Betrayer (Hidden Book 7)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was after dark when I appeared in Whitechapel. I had stopped by my apartment to grab the sword Mollis had given me. Hades’ sword. I had my two Netherblades sheathed in the harness under my leather coat, the long sword of Hades strapped to my back. I pulled up my hood, fastened the cowl over my face.

  It felt like coming home, just me and the hunt, and with all of the chaos, I needed it. I needed to not have my team around me, giving me more people to worry about. I needed to not have Brennan and his distracting body and the way I loved him overwhelming me.

  Me, blades, and my prey. I had two out of the three, and I held out hope that I would find she who was responsible for creating nothing short of an undead army. Mollis had seen Eveline in Alecto’s mind, the only thing she had been able to see.

  As I walked the damp, deserted streets of Whitechapel, it felt as though I was surrounded by souls. Too many. The stench of death hung in the air, and most of the buildings were dark.

  Not a sound met my ears.

  The traffic lights cast ghostly red and green haloes onto the slick pavement. Automobiles sat parked at the curbs.

  Dread filled me. Surely it could not have gotten this bad already?

  The only answer I really needed surrounded me: the scent of decay, so many energy trails of lost souls that I could go in any direction and be lead to not just one, but several of them. It threw my senses off. Too many, so that everything was just a jumble in my mind.

  I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Quinn’s new phone number.

  The phone rang, over and over and over again and then finally kicked me to voicemail. “Quinn, it is me. When you get this, please bring the team to Whitechapel. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us here.” I hung up, put the phone back in my pocket, and unsheathed one of my Netherblades.

  I knew I should be getting to the souls that wandered. They would only be turned, in time, to undead. But I also knew that, for the area to be in such a state, my prey was here as well. Eveline had surrounded herself with death, by the abominations she had created, undoubtedly with knowledge gleaned from Alecto and whoever else still hid in the shadows.

  Cowards, I seethed to myself as I walked. What honor is there in attacking this way? In using the souls of those you have murdered to cause chaos? To bring infants and children into your fight?

  I could feel myself getting angry, and I shoved it down. Anger was a distraction.

  The first undead leapt at me from the shadows between two tall, narrow brick buildings, and I stabbed out at him, catching him in the shoulder. I pulled my blade loose, then drew it hard across his throat.

  He fell to the ground, head hanging limply.

  I took a breath and continued, following the energy signatures, going in the direction in which there was the highest number of them.

  She would have her minions around her, I thought with a sneer. Pathetic.

  I knew this was not a fight that would be easy. With any luck, my New Guardians would get there before things got too bad.

  I considered my course of action. I knew it was more than I could handle alone. I was perfectly confident in my fighting abilities, but there were only so many enemies even I could face on my own. What happened in Japan had been a good reminder of how horribly things can go when I am unprepared and undermanned.

  I was pulling my phone out of my pocket, ready to hit Mollis’s number, when I felt a presence I knew well behind me. “Triton?” I asked, pausing in my dialing.

  “Oh, I’m glad you’re here. I hoped I’d find you,” he said, a bit out of breath. “I knew from Artemis that you would be here. Are you crazy coming here alone?”

  I smiled. “I was about to call Mollis,” I said. “Even I know when I am overmatched.”

  “Well, I’m here now,” he said with a smile. “And she’s currently torn between holding her son every second and trying to calm the humans after that outburst she had a few days ago.”

  I grimaced. “So you are offering to help me?”

  He smiled again. “It has been a long time since I’ve gotten into a good brawl, little ghost.”

  I looked around. “I do not know that even the two of us will be enough. I can feel so many of them.”

  “Well, you said your New Guardians are likely on their way, right?”

  “He did not answer when I called. Perhaps they do not have a signal where they are. I left a message,” I said with a shrug.

  “Well, they’ll come when they get it. Let’s just see how much damage we can do in the meantime.”

