Chapter 33 – Lamia
LAMIA
The snake-woman, Dara, tells us what to do next… go home.
There’s a place for us and our kind. It’s on the edge of these magical woods in a neighborhood that wraps around a lake.
And just beyond that neighborhood is a town filled with humans and magical creatures alike.
It’s a place where we can be safe, and be ourselves, and yet still include our children in the world.
And apparently, based on the keys she places in my hand, one of those homes has been left empty. For us.
We’re smiling as we leave the cave, knowing in just a little while we’ll be home
I’m holding my kids’ hands when a shape drops from the sky. Suddenly, a sword is at my throat.
A cold sweat rolls down my back, and I jerk my children in front of me. Out of reach of my attacker.
I hear Ryker swear.
“Protect them!” I shout at my gargoyles, and Darius and Vincent move like lightning to scoop the kids up and pull them away from me and my attacker.
“Did you really think this was over?” The old gargoyle’s, Edgar’s, voice is cold and cruel. “That I was just going to let you fly off into the sunset?”
“Don’t hurt her, or I swear to the gods—“ Ryker’s threat is low and raspy.
“Mama!” I hear my daughter cry out, and I hate the fear in her voice.
“It’s her life or mine,” Edgar says. “What an easy choice.”
I feel the blade cut into my throat, and then there’s a sound like thunder booming. The blade is gone from my throat, and I whirl around.
Edgar is on his knees. His eyes are wide. A few feet behind him is a god. A man dressed in a powder blue suit with a handkerchief in his pocket, one with little gates like those that guard Underworld, on them.
“Hades, my lord.” Edgar’s voice is high and frightened. “I was about to kill her. I was about to—“
“The bet was lost,” Hades growls the words.
“No, I still have time!”
Hades glares and folds his arms in front of his chest. “Do you really think some of the gutless gods want to watch a mother be murdered while her children watch?”
“I…”
“She reached the cave. She brought them back to life. The bet is lost.” Hades smirks. “I said I’d get a soul today, one way or another.”
Edgar pales.
Suddenly, Shades surround the kneeling gargoyle. He screams, but the sound is torn away as the earth crumbles beneath him and he falls down, the Shades laughing around him.
I scramble back, standing before my children. My hands curl into fists.
Hades glances at me and raises a brow. “Oh, please, relax. As fascinating as it has been to watch you, the gods have better things to do. As far as we’re concerned, none of you exist.”
And then he’s gone.
“That’s good enough for me,” Vincent mutters.
I turn and my children race into my arms. After a tight hug, my son pulls back and stares at me with wide eyes.
“What does that mean?”
Pushing down my fears, I force a smile. “It means we’re free. That we’re safe.”
My daughter peeks out at me, but my son’s the one to answer. “Good.”
I look up at my gargoyles. Their eyes are soft as they look down at us.
“That’s very good,” Ryker says. “But no matter what happens, we’ll be there to protect you.”
“It’s your job.” Atticus’s eyes are big.
Ryker kneels down. “It’s more than that. We’re a family now.”
My son smiles. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
“And we aren’t going anywhere.” Vincent winks at him.
As I take my children’s hands again, we all walk together. Not to the life we had before, but to another one. A better one.
And even though times were dark, even though I made mistakes, deep in my heart I feel something I haven’t felt in so long. That I actually deserve this.
Maybe even the flawed deserve love too.