by K. C. Hamby
The Fire of the Fated
The Chosen Series: Book 3
By K.C. Hamby
Warning: This novel contains immense profanity and mentions of drug use, sexual assault/rape, violence, gore, domestic abuse, death, suicide, and murder.
Please read with caution.
For Daisy Mae. A world without you is a darker place, but I know you ran over that rainbow bridge with young pup speed and joy in your 19.5-year-old puppy heart.
I love you forever and always. Thank you for being my best friend.
I must also have a dark side if I am to be whole.
-C.G. Jung
Preface
Falen
It was a hell of a way to die.
When Hades snatched my soul out of my body, I mean. The scraping realization of being incomplete without my physical shell was more than I could have ever bargained for. I would be absolutely okay with not experiencing such a level of wrongness again.
The immortality Hades and Hecate are offering is tempting in that aspect, at least.
But now they need me to do to others what was done to me; Hades and Hecate want me to snatch souls right out of their physical hosts and take them, thrashing and terrified as I was, down to their eternal torture.
I suppose the souls being truly vile and belonging to Tartarus makes it better, but…
“Excuse me?” I snarl.
Hades rolls his red eyes and huffs out a sigh. “I said, Falen, that you are the…”
“Reaper. Yeah, I fucking got it.” I clench my teeth as my feet move to pace back and forth and back and forth in the clearing that’s beginning to become one of my least favorite places on Olympia.
“Your mouth is, as always, terrible,” he growls. “You really ought to think about acting more refined.”
Hades stares me down like I haven’t played this game hundreds of times with Alphas who thought they were more dominant than me. I never back down from a challenge, so the white-haired, red-eyed asshole of a god is setting himself up for failure.
I push my Alpha power toward him, letting my eyes dilate.
My predator stare.
All I was trying to do was have a nice day with my Mate after the hell that was Klythios the Giant wreaking havoc on our lives; I would like to have a day without someone trying to kill us maybe? Or even just a day where some divine someone isn’t telling me I have a path I must follow.
It’s too much to fucking ask for, obviously.
Hades blinks and turns away from my glare, shaking his head, angry at this nonsense. Same, honestly.
I smirk at the victory just to be an asshole.
“Essentially, you are Fated to be the goddess of Death and Dark Souls,” he explains to me after adjusting his black blazer and recovering from his embarrassment. “You will collect the most heinous of souls, and you will bring them down for Charon—the boatman who transports souls through the rivers of the Underworld to their rightful places—to take to Tartarus. Now, you will have additional abilities separate from those you currently have, Falen, but since we haven’t made a Reaper who is also the goddess of Death—and definitely not one of Lupi origin—before, we have no idea exactly what those abilities will be.”
“Isn’t there already a god of Death? We just had this fucking conversation about where my surname Thana came from. What the fuck happened to Thanatos?” I snap. Not only do I get to be a glorified bounty hunter, but I also am supposed to be a goddess too. Great.
Do I fucking seem like goddess material? Hell no.
Hades and Hecate exchange a glance and I grit my teeth. So, there is more bullshit they are obviously hiding from me. Fantastic.
“Why, yes. Lord Thanatos is the god of Death. However, considering unforeseen events, the title of Thanatos must be split between you and your brother. It’s all tremendously complicated, but I assure you it will become clear in time,” Hades replies softly as if I’m a fucking bunny rabbit ready to run at the slightest raise in volume of his stupid vocal cords.
I swallow down the building anxiety as the wind blows my hair across my clammy face. Why the fuck can’t I just be a normal Lupi? I didn’t ask for any of this.
“And Fal has no say in whether or not she does this?” Nina asks, flexing her hands by her sides, also anxious and readying herself to blast Hades into next week if she must.
Hades seems to know this too as he eyes my Mate, hesitating slightly before he opens his mouth to speak.
Hecate glares. “For once, be quiet!” she growls, and Hades raises a brow before shutting his stupid mouth. Hecate turns to me with apologies in her light gray eyes and a sad smile on her mauve lips. “It is your path, Kóri. You are Fated this way. But you will need to consent to this role as Thanatos and Shadow Reaper.”
I have to consent? Finally, something I can get behind.
“No.” I wave my hands in front of my face to emphasize my absolute refusal. “Fuck no. I’m not doing this bullshit. I’m sorry, Hecate. Really, I am. But there must be a point when I put my foot down. I can’t handle everything.” I turn and stomp in the direction of the apartments with every intention of ending the conversation.
“I understand you believe I have set a lot on your shoulders,” she acknowledges, and I stop my retreat. But I don’t turn around to face her. “And I know I have, indeed, put a grand amount of responsibility on you. But it is because I know you’re strong and can handle all that is put in your path.”
“Have you ever thought about what it does to her?” Nina asks and grabs my hand, pulling me back from my indignation. “Do you have any idea of the emotional damage it does to have all of this constantly given to her to deal with?” She looks up at me with her crystalline doe eyes, sorrow slipping between her lips and mixing with her sweet breath. “I know she’s strong. I know that more than anyone. But when does it become too much?”