  I nodded and started walking with him though the damp, foggy, empty streets. He was a comfort beside me, a sign of normalcy. He looked so relaxed in his usual jeans and white t-shirt, though his shoulders were tense and his eyes scanned the shadows.

  I could appreciate him now for the friend he was, without any other stupidity attached to it, and I was grateful.

  “Thank you for being here,” I said to him. “You were one of my very first friends, and it is lovely to be able to spend time with you again, though a meeting over coffee would have been quite a bit nicer.”

  He responded with a small nod, and glanced away.

  We were on a narrow road, tall, narrow buildings flanking each side. It took me a moment to realize where we were: we were approaching the place where Eveline had murdered her first victim, leaving the woman to be found by whoever happened to pass by. That had been one of the things that had so disturbed people at the time, even beyond the brutal murders themselves. The way the victims were left, exposed, leaving them no dignity even in death, had been sickening. And planned. None of it had been an accident. Eveline was nothing if not manipulative. So of course she would lure me here, of all places. Back to the place where her “fame” had begun.

  Such an egomaniac, I mused to myself as we walked forward.

  I listened carefully now. Energy signatures converged, distracting in how many of them there were.

  Triton put a hand on my arm. “Eunomia, stop. It’s a trap,” he said in a low voice, and at that moment, undead flooded from every doorway in the immediate area, all headed toward me.

  I had a single instant to register the guilt on Triton’s face before he disappeared behind the dozens of undead flowing toward me.

  I want numb. Cold.

  I would process it all later.

  And, oh, how it would hurt when I did.

  For the moment, I let myself sink into numbness. I let myself become the hunter I had been created to be. I drew my second Netherblade and went to work, slashing out at those undead closest to me, amid them, souls who were not quite finished becoming undead, stuck somewhere between being a soul and one of the horrid creatures.

  I slashed, and I stabbed, and it was not long before I was covered in the sticky grayish blood of those I fought.

  They had no weapons, using only their hands and teeth against me. My arms and back burned, my flesh scraped and torn under the assault of ragged fingernails.

  Any who tried to bite me were immediately stabbed through the eye or the throat.

  When I had a chance, I slipped one of my Netherblades into the sheath and drew Hades’ sword. It allowed me to cut wide paths of them down. Heads fell to the ground, undead bodies were rent in half, and soon I was standing amid the rotting remains of those I had cut down, while others continued to come for me.

  My arm began to tire, and I traded the sword for my second dagger again now that I had eliminated most of them.

  I was not foolish enough to believe I was finished.

  Every time I thought I might have a moment to call Mollis or Hephaestus or any of them to come and help me, another group surrounded me, excited even more by all of the death around us.

  A few, disgustingly enough, began to devour the flesh of their fallen comrades, too distracted by the availability of flesh to bother with me.

  Too many, though, seemed to recognize the difference between living and unliving flesh.

&nbs
p; I was aware that Triton was nowhere to be seen.

  Lying, cowardly, betraying piece of… no. I pulled myself back from thinking about him. Not now.

  It just went on, and my arms grew more tired, though I had no major injuries. At least there was that. If I could just fight free for a moment… if I dialed Mollis, that would be enough to make her send the imps to look for me, and then she would come.

  To my surprise, the advance of the undead slowed, and after a moment, I sensed why.

  Eveline stood before me, as buxom and gorgeous as she had ever been in life. She wore a smirk, and her posture was one of smug confidence. She was powerful. I could feel immortal power in her, and my suspicion was confirmed. This was who had received the heart of the second god we had found in Japan. The goddess of winter’s heart was what fueled the piece of absolute trash that stood before me. She, who had caused so much death and chaos.

  My entire body went cold, and I lunged toward Eveline.

  She held a dagger.

  A Netherblade.

  I snarled at her as we circled one another, each of us occasionally stabbing, lunging forward, trying to gain an advantage. It became clear, very soon, that while she was powerful and most certainly not new to using a knife, she was not a skilled fighter. We circled one another, and I pressed my advantage.

  All of a sudden, she laughed, and my hand froze, as if encased in ice, around the hilt of my dagger.

