Beauty's War (Gods Reborn Book 1)

by Anna Edwards

  Her call is answered with a blinding flash of light so bright that color dances in my vision.

  When I’m able to see again, there are two men towering above us.

  “Father!” both gods cry out in unison. “What happened?”

  “Can you help him?” I ask, choosing to ignore their question. Would they hurt Mars if they found out he was the culprit? Blame me and Luigi for getting caught? I don’t know them. I can’t be certain of anyone's reactions right now. All I know is that this man has to live whatever it takes.

  “Yes, our mother can,” the taller of the brothers confides. As he crouches next to me, I grab his hand guiding it to maintain the pressure I’ve been keeping on the wound.

  Without another word all three of them vanish.

  Hands shaking, I stare at the blood. It’s not just mine now.

  Everything hurts. The numbness from adrenaline, and whatever overtook me, is starting to wear off. “Is there anything you can do to stop the violence Mars has unleashed? Prevent it from making him lose his mind?”

  I’m terrified he’s too far gone. That he’ll be consumed.

  Will anything make a difference, now, with things already set in motion? If his Father survives, will it sway Mars’ fate?

  Sinking down onto the carpet, my wounds throb as they begin to heal. I’m weighed down with everything. I know if I go to help him, I will put him in greater danger.

  Bellona shifts uneasily. “It’s calling to the war inside me...but I can try.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  MARS

  The second I know Vicky has taken my son and father from the Underworld, I allow the true depths of the hatred flooding my veins to take over my body. Two lackeys who were aiding in the torturing of my woman lie dead at my feet. Their bodies are twisted beyond recognition as humans. I’ve decimated them. My fury exploding in a torrent of powerful blows, shattering their bones.

  Orcus steps in front of me and blocks my path toward my intended target, Pluto. The God of the Underworld is still feeling the effects of whatever Vicky did to him. His face is pale, and a fine sheen of sweat layers his furrowed brow. He’s not suffering physically, but his mind is in torment. I can’t help but smirk.

  “You won’t find what happens next funny. You think by leaving here they’ll be safe. Can’t you hear the world out there anymore? Has your mind become so damaged that you are beyond hearing the chaos you create, now?”

  A human appears in the air beside us and falls to the ground. When he stands, I notice his body is cleaved in half from the shoulder to navel. Orcus holds his hand out and, like he’s coiling in an invisible string, winds the human toward him as if he were a puppet. The human stands in front of him, swaying. He’s come from the world above and is a dead soul. Another appears and then another. All around the room, people stand with wounds that have killed them as a result of the war raging in my mind. Watching intently, I see Orcus bring his finger to the forehead of the soul immediately before him. The body catches fire and disintegrates to a pile of dust. The God of Death now waves his hand. From the ashes comes the departing soul, black as the night, and destined for eternal hell and damnation at the hands of the gods within the Underworld. The other humans around me all burst into flames, and the same thing happens to them. I watch them, one at a time, my head twisting eerily as I take in their faces: women, children, men, different races, different nationalities. All dead because of war.

  I know I should care. I should try and stop what’s happening, but my mind isn’t responding to common sense. It’s blinded by the hatred that’s blackening my soul. I’m in the middle of my own fight, and it has wrapped itself around everything I am. I can’t see light anymore. I know I’ll not think clearly again until I hold Pluto’s severed head in my hands.

  The final few souls in the room disappear into Hell and Orcus laughs.

  “How the mighty have fallen. Your father will die. Your son has lost his innocence, and Venus is scarred for life as Pluto’s whore. You’ve failed them all, Mars. They won’t want you back. You might as well submit to the darkness coursing through your veins and join us.”

  “Join you.” My mind stutters into thought. “Why would I want to do that? You're the reason I have nothing left. No, I think I have a better idea. I’ll kill you both and take over the Underworld.”

  Orcus’ brows raise in shock.

  “You’ve gone insane. Pluto’s truly destroyed the mighty God of War.”

