Chapter 6 Soraya #2
“Yes, it seems—” Hecate cuts off as the map shifts and flares. Cold air seeps into the room. I don’t wait for her to finish. I am gone before she can say another word.
SORAYA
“Wake up, Raya.” I can hear someone calling me. The light burns my eyes as I begin to open them.
“Hey, girl. It’s Mich.”
I feel relief spreading through my body. Michelle was here.
“Mich.” My throat burns a little as I talk.
“There she is. There is my…fiancée.”
My eyes instantly open when he says the word ‘fiancée.’ The first thing I see is Elias, with his gleaming white smile that never reaches his eyes.
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I missed you.”
I try to get up, but my body feels like a ton of bricks is sitting on it. “What did you do to me?” A tear seeps from the corner of my eye.
Elias takes his thumb and rubs it away. “I gave you a muscle relaxant. You need to relax, Ray.”
“Let me go.”
Elias looks at me like he is in love. “Never. I am never letting you go.”
I try to scream, but I can only move my neck. “Fuck you, Elias.”
“Eventually, but my men are going to get her first.” He points to Nisa lying asleep on another bed.
“Elias, she is a child; she’s 12.”
Elias shrugs. “After twelve is lunch, Ray.”
“You sick fuck. No, don’t touch her.” I scream louder as a tall man in camo wear approaches Nisa’s bed.
I can’t fucking move. “Ares!”
Elias chuckles, stands, and shouts, “Ares! Ares! Ares is not fucking here. I paid a high price for this child and her friend. Now, you and Ares almost took her away from me.”
“You disgust me.”
Elias fixes his grey shirt and stoops to face level with me. Years ago, I thought he looked like young Tom Cruise. How could I have been so blind?
“I disgust you? Well, that makes me sad. I will have to fix that.” Elias holds on to my cheeks and shoves his tongue into my mouth. I cough when he lets go.
And then Michelle laughs. A soft, mocking laugh that makes my blood crawl.
A tear rolls out of the corner of my eye. “Mich, why?”
“Oh, no. ‘Mich, why’?” Michelle says as she clutches her neck and places her hand on her forehead.
“Don’t be so surprised, cousin.” She drops her arms and steps beside Elias. “You really thought I was going to protect you. Sweet, nice Raya, so na?ve as always.”
I stare at her; my body feels even heavier than before.
Michelle leans into Elias’s side, and he kisses her on her forehead, as if he’s been doing that for years. It’s so natural. “I like winners, and Elias knows how to win.”
Elias smirks down at her. “My clever rat. I kept her close to you for years. She kept me informed, like a girlfriend should.”
Did he just call her a rat? Michelle stoops to the side of my bed. “Now, Elias wants to get some things done, so I am going to get out of his way. Nice seeing you.”
Michelle stands up, gives Elias a quick kiss, and walks out of the room.
“I’m going to fuck you. Then I will let my men take turns.” Elias says as he loosens his belt. Every part of me is dead, and all I can scream is Ares’s name.
“Pass me the tranquilizer that will put her to sleep,” Elias shouts. I feel the needle press into my skin. Tears run down my eyes. “Ares…” I whisper his name like a prayer.
ARES
Asphalt meets my boots. The air is still heavy with dust, oil and sweat.
There are concrete columns surrounding me and no cars here.
A door opens, and a man comes out with a gun strap hanging off his shoulders.
I don’t allow him to raise his gun. His chest caves over my fist; his scream is drowned out by his bone snapping.
I wiggle my fingers as my fist reappears through his back.
I raise him high in the air. “I am looking for a girl and a woman.”
The corpse dangling on my hand doesn’t respond. I shake him away, sending him flying into a column.
I feel hot, like lava is floating in my veins.
“Find them, Ares.” My scar twitches.
“I will wreak havoc in the process.” I march down the dark stairway. I stop when I see some men packing guns into a box.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Death.” I always find it funny that mortals think they can best a god. In this case, it’s the God of War. My soul cries out for their death to be slow and painful. Bullets whiz by me, some stopping short, melting, and dropping like metallic puddles on the floor.
I move through them like wildfire. With every strike I make, I invite death. Throats are torn open, skulls crack like broken glassware, and bones snap under my touch. One man tries to run by me, and I grip his jaw, ripping it clean from his face.
“Please, sir,” one soldier pleads as he rests his gun in front of him, his face pressing to the floor.
I step on his head, and he begins to flail and scream. I dip my hands in my pockets.
“I am looking for a girl and a woman.”
The fool laughs like my foot wasn’t on his head.
“Is that what you want? No problem. What’s your type?
” His question sickens me. There is a cracking sound under my shoes.
His screams are drowned out by my rage. When my feet finally touch the ground again, I shake them, and pieces of his brain and bone splat around the floor.
“Where are they?” I roar. Nothing about that sounded human. My voice shakes the walls of the bunkers.
The surrounding air thickens with the scent of war. I hear heavy boots coming down the staircase. I know the rhythm of that walk. My scar burns; warriors of old are approaching. I clap my hands together, pulling them apart slowly to reveal my broadsword.
“There was once a time when you built an altar to pray to me.” I hold my sword at the hilt. Rotating my wrist, I allow the sword to swing.
The doorway darkens when five men almost as tall as I am walk into the room. All their heads are shaved, and they’re dressed in black tactical gear.
“Myrmidons, soldiers of Achilles. Now you are errand boys for Elias Thorne.”
