A Single Thread Of Hope (Hanging By A Thread #2)

Chapter 1

WREN

T he man in front of me was naked. A moment ago, he’d been a dog.

If that didn’t just sum up my life, nothing would.

“Wren? Are you okay?” Cy, the not-dog man asked, and I laughed. A man I’d tied to my very soul was dead at my feet. A monster who’d wanted to kill me and my babies had just fallen into the pits of Hell.

I think it was safe to say I wasn’t okay.

“Of course she isn’t, you simpleton,” a woman’s voice snapped. Her voice sounded… off. Like the tinkling of bells and the booming of a gong simultaneously. “She just got attacked by Ekhidna. Her blood pressure is probably through the roof, and you’re standing there naked as the day you were created, freaking her out.” A beautiful woman in a long black gown made of dead things appeared before me. Her hair was flame red, threaded with leaves, twigs, and spiderwebs, and as she moved, things bloomed beneath her feet.

A dark chuckle echoed from somewhere in the darkness, and the sound had the opposite effect to the woman’s. It sounded like the crunch of bones beneath a boot, the howl of wolves on the wind. “She has you there, Cydon.”

Cy gathered me up into his arms. His still-naked arms. Fuck. Pushing against his bare torso, I stumbled away from the group of people that had assembled in the courtyard. I would have tripped over the body of Demke if Cy didn’t have a hand around my arm.

Demke.

I froze as I stared at him. His chest was still, his eyes closed and lips slack. A perfect corpse.

“Demke,” I breathed, leaning down. His skin was cold, but I should do CPR. That’s what you were supposed to do. Even if it was hopeless. My lessons at the Y had taught me that I was supposed to do it to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” by the BeeGees—I’d liked the irony of that at the time, but now I stumbled over the beat, panic making my chest constrict.

I didn’t realize I was mumbling the lyrics out loud until the woman knelt opposite me, covering my hands with her own. The compassionate look on her face was at odds with the mouse-skull crown. At least, I hoped they were only mice skulls. “There is no need for that, sweet Vessel.”

Ice spilled through my veins at her words. Cy didn’t seem worried, but the only people who’d called me Vessel so far had been creatures trying to kill me.

Like she could see my fear, she shifted away slightly. “You’re safe with us, Wren.” Her voice was soft and sweet, and I believed her. “You don’t have to give him a heart massage, because he isn’t really dead.”

It was obvious that the pretty, scary lady was insane. My Demke was definitely dead.

The guy with the horror voice appeared behind her. He looked like a hard, slightly-evil Henry Cavill, with skin the color of death. Like someone who’d just been fished out of the Boston Harbor, all the color leached from his skin. “I know dead people, Vessel. In fact, some would say it’s a hazard of my profession. And I’m very sure your God isn’t dead.” His voice made goosebumps instantly rise on my skin and panic skitter down my spine. Danger and death, that’s what he sounded like. Like the embodiment of primordial fear come to life.

Almost subconsciously, I scrambled back on my hands and feet like a crab, which must have looked ridiculous. The pretty redhead with eyes that saw into my soul glared at the man disapprovingly. “Hades, you scared her more.”

“Sorry, Sephy. I was only trying to make her feel better.” His tone was bored, like he really didn’t give a shit whether I was scared or not, but he clearly didn’t like displeasing the woman before me.

Wait, did she say Hades?

“HOLY FUCK!” I grabbed Demke, pulling him along, but obviously, we didn’t make it far. I could barely shift him. “You can’t have him. He’s mine.”

Hades, the freaking God of the Underworld, actually laughed at me. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he had dimples. Gorgeous, but still terrifying. He looked down at the woman, Sephy, who I was beginning to realize might be Persephone.

“She’s so cute. Can we keep her? Look at her, hissing and trying to protect him, as if I couldn’t snatch the very soul from anyone in”—he tilted his head to the side—“a twenty-four-thousand mile radius. I’m pretty sure the old Minoan fuckers don’t deserve her. We should keep her.”

Persephone stood up, slapping him on the chest. “Stop it.” She glared at Cy. “Are you going to do something? Appease her worry? Anything?” She put her hands on her hips, and Cy drooped his head down like a chastised puppy. “Wren, what my husband meant was that Demke is the God of Renewal, which means he dies at sunset on the day of the Solstice and is then reborn on the dawn. In a few hours, your grumpy little God will be back to being a broody, stubborn butthead.”

Right now, I kind of agreed with the butthead bit. I stared at Cy. “And no one thought I should know that I might just stumble on Demke’s fucking dead body?”

Cy looked at me, wide-eyed, before flicking his eyes to Hades. “Do you think it’s too late to turn back into a dog?”

Hades chuckled. “Yep.”

“Uh, I wasn’t really aware that you didn’t know… I mean, I suspected when you were crying, but then there was Ekhidna, and the fight, and it kinda slipped my mind?”

I was so angry that I didn’t even care that Cy was naked anymore. I wanted to wring his perfectly proportionate neck.

I blinked at him slowly, kicked Demke in the ribs with my bare feet—which definitely hurt me more than his unconscious, undead ass—and stomped back into the house. I was going to murder them all. I looked over at Hades as I left. “Keep the pits open, because I’m going to throw some damn Demigods right in!”

Shadowy demons were already being dragged into the black abyss, like sludge circling the drain. Man, Hades was really overpowered.