  “No, he hasn’t. He’s just helped me embrace the side I’ve wanted to keep hidden.”

  For someone who’s billions of years old, I have perfect eyesight. However, the further I slip into the darkness, the more blurred the edges become as my eyes focus on movements that will bring suffering. Without any control of my body, I lunge forward with a battle cry. My spear materializes in my hand, and I aim it straight for Orcus. He’s quick to react, though, and his own weapon, a scythe, stops my spear’s progress. We battle together in a clashing of metal, neither gaining any momentum.

  “Stop fighting the inevitable, Mars. War and death are linked. Along with Pluto, we can rule this planet and what’s beneath it. We can be the most powerful gods in existence.” Orcus lunges for me, and his scythe cuts through the skin of my already wounded leg. I don’t feel pain. I’m beyond fundamental feelings. I’m a vessel only intent on battle.

  “War doesn’t form alliances. It nurtures hate, allowing it to grow and strangle everything around it. War sees all. It notices the way Pluto stands back and allows you to fight on your own against a man who is more powerful than you, for he has nothing left to lose.”

  Orcus turns his head and looks at Pluto. The God of the Underworld is even paler than he was before.

  “He’s feeling the emotion of love for the first time.” I laugh, and the eerie cackle fills the room. My vision blurs further. I can barely see.

  Orcus refocuses on me, and our fight resumes. He charges at me, but I use my abilities to jump out of his way and high into the air. This doesn’t stop him, though, as he twists quickly, and the scythe slashes down my back.

  “I’ll take you apart piece by piece if you want, but if I were you, I’d just submit to your new ruler.”

  I laugh and glide down to the ground. I dematerialize and reappear directly in front of Orcus. He’s not quick enough to protect himself, and I’m able to run my spear directly through him. To a mortal, the blow would be instantly fatal, but gods can repair themselves from a wound like this. However, not down here in the Underworld. I’ve left Orcus no choice but to transport himself to the surface to heal. He opens his mouth to throw another insult at me but only a spluttering of blood comes out. I pull the spear out. Crimson decorates my prized weapon–the blood of my enemy. My god rejoices, and my vision all but vanishes.

  Orcus dematerializes in a swirl of black smoke, and I adjust my attention to Pluto. I can feel the fear emanating from him. The alien feelings, which are flooding through his body, place seeds of doubt in his mind. In this moment, we both know I’m more the devil than he is.

  “It’s a strange feeling isn’t it?” I ask him. I can’t see him any longer, because the battles raging around the world, now, fill my vision. “Love. It does strange things to you. It makes you destroy yourself. It will make you rip at your skin until you tear it from your body. It’s the most dominant emotion you’ll ever feel. Even more powerful than the triumph you thought would be coursing through your veins.”

  Pluto curls his lip up into a smirk.

  “Don’t you mean the victory that’s running through my veins? You don’t get it do you, Mars? I’ve won. You’ve lost. Venus and your son may have escaped, but you father’s gravely wounded and will never trust you again. And up there on the surface of the world, war rages, and with it death and destruction. I see it in your eyes. They’re as black as night. Your humanity has gone. This love you speak of will mean nothing to you ever again, for you’re evil now and incapable of such emotions. Venus may have touc
hed me with this curse, but what she fails to realize is that to love, you need a soul. I lost mine years ago. Ask Prosphenia, if you don’t believe me. I wonder whether she’ll show you the scars, the bruises, and the hatred she has for me.”

  “She doesn’t need to show me the hatred she has for you. It’s written all over her face whenever she comes to the surface and escapes her hell down here.” I picture the slight goddess’s features whenever she captures her first glimpse of the sunlight each spring. Immediately, they are illuminated with the knowledge of her freedom and respite for six months. She becomes happy and relaxed.

  “Shame when she returns to the surface, this time, there won’t be anything to go back to. It will be destroyed by then and resemble nothing more than my evil lair.”

