Chapter 24 – Soren
SOREN
Ilook at my brothers, but no matter how much I search for the right words, I can’t. Making a deal with a god was truly a mistake. One that will cost us everything.
First I failed my sister. And now Cerce.
If I ever thought I deserved love, now I know I’m wrong. Women are precious. They should only be with men who can protect them. Who would give up anything and everything to protect them.
We are not those men.
“So she took the food and supplies? That’s something.” Kage says the words, but his voice holds nothing but sadness.
After a long moment, Draven looks at Kage, and sorrow fills his gaze. “Today Hades is coming for you.”
Kage nods slowly. “I made this deal. I’m responsible for hurting her. I deserve this.”
“No one deserves to spend their afterlife with Hades.”
He shrugs. “There’s nothing to be done about it, but I want to see her before he comes.”
Draven and I exchange a glance. Kage doesn’t know it yet, but when Hades comes for him, we’re going to return to our lands. We’re going to turn to stone, and we’re going to let ourselves disappear into the stone.
Today is the last true day of our lives for all of us. And we all want a chance to make things right with Cerce before we go.
So I nod. “Then we should go look for her. I saw the direction she went. We should be able to track her down.”
We all stand and leave our apartment, trudging back into the woods. None of us are foolish enough to believe our note and small gifts are enough to even begin to earn back her trust. But we selfishly need to see her again. At least to know she’s safe.
When we reach the woods and find ourselves in our familiar clearing, we shift into our gargoyle forms. Taking to the sky, we can’t even glory in the feel of the wind around us. Everything about our world has changed since our mistake. But especially ourselves.
Before, I wallowed in losing my sister when I should have accepted that we’d lost her. Now I had someone I cared for who was still alive, and I would be damned if I sat wallowing in self-pity over her.
I would find her and make things right.
No matter what I had to do.
When I reach the place I spotted her, I fly more slowly, gliding over the treetops.
When I see the last areas I caught a glimpse of her above the treetops, I dive into the small clearing.
Draven and Kage land near me, and we all start searching for any possible place she could have gone, still staying close enough together to watch each other’s back for danger.
When after a time we sense a disturbance in the air, I’m not sure what to expect. But certainly not Hades. He stands in the middle of us, wearing a pale blue suit. His dark hair is styled perfectly, and his face seems to glow with pleasure.
“Greetings, gargoyles!”
We slowly move towards him, then stop just feet in front of him.
He gives a pouty look. “Why am I not feeling the love?”
“Your hellhound isn’t a hellhound,” Kage says, and each of his words is a dare.
Hades expression changes, and after a second, he rolls his eyes. “So what? You saw my daughter? It doesn’t change a thing. We had a deal.”
“You’re her father?” I say. The man who hurt her?
Suddenly, everything makes sense. Cerce was never scared or intimidated by me because her father is the fucking king of hell. She was raised in the fucking Underworld by a man who hurt her, who covered her in scars, then sent gargoyles to hurt her just to get her back.
Somehow, I feel like an even bigger asshole. For siding with this monster over her.
Hades sighs loudly. “Oh, I assumed if you knew she was hellhound, you knew she was my little bastard. Too bad. I usually like to keep my mistakes private.”
I stare at him, wanting to tear his throat out.
“Now then.” He glances around us. “Where is she?”
Silence stretches so tightly that it seems inevitable it’ll snap.
“We let her escape,” Kage says.
Hades’s teeth clench together so tightly I hear them. “Where did she go?”
Kage shrugs. “She’s probably halfway across the planet by now.”
Hades scowls and moves slowly around us like a shark circling his prey. “And you understand that means your life is forfeit to me, right? Your soul belongs to me. Your afterlife will be spent at my side, serving me in any way I command.”
“I understand,” Kage says.
“Don’t,” I tell him.
Hades turns to look at me very slowly. “I promised you a mate of your choosing. All you had to do was bring me the hellhound. I was bound to my word, just as he was, and breaking ones word has consequences. For him, just his soul. For me, a great deal more. So don’t pretend this isn’t fair, gargoyle. ”
Kage glares at me. “I knew what I was getting into, and now it’s my time to suffer the consequences of my arrogance.”
Draven comes to stand at my side. It feels wrong in every way to just stand here and let him kill Kage. But what other choice do we have? Fight a god?
I look at Draven. Maybe simply to die with him?
“Sorry I’m late!”
We whirl around and stare in shock. Cerce is limping toward us, her expression serious. She has a black eye. Cuts that have barely healed on her face. And her arms are covered in bruises. Not only that, but there’s a glassiness to her gaze that speaks of pain.
And yet, she’s coming right at us. Right to her doom.
“You awful, little gargoyles. I almost ripped your friend’s soul out, and you were playing a little joke! Not only did you gargoyles bring her to me, but you got her to come of her own free will. How did you manage that?”
When Cerce nearly reaches us, Kage leaps out, grabbing her wrist.
She snarls at him and tries to pull away.
“Run! Now!” he commands.
She stands on her tiptoes, looks him right in the eyes, and says, “I can handle the Underworld, big guy. But no offense, there’s no chance you could.”
Yanking free of his grip, she starts toward her father.
I step into her path. “You can’t do this.”
“I can do anything I want,” she says. “Now, get out of my way.”
Desperation crawls into my voice. I don’t want Kage to die, but I can’t just let her go back to hell for him. “We never would’ve agreed to this if we knew it was you. We would’ve never hurt you.”
Anger twists her lips. “Let’s not lie to each other now, gargoyle. Not when I can still feel the sting of your sword in my flesh.”
I flinch, and she darts around me.
Draven pulls his sword, then turns it onto Hades. “You can’t take her from us.”
Hades mouth twists into a smile. “I thought you brought her to me to fulfill our agreement?”
Draven doesn’t react. “You can’t take her.”
I withdraw my own sword, but Kage is the one to pull Cerce behind him. “I’ll take her place.”
Hades smile widens. “You three have actually fallen in love with her. This is hilarious! Monster hunters in love with a monster! Three big, sturdy men drooling over my worthless daughter.”
Cerce speaks to her father, her tone tense. “They don’t love me. I don’t know what this new plot of theirs is, but I’m not going to fall for any of their shit again.”
“Again?” Hades asks.
Cerce’s confident air falters.
“Oh, daughter.” He makes a tisking sound. “How could you not see right through them? I thought I taught you better than that.”
She stands up straighter. “Let’s just end this. Take me. Give them what they wanted. And let’s go.”
“So eager to return to your dark tunnels and your sturdy collar… so interesting.”
Everything in me begs me to stop this. To save the two people I care for. But it’s like I’m frozen.
One way or another, I’m going to lose someone I love.
The only question now is who.