by K. M. Scott
“That’s because you have no faith, dude.”
“Do you guys have meetings you attend to practice that thing they did there, or is that just part of the clyten package?” Saint asked with a chuckle.
Now it was Dante’s turn to get testy. Turning to look at him, he sneered. “Fuck you. If you’re finished busting my ass about being a superior vampire, maybe you’re interested in getting in some fighting tonight, or are you planning on standing here and acting like a bitch until the sun comes up?”
“Damn. Okay, let’s go find those witches and end this battle.”
They set out on foot to clear the area around the villa, and by the time they reached the back of the building, they saw a pale yellow glow behind the wide trunk of an olive tree. Saint tapped Dante on the shoulder and pointed toward it, and the clyten gestured his plan to come around the left side of the tree while Saint took the right.
Pulling out his knife, he readied himself to avenge all the weres who’d suffered at the hands of these European witches, and then he and Dante took off toward the tree. As they rushed at it, the light grew brighter, telling Saint they may find more than one enemy.
He came around the right side as Dante came around the left, and they found two witches reciting a spell Saint suspected was meant to do some harm to them. Since Scarlett and the American coven had put a strong protection spell on all the Sons, their hocus pocus nonsense wasn’t going to work tonight.
“Time’s up, witchy poo,” Dante said with a wicked laugh before driving his blade into the first witch’s heart.
Saint didn’t feel the need to tell his what he planned to do, so he simply stabbed her, but a second later, half a dozen more witches appeared behind them, all chanting their fucking spell.
“I know this sounds bizarre, but I think I hate witches,” Dante yelled over their voices.
“Not exactly the thing your girlfriend would want to hear,” Saint said as he chose which one to go after first.
Just then, the six women threw bottles of liquid at them that landed at their feet and began smoking. Were they for real? That shit may have worked with the weres because they still possessed some humanity left in them, but it wouldn’t work on vampires.
Dante looked down at the ground where the bottle ended up after bouncing off his leg and then up at Saint. “Are they serious?”
With a shrug, he laughed. “I think they are.”
The witches began to chant their spell again, so Dante yelled over them, “Ladies, normally I’d just explain to you why this bullshit of yours doesn’t work on us, but we don’t have time.”
They didn’t respond, so Saint added, “And for what you did to our allies the weres, we’re going to kill you, so fair warning.”
He expected them to run or do something to protect themselves other than repeat those words over and over and toss bottles of shit at them, but they didn’t. They just stood there saying the same thing again and again.
How the Archons thought this would defeat them he had no idea, but there wasn’t time to consider that. They had European witches to kill tonight, so with a look over at Dante to tell him he’d had enough of this crap, Saint lunged at the witch closest to him and sliced through her neck. Dante did the same, and even though the remaining ones could have run, they still stood chanting while the Sons killed all six of them.
That continued for the next four hours. Saint and Dante marched around the countryside looking for witches, along with the clyten troops, and they killed every one they found. When it was over, Saint looked around and couldn’t help but think it looked like the battlefields he’d spent his youth on in France. Bodies of witches lay everywhere.
“I hadn’t thought about what this would look like when we defeated them,” he said quietly as he and Dante walked back to the villa.
For his part, the clyten didn’t seem affected much by the hundreds and hundreds of dead witches everywhere they looked. “Yeah, they don’t turn to dust or blood like us. The people in this area are going to wake up and think Jack the Ripper came through time and went on a fucking rampage here tonight.”
Saint stepped around two in front of him on the ground and shrugged. “Should we do something? I imagine the humans around here are going to be pretty freaked out by all these women.”
“Any less freaked out by all the naked men and women who used to be werewolves lying around in the hills up there?” Dante asked, making the point all too clearly for Saint.
This war was between the Archons and the Sons, but so far, only each side’s allies had paid the price. While he mourned for the weres and Scarlett’s sister, he had nothing for the witches who sided with the Archons. They’d chosen those vampires for a reason, and while he didn’t understand it, he knew it wasn’t for anything good for their fellow humans.
“I wouldn’t want to be a cop on duty when the sun comes up this morning,” Dante said with a chuckle.
“Real gallows humor guy, huh?”
The clyten rolled his eyes. “It’s my thing. I know you’re all about the misery and feeling guilty thing, so I’ll let you get all sad for these witches.”
As they reached Hadrian’s villa, Saint reminded Dante of the reality that both sides had suffered heavy losses tonight. “We lost a lot of our were friends here, you know. I feel bad for them.”
Dante stopped and hung his head. “I do too. They put themselves on the line for us, and they suffered at the hands of those bitches. Maybe that we killed them in turn avenged the weres deaths.”
He didn’t know if that was true or not, but Saint wanted no more of this war already. He just hoped their fellow Sons were faring better with their allies in the east.
They walked up the stairs where Solenne and Scarlett waited. When they reached them, Dante said, “Let’s get the hell out of here. I’ll tell the clytens to go back to the Order’s headquarters, and I need to get Scarlett somewhere safe. This is her first night as a vampire, after all.”
Solenne looked up at Saint with sadness in her eyes. “We can’t just leave Hadrian here like he is. It’s not right.”
