by Janie Marie
They cackled when she aimed her attacks at them, and they started landing hits on her because there were just too many. They flew by, scratching her as she tried to attack one. One even managed to grab her and toss her into a pile of werewolves. Luckily for her, Lamorak and Percivale were close by, and they were able to drag her out of the pack before they could carry her off.
There was so much chaos. She’d never seen so much destruction at once before. No matter where she looked, someone was being killed or dragged away. Fire from Apollo and Tristan had set the trees ablaze, so smoke was starting to make everyone choke and struggle to see.
“Just breathe,” Hades said, leaning her against a boulder.
He lifted her shirt and examined her wound. The way his eyes went wide and darted to hers told her everything she needed to know.
“It’s bad,” she stated anyway and saw him nod. “I always get hurt. Is it because I’m supposed to die?”
“Don’t ask me that, Jane . . . You’re too drained to heal it, aren’t you?” He applied pressure on her wound.
She nodded, wincing at his painful touch.
“Fuck,” he said, glancing around.
There was no one who could help them. It was already too much that he was tending to her because she could see where the others were struggling to maintain the gap they had left. She didn’t even know when she had received the wound. The only attack she considered bad enough was when one of the Keres had flown down and knocked her into the snow.
Jane panted as she tried to look down. Her eyes watered when she saw the blood slowly pumping out of her side.
“Something is torn. Maybe your spleen.” Hades stared into her eyes. “I don’t know how to fix this. Where the fuck is Bedivere?”
“Help David,” she said, gasping as he still tried to put pressure on her wound.
Hades scanned the battle until he found David. “I need to get him for you, Jane. You don’t need as much of his blood to heal.”
She shook her head. “Don’t! He’s your only hope, Hades. Don’t let him become distracted.”
“Jane,” he said, but she cut him off.
“Will Death come?” she asked, finally letting her tears fall.
Hades reached up to hold her cheek. “I’m sorry, Jane.”
She nodded, letting more tears escape. It was pointless to hold them in now. She had failed and there was no reason to pretend to be brave anymore. “I love them. Please tell David I love him. I love him so much.” She sobbed, her tears drenching her face. “Tell Death I’ll never stop loving him. And I’m sorry.”
Hades pulled her to him. “Shh, young beauty. It’s not over yet.”
The comforting words did little for her, and she cried harder. She knew it was over. Her wound was severe, and she didn’t have enough strength left to stand a chance of healing. She needed blood. A lot of it.
It seemed like the thought also popped into Hades’ mind, and he pulled back. “Feed from me, Jane.”
“I won’t be able to stop, Hades. I’ll drain you. Go help David. Please.”
Hades removed his mask. “No, feed from me.” He started pulling her back. Jane tried her best to fight him because she didn’t think she’d be able to resist him if he got her too close. “I have to, Jane. I cannot let this happen to you. This is not how you die.”
“Hades, don’t do this!”
“I promised to protect you,” he said, positioning her across his lap.
Jane cried as he placed her hands on his shoulders. “Hades, please.” She glanced at the rapid pulse at his neck.
“It’s all right, Jane.”
She frantically looked around them, hoping someone would come and stop her. Anyone. But it was all a blur. There were bodies and body parts scattered across the ground. Keres were flying overhead and swooping down to grab victims. Apollo and Tristan were protecting the others with their flames, but they would soon weaken, just like her.
Jane sucked in a breath when she saw three vampires running toward them at the same time she heard wings flapping behind her.
“Hurry, Jane,” Hades said as something knocked them over and away from each other.
They rolled and she cried out in pain, but immediately heard Hades’ chains whipping through the air. He swung them around her as she struggled to raise herself up from her belly. She was so exhausted, though, and she collapsed, watching Hades trying to save both of them now. He was fighting the three vampires, but she knew something else had crashed into them.
Jane turned her head as much as she could. She didn’t understand what she was seeing. She recognized the man fighting off the werewolf behind her, but it didn’t make sense to see him fighting one—protecting her from it.
Jane watched him, barely able to make out his attacks because he was so incredibly fast. He was wounded, too. It didn’t stop him from killing the werewolf and running toward her.
She panicked as he knelt beside her and opened her mouth to scream. There was no way she was letting him take her alive.
“Shh . . .” He held his side as he lifted her shirt. “You need blood or you will die.”
“I’m not going with you.”
He gave her a charming smile and pushed back his dirty-blond hair. “I promise I am not here to hurt you or take you anywhere.”
Jane peered over at Hades; he was still fully engaged with another group of vampires.
“I am Hermes.” He touched her cheek. “You need to live.”
“Then save David for me.”
Hermes shook his head and lifted her onto his lap. “He needs to fight. Feed from me. You do not have much time.”
“Get away from her,” Hades snarled, holding his sword up to Hermes’ throat.
Hermes didn’t move. Jane could barely hold her eyes open now. “She’s dying, Uncle,” Hermes said. “I’m trying to help. Please let me do this.”
Jane squinted her eyes up at Hades and saw him thinking it over.
Hades looked back at her before returning his glare to Hermes. “Why are you doing this?”
