The hound growled low, tightening his grip on her arm. Tyr saw red and dove toward them. He slid on his knees across the polished stone until he brushed the side of Scarlet’s body. He saw the rise and fall of her chest. She’s unconscious, not dead. Why would she do something like this? “What did you do hound? Speak!”
A feminine voice broke in. “Oh, she tried to kill me. You’re lucky you have something I want or her head would be on a pike at the gates.” Her voice travelled across the crowd. “Ah Hades, you came back to me.”
“No, I haven’t, Hel. I’ve only come to retrieve my friend.”
She clutched her chest in mock pain. “You wound me, my love.”
Hades remained silent. Tyr moved closer to the group as ghostly figures crowded around them. More specifically crowded around Hades. Some reached out to touch him, but he speared them with a glare and they retreated a respectable distance.
“Release her,” Tyr said staring at the hound who held his wife.
Hades chuckled drawing everyone’s eye. “Why, Hel, you’re more clever than I ever gave you credit for. Really, I didn’t think you could ever come up with a plan as clever as this. You get the dog to pretend to be on our side, lure Scarlet here knowing she would do anything to save the man she loves, and then set the trap as everything falls into place.” He gave her a mock bow which she accepted with a nod of her head.
“To be honest I have always been quite clever, but because I’m not particularly beautiful people seem to overlook that quality. This was rather easy to be honest. I would not have had to do anything if you would have come of your volition. I don’t particularly enjoy being the bad guy, but what is done is done.” Hel stood, walked over to the hound holding Scarlet, and pet him on the head. The dog nuzzled her fingers as everyone looked on disgusted.
“Name your terms, woman, so I can have my wife back.”
Hel continued her caresses as she spoke. “Simple. Hades stays, everyone else goes.”
Cloris stepped forward, the souls skirting her as though she were contaminated with the plague. “It’s not simple, and it won’t happen. You may be queen in the Underworld, but I’m Death.”
She said it conversationally, but goose bumps climbed Tyr’s arms. He never wanted to get on that woman’s bad side. Cloris shook her head and blackness covered her from head to toe, a black cape complete with hood, the traditional garb of death.
“You have no power over me. I’m immortal.”
Death stepped forward, an otherworldly voice taking over her usually sweet and sultry tone. “Nothing is immortal. It is only a matter of finding the invitation.”
“This is my realm, Rider,” Hel said curling her lip in disgust. “You have no power over the dead here, and you have no power over me.”
“But there is one here who died but still lives...” Death pointed a curtain off to the side.
Hel jerked forward as if she would attack Death but stopped herself in the next moment, her skirts swirling violently. “You wouldn’t. That would be defying the All Father himself.”
“The All Father is not my father nor my commander. I would take that life if you take my friend’s. Ragnarok is not here now, but if you declare war on the Riders, there will be a war. And you will lose.”
Bianca interrupted. “She has already decided. She will sacrifice even Baldir for Hades.”
The hound growled drawing everyone’s attention back to Tyr and Scarlet.
“Release her,” Death commanded.
“Fine, but I’ll take my bounty.” Hel said waving a hand at the hound. It dropped Scarlet’s arm but lunged for Tyr who was caught off guard by Scarlet’s release.
He twisted to keep the snapping jaws of the hound’s face away from his. The hound rolled across the stone floor in a flurry of fur and pointed teeth. The dog had an advantage as he had many more limbs, but Tyr had his strength. He held the dog’s neck away with his hand until he found the other hellhounds circling him. They crept closer. Tyr stood still holding the hound by the neck away from him. One hound leapt on his back. He released the other to pry the new assailant’s jaws from his shoulder.
The hounds descended on him in growls. A sound blasted through the hall, cracking like lightning minus the actual bolt, and everything went dark. The last thought in his mind was of Scarlet. That even if he died, the others could save her. At least she would be safe.