His laughter spread through the air like a sonic boom. “See, so entertaining. It’s been so long since we had anyone interesting at home,” he said to Persephone, almost sounding like a pouting child. I missed her response, though, as I left them in the courtyard, walking through Demke’s bedroom straight into the chest of a pissed-looking Gryphon.

He opened his beak, but I held up a single finger. “Don’t even say it, Griff! You and Teron are both on my shit list, and you’re precariously close to catching hands.” My voice broke. “Why didn’t you tell me that Demke would die tonight? Before you yell at me, how about you consider how you’d feel if you saw my goddamn dead body out there under the moonlight!” I was definitely screeching now. “I had to find out from Cy—who isn’t a fucking dog—and the fucking God of the Underworld, who’s hanging out back there near the fiery pits!”

Yep, if Griff had super hearing in this form, I’d probably just busted at least one of his eardrums.

Mate… His voice sounded hesitant, but I was already shaking my head.

“No. I could almost forgive you, because we haven’t been able to speak like this before. But Teron definitely knew, and you had ample opportunity to warn me.” I held up a hand to stop him from answering. “I’m going to find Nate, because he’s the only one I can trust. Do not follow me. I don’t want to see your feathery, furry ass. The danger is gone now, because Hades seems to be sucking them all down to the Underworld.” Like it was an all-you-can-eat noodle night.

I pushed past Griff, though I wasn’t dumb enough to think he’d leave me completely alone. He was wise enough to just hang back, and I’d take that.

There was very obvious evidence that there’d been a battle inside the house. Bits of gore lined the walls, with broken furniture and deep gouges across the floor. Bodies at different levels of decapitation. Surely it hadn’t just been the Gryphon who’d caused this carnage?

I moved toward the doors that led to the main courtyard, and as soon as I slipped into the shadows that surrounded the building, a small group of dogs appeared. Definitely under the orders of Cy. I would never tell him this, but I found their presence reassuring. I’d seen what they’d done to Ekhidna; they were ferocious little warriors.

Some of them had even given their lives for me. For my babies. I saw the bodies of them cast around like discarded toys.

The shock of the night finally caught up with me, my anger draining away to shock. In the darkened courtyard of a forgotten palace, I broke down. Slipping to my knees, I was immediately surrounded by the wiggling bodies and darting kisses of a dozen dogs, each trying to make me feel better in a situation where there was no “better.” There was just survival.

The dog from the other day—the one that had sat on my lap—put its tiny paws against my chest, kissing my chin. I cried even harder. “I’m happy you're safe,” I murmured into her soft fur as she climbed into my arms. She didn’t even have a name, but she would’ve laid down her life for mine. “I’m so sorry that some of you… died…” I choked out, crying into her fur.

She yipped, pushing her head beneath mine.

“She says it’s an honor. They all knew the risks, and dying nobly in the defense of your little ones was better than dying hungry on the streets.”

Looking up, I saw Cy, who’d found a pair of shorts somewhere. I continued stroking the dog’s fur. “Does she have a name?”

“Kallini.”

“I’ll make sure no one is ever hungry again, Kallini. I promise.”

Cy squatted down in front of me, his hand stroking Kallini’s head gently. “We know, Wren. They believe in you, even if you don’t believe in yourself.” He lifted my chin. “I believe in you too.”

I shook my head at him, because I knew, deep down, that this wasn’t the end. I knew that it was only going to get worse. More people would die in my name, and I didn’t know if I could bear that weight on my soul. I squeezed Kallini to my chest, and Cy knelt down to wrap his arms around the two of us. “It’ll all be okay. I know it.”

He couldn’t know that. This carnage told me that it wouldn’t be all right. I wasn’t made for battle.

“Wren!”

I looked up to see Nate running toward me, huge and shining, his ax hanging from his hand like an extension of his body. I let another choked sob out, placing Kallini down on the ground and holding my arms up to my lover, the man I trusted more than I trusted myself. “The guys?”

He looked over at Griff, who inclined his head respectfully. “They are all fine. We lost one of the Valkyries, however.”

My heart shattered once more, and Nate lifted me into his arms, striding back into the compound as I cried. He was crusted in blood and other fluids I didn’t want to think about. As he walked, he whispered sweet words to me in Gaelic. I didn’t even try to decipher their meaning. I just buried my face in the comfort of his chest and let him carry me back to my room.

The doors had been barred, and apparently, that had been enough of a deterrent, because my suite looked untouched. I walked over to the mural on the wall that depicted the Minoan Goddess. She didn’t even have a name, or if she did, they’d never told me what it was. They just called her the Goddess, like she was everything that they’d ever needed, and they all had that same look of wistful sadness in their expression whenever they spoke of her.

Nate stood behind me silently as I traced my fingers over the dog that was running up the roots of the tree. Cy. I traced the bull that was on the ground at her feet. Milo? Demke was there, wreathed in vines and plants, looking solemn, a Gryphon standing beside him.

They were all there, beside the Goddess, along with other creatures. Snakes curled around her shoulders, the ones Demke had said died in the battle. Even a goat in the tree. Had he been just a goat? Or had he been like Cy? Had he died in the battle too?

“I’m repeating her mistakes, and I’ll get the rest of her lovers killed.” I ran my fingers over her face, the features blurred by time and Tryp’s fading memories. “I’m sorry.”

Nate stroked a hand down my hair. “Or you’ll save them. Have faith, mo stóirín. It isn’t hopeless yet.”

Yet.