by Tigris Eden
“Are you okay? Is his forcing you?” Jesminda asked with true concern in her voice.
Why the other woman would think she was forced baffled her. She didn’t know how much the others knew about her captivity. Probably as much as Dietrich did, which was next to nothing. She’d confided some to Jorunn, but not all.
“He can be very persuasive. What did he promise you?” This came from Belinda.
“He hasn’t promised me anything.”
“He’s a murderer... a killer. He killed two people not even a handful of hours ago. How can you even think he’d not do the same to you?”
They were making her angry. “You know nothing about what I’ve been through. What I’ve seen, or what’s been done to me. Enri may not be wholly good, but he’s mine, and as with all things, you must see past the things we find less than desirable and get to the heart of it. I’ve seen Enri’s heart. I’ve felt it. Before you go casting stones, look to your own men, and ask yourself, have they done things that are atrocious? Have they killed? Lied? I think you’ll find Enri is not so different than your mates are. He fights for what he believes in, just like you all do.”
Yewa didn’t give them a chance to respond. She quickly left, making her way down the hall back to the room she’d first slept in. She wasn’t going to let them get to her. Enri wasn’t bad—he wasn’t good either—but he was hers. For the first time in a very long time, she had someone for herself. Their pairing might not have been the most agreeable to some, but for them, it worked.
Enri and the others made it to Egypt in the cover of darkness. No one in the museum was paying attention to the five men who walked out of the Alexandria National Museum, which held one of the gates. The entire city had been thrown into a frenetic energy of crazy. Chaos. Enri would have laughed, but the situation was truly dire. People were screaming, and yes, running for their lives, literally, as the waves from the Mediterranean rose above the seawalls destroying everything in its wake.
“Anyone know Perseus, personally?” Royce taunted as he stepped into the street littered with ruble.
“No, and even if we did, you really think he’d come out here for this?” Sam asked.
“Perseus could do nothing.”
“So, you know him?”
“He is one of my original creations, but not in the sense of how the humans view him. He is but a simple fisherman who was thought to be the son of Zeus. He is not. But as you all know, there is a little truth to every story.”
“We have other things to worry about, like killing the Kraken thing,” Draven said.
“She is called Rura, and she is a product of the Defiant Ones. A pet. I will handle her. We need to get to the other Unit. They are waiting, as they’ve lost two men already.”
They were loaded down with weapons, but no man-made artillery would see them through the carnage the animal left in its wake. The death toll was rising, and Enri was all but out of tricks. There was only one way they were going to defeat this thing. He’d have to kill it. It would be easy, but at the same time, it was going to kick-start other things into gear.
Damage control. That’s all you can do. Unless, he wanted to start over. Would Tahl even allow such a thing? Three’s a charm, right?
It was, but he’d not have Yewa, not the true her, no matter how many times he’d try, the spark only ignited the spirit of creation. It didn’t really create. Yewa wouldn’t return. Someone in her likeness might rise, but it wouldn’t be her. He wasn’t going to run from this and take the easy way out. He’d made the mess. He’d stick it out and figure out how to leave unscathed. Somehow.
The entire coastline of Alexandra personified carnage. Bodies everywhere and screams occupied the air space.
“Are those fighter jets?” Draven questioned, his eyes cast skyward as the Egyptian Air Force tried to get a handle on Rura.
“That would be them, but what is that up there with them?” Dietrich pointed at the figures in the sky, and sure enough, there were Angels and Dragons trying to stop Rura.
“It is Cannon and Hiku, they are from Unit.”
“Everyone there was killed,” Draven stated. He’d been there, been the one to oversee it.
“No, they were off on assignment. Draven, you should know they will not be happy to see you.”
“Well they can get over it; we’re here to help.”
True. They’d come to help. Himself, included.
“Well, let’s stop wasting time and get up there.” Gabe shed his shirt, his wings opened, and he took flight.
“Convenient, but we’re grounded,” Sam added.
“You three stay here; Gabe and I will do what we can to help Cannon and Hiku.”
Enri resumed his true form and took to the air. The thunderous roar of Rura was heard for hundreds of miles. Humans who were not already dead would be bleeding from their ears. She rose from the water as he approached, the smell of brine thick in the air clogged his nostrils as he drew near.
Hiku, Gabe, and Cannon were at his side in moments, each of them lined up and ready for the attack.
“I need you three to distract her. I’m going to go straight for her throat. It’s going to be fast but steer clear of my wings, they are far reaching.”
“No shit, Lord Chaos.” Cannon growled, but dipped low, spiraling down toward Rura as Gabe and Hiku took to circling overhead.
Rura was a baby. Probably thought her parents had let her out to play. But it wasn’t the case. He was the reason this was all happening, and in the beginning, when he’d started his journey for revenge he never would have thought this would be the outcome. You didn’t have your mind. Had his memory stayed intact, he’d have planned carefully. Made different allegiances. As it was now, he was straddling the fence. He had every intention of having a chat with dear old Darkness.
Rura struck out at another building as Gabe and Hiku flew overhead. She was trying to swat them, and it gave Enri the perfect opportunity to go in for the kill. He spiraled downward, twisting his body as his went, making sure his wingtips were tucked against him until the very last moment he needed to strike.
