by K. M. Scott
His eyes remained closed, and Sion waited for the god of the Underworld to answer his summons. He didn’t. Consera repeated his plea, but it was no use. Nobody was coming to help him.
“That god has his own problems. He can’t help you now,” Sion said with a slight chuckle.
The magistrate’s eyes flew open as he realized he wasn’t alone anymore, and he quickly jumped to his feet. The look of shock on his face pleased Sion more than he thought it could.
“You’re all alone for your time of reckoning, sire,” Kali said quietly.
Consera’s face contorted into an angry grimace, and he instantly ordered his vampire to kneel before him. Even though she struggled to disobey, Kali couldn’t, and she fell to her knees.
“I’m not as weak as you and your boyfriend think,” he said with a sneer.
Sion took a step toward him, but Consera shook his head. “No, that would be a bad idea. I don’t think she has the strength to overpower me, and I can end her life with a snap of my fingers.”
A slow smile lit up his hideous face. “On second thought, maybe we should cut to the chase and see how strong she is. Kali, stake him.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she stared at Sion, silently pleading with him not to be angry as she reluctantly pulled out a stake from her bag. He couldn’t believe she’d kill him, though. Consera hadn’t seen her real strength yet.
“You can’t control her anymore. You’ve lost.”
“I think Kali on her knees proves that claim wrong.”
Shaking, she began to sob as she clearly tried to fight against his control. Her hand trembled as it clutched the stake so hard her knuckles turned white. Sion hoped she saw in the way he looked at her that he believed she could beat her sire. She just had to believe too.
But instead, she cried out, “Why have you treated me so badly ever since you made me your vampire? What have I done that I deserved what you’ve done to me? You’ve tortured me, forced me to take drugs and nearly die from them, and used me to do harm to other vampires. Why?”
Consera merely laughed at her obvious pain. “I did what I did because you were weak and I was strong. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“I did everything you wanted of me. I never disobeyed for over a millennium. No matter what you commanded me to do, no matter how much it harmed me, I obeyed. And what did I get in return? Nothing but more pain. Why did you do that to me?”
He shrugged as if nothing about the waves of sadness coming off her meant a thing to him. “Because I could.”
His answer and his utter disregard for her pain broke her. Hearing those words come from the one who made her left Kali weak, and Sion watched with a broken heart as she fell to the floor in a heap. Consera had finally hurt her too much.
The magistrate turned to him and laughed. “And that’s why I win. I’ll win with the Archons too. There’s still time for my plan to work. There are supporters still out there who won’t let your kind take over our world.”
“You’re delusional. The Sons and the Order of Macaria won’t let that happen. You and the Archons failed. Hades doesn’t care anymore, and he’s not sending any more of his daemons to support you. It’s just vampires versus vampires now, and in that, you’ll always lose. Your supporters will either come to see that, or they’ll suffer like you and your Archon buddies. It’s over.”
“Never! The Sons will never rule the world I’ve spent thousands of years building. You won’t be able to handle it without the likes of me and the Archons. We kept order in a world full of madness.”
Sion didn’t know how Consera had become so lost in his schemes of world domination, but he didn’t care enough to ask. He’d come to do a job, and he intended on doing it.
Lifting his stake, he cocked back his arm to let it fly toward the magistrate’s chest, but from behind, Kali drove her stake through his heart with a cry of pain that hit Sion deep inside and sent him stumbling backwards. With a last look of utter shock, Consera opened his mouth to say something and then disappeared in a puff of dust.
Kali stood sobbing, her tears streaming down her cheeks and leaving white trails over her skin covered in the remains of the sire who had made her life a living hell for over two thousand years. She began to hyperventilate and shake, so Sion rushed to take her into his arms. She had found the strength when it mattered most.
“I did it! I stopped him finally. I’m so sorry I pulled a stake on you, Sion. I couldn’t disobey him at that moment, but I kept telling myself I could do it. I had the strength. I just had to use it. I don’t know if I could have done it if he showed me an ounce of kindness, but he didn’t, and something inside me snapped.”