“We don’t have time,” Hermes said without answering his question. Artemis’ scream bounced off their ears, and both Hermes and Hades turned their heads in her direction. “I can save Jane. Go to my sister, Uncle.”
Hades knelt down to look in Jane’s eyes. She didn’t really know how to respond to what was happening. All she could hear were the others yelling and the wolves snarling with their sharp teeth snapping in the air.
Artemis screamed again, and Jane almost felt like telling her to shut up so she could at least die in peace.
But she didn’t. “Go save her dumb ass, Hades. It’s okay. I’m okay. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
Hades kept glancing between Jane, Hermes, and the direction of where Artemis must be. He dropped his gaze to Hermes’ wound and sighed, withdrawing his sword. “Good luck, Nephew. May you find peace in the afterlife.” Hades was gone before she knew it.
Hermes returned his focus to her and smiled.
“You’re not Death or my David, but you’re handsome. This is a good way to die. Don’t let them eat me, and please don’t let David see.”
“I am flattered by your compliment.” He grinned, situating her on his lap. “And worry not for your knight. I swear if it is the last thing I do, your knight will find you safe.” He pushed her hair back. “I wish we had met under different circumstances, Jane. Perhaps we will meet in another life, and I will ask you for a date before I expect you to suck on my neck.”
“I don’t want to kill you,” she whispered, but her fangs were already extending.
He wore a sad smile as he cupped her cheek. “You won’t. Now feed, angel. We are both running out of blood.”
Jane cried as he pulled her mouth to his neck.
“Shh, everything will be all right.”
“Forgive me.” Her hunger replaced any goodness in her, and she closed her mouth down on his neck. His warm blood spilled down her parched throat, and she moaned
as she pulled him closer.
Nothing else mattered to her, and although she was registering this wasn’t David, she didn’t care. He was her meal, and he tasted delicious. That wicked girl with black eyes came forward in Jane’s mind and demanded his death. She wanted more blood. She wanted to feed on all of them. Jane gripped him tighter, biting down roughly.
He had been holding her delicately, but now he fought to pry her off. Jane wasn’t having it. She growled and drank more.
“Jane,” Hermes gasped. The click of a gun sounded while he pushed it to her chest. “It’s silver.”
She hissed and released her hold on him.
He slumped back against the boulder, still holding the gun in his shaky hand as he glanced down at her side. She watched him smile as he looked back at her face. “At least I did one thing right in my life.”
Jane blinked, feeling her thirst release her mind. She glanced down at her side. It was still bleeding but sealing together slowly. She quickly looked up at his pale face, finally realizing what she’d done. “I’m so sorry.” She cried and pressed her hand on his wound. “I should have stopped. Hang on, I’ll help you.”
A loud screech sounded from above them suddenly, and Jane made to stand, but a winged figure dropped down on top of the Keres about to attack her. Jane gaped at the winged man as he swung an elegant looking sword at the Keres, removing its head.
He stood as more leapt from the trees and cliffs. They were aiming their bodies toward the low flying Keres and taking them by surprise. It was obvious they weren’t flying, but the great heights they were jumping from enabled them to glide in whatever direction they wanted to.
“It looks as though your backup has arrived,” Hermes whispered when their savior darted off toward the main fight.
Jane realized Hermes was still aiming the gun at her. “Please kill me quickly.”
Hermes shook his head and tried to reach up for her cheek.
Jane lifted his hand for him and pressed a kiss to it. “Why did you do this?”
“You didn’t kill me.” He smiled, and Jane watched the inky color drain from his eyes. “You saved me, angel.” Jane stared at him, confused, and felt his thumb barely rub her tears. “Don’t let it consume you, Jane. You are light hidden in darkness. It’s okay if you fall. I know you will get back up.”
“I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know him at all, but this cursed immortal, a vampire who followed one of the most evil men she’d ever seen, had given his life for hers. “I’m not good. I’m bad. You shouldn’t have let me do this. I didn’t want to kill you.”
Hermes’ now brown eyes watered. “You are good. You’re love and strength. Don’t ever think you are bad.” He shut his eyes for a moment.
Jane held her breath, thinking he had slipped away, but then he hissed and opened his eyes. She breathed out and was surprised to see a small smile on his lips.
“I told you you wouldn’t kill me.” He grinned, but it fell quickly. “You’re a good person, Jane. None of this is your fault. They are doing it.”
“I don’t understand what you mean. Which they?”
He smiled again. “Remember, you didn’t kill me and you are light. You are like the moon—so beautiful. I wish I could see when you do. Thank you, angel.” He then raised the gun to his head and fired.
Jane screamed, feeling his blood spray across her face. The gun fell to his side, and Jane dropped the hand she was holding to her cheek.
She stared in shock at his vacant eyes and watched the light leave them. “NO!” She wailed, hugging his unmoving body. “Why?” Her tears were freezing, but she stayed on him, clutching his jacket. It felt so wrong to hold someone who was no longer there. She could hear the battle carrying on. The rough winds made her hair fly around her, but she didn’t move it from her face.
Hermes’ adorable grin flashed in her mind. “You are light hidden in darkness.”
