Emma slept peacefully while Sharalyn sat in the chair next to her bed reading a book. The newly made goddess had done one last perimeter check and didn’t sense any danger or unwelcome presence. Only then did she allow herself to relax as much as one could on high alert. It wasn’t often that she found the time to relax into a good story after becoming the God of Death’s mate and wife. They shared the responsibilities of taking souls to the Underworld, but it seemed there was very little time for much else. Especially with the gaggle of ghosts that persistently hung around on any given day. Just as Sharalyn made herself comfortable, she felt something off that hadn’t been there only fifteen minutes ago.
Carefully, she placed the book on the bedside table as to not wake Emma and crept from the bedroom. Sharalyn ghosted herself to front lawn and began to look around. She sensed a presence, but of what she couldn’t be sure. Her heart raced in her chest as she continued her search. She pulled from her powers to give her sight. She scanned the perimeter, seeking out anything that didn’t belong and that’s when she saw it: a creature with horns lurking within the shadows of the trees just far enough from unsuspecting eyes.
Sharalyn knew she needed to get back to Emma right away; they were being watched. It wasn’t easy to control the urge to run to her friend, but that would draw more unwanted attention. It was even harder to pretend that she hadn’t seen that monster hiding in the trees. She walked casually toward the door and ghosted herself into the living room, then went to the bedroom to check on a still sleeping Emma. When she found all was well, she left the room to make sure everything was secure. She had a sick feeling in her gut. She checked all the windows, lending them a little bit of her power to lock them down tight. Ares needed to get home and fast. Sharalyn pulled her phone from her pocket and quickly searched out Ares number.
Lor saw the goddess emerge from the house, walking around the expansive lawn and knew this was his chance to get in and out undetected, but he had to be careful. The goddess could see him, whereas the human woman could not. He threw his golden transportation charm to the ground and white smoke engulfed him. The charms were small and round, with an image of Odin engraved on each side. Each warrior in Asgard received them in bulk and were replenished as needed. In a blink of an eye, Lor’s body materialized into the human woman’s bedroom where she lie sleeping. “This shall be easy enough,” he said to himself as he stayed to the shadows of the darkened room.
Emma stirred in her sleep, feeling as if someone was watching her. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up in the bed, looking for Sharalyn, but found that she was alone. She switched her bedside lamp on and saw a flash of something huge with horns standing in the corner of her room. “What the hell?” she whisper-yelled, throwing the covers off of her. Was she hallucinating? Did that happen in pregnancy?
She stood from her bed, taking a few steps toward the corner where she saw the strange giant when another flash appeared, glaring at her this time. Emma screamed at the top of her lungs just as strong arms wrapped around her. “Get your fucking hands off me!” She kicked, scratched and tried everything she could to get out of the monster’s grip, but he was solid as a rock.
“You!” Sharalyn growled as she barged into the room when she heard Emma scream. Her phone was still in her hand, her call forgotten. “Let her go or die!”
Lor sneered. “Not so fast, goddess. You are too late and the human is mine.”
“I don’t think so, asshole! Who sent you and what do you want with Emma?” Sharalyn demanded, taking a step closer to the horned monster.
“That is none of your concern,” Lor snarled, jerking Emma to the side out of Sharalyn’s reach.
Emma was shouting every obscenity known to man. She couldn’t see Lor, only feel his strong grip. “What the hell’s going on, Sharalyn? Kill the bastard!”
Without another word, Sharalyn rushed him, intending to introduce him to her deadly touch, careful not harm Emma in the process. The monster was fast and Sharalyn was met with a large fist to side of her head, knocking her out cold.
Lor looked down at Emma. “Are you ready to meet your end, human?” he asked in a menacing tone.
“Go fuck yourself.” Emma spat. The giant hurled himself out of the window, shattering the glass as his enormous body passed through it. Emma felt the sting of the glass as it raked across the exposed skin on her legs. The beast took off at a run, carrying his cargo to his side, for the tree line. Even though Emma couldn’t see him, she could see the gaping hole in the side of her house where he not only shattered her window, but the wall surrounding it as well. She could also hear him when he used a phone to call someone.