Sion wiped her cheeks with his thumb and kissed her lips. “You did it. I knew you could.”
She rested her head on his chest and let out a sigh. “I did it.”
One less enemy existed in their world now. He only hoped Saint and Solenne had success with their villain and Theron defeated his.
Chapter Eighteen
The first hint of the sunrise fell over the land, making Theron yearn for something other than solitude. Sitting in the darkness of his childhood home, he waited for the sun to come up. He had chosen to remain alone in the hours before he intended to set out on his mission to the Underworld, but something about night ending made him regret that choice.
Unlike other vampires, he’d always preferred the day. Being a clyten explained that partly, but he never had the sense that Dante would ever choose day over night. Vampires were creatures of the night. This was an accepted fact.
Just not for him.
He’d never truly felt like he should be a vampire anyway. Given the choice, he’d eat and drink like humans instead of drinking blood like vampires. True, only born vampires had to consume blood exclusively, but even the average run-of-the-mill vampire liked blood.
Not Theron. Other than when he was fucking someone, he would happily avoid drinking blood for the rest of his life. It tasted metallic, and he never failed to want to drink gallons of water after having it in his mouth.
Never once had he told anyone about how foreign being a vampire felt to him. They wouldn’t understand. Being born into the vampire world meant that’s what he was. Vampire. He had no choice, like he’d never had a choice to be anything other than the one prophesied to defeat the Archons and Hades.
Closing his eyes, he thought about the humans he heard when he mingled with them at outdoor cafés on sunny afternoons. They complained about everything from their debts to their homes to the people they slept with, and so many of them wished they didn’t have so many choices to make. Each time he heard them say something like that, he wanted to jump up out of his seat and scream at the top of his lungs how stifling life truly felt with no choice. They so desperately didn’t want to have to make decisions, and he’d give anything to be able to walk away from who he’d always been and deny the truth, no matter the cost.
But he couldn’t. He had a destiny, and he had to follow it. The entire world depended on it.
For a while when he was what others would call a teenager, he resented that destiny. He wanted to rail against it because of how it threatened to smother him at any moment. It terrified him and made him want to die.
Theron didn’t know when that feeling disappeared, but at some point, a strange calm came over him and he simply accepted his future. There was no logic to being angry and lashing out. What was to come would come anyway. He could thank Dante for that little nugget of wisdom. The only one who ever seemed to be able to reach him, he explained that simple yet profound idea one day in his usual way that included the word dude far too much, but Theron understood it.
No matter what he did to prevent his destiny from happening, it would happen just as it had been prophesied. There was no choice in that, so he accepted it.
“My vampire is so unhappy,” Nyx whispered to him. “What troubles you this morning, Theron?”
He opened his eyes and saw her next to him on the floor.
Dressed in that long black gown she wore each night as she traveled the earth, she looked regal beside him.
“No unhappiness. Just waiting for the right time to leave,” he answered as she cozied up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
“I waited for you. I thought you’d come during the night,” he said before kissing her.
“No, I can never be yours at night. Other worldly demands keep me from doing anything at night.”
Yet another reason Theron enjoyed the day more.
“So now that your duties are done, you come here for me?”
“You called to me, so I came,” she answered, confusing him.
He hadn’t called for anyone during the night.
“That wasn’t me, Nyx. I didn’t summon you,” he said as he pulled her onto his lap.
Her hurt feelings registered in her expression, even as she tried not to let him see he’d bruised her ego. “Perhaps I should leave then.”
She moved to get off his lap, but he kept her right where he wanted her. “Maybe you read my mind?” he asked with a smile.
Nyx arched a dark eyebrow and leveled her gaze on his face. “Maybe I can sense when you need me.”
Theron didn’t like hearing her say he needed her. In fact, it made him inwardly cringe to think he needed anyone after losing so much, but she wasn’t entirely incorrect. He did feel a sense of need when it came to her.