His wings opened at the last possible moment as he came to an abrupt stop, which caused him to spin out. Opening his wings, he sliced clean across Rura’s throat. Lava spewed and spurted like an active volcano from her wound until Rura once again sank beneath the ocean to return from where she’d last slumbered.
“That was easy!” Gabe called down from above.
It was too easy.
You are Chaos.
That, he was.
“We need to meet with the others and then head back. Yewa needs to be placed into safety, and then we can go about dealing with the rest.”
“Dealing with the rest?” Hiku asked.
“Yes, this was just the precursor, a distraction. This wasn’t even the first wave.”
Chapter 27
The silence made her feel welcomed for a change. Inside the silence, thought could progress without interruption. Yewa needed it. Jesminda and Belinda didn’t know Enri the way she did. He was rough around the edges, harsh in his judgments, but inside all of that, a man rested. One who hid his emotions well. Yewa wouldn’t call him lost, but he needed someone to look past his exterior and see him.
A rustling in the darkness alerted her to the fact she wasn’t alone.
“Who’s there?”
She couldn’t feel their presence and it worried her. Too deep in thought to beware of her surroundings, she reached for the light on the wall, finding it missing. What’s happening?
From the corner of the room, a figure stepped forth. Tall, menacing. She couldn’t see who stood there.
“Someone that means to do you harm, if you don’t listen, girl.”
Yewa stood straighter.
“What do you want?”
The figure in the corner chuckled absently to himself before speaking. “What I want is Enri, and you’re the person that’s going to see that he comes to me. Now be a good girl and scream.�
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Scream? She would do no such thing. Whoever was in the room with her wanted to scare her. It wouldn’t work.
“Enri isn’t here. My screaming will accomplish nothing.”
The person in the corner illuminated the room and Yewa came face-to-face with a male she’d never seen before. Muddy brown hair and chocolate eyes glazed over with hatred penetrated to the very heart of Yewa. It felt like he saw into the deep recesses of her soul. And before she could further digest what that entailed, her mind was over taken. As if on loop, her nightmares were in the forefront of her memory for Yewa to relive repeatedly until she sank into the carpet on her knees.
“I can do this all night.”
Eyes closed tight, Yewa took a series of deep breaths to try to stop the barrage of images that kept streaming through her mind. It appeared real. Even felt real. But she knew it wasn’t.
“Who are you?”
“I’m your new jailor and torturer rolled into one. I am Hades, and Enri will come for you.”
Yewa glared at Hades when movement in the corner caught her eye. It was Ann. Or at least, she thought that was her name.
“Ann?”
“I’m sorry Yewa, there is no other way. My allegiance is to Hades.”
Darkness swallowed her in its embrace. Quieted her mind and burned her soul in tandem. She’d been locked away before. Kept from the outside world. This time, it felt different. Worse.
“You guys are back already?” Jesminda asked, making a beeline for Draven.
If you’d asked him years ago, or even a few months ago, if he understood what it meant to have feelings, Enri would have laughed, maybe vomited a bit. He got it now. The moment they’d stepped foot inside the Unit’s building, his heart sped up in anticipation. He only had one place he needed to be, and it was with Yewa. They didn’t have much time, but it didn’t matter. He’d make the best of it.
“Where is she?”
“She went to her room. She’s been there for a while. Jesminda and I might have upset her,” Belinda answered.
Enri turned his attention to Belinda, Royce, and Ronin’s mate. A growl akin to one of an animal’s rose in his throat as he walked on steady legs to stand in front of the Phoenix.
“What did you say to her?”
“Leave it alone. I’m sure they didn’t do anything wrong,” Royce said.
“Bullshit,” Dietrich interrupted. “My sister is nothing but nice. If she left, it was because one of you broads said some shit to piss her off.”
Enri didn’t want to agree with Dietrich, but the Walker was right.
“We only asked if she knew what she was doing when she hooked up with the likes of you.” Belinda spat. The Phoenix hated him, and that didn’t bother him one bit. By the time all of this was over, a lot more people were going to hate him.
“You don’t think she had her own mind? If Yewa didn’t want to be with me, she wouldn’t be with me.”
“Even if you Blood Kissed her?” Belinda tossed in.
That had been unavoidable. Lie. He could have avoided biting her, but he’d let instinct guide him there.
“I would not make her be with me. That’s not my style.”
“Oh, like you tried to force me?” Jorunn tossed out.
Enri turned a sharp eye toward Jorunn. “I just wanted to knock you up with a child, see what combination popped out. Yewa is different. More to my liking.”
“Well, she’s in her room,” Jesminda relayed, pointing down the hall.
“I don’t need directions. I’ve been there already.”
Enri noticed the smell first before anything else. The room was dark. Hades.
The smell of rotten fruit, mixed in with Ann’s scent was his only sign something had gone terribly wrong. There was no sign of struggle, nothing out of place. There was only the smell of sickly sweet over ripe fruit.
“Motherfucker! Show yourself.” Enri roared with fury.
