"Shit!" Ben dove to the floor as a web of force tore through the wall over his head, showering him with shards of drywall and a cloud of white dust. He rolled to his feet as the band of power chewed through the sheetrock behind him and simply ended.
He turned his head and blinked away the gypsum grit as he climbed back to his feet. His would-be assailant had vanished as suddenly as he appeared. At least, he assumed it was a he. All he'd caught was the merest hint of a shadow running by, passing from room to room in the dim interior of the sprawling house.
He couldn't see what was doing the damage, but he could certainly see the effects. Raw power was blasting this house to smithereens around him and he had yet to get a good look at the people responsible.
He could only assume that one of them was Hades himself, but he had no idea who or what the other mages were. Or even whose side they were on.
He'd felt more than one effect shatter when it struck him, but that didn't happen every time. One powerful weave had picked him up and sent him bursting through a wall to stumble across the room beyond, ears ringing and head spinning like a carnival ride. He wasn't immune, only resistant.
"Ben.” The voice murmured softly in his ear as a hand like a steel clamp descended upon his shoulder. He threw an elbow back, only to encounter empty air. He whirled, firing a left footed round house kick powerful enough to burst organs. His instep caught the edge of an archway, ripping a huge chunk away. “Goddammit, Ben. It's me. Stop trying to kick my ass."
He hadn't even caught sight of his opponent, and this snarled command drew him up short. He hadn't recognized the voice at first, but the longer phrase gave him the opportunity to recognize the timbre of Raven's voice. He relaxed with a groan. “Damn. You scared the hell out of me."
"Can't say I blame you,” Raven said. Ben turned to look at him and shook his head. The vampire looked totally unaffected by all the chaos surrounding them. His duster showed no sign of sheetrock dust, not one strand of his dark hair even a smidge out of place. “You okay?” He looked him up and down and, apparently coming to the conclusion his friend was unhurt, clapped a hand to his back. “Looks like it."
"I'm fine. What the hell is going on in here?"
"Athena, Mandy, and I came in to break you two out. We made it in easily enough—which is weird, considering the place should have been crawling with wards—but before we got anywhere, the whole place turned into a shitstorm.
"The Abyssians are fighting each other and tearing this place down around our ears."
"Just the Abyssians?"
"Hades is around here somewhere, the crazy sonofabitch. But he's leaping around casting multiple transit tubes, hopping in and hopping out like some mad jack-in-the box. He's lost his goddam mind."
"He didn't strike me as the most stable person to begin with,” Ben commented dryly. “Where are Athena and Mandy?"
Raven shook his head. “I don't know. We came in together, but when the shit hit the fan we split up."
"Can Mandy handle herself?"
"I certainly hope so,” Raven answered sharply. “Not much I can do about it if she can't."
"That's cold, man."
"No, that's just reality."
Another loud explosion from the other side of the building rattled the floor so hard it almost took him off his feet. “Damn."
"Come on. We're going to find out what the hell's going on."
Shrugging, Ben followed him through the darkened hallways, his preternatural senses close, but not quite on a par, with the vampire's enhanced visual abilities. Raven moved like a greased ghost, sprinting silently from room to room with the werewolf doing his best to keep up.
They exploded into the huge kitchen to find a stand-off. Three separate groups standing within ten feet of each other, each eyeing the others suspiciously. Their entrance made four.
Mandy and Athena stood in front of the back door, the immortal woman's arms folded in front of her chest as she looked from one group to the other. Mandy just looked scared.
What he assumed had been a breakfast bar lay in shards, torn asunder by a weave of power before this current state of détente had come to pass. The rest of the kitchen appeared mostly untouched except for a large scorch mark on the floor between the two main groups.
On the left were Dusk, Gavin Chase, Cowl, and Shade, along with three Abyssians he didn't recognize. On the right were several other Abyssians, Hades, and a tall, stretched-looking fellow with dark blue hair bound into a warrior's topknot wearing what could only be described as a karate uniform.
