Elle tried not to cry as she hugged him harder. “It takes more than your traitor sister to kill me off, apparently,” she said, unable to attach a laugh, given how unfunny she found her own joke to be. Jack’s body felt as though it were turning to solid ice. Elle kept her face hidden in the crook of his neck, relishing the positively safe feeling she felt being back with him.
“What you said was all true,” said Jack, leaving Elle unsure of whether this was a statement or a question.
“Khione killed our parents. She killed them all,” Elle mumbled, tearing up. Feeling the utmost of horrible sadness, she realized Jack lost more to Khione than she did. He lost his mother, stepfather, young sister, actual father, and then almost her. Placing light kisses on his ice-cold cheek, she grew frightened at the murderous rage that glowered behind his silver orbs. She knew who it was his sudden rage was directed toward, but it still frightened her to see someone with the beauty of an angel look more enraged than the devil.
“You’re going to stay here,” Jack said in a low voice. “You will not leave.”
“No! She killed my dad, she killed your family, and she tried to kill me! I’m getting revenge.”
He shot her a leveled look. “I’ll gain retribution for the two of us; you’re staying here.”
“The hell I am!” Elle shot back angrily. “No one was there to save me, Jack. I’ve proven I can take care of myself—”
“Yes, you did a marvelous job of placing yourself in a near-death coma this last week!” Jack snarled back.
“You either take me back or I’ll call Apollo or Hermes to take me,” warned Elle with a glare.
Jack looked near snorting. “Lord Glow-worm and his ridiculous excuse of a godly brother will agree with me. They’ll probably help me tie you up to keep you safe.”
He perhaps had a point; Apollo didn’t seem keen on having Elle fight to begin with. Hermes could probably turn on her as well out of fear of Jack and his brother. Immediately, Elle thought of two women who seemed bloodthirsty enough to assist Elle in a battle. “I’ll call Artemis or Hera,” she said at once. “I guarantee they’ll bring me to fight.”
A very dark look took over Jack’s handsome features where Elle was positively certain this was the most frightening she had ever seen him. Suddenly standing, Jack’s entire body seemed to be causing a snowstorm right in the middle of the large living room. Ice radiated from his entire body to coat the floors and walls in pure ice. His abilities began cracking lightbulbs, mirrors, crystal vases, and windows given how absolutely freezing the room dipped in temperature. Standing up, Elle balanced her hands on his shoulders. “Jack, calm down…” she tried, only for a very cold look to cross his face as it seemed there was no stopping his inner monster. When he finally spoke once more, his words were chilling.
“Fine, let’s go.”
“Really?”
Jack gave a firm nod of his pale head. “Let’s go battle my sister.”
Chapter 16
Elle strongly felt the fighting would have died down upon their disappearing for a few minutes. She was wrong. There were probably five hundred individuals now fighting between immortals, deities, nymphs, mermaids, and just simple monsters by the time she and Jack returned. Many of the immortals could not die because they needed the dagger of Delphi to kill them. Others who were not immortal were killed off.
Zeus had joined the fight once the giants arrived. The king of the gods used a massive storm of pure lightning to erupt from the sky to attack a monster. After that, the giants retreated, given it was no longer fun to bully the tiny people given the king of the gods had arrived to play.
Hera, meanwhile, seemed to be busy taking out anyone who dared attempt to touch either her own children or Hermes.
Even though mythology deemed Hera simply wicked in wanting to punish all of Zeus’s children and mistresses, she did not seem to wish any true harm to Hermes as she easily decapitated a nymph who tried attacking him. She defended him with as much vicious tenacity as she defended Elle and her children. Apollo and Artemis, however, she did not seem to care if they in particular got themselves injured. Elle suspiciously felt she saw Hera smirk when Apollo took a rough hit to the head by a large club.
Hephaestus and his namesake son, Vulcan, were sparring it out with an outrageously large wolf. Both strong gods also needed the panther form of Artemis to fight the beast in order to wound it. The monster was another child of Loki. Even with three attackers, the mega-beast snapped its jaws ferociously as it wished harm to everyone and anything in its path. Two gods and a goddess were not enough to bring it down.
