by Meg Xuemei X
We weren’t fighting enemies. We were fighting predators and brutal nature for survival.
I leapt into the air with a roar and impaled a lizard-like freak.
My hellhound crashed into a three-headed wolf, locking jaws with one of its heads, snarling and ripping. His claws tore into the wolf’s two other heads as his second head sank his fangs into his foe’s spiked throat.
My hellhound was just as nightmarish as the horrors of the Void.
“Angel, stay alive!” I ordered as I gutted a gargoyle.
Ten yards away, Lucifer and Ares swore. The stampede had caught up with them, which provided some comfort to me. I hoped the trolls ate every bit of the war god.
Reason gradually dipped into me, surmounting my rage.
My mates were mighty, but we wouldn’t last if we stayed and fought the endless supply of the armada of monsters. An instinctive need to preserve the rest of my men gripped my logic and my heart.
I embedded my sword into a beast’s wide mouth and shouted, “Stop!”
The horde froze, as if obeying my command. But I wouldn’t wait for them to unfreeze to test my theory.
“Run!” I yelled.
We burst into a dead run, fleeing the battlefield.
Lucifer and Ares also took advantage of the monsters’ sudden stillness, springing away from the battle. They reached the opening of the valley and shot left.
We were several yards behind them when the armada recovered from their daze, yowling in rage at their prey’s attempt to escape. They resumed the chase, their eyes glowing eerily yellow, their fangs dripping saliva and blood, and their hooves and clawed paws barely touching the ground.
“Faster!” Axel shouted, bringing up the rear with my hellhound as Zak and Paxton sprinted on either side of me.
I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure Axel wouldn’t suffer Héctor’s fate.
My love. My Héctor. My beloved mate, now lost to me forever.
Burning tears stung my eyes, but I forced myself not to dwell on him. If I did, I would collapse again and endanger the rest of my mates.
They deserved better. And Héctor deserved better.
I couldn’t afford to grieve. Not now.
We sprinted past the mountains and through the narrow opening of the damned valley that made me shed a lifetime of tears.
A boundless plain stretched before us, strewn with currant shrubs. Amongst them stood an abandoned framework that melded a half-bunker into a cave. Lucifer and Ares dashed toward it with all their might.
“It’s the only shelter,” Paxton said. “We’ll have to get there, too. If we run fast, we might beat the fuckers to it, and we’ll seal the entrance.”
Unfortunately, our enemies had too much of a lead on us. They darted into the cave bunker, their swords thrusting in front of them, bracing for an ambush or any resistance inside the den.
Despite a rift between them, it seemed that the god and the devil had forged a new alliance. Lucifer disappeared inside, and Ares parked himself at the narrow entrance, wielding his broadsword to guard it, a malicious smirk hanging on his cruel lips.
The monsters surged out of the valley, pursuing us. Without the mountains to hem them in, the vast horde spread across the plain. It wouldn’t take them long to encircle us, cutting off all possible routes of escape.
Without that cave for shelter, we were as good as dead.
CHAPTER 2
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“Storm the cave!” Zak bellowed.
My hellhound barked his agreement.
Axel and Zak lunged at Ares, their blades clashing against the war god’s again and again. The god held his ground, hellbent on barring the entrance and not giving an inch.
He really wanted to see us dead, including his own son.
Paxton and I spun to protect Axel and Zak from the oncoming horde. Our blades flashed as we struck down the first two beasties within our range. Angel tore out the throat of a wild boar that had two scaled tails.
“I’m the mighty God of War,” Ares sneered amid the harsh, ringing clashes of crossing steel. “I can keep up longer than you half-blood brats in any realm. Let’s see how long you’ll last when all the beasts of the Void are upon you.”
“Ares, just let them in,” Lucifer said impatiently from inside the cave. “We might need them to get off this plane, especially Princess Celeste. She was born in the Void.”
“I’ll dispose of at least one of them before I stop,” Ares said, his musical voice laden with venom and arrogance. “I gave them everything, and they repaid me with insolence and betrayal for a whore they barely knew!”