  Realization hits me. The world will be destroyed. There will be no peace for Prosphenia to go to. My breath catches as feverish shouts of hatred resonate through my head, again. The war to end all wars will be over soon. The finger is on the button of nuclear retribution.

  “No!” I scream as I point my spear at Pluto and run for him. He sends me flying backward through the air, and I land heavily on the floor.

  “It’s over, Mars. You can’t stop what you’ve started. It’s taken over your body, so there's nothing left. I’ve WON.”

  My body is thrown sideways and smashed into the jagged rock of the walls. Inhaling heavily, I allow my body to fall to the floor. I know my body is broken. Pluto gives me no respite, though, for he raises me off the ground and suspends me in the air.

  “Death is everywhere. It’s glorious. I hear its cries. That’s love, Mars. War is love. It’s beautiful. Destruction.”

  More humans fall from the ceiling. The wounds they have getting greater and more intense by the moment: burns, limbs missing, and gunshot wounds leaving gaping holes where brains used to be. I see each one’s death as they fall. It’s there in my mind, and it’s painful. This is more agonizing than the broken bones and cuts I have all over my body. I don’t feel them. They’re nothing, but each death is a reminder of what I’m causing. No one can come back from this. The world will be better off dead.

  It’s then I feel it–a hand reaching in and wrapping around my brain, trying to prevent me from causing anymore heartache. Pluto must feel it too because he allows my body to slam down onto the floor.

  “Bellona.” He curses the name of my ex-consort and prepares to go after her. I use his momentary distraction to my advantage and send an almighty blast of energy straight into him. He flies through the air and lands in a crumpled heap on the floor.

  I laugh. Demonic and sadistic. The blood flowing from my wounds doesn’t belong to someone who has kindness in him. It’s black and acrid like smoke. Pluto will wait. The only way this ends, now, is with the nuclear buttons being pressed. Bellona is trying to stop it, and that means she must die.

  In a second, I leave the Underworld and return to my villa in Tuscany. The skies are dark, and the sun no longer shines. The clouds have begun to weep for humanity. The stench of death is all around me. The vines are dead or dying as my staff battle against each other for scraps of food. I can’t see that this is wrong any longer. All I know is death and battle. It’s consumed my very soul.

  Entering the house, I see Bellona trying to restore peace. I notice nothing else because, in my current state, nothing else matters. I bring my hand up and release a blast of energy so powerful it sends her crashing through several walls.

  “Let them die,” I order before I prepare to leave. I don’t get very far, though, for my path is blocked. I cock my head at the vision in front of me. She glows brightly, the white light surrounding her surreal against the black filth covering my body.

  “Mars, stop this,” the apparition utters. I recognize the voice, but I can’t place it. It’s a memory of something so good and yet so damaged.

  “Papa, please.” A child stands beside her.

  I raise my hand in order to kill them both, for there’s nothing good in my world anymore. Everything is death. Death is everything, and it will come to all those who stand in the way of me carrying out the duty I was given. I will protect what is precious and not allow it to be forgotten in the paths of war.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  VICKY

  Mars is a monster.

  So lost in darkness–there’s no scrap of light in the aura surrounding him.

  Tears spill from my eyes, racing down my cheeks as realization hits me.

  I’ve lost him. Pain twists my heart, ripping the organ apart.

  Hatred is written over a face that once was handsome but, now, is twisted with a rage so powerful it makes the foundations of the building shake.

  The world is collapsing around us. Everything I know. Everything I love is being destroyed.

  Mars raises a hand.

  I know in that instant he’s going to kill us. He’s all instinct, now. The man he was is buried beneath primal impulses.

  “Enough. Please, Mars.” Voice shaky with my emotion, I take ahold of his wrist, stepping forward until his palm is pressed against my chest. “I love you.”

  Brown gaze boring into mine, his nostrils flare as his lip curls up in distaste.

  “We love you,” I continue. Luigi is still at my side, but I know breaking eye contact with my man might be fatal. “You have to come back to us. Stop what you’ve freed. The world isn’t ready for an apocalypse. That’s something you’ve never wanted.”