“I’m not light,” she said in a hoarse voice.
The sound of David’s voice made her turn. Before she found him, she saw piles of Thor’s men lying dead in the snow—she saw Akakios trying to get to her, but he was protecting his female, who was injured, it seemed. Good boy. Jane smiled weakly and glanced at the knights. Many of them were injured, but they were all standing—all fighting.
They looked relieved with the winged allies beside them. She didn’t know who or what they were. Their ethereal auras suggested they were angels, but not all of them had wings, and those who did, did not have the huge wings she’d seen before.
“JANE?” David yelled for her.
She turned, finally catching sight of him in the center of the battle. He was scanning the bodies on the ground. My David.
He stopped searching the battlefield and turned to defend himself when Lancelot attacked again. David blocked the sword aimed at his neck, snarling as he immediately launched his own attack. Her vampire looked as magnificent as ever. She would never get tired of watching him fight.
She noticed him searching for her again as he fought. Her heart ached; Lancelot was right—she really was David’s downfall.
Jane shifted her attention to Lancelot. He was saving his energy, using his wolves to wear David out and keeping him from aiding anyone else.
Lancelot grabbed one of his wolves and used him to block a swing from David’s sword. The wolf was completely cut in half, and David roared, trying to kick it out of his way, but Lancelot had more of his wolves blocking him. It was easy to see why David never succeeded in killing Lancelot; he never got a fair fight. Fighting Lancelot meant fighting an entire army of werewolves.
Even with their new allies, Lancelot’s and Ares’ armies would crush them. It appeared their backup was only a small group of thirty individuals anyway. It was better than nothing, but they were outnumbered and tired. It was just a matter of time before they would start to fall.
The remaining Keres still soared above her, searching for their next victims. Jane let out a breath before looking back at David. She could see his panic. He was still searching for her, distracted. She realized Lancelot was holding some of his wolves back, and then she stared, horrified, when Lancelot issued the order for them to come down on David.
Jane quickly stood, whimpering when Hermes’ empty gaze stared up at her. She couldn’t weep for him now. She had to help David. She was tired of others dying for her. She wasn’t special; she wasn’t light inside darkness or a savior of any kind. She was just Jane. And David couldn’t die because of her.
Inside herself, a weeping girl shook her head at Jane. Jane knew this was just a part of her, the part of her who wanted to be loved and accepted. This was the girl who hoped to be happy—wished she could be someone great, the warrior everyone said she was. She wanted everything good, no matter how much pain and suffering it took. She wanted greatness. She wanted to live. She wanted to be loved by David.
She wanted the chance to love him.
This was the fragile but powerful girl Jane longed to be. This girl had hope, strength, and love—but she came with so much pain, loss, darkness. Jane couldn’t allow herself to hope if it would only end in destruction.
Again, the crying girl shook her head. She tried to tell Jane she was good—that these losses were meant to happen—they were meant to be felt and loved by her. She told her something good would come from all of this. She told her to have courage and faith. Jane wanted to believe her, she really did, but a loud roar shook her mind, and a near identical girl grabbed Jane from below.
This girl wore a wicked smile as she said the most awful things to Jane. She showed her what would happen if she listened to the crying girl. She showed her blood. She showed her David’s death—promised it would be a reality if she believed that girl. The wicked girl dug her fingers into Jane’s ankle, pulling as the crying girl tried to hold on to Jane.
The girl with the evil smile told Jane to look behind her. She did, and she saw Hermes. The snow was beginning to cover his dead body.
The girl with dar
k eyes forced Jane to keep looking at Hermes’ body, “That will be David. That will be your knights. That will be everyone you love. You are too weak. You are not what they say. You are not what she says. I am.”
Jane’s eyes filled with tears. “There is no light,” she whispered, letting go of the weeping girl and embraced the laughing demon inside her.
The steel handle from Jane’s sword suddenly made contact with her hand. She squeezed it and opened her eyes, very aware she wasn’t the only one looking through them, taking in the mayhem she was about to enter. She could feel the wicked girl right beside her. It wasn’t like before, where Jane was submerged in darkness, occasionally breaking free to see whatever her entity allowed. This time they were one. She knew her demon wasn’t happy—the black-eyed monster didn’t want Jane to have any control.
Honestly, Jane didn’t know how she was doing this. It was as if a separate force refused to let her sacrifice herself. Almost as if the words ‘not yet’ were being whispered to her.
A snarl tore out of Jane’s mouth without her consent.
Jane searched within herself, peering into the darkness where a gold light flickered, revealing the sad girl with hazel eyes. She was angry with her, but Jane reached out for her and asked her to stay with her. The sad girl grabbed Jane’s hand, squeezing it tighter when the wicked girl tried to rip Jane away.
“She’s coming with us,” Jane spoke aloud, but she was talking to her evil counterpart.
Although there was obvious hate, the black-eyed girl seemed unable to fight them.
Jane stepped over the fallen Norsemen, not glancing at them in fear she would recognize someone she loved, and kept her eyes on David. The sad girl beside her held out her hand toward him, and David quickly looked in her direction.