Zealot (Hidden: Soulhunter Book 3)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  “Hey. It’s okay. They covered us. They knew it was coming,” he said as he held me tightly. “Jesus, Tink, you’re shaking like a leaf.”

  “I am so angry right now. I knew you were protected. But then I feared that whatever Gaia and the others had done would not be enough.” We both glanced up at the the shield, still hanging in the sky above us, filled with smoke.

  “It was enough,” he said. “It’s okay.”

  “I cannot believe they actually went through with it. What about everyone else in this neighborhood?” I said, and several of the humans nearby murmured their agreement. They were just as angry as I was, though at the moment, it was impossible to tell whether they were angry at those who had dropped the bombs or those of us who had been targeted.

  “Acceptable losses, to get rid of the immortal threat,” Brennan said tightly, still looking at the sky.

  “Assholes,” Artemis muttered, taking Sean from Brennan’s arms. “Mollis is absolutely pissed.”

  “So is Nain. If they were trying to make things better, this wasn’t the way to do it,” Brennan answered. “I haven’t seen him go full demonic Nain Rouge in years, but I could tell from his voice that he was there.”

  “He will not do anything,” I said, though I was not sure about the volatile demon.

  “No, he won’t. Molly won’t let him. If it wasn’t for her influence, though?” Brennan shook his head. “He’d be ripping actual heads off as we speak. And I’d be right there with him.”

  “I do not understand. You are a government agent,” I said, glancing up at the shield again. It and the smoke and flame it contained were starting to fade away. Soon, it would be as if none of it had happened at all. Except that it had, and that fact would not be forgotten.

  “Was. I’m not technically with any government right now,” Brennan said.

  “Yes, I know that. But you still work with them. That is all you have been doing.”

  He shrugged. “In the end, it doesn’t matter. I am what I am, and that’s all they’re seeing right now.”

  “This cannot stand. They will pay for this,” Artemis seethed. “Do they not realize that we could eradicate them within moments if we wanted to?”

  I sighed. “They know. This,” I said, pointing up at what was left of the shield, “this is what fear looks like. Of course they know we are their destruction. They blame us for the undead, and they are not wrong. One of us did this, and there is no way to look at it any other way. They fear us. They hate us.”

  “We should teach them what happens when they try to threaten their betters.”

  “Do not let Mollis hear you talk like that,” I said.

  “She is too soft on them,” she said. “In our day, there would have been earthquakes, hurricanes, some kind of plague to put them back in their place. Those who launched the bombs would have fallen dead the instant they had the idea to even attempt such a thing.”

  “And that is somehow better?” I asked.

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re too much like her, with this ridiculous love you have for humanity.”

  “I do not love them, precisely. We could snuff them out as if they were nothing. I feel like they need our protection.”

  “But do they deserve it? There’s the question,” Asclepius said. He had just appeared from nowhere, appearing behind Artemis, who stiffened immediately at the sound of his voice.

  “Surely you don’t condone this idea of teaching the humans a lesson?” I asked. “They have suffered enough.”

  He shrugged. “Artemis does not lie. In our day, they had proper fear. We let them forget us. We let them take us for granted. And now, look where we are. This was never the way it was meant to be.”

  “Yes, we treated them as playthings. We took them for granted. We ignored them, saw them as nothing more than insects. Until Mollis. Until her love for them made them believe. It is why she has power while the rest of us remain a specter of what we once were. And that is why she deserves the power, and we do not,” I said, keeping my eyes locked onto Artemis’s. That kind of talk could not continue. It was dangerous, and would not lead to anything but more human fear and, quite likely, a few more immortals dead at Mollis’s hand.

  “She needs to do something. This is stupid, that we even have to worry about our mortal lives ending here. I do not want to get trapped in the Old Aether or the Old Nether,” she hissed. I did not disagree with her. Those places, lost to us now thanks to Nyx, were the realm of those of us who had lost our mortal forms, and there was no way to come back from that. Those we had destroyed now resided there, along with all manner of monsters, demons, and souls from the past several thousand years. Unless Mollis killed you. If Mollis killed you, there was no coming back, ever. The Titans seemed to have the same power, but Gaia was the only one remaining, and I could not see her killing anyone.

  Nether… Nether could kill a god. As could Nyx, but she would never do it. No, she would destroy the world itself, and us with it, but she would never actually personally kill an immortal. I glanced at Brennan. He deserved to know about Nyx. They all did.

  But why? So they could live as I now was, staring helplessly at a clock that seemed to tick down the minutes faster the longer time went on? So they could spend their final days in a panic?

  If I managed a miracle, there would be no final days to worry about. Life would go on. I could tell him afterward.

  “None of us want to end up there,” I finally said. “But I will tell you right now that if it is between saving the humans and letting any of us ‘teach them a lesson,’ Mollis will not hesitate to end you.”

  “With your help, probably,” Artemis sniffed.

  I was growing tired of trying to remain patient with her. I understood that she was angry and afraid. But even my patience has its limits.

  “She will not need my help, but it is flattering that you think I would be of help,” I said, meeting her eyes. “Do not push this. Stop these ridiculous thoughts. It will not happen.”

