Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
A res ached, even more so than when he fought Barnabus at the Harvest Moon Pack. He wasn’t too proud to admit, albeit quietly to himself, that he missed his powers. After being used as a punching bag for the fourth time, Barnabus had left him alone, saying he would be back to have more fun with him later.
That was never going to happen. As a god, he was one of the strongest. As a man, he was just as strong ... he hoped, having never been tested like this before. Well, if there was a time to test that theory out, now was that time. He refused to be a weak human, just waiting here for the demon to return and cause him more pain.
He gritted his teeth, wrapped his hands around the bindings holding his arms up and lifted his legs to break his leg bindings. It took a few attempts and some pain, but he did brake through them. Now to break the bindings holding him up.
Bob, Barden, and Wynter flew through Tartarus – thankfully dragon magic and angel powers seemed to work just fine. They had twisted and turned and been flying for a while when Tatum pointed to a section of what looked like a wall, with a large ledge along the front.
“Barnabus was held there,” he told them.
Changing direction, the dragons and Wynter landed on the ledge. Those that were riding the dragons dismounted.
“We need to hurry, it won’t be long before more demons come,” Hades urged them.
“They’re already coming,” Saxon warned. He shot a few fire bolts out at the closest demons. His powers still worked but were diluted.
Tatum rushed to the wall and tried to open it. It gave a little but didn’t fully open. “I don’t understand. It worked last time.”
“Barnabus has put protection around it,” Hades told him.
“But I can open any door,” Tatum reminded him.
Hades shook his head. “This is Tartarus, remember? Everything is different, powers here are different or non-existent and we still don’t know all the powers Barnabus is using.”
“Still weird,” Tatum muttered.
Bob came over. “Let me try.” With that, he roared fire at the door, and leaving nothing to chance, breathed the hottest fire he could at it, and they watched as the door started to melt away.
Ares dropped to the floor, finally getting both arms free. His arms hurt, and even lowering them made him groan in pain. Not that that mattered at the moment, he was out of the bindings, now to get out of the chamber. He was under no illusion that getting out of where he was would be easy, but he would do whatever he had to to get back to Jason and Kieran, even if he had to battle every demon in hell to do it.
He was just moving to the door when he saw a red glow and the door started to melt. He sighed, what fresh hell was this?
Jason was battling demons while trying to protect Tatum and Hades. He needed these demons gone so he could see his mate. He shot some arrows off, hitting the closest demons, while Barden swung around and dive-bombed more of the incoming demons. Both Wynter and Saxon were helping to keep them at bay.
Jason glanced behind him to see how things were going and saw the door was melting. He dropped his guard for a moment and was swiped in the side by long demon claws. He groaned in pain and watched as Wynter killed the demon.
“You alright?” the angel asked him.
“Just a scratch,” Jason told him. A very large and deep scratch, but no one needed to know that.
Wynter looked at him for a moment but didn’t call him out on his lie. “The door’s almost open, go see to your mate. We’ve got this.”
“Thanks,” Jason said, holding his side and rushing to the entrance, just as the door melted away.
Ares was prepared for whatever was about to come through the door, that was until he saw his mate, uncle, and some of his new pack mates.
“Ares,” Jason said with relief in his voice, rushing into the chamber and dropping his crossbow as he went. He pulled his mate into his arms. He was shocked at how battered Ares looked, it was much worse than the previous fight Barnabus and Ares had.
“Hello, my wolf,” Ares replied, wrapping his arms gently around Jason, trying not to groan.
“As touching as this moment is, we need to get out of here. You both need medical help and more demons are on their way,” Hades warned.
Ares pulled back and looked at Jason in concern. “You’re injured?”
“Only a little. Come on, we need to get going,” Jason said, grabbing Ares’s hand and pulling him out of the chamber.
“Where’s Barnabus?” Hades asked.
Ares shook his head. “No idea. He left a while ago, said he would be back and vanished.”
“Time to go,” Bob called out, his voice sounding scratchy. “Wynter, are you able to carry Tatum out?”
“I am,” the angel called back.
“Barden, take Hades and Saxon. I will carry Jason and Ares,” Bob commanded and moved so Ares and Jason could climb on. He looked and saw the others on Barden and Wynter carrying Tatum, who had a massive smile on his face.
“Angel and dragon air all in one day,” Tatum joked, grinning at his mate.
“Only for my mates,” he replied, jumping into the air and spreading his wings, Bob and Barden on either side of him, offering protection.
Now all they had to do was get out of there.