Chapter Eighteen
SCARLET WOKE TO THE sound of growling and snapping teeth. She bolted upright and crouched low. To her horror, she saw the others watching as Tyr was mauled to death by hellhounds. Moving on instinct, she reached into her pocket to pull out her sword and found a pen. An ordinary looking pen. Scarlet launched herself toward the fight, but Hades gripped her around the waist and pulled her back.
“Hades, if you don’t let me go, I’m going to rip off your balls and feed them to you.”
“He made me promise if it came to this, I would keep you safe. It was his wish, and I made an oath,” he whispered in her ear.
Scarlet struggled, but he held her tight. He had the advantage of god-like strength. “Let me go.” She growled clawing his arm in an attempt to rip herself from his grasp. But it was too late.
The hounds backed away, and Tyr lay in a bloody heap on the stone. Hades finally released her, and she ran to her husband’s side. She pressed her forehead to his lifeless chest and cried. Not the lonely tears of the sad, but the deep gut wrenching wails of the grief stricken.
She dug her hands into his shirt, the blood and hounds’ saliva sticking to her. The calm slowly descended and washed over her like a wave. She sat back on her shins and looked toward Hel. The hounds had killed her husband, but it was Hel who bore responsibility for his death. She stood leisurely and walked toward Hel, who didn’t even have the good sense to look frightened.
The hounds growled in warning as she drew closer. They could growl, attack, and rip her to shreds, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered except the warm gush of Hel’s blood on her hands. No matter how it happened.
She closed the distance in a few short strides and grabbed Hel by the neck. The woman was taller and a goddess so she retained an advantage, but Scarlet had her own edge. A madness crept in, and if she Hel hadn’t taken her sword, she would break the seal and doom them all. If only to take the crazy bitch down.
The goddess pulled her hands away easily with one of her own and smiled down at Scarlet. “Ah, Rider, you’re no match for me.”
“Give me back my sword, and I’ll show you.”
“This?” A voice said from behind her.
She turned to find Garmr naked, wearing the blood of her husband, clutching her pen in his hand. The rage replaced the madness, and she charged him. To his credit he stood his ground as she slammed into him knocking him down.
“Why are not you dead?” she screamed as she straddled his stomach and battered his face with her hands. She slapped and punched and all out thrashed him, until Cloris pulled her off. At the woman’s touch Scarlet calmed, and as Cloris’ arms wrapped around her, hard as a vice, she succumbed to the promised tranquility.
Scarlet woke up in her hotel room with the others staring down at her. Rage still poured through her, and she screamed. She lay in the middle of the room she shared with Tyr and screamed until she panted to draw breath. Once she stopped, the silence rang in her ears.
She sat up and glared at Hades. “If we did not need you, I would kill you.”
He looked at her calmly. “I know.”
“We need to get the sword back.” Cloris eyed Scarlet with a wary look.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she snapped finally standing on wobbly legs.
“How did they get the drop on you? You’re the best fighter of all of us.”
“They drugged me. The dog’s mouths were laced with some sort of poison. It knocks you out cold. I remember sneaking up to Hel’s door. I turned to find a hound, and then nothing until I woke up.” The memories swamped her. The vision of Tyr
’s broken body on the black stone, imprinted on her mind. She shook it away when the urge to scream surged inside of her again. “What do you want to do?”
“It’s simple,” Hades said. “I have to trade myself.”
“One seal for another is not a good trade,” Cloris added.
“Yes, but the sword can’t try to escape on its own, can it?”
“Hades, it’s not an acceptable trade,” Cloris said gently gripping his hand.
He pulled it back and shook his head. “Then what do you propose?”
Cloris took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I suppose you’re really the only thing that madwoman wants, but I still don’t think it is a good idea.”
“You never think anything I come up with is a good idea.” Hades moved into Cloris’ space and shocked Scarlet to her bones when he planted a rough kiss against her friend’s lips. Cloris returned the kiss and frowned. “You just don’t want to lose me,” he said gently.
Cloris caressed his lower lip with her index finger. “You’re right. I don’t.”
Anger welled up in Scarlet again. No one wanted to sacrifice Hades, but Tyr was certainly a fitting sacrifice for absolutely nothing.