“Why fight with a sword? End this now. One blow.”
I point the sword at them, and the back of my hand grazes my scar. “There is no honor in that.”
“There is no honor in kidnapping either.”
“Point made.” The air blisters around me.
The five soldiers attack, swords in hand. One pulls out a dagger and tries to catch me off guard.
I shake my head at him and throw him far against a column.
I bend backward as they lunge forward. The weight of their swords lay on my chest.
“Enough, Ares.”
I pull away, and their swords clatter together. I change the gravitational force, making them all go to their knees.
“Where are the girls?”
No one responds, but one man’s eyes switch to a door in the back.
Phobos and Deimos appear side by side.
“Aye, don’t take all the fun,” Deimos says.
Phobos circles the men slowly. “Release them, Father.”
The temperature of the room dropped. The soldiers swallow. Some shake in fear; another is muttering a prayer.
Deimos bends and lifts a man by his hair. “Don’t struggle; look at me.” He holds the man’s cheeks and kisses him on the lips. His cheeks hollow out. The man screams, his nails clawing at his face.
“Are you praying?” Phobos asks, crouching beside him. The man nods and sobs.
“Imagine being a soldier of Achilles and working for…a mortal.”
The soldier sits up slowly. “The girls are behind the door.”
Phobos pouts. “I am disappointed that you made this so easy for me. Now I have to torture you all for sure.”
I don’t bother watching the boys at work. The men’s screams bounce around the room.
I reach the door, turn the knob, and, as expected, it’s locked.
“Ares!” I feel the shrill scream through my body.
I rip the door off the hinges and step forward. I see both Nisa and Soraya lying quietly on twin beds with a light shining down on them. I run forward, but something propels my body backward. My back hits the wall near the door. Air leaves my lungs, and I cough as I stand to catch my breath.
“Hecate.”
Hecate instantly appears where I stand.
“Ares, they are alive.” Just as she is about to move forward, she stops, and her hand moves through the air. I see a golden ripple appear under her fingers.
“Someone doesn’t want us here.”
“I don’t care who. Can you move it?” I feel like a caged tiger pacing.
Hecate closes her eyes, and her palms rotate. “Destruction of the unseen wall crumbles before me. I am Hecate, Key Bearer. Open for me; no barrier will remain.”
The wall disintegrates as gold sprinkles burn away the barrier like a paper lit on fire.
Hecate stands still and inhales deeply. “There is a god at play here, Ares.”
Once the barrier is gone. I rush to Soraya and pull her to mine. Her frame is limp, and her lips are dry.
“Oh, poor child.” Hecate places Nisa’s limp body in her arms.
Deimos and Phobos walk in, breathing heavily. I look at them and let my rage flow through me.
“Burn this place down to the ground. It should be nothing but ash and steel when you are done.”
They both nod, fists clenching.
“Hecate, get us home now.”
“As you desire.”
In a flash, I am back in Soraya’s bedroom, placing her gently on the bed. I check for any bruises, and thankfully, I see none. Elias Thorne is a dead man walking. I sit at the side of Soraya’s bed, watching her sleep. I failed her.
Hecate appears in Soraya’s room. “I can draw the tranquilizer out of her.”
“What of Nisa?”
Hecate grimaces. “They didn’t hurt her. But I fear if we arrived later…”
My jaw clenches, wanting to go back to the building. I should have ripped each man limb from limb.
“This shows me that Soraya is not safe without me,” I whisper more to myself than to Hecate.
I hear Hecate huff. “You think she’s safe? With you? Please. You’re the God of War, breaker of men, destroyer of worlds.” She lifts her eyebrows and smirks. “Mr. Walking Red Flag.”
I look at Hecate as she traces symbols in the air. Golden sparks flicker on her fingertips.
“You can’t possibly understand how much she is beginning to mean to me.”
Hecate rolls her eyes. “You’re right. I value my sanity.”
“Hecate,” I warn her.
“You still want her dead, right? I mean, it’s not like you love her,” Hecate whispers, waiting for me to respond.
Love? Do I love her? I think about last night, the way we made love. The urgency. I close my eyes and inhale. No, I love Talia.
I open my eyes. “I need her to die to save Talia and…myself.” My words taste bitter. My hands still have the blood of the men I tore apart to save her. Hypocrisy burns my soul. The truth is simple: I saved her only to lose her later.
“Maybe it’s time for you to look at different angles of this curse, Ares. Find a different approach.”
I remain silent because I had a lot to think about. However, one thing remains constant: Talia’s soul. That matters to me the most.
“Did you smell the myrrh and tart grape?” She asks, walking to the side of the bed and taking Soraya’s hand.
“No.” I touch the tips of Soraya’s fingers. I just want her to be better.
“What god smells like stale wine, Ares? Think,” Hecate says as she presses her hands down on the bed.
“Dionysus?”
She grimaces at my answer. “Have you been out of Olympus that long? Yes, it’s Dionysus.”
“What does Dion want with Elias?” I ask.
Hecate places her hand on the side of Soraya’s neck. “That’s the real question. Now, let’s get this poison out of Soraya. Hold her down.”
Hecate throws her head back and hovers her hands over Soraya’s limp body. She begins to hum and then looks down at Soraya. A small wind picks up in the room.
“By torch and key, I cast you out. Venom, obey and depart with a shout. Climb from the depths, cough, and leave her breath. By fire and night, I conquer death.”