Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ANASTASIA
The wail of the sirens were dimmed by being this deep underground.
But they were unmistakable. Horrified screams followed and a feeling of panic settled in the cell.
Phillis had my hands chained in front of me and then bound to the floor.
It was difficult for me to move but I remained standing.
Phillis stood across from me with a heavy black vest covering her upper body and a black bag next to her feet.
It was strapped with bricks of explosives tethered together with thin wire.
A flashing red light blinked on her shoulder and within the trigger she held.
I fought to remain calm. “Nothing good is going to come of this, Phillis.”
“Immortality will be mine.” Her eyes darted toward the door as she muttered that one line to herself over and over again.
“Is this like one of those I will live forever in the afterlife if I die with what you consider an honorable death?” I looked her up and down.
“There is nothing honorable about what you’re doing.
And as someone who’s been to the Underworld multiple times, they’re going to frown upon what you’re doing. ”
“Won’t matter.” Sweat beaded her forehead. “Because I’m not going to die.”
“You’re insane!” Jack yanked at his shackles. His wrists were red and chaffed from the bindings. “Let us go, Phillis.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re a traitor. I don’t listen to traitors.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that the last few days.” Jack paused, listening to a radio from one of the soldiers blaring from outside the cell.
“Oh God. They’re everywhere! I can’t see them.” More static. “Fuck, fuck! John’s throat is missing. Send backup! Send backup! We are under attack.” His voice quivered. “I don’t know how many there are. Oh God, help us all!”
I smirked at Phillis. “He’s here.”
“I know he’s here!” Phillis snapped. “He was supposed to arrive and walk in peacefully.”
“What an ill-conceived plan.” I chuckled. “He’s bringing death to your doorstep.”
“A case of be careful what you wish for,” Jack called out from his spot.
“Shut up.” Phillis’s eyes darted and she hurried over to the door, then opened it to speak to the guards. “A million dollars to anyone who stays outside this door.”
She slammed it shut and moved to stand beside me facing the door. The screams grew closer. More men cried out. The lights flashed on and off and an explosion went off somewhere outside the house.
The guard yelled out, “Did you just piss yourself?”
More whimpering and then the sound of something slicing through the air followed by a splash of liquid and gurgling. The door rattled and Thanatos’s voice came from the other side. “Give her to me.”
“Never,” Phillis hissed.
The center of the door dented inward, then flew off the hinges and soared across the room.
Thanatos walked into the room, tall and imposing.
His white shirt was painted in crimson as were the tips of his white-blond hair.
The scythe at his side was nearly the same height as he was and dripping with blood.
His eyes locked on Phillis. “You’ve got me here. ”
“You weren’t supposed to kill all my men. You were supposed to walk in like the civilized god you’re rumored to be,” she spoke through gritted teeth.
“Civilized?” He took a step closer.
Phillis held her hand up, showing him the trigger in her palm. “Stop moving.”
Thanatos froze. “You’re going to blow yourself up?”
“If necessary.” Phillis looked him up and down. “You are as beautiful as they say. Are all the gods like you?”
“What do you want, Phillis?” Thanatos met my eye, then forced himself to look at her.
She kicked the black duffel bag across the floor toward him. The sound of clanking metal came from within the bag, and my heart stopped. The shackles I’d lost, the only shackles that could bind Thanatos, were right there. “You in those chains.”
Thanatos barely spared them a glance. “I could kill you at any moment.”
She moved closer to me. “If you even try, I will take her with me.”
Thanatos took a step closer and the concentric rings on the floor glowed a deep purple. He paused. “What is this?”
“If you try to kill me, then she will die too.” Phillis narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you want her to die? Because that can be arranged.”
Thanatos’s eyes darted to the side, and he held his hand out. “No, not yet.”
When I followed his gaze, I forced myself not to react. Hades stood next to the far wall of the room. He wasn’t fully corporeal, more like a ghost.
Phillis gazed in his direction. “Who are you talking to?”
“No one.” Thanatos turned toward the bag and dropped on one knee. He pulled the golden shackles out and held them away from his body. “And what do you want me to do with these?”
“You will put them on and stop death, or I will kill her and everyone else in this room.” She pressed her body next to mine.
“Just so we’re all clear . . . I quit, you psychopath.” Jack hung his head.
“How do I know you won’t kill her the moment I put them on?” He glanced down at the shackles.
I yanked at my bindings. “No, don’t do this, Thanatos. The world needs you.”
“And I need you.” His voice gentled when he spoke to me.
“Her blood coats the shackles. It will ensure that so long as her blood runs through her veins, and she is alive the shackles will remain bound to you.”
My eyes widened. “How did you get my blood?”
“That would be my bad.” Jack groaned. “I got it when you almost died that time.”
“Which time?”
“Yeah.”
“Will everyone just shut up!” Phillis screeched.
Hades moved even closer to me, and Thanatos moved toward him. “No, it’s not time yet. She won’t die.”
“Who the hell are you talking to?” Phillis’s hand shook.
I wanted to reach out and take hold of the trigger for the bomb strapped to her chest.
“Phillis, focus on me.” Thanatos snapped his fingers. “I’ll do it.”
“What, no! You can’t!” I cried.
“Well, what do we have here?” a light female voice came from just inside the doorway.
“Looks like quite the clusterfuck.” Cross sauntered into the room right behind her.
“Ophelia, help me!” I called out to her. “She’s going to kill me.”
“O, don’t move,” Thanatos commanded. “She’s got a bomb.”
