“You would not be any good to me dead,” I said, and he laughed. He was about to say something else when first his phone, then mine, rang.
We glanced at one another.
“Well, this probably isn’t gonna be good,” he said, digging his phone out of his pocket. I pulled my phone out of my bag. Mollis’s number.
“Demon girl?” I asked, bringing the phone to my ear.
“It’s me,” Nain’s voice said. He sounded strange, hollow. In the background, I could hear screams.
“What in the Nether is happening?” I asked, jumping up from my seat.
“E, you gotta come. Our son is gone.”
My mouth dropped open and I turned to glance at Brennan, who, at that moment, roared in rage into the night. He started pulling clothing off, and I took his phone when he handed it wordlessly to me.
“Sean is missing,” he said.
“So is Hades,” I said. He stared at me.
“Go to Molly. I’m going after my son.”
And with that, man became enormous black panther, and then he was gone.
Nain was still on the line.
“You heard that?” I asked him.
“Yeah. And Heph just got here. Michael’s gone, too.” The rage and panic in his voice chilled me, and those screams in the background continued, and I knew there was only one being who could scream with that much rage.
“I am on my way.”
I picked up Brennan’s suit and other clothing, not thinking, distracted, and then focused on rematerializing in the Nether.
I was met by the sound of enraged screams.
Everything in the Nether was chaos. Demons ran everywhere, searching the woods and beyond for Mollis and Nain’s son. Many of the immortals had converged as well upon hearing the news that not one, but all three immortal children had been taken. I made my way to the palace, taking note of which immortals and other beings I saw on the way. None of the demons bothered saying anything to me, and I wondered if Mollis had told them I had been summoned.
This ended our charade, apparently.
Inside Mollis’s palace, there was just as much chaos as there had been outside. Demons, imps, and the occasional lesser god brushed past me as I made my way through the corridors. It was eerily quiet, despite all of the activity. No one seemed to be in the mood to make conversation.
I went through a large set of wooden doors that led into Mollis’s living quarters, the part of her palace that was where the family truly made their home. Meaghan was in the living room area, sitting between Gaia and Demeter, who were talking to her in low voices, trying to soothe her. She was pale, trembling. Her eyes were red and there was a blank expression on her face. Demeter looked up at me in surprise as I walked toward them. Mollis’s screams punctuated the insanity, and my stomach twisted at the enraged sound of it. I leaned down to Gaia.
“Meaghan is going into shock. She needs blankets and a quiet place. Sleep would be a good thing, at least for a little while,” I said quietly in her ear.
She nodded, and patted my hand, and she and Demeter pulled Meaghan up.
“Find him, E,” Meaghan said. I patted her shoulder, not knowing what else to do.
I followed the screams.
In Mollis’s office, I found her, the demon, Tisiphone, Megaera, Hephaestus, and Athena.
“Brennan’s son is missing, too?” Hephaestus said upon seeing me. I nodded.
“He is out searching. I assume Artemis is as well.”
Hephaestus nodded, and I went to him. I could see how hard he was trying to hold it together. I hugged him, hard, and he hugged me back.
“We will find him,” I said softly. “I swear it.”
He stepped back, his face stone.
“We have people out looking, yes?” I asked, glancing to where Nain was holding Mollis, trying to talk her down. I could only imagine that in addition to the terror of finding her son gone, Nether was likely acting up as well, which was the only thing that would have her there, and not out looking for baby Hades.
Hephaestus nodded. “Asclepius, Triton, Hestia, a bunch of demons. Shanti and Zero are out looking, too, as are Rayna and her brother.”
“Have the shifter packs been informed? They are skilled trackers,” I said.
“They have,” Tisiphone said, looking stricken. “They have each taken a section of the city. They knew Sean’s scent, but we had the imps bring them items of Michael’s and Hades’ to help them with the scent.”
“How did it happen? How did you find them missing?” I asked Hephaestus.
