Chapter 8 #2
Please! I shouted in my mind, pleading with my demon to abandon this foolish idea that he could save me.
I’d bonded an angel and my other Virtues had Calamity on their side.
And my damn father was just sitting on the hood of his truck looking bored and hungry while his shadow wolves failed to hold me back.
Some use he was. No wonder my mother didn’t talk about him very much.
“I’m… not leaving,” Cole bit out, unable to do anything except bear the brunt of my blows.
He was going to die here, by my hand.
“This is fitting, isn’t it?” Dante asked, twirling his dagger from a distance. I knew he wanted to add to Cole’s wounds by his own blade, but he seemed pleased by my work. I ruthlessly slashed into the demon, unable to stop myself.
Dante’s approval only made it that much worse.
He grinned, his features beautifully marred by a multitude of scars.
Many of which I had put there before I’d known what Dante was to me.
He pointed his dagger at the demon. “You’re responsible for when her heart was ripped out. Now she’ll return the favor.”
“I don’t want to do this!” I shouted as I continued my onslaught.
When I pulled away Cole’s arms, baring his chest, I slashed a line down his skin, revealing bone.
I bit the inside of my cheek and willed myself to fight Logan’s command.
I couldn’t let this happen.
“Lilith,” Logan growled, his voice holding the full power of his Alpha. “I said to kill him. Take out his heart.”
A scream ripped out of my throat as I fought the burn that radiated from his mark on my breast.
Logan was my Alpha.
My bonded mate, and I couldn’t disobey a direct order.
But I couldn’t kill Cole… so my struggle burned through my soul, leaving agony ripping through my body.
“Stop,” a male voice commanded with such radiating power that everything within me had no choice but to obey.
The order hadn’t just been directed at me, but everyone in my vicinity.
Everything stopped. Orion, Hendrik, Dante, and Logan froze in place.
The wolves retreated into the shadows as the newcomer emerged, his height matching Orion and Cole’s, but his power something greater than both of them combined.
I’d never met such a creature. Relief and fear mixed in my soul as he ventured toward us.
All of my Virtues eyed him, unsure if he was friend or foe.
He looked as if he’d come out of ancient Greek history. He wore a full get-up of Greek Armor and a red aura glowed all around him. His eyes burned with intense fires, brighter than Hellfire, almost as if he was made of flame and blood that burned with energy.
A massive sword hung at his hip and he rested one hand on it as he perused the situation.
Sirens sounded in the distance quieted as he narrowed his eyes.
“It’s about time,” my father said as he stretched, then jumped down from the hood of the truck. “Olivia wasn’t going to be able to hold her off for much longer.”
My eyes went wide. “Olivia?”
My best friend jumped out from the back of the truck a moment later, and sheepishly waved at me. “Hey.”
I glowered at her. Because she was putting herself in danger when she was supposed to be back at the Academy living her life.
Instead, here she was, getting herself all wrapped up in my problems.
And saving my life… and the lives of my mates.
The list of times I owed Olivia my life and the lives of those I loved was growing by the minute.
Olivia cleared her throat, her pitch-black eyes shifting to take in the Greek god that had walked among us, seizing everyone with his single command. “Hey, Ares,” she said a bit too casually for me to think they didn’t already know one another.
Ares.
That was the name of a god… but it was also the name of one of the most powerful supernaturals on earth.
A male muse was a creature far more powerful than any of the female muses I’d come across, and that was saying something.
It explained why humans weren’t spilling out of their homes to come after us right now, and why he had the ability to overcome Logan’s Alpha’s claim on me.
A male muse held power over the mind and that power could extend over vast distances. It made me wonder why he hadn’t stopped me sooner, but maybe the stories about male muses were skewed by legend.
His burning eyes settled on the Incubus King. “My brother will be here soon, so I recommend we move.”
His brother?
There were only three male muses in existence at one time, and from my classes I’d read that one of them had been killed.
Male muses were so powerful because that’s how balance worked. There were only three of them in existence at the same time because that’s all that the universe would allow.
As a result, however, since there were only three, there was almost no limit to their power.
If two male muses were at odds, that wasn’t good for humanity. The last time two male muses had it out for each other, nearly all of Venice had been wiped out.
I’d learned a lot from my classes, knowledge that tended to drag on or become mundane when reading from a textbook or listening to a lecture, but I realized the importance of my studies now.
I knew who Ares and his brother were. I knew what they were capable of.
And I also knew I was in some very deep shit.
Okay, so maybe all those classes weren’t that useful. Ignorance is bliss and all of that.
Ares glared at the Incubus King, which was a terrifying sight. If I had been on the receiving end of his ire, I doubt I’d be able to talk.
Much less smirk like my father was doing right now.
What kind of death wish did he have?
Or maybe, he was somehow valuable to Ares, which seemed more likely. I doubted the Incubus King had made it this far by being the total dick he painted himself out to be.
“Gods forbid you get your hands dirty, Derek,” Ares chided.
My father spread his lips into one of those charming smiles. “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
Please. Gag reflex activated.
The two struck up idle conversation while the rest of us remained frozen by the male muse’s command.
Cole slowly healed beneath me, which made me wonder if that was the point of Ares pressing the pause button on our fight.
My rage demon remained on one knee with half of his chest torn open, and I watched as the skin stitched itself back together. He drew on the power of his rage to heal, and the rage of those around him. Based on the expressions on my other Virtues, there was plenty of that to go around.
Hendrik was definitely contributing to that, his pitch-black eyes narrowing on me with intense hatred.
I knew that he didn’t actually hate me, but love and hate held a fine line. And right now, he was realizing he’d nearly sacrificed himself for nothing. He’d brought us here, but Ares and the Incubus King had already been waiting for us.
I imagined Lucifer wasn’t going to like that.
As I watched him, though, I realized his mouth wasn’t moving with a string of curses.
No, it was a spell.
“Ares,” I tried to bite out, but he wasn’t listening. Instead he was berating the Incubus King for taking advantage of an ex-Shadow Coven witch. Something about the unnatural order of things now that she was a Dark Mage.
Something I’d ask Olivia about later, but for now, Ares needed to know that Hendrik was up to something.
Cole looked up at me as I struggled to speak. He spotted the power that welled within Hendrik as he managed to grip onto the sharp end of his blade.
Smart.
His blood dripped to the ground, his pain powering the spell that would likely not end well for the rest of us.
“Ares!” I tried again.
As the male muse finally turned, it was too late.
Shadows billowed around Hendrik and shot into the sky.
A beacon, I realized. One to let Lucifer know exactly where we were.
Ares cursed as the temperature dropped.
I couldn’t hear them, but I sensed we were quickly being surrounded.
By what? I wondered, although I was sure that I didn’t want to know.
Red eyes glowed in the darkness, revealing the answer to my question.
Vampires.
And it was a lot of them.