Bianca came up beside her and took her hand in a hard grip before whispering to her. “He didn’t sacrifice himself for nothing. He sacrificed himself for you.”
That hit her hard. If she’d never left, if she’d waited and developed a plan with them all, he wouldn’t have gone there to find her. He wouldn’t have been so reckless. The truth crashed around her sending her to her knees, and Bianca stepped away.
“What did you say?” Cloris asked as Bianca knelt down beside Scarlet.
“The truth.”
“What truth?” Cloris demanded.
“That Tyr sacrificed himself. She took it upon herself to think no one cared and that Tyr’s sacrifice meant nothing.”
Cloris pursed her lips but said nothing as she touched Scarlet’s face. “Tyr’s sacrifice was for you, yes, but he would make that choice every single time it was presented to him. He would give anything for you as he showed. He loved you, and you need to accept that fighting for you was his choice.”
Scarlet swallowed and the tears began to flow again. Cloris held her, the skin of her collarbone chilled, but it felt good against Scarlet’s hot cheeks.
“What do you want me to do?” A new voice entered the room.
Scarlet looked up at the man who all but glowed as he buttoned his pants. His skin was a sun-kissed brown, and he had blonde ringlets framing his perfect face. He almost rivaled Hades for beauty, but his was warm and attainable whereas Hades was cold and unapproachable.
“For fucks sake, do we need any more harbingers of the apocalypse in one room?” Bianca groaned before plopping onto the bed.
He glared at her and bowed to Cloris. “Thank you, Lady Death, for saving me from Hel.” He eyed Hades with a look of mutual understanding.
“Baldir, please just sit for now,” Cloris said still trying to comfort Scarlet.
It all sounded far away as if she couldn’t possibly be living this moment. The memory, pain, and anger all a distant vision outside herself.
“Well, this is simple,” Scarlet said jumping up. “We trade the sun god for my seal and the remains of my husband.” She had finally mastered herself, shoving everything deep inside to deal with later. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but neither was losing your husband after a Lone Ranger episode.
“I’ll not return to that place,” Baldir interjected as he strode toward the couch.
Cloris glared at him, and he actually flinched. “Sit down and shut up. If you don’t do as I say, I’ll show you I can be an even crueler mistress than Hel.” Her eyes blazed with a fire Scarlet had never seen before. She’d never seen her friend this emotionally upset and riled. If she didn’t know any better, she would think Cloris cared about what happened to Tyr.
“Honey,” Cloris said as she turned to her again. “We can’t trade Baldir for the seal, the main reason being its cruel, and the second reason being, he would rather die than return to her side.”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around.” Scarlet turned toward Hades. “What did she do to you?”
Hades turned to her with an icy stare. “That is none of your concern.”
“No, really. I need to know what I’m asking of you. What you’re sacrificing in order to get the seal back.”
He sighed heavily and shifted against the wall so he could hide his face. Cloris walked around Scarlet and approached Hades cupping his shoulders as if to offer support.
“When Hel started her siege against me in the Underworld, no other deities were willing to help. I fought her alone, which was entirely unprecedented because had Zeus been attacked you’d better believe the entire pantheon and the void would have been called forth to protect him. Anyway, she took me as a war criminal, and there are no laws about the treatment of war criminals. She handcuffed me to the bed with an Agate pendant wrapped around my neck so tight it cut into my skin.” Scarlet watched him rub his neck as if the memory still plagued him.
After a moment he continued. “She did unspeakable things to me. Calling me her plaything. The most beautiful god in existence reduced to her toy. She raped me, used me until the power of the Revelations prophecy became enough to drag me from her bed to Cloris’ side. I don’t know if you recall my first day with you?” Hades asked turning once more to face Scarlet, a fine sheen of moisture coating his eyes.
Scarlet wracked her brain. They weren’t born they were created to await a prophecy some two thousand years or so in the future. When Hades had arrived he looked like a half-starved scarecrow, but somehow remained stunningly beautiful. A beauty becoming more apparent the more he grew comfortable with them. “I sort of remember.” Scarlet hedged.