“We were all asleep. And you know how it is with us, there’s that feeling of another of your kind nearby, or not. I think everyone in my household felt it the instant Michael was gone. There were no doors opened, no windows. None of use felt or saw a fuckin’ thing,” he growled, and I knew he blamed himself.
“Was it the same here?” I asked Tisiphone, and she nodded.
“We were all asleep, except for Megaera, who was on duty tonight in the prisons,” Tisiphone said. “As Hephaestus said, we all pretty much felt it when Hades was taken. His presence was missing.”
“Artemis said the same thing happened with Sean. She and Asclepius wee asleep, and then she felt Sean missing. From what we can guess, all three were taken at pretty much the same moment,” Hephaestus said. “You know what this fuckin’ means,” he snarled.
“Immortals,” I said.
“Fuckin’ immortals. And I have had it with immortals and their bullshit,” he said, and his voice rose to a shout.
Mollis was inconsolable in Nain’s arms, screaming every once in a while, out of control. I went to her, gently pushed Nain away, and took her in my arms.
The screams turned to sobs, and she clutched my body to hers.
“E… I need to look for him, E,” she said.
“Nether?” I asked, and Mollis gave an almost painful-looking nod.
“Nether,” I said. “Calm down, goddess. You are responding to Mollis’s anguish. Help her calm down,” I murmured as Mollis trembled. “You care for her. I know you do. Hear me, and focus, and bring yourself under control, for her sake.”
Mollis continued to tremble, and the demon stood off to the side, watching me, on edge, waiting to jump back in to comfort his mate.
“She needs you to help her now, Nether,” I said softly. “You are power incarnate. You were among the first beings in existence. I know you can grant this gift to your Prison.” I knew, from what Mollis had told me, that “My Prison,” was Nether’s endearment for Mollis. She needed Mollis, and she, in her more sane moments, understood what Mollis risked by allowing her sanctuary in her soul.
I watched as Mollis’s trembling subsided, as the look of pain on her face turned to one I much preferred to see there: rage.
“Thanks, Nether,” I heard Mollis whisper. “Thank you, goddess.” Then she hugged me harder. “Thank you, E. What in the fuck would I do without you?”
“You’ll never have to know. We have babies to find,” I said.
“And we will find them. And whoever took them is going to suffer things they could not have even imagined.”
“Yes. Yes, they will. They could be anywhere, if we are dealing with an immortal. Where do you want me?” I glanced around. “We need to find out who is neglecting to show up. Persephone and Eros, to begin with, should be here.”
“Persephone checked in with Demeter a while ago. She’s going to catch up with Asclepius and work with them. I do not expect her to go after my son,” she said with a resigned look. “At least she can help find Michael or Sean.” She gripped my hand. “Where’s Bren?”
“Looking for his son. He took off in panther form. He has a better chance of finding him that way.”
She nodded.
“Demon girl, I can’t help but think that it is all connected. Perhaps we are getting to close to figuring out who your betrayer is. Perhaps this is a desperate ploy to keep us distracted. When we find whoever has the children, I believe we wi
ll find the betrayer.”
“Three betrayers,” Mollis said, and I met her eyes. After a moment, I nodded in resignation. Three children, taken at almost the exact moment, by beings who were able to get in and away without a sound. Beings who knew not only where the children slept, but also at what point during the night it would be likely that all three would be alone, asleep in their rooms.
I could see Nain working it out as well, likely thinking the same thoughts I was.
“Were you here, or in the loft?” I asked Mollis.
“The loft,” she said quietly. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Where is Zoe?” Mollis’s adopted daughter had not been mentioned.
“She’s with Ada and Stone in her room here, surrounded by about a dozen demons,” she said.
“They wanted immortal children,” I murmured. “Everyone who knows you knows how much you treasure Zoe. If this had merely been an attack to hurt you, they would have taken her as well.”
“Maybe it’s just because she was sleeping in a different room,” Nain said.
