Unbound

by Amber Lynn Natusch

Fear had overtaken the Dark One.

  An ominous sign, indeed.

  “What happened with the Light Ones—with the fight,” he said, as though embarking on a thought he was loath to complete, “if it’s indicative of what’s to come, then the fear fucker might have a chance, because I don’t trust your ability to protect yourself at the moment, and I don’t know how to stop him…”

  “I will be fine—”

  “No!” he shouted as he lunged toward me. “Don’t start that ‘I’ll be fine’ shit. Not now. Not about this.” I looked up at his intense brown eyes and saw so much terror in them that I wondered if the fear god was nearby, toying with him as he had alluded to in the street. But I knew that was not the case, for I had already freed his mind once before. His emotions were most definitely his own. “I get that part of your whole schtick is that nothing scares you when it has to do with you and not someone you love, but dammit, Khara, I need you to give a fuck right about now, because this is bad, and I don’t think you appreciate the gravity of the shit that you’re in—that we’re in. Together…”

  “Because you go where I go,” I said softly, standing to meet his fear-driven rant. “That is the deal, right?”

  His jaw tightened. “Always.”

  “Even in death?”

  Silence.

  “Especially in death—at least for me.” I canted my head at him and he took a step closer. His hand drifted up to my face and cupped it lightly, though the tension in his grip was thinly veiled. “Losing you would be as though my world—my purpose—was stolen from me.” He leaned in close enough for me to feel the tickle of his breath on my face. “There would be nothing left but a bitter, angry beast that would need to be put down. I would rage and ruin until your brothers were forced to end me, just as I would intend.”

  “Why?” I asked as my chest grew tighter and tighter.

  His thumb gently traced the outline of my face, and my heart went still. “Because there is no me without you.”

  As his heavy words settled on my mind, his lips settled against my mouth and kissed me with a tenderness I had not thought he possessed; not any of his many sides. And as their soft fullness pressed against mine, I felt something inside that I could not describe—a fracturing and reknitting and fracturing again. The process continued as his hand slid into my hair and his tongue slipped into my mouth, desperation slowly building with every passing second. And it was in that desperation that I found my own.

  For a life without Oz seemed an unthinkable fate.

  And if Phobos had his way, that fate would come to pass.

  My respite did not last long. A ruckus above drew me upstairs, and I followed the chaos outside to where Hermes stood, surrounded by Cass and the others. The messenger god looked surprisingly smug for someone staring down imminent death should he make a wrong move. Cass looked at me, and I waved them off. They lowered their weapons and magic and took a few steps back.

  Hermes grinned at his perceived victory.

  “I would save your celebration for when you actually leave here alive,” I said, wiping the expression from his face with my sentiment. “I assume you have delivered word to Ares.”

  “I have.”

  “And?” Oz asked, his irritation plain in his tone.

  “And he seemed delighted at the turn of events. He has agreed to meet Khara in the place you alluded to.”

  “When?” Drew asked.

  “My understanding was that he would be headed there once I left. I imagine he’s already there awaiting her arrival.”

  “Then I shall see him soon,” I said, heading inside.

  “Remember what I told you,” Hermes warned.

  “I do,” I replied. “You may go—for now.”

  My fallen brothers looked on in disbelief as Hermes took to the air and disappeared.

  “But he—” Cass began before I raised my hand to silence him.

  “He serves a purpose at the moment, but his time above is running out. He belongs in the Underworld.”

  His expression fell. “As do we.”

  “No, Brother. You belong with your family.”

  “Speaking of family,” Oz said, “what’s the plan for meeting with Daddy?”

  “I’m going.” Casey stepped closer, blades in hand. “That’s non-negotiable.”

  “We’re all going to go pay dear old Dad a visit,” Drew said, sounding more acerbic than ever.

  “Ares will not like it,” I replied.

  “Ares can’t do fuck-all about it,” Kierson said with a wink. “And I’ll enjoy watching him get all pissy because of it.”