Poseidon and Amphitrite did not engage in fighting, along with a number of regal royals who did not seem interested in the bloodbath. The Egyptian god Ra and the goddess Isis watched the fight with bored faces as they seemed not amused with the bloodshed and the screaming. The loyal merfolk and nymphs of the sea king remained very close behind Amphitrite as if to show they wanted no part of the fighting and the disobedience toward their kingdom.
Elle’s head swiveled when she saw a mummified creature about to remove Calais’s head. He was busy defending Hera from being attacked by what seemed to be a polar bear and had no idea the attack was coming. Using a ball of flame, Elle roughly threw it in the face of the mummified creature and caused the dry thing to go up in flames immediately. It writhed and screamed before collapsing in a burning heap. Calais whipped his pale face around to see Elle was the one to save him. “Thank you, darling.” He winked. To the scowling Jack, he smirked. “Told you I didn’t kill your family, brother!”
Jack’s teeth clenched together, no doubt remembering the one point in time centuries ago when his brothers tried to kill him by beating him to a bloody pulp before attempting to drown him. Jack was in no mood to talk as he transported Elle across the room to a far-off corner to where Triton and Ajax seemed to be arguing with a goddess. Based on the name exchanged, it was Athena. The trio seemed to be having a strange argument regarding who won the right to fight the terrifying Egyptian monster that seemed to consist of the head of a gator, the bottom of a hippopotamus, and the wings of an eagle. Judging by the disappointed expressions both Ajax and Triton were sporting after they each pulled a random short straw, Elle figured Athena came out the victor.
“I am your foster father,” said Triton bitterly. “Does that mean nothing to you?” The goddess merely smiled as she went off to fight the monster. “What is it, Jack?” Triton asked when he spotted him. He looked somewhat aggravated he did not get to fight the monster that Athena was.
Jack nodded his head toward Elle. “She doesn’t leave this area and she fights no one. I find out either of you have disobeyed me, there will be blood,” he declared coldly, causing Elle to gape at him. It wasn’t his threat; it was the shock that he actually thought he could get away with leaving her after everything she had been through.
“You’re not leaving me anywhere; I’ve got a goddess to help kill!”
Jack glared. “You’re staying here, and I won’t hear anything else about it.” Elle exploded in protest before he leaned in closer and scowled. “In case you have somehow neglected to remember, you did not exactly come out the victor in your last match against my sister,” he glowered.
He was right. Still, Elle felt miffed over the idea of not gaining vengeance against Khione. Leaning forward, she captured him in a tight hug that was not returned. Even though his very protective nature still stood, Jack seemed a bit rattled every time she attempted to touch him. He didn’t seem to know how to react. “I love you,” she mumbled against his earlobe, trembling over the very idea of Jack being anywhere near the traitorous Khione.
Jack’s teeth grit together as he firmly nodded. He pulled her in for a close embrace and squeezed her. “Promise you won’t leave this spot,” he said quietly, not daring to meet her gaze. He was looking anywhere but back at her.
Elle knew she couldn’t exactly keep that promise, given all the fighting taking place. There was no way she
was going to allow him to fight Khione alone. Loki was hovering close by. She believed Jack was a talented fighter, but she couldn’t imagine him having to fight both psychos alone. Suddenly, a very loud crackling of glass sounded. The next thing Elle knew, she was suddenly being flung backwards by Jack into Athena’s waiting arms. Meanwhile, Jack was sent crashing through an opposing wall thanks to a monumental block of pure ice hitting him through it.
“Jack!” Elle shrieked, scrambling from Athena.
“Do not bother, Princess. He is fine,” said Athena before she went back to fight the hideous Egyptian creature.
Elle still scrambled away as she started to run in his direction. She paid no attention to the hellhounds barking or the sound of Jorgamund hissing at her; her only thoughts were on Jack alone. Elle didn’t need to worry; soon enough, Jack was once again inside the massive throne room, cracking his neck as he stretched. His silvery orbs burned with a strong hatred as he glanced toward the front of the hall from where the ice came. Disgusted surprise came from him upon realization the power came from his older sister alone.