Mollis shook her head. “No, I think she’s right. They could have grabbed them both and really fucked me up. They took the kids with immortal heritage.”
I blew out a breath. “Someone needs to be checking London. I will go.”
I could see the desperation in Mollis’s eyes, and then she tried to pull herself together. “You’re right,” she said instead, nodding.
“They know we’re looking there, right?” Nain asked. “Even if it’s all related, which, sorry, I think is stretching, E… even if they’re the ones who did it, they’d have to be really fucking stupid to take the kids back there now.”
“Unless they figure we’ll all be running around here looking in a panic right now,” Mollis said.
I thought, and made a decision. “I can send my New Guardians,” I said. “They are skilled trackers. They know the energy signature of the one we seek there. If she is involved in this, and if somehow the children show up in London, they would pick up the trail. And then at least we know that situation is being looked at, and I can remain here if you need me.” It was not the searching part that Mollis needed me for. For whatever reason, Nether had listened to me when neither Mollis nor her mate had been able to reason with her. Mollis was under extreme stress, and I knew she feared Nether trying again, and me not being there to help calm her down.
“You trust them with something like that?” Nain asked, doubt in his tone.
I nodded. “I do. You have trained and managed teams. You know there is always a point at which you must let go and trust them to do everything you have trained them for. My team has done that in small ways over the past weeks. It is time to give them free rein and see what they come up with.”
“Please do that, E,” Mollis said. “I’m going out to look and break into a few minds. Find me when you get back from getting them settled, okay?”
I took her hand in mine. “I will, demon girl. We will find him,” I told her in a firm voice, and she gave a shaky looking nod, and then she and the demon disappeared, likely heading out into the city to see if they could find any kind of a trail to lead them to their son.
I looked at Tisiphone. “We still have no word on Eros.”
“I know.”
“That is a loose end that needs to be tied up. I do not especially trust him after that incident with Meaghan and Hephaestus.”
“Same. I will spread word that we are keeping an eye out for him as well. If he has nothing to fear, then he will come of his own free will to let us know it wasn’t him. If he doesn’t and we have to hunt him down…” she trailed off. At that moment she reminded me of some kind of feral, wild animal, full of rage and a hunger for violence. She pulled herself back together, then looked at me. “I am glad you are here, Guardian. And I am glad you and my daughter have been there for one another.” She paused. “I am glad you are not like your sisters,” she finished quietly.
I put a hand on her arm. “Never that. Mollis and I went through that charade out of desperation. I only wish it had worked the way we had hoped it would.” I paused, shaking my head in frustration. Now we had a whole new mess to deal with. “I will return as soon as I possibly can. We will find him,” I said to Tisiphone, as I had said to Mollis. I rematerialized back to my apartment, thinking how odd it was that I was the one comforting people. It was not exactly what my kind were known for.
When I arrived in my apartment, it was to find my team asleep, sprawled out on sofas or, in Quinn’s case, on the floor. I turned on a lamp, and bent down, shaking Quinn awake.
“Hm? What’s up boss?” he asked, looking up at me blearily. “Didn’t expect you home tonight.”
“We have a situation,” I said, and my team, who were all slowly but surely waking up, seemed to come fully awake at the words.
“What is it?” Annie asked.
I quickly explained about the missing immortal children, and the way they were taken, and our suspicion about it all being connected.
“Since we have seen so much activity there, and because we know it is becoming a hub for the creation of undead— “
“You want us to go back to Whitechapel,” Annie finished for me, and I nodded.
“I must remain here. My queen needs me, and there is hardly a guarantee that it is all connected. But I have a hunch and I have gotten good at not ignoring those.”
Quinn nodded. “It makes sense. Take the kids, distract you all, throw you off their scent to give them a chance to make more undead to fuck with your Queen.”
“Exactly,” I said. “As I said, I am needed here. I want to take you to Whitechapel, and I want you to scour the city. I know it is frustrating. I know we have been over it countless times already.”