  “He is such a child when he doesn’t get his way,” Pierson added, an uncharacteristic note of mischief in his tone.

  “We are coming, too,” my mother said, stepping off the porch, “and that is final.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” Oz asked, and I could not help but note the hint of pain in his tone. Not for himself, but for her—for the memory of what she had once become at the hands of my father. What she had lost.

  “Wise has nothing to do with it,” she replied, “but I will not let my daughter anywhere near him without me present, and as I said, that is final.”

  “What would you have us do?” Cass asked.

  “I think it best you stay here and monitor who comes and goes in our absence.”

  He nodded and turned to the other fallen PC warriors to discuss whatever he felt was necessary.

  “Shall we, then?” Oz asked, reaching a hand out to me. I took it and extended my other to Casey. One by one, Kaine, Celia, and the Detroit brothers took hold of one another until our circle was complete. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on Trey’s unique gift. I could feel Eos stir as I did. “Ares has answers we need,” I said under my breath, though I knew the others could hear me. “Do not interfere.”

  A sense of peace washed over me, and Trey’s magic surged to the forefront. Seconds later, we stood outside the gates of the Underworld.

  Just as he had before, Ares stepped out of the tree line encircling the gates. He looked unfazed by the presence of the others, as though he had expected they would not allow me to come alone. His bravado was steeped in their inability to harm him, and he flaunted it brazenly. Casey’s fingers twitched over his blades’ handles. Drew scowled in disgust. The twins stared at him as though they could will a death cry from deep within to signal his demise. Kaine’s and Oz’s black wings twitched in agitation as they stood guard next to my mother while she glared at Ares like that alone could set him ablaze.

  Eos, however, remained silent and still.

  “Khara,” Ares drawled as he made his way over, hands clasped behind his back, gait casual. “I must say, I was surprised to hear of your change of heart, and now, seeing who you’ve chosen to bring with you, I can’t help but feel I’ve been fooled.”

  “I doubt that very much,” I replied. “I think you wanted to believe that I had changed my mind, but you are far too clever to have truly taken the bait—not without some measure of suspicion.”

  His smile widened. “Now who is the clever one?” He continued his approach until he stood only feet away. “This is why I want you to rule the PC, Khara. Surely you can see the sense in that.” His eyes fell to my brothers. “See how they follow you blindly. I’ll bet that Casey was quick to say they were coming—and that Drew organized a plan before you left. And the twins, well, they have always done as the other two directed—especially Kierson. Thinking never was his strong suit.”

  “Fuck you,” Kierson shouted, much to Ares’ delight.

  “You see what I have been left to deal with, Khara? Why your existence excites me so?”

  “My existence...” I said, letting the thought trail off as my gaze drifted to where my mother stood next to Kaine. “I cannot help but wonder if there was another purpose for that.” I took a slow step toward him, mimicking his posture. “A purpose my mother failed to fulfill.” His expression cut to her, but I could see the tension in his shoulders
as he looked at her—as my words settled on his mind. He had not expected them. “I learned something interesting recently—something about the soul you put inside my mother after hers had been stolen, a result of one of your machinations, no doubt. How long did it take for you to capitalize on her Empty status before she agreed to take the soul you presented her with, I wonder? I have learned just how strong she is, but when faced with an agonizing death, it seems even she was vulnerable to your charms.”

  “Perhaps we should ask her,” he said, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

  “Perhaps you should come closer and do just that,” she replied.

  His smile widened as his focus returned to me. “It took less time than you’d like to believe,” he replied with no hint of his prior feigned civility. Before me stood the real god of war; the one who had leveled enemies without regret. The one who had wiped out any females born of him—except me. “It wasn’t long after I placed that soul inside her that she lay beneath me, legs spread wide in gratitude.”

  My mother bristled, and Kaine held her back, knowing what the consequences of an attack on Ares would be.