  “You think you know what I want?” Mars sneers back, twisting his wrist to break my grip. He grabs my shoulders and drags me in closer. “You’ll all die because there’s nothing worthy left saving on Earth. Nothing but what I’ve been charged with protecting.”

  “And what’s that?”

  He falters. The anger in his eyes turns to churning confusion.

  Duty is driving him. His need to see through the job his father gave him. Me.

  Taking his cheeks in both hands, I cradle his face, my gaze searching his expression. “Love. Mars, you were given the job of protecting love.”

  A blast from behind him sends us both toppling back.

  Hitting the marble floor, I swear as my palms and knees throb from the impact.

  Bellona stands across the room with her palm still out as another energy bolt pulses at the center. Flinging it, she catches the God of War in the abdomen.

  Mars roars. The blood chilling sound rebounds through the villa.

  “Mamma! No, don’t hurt Papa!” Stumbling toward him, Luigi moves to throw himself around his father in a hug.

  “That’s not your father,” she growls back. “He’s gone. All he is now is a vessel of war, which we can’t leave roaming. We need to contain or kill him.”

  Scrambling up, I hook the boy’s arm, preventing him from reaching the man who is already rising with an air of vengeance.

  “I was going to let you live. I thought you understood.” Each word he speaks is low and loaded with venom. “You feel it too. I know you do. Let it loose. Give in to the urges. It’s what we both desire. Why we were born.”

  Bellona’s arm trembles. “No, Mars. War might be in my blood, but even I know, in my soul, what you’re asking is wrong.”

  A spear materializes in his hand so quickly I barely have time to blink. With one sure throw, he aims it straight for the goddess’s heart.

  Only her lightning fast reflexes save her from being impaled. Casting out more bolts of energy, she sends Mars smashing through the living room wall.

  “Go…,” I urge, motioning Luigi to join his mother, “Somewhere you’ll both be protected.”

  He obeys with one last frightened glance at his father who’s picking himself up, covered in brick and crumbling bits of plaster.

  “You can’t stay, Vicky. There’s nothing left to save,” Bellona tells me as she hugs her son.

  My smile is sad and small at her statement. “I have to try.”

  Whatever happens from now on, at least I know I’ve given it my all. Tried
to bring back the man I love from the deepest pits of darkness.

  They’re gone in a flash.

  Finding some courage and letting the love I feel for him shine free, I turn to confront Mars.

  “They won’t escape.” With purpose, he stalks toward me. “No one crosses me and lives. If she won’t help me, then she dies just like you will.”

  “You won’t kill me.”

  That makes him snort. “The world will be a wasteland, and the Underworld will be mine when I rid myself of Pluto. I’ll rule over both.”

  His strong capable hands are around my neck so quickly I have no time to react. The force of his attack sends us both to the floor.

  Straddling my hips, he keeps me pinned with the weight of his body. Every struggle is subdued and handled with an efficiency that’s terrifying. Even with the strength I’ve gained from the awakening, I’m not a match for this warrior.

  “Mars.” His name is a croak as he wrings the air from my lungs.

  Gasping, choking, all I can do is claw at his shoulders, keeping my attention riveted to his face. It’s going to be the last thing I see. Fate is cruel.

  The fight in me growing weak, my fingers slip to settle over his heart. The thud is strong, powerful.

  Eyelashes fluttering down, I focus on it’s rhythm.

  I love you.

  Three words. These three words scream out through my tortured, dying soul.

  With it comes light and a sense of peace. In a wave, it bathes my body in warmth so beautiful I let myself relax into it knowing this was meant to be.

  It radiates from me, expanding through the earth and air. I don’t see it but feel the sensation. Healing. Love. The sounds of violence dim, and I know mankind is safe.

  Darkness drifts, poised at the edge of my mind, waiting to claim me. It’s serenity and harmony. A place I know I’ve been so many lifetimes before but can never remember.