Fallyn
Chapter eighty-nine
Atrail of blood and flower petals wound through the city.
Onlookers barricaded themselves within their homes and businesses, fueling the guilt and fear that continued to war with me, with Hades too.
Though he looked stoic, I could see the fraying nerves there just beneath the surface, like a rope that had been used too much, too often.
To nobody’s surprise, the path led us back to the familiar stretch of the city of Skyreach, with its massive spires.
Lilith preferred the high ground, and this is the highest ground within reach.
The door hung ajar on its massive hinges, creaking in the copper-scented breeze.
Even more ominous was the lack of any other sound.
No footfalls, no angry and accusing murmurs.
Not even birdsong. Even the sea to the north was silent tonight, the sound not reaching us.
I took a step towards Skyreach only for Hades to whirl me back to his chest and crush his lips to mine. For a moment, everything paused but this. His lips moved fervently, reverently against mine, saying everything that couldn’t be said. All the things we didn’t have time to say.
“I don’t suppose I could convince you to stay here?
” he asked without hope. “Sit this one out?” The last time we faced Lilith echoed across my mind, sending terror with each reverberation.
Terror I steadfastly ignored in the wake of my demand for retribution, not just for us, but for everyone she's hurt.
Minerva. Viveth. House Hades. There was a reckoning simmering in my blood, and by Hades' side it would be made real.
“Not a chance,” I seethed, tucking closer to him. “I’m with you. And besides, she’d just hunt me down anyway. We do this together.”
With a resigned sigh Hades responded, “Together. Always, little shadow.” He crushed me to him once more, his arms enveloping me, warming my soul. There was a semblance of hope between us, that we’d make it out together. “Whatever happens in there, you’re worth it all.”
A sob I hadn’t expected clawed its way out of my throat. “You’re worth it all. I’d do all of it again, if only it meant we had more time.”
“This curse ends today,” Hades growled, turning his sights upward to the top of the spire, his gold-flecked eyes narrowing as if he could see Lilith glowering at us from this height. Even as an exiled god, I doubted his eyesight was quite that fine. “And we’ll have all the time we could ever want.”
I glared at the monstrous cathedral that hid an even worse monster within.
The Mother of Demons. The three of us would enter, and with any luck, Hades and I would be walking out with her severed head in our hands.
With the curse broken, we could join the fight for Olympus, and we would toss her head to the Morningstar’s feet.
Once we were victorious, we could remake the Underworld as it once was.
As if sensing a shift in my demeanor, Hades let a grim smile.
“You smell of violence, little shadow,” he crooned. “I like it.”
“Hold onto that thought for when we break her,” My tone shifted low, towards a growl.
Perhaps Hades was rubbing off on me. We stalked towards the entrance now, Hades finding and falling into my stride.
The cathedral opened with entrances to both spires that lie on opposite ends of the dark stone floors.
Only one side was littered with blood that reflected the light of the stained glass.
I guess she wasn’t hiding.
There was so much blood. Looking around, there were no obvious sources, no corpses, just endless spills of red.
The amount of blood she’d used was far more than she’d spilled from Minerva, and we hadn’t seen any more death.
A massive spiral staircase wound its way upwards, and we followed without weapons drawn, ignoring the plummeting temperature with each passing step.
Strange that the temperature would fall rather than rise as we climbed.
I prayed we weren’t about to be taunted with the bodies of the witches whose lives Lilith needlessly took.
My nerves were like a rope against dull scissors, every pass slowly cutting away at my sanity.
Yesterday, we’d descended to the bowels of the mortal realm and prevailed.
Today, we spiraled to the tops of the clouds and would prevail again.
My legs burned and shook as we stepped onto the landing of the top of the spire. “Only one room and the door is closed.” Hades scoffed. “She definitely has a flare for the dramatic.”
I said nothing, memories of my first death overlapping with the present moment in my mind. The stone walls, the scent of blood, the dimly lit hall with the door ajar. But this time, death would not claim me. Only one would die tonight—the Mother of All Demons.
Holding to my anger, my vengeance, I surged forward, my lips curled on a snarl. Hades stalked beside me, shadows writhing like living things around him, an omen of death in his own right.
I pushed on the door, opening it with an eerie, unsettling creak.
Even the air in here was oppressive. The shadows from within surged towards us, killing much of the light.
Somewhere water dripped, echoing through the tense silence, giving the room a damp smell that mixed with the coppery scent of the blood that glinted on the dusty stone.
Peeling paint and creeping vines made the space feel even more claustrophobic.
The space that stretched between where we stood in the room thrummed an unsettling pitch as if the stones that built this tower warned us to run.
“Come in, darlings. Shyness is a little silly at this point,” said a sickly saccharine voice from the din.
Shadows fought with the faint glimmers of moonlight through the broken windows, and yet I still couldn’t glimpse her.
Hades hissed a warning as his shadow bident appeared, and my daggers whirled in my hand.