“Well, the day I was surrounded by you all, I expected further punishment, degradation, and torture. When you treated me like any other person, I began to grow more secure, but I have never fully trusted another woman until Cloris showed me a different way.” He reached down and held her hand before kissing it gently on the knuckle.
“So basically you’re willing to go back to that torture for us to get the seal back? How is that worth it?”
“Not just for the seal, but for Tyr too. I came to like him. You two complement each other. Also because if the seals are broken, then this little family I have that has offered me so much when I wasn’t willing to even listen will be destroyed. I can’t live with that if I have something I can offer in exchange.”
“How are you okay with this?” Scarlet asked Cloris.
“Oh, I’m not. I fully intend to show Hel what kind of power Death has over the ruler of the Underworld. I haven’t decided if I should do it before or after I rip her throat out with my scythe.”
Bianca was of course the one who giggled. “Not to take the severity out of the situation here but, you have a scythe?”
“It’s kind of part of the job, but I don’t always use it.” Scarlet waited, and Cloris sighed. “I only use it when I need to scare people. Some souls are, well, sticky, they don’t want to leave or think they can bargain with me, but when I pull the sucker out they seem to listen.”
Hades cleared his throat. “Can we get back to the matter at hand, ladies? I don’t want to go down there blind. We need a plan.”
“No amount of planning can account for variables,” Scarlet said.
Hades nodded his agreement. “I guess you would be the expert on strategy. Or would that be Bianca?”
Bianca chuckled. “We agree to disagree on that point.”
“We could use you to see for us. Try and feel out if we need to alter plans to create something else altogether,” Scarlet said switching into War mode.
“Well, what is the plan?” Bianca crossed her arms under her small breasts.
“Trade Hades for Tyr and the sword.” Immediately pity entered Bianca’s eyes, and Scarlet looked away to avoid it.
; “Well, that doesn’t seem like much of a plan, more of a surrender.” Bianca pointed out.
Scarlet shifted on her feet trying to keep from growing angry with Bianca for poking holes in the plan. “The thought being Hades could try to escape.”
“Yes, but didn’t he try before without success?” Bianca noted.
Scarlet tried again. “Well, maybe Hel won’t consider him a war criminal now or maybe we could negotiate some provisions with his stay there.”
“Cause Hel seems like the type to offer mercy.”
Another point for Bianca. Scarlet sighed and shrugged. War mode fail.
For the first time Bianca looked up and noticed Baldir sitting on the couch opposite them. “Do you have anything to offer this conversation, sunshine?”
He glanced at Cloris who rolled her eyes. “Speak,” she ordered him.
“Don’t call me sunshine.” Baldir glared at Bianca.
Cloris sighed in exasperation. “Anything else?”
“Other than she still employs the use of binding stones and humiliates her prisoners, no. The only thing that kept me remotely safe was that she feared retribution at Frigg’s hand should she defile her son. She only stripped me naked and paraded me through the Underworld on her arm.”
Scarlet watched as Bianca teetered slightly and then shook herself.
“Did you have a vision?” Scarlet asked.
Bianca nodded. “Nothing bearing on this situation though.” She glanced back at Baldir with an almost malicious expression.
“Fine,” Scarlet said as she began to pace. “We need a plan.” She chanted in time with her steps, and everyone allowed her to ruminate.
Chapter Nineteen
THE DESCENT BACK INTO the Underworld felt more dramatic to Scarlet. They walked in heads held high, ready for a fight. Like last time she had been there, no hellhounds prowled the area. They may answer to Hel, but Cloris scared them and most creatures of the Underworld.
The palace, the paths, and everyone else looked the same. Nothing had changed, but Scarlet didn’t feel the same. Nothing was the same without Tyr. Before, when they’d lived apart, at least she could think about him and consider what he might be doing to pass the time. If he’d found another lover or if he ever nailed the kick they’d once been trying to perfect together.
revelations 01 - on a red horse Page 12