"Well,” murmured Hades, sweeping the room with a speculative gaze. “Isn't this a fine kettle of fish.” He had his long fingered hands wrapped tightly in Jaz's black hair and held an obsidian knife to her throat.
Twenty-two
"Give it up, Hades,” Chase demanded. “The game is over and you've lost."
"Lost?” The dark immortal raised an eyebrow quizzically. “I don't think so. I have yet to unleash my full power on you. Do you traitors really want to imagine what will happen when I do that? Lay down your weapons and submit and I promise you I will not harm you beyond the punishment you so richly deserve."
Chase shot a glance over at Athena, who watched the whole thing through narrow eyes. She looked anything but happy at the moment. Dangerously close to taking action herself, if Ben read her correctly.
He shook his head. “Uh-uh. We'd be stupid to trust you. All we want is out. You can carry on your little battle with the PAC and Athena here, but leave us out of it. But you have to let the girl go."
Jaz's eyes were a little wild, but nowhere near as frightened as he would have expected. Her gaze was almost pleading as she stared across at Chase and the rebel Abyssians. Why did she come back? Ben wondered.
Hades laughed, a mad, almost hysterical note woven through it. “You think I won't kill her?"
"We know you would, Dark Lord,” Dusk murmured. “That's why we haven't rushed you yet."
This honest response seemed to take Hades by surprise. He blinked, then his thin lips stretched into a triumphant smile. “Then lay down your weapons."
"Didn't we just go through this?” Chase asked snidely. “If you kill the girl we'll get the chance to find out just how much damage an immortal can take. I say ... go for it."
Jaz flinched as the words hit her. The Asian man's eyes flicked down to her, lingered for a second, then shifted back up. A golden glow surrounded him as he took a step forward. “You have plenty of power, Hades. But how do you think it matches up to these?" He lifted his hands, revealing two glowing stones embedded in his palms.
"You had the mage gems all along!” Hades spat. “You lied to me."
"And you're surprised? You lied to me. You sent my dead wife's animated corpse to my room every night and didn't expect me to notice the difference? Didn't you wonder why I never touched her? Where is my son, you bastard?"
The hulking demonic creatures were silent, watching this interchange with rapt expressions of interest.
Before Hades could respond, the door behind Athena and Mandy swung open. A short, squat, rather homely looking man entered. The movement caught the dark immortal's eye and he turned slightly, dragging Jaz along with him.
The blade bit deeper into the side of her neck. She could feel a thin trickle of blood flowing across her bare flesh. "You!"
The stranger smiled. It did nothing to transform the ugliness of his features, most particularly because it didn't reach his eyes. They were cold, gray, and hard as chips of flint. “Let her go, Hades."
"But you're dead! I killed you myself.” Hades shuddered. Jaz could feel his body quivering against her. Whether out of anger or fear, she couldn't tell. But this stranger's arrival had struck at the core of the dark man, and the blade held against her retreated a little. His grasp on her hair relaxed just enough for her to imagine throwing herself free.
"I'm apparently much harder to kill than you thought. I'm serious. Let her go. If anything happens to her I will p
ersonally turn your existence into an eternity of torment. The Christian hell will have nothing on what I'll do to you."
Jaz blinked at him. Something about his voice registered as familiar, though she couldn't think of where she might have met him. Who is he?
She met the Asian man's gaze again for a split second and threw herself sideways as he rushed in, the golden glow around his body intensifying. She broke loose and fell to the floor as the two men crashed together.
She twisted around and shot her gaze upward just in time to watch the obsidian knife throw a shower of sparks as it bit through the golden shell and plunge deep into her rescuer's chest. He sagged against Hades, then collapsed as the dark immortal flung him aside. Mana threads began to pour off of him, like some obscene imitation of a jellyfish.
"Quickfingers!"
The imp appeared at her side and helped her to her feet, glaring all the while at Hades, who paid his arrival absolutely no mind. His gaze was locked on the stranger, a bitter smile twisting his normally handsome features into something unrecognizable.