Cupping her breasts in his hands, he nodded. “Maybe. Can you figure out what I want now?”
As she thought about his question, he pinched her already excited nipples through her black dress that left no doubt about how perfect her body was. The goddess had everything he’d ever wanted in a female.
Nyx didn’t answer him but instead slid off his lap to open his pants. Already rock hard, his cock sprung free the second she lowered the zipper.
“I guessed correctly.”
Theron let his knees fall to the sides and leaned back. “Not exactly rocket science. You do have an advantage over me. You can read my thoughts.”
She slid her tongue over her lips and smiled. The time for talking had ended, thankfully, and he watched her as she slowly lowered her mouth to his cock. The first touch of her lips against his skin sent a jolt of electricity shooting through his body, making every nerve come alive. He had no idea what special power Nyx possessed when it came to fucking, but something about her sent his body into overdrive like no one had ever been able to before.
A quick flick of her tongue on the underside of his cock made need course through him, and he stuffed his hand into her black hair to push her head down. Now was not the fucking time for teasing.
Moaning against his skin, Nyx took every inch of him into her until the head of his cock bumped up against the back of her throat. She scratched her fingernails across his abs as she sucked hard, just like he wanted, mixing pain and pleasure wherever she touched.
“Fuck…oh, baby, suck that cock.”
She obeyed his command and began bobbing up and down on him, slowly retreating all the way up his shaft and then devouring every rock hard inch until her tongue grazed his balls. Theron felt like the top of his head might blow off if he didn’t come soon, but he wanted to relish her blowing him for a bit longer before he let that happen. Prolonging the pleasure made the end so much better.
A few more times up and down his cock delayed it enough, and when she cupped his balls in her hand and gave them a gentle squeeze, that’s all it took. He lifted his hips from the floor and drove his cock down into her throat as jets of cum pushed out of him. She swallowed every fucking ounce of it, and when she lifted her head and smiled down at him, Theron wasn’t sure who had enjoyed themselves more.
“You’re such a base creature,” Nyx said as she wiped the sides of her mouth.
“How’s that?” he asked, his brain not working at its full capacity after a blow job like that.
“You’re sensual and prefer the physical to everything else. I don’t think I’ve met a being like you in centuries.”
He had no idea if she was insulting him or complimenting him, and as he recovered from their sexual romp, he didn’t care. She excited him like no one ever had, and he liked fucking her in every way possible. If that was base, so be it. Considering all he had to deal with in this life, he had the right to enjoy something.
“And you suck cock like no female I’ve ever met. Are all goddesses like that, or is that just one of your talents?”
“I wouldn’t know about other goddesses, but I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” she said coolly, her tone telling him she didn’t appreciate his compliment as he intended it.
Pulling her against him, he tried to smooth over her hurt feelings. “Come here. I didn’t mean that as anything but praise. You’d be surprised at how some women use their teeth when they suck cock. It’s like getting a blow job from a paper shredder.”
Nyx looked at him and said nothing for a few moments before giggling. “You are the most unique creature, Theron.”
“I’ve heard that. Let’s just say I’m one of a kind.”
She smiled and reached out for him to run her hands through his hair. “This destiny of yours weighs heavily on your heart.”
Sliding his arm around her, he pulled her to him. “I guess there’s no point in saying it doesn’t. You can read my thoughts, so you know.”
“I can sense you plan to kill Hades, but that’s impossible, Theron. He’s a god. He can’t be killed.”
Of course not. Killing him would be too easy.
Theron tilted his head left and right to crack his neck in the hopes of relieving the headache that already began to form at the base of his skull. So now this destiny of his had a new wrinkle in it. Why had Kali believed Idolas prophesied he would kill the god of the Underworld if he couldn’t?
“Because she’s a vampire translating a prophecy thousands of years old. It says his reign will be put to an end by you. She took that to mean you killing him, but Hades cannot die, my love. No god can.”