There was no response, and he didn’t expect to get one. Nor did he expect to see Tahl walk from the shadows.
“I told you. Everything belongs in its place. You should have taken her away.”
“What about Rura?”
“She would have only laid waste to Alexandria.”
“The Units would not have been favorable if I hadn’t stepped in and helped. This is after all, my doing.”
“Pick a side, Enri.”
“I thought I did.”
“No, you haven’t. You’re either all in or you hang by the side, whispering, influencing your pawns.”
“Where has that gotten me?”
“Nowhere. But it’s your decisions that have directly and indirectly affected others.”
Dietrich burst through the door as he and Tahl talked heatedly. “Where is my sister?”
Dietrich wasn’t addressing Enri, but Tahl.
Tahl regarded the Walker from head to toe. “It’s good to finally see you, Omari.”
“Who is this bastard?”
“He would be the Primordial.”
“Is he here to help?”
Enri shook his head.
“I don’t help. I watch. Sometimes, I even give useful information.”
“That does me no good, unless you’re here to tell me where my sister is.”
“Enri knows.”
He did know. She’d been taken by Hades.
“Why would he take her? He isn’t like us. He’d have no idea what she’s come to mean to me.” Enri questioned.
“No, but Erebos would.”
“So, my father is the one who’s taken her.”
“He tasked Hades with the job in hopes of luring you to Tartaros. Hades thinks that if he has the map to the Sahidic, then he can control the Defiant Ones. He’s looking for a position among the gods to his liking. He wants more power.”
“That motherfucker isn’t getting the Sahidic, but he will be getting an ass whooping when we get there.”
Enri furrowed his brow at Dietrich’s words. “I don’t need your help, Walker.”
“But you’ll get it either way. If you care anything about my sister, you’ll take my offer. Even if you don’t, I’ll go anyway.”
“I will to,” Royce piped in.
“We’ll all help you get her back,” Draven asserted.
“I’d take their help Enri. You’re going to need it.”
“I don’t need their help,” He insisted. One of them wouldn’t return.
“But you will, Hades isn’t alone; Erebos will be waiting. By them joining you, you’re ensuring your victory, and her life.”
“How the fuck did he get in anyway? The alarms would have sounded.”
“They would have, but he had help.”
“That bitch!” Royce thundered.
Ann. Enri realized. It was Ann who’d let him in. He would see to her death, personally.
“I will deal with her,” Enri announced.
“If you find her first.” Royce seethed.
“She’s no longer here. She’s gone on with Hades. She knew her deception would negate any forgiveness on anyone’s part,” Tahl imparted.
Jes stepped into the room with Belinda, and both women appeared contrite. “This is our fault.”
“Petal, Hades would have come for her, regardless, and the result could have been worse. At least we know she’s not dead. Enri is bonded to her. He’d feel her loss immediately.”
Enri already felt her loss, but not in the way Draven mentioned. While he’d been in Alexandria, he’d thought of her often. Even as he dispatched Rura, he thought of time he’d lose because of his actions. He’d found the perfect mate, someone who accepted him for who he was, and his way of thanking her for that kindness? By condemning her to a life of solidarity for long periods of time. He’d find a fucking way to fix it. There had to be a way.
Tahl was right. He’d need the distraction.
“If you do this, understand that if you die there, there is no coming back. Your soul will be trapped in Tartaros. There is
a reason the living do not travel there willingly,” Enri informed them all.
“We are aware of the consequences. It will be myself, Royce, and Dietrich that will accompany you. The others will stay behind.”
Enri stared at the female members of the unit. They were determined not to show their true feelings on the matter. He didn’t have to ask to know they didn’t want their males going. He also knew Yewa would be the same way. Fearing for his life. Enri couldn’t die. The others could have their souls forever trapped. There was also the matter of their capabilities. They’d be useless in Tartaros. It was the reason no one could ever escape.
“I will watch over them,” Enri vowed.
“We going or what?” Royce interrupted.
“Don’t be so eager, Feral. The journey is a perilous one,” Tahl answered.
Royce gave the Primordial a wicked grin.
“Perilous is my middle name.”
“Do we need to use the map as leverage?” Draven asked as he paced the confines of the room.
“No, we want him to think there is only one map.”
“There is only one map,” Royce muttered as if Enri were a fool.
“No, there are two. Why do you think I had it peeled from my back?” He turned, tugging off the shirt he wore, and the others stared. How could they not have known his skin would be repaired? Map intact, as well.
“When were you going to tell us?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Why, you dirty motherfucker.” Draven spat.
“Careful. This dirty motherfucker is the only thing you have between you and a safe journey in and out of Tartaros.”
“Like we need you.”
“You do.”
“If that’s true. Why did you bargain with us the first time to go alone?” Jesminda asked.
“Because I care nothing for your lives. Still don’t. But Yewa does. That gives you clemency.”
“Well, I feel special as fuck now, how about the rest of you?” Royce asked the Others.
“Shut up Royce. This is serious. We need to get my sister back, and that doesn’t work out if one of us ends up dead. You ever been to Tartaros before? I know your dick has traveled far and wide, but has it been that far?” Dietrich retorted.