  “No, it won’t,” Brennan said firmly. “Come on, Grandma. There’s enough bullshit to worry about without having Molly on your ass. As someone who has spent a lot of time with her mad at me, I can tell you from experience that it sucks. Okay? Let’s not ask for more trouble.” Then he glanced at Asclepius, and then at Artemis again. “Were you here to talk to Artemis?” he asked Asclepius.

  The healer immortal shot a quick look in Artemis’s direction. Artemis, for her part, still had not acknowledged his presence. I had to wonder what that was about. They had been getting along so well.

  Unfortunately, immortal gossip was not something I had a lot of time for at the moment.

  “I was here to speak to whoever was here. Mollis has called a press conference, and then she wants to meet with everyone.”

  “Everyone?” Brennan asked.

  “All the immortals,” Asclepius said. “Whether they like her or not. The imps and demons are out, I’m sure, quite gently convincing the others to join us. We are expected in Detroit in the next ten minutes.”

  “Well, let’s not keep her Highness waiting,” Artemis muttered. She and Sean blinked out, and then the rest of us started rematerializing. We knew she would want us in the Netherwoods. In the old days, we would have all been meeting at the loft where Nain and Mollis had made their home, but since that sanctuary had been breached, since their son Hades had been taken, they had rarely set foot in it.

  We convened in Mollis’s office, which also served as her throne room. All business was conducted from the large room with the fireplace and the messy desk. Photos of her children adorned the stone fireplace mantel, somehow working quite well with the swords and other weapons that also served as the room’s primary decor. It had been the same in Hades’ old office, and this was yet another thing Mollis seemed to have put into her home in the Netherwoods. I wondered sometimes if she even knew she was doing it. For whatever reason, the palace of the God of Death conformed itself to the desires of the God it served. I sup
posed it was yet another of Nyx’s creations, destined to remain a mystery. We had thought that the old Nether was powered solely by Nether herself, but clearly there was more to it. I was beginning to suspect that Mollis’s soul was entwined with that of her home, powering it and building it all at the same time.

  “She’ll be on in five minutes,” a deep voice boomed from across the room, and I turned to see Hephaestus and his family walking in, followed by Gaia and Lethe. He walked to where Brennan and I had parked ourselves, and he gathered me into one of his typical spine-crushing hugs. “Hello, my little nightmare,” he said, and I could not help laughing. He glanced at Brennan. “I expected to see you two all over each other, as little as you actually get to be in the same room.” He met my eyes questioningly for a moment, and I gave a tiny shake of my head.

  “We just got here,” Brennan said. “And she’s in work mode.”

  “So are you,” I said.

  “Your work mode is much more intense than my work mode,” he said, and finally there was that hint of a smile that never failed to make my ridiculous heart skip, just a little.

  “You like how intense I am,” I told him.

  “At some times more than others,” he murmured.

  “And there’s my cue to go back to Meaghan,” Hephaestus said, and Brennan laughed. “Do you have any idea what she’s gonna say?”

  I shook my head. Hephaestus made his way back to his family, and I studied the room. My newest Guardians were being introduced to everyone by Quinn, and they all looked a little dazed. I supposed it was rather a lot to take in. As I scanned the room, I saw immortals, demons, vampires, witches, spirit daemons, imps, and even Mollis’s two Netherhounds. Even Persephone was there, sitting by herself in a far corner, looking as if she would rather be just about anywhere else.

  In truth, she did not look good. She was pale, her eyes sunken. Her normally perfect hair looked stringy and, as she sat there, she looked more lost and alone than I have ever seen her look.

  “She’s a mess,” Brennan said quietly, and I nodded.

  “Hades’ death hit her harder than I thought it would,” I said.

  “Well, they were together a long time. Even if it didn’t end up working out, there’s a lot of emotion there, I would guess.”

  “And, I don’t think she ever stopped loving him,” I answered.

  “That too,” he agreed. Then he sighed. “Maybe I need to kidnap you and take you to my secret lair for a while. It wasn’t a bad idea, when you think about it.”

  I smiled. I knew he was thinking of the old myth about Hades and Persephone. “It did not actually happen that way, Cub,” I said. “She practically dragged him to his palace and never left.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “You mean we’ve all been lied to all these years?”

  I shrugged, and he laughed again.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back the other night. I heard the message you left, and then less than an hour later, my phone got smashed by an undead asshole.”

  I let out a short laugh. “Well, at least you heard it.”

  “What made you decide to call?”

  My heart twisted a little. Calling him was such a rare event that he assumed something deep and dire had inspired it. And the fact of the matter was that he was right. I shrugged again. “I missed you.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Do you find that so hard to believe?”

  And now it was his turn to shrug. We were brilliant at the whole communication thing, apparently.

  “The newer Guardians seem a little overwhelmed,” he said, very clearly changing the subject.

  I am a coward when it comes to him. “They do,” I agreed, knowing I should have been pressing him about his doubts about me. In truth, I knew them all, and I did not know what more I could do to allay them.

  Brennan drew a deep breath. “So where are you off to once this is finished? London, Paris, and Tokyo are totally cleaned up, which is amazing. Your team is kicking ass.”