Dusk let out a scream of pain and rushed for Chase. But Raven arrived first. He crouched next to the dying mortal, his undead frigidity seemingly forgotten in the rush of some emotion Ben couldn't even identify.
"The shield should have protected me,” Chase gasped, struggling to breathe as his perforated lung thrashed wetly inside his chest. “I don't understand."
"Don't try to talk,” Raven told him. Dusk fell to her knees on the other side of him, face streaked with tears. As alien as she was, he realized suddenly, she was really quite beautiful. She enfolded Chase's hand in hers and sobbed noisily as he gazed up at her.
"Fool!” Hades sneered at him. “I knew you had the magegems all along. I was waiting for you to betray me. That's why I had this obsidian blade. Obsidian is the one weakness of the magegems, and if you'd bothered to read the documentation I'd given you, you would've known that."
The mana threads had cleared a ten foot radius around him and no one looked as though they wanted to take the risk of whatever they'd do to them. They were little more than raw power in this state, capable of nearly anything.
The squat, ugly man was the only person who didn't seem wary of the loose threads. He calmly strode within five feet of Hades, not even wincing as a few of the tendrils brushed past him. “You're done, Hades. All your scheming has come to this—nothing."
"Fuck you, Deryk. Fuck you, the horse you rode in on, and the little dog that followed along behind."
"No, Hades. Fuck you. With a big stick. In the neck. Sideways."
"Yes, My Lord Hades.” The willowy, blue haired figure stepped up, the crystalline katana Hades had wielded earlier held loosely in his grasp. “Fuck you.” He twisted the weapon around and drove it straight through the dark immortal's back.
Hades screamed, a sound so chilling Ben felt it even as far down as his bones themselves. It seemed to carry forever, echoing through the sudden silence of the house. He collapsed to his knees and the sound cut off abruptly. “Carth. Why?"
"Why?” The blue haired man gave a bitter laugh. “You have to ask? You promised my people you'd save us. Instead you turned us into freaks and monsters. With everything you've done you wonder why we all hate you? Even they hate you—” he jabbed the sword at the stunned Abyssians who'd been standing with Hades—"they simply fear you more.
"You stole human children and turned them into goblins. You twisted what was left of my race into the Abyssians. You allowed me to be born pure of blood, but I'm alone. You destroyed the Fey and left us with what? A legacy of monsters? Why? You sick bastard. You truly don't see the evil you've done, do you?"
"It was for science,” Hades gasped, then fell forward on his face. His cheek lay against the white tile as blood poured from the gaping wound and pooled across the floor.
"For science?" Carth spat on the dark immortal's back. “You are truly insane. You epitomize megalomania. You would bleed everything dry and leave us all as dried husks of our former selves. And then you'd sell us all to the goddam Cen!"
"I wouldn't,” Hades panted against the tile.
"You already have,” Carth growled. “You made alliance with that madman Grey. You sent Donner to that rally to attack Seymour and discredit the PAC. The plan was to force them to use magic to stop him, but no one anticipated the werewolf being there, and able to restrain him so easily.
"This world needs the PAC, and the metahumans, and the damn mages. They are our only hope against the Cen. Deny it all you will, you stupid bastard, but I know the truth. This is all part of the Cen plan, isn't it? To have the humans engaged in battle amongst themselves—to provoke the normal humans into trying to destroy the ‘freaks’ in the name of their obscene God.
"You treated me like a piece of furniture, Hades, but I watched and remembered everything that happened in front of me. I know about Grey, Donner, and the deal you brokered between the Cen and the girl's brother."
Raven lifted his gaze from Chase. “What girl's brother?"
"Jason Keening,” Carth told him. “That weasel of a vampire who—"
"That's an insult to weasels,” Chase gasped. “He's scum.” And then he shuddered once as his eyes glazed over in death.
Dusk threw her head back and howled. "Noooooo!"
* * * *
Jaz went to magesight and saw Chase's spirit leaving his body, materializing as an amorphous, vaguely human shape from the waist up. His lower body trailed away in a fading, misty trail. He looked around as if confused.