  She smirked. “Three times, eating the heart of Winter does wonders. I wonder what abilities the lucky one I gift your heart to will gain after you work so hard to grow your heart a third time? Perhaps we’ll keep you alive so you can see for yourself.”

  I stabbed out with the other hand, the one that was not frozen, and she cried out in surprise as blood flowed down her chest.

  I stalked forward. My hand had begun to thaw, and I could feel my fingers again. She was backing up, looking nervous, and I felt a cold smile spread across my lips. I sheathed my dagger, with the intention of taking my phone out and finally getting Mollis or one of the others to come. This had gone on long enough, and I was smart enough to know that I was weakening.

  I heard a “pop.”

  In the next instant, Alecto was beside me, her hand in my pocket, and then she was back at Eveline’s side.

  A sense of foreboding settled over me when I saw that it was my phone she had I her hand. “We can’t have you calling for help again, can we?” she asked. “You should have fallen to dust in Tokyo, zealot.” She slammed the phone to the ground with enough force to cause it to shatter on the concrete.

  “You mean the way so many of yours did?” I taunted, and Alecto’s lip lifted in a snarl. Eveline laughed, a deep, throaty sound that echoed around us in the emptiness. Smug once again, now that she was no longer facing me on her own.

  “Posturing now? Really? You are even more ridiculous than I remember,” she said.

  I did not hesitate. I had a Netherblade in my hand and I hurled it at her.

  It hit her, planting itself deeply into her left eye socket, and she screamed in agony. In the chaos, I threw the second one, and it hit home at the base of her throat.

  Mercifully, it cut off her screams, unable as she was to draw breath. I knew it would not keep her down permanently. Even now, Alecto was jerking the dagger from her eye, and she was scrabbling at the one in her throat, trying to pull it free. It would keep her weak for a little while, though.

  Alecto lifted her lip in a snarl at me, flipping my Netherblade in her hand as she reached into her own sheath for a second Netherblade.

  “This was your sister’s. Thank you for ensuring I have a matching pair.”

  “You are pathetic,” I said as we began circling one another. I was very aware of more undead gathering around us, of Eveline having yanked the other blade free, of her sitting up, trying to regain some of her strength. I tried to make sure I was aware of Eveline so I could prepare to position myself well in case she tried that freezing trick again. Hopefully, the Netherblades had weakened her for a bit.

  “Are you really still on about Mollis murdering your pathetic, impotent little lover?”

  Alecto growled at me, stabbed out, and I avoided it easily. Furies always had preferred swords. She would be dangerous with the daggers, especially since they were Netherblades, but not nearly as much of a threat as she would be with sword.

  “Impotent? Please,” she muttered.

  “He was unmanned by a woman who had not even fully come into her powers yet,” I taunted. “He had you doing his dirty work for him, while he hid in his hole like some kind of rodent. Hermes always was a joke, though, even at the height of his power.”

  She leapt at me again, and I swept out hard with Hades’ sword, catching her across the stomach. She screamed in rage and leapt aside, then at me again.

  “You think it’s really about that now?” she sneered.

  “Or maybe someone is just upset that her niece sits on the throne,” I taunted, and she stabbed out again. I avoided most of it, but she managed to slice into my right shoulder, and it burned. I swung out with the sword again, and she rematerialized away from me, going back to where Eveline was now standing.

  “Together,” Eveline said, and Alecto nodded.

  I had a moment to think of Brennan, a moment to realize that I might not make it out of this alive, before they were on me.

  Chapter Eighteen

  We fought.

  We fought, and the clang of blade hitting blade, the occasional grunt, the sound of our labored breath and the scuffle of our shoes on wet concrete were the only sounds to be heard. The time for taunts, for posturing, had passed.

  All I could do now was fight for the chance to remain in this realm, to avoid my life in the mortal world coming to an end.