“You’re such a bitter, little man,” I said while I kicked away a big cat-like critter that tried to cling to my leg and swung my sword to impale a larger beast. “Can’t get over being rejected by women again and again, sore loser?”
“No woman rejected me!” the god snapped.
“Try that statement again,” I said, severing a monster’s head from its neck when it bit into my hellhound’s rear. “Keep repeating your pathetic lies until you believe them.”
I was the living testimony that women turned him down with ridicule, spit, and violence.
“Laugh again, little hellion, after your illegitimate lovers all fall around you!” He growled. “Oh, how’s Héctor doing? Where the heck is he if you don’t mind me asking? Or is he being digested as we speak?”
Then the god bellowed in pain and rage.
“Get in, Cookie!” Axel shouted. “We got the fucker!”
I brandished my sword to push back another wave of the horde’s onslaught before I stole a quick glance over my shoulder. Axel’s blade plunged beneath his father’s shoulder, and Zak’s sword stabbed into the god’s left thigh.
My mates weren’t unscathed, either. Ares had put a dagger in Axel’s side while he cut a gash on Zak’s leg.
The three of them strained, locked together by their weapons. Axel and Zak pushed in, clenching their teeth, until they gained enough space for Paxton and me to move into the cave.
I charged through the entrance, knowing Paxton wouldn’t get in before I did.
I leveled my demon blade in front of me, ready to stab Lucifer if he came to play, too. But the devil leaned against a sidewall in the far corner, watching us with apathy and cold calculation.
“Angel!” I called, my eyes never leaving Lucifer.
My hellhound trotted in with blood and gore all over his heads. He growled at our enemies, about to lunge at Ares to assist Axel and Zak.
Ares swore profusely and broke away from Axel and Zak. My mates didn’t pursue him since I’d gotten in. Plus, we were all wounded. More battles wouldn’t do us any good. But I found a rock in my pocket that I’d brought from Hell. I’d always carried rocks, just in case my blades weren’t enough to ward my enemies. I yanked it out and flung it at Ares before he could react.
The palm-sized rock hit the hollow under his left eye.
The god jerked back. “You little shit!”
Zak and Axel stood shoulder to shoulder, facing him with their swords up, blocking his path to me.
They were my shields forever.
Ares gritted his teeth. “I’ve never met anyone nastier than that hellion in my entire existence.” He turned to Lucifer, looking for sympathy but getting none. His friend was as much a psychopath as him. “That says something,” he concluded for his own ears and retreated to Lucifer’s corner but stayed a few paces from the devil.
“Who gives a rat’s fuck what you think?” Axel yelled at his father.
“Paxton, come in!” I shouted, standing by the entrance to cover his back and prevent the monsters from flooding in.
Paxton stepped through the entry backward, his sword decapitating a crocodile-like creature right at his heels.
A black-furred monster charged toward the sea demigod. Paxton and I struck at the same time, and the monster fell in a heap under our swords. As Paxton and I yanked out our blades, a stream of blood sp
ewed from its mouth. We leapt back to avoid the blood on our persons, even though we were already soaked with blood and gore.
As soon as the monster’s blood hit the threshold of the cave, it sizzled, turning to red mist before vanishing.
“The cave is warded,” Paxton said, trading a relieved look with me.
“That’s an interesting development,” Lucifer called from the corner. “Let more beasts hit the ward and see what happens next.”
“You’re no boss here, devil,” Axel said. “Who wants your opinion?”
He and Zak were still positioned in the middle of the cave with their bloody swords ready, facing our enemies.
“I propose a truce,” Lucifer said, paying no mind to my mates’ attitude. “The beasts of the Void do not differentiate us as we’re merely meat to them. If we all want to get out of here instead of ending up inside the beasts’ bellies, we’ll need to work together.”
I’d bet all my money that the Void hadn’t had a visitor for a very long time, and the monsters wouldn’t be keen on letting the new meat slip through their teeth.