  “But my mother did not turn out to be the creature you had hoped, did she?” I asked, stepping closer still. “Your plans to create a being in the likeness of Eos did not pan out as you wanted, so you waited for her child to be born, hoping that he would succeed where my mother had failed. That he would be like your lost daughter.”

  “At first I thought she’d failed me there, as well,” he said, reaching out toward my face. “But then I saw a kernel of hope in you—the child that should not have been. The one that so many worked to keep secret from me.”

  He closed the distance between us in a blink and grazed my cheek with his fingertip. The disturbance behind me grew louder as Oz struggled against my brothers at Ares’ behavior.

  “But I am not what you wanted,” I said plainly.

  He canted his head. “You weren’t, but now…” He grabbed my chin and turned my face to him. “Now I think you might be. I can sense her inside of you…”

  The calm within me stirred to a frenzy as the soul I harbored wrestled for control with a fervor I had not yet faced. Her strength was disconcerting, and I struggled to find purchase against it within myself. My hands flew to my head, as though seeking a way to hold myself in place, but with every passing second and every worried word uttered by my brothers, I could feel my position at the helm of my body slipping. Eos’ will—her determination—was fueled by centuries of captivity. It was a force I could not fully comprehend.

  One I could not seem to stop.

  And as she pushed past my control, I could have sworn I felt her smile.

  “Hello Father,” she said, her voice my own but with an edge somehow; a distinction that seemed to startle Ares, if only for a moment. He stared at me, narrow eyes assessing. “What?” she asked playfully. “Do you not recognize me?”

  Wicked realization dawned on Ares’ face. “Eos…forgive me. It’s been so long.”

  “Yes, it has. And do you know why that is, Father?”

  His amusement fell away. “Because your brother killed you.”

  “Yes. Precisely. The question now is, what will you do about it?” She smiled at him and began the same circling maneuver Deimos so loved to use. “Because I have heard a rumor, Father—one that involves you leveraging another of your children against her twin. The one whose body I now possess. The one Phobos wishes to own.” The tension around them grew with her every step. “Why, I wonder, would you not tell her how to be rid of Phobos? Why would you forego your chance to bring justice down upon the madman that stole your favorite child right out from under you?”

  He looked over his shoulder as she rounded behind him. “How you underestimate me, Daughter. It’s as if you have forgotten how cunning I can be.”

  She stopped and stared. “Perhaps I have. Perhaps you should remind me.”

  He dared a glance at my brothers and the angels, then returned his gaze to his precious Eos. “Everything I have done—every move I have made in this—has been to get you back. And now that I have you, my scheme can come to an end.”

  Oz took a step closer, wing raised. Drew stepped into his path, though it looked as if it pained him.

  Ares turned to the Dark One and smiled. “Say goodbye, Ozereus…Celia. Your precious Khara is no more.”

  The pain in Oz’s eyes, as I observed them from the glass cage in my mind, was all-consuming. Then, in a blink, it disappeared—along with all of them.

  Darkness replaced everything.

  And I wondered if I would ever see the light again.

  20

  Cold wind bit at my face, pulling me from my slumber. My limbs were weak and useless, barely able to push me up off the stony ground. Blinking my eyes to clear them, I took in my surroundings—or tried to. Through my blowing hair, I saw the haunting glow of dusk; it stretched on forever, without anything to obstruct the view save for the few clouds dotting the sky.

  With some effort, I pushed to my feet and turned in a slow circle. Rock and debris and that infinite orange glow filled my vision from where I stood on a rocky mountain peak. My spin stopped when I saw Ares sitting on the ruins of a dusty onyx throne, broken columns forming a circle of destruction around him. The satisfaction in his eyes was plain, but it fell slightly when something in my expression made him realize that it was me—not his precious Eos—staring back at him.

  In a flash, he was on his feet, storming toward me. “Where is she?” he demanded. He stopped inches away and fumed at his impotence—his inability to harm me, just as I could not harm him.