  I accepted the praise with a tilt of my head. “New York and Detroit could use some help. It is unlikely that those cities will take as long as the ones we have already done. The problem now is that the undead have spread so far and wide… if I’d had this many Guardians when it all started, we would have been able to eradicate them almost immediately. But now, even with those three cities in better shape, we’re finding that they are everywhere. I do not know how to get ahead of it. I know that London is fine now, but the second we turn our attention elsewhere, the undead will begin creeping back in.”

  He listened intently, nodding as I spoke. “That’s what I was seeing, too. Whoever created those first few really screwed us. I don’t see how even thirteen Guardians can get rid of all of them.”

  I felt my spine tense. “We will find a way,” I said.

  “How, Tink? How in the hell are thirteen of you going to get rid of what’s looking to be literally tens of thousands of them?”

  “We will manage it,” I said stiffly.

  “How?”

  I finally lost my patience. I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know. All right? I do not know. All I know is that we keep working on it, because there is quite literally no other option and no help to be had. All we can do is keep fighting.”

  I was not aware that I had raised my voice until I noticed that the room had gone conspicuously quiet. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Brennan.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “I tried telling you all of this. You seem to want to believe that I don’t care for you, or that I do not want to spend time with you, even seeing all of this with your own eyes.”

  “It’s not that you’re not with me, though, yeah, I miss you when you’re not around. You don’t goddamn talk to me, Tink,” he said. He scratched his chin, watching me. “You never tell me anything.”

  If only he knew.

  “We have had this argument before,” I said, glaring at a few spirit daemons who seemed to be paying far too much attention to our conversation. They quickly scurried away, and I turned my attention back to my husband.

  “We have. And yet, here we are,” he said.

  “Ah, I see. So I am supposed to change, and the arguments will end. Is that it?”

  “I’m not asking for the world here, Eunomia. I want you to talk to me. I want to know what’s going on.”

  “And you are aware that you married a being thousands of years older than you who has her own ways of dealing with things, yes? You seriously expect me to change everything because you haven’t lived long enough to see another way of doing things.”

  He groaned. “Back to the age thing. Perfect, E. That’s just great.”

  “It seems to be your issue much more than mine.”

  He was about to answer when Hephaestus came over and put a hand on each of our shoulders. “It’s time. Stop bitching for five minutes and let’s see what you Queen has to say, huh?”

  I glared at him, but went with him nonetheless. Brennan and I found ourselves seated on one of the sofas between Lethe and Triton, who Brennan glared at in a way that made it clear he wished it was an appropriate time to shift into his cat form and do some damage. I nudged him and he stopped looking at Triton, turning his attention to the television instead.

  Chapter Eleven

  As we watched, I recognized the scene. It was not far from where we were, in downtown Detroit near the river. A podium stood in front of the river. The camera was currently giving a wide shot, and several demons stood to each side of the podium. Of course, the humans would not know them as demons; they looked like nothing more than very large, very dangerous men. I nearly laughed at their presence. They would only be there because the demon, Nain, had insisted upon it. Mollis needed no protection.

  A moment later, Mollis and Nain walked into the frame. Mollis took her place at the podium, and Nain stood just to her right. Mollis had let all pretense go, I realized with a shock. Her enormous black wings, her glowing e
yes —all of it was on show, leaving no question about who and what she was. Power emanated from her as she looked into the camera.

  “Well. We’re still here,” she began, and I heard Hephaestus mutter “fuck right we are” somewhere behind me. “This morning, several world governments partnered to attempt to eradicate myself and the rest of the immortals of this world. They failed.” She paused, allowing what she had said sink in with her audience. “We will be here for as long as we want to be. This is our home now, as much as it is yours. We cannot be destroyed by the likes of humans, as you can now clearly see.” She paused and looked down, and then up at the camera again. “Some immortals would be angry right now,” she said quietly. She tilted her head, just a little, and it seemed as if she was looking right through the camera. “I’ll be honest with you. I am pissed. You targeted me. You targeted my family, my children. And you have no idea what would have happened had you succeeded. Do you honestly believe that the undead would just cease to be? Are you really that f—are you really that stupid?” she finished, and I heard Tisiphone give a small chuckle somewhere in the room. “Who do you think will prevent the undead from destroying everything you know and love? It certainly won’t be the military. It won’t be fu—,” she paused, taking a breath. I knew how hard it was for Mollis to control her language when she was angry, so this was a test for her. “It won’t be bombs, and it won’t be soldiers, and it won’t be whatever other stupid ass solutions your leaders come up with. It will be us. Specifically, it will be a team of beings under my command, the Guardians, who are the only beings in existence who can destroy the undead for good. They have already cleaned out London, Tokyo, and Paris, which were over-run with the undead. And you idiots tried to kill the leader of the Guardians this morning. Do you have any idea what you almost did?” Mollis demanded, raising her voice, her eyes glowing even brighter on screen. “You almost doomed everyone, because you are afraid. Do you know what you need to fear? Fear that I will not lift a hand to help you. Fear that I turn my back on this world the way so many of my fellow immortals have counseled me to. Fear that I decide you are not worth saving.”