“I know. We’ll take him out back and give him a proper burial for a hero,” Saint said. “He deserves at least that. They all do. I wish we could give them all that honor.”
After Dante gathered his clyten troops and congratulated them, he ordered them back to the training center at the Order’s headquarters and he and Saint dug Hadrian’s grave in a corner of his property away from the villa. They carefully lowered his body wrapped in white cloth into the earth before covering him, and Saint quietly said a prayer he’d heard his mother say at family funerals when he was a boy back in Ireland.
“May the earth hold you in its loving arms while letting your soul fly. Your time has come to an end here, but you won’t be forgotten, Hadrian. Godspeed, our friend.”
Each one of them repeated those last words to the leader of the weres who’d given his life to help the Sons defeat the Archons. His death and that of all his kind who perished that night hadn’t been for nothing, though. This first battle had seen both sides of the war lose warriors, and it wouldn’t be the last time before fighting ended.
Stepping forward, Scarlett looked up toward the sky. “For Ivy and my sister witches in my coven, Godspeed to you all. You’re joined by the weres who lost their battle tonight. Until we meet again, you’ll remain in our hearts and we will miss you.”
For now, though, the witches’ and the weres’ part in the fight between the Archons and the Sons of Navarus had ended. Now the battle would come closer to home for all of them.
Chapter Ten
For an Olympian god, Hades had always wondered why he didn’t get the kind of existence his brothers got. He wasn’t a huge fan of all that fucking water, but he would have taken even Poseidon’s life over his on any day of the week. For fuck’s sake, he didn’t even get to have the title of Olympian god in many mortals’ minds.
Assholes. He made sure to put those particular humans who insi
sted on publishing their work on the gods and not including him in the group of twelve Olympians into Tartarus straight away. No reprieve. No chance to plead their case. No opportunity to revise their opinion. Nope. Straight to the depths of the Underworld for those know-it-all motherfuckers.
And for those ultimate fuckheads who insisted on drawing him to look like some decrepit old man barely able to shuffle his pathetic ass around his own kingdom, he made sure Cerberus was extra hungry when it was time for the decision on their fate. Zeus and Poseidon got to look like fucking supermodels with six pack abs in art of them, and he had to look like some wrinkly old geezer?
Fuck them all. It made him almost want to pay each one of those supposed artists a visit and fuck their wives and girlfriends right in front of them. Then they’d see how off the mark all those ridiculous drawings and paintings were.
Recently, though, he had decided he rather liked being the god of the Underworld, even if he didn’t get the damn Olympian title. His wife Persephone had gotten used to his dalliances with other goddesses, mainly Nyx, and now he had a genuine born vampire to play with whenever the urge overtook him.
Which happened as often as he could arrange since living in the depths of the fucking Earth left him little else to do other than torture souls. Oh, and playing games with those asshole Archons in their little war with the Sons of Navarus.
It had all become quite a drain on him, if he was being honest (which he rarely was). This war and Consera’s constant calling for help bored him even more than doling out torment and agony.
That’s why Noele enchanted him so much. She was a perfect distraction to the rest of his miserable existence. Beautiful, with a body that pleased him unlike many others in the past, he enjoyed everything about her. If he had known vampires were so delicious, he would have gotten himself one ages ago.
The whole thing with Noele had caused a fair share of problems for him with Nyx, though, who at the moment stood in his chamber staring daggers at him. Hades found that confusing. He was, after all, married when the two of them started getting together for their daytime meetings, so why would she be bothered that he liked playing with the born vampire?
Women could be so baffling. So Persephone was okay for him to fuck, but Noele wasn’t? Who made that rule, and an even more important question was, why should he give a damn? True, Nyx was an ancient goddess, and even his brother Zeus was afraid of her, but that was because he planned to punish one of her kids for something concerning that ridiculous wife of his, Hera.
All of which meant not a fucking damn to him. His brother’s inability to conduct his sex life like a god and instead like a sixteen year old punk ass in some high in the sky school wasn’t his concern. Nyx and her jealousy was sort of his concern, but he hated the fact that he had to deal with that at all.
They had a nice thing going. Why did she have to ruin it with this latest hissy fit? His last meeting with her had been anything but sexy. He waited for her once her nightly duties were over, and she showed up with an attitude that could make his dick limp for eternity.
“I don’t like playing second fiddle, Hades. I am a goddess, and I don’t appreciate being forced to stand in line behind one of those fucking creatures.”
Stretching his long legs in front of him, he tried to think of something to say that would make her forget all this jealousy nonsense so they could get down to business. Unfortunately, her glaring at him made coming up with something clever and sexy next to impossible, and his mind drew a blank.
“It’s just a preoccupation of mine for the moment, Nyx. It means nothing,” he said as he beckoned her to step up in front of him. Maybe if she got close she’d forget all this silliness.
She did as he wanted and moved toward him until they were mere inches away from one another. Her long black hair nearly touched his leg, making him think back to all the times she’d ridden him and that hair of hers teased against his skin. He did enjoy long hair on the females he fucked.
