Chapter One #2
Atticus reached out towards the swirling wisps, and I watched in fascination as they recoiled from him.
“Interesting,” Thane mused as he stepped into the space next to Atticus. “Perhaps they fear you.”
“But why?” Magnus asked. “You’re not more powerful than Thane or Roux. What does a shadow have to fear from a demon?”
“I’m not just any demon,” Atticus said coldly, and the temperature plummeted as he dropped the guards on his power.
I instantly sensed it brushing against the edge of my mind, and a shiver ran up my spine.
It was supposed to be scary but because I was his mate, I reacted differently to it.
Atticus was a Metus demon, a class five on the Underworld scale and one of the scariest creatures out there.
As his power surged, the shadows crept further away, leaving the six of us standing in the pool of light cast by his little floating orb.
“Okay, I get your point,” Magnus mumbled, his face twisted in pain. Whatever Atticus was doing, it was affecting Magnus. I’d never seen the vampire look so terrified.
“Knock it off,” Rayne growled as he stood in front of Magnus, ready to defend him. His eyes glowed brightly as he reached for the power of his Hound.
“My apologies,” Atticus said as he pulled his power back towards him. The shadows stayed where they were, creating a little pocket of light for us to stand in. For some reason, I missed their playful touch.
“I’m fine,” Magnus said as he rubbed soothing circles on Rayne’s back.
Interestingly, Rayne’s anger dissipated under the vampire’s touch, and a wave of sadness washed over me.
That’s what I did for them. I kept them calm and soothed their pain and anger, and now they had Magnus.
Had I lost a little bit more of them? Did they even need me anymore?
Two sets of luminous blue eyes met mine. The twins looked at me with concern. Damn telepathic connection. Making them aware of everything I fucking felt.
Rafe and Rayne shared a look and did their silent communication thing. They were two halves of one soul and sometimes didn’t need words to communicate.
Then they both threw me a determined look.
Oh, great. We were going to talk about this later.
I huffed a breath and started walking down the corridor again, silently hoping the shadows would steal me away.
“Do they do that a lot?” Atticus asked.
“The nonverbal communication?” Thane answered softly. “Yes. Their connection runs deeper than mere words. You’ll get used to it.”
My heart broke a little bit more because I didn’t think Atticus would get used to it. I feared that as the twins’ connection with Magnus deepened, mine would fade into the background.
And that was something I might just have to learn to live with, even if the thought of it had my heart shattering into a thousand pieces.
We walked for what seemed like miles until we reached a large door.
From what I could make out in the low lighting, it was a wooden door, but I couldn’t see a handle.
I traced my hand over the surface, feeling for a join or button or something that would hint at how to open it, but I couldn’t feel anything other than the rough surface of the grain. “There’s got to be a way to open it.”
“What’s that up there?” Magnus asked, pointing to the top of the door. There was something shimmering in the low light. Small gold circles painted onto the wood in a random order.
“They’re stars,” Thane said, wonder lacing his words.
I turned to look at him, and his gaze was fixed upon the painted dots. “Stars?”
“Yes, it’s a constellation. Lupus.”
Atticus stepped closer and sent his orb of light floating high above us. “Lupus?”
I was still a little impressed he had magic, and I was bursting with questions about what else he could do.
Thane glanced down at Atticus, a frown pulling his sandy brows low over his eyes. “It means the wolf.”
A low growl echoed in the surrounding darkness.
I swirled around to peer into the void behind us. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“I’d have to agree,” Thane mused. “Everyone be on your guard.”
“Rafe, Rayne. Hound form, now,” I ordered as I pulled my Reaper form to the surface. My skin peeled from my bones, and my clothes transformed into the traditional Reaper cloak, a cool ripple cascading over me. My death magic burst to life in my veins, and power surged into my scythe.
Another growl reverberated in the space around us, closer this time.
And there was definitely more than one creature making the growl.
My Hellhounds stood in front of us, their canine heads standing at the same height as mine with menacing snarls that displayed lethal-looking fangs.
A spark of fire had my head turning towards Thane as he summoned his own Reaper form.
A creature pulled straight from a nightmare, he stood nine feet tall with a crown of fire above his skeletal head and flames licking at his feet.
Imagine dying and having that be the first thing you saw.
A shiver ran up my spine as I took him in all his hellish glory.
But it wasn’t a shiver of fear, more like one of anticipation.
“Figure the door out, Roux. We will hold them back.” His bottomless eyes met mine, and his voice was nothing more than a guttural rasp.
“Okay,” I replied with a nod as I caught the first glimpse of the wolves.
They weren’t just any wolves. They were Lycaon. Men cursed to be wolves by Zeus himself. They were massive, hulking beasts with white fur and eyes that had no pupils or irises. They were just milky white orbs set in a vicious slant.
