Eris laughed. “Your eyes have the look of someone who has just been caught doing something they shouldn’t have been. A look I know well. That will do for now, brother.” She was beaming at me and I shifted angrily.
“I have told you nothing! I tried to drain her, just like you told me to!”
My protests were pointless though. Eris’ smile didn’t change as she stood up. “That love-witch of yours is going to lose her shit when she finds out. I can’t wait! Oh, do me a favor? If anyone asks who helped you, don’t tell them it was me. Tell them it was Hermes. That’ll confuse the fuck out of them.”
With another cackle of laughter, the world flashed white around me.
The scene that met my eyes was both breathtaking and terrifying, and I was prepared for neither.
The sight of Bella moving across the deck of a ship faster than I could follow, her glowing sword moving like it was performing a dance just for her, was borderline erotic.
But the hell-demon swooping after her, backing away from the light of her sword, then trying to dart around it, would not tire as fast as Bella. I knew exactly what she was, and what she would do to Bella if she reached her.
“Keres demon!” I bellowed.
The demon screeched as she turned to me. Bella froze, shock on her face as she saw me, and possibly a flash of hope.
“He does not smell as good as you,” the creature hissed, turning back to Bella.
“Return to Hades, at once!” I roared.
The demon ignored me completely, snapping her rotten wings out at she threw herself at Bella.
Without a second’s hesitation, I drew on the cord that connected us, and flashed us both off the ship.
3
Bella
“What the fuck was that thing?” I half screamed the question at Ares when the light from his flash faded away. My brain wanted to work out where I was and what the hell was going on.
My body wanted to smash everything.
I’d known that I couldn’t beat her. I’d felt my muscles tiring, the burning ball of power inside me ebbing away, the rotten stench of the demon getting stronger every time she got closer to me. I’d known that at some point she would get to me, and I had no escape. A refusal to accept my fate had sent me into a frenzy, and my hands were burning as though they’d been inside the Hydra again, my vision blood-red.
“You fucking betrayed me!” I yelled as Ares’ eyes found mine, and I knew they would be wild with rage.
“Hit me,” he said.
Like the freaking Incredible Hulk, I swung blindly with my sword, roaring and yelling and swearing as it met armor with a ringing clang over and over. Heat fired through me from where I gripped the sword with both hands, each time it made contact sending shocks pulsing up my arms. And they felt good. Over and over again I landed blows on him, barely aware of my actions. I knew he was drawing my power, I could vaguely feel the cord humming in my gut, but I didn’t need it.
I kept hitting him until my arms couldn’t lift my blade high enough any more, and my breathing was so labored my head spun.
My chest heaved as I dropped the sword to my side, and Ares locked his eyes on mine.
The red mist ebbed away, and questions crashed through my head so fast and thick that pain throbbed at the base of my skull.
“Give me your hand,” said Ares quietly.
“No,” I spat automatically. He reached forward and grabbed it anyway, and I yelped in pain and dropped Ischyros to the ground. There were blisters on my skin. A slow pleasurable tingling spread across my skin, and it dawned foggily on me that he was healing me.
I snatched my hand back, the pain returning immediately.
“I can do that myself,” I hissed.
But when I tried to concentrate on fixing the wounds, I found I couldn’t, my head a jumbled mess of frustration and confusion. “I have a lot of fucking questions,” I said through gritted teeth, giving up on my burns. “And if you don’t answer them, I will not spend a minute more with you.”
Ares stared through his helmet at me a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then with a sigh, he turned. “Fine. I’ll tell you everything I know. But I’m having a drink. Want one?”
I blinked in shock at his back. I’d expected an argument. Not an offer of a drink.
“Yes. Nectar.”
I was exhausted. Physically, and magically. I looked around myself, limbs beginning to shake slightly with the adrenaline still coursing through my body. We were in a room made from wooden logs. Ares made his way to a counter fixed to one wall, next to a large bookcase. The room was big and open, with a bed and closets against another wall and couches in the middle. A small kitchenette with a sink lined the wall to my left.
I moved slowly, sitting down on a pale pink cushioned couch. All the furniture looked like it belonged in a retirement home.
Ares turned back to me, carrying two glasses. He passed me one, then sat down on the other couch, a pretty coral color. If I hadn’t been so angry and confused I would have laughed, he was so out of place in a room like this.
I opened my mouth to demand he talk, but he started before I could speak.
“The demon on that ship is a Keres demon. They are the spirits of violent death. They are supposed to take souls from battlefields. I do not know why this one has stolen the Guardians’ souls.”
“Can the souls be returned?” My throat constricted as I asked the question, Joshua’s face filling my mind.
“Yes. The demon will answer to Hades when it is returned to the Underworld. He will ensure the souls are replaced.”
Thank fuck for that.
“Keres demons are strongly connected to my... our power, as violent death is connected to war. I had hoped for a moment she would obey me. But she is an exceptionally strong example.”
“She said she was working for Zeus,” I said. “Why?” Ares froze, then took a very long breath.
“Cronos, most powerful and dangerous Titan in the world, is imprisoned in Tartarus, in the Underworld. Zeus recently sought to free him, to remind the world that Titans are dangerous. He then planned to recapture him, to prove his own dominance.”
I stared at Ares. “What a dickhead. I’m assuming this history lesson is going somewhere relevant?” Ares ground his teeth a little, but continued.
“It is the belief of the other gods that Zeus was overconfident in his ability to defeat Cronos if he were freed again. The war in which he was originally captured and imprisoned was great and glorious, but it took the help of many other powerful Titans who betrayed Cronos to win.”
“Titans like Oceanus?” I ventured. It had been clear when I first got here that Oceanus was more powerful than the others. He was apparently the only one who could restore Ares’ power.
“Yes. And Prometheus, and Atlas. These Titans have since vanished, having been made unwelcome in Olympus by Zeus. Oceanus only returned a few months ago. Hades gifted Oceanus his own realm to rule over.”
I took a deep breath. “And that upset your precious father?”
Anger sparked in Ares’ eyes. “Understandably! He is the ruler of Olympus, and Hades had no right to break the rules. We are not allowed to create new realms.”