My heart fills to overflowing with the love I have for my Mate. Nina understands how hard everything has been for me and she still calls me strong. She has seen the worst in me and somehow believes I am good. She has felt my fear and holds my hand, telling me I am braver than anyone she knows. She has watched me carry so much weight for so long and wants me to rest and heal my soul.
“Being Lupi is not easy by any means,” Hecate admits and walks over to us with soft eyes contradicting the sharpness of the rest of her. “In order to make Lupi fight to banish the darkness attempting to upset the balance between light and dark, they must be consumed by the darkness they destroy. Falen is definitely no exception as she has been born from and into shadows. My love,” she whispers and looks to me. “Your entire life has been drenched in darkness. But it has not been to destroy you. It has been to prepare you for what is coming. The darkness will recede and find its rightful place within you, but only when you choose to accept it as part of your soul.”
“I don’t want this darkness,” I tell her, plead with her, my eyes burning with the need for her to understand. “I don’t like what it does to me. It’s a constant in my mind, demanding I bow to it. I refuse. I will not become the Monster living inside my head. I won’t.”
“Oh, come now. Do this for me, will you?” Hades chides impatiently like he is scolding a disobedient child as he peers around Hecate.
For him? Do something...for him?
Hecate’s lips press together after she sighs. “I told you to be quiet.”
I explode and run at Hades until I’m right in his face.
“Do it for you? Why would I do a goddamn thing for you?” I shove his chest and he stumbles down a few of the steps into hell. “You just sat around while I was beaten, tortured, burned, and you have
the audacity to think I should do something for you?” I give him my best eat shit glare, the one I save for the truly stupid people who think they should cross me. “Oh, I’ll do something for you. I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass, your tongue will taste the ground I’m standing on.”
He brushes off his jacket and locks those red eyes on me. “Yes, I allowed you to be tortured and I regret it. More than you know, Falen. It was a steep lapse in judgement, I admit. But you are not privy to both sides of the story.”
I scoff and shake my head, nothing but disgust in my glare. He sure as hell won’t get any sympathy from me. “A steep lapse in judgement? Are you fucking kidding me? Your little hiccup nearly destroyed me. Sure, there are two sides to this story, but it seems to me that, any way I look at it, you are an asshole in both.”
He squints, the want he has in the claws of his fingers to step forward and wrap his hands around my throat is undeniable, but he is confined to the stairs; he is chained to hell where he belongs because of his kingly brother, Zeus’ chains that bind him to hell forever. “Surely you could at least attempt to see my reasoning…”
“You know, I would try to see it from your perspective, but I don’t think I could stick my head that far up my ass.”
Nina grabs my hand, pulling me away from the entrance to the Underworld. I know I should stop insulting a god. I’m being a dumbass screaming at someone who could see me burn for eternity if he wanted.
But it seems I’ve forgotten where I hide my fucks to give.
Oops.
Hades made it to the top of my shit list very quickly and I’m not sure he will ever be able to escape it.
“Fine,” Hades snaps and throws his long, white hair over his shoulder as he walks back to the top of the stairs. “Do not do this for me. Do it for yourself. Because, if you refuse, the Monster you keep running from will chase you, nipping at your heels until you falter.”
I clench my jaw and he glares, regarding me with eyes seeing right through me.
He knows nothing of my Monster. He can pretend all he wants, but he knows nothing.
“And make no mistake. When that monster gets the chance, it will devour you.”
A Goddess’s Promise
Before the Titanomachy between the Titans and Olympians
Hecate
“We are hidden by Nyx’s shadows,” I remind my sister, wanting to pry her clawed hand from my arm.
Selene’s apprehension grows all the same as we hurry through the darkness.
If anyone can hide a secret meeting in the dark, it would be the goddess of night, Nyx, herself. The magic glamour I have blanketed over us only gives an added layer of security. Something Selene insisted upon in her anxiety.
“Where are they, Hecate?” Selene whispers, pulling her dark blue cloak tighter over her white locks. The fabric almost doesn’t help in concealing her pale skin, for my sister is a true goddess of the moon, always shining with its pale glow.
I do not voice my answer as…I do not have one. We stop in the precise place I mentioned for the meeting. I glance around in the darkened wood, leering at shadows and waiting for the slightest movement. I selected this place because of its rural location, deep in the mountains of an unnamed land; I hope beyond all reason this spot is not even a slight thought in the soon to be King’s mind.
“There,” I murmur and point to a moving shadow in the distance.
The shadow transforms into two silhouettes, both of womanly stature concealed beneath darkened cloaks.
“Merry meet,” I greet them, not daring to let my voice rise beyond a breath.
Their keen ears will hear me as if I’ve shouted anyway.
Selene mimics my greeting. Both approaching women wearing solemn smiles as they stop in front of us.
“Merry meet, moon sisters,” Nyx replies, bowing her hood-covered head.
She is not in need of concealment in such a physical way, however. She is the night, black hair cut short above her ears and chocolate skin perfectly silky over her muscles. Her eyes are inky violet, piercing and downright feline with dark as coal lashes wisping from her lids to softly brush against her cheeks with each blink.