“Fuck,” Magnus hissed as his nails lengthened into wickedly sharp talons. He took up a spot between the twins and braced for impact. The three Lycaon drew nearer, saliva dripping from their mouths, their footsteps sure and steady.
“Roux,” Thane snapped. “The door.”
“Stay alive,” I whispered.
Thane gave me a short, sharp nod and then lunged forwards towards the gigantic beasts, the others following him into the fray.
I turned my attention to the door and tried to block out the sounds of gnashing jaws and feral growls. They guys would be fine. They’d have to be.
I trailed my hands all over the surface of the door, frantically searching for some kind of lever or button or—
My fingers caught against a ridge. Yes! I pushed on it, and a small compartment popped open, revealing a puzzle. Urgh, I fucking hated puzzles.
I looked behind me, trying to catch Thane’s attention. He’d have this solved in seconds. Unfortunately, he was holding open the jaw of a Lycaon and looking pretty occupied.
Guess this was down to me then.
There were a number of small glass buttons in a grid beneath a line of script.
The key is who slayed thee.
What the actual fuck?
I pushed one of the buttons, and it emitted a small glow. Just like a star.
This was all about stars. Fuck. Was the wolf slain by someone?
I looked up at the constellation, and an image filtered in from the depths of my memory.
Half man, half horse, holding a spear…
“Centaurus!”
I pushed the buttons in what I hoped was the constellation of Centaurus since it was a centaur who supposedly slayed the Lupus. Fuck knows how I actually knew that, but I’d worry about it later. It seemed like there was a never-ending list of things I was going to have to worry about later.
As soon as I pressed the final button, the sounds of large metal gears started to grind, and the door started to move.
“I did it!” I shouted to the others, but they didn’t hear me. They were all too busy fighting the Lycaon. I dove forward, reaching for Atticus as he narrowly missed one of the Lycaon taking a chunk out of his arm. Bloody hell, these wolves were huge.
“Thanks,” he gasped as he gripped my forearm.
“Don’t mention it,” I replied, refusing to take my eyes off the hulking beast. It snapped its jaws at me, saliva flinging from its fangs. I wrapped my fingers tighter around the handle of my scythe and prepared myself to attack.
I held the beast’s gaze. Its milky white eyes are boring into mine with a level of intelligence beyond my expectation. It was like he was seeing me and assessing me, but why? Why wouldn’t he just attack me like he had the others?
The Lycaon took a step forward, and Atticus made to attack, but I held my arm out, blocking him.
“Roux?” He sounded panicked. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know… but I don’t think it wants to attack me.” I lowered my scythe and moved closer to the beast. The sounds of the others faded into the background as I closed the gap between me and the wolf.
He really was huge. His head was six feet off the ground with eyes that glowed like full moons in an empty sky. Blood matted his white fur, and this close, I could see a shimmer running through it. He was a beautiful creature. Scary as fuck, but beautiful.
The wolf huffed a breath through his snout, a low growl reverberating from somewhere in his chest. I had the sudden urge to sink my fingers deep into his white coat. I extended my hand toward the beast and ghosted my fingers along his jaw.
The Lycaon’s gaze softened as he nuzzled into my touch, and holy fuck. I was touching the ridiculously huge wolf. With my hands. Well, my skeletal Reaper hands, but still.
Magic hummed through his skin like a living, breathing thing.
Powerful and ancient. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled with something.
There went that sense of familiarity bubbling through my mind again.
I didn’t care what Thane said; when I was getting out of here, I was going to find Mnemosyne.
Suddenly, coldness began to unfurl behind my solar plexus, extending through my torso and down my limbs. The wolf whimpered beneath my touch and pulled away before turning around and disappearing back into the darkness.
Shit. That couldn’t be good.
Something dark wrapped itself around my magic. The same darkness that I felt when dealing with the steel Minotaur in Prometheus’ lair. It seeped into my bones, chilling me from the inside out. As the coldness grew, my magic faded and my Reaper form disappeared.
“Roux?”
I screamed out as the pain of a thousand knives cut across my bones, carving against them with an icy touch.
“Roux!”
I couldn’t make out who was calling my name as the pain twisted in my gut, making me feel like I was being sliced open and someone was pulling my insides out. My knees crumbled and I dropped to the floor. There was so much pain.
Hands grabbed my cheeks, and Atticus’s face swam in front of my eyes. “Roux.”
“It hurts,” I whimpered.
The words of the Fates circled around my mind as black spots danced at the edges of my vision.
“There is a darkness in you that is darker than the night… when the door of secrets opens, he will find you.”
Was this what the Fates meant?
A sharp pain exploded behind my temple, and I fisted my hands in Atticus’ shirt.
A deep voice reverberated around my skull. “It’s time.”
Then the darkness swallowed me whole.