“But the only reason we keep going over it is because we keep picking up her energy signature there,” Annie said. “We know the worthless bitch is there. It’s just a matter of catching up with her.”
“Will you do this for me?” I asked, meeting first Quinn’s eyes, then Kathleen’s, Erin’s , Claire’s, and, finally, Annie’s.
“You even need to ask?” Quinn asked gruffly. “Point us in the right direction. I’m ready to get this shit wrapped up.” The rest of my team nodded in agreement.
I hesitated for only a moment, and then I pulled my Netherblades out of each of my boots. I handed one to Quinn, and the other to Claire. “I wish I had more of them. It is the best I can offer you.”
“Thank you,” Claire murmured. “Annie is better with a knife than I am, though.” She smiled at Annie. “And I think she wants this particular target more than the rest of us do.”
Annie took the dagger with a nod. Then she looked at me. “If she’s there, we’ll find her. I swear it on… eh. Can you swear something on your own grave?”
I let out a short laugh. “Why not?”
I held my hands out, and my team joined hands with one another, and with me, and seconds later, we were standing on a dark corner near the former brothel in Whitechapel.
“Contact me if you come across anything,” I said. “If you are unsure, if there are more people working together than you expected, call me before you confront them. Understand?”
They nodded, and I reminded them again to call me as soon as they found anything, and then I focused again, taking myself back to Detroit.
Chapter Twelve
We searched for three days without stopping once I had made my way back to Detroit. The first two days, I searched at Mollis and Nain’s sides. Detroit, the Netherwoods, the surrounding areas, the Packard Plant, the woods on Belle Isle. We searched it all. The rest of Nain’s team, as well as the shifters and bloodborn, along with any immortals in the city, searched the rest of the area. A group of other lesser gods had been sent to check out different locations around the world. Aided by Mollis’s imps and Netherhounds, immortals chased leads in Greece, Italy, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Kenya. In every case, the Netherhounds scented baby Hades in
those places and communicated that to Mollis in their way. Each lead led us to nothing.
By the time we had returned yet again, empty-handed, to Mollis’s home, everyone was at the end of their patience. Mollis and Nain were snapping at one another, and even the imps were in a foul humor. Shanti and Zero, who had searched with the rest of us since sunset, barely spoke. And while I was certainly frustrated and upset that we had not found Hades yet, I was also feeling more and more guilty over the fact that I had left Brennan alone so long. He needed support as well, and I felt like a failure for not having been at his side when he needed me. I fought an internal battle over staying with Mollis and going to Brennan while I watched Shanti and Zero pace. Both of them seemed like they wanted to be doing something, but we were at a loss.
“You two can go see where Rayna needs you,” Mollis said to Shanti and Zero, tension and exhaustion evident in her voice. “I have nothing until we get another lead to chase down.”
Shanti nodded, went to Mollis, and hugged her. They stood together like that for a bit, Shanti speaking in a low voice to Mollis. When they released one another, Shanti was blinking back tears, and Mollis thanked both her and Zero once again and sent them on their way. With a hug for me and then one for the demon, Shanti left. Zero went with her, and I knew that while he certainly liked Mollis, he was really only there because it meant so much to Shanti.
That left Mollis and her mate, the Furies, and myself, and I was about to tell Mollis I was going to check on Brennan when Mollis’s tired gaze landed on her aunt.
“You know what I’d like to know?” she said to Megaera.
“What, Molly?” Megaera asked.
“I want to know where you keep disappearing to lately. I want to know why you, the only one of us who was awake that night, somehow didn’t feel anything.”
“Mollis!” I said, and she ignored me.
“I want to know why you keep refusing to let me into your mind. What are you hiding from me, Aunt Meg?”
Megaera stared at Mollis in disbelief. “You think I had something to do with this?” she asked, and the pain in her voice was clear.
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