Her daughter stands beside her, needing to be hidden as much as Selene.
“Nemesis,” Selene acknowledges with a slight tip of her head.
“Hello, ladies,” Nemesis replies with a voice as smooth as the flames she wields.
Her glow originates from hellfire and shines through her golden eyes and gilded hair the color of great fortune. Her tan skin glitters as if embers dance in the pores. Her strong, grey-feathered wings are barely hidden beneath the fabric of her cloak. She towers over Nyx, over all of us, really.
She looks nothing like her mother. Nyx has beautiful dark skin while Nemesis is lighter. I have always wondered if the kin between them is genuine, but I try to keep to my own affairs.
Granted, Nyx was once a vast part of my affairs, but I digress.
Nemesis is the goddess of wrathful and divine justice, employing the Furies—the minor goddesses of vengeance—to fulfill her requests for retribution when she is not able. She has an attitude to go right along with such divine wrath.
Convincing her to side with us is going to prove difficult.
“I assume you both know why Selene and I have asked you to meet with us?” I ask, pulling my hood back just enough that I may look each of the ladies in the eyes.
“The coming War of Wars, yes?” Nyx answers, clasping her hands in front of her stomach. “You want us to pick a side. And not the side of which we originate.”
I nod. “It is true I am asking you both to join the cause of the Olympians against the Titans.”
“You are a fool,” Nemesis hisses, letting her hood drop in her outrage. “You ask us to fight alongside Zeus when he has nothing but disdain for Titan kind? He will use us until we are no longer needed to aid in his rule. And he will turn on us just as a tide in a raging storm.”
“We are only asking for you both to take sides in appearance. Not in genuine thought,” Selene murmurs, calm as always and able to soothe the anger in most furious beasts.
“You both know the Titans will not win this war,” I reason and take a step forward, almost as a plea. “The Olympians are greater in power and will swiftly take out the Titans. We are simply asking you both to spare yourselves and live to fight another day.”
Nyx appears thoughtful. I never worried for her decision. She will see reason even if her daughter does not.
“I will fight with the Olympians, if only to preserve the night,” Nyx agrees, but she has no joy for the decision.
Nemesis’ eyes burn bright.
“You cannot be serious!” she yells, heating the air around us with her fury. “This is not a balance. If the Olympians win, everything will tilt. This is not justice!”
“This is survival,” Nyx reasons, grabbing her daughter’s hands. “You will not be able to hand out justice if you are destroyed.”
Nemesis scoffs and throws her mother’s hands away. “I will not fight with them. You do what you wish, Mother, but I will not submit to the wrath of that golden-haired womanizer, Zeus.”
And with a flash of flame, Nemesis disappears into the night.
“We all knew it was a shot in the dark,” Nyx murmurs, sorrow burdening her soul already as she gazes at the place her daughter was standing moments ago. Her eyes fall on my face. “Hecate, I must ask a favor of you.”
“Anything,” I reply, reaching out to grab her hands like old times.
The lingering spark still aches deep in my heart.
She pulls me from Selene, giving us a little privacy to speak. “If Nemesis falls, you must capture her soul. I know you are aware of how to do this. I beg you. Don’t let her wither into nothing. Allow her to be reborn. Let her live on.”
I smile softly at the woman for whom I still carry so much love. I brush a rolling tear off her cheek and press my forehead against hers, not able to resist the pull between our s
ouls.
“For you, I will.”
Chapter 1
Eighteen Months After the Defeat of Klythios the Giant
Edelina
Fiery blood lights my veins, pushing me to my target.
A Fury has been called on this night.
My foot shifts up a gear on my Kawasaki Ninja, deep grey paint glimmering beneath the ever-changing, starry sky. The air is thick with humidity and cold droplets momentarily fill my helmet’s facemask before they fall to my leather jacket.
Ach, this must be a bad mission. My blood is burning me up and wrath fills my head to pounding. It’s nearly impossible to keep my fingers from shaking in anticipation.
The pull to my target is always insistent; it’s poisonous and a sickness on my teeth from which cannot be brushed away until vengeance is brought.
It’s a heavy burden, being a Fury. I am a prisoner of my blood, bowing when it tells me to fall to my knees.
I ride up on a dark street and park in the shadows of nearby trees. My helmet slides off smoothly before I place it on the motor bike's saddle. The long waves of my hair fall to my shoulders and blow across my face with the sticky breeze playing on the night air. I pull the mass of it into my hands and tie it at the nape of my neck to keep it out of the way. A chill rolls down my skin as the wind touches the shaved sides of my head.
This neighborhood is a wee decrepit; houses fall apart with holes in curtains and patches of dead grass in yards between dusty plots of dirt. Everything here is neglected, including the worn roads breaking apart as if readying to release hellfire from Tartarus out of the cracks every few steps.
My machete shrieks when I pull it from my sheath at my hip, and I smirk, prowling down the street silent as Death himself. I’ve needed this. I’ve been way too wound up lately and need to exact some vengeance.
The fire in me leads my steps to a large, grey factory-like building, falling to pieces just like the ones around it. But I can smell it, fury and retribution hang on the air around this place.