“I have the human,” the monster said. “Meet me at the tree line.”
Sharalyn awoke knowing Emma was gone. She had been kidnapped on her watch and by something she’d only imagined in her worst nightmares. She needed to contact Ares and fast! Her phone—she saw it on the floor a few feet away, dropped during the encounter with that thing. She scrambled over to it and picked it up, Ares’s number still on the screen. She pushed the call button and waited for the God of War to answer.
“What?” he barked into his end.
“You have to get home. Now,” Sharalyn told him. “It’s Emma. She’s gone.”
Chapter Sixteen
Thanatos ghosted right to his home in the Underworld where his brother, Hypnos, was making himself comfortable as usual.
“Oh, hi honey,” Hypnos said cheerfully. “It’s about time you came home for a visit. How’s the wife?”
Thanatos didn’t answer his brother, but went straight to his room where he kept his battle gear. He opened the hidden cabinet to reveal his sword, shield, and helmet. He put on his belt and sheathed his sword at his side.
“Whoa,” Hypnos said, watching from the doorway. “Wanna tell me what’s going on Bro?”
“Loki is causing trouble,” Thanatos answered. “He’s trying to start up the war again. He’s lied and damn near brought Thor and Ares to blows, and to top it off, all the gods have escaped Olympus.”
“Holy shit, all of them?” Hypnos asked, his eyes bugging out. “How?”
Thanatos shook his head. “I’m not sure. You haven’t seen any of them, have you?”
Hypnos shook his head. “No, but I’ll keep a look out when I’m on duty tonight.” Being the God of Sleep, Hypnos was allowed out of the Underworld once nightly to ensure that humans slept.
“Good, thanks,” Thanatos said. “I have to talk to Hades. Where is he?”
“Down in the palace,” Hypnos said. “You sure you want to talk to him? He’s got his panties in a twist lately.”
“Why now?” Thanatos asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Persephone is late returning,” Hypnos told him. “And Hades can’t figure out how, why, or where she is.”
Persephone was Hade’s wife. The two were married as an agreement among the gods, Persephone spending six months in the Underworld and six months on earth. She was the Goddess of Spring and nothing bloomed without her magic. Thanatos could only imagine the pain of not having his wife nearby. Hades loved Persephone, whether he knew it or not. “Oh damn,” he finally said. “Still, I have to tell him what’s happened.”
“Go,” Hypnos said, giving his brother a sound smack on his shoulder. “Figure out what’s going on. Kick that sorry trickster’s ass and then come back and give me all the glorious details. Remember, I live vicariously through you.”
Thanatos nodded and then ghosted to the palace that Hades called home. On any normal day, the palace would have been well lit and brimming with activity. This time, the halls were empty and the throne room was dark.
“What do you want?” Hades growled from his seat on the throne.
“Something has happened,” Thanatos told him.
“You’ve found Persephone?” Hades asked, leaning forward so that the light touched his face.
Thanatos shook his head. “I’m afraid not,” he answered. “Loki is loose on eart
h and he let all of the gods on Olympus free.”
“All of them?” Hades asked. “How?”
“Put the dragon to sleep. They all escaped.” Thanatos waited for the inevitable thundering fury that was sure to come, but it didn’t. Hades just sat there and glared. “I’m on a quest to find the ones I can.”
“I will go with you,” Hades told him.
“You can’t leave here,” Thanatos reminded him. “How will you get out?”
“You must go to Olympus. I need Aphrodite’s cloak.”
Thanatos knew that this was a bad idea. However, the God of the Underworld was a force to be reckoned with should war erupt. He nodded and ghosted himself to Olympus.
With no one around to stop him from entering, he knew it would be easy enough to find Aphrodite’s cloak in her personal chambers. It was like a ghost town, just as Ares had described. He walked through Zeus’ main hall to find rotting food and had to hold his breath and cover his nose with his shirt. The smell was overpowering. He knew exactly where Aphrodite’s chamber was and wasted no time in getting there.
