Chapter 21 Refusing to Back Down
Refusing to Back Down
Heaven
He sounds bored or maybe tired? I’m not sure.
There’s something else in his cigarette; the smell is making me dizzy.
I break the spell and cross my arms, glaring at him.
“That’s a dumb name for starters, and I’m not stalking you. I need you to push Hades.”
“Great, first I’m already going to duel with one god, now you want me to piss off another?”
Ok, he has a point, but whatever.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic; time is running out. Tomorrow is a day that is very important to witches, a day that we are stronger than ever-”
“Yeah, and?” He blows out a skull-shaped puff of smoke, and I narrow my eyes as it engulfs me. My vision blurs, and he grins.
“Is that a drug?” I ask in distaste, narrowing my eyes as I step back.
“You’re the know-it-all, Blondie, you tell me.”
Blondie is better than Freak-a-blondie or whatever he called me.
I step back again, and he simply smirks as he inhales a puff of smoke again.
“Stop it.” I frown, stepping further away. “Try talking to Hades. Every day passing is-”
I stumble on the edge, realising I had backed up towards the edge of the pool.
I try to regain my balance, trying to think of a spell, but whatever is in that cigarette has slowed my reaction, and I find myself falling backwards into the pool.
I take a deep breath just before I hit the icy cold water, which steals half of the breath from me, but I refuse to splutter or gasp, focusing on control.
I can see him leaning forward, watching in amusement.
I will not give him the satisfaction.
“You ok there, Blondie?” he mocks.
I don’t bother responding, and he gets up, sauntering to the end of the pool.
“You think you’re prepared for anything? You couldn’t even predict this.” He smokes his cigarette, a smirk on his face, but again, I simply remain beneath the surface. My feet hit the bottom of the pool, and I stand tall; there are still two feet of water above my head.
Again, I don’t respond to him. The cold has already shaken off whatever effect those fumes had on me.
“Can you really not annoy me anymore?” he asks, bored. “Get out of the water and stop harassing me.”
No.
I remain there unmoving, and he tilts his head. Is he wondering if I’m ok?
“Blondie?” He doesn’t sound so amused anymore.
I’m not going to answer.
“Oi, Somers.”
Is he dumb? Doesn’t he get that I won’t answer?
He crouches beside the pool and reaches for me, but I move away, and he narrows his eyes.
“Don’t fuck with me,” he warns.
Does he not get what I’m doing here?
I surface, glaring at him. “Are you dumb? Don’t you get that I’m not going to come out until you call Hades?”
He looks at me in shock before snickering. “You’re such a diva. That ain’t happening, so stay there then. I don’t give a fuck.”
“Ok,” I reply coldly, before taking a discreet breath and sinking under once again. I can do this; at least it’ll panic him. He’s about to turn when he looks back at me. I see a frown on his face through the distorted water.
“Heaven? What the fuck, woman, get out of there.”
No.
He keeps calling my name, and I continue to ignore him. I hear him growl in frustration, but I am not going to budge. Besides, he might not know it, but I’m quite good at holding my breath underwater.
“The fuck, I can’t just call him!” he hisses, now clearly getting annoyed. He’s standing up, but he hasn’t left. Yet, anyway.
“If you want to be like that, I’m out.” He tosses his cigarette to the ground, walking away.
I still stay beneath the water, even as it begins to bite into me and my lungs begin to protest. He’ll come back.
A minute may have passed, and I almost smile when I spot him striding back into view, staring down into the water. I quickly make sure my eyes are half closed now, hoping to scare him.
Sure, he doesn’t care about me, but he wouldn’t want the blood of the daughter of the High Witch Serafina on his hands.
“Get the hell out of there. Stop fucking messing around,” he snarls. His voice is deeper, and I think his eyes have turned milk white. His aura is dark and heavy as it weighs down on the water.
Ah, he’s finally snapped.
So, this is the dark side of Hades’ favoured.
“Get out, or I will never fucking help you again.” His words are venomous.
I don’t move.
“Get. Out!” His voice thunders like a crack of lightning. He slams his foot down, and the ground shudders. Pain spears through my stomach, my magic jarring through me as the damning realisation hits me. He’s just killed the living threads beneath the stone ground. Snuffed them out like nothing.
He destroyed life with such ease...
“I know you’re conscious. Get. Out.” His command lashes through me.
I shake my head.
And then he steps into the pool fully dressed and pissed off.
He doesn’t glide in like a normal man. He sinks to the bottom as if simply jumping the distance like a force of nature. His boots land with a heavy thud on the tiled floor. His eyes burn pale, pale blue as they lock on mine. In the distorted water, he looks like a predator.
He grabs me by the arm, yanking me close, before wrapping his arm around my waist, trapping my arms by my side. I try to pull away, but strength is on his side.
He pushes off the ground with one foot and propels us upwards, breaking the surface of the water and dragging me unwillingly with him.
The water parts around us in violent ripples, my chest colliding with his.
His grip is rough and unforgiving, but I can hear the steady pounding of his heartbeat against my ear, not thumping out of fear, but out of pure rage.
Did I push him too far?
“When I give you a warning, you listen.” His voice is low and lethal, but his breath is warm against my face.
His hair, once carefully styled, now falls in soaked strands across his forehead, droplets tracing the sharp line of his jaw.
His shirt clings to him like a second skin, plastered over hard muscle that shifts as he holds me tighter.
And gods help me, my stomach flips.
I glare up at him anyway, refusing to let the heat crawling over my skin win. I’m still silent. Still holding my breath.
His eyes narrow, icy fire swirling in them. “Heaven,” he hisses. His jaw flexes, a muscle ticking as though he’s fighting the urge to shake me senseless. “Fuck!”
“Why don’t you get that we need to get Sienna back?! That we can’t waste time!” I snap.
“How many times am I going to hear the same shit?” he growls.
He hauls me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing.
The sudden motion rips a gasp from me, air flooding back into my lungs as I choke.
His hand grips my thigh, holding me steady as he uses only one arm to hoist himself up and out of the pool.
His muscles bulge, and the strength in that simple act sends a shiver down my spine.
He drops me unceremoniously on my feet, and I almost fall but don’t. Water puddles at our feet, dripping from his body as he towers over me. “Stop behaving like a spoiled brat.”
“You stop behaving like an immature-”
The words die on my lips when I feel something shift around us.
A darkness swirls through the air, thick and heavy, wrapping around us like pain and despair. My lungs seize, every breath a ragged gasp as though the very air is too heavy to draw in. My skin prickles with icy dread, the hairs on my arms rising.
Theo stills. His hand, almost unconsciously, comes to my waist, pulling me closer to him as his eyes snap to the right. His jaw is set, carved in shadow, but his body is tense, like a predator recognising the presence of something greater.
“Looks like you just got your wish,” he mutters darkly, though his voice is tight.
My pulse hammers in my throat.
And then I feel it. A presence so vast, so suffocating, it makes Theo’s earlier rage feel like a child’s tantrum. My knees weaken, heart slamming painfully against my ribs.
I turn slowly, trying to squash the fear and hopelessness I’m feeling just as the darkness thickens and the temperature plummets.
Hades is here.