Leaning down, she gave him a look at the goods down the front of her black dress with that deep V and smiled. “I won’t be toyed with, Hades. I am the daughter of Chaos, and if you want to see what your world will look like when I’m truly unhappy, keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing with your vampire toy. This is your final warning, love.”
Now Hades was torn. On the one hand, he liked what he saw beneath that dress she wore and would have loved to have her on his cock at that very moment. But on the other hand, he didn’t like threats and ultimatums. He was a god, after all, so it wasn’t like she was better than he was. True, she was a primordial goddess, which meant she was one of the deities everything came from, but he was a fucking Olympian god (regardless of what those jackass humans thought). He didn’t have to sit there and be threatened.
He folded his arms behind his head and stared into her jet black eyes. She was truly stunning, no doubt. But he simply wouldn’t allow himself to be ordered around like that. He hadn’t tolerated it when he was told he couldn’t have a wife, so why would he allow it now when it came to a very pleasing distraction that hurt no one?
No, he would continue just as he desired for as long as he desired. It was time Nyx understood that.
Tracing his fingertip down her neck and between her gorgeous breasts, he smiled up at her as she waited for his response. “The born vampire is something I enjoy for the time being. Do I ever complain about you spending time with that ridiculous god of wine, love? No. I’ve never once mentioned that bore of husband of yours either, and Erebus never fails to give me the side eye whenever I go down to Tartarus. So you see, we’re all just having a good time. Don’t ruin the good thing we have for something that shouldn’t bother you.”
Her dark eyes grew wide, and Hades saw the rage swirling in them. So be it. He wouldn’t have his life dictated to him by anyone, least of all her.
Nyx spun on her heels and stormed out of his chamber, her long black dress slinking behind her even after she disappeared from his sight. He shrugged, not particularly happy about how that had gone. Oh, well. She’d get over it.
And if she didn’t, what was she going to do to him? He was a god.
The faint echo of Consera’s voice calling out to him added another layer of irritation to his day. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back and took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. Did other gods have to deal with this kind of shit all the time?
Hades stood from his throne and groaned. Another trip up there to visit Archon headquarters. No doubt that clusterfuck of a group would want his daemons to help more now.
He snapped his fingers at a young male standing nearby. “Have the born vampire ready when I get back. I don’t want to have to wait again like before, so she better be here when I call for her. Got it?”
The frightened daemon with the great pecs nodded quickly and bowed. “Yes, my lord. I will see that it’s done.”
A smile crept onto Hades’ mouth. Now how hard was that? Why couldn’t everything be that easy?
When he returned and after he enjoyed some time with Noele, he planned to do something nice for that male daemon. As he took one last glance at his muscular body, Hades thought of about half a dozen things he would do for him.
Being a god had its upsides after all.
And then a second later as he stood in Consera’s office with the magistrate staring at him with nothing but desperation in his beady eyes, Hades was reminded of all the downsides. All the time with this guy and all he could do was ask for more.
Fuck.
He looked around and saw no one but Consera. “Did you send everyone out on errands today?” Hades joked.
“No, sire. I mean, my lord. Things have gotten a bit crazy here, so I have everyone out taking care of business.” Consera stopped and tilted his head. “I guess they are out on errands, my lord.”
Damn, this guy was tedious. He had to give up time with a sexy female at his beck and call whenever he desired for this?
If he didn’t hate
vampires so fucking much, Hades would have chucked the whole agreement he had with this officious asshole and left the entire Archon problem behind him. That was the problem, though. He did hate vampires and how their very existence flouted everything about him and his power in the Underworld, so that meant he had to stick with the plan he’d made with the Archons.
Even if it pissed him off.
“What did you call me for, Consera? It certainly wasn’t to give me a rundown on what you’re doing with your underlings today.”
More subservient than usual, the magistrate nodded like the young male Hades had just been admiring and quickly explained, “We need your help. Your daemons are needed now, my lord. Our alliance with the witches has fallen apart. They hurt the weres, thankfully, so that helped, but the Sons and their clytens were too much for the witches, and they were slaughtered a few nights ago.”
“Slaughtered, huh?” Hades repeated with a chuckle. He never liked being around witches. They were always quite disgusting, especially that Lucinda creature Consera seemed to so often have around.
“Yes, my lord. And then the American witches, well, what was left of them after my hunters killed off most of the coven, they used their powers to help defeat the European witches. Between their spells and the clytens’ powers, the witches never stood a chance. They killed a fair number of weres, but in the end, it was a bloodbath.”
Hades tried to remember what it was about the clytens that made them so powerful. Was it that they could shapeshift into other creatures? Or was he thinking of other beings?
Fuck, it was hard to keep track of all these damn things.
“Clytens. Remind me again why they would be too much for witches?” he asked as he leaned against the wall close to the doorway.
“They are vampires who can walk in the sunlight. There aren’t that many of them, so they’re quite unique, but the one in the Sons of Navarus sent out a call for them to join him, and they came ready to fight.”
Consera’s shoulders sagged as he finished his explanation. Clearly, vampires who weren’t afraid of sunlight could be a significant problem for vampires fighting them who had to run for cover once the sun came up.