough blood that it would remain open, causing catastrophic damage to both realms.
Bringing about the calamity the Moirai had foreseen.
He couldn’t let that happen.
He couldn’t fail.
He summoned the last of his strength, focusing on his power as the final ring of the gate expanded, desperately clawing it together for one more attempt to break free of Melody’s hold.
Daimon tried to lift his hand to grab Melody’s, intending to freeze her and force her to release him.
His hand refused to move.
He edged his eyes downwards, stared at his hands where they rested on his lap, drenched in his own blood as it pumped from the wound in his side.
The central purple disc of the gate flashed.
Melody pressed the blade into his throat.
It was over.
Chapter 36
Cassandra’s first instinct was to use her magic to blast Hades and his guards away from her. Probably not a great idea. Her second instinct was to use that same magic to cast a spell that would transport her to Tokyo.
Only when she tried it, nothing happened.
She stared wide-eyed up at the dark god towering over her, despair swift to flood her as she realised there was no escaping him.
It was right there in his cold smile.
In those murderous red eyes.
The bastard knew her magic was useless, which meant he had done something to disable it, or there was something about his realm that stopped it from working.
Hades pressed his bident closer to her throat. She leaned back, tilting her head up further as she swallowed hard, and stared into his eyes as she cast a few prayers to various gods out into the ether just in case one of them was listening.
His lips compressed and twisted into a vicious sneer, his black eyebrows knitting hard above eyes that glowed the colour of blood.
She had thought Keras dark.
Keras looked like a puppy compared to this man.
“A life for a life,” he growled again.
Her life, but for whose?
“You… murdered… my… son,” he gritted, snarling each word, every pause a punctuation that drove them home.
Made her realise whose life he was talking about.
Daimon’s.
“He’s alive.” She went to jerk forwards as those desperate words burst from her lips and froze in time to stop herself from slitting her own throat on the sharp tips of his weapon.
“He died.” Hades pressed forwards and so did his guards.
More than one of their spears nicked her, but she refused to flinch as she faced Hades, refused to show any weakness he could use against her.
“He’s alive,” she bit out, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked up at him. “I swear it.”
“You speak lies, witch.” He loomed over her, the very air around him seeming to darken as his eyes brightened further, blazing with the fires of the Underworld.
With pain.
He truly thought his son was dead.
She wanted to shake her head but couldn’t without cutting herself. “He’s not dead. I brought him back.”
“You killed him.” He lowered the bident and she glanced down, her eyes widening again as she mentally cursed.
Daimon: Guardians of Hades Series Book 6 Page 32