Ophelia came to stand a few feet from Thanatos. “A bomb! How intriguing.”
“You are not allowed to play with human explosives,” Cross muttered.
“Leave now!” Phillis’s cheeks turned a deep red.
“Umm, no.” Ophelia pulled a dagger from thin air. She ran her thumb over the blade, making blood well on the tip of her finger. “I haven’t hit my quota for the night. You understand how important quotas are, don’t you, Philllllliiiissssss?”
Phillis’s eyes darted and her thumb shook as she placed it on the trigger.
Thanatos held his hand out. “Stop. You will send Anastasia and Jack home with Ophelia and Cross here, and I will put the shackles on.”
“Shackles first.” She nodded to them. “Then I let her go.”
“How do I know you will?” Thanatos asked. His voice sounded resigned.
“You’re gonna let her blackmail you with a bomb?” Ophelia gave a humorless snort. “If that’s all it takes, noted for the future.”
“Who the hell are you? Why are you here?” Phillis yanked me closer to her.
“Oh, look at my poor manners. Hi, I’m Ophelia.” The sweet smile dropped from her lips. “And I’m here to kill you.”
“No! No, she’s not.” Thanatos shook his head. “She’s here to take Anastasia home.”
“I’m taking her home?” Ophelia blinked at him in confusion.. “But I wanted to kill her. We can only have one psycho in a room, and well, I’m it.”
“You guarantee my safety right now!” Phillis’s hand shook.
“O, once I’m shackled, you will take Anastasia back to Evermore.” He turned his full gaze on her. “Please.”
“And me,” Jack called out. “I’d like the fuck out of here.”
“I don’t give a shit about you.” Phillis nodded in his direction. “Take him now.”
“Please Cross, get him out of here.” Anastasia pleaded.
“On it.” Cross jogged over to where Jack stood. He pulled a small dagger from his pocket and popped the cuffs open.
Jack rubbed at his wrists. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” Cross wrapped his hand in the front of Jack’s shirt yanking him closer. “I’ve got a job for you.”
“What?” Jack’s eyes went wide just as Cross dropped one of Ophelia’s potion bottles on the ground at his feet. A portal opened below them, and they dropped right into it disappearing.
“What happened? Where did he go?” Phillis jerked to face the spot where Jack had just been.
“I feel like you should worry about yourself, Phil.” Ophelia’s voice was soft and eerie. “Because Jack is safe and you’re so not.”
“I swear if you don’t shut her up, we all die right here. Right now!” Phillis jerked back around to face us with Anastasia tightly in her grip.
“No, no. Eyes on me, Phillis.” Thanatos snapped his fingers getting her attention. “Ophelia is going to take Anastasia home. Aren’t you, Ophelia?”
“Ugh. Fineeeee.” She stomped her foot. “I will take her once you’re shackled. I can always come back and kill Philly girl over there later.”
“I’ve had a witch add a layer of power to those shackles. If I die while Thanatos is held captive, those shackles will lock forever.” Phillis chuckled. “She is powerful enough to hide us for this long, so you know she can do it.”
“I’m curious which witch would be stupid enough to work with you and go against us?” Ophelia inclined her head at Phillis. “Come on, crazy lady, you can tell me. One crazy person to another.”
“That is none of your concern. The rules are simple. Thanatos will shackle himself and Anastasia will live . . . and so will I. If I die, the shackles will forever be locked. If Anastasia dies, they will release. But we all know you’ll keep her alive, and now that you’ll be stopped, she will also live forever.
We all get what we want. It’s very simple. ”
“We will make the exchange.” Thanatos locked one of the shackles on his wrist. “Then I will be yours.”
“No.” Tears sprang to the backs of my eyes. “Don’t do this. It’s not worth it.”
“I will see you again, my Anastasia.” He clicked the other shackle onto his wrist and power exploded out of him. Black and blue sparks flowed from his body over the ground. His knees buckled, and he threw his head back, bellowing to the sky.
“NO!” I tried to step closer to him, but Phillis yanked me back.
He hunched over, bellowing and vomiting blue and black sparks of his power. The room flooded with dozens of ghosts all standing around him, watching, waiting.
I turned toward Phillis. “Keep up your part of the bargain.”
A wide smile spread across her lips. “And if I don’t?”
A dagger soared right between us. The tip of it nicked Phillis’s cheek, then embedded itself in the wall behind us. Ophelia motioned toward the shackles. “Release her, or that warning shot will be three inches closer.”
Phillis pulled a key from her inner pocket and quickly opened my shackles. “Come, Thanatos.” He staggered to his feet and the ghosts surrounding us all moved with him each step that he took. Phillis beamed. “It worked. It really worked.”
Thanatos’s movements were sluggish as he walked toward us.
I swallowed. “You shouldn’t have done that, Thanatos.”
“I would do anything.”
Phillis reached out and grabbed the chain connecting Thanatos’s shackles.
She yanked him into the center of the circle, then shoved me out as hard as she could.
I staggered forward and nearly collided with Ophelia.
Phillis stomped her foot twice and the circles blazed with purple smoke.
It surrounded them like a tornado. Their bodies began to fade and Ophelia charged toward the swirling magic but couldn’t get through.
She spun back to face me. “That’s a nasty bit of magic.”
“Please! Please stop her.” But even as I cried, I knew it was too late. They were already fading from view to nothing. But the ghosts filling the cell remained because death had well and truly been stopped. And it was all my fault.