Once Thanatos opened the door to her lavish quarters, he took a look around and found the clasp to the wooden trunk at the foot of her bed left ajar. He knew the cloak was a gift from Artemis and assumed Aphrodite would keep it somewhere away from prying eyes.
After carefully lifting the lid, he rummaged through its contents until he came upon a package wrapped in white silken cloth. Thanatos unwrapped the cloth and found exactly what he was looking for: a blue silk cloak lined with gold trim around the edges, and a golden broach to secure it around the neck. He retrieved it and immediately returned to Hades.
“I knew there was a reason I hadn’t locked you in Tartarus,” Hades said, taking the cloak from Thanatos. He wrapped it around his massive shoulders after grabbing his Helmet of Invisibility and disappeared. “Let’s go.”
Thanatos placed a hand on what he hoped was Hade’s shoulder and ghosted them both out of the Underworld. Once outside, he let Hades go. The god removed the cloak and became visible once again. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a wife to find.”
“Hades wait!” Thanatos shouted to the god’s retreating back. He wanted to warn him of using his powers on Earth and the eventual drain, but Hades ghosted away. Thanatos was doing all kinds of self ass kicking when he felt Sharalyn calling to him. She was in danger. She was hurt. Without a second thought to the god that he’d just set free, Thanatos ghosted back to his wife.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Ares bellowed. “You were supposed to be protecting her!”
Ares’s sword of fire appeared in his hand and Sharalyn hung her head. She was fully prepared to take the brunt of the God of War’s wrath. She deserved it. “How could you let someone take her?” he shouted, his power pulsing around him and his battle gear appearing on his body. Thick, golden armor covered his chest, back and stomach, while armored pads covered his forearms and shins. Ares's shoes were replaced with leather sandals and his head was covered by a golden helmet.
“I tried to save her,” Sharalyn said, tears forming in her eyes. “He knocked me out.”
“How the fuck does anyone knock out a reaper!”
“Calm down. Now,” Poseidon said, placing a hand on Ares’s forearm. “I don’t think even for a second that Sharalyn just handed Emma over. Look at her. She’s got a bump the size of a Volkswagen on her head!”
“Aaahh!” Ares cried out and lifted his sword. The pain and frustration was too much for him to handle. Just as he brought his arm down, Thanatos ghosted in, grabbed Sharalyn, and ghosted her out of the path of the deadly sword. It clanged against the tile floor, scorching the hardwood.
"Damn it Ares, get a hold of yourself!" Thanatos shouted, shoving his wife behind him. "I'm sorry Emma's gone, but we all have to work together to find her! We have to keep our heads!"
Ares looked to his friends, who were looking back at him with fear and pain in their eyes. He wasn't the only one affected by this, and it was obvious. Sharalyn was terrified but not of Ares or his anger. She was afraid that her friend was hurt or worse. Poseidon's brow was wrinkled with worry as were Thanatos'. They were afraid for his wife.
Ares didn't know what to do with this newfound emotion. He wanted to run. He wanted to fight. He wanted to hide. He wanted his heart to stop hurting. The back of his head joined the party and one mother of a headache was settling in. Ares looked to the left and then right, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. "Go. Take five minutes to get yourself together and then we'll find her," Poseidon told him.
"We don't have five minutes!" Ares bellowed.
"We have zero time for you to freak out, so go and get it together!" Poseidon ordered, his voice rumbling the entire house.
Ares looked to Thanatos. "Go," the God of Death told him.
Ares extinguished his sword and went outside. He paced along the sidewalk, trying to make sense of everything he was feeling. His heart hurt, his everything hurt. If anything happened to Emma or his child, he would rain down the fires of hell on earth and Asgard.
Across the street, high in the trees, Tykir watched as Ares stormed out of his house and sneered. Loki had called him on his communication device to say that the human woman was in custody and on her way to their goddess Freya. He had a hunch the gods would reconvene where the woman was taken and he was right. Their mission was almost complete; he only needed to capture the God of War.