“Like that’s going to happen, dicks,” Axel snorted.
My war demigod was saturated with destructive rage. His father’s betrayal had cut him soul-deep, and he wasn’t going to get over the bruising blow anytime soon. The trauma would stay with him for a long time.
I darted a worried glance at him before turning my gaze back to the monsters outside the cave.
Paxton crouched on the other side of the cave’s mouth, his sword in position to strike.
But the pack no longer charged. They must know about the ward. They stared at us, especially at the sea demigod, with chilling hunger in their mad eyes.
They resorted to waiting us out.
While the monsters sat on their haunches, growling, more of their kind trotted down from the peak of the mountains to join their ranks.
It was unnerving to know an ocean of them wanted our flesh and blood and bones.
“They won’t get you, Buttercup,” Paxton hissed, misreading the look of dismay on my face. “No one gets you.”
I shut my eyes for a second, not wanting him to see the shattered agony in my eyes.
The monsters had swallowed my Héctor.
“Care for our mate, Paxton,” Zak ordered. “Axel and I will stay guard for the night.”
Zak and Axel parked themselves like icy, lethal statues, facing Lucifer and Ares at the corner. Ares sneered to provoke us further. He tore a shred of fabric from the hem of his shirt to bind the cut in his thigh.
Everyone bled in the Void.
I wondered if we could regenerate here. Lucifer must have been thinking the same because he watched Ares tend to his wound with keen interest.
“Axel, Zak,” I said. “You suffered worse wounds. Let me take the first watch while you tend to yourselves. I’ll take a look at your wounds later.”
“Not a chance, Cookie,” Axel said. “We’re fine.”
“Why do you keep calling her Cookie?” Ares snickered. “It’s the worst, corny nickname, a name for pussy. But then, you’re both pussies.”
“Shut your fucking filthy hole. Don’t ever talk to me. Don’t ever talk to her.” Axel raised his blade, ready to charge his father, but Zak clasped his shoulder with a firm hand.
“Don’t take his shit bait,” Zak said. “We need to preserve our energy, so we can better protect our mate.”
“There’s no need for you two to stay there and gawk at those eye sores,” I said. “They stay in their corner, and we’ll stay in ours. The rule is simple. If they cross the line, we stab them.”
“That’s reasonable,” Zak said.
We trod to the opposite corner from Lucifer and Ares. While we checked and tended to each other’s injuries, the monsters howled vehemently outside the cave, the scent of our blood driving them into a half-frenzy.
A slew of mutants jumped onto the top of the cave bunker, trying to find an opening from the roof.
My nerves stretched thin and tight, like a string at the breaking point.
But as time wore on and the monsters couldn’t get inside the cave, the adrenaline in my system gradually dissipated. In its wake, fatigue overtook me while grief hollowed out a space in my heart. I collapsed on the ground and curled into a ball.
Rage could no longer sustain me as tribulation drowned me in its acidic waves.
Paxton crouched a few feet from us to stay watch. Zak and Axel cuddled close to me, blanketing me with their warmth, yet it couldn’t expel the glacier in my bones, or the ice in my soul.
The images of my Héctor disappearing into the teeth and claws of the monsters replayed in a never-ending loop in my mind. I prayed for my death, so I could join him in the Beyond. I wouldn’t let him roam alone in that bleak realm. I wouldn’t let him roam alone in any realm. He’d been so lonely for eons. He hadn’t had anyone until he met me. He couldn’t touch anyone until he had me.
For the first time, I didn’t respond to my mates’ gentle, comforting touches. I was so sorry I let them down, but I didn’t have any strength left to be present. I couldn’t be there for them this time.
The demigods and I were like a catalyst when we were together. Light one match and shit blew up. If we hadn’t met and joined, life would have continued as normal. As soon as I had fallen for them and mated with them, I brought them one disaster after another.
I was the path to their destruction.
Héctor would still be alive if he’d never met me, if he hadn’t vowed to cherish and protect me with his last breath. Now he was gone, every piece of him in those beasts’ bellies.