He looked over at her next to him. “So you can never die?”
Nyx smiled. “No. Gods can be forgotten. They can also be imprisoned. But they cannot die.”
“Then I’ll just have to find a prison strong enough to hold a god.”
“I have just the place,” she whispered into his ear. “Do to Hades what he’s done to so many gods before him. Imprison him in Tartarus.”
“Looking for a new neighbor?”
“I was thinking maybe I wouldn’t be living there anymore once you’re the ruler of the Underworld,” Nyx said with a wicked grin.
“So you want to rule the Underworld in addition to the night?” Theron teased, already intrigued enough by the goddess to like the idea of reigning with her by his side.
Slowly, she ran her fingertip down the middle of his chest to the spot just above his pants. “Not rule. Just assist the new ruler.”
“You know, I’ve done a little reading and Hades was put in charge of the Underworld by his brother Zeus. How is he going to feel about a vampire taking over that place and putting a family member into Tartarus?”
The last thing Theron needed was to have to fight through an entire pantheon of gods. Kali had never mentioned anything about that, but then again, she had made the mistake of thinking he could kill Hades. Maybe she’d missed that point about having to fight his way through a godly gauntlet too.
Nyx tilted her chin up proudly and smiled. “First, Zeus will do as I tell him to. He may not be afraid of other goddesses, but he fears me. More importantly, he’s imprisoned in Tartarus, along with the rest of his family, except for Aphrodite, so he’ll be more than happy to assist you in sending his brother to his just ends.”
“The god of the Underworld put all the gods and goddesses in Tartarus? He’s a mean one, isn’t he? Why not Aphrodite?” Theron wondered, curious as to what made her so special. “Is she someone special to him?”
“I’m not sure, but since she’s the goddess of lo
ve, I imagine it has something to do with him needing her to be free so he didn’t end up alone. He hasn’t had much luck with love, poor thing.”
Theron sensed some resentment in Nyx when it came to Hades. He’d heard it a few times before when she mentioned him, so it was time to find out what she was really up to.
Pulling her onto his lap, he held her fast to him so she couldn’t escape and stared into her nearly pitch black eyes. “I think you need to tell me truth about why you hate the god of the Underworld so much. Don’t bother lying because I can tell. I may not be able to read your thoughts, but your hatred for him is written all over your face and I hear it every time you talk about him.”
She hesitated for a moment and then frowned. “If you must know, he and I were together for a time. He decided to break it off in favor of his newest toy, which offends me greatly.”
“Why? You don’t seem like the lovesick kind of female.”
Fury flashed in her eyes. “I most certainly am not.”
Nyx turned her head to avoid looking at him, but Theron roughly grabbed her chin to force her back toward him. “Then what’s the problem? Who is he with?”
Again, she seemed to not want to tell him the truth. Finally, after a few moments, she answered his question. “A mortal.”
“So it’s fine for you to be with me, but it’s not fine for him to be with this mortal? Why?”
“I don’t want to answer any more questions. Let me know when you want to go to the Underworld. I can guide you there.”
“Give me a few minutes to clean myself up and I’ll be ready to go,” he said as he zipped up his pants.
Nyx crouched down beside him and shook her head. “Take your time. This will be your only chance to take over the Underworld, Theron. Do not rush yourself.”
“I’ve been born exactly for this purpose. Well, that and defeating the Archons. I’ve done all I can with the Sons of Navarus on that, so now all I have left is to overthrow Hades. I’m told it’s been prophesied, so why wouldn’t I go now?”
A strange look crossed her face. “It has been, but be careful. Hades is a force to be reckoned with. I will help you every way I can when you need it most, but you will have to be the one to defeat him. The Underworld is a very different place from the world you live in, my love. You will be trespassing as you aren’t dead, so you don’t belong there. What you’ll see may chill you to the bone, so I need you to take your time.”