“Over three thousand years, Jack,” Khione hissed, looking hideous with murderous rage. Her eyes were narrowed as her now-bloody lip curled. “Over three thousand years I have spent playing second fiddle…no more,” she declared, launching a wall of ice toward Elle. Jack used the ability that only the gods possessed to teleport before he hid Elle against an opposing wall. Quite easily, Jack produced an icicle to launch into the head of a nymph suddenly running for her. He did not even blink as he killed it. The creature died upon impact while Elle’s face paled as she watched it slump to the floor.
“Stay here,” he said through gritted teeth. Before she could even stutter out a protest, he was gone.
The fighting was starting to die down little by little. Mostly it seemed the remaining survivors of what Elle was mentally dubbing Team Khione no longer seemed so intent on fighting to their deaths.
The survivors looked over the bodies of their fallen friends and comrades and soon began wising up. There was only so much they could do given how violently the Olympians were fighting. Even the lovable Hermes was taking no prisoners as he alternated between brainwashing nymphs into fighting monsters while also multitasking beating the tar out of people with a staff. Even though he was nowhere near as muscled as his brothers or sisters, or nearly as violent, the Messenger God was quite the crafty trickster in both mind manipulation and slapping people in the face with the large metal stick he carried.
Jack and Khione were now in full-blown war as they both moved at inhuman speeds to reach each other. Both were fighting ferociously as they threw a spectacular yet frightening display of hatred and ice toward one another. Khione sent a wall of ice fifteen feet tall toward Jack while he hurtled himself through. He then posed a counterattack by attempting to stab her in the head with a very sharp icicle. The noise itself from the violent fighting was horrible. It sounded similar to both a thunderstorm occurring as well as glass shards breaking. Jack did a nice somersault midair before stabbing Khione in the shoulder.
As soon as she cried out in pain, Loki appeared from nowhere to front-kick Jack midair before using a—familiar—brilliant blue scepter to strike him to the rough floor.
He used Jack’s own scepter against him. Upon this, Jack did a rather nicely executed kick-up to launch a wave of ice at Loki only for him to dodge it. Khione then took the time Jack was distracted to stab him in the gut with a very sharp icicle. The ruby red blood exiting him looked more defined given his snow-white skin tone. He wasn’t dead, but it still caused Elle to shriek out in fear.
Her scream caught Khione’s attention as she threw her a murderous glare that made Elle’s spine tingle from the memory of their last encounter.
Elle was starting to feel Jack didn’t have a chance fighting alone. It was an unfair fight with the two experienced immortals versus him. As strong and as brilliant of a fighter as he was, Jack was having great difficulty trying to take the two amazing fighters at once. Elle was about to make a run to help the fallen Jack before a strong arm wrapped around her waist. “Don’t you even think of it!” Apollo snapped angrily, his tone holding strong anger. Using an arrow, he shot it into Khione’s neck right as she was about to touch Jack again. It was a gruesome hit, but it didn’t kill her. While she struggled to rip it out, Jack rebounded from his injuries, sending a somewhat thankful glance Apollo’s direction.
“One time of nearly losing you was enough for both of us!” Apollo snarled at Elle. She had no words to speak as she watched him glare down at her. He soon spun her against a wall as he started fighting the strange magical polar bear that couldn’t seem to be killed no matter how many times it was struck with an arrow or a sword.
Apollo and Artemis took turns squabbling over how to kill the creature, but it was Hermes who Elle knew she needed. She suddenly had an idea.
Khione kept sending her harsh glares that were silently but surely telling her she would attempt to kill Elle again shortly. But she couldn’t reach her without Jack immediately distracting her. Running over to her godfather, Elle tapped his shoulder while simultaneously jumping when a massive tail of a crocodile nearly took out her legs. That creature had to be at least twenty-two feet in length alone.