How could I bear it?
My head dropped to my knees. I wanted to die with him and I’d find a chance to perish.
Through our mating bond, I knew that my sorrow was hurting Paxton, Axel, and Zak like twisting a white-hot knife in their guts. Their grief and helplessness rippled back to me like dark tide in a hollow night.
“I know you love him more than anyone and anything,” Axel said, his voice full of despair. “But we’re still here. We’re your mates, too. We’ll always be here for you as we love you more than the world. We need you to come back to us and see us as you see him, Cookie.”
“Practice your words first, Axel, if you don’t know how to comfort our grieving mate,” Paxton barked. “Buttercup isn’t like any other women you were used to. Take care with her, or get the fuck out.”
“Why did you bring up other women in the far past?” Axel hissed. “Are you trying to drive a wedge between Cookie and me? Too bad that you won’t succeed, swimming boy. I’ve never showed any interest in any woman since I saw Cookie. It’s you who needs to practice how to treat our mate. Have you forgotten how you roughened her up? If we hadn’t forgiven your sins, you would never have had the opportunity to join our rank.”
“You never put in a good word for me,” Paxton sneered. “You tried to have my Buttercup all for yourself. I admitted my sins against our mate. Héctor beat me half to death for that, and I was grateful for his just punishment. I’ll spend my life to making it up to Buttercup and love her with all I have.”
At his mention of Héctor, I sobbed harder.
“Quit it, you two,” Zak said, his voice desolate. “We lost one of us. But bickering and fighting isn’t the way to deal with grief. You’ll only further upset my Rosebud.”
Their sorrow was just as heavy and black as mine. The demigods had once fought for territories for centuries, but they bonded like blood brothers when they all chose me as their mate.
I turned my bleary eyes to Axel. Of all of the demigods, Axel had the worst temper, and struggled to rein it in. With me, he was already being his gentlest, best self.
There was no light but the infinite cold darkness in me when I lost Héctor. But knowing I hurt my other mates by being emotionally unavailable to them only made my bleak heart bleed more.
“I love you just as much as I love him,” I said, tears flowing from my burning eyes like
a faucet. “I wouldn’t want to live if any of you perish.”
“I know how much it hurts, Rosebud,” Zak said. “But you need to keep going, just as we do, for you. We live for each other. You aren’t bearing the pain alone. He was our brother, and he saved me. If I could, I would gladly take his place, so he could be with you.”
I pressed my fingers to his lips. “How could you think I would rather you die instead? You’re all precious to my soul. I just don’t have the strength to go on as one of you is no longer…”
“Lean on us,” Paxton said. “Draw strength from us. Take whatever you need.”
Axel leaned toward me, his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry, baby. We love you more than anything, more than our wicked selves. Give us a chance and lean on us.”
I nodded as I wept.
Zak rolled me onto his large, strong body, so I no longer curled on the cold rock. I clung to him as Axel pressed against my back. Paxton shuffled closer to half-embrace me, though his alert, hard eyes never left our enemies in the other corner.
While we comforted each other, I vaguely heard the war god scoff. I didn’t pay him any mind. He might be a powerful god, but he was unloved and unwanted.
I was loved, wanted, and cherished.
However, a black glacier had encased my heart. If I didn’t want the same to happen to the rest of my mates, I needed to break through the layers of dark, hardened ice.
And I’d lean on my mates and borrow their light and fire.
CHAPTER 3
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The monsters prowled outside, besieging the cave. More and more of them leapt to the rooftop, stomping and howling, cracking our nerves.
Exhausted from heartbreak and cocooned in my mates’ warmth and solidity, I drifted to an anguished, shallow sleep.
Hunger gnawed my stomach, jerking me awake a few times only to find my throat was parched. I was a descendant of an archangel and a Titan. I shouldn’t be bothered by lack of food and water, yet here I was, weaker than ever.
Looking at my mates’ cracked lips, I knew they were just as hungry and thirsty as I was. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d eaten.