“Ah, the ever-sweet Persephone. I’m so glad you got my invitation. ”
I hissed. “Sweet? I sit upon a throne comprised of piles of bones in the Underworld of those that mistook my sweetness for complacency.” I flourished my dagger, preening as it glinted in the muted light. “I look forward to adding your bones to the pile at my feet.”
“Where she belongs. Perhaps she can make up your seat as well,” Hades’ eyes held a lustful glint for just a splice of a heartbeat as he imagined it.
He turned back to Lilith, “I look forward to throwing your severed head to your master,” Hades seethed next to me, practically vibrating with vengeance.
The god of the dead’s unbridled fury was something to behold, even for an entity as powerful as the Mother of All Demons.
Lilith stepped into the muted light, something of a night terror herself.
Half a vision of beauty, half a horror, it was as if she took inspiration from Hades in dividing her face.
If one side were radiant beauty with tumbling black hair, a coy smile lined with blood and charcoal eyes, then the other was desiccation.
Rot had taken lordship over that side of her face, her eyes milky with death.
Blood oozed from countless cuts over that side of her.
She was sinister. Horrifying. A bloody nightmare turned apparition.
Her smile fell, turning to a glare, but still she betrayed no fear.
Not yet.
“I do love a moment of perfect symmetry. I have orders to take, Persephone, but the Morningstar said nothing about her mate. How fitting will it be to thrust your severed head at her when this is over, before I bring her in chains? A full circle moment. Such fun.”
Her grip changed, showcasing a familiar weapon.
One that made Hades’ galaxy eyes harden.
One that made the shadows quake in fear, its black metallic sheen glimmered in the darkness, but the shape was unmistakable.
As was the power pulsing, reverberating off the walls.
The bident of the Underworld. Hades’ grip tightened as the shadows pulsed in time, wanting to reunite with its long-lost other half.
“Ruling the Underworld is a tedious business,” she continued.
“I must hand it to you, Hades, I don’t know how you did it for so long.
But it’s extra exhausting fighting with the bident too.
It wants so badly to be whole again.” Her smile stretched, her head tilted to the side, making her look unhinged, “And once you’re dead, it can get its wish! ”
With a flourish of steel, the shadows closed in around us, blocking our escape. This close, she’d have a hard time deflecting us both if she’d fight both of us at the same time.
My breath came sharp and hurried as Lilith struck first. The bident of the Underworld arced through the air as she pirouetted, the twin blades reaching perilously towards us.
The air surged, crackling with energy, sparking when Hades’ shadow bident halted its advance with a clang.
And another. And another. Lilith’s jagged laugh carried through the room like broken glass in the dim as she raised her hands high to deliver a massive blow.
I detonated, sending my vines towards her with inch-long spikes wrapping around her, dragging her thrashing and screaming towards me. Hades didn’t miss a beat, bringing his shadowed weapon to her throat.
Hades’ command was low, lethal. A growl more than words. Felt more than heard. “Surrender.”
Lilith laughed again, even as I wrenched my thorns further, digging and burrowing them into her skin, creeping upwards through her body until they became a stabbing noose. Sparks rose and hissed where thorns met blood, where life and death collided, where my magic warred with hers.
And then she was gone. She’d moved through the shadows, her movements too quick, too fluid.
“Now, now, you didn’t think it would be so easy, did you?
” she crooned to us sweetly before turning to Hades.
“I am one with the shadows, even more so than you in some ways. We’d be perfect together, you and me.
You don’t have to die today. We can all be on the same side.
That's what the Morningstar and I wanted all along.” The chamber reeked of iron, blood already making the floor slippery.
I recalled my magic, readying for her next attack.
Hades snorted but didn’t respond, instead launching himself into his attack.
An assault that blurred into flashes I could barely keep up with, a war of bident, of shadow, of talons.
Hades moved like the inevitability of death itself—each strike measured, merciless, and flowing into the next with frightening accuracy.
It was a dance, and still Lilith grinned, as if violence were the cadence her entire being waited to dance to.
It was music to my ears when Hades’ shadow bident finally, violently tore flesh, sending blood spraying around the room and a scream vibrating the air.
Her arm hung in a strange angle, nearly severed.
I smiled savagely, waiting for my moment to rip her to shreds.
Her offensive smile finally fell as she leapt back, giving herself room.
Hades leapt after her but recoiled as flames drove him backwards.
Even wounded, she was still a danger. I caught Hades’ gaze for the briefest second, wordlessly assuring me he was unharmed.
Though the glimpse of a burn on his arm branded him a liar.
Lilith had regrouped, hiding behind a circle of chaotic black flames as she snarled and slumped, her arm dangling uselessly.
Hades glared at her. “Time for your other arm, Lilith. Then your legs, one by one. Don’t worry, I won’t remove your head. I will relish all your screams when we finally do decide to kill you. I’ve waited centuries for revenge, and I do enjoy taking my time.”