Tykir dipped his arrow in poison that he’d purchased from dark faeries; it was strong enough to take down any god, but it would not kill, only incapacitate them. He snarled, missing the old days when war was what he lived for. It was ironic that he would be bringing in the God of War himself. If only he could start the war anew.
Stringing his bow, he continued to observe Ares’ every movement; the way he furiously stomped down the walkway, waiting for just the right time to release his arrow.
“Where could she be?” Ares muttered under his breath, attempting to rein in his emotions. Emma and the baby were his life. He knew Loki was behind her kidnapping and she was most likely on Asgard, but why? What was his motive? It was the unanswered question of the night. He wanted to kill the bastard.
A biting pain lanced through his shoulder. Ares clutched his arm and looked down. “Son of a bitch!” he shouted, then tried to yank the protruding arrow from his now bleeding shoulder. When it finally pulled free, a good chunk of his flesh went with it. Who, and what? Who dared to shoot the God of War? With an arrow no less? He didn’t have time for this! “What the fuck?” Ares slurred as his head began to spin and his breathing became labored, then he collapsed onto the ground.
Tykir jumped from the trees immediately after releasing his arrow. He knew he’d hit his mark—he never missed. When he reached Ares’ still form lying on the sidewalk, he peered over, splitting a nasty grin revealing his sharp crooked teeth. “The God of War. Not so mighty now, are you?” he taunted, leaning closer to Ares’ face.
Ares was down, but not out. He looked up at the little piece of shit who had shot him with an arrow and growled, “You stupid pig fucker. I’m not dead, but you will be if you harm a hair on my wife’s head!”
Tykir roared back in laughter. “You have been poisoned, asshole.” He opened a small leather pouch hanging from his belt and sprinkled dark faerie dust across Ares’ face. “Now sleep and shut the fuck up.”
Ares tried to tell him to fuck off, but as soon as he opened his mouth to do so, darkness consumed his vision and he was out. The last thing he thought was how he was never going to hear the end of this. Taken down by a dwarf with an arrow. How embarrassing.
Tykir snatched the communication device from his pants pocket and quickly pressed the button for Loki. “The God of War is down.”
Chapter Seventeen
Thor watched as Rankor transported to the desert. Just as he’d suspected, the warrior was taking h
is Athena to Asgard. When the portal opened, Thor waited until Rankor was gone before jumping the bridge. He watched and waited impatiently as the stars and galaxies raced by in a blur. He was traveling two and a half times the speed of light in what humans called a wormhole, but still it wasn’t fast enough.
The trip that in truth only took minutes seemed to take hours as Thor followed Rankor and Athena back to Asgard. When he finally arrived, Thor ghosted himself to the shadows so that he would remain unseen.
Athena came to and for a moment, couldn’t figure out what had happened or where she was. She was being carried, but by what? Her memories began to flood back to her and she remembered the winged beast that had attacked her in the alley. “Let me go!” she began shouting, beating her fists against anything she could hit. She wasn’t doing badly, considering that she couldn’t see her attacker. She was draped over his shoulder, his arms around her legs. She brought her fist down again, but this time she hit something sharp.
Blood trickled down her wrist as she inspected her wound. How long at it been since she’d bled? She couldn’t remember. She was human now and she was going to have to remember that. She could be injured. She could be killed. And where the hell was Thor? A sharp pain in her chest made her breath catch in her throat. Had he abandoned her?
Athena fought the emotions that were brimming to the surface as her invisible assailant marched steadily over a golden bridge. Behind them was a circle, an oracle of sorts, that appeared to open into the vastness of space. She craned her neck around to see that in front of them was a city at the end of the bridge. It was a city like nothing she had ever seen before. Metallic buildings stretched into the sky, in all shapes and sizes, each one glittering like a gem. All around them stars by the millions dusted the night sky and below them, nothing.
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