She switched back to normal vision and moved up next to the sobbing Abyssian woman. A thought had just occurred to her. Something totally unexpected. “I think I know how you can bring him back,” she said. “I don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a try."
"What?” Dusk asked, wiping at her tear streaked face with the back of her hand. “You mean bring him back from the dead?"
"Something like that,” she responded. “You love him, don't you?"
"Yes,” Dusk admitted, her face darkening in a blush. “Can you really bring him back?"
Jaz shook her head. “I don't think I can, but you might be able to."
"Just tell me how..."
"Oh, wait—I'm assuming you're a magic user. Are you?"
"Yes,” Dusk replied, impatiently reaching out to grab Jaz's arm. “Tell me!"
"Go to magesight and look for his spirit—it's floating about two feet above his body. Weave a net of mana of at least five strands and use that net to draw it back into the body. The more strands you can use, the better."
She watched, slightly stunned, as the Abyssian woman wove a quick net, forming it out of eight different strands and throwing it over the dazed and confused ghost of Gavin Chase. She set the other ends of the strands deep into his chest, tying them off as Jaz directed.
Then, as they watched, the wound began to close. Dusk began to weave and nearly collapsed. Had Raven not reached out she would have toppled over on Chase's body.
Suddenly the corpse sat up, taking a huge, gasping breath. “What the fu—” He blinked and recognized Dusk leaning over him, partially supported by the vampire's steady arm. “What happened?"
He reached up and grabbed her arm, then retracted his arm and stared in some surprise at his palms. The magegems were gone. “Where'd they go?"
Dusk, caught between laughing and crying, shook her head. “I don't know.” She glanced over at Jaz. “Can we move him?"
"Ask him,” Jaz said. “He should know how he feels."
"Better than I did,” Chase replied, sitting up. He was able to stand with their help. He cast an unsteady glance around his feet, scowling. “The gems are gone. Where's Hades?"
"Dead,” Raven replied. He looked up at Athena. “What now?"
"Why ask me? You were doing fine."
"Thanks, but the last thing I need right now is a pat on the back. Is our job here done?"
Athena glanced over at the homely stranger, as if wanting to take her cue f
rom him. He lifted his brow and shot her a cockeyed grin. “How many years having you been running the show, Athena? You don't need any advice from me."
"I don't know about that,” she grunted. “You haven't seemed too pleased with the job I'm doing."
"As long as you don't get too authoritative,” he answered grimly.
"So do we want to take Thomas Grey with us?” Ben cut in.
"What do you mean? He's dead. And I sure as hell don't want to bring him back to life,” Dusk replied.
"How'd you know he was dead?"
"Cowl and Shade told me."
That made sense. “The technician told me that his mind had been trapped in the machine's buffer. He's dead but not gone."
"I'll go grab it,” the ugly stranger commented. He lifted his head at the same time Ben heard vehicles in the driveway. “The Calvary,” he snorted.
"I'll handle them,” Athena muttered. She aimed a dark look at Jaz. “We will talk later."
Jaz drew herself up and met the Amazon immortal's gaze head on. “Whatever you want,” she replied. Ben shook his head at her nerve. Not many people were sturdy enough to stand up to Athena. The fact that this young woman could do it without blinking impressed him more than anything she'd done yet.
"We're going to have to think of something to do with the Abyssians,” Athena said absently, as the ugly stranger headed for the stairs leading to the lab downstairs.
"Who is that?” he asked Raven. Dusk was looking a bit stronger, so the vampire released the still wobbly Chase into her arms.
"That's Deryk Shea,” Raven told him. “Back from the dead, apparently.” He didn't seem particularly surprised by it. Of course, when you were undead yourself, the idea of someone else coming back from beyond the grave wasn't all that shocking. He walked up to the blue haired fellow and stuck out a hand. “Thanks for the help."
Carth—Ben remembered that was the name Hades had called him—glanced down at the vampire's hand, raised his gaze to meet his eyes, and took the proffered hand. “It's good to see you well,” he said.
"I wasn't sure which way you'd jump when it came down to it,” Raven admitted.
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