  I lifted my chin a notch higher in silent defiance.

  How proud Oz would have been.

  “Where am I?” I countered.

  “Do not toy with me, Khara, or—”

  “Or what? You will whisk me away to a new hell on top of a mountain? You will hand me over to your twisted son?” I leaned in closer, our noses nearly touching. “You and I both know you will not do that, now that Eos is alive and well inside of me. You have tipped your hand, Ares. And a turn too soon, by the look of it.”

  Crimson filled his cheeks as his anger bloomed. But my bravado could not last forever. I felt the press of Eos within me, and I was not strong enough to stave her off much longer. The power she drained from me was enormous and paralyzing, and the effort seemed to cost her nothing at all. My vessel nature had finally shown a weakness, and it was one for the ages. If I could not find a way to be rid of her eventually, I feared that Ares’ comment would not be far off—that Khara would exist no longer.

  Surrender, her voice whispered in my head, and it seemed as though there were no other choice. With a final deep breath, I exhaled and retreated back to the metaphorical glass room in my mind. Eos took a moment to settle into her new skin, then stepped away from Ares.

  “That’s better,” she said with a smile.

  “She is strong,” he observed, looking my body over.

  “But not strong enough. Now tell me, Father. What is your grand plan?”

  “My plan all along has been to find the perfect host to bring you back.”

  “And this is it?”

  “It is perfect. As I said, she is strong, but she is so much more than that. She can wield the weapons of her enemies—absorb their magic to use against them. She took down Zeus with his own lightning.” His eyes flared with madness, and a malicious smile stretched across his face. “I wish for you to use these gifts against my sons.”

  “Both Deimos and Phobos?” she asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

  “The latter, yes. The former, no. He has missed you terribly. I should bring him here, to this place that only he and I know still exists, to meet you.”

  “I have seen him.”

  Ares looked at her curiously. “In this body?”

  “No. In the Light One’s.”

  “He will not be happy when he learns that you now inhabit the one he craves.”
/>
  I felt a shudder work its way down her spine. “He will not touch me or he will die, whether it is part of your plan or not.”

  Ares cocked his head. “He would not fall easily, Eos. Nor will Phobos.”

  “And yet I did,” she said, stepping closer. “Was that by design, Father? Did you make me weaker than them for a reason?”

  “You are karma incarnate. You are the perfect balance between good and evil. Justice and retribution. You could not be as powerful as them because of this. That is why I protected you as I did—or tried to.”

  The sour note in his voice was impossible to ignore. I could feel her weighing her words carefully. “You did all you could, Father. You could not have known what he would become over time. How his mind would fracture.”

  His eyes searched her face for a sign of something. Anger? Treachery? Forgiveness? I could not be sure, tucked away in my own mind.

  “That is precisely what happened, Eos—his mind literally fractured. But even before that, he had become something beyond what was intended, and his obsession cost you your life. But now you are back,” he said, resolution brimming in his tone, “and I will not lose you to him again…”

  She reached out to stroke his face adoringly. “Where is he, Father? How can we destroy him so that he cannot do again what he once did?”

  He mimicked her caress, holding onto her neck for a moment longer than necessary. “Must we worry about that right now? After you’ve just returned?” he asked as he released her and headed back to the crumpled throne. “Can’t we simply have some time to ourselves before everything devolves into chaos and destruction?”

  “You mean like this place has?” she asked, her playfulness returning. “I must say, this is not the palace I remember calling home.”

  “This,” he said, sweeping his hands wide, “is all that remains of the glory that was once Mount Olympus, before the Light Ones came and reduced it to rubble. Before everything changed for the gods…”

  “Before you lost your power.”

  He nodded. “I may have gained an army in the process, but I can do nothing myself. I am relegated to the sidelines, as they say. I command, but do not partake. It is humiliating and degrading for a god to be stripped of all that made him fearsome and powerful.”