  The prospect of an eternity trapped in the Old Nether, among the rampaging souls and the monsters that now called it home, cut off from Brennan and everyone else I cared for, was what kept me fighting. It was what kept my sword arm working, even when my muscles began to burn, even when it began to feel numb under the weight of Hades’ sword.

  I bled.

  The cuts I had received from the Netherblades wielded by Alecto were numerous, and Eveline had produced a normal dagger from beneath her voluminous skirts as well. Together, they pushed their advantage relentlessly.

  They were like sharks who smelled blood in the water, strengthened and frenzied, having found more energy in the sight of my blood.

  I caused damage as well. Alecto lost two fingers on her left hand, leaving her unable to use both daggers, which gave me some respite. She had slashed across my throat, and I had returned the favor.

  I swung at Alecto, overstepping my balance, and she took advantage of it. She plunged the Netherblade into my stomach with all of her strength, so deeply that I felt the blade scrape my backbone.

  With a gleeful shriek, Eveline stabbed her blade through my chest, scraping rib, and I gasped, unable to draw breath for a moment, realizing she had struck a lung.

  I was weakening. And no one was coming. I stumbled, fell back, and Alecto was on me, holding my arm, and I scrabbled at her hand, trying to get loose.

  Eveline stood above me, and yanked my head up by my hair, forcing me to look up at her. I grabbed for her hand, but she paid me no mind.

  “This will be so satisfying, you absolute nuisance,” she gloated as she raised a Netherblade.

  “Yes. It will,” I managed in a gurgly voice, and with the last of my strength, I focused, holding on tightly to both of them.

  I held with all my strength, and found myself praying to Nyx that I had managed to maintain enough strength for this last desperate move.

  I focused, and I felt us falling away.

  And in the next labored breath I took, I felt the cool stone of Mollis’s office floor beneath my back, a crackling fire to my right. I smiled as my appearance was met by the sound of confused shouts and Alecto’s enraged scream.

  I felt Mollis nearby, saw
Eveline’s head fall from her body under the black flames of Mollis’s sword, and then Alecto was pulled roughly away from me, and I heard her cursing me, almost incoherent in her rage.

  I turned my head. I was on the floor in Mollis’s office in her palace in the Nether. Rematerializing there had been my last chance, and I was just grateful it had worked. I knew Mollis and the demon spent most of their time there. I was glad I had guessed right that they would be in this particular room. Several demons, Nain, and Mollis had jumped into action at my appearance.

  I saw that Zoe and baby Hades both slept on one of the sofas, blankets tucked around them.

  Tisiphone came into the room, and she and Nain had Alecto cornered while Mollis came to me.

  “E. E, you stay with me, you crazy, insanely brave bitch,” she said, and there were tears running down her face.

  “Triton,” I managed through a throat that had been slashed again in that moment before we had managed to rematerialize.

  “Triton is in danger?” she asked, and I shook my head.

  “Was there,” I managed.

  I gave her a helpless look, and opened my mind, and she saw.

  “I will fucking kill him,” she growled. “Asclepius is here,” she said with relief as the healer god bent over me.

  “Great Gaia almighty, Guardian,” he grumbled. “Did we not just talk about this?”

  I watched his face as he lifted my shirt. He and Mollis exchanged a look.

  “My blood again, your healing,” Mollis said.

  “Mollis…” Asclepius began, and he was stopped short by the feel of Mollis’s power roaring over us.

  “We will fucking save her, Asclepius,” she shouted, even as tears rolled down her face.

  I felt myself fading.

  The room started getting dark, their voices farther away, echoey in the darkness.

  “E, don’t you fucking dare!” I heard Mollis scream. “Now, Asclepius!”

  I felt the burning pain of his healing, of her blood flowing into my wounds, and still, everything felt further and further away. I was being pulled away, my physical body failing, my energy gathering, freeing itself from the body it had called home for nearly twenty-five thousand years. There was no more feeling. There was no more pain, no more burning. I could not feel Asclepius’s hands on me anymore, Mollis’s blood burning me. There was no cold, and no warmth.