“Hermes, does your little brainwashing stick work on Khione?” Elle nearly yelped as a rather ugly panda creature from the Chinese growled feverishly at her. Surprisingly, Voluptas and Angel teamed up to start attacking the creature as both were equipped with bow and arrows.
“Er…” Hermes answered awkwardly. He contemplated this for a moment while leaning against a nearby pillar for a break. Hermes looked as cool as a cucumber as he stared off into space while thinking her question through. Right before an enchanted bear got too close to the unsuspecting god, Ajax seemed to take over the bid to take down the bear. According to screams, the bear was a son of Gaia.
Elle took his moment of silence to glance at others. Jack was still fighting his wretched monster of a sister and her boyfriend while Hera was engrossed in a battle with some ancient Titan. Zeus, looking rather bored, took time out to converse with his brother Poseidon. The royal kings and queens who deemed themselves too high class for a brawl merely drank fine wine and chuckled at the bloodshed as if it were humorous. Finally, after what seemed like a small lifetime, Hermes spoke.
“I feel if I focus every bit of my energy solely on magnifying my staff’s power toward one person, I’ll be able to direct the staff to manipulate what Khione sees and maybe nearby people. But why do you ask?”
Elle kept a tight grip on the dagger of Delphi as a crazy idea came to mind in how to trap Khione. “She wants me dead so I can’t marry Jack so he can take the throne; we have to let her think she’s succeeded in killing me,” she muttered, nodding her head toward Loki. “Misdirection.” Elle grinned, remembering how her very first kiss with Jack went.
A wicked smile crossed Hermes’ young face as he quickly realized what Elle’s devious plan was without her fully explaining. “That sounds naughty…I’m in,” he said with a lopsided grin.
It was evident Hermes had been playing an important role in keeping the fairies and the nymphs at bay. As soon as he broke his concentration on manipulating them, they slammed out of their stupor to start fighting the nearby Triton and Artemis. It didn’t matter; fighting against two seasoned fighters looked similar to a knife cutting through butter. The son of Poseidon and the daughter of Zeus killed them easily. Hermes grabbed Elle’s shoulder before transporting them to the far side of the room at least a hundred feet away from where Jack was. He was very bloody and trying hard to duke it out with Khione and her lover. To Elle’s utter dismay, he was losing. He looked beyond bloodied and bruised, and his left wrist looked broken.
There was nothing and no one to break Jack’s attention away from his sister and vice versa for Khione. She took away his entire family centuries ago. All these years Jack spent sitting at breakfast tables and godly parties thinking h
is sister was the only one from Oritya’s family he could trust, she was a monstrous traitor all along.
Jack soon spotted Elle and growled in frustration. He launched a massive wall of frosty ice toward his sister before she quickly launched herself out of the way. If she wanted her plan to work, it was now or never. “When Jack is near me, do it,” Elle muttered, nodding toward Loki.
Hermes smiled devilishly as he began muttering under his breath. He was using his caduceus to wave in Loki’s general direction.
Jack saw the fake Elle immediately. Before he could reach her, he did a double take in Khione’s direction. As the real Elle’s eyes diverted to where he was looking, she found an exact replica of herself was suddenly kicked down by Khione. Blood squirted out of the nose of the body double.
The goddess wielded an ugly yet wickedly sharp battle ax. This time the goddess did not monologue before her “kill.” Jack screamed as Khione swung the ax across and easily took off the head of the Elle replica. A terrible whooshing sound was made as the head rolled disgustingly to the floor. It then tumbled a couple of feet away. Khione wore a terribly diabolical smirk as she watched the head, seemingly satisfied that “Elle” was finally dead.
She dropped the ax and laughed manically.
Knowing now was the time to fight, the real Elle allowed her body to flame up and launched a series of ferocious fireballs at the Ice Princess to throw her off balance as a distraction. It reminded Elle of all the winters when she was a child when she would form tiny uneven snowballs to throw. Only this time, the fire formulated already made balls for her. All she had to do was aim and literally fire away.
It was then that Khione’s confidence was broken. She stared at the still-alive Elle, unable to comprehend what it was she was seeing.
Betrothed To Jack Frost Box Set Page 51