To my surprise, the blue voodoo, whatever it was, knocked him back a bit, creating the distraction. Amelia’s friends lit him up with bullets. Oh, if only fate was good to us—if only the fight could be so easy. Too bad it wasn’t. The bullets, the blue stuff, hell, me standing there intaking the scenery, only made him look at us.
He spoke in a booming voice as if commanding an army.
“The hunger. It is an unstoppable force that must be satisfied through the most bloody means possible,” he said as he surveyed our group. I noticed his claws elongated. In fact, he looked unscratched. No bows, no bullet holes, nothing. Amelia on the other hand had a little disheveled hair, a few claw-shaped tears on her shirt, but otherwise, unharmed. This fight could go on forever, eventually tearing up the damn place if we didn’t do something.
“Hey fuck face, I have a question for you,” I said. The devil looked at me, amused.
“Well if it isn’t the famous demigod, the most wanted man of walking death in the universe,” he said, chuckling as if he made a joke. “The pleasure is all mine.”
I ignored his taunt. “Are you the one running Sunset?”
“Sunset…” his eyes seemed to go out for a bit, reminiscing. “I’ve associate with them from time to time. But alas, the Drifter is running the show. And trust me when I say you’re in over your head.” He grinned, revealing fangs.
I just about had it with this asshole. This was supposed to be a quick and easy mission. Not a slaughter-fest. I wanted sleep, dammit. Amelia’s heavenly-light intensified as she raised her bow again. “Can you not see how useless it is, bitch?” He blurred right through her arrows and backhanded the goddess so hard, she spiraled at least twenty yards away.
“Dust this—”
“I remember who he is,” Sin said in a grim tone, interrupting me.
“Who?” Amanda said as she moved in closer.
“He’s ancient. Known as Simon the sorcerer in the human history books. Caused all kinds of mischief back then.”
“Are you serious?” Jade said.
“Simon’s such a stupid name,” I laughed. He turned from the goddess and admiration of his fist-punt, to glare us. Ah fuck, here we go.
“Prince Sin, you still haven’t learned anything,” Simon said. Before any of us could so much as retort, he appeared in front of us. That fist felt like what I assumed would be a pair of brass knuckles to the face. He didn’t just knock one back. The fists broke the sound barrier as he decked us all, one at a time, so fast, he was nearly invisible. I shook off my daze and sat up only to see nothing but suit standing over me. I looked up to a creepy half-smile.
“I was just kidding about the name—oof,” I tasted shoe polish as I flew backward again. That pissed me off. I recovered, unsheathing Ruin in the process. Simon, however, was already back in a hand to hand engagement with Amelia.
When he got too far away, Amelia peppered him with arrows that never seemed to run out and when he was close, she dissipated the bow for martial arts. Amelia was a force not to be fucked with in combat, but Simon looked as if he was toying with her. He fought like freaking Chuck Norris, easily putting the strongest member of our group in her place. He…was dominating a former member of the elite invincible steroid six. A goddess who’s arrows normally nuked hundreds of demons at a time… I let that sink in. Oh fuck.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“You guys may want to get out of here,” I said to the humans. “With Amelia struggling like that, this may be over our heads.” The women didn’t move, guns still trained on Simon, following his every move. Devante simply shook his head. “Are you sure about this?”
“We’re not leaving her,” Amanda said.
“We’ve fought through every nasty, at Amelia’s side,” Keisha said. “I’ll be damned if we leave her now to face that guy alone.”
“Don’t count us down yet simply because we’re human,” Jade said, poking my cheek. “We’ve practiced a new trick. It’s supposed to be for creeps like Yulese.” The three women faced each other and knuckle-tapped.
“Let me guess, Wonder Twin powers, activate,” I sniped. They glared at me before focusing back on whatever it was they were doing. The women closed their eyes. Jade chanted a prayer. I sighed. “I seriously hope that isn’t witchcraft.”
“No, you doofus,” Jade said. “It’s faith.”
“Interesting,” Sin said without taking his eyes off the showdown.
“Kind of hot,” Devante said under his breath. “Epex, don’t interrupt.”
I rolled my eyes and then watched as the prayer resumed. At first nothing happened. Seconds passed, and then I saw something sprout on their wrists. Glowing white crosses covered the backs of their hands.
Jade’s prayer ended with, “we thank you and ask that you give us the strength so that we may succeed. Amen.”
“For the Venus clan,” Keisha chanted, raising a fist.
“Princess Venus forever,” the others sung, also putting a fist into the air. The weird glows on their wrists still maintained an odd luminosity, brightening until lighting up most of the area. In seconds, it reduced until it surrounded just the women.
“Let’s do this,” Keisha said. They nodded then raised a fist. A geyser of white energy erupted into the air and smacked down onto Amelia. The fighting between her and Simon ceased as all eyes watched the goddess. My mouth went agape. The transformation looked and felt like an incredible beacon—her wings doubled in size and maintained a state of glow so bright, looking at them became a chore. Her blonde hair turned white, green eyes shifting to bright gold. I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I can definitely say that Amelia took off the kid gloves.
Simon’s eyes widened, then hardened. And so the standoff began—Amelia verses Simon the sorcerer. Yeah, fuck it, I didn’t want to get caught in that. I’m pretty sure being collateral damage would hurt more than it showed on the movies.
“Let’s get further away,” I said. No one objected. When we were at least fifty yards from the standoff of death, it began. Chuck Norris—I mean Simon - made the first move, raking a claw across the goddess’s face. It didn’t reach her.
Amelia stopped the claw with a finger. A FINGER!
She backhanded Simon, hurling him toward the building so fast, fire erupted around his body. Hell, he looked like a meteor. Simon crashed hard, but recovered. He roared like a lion, a very pissed off lion.
Amelia didn’t move.
He rushed her again, delivering her a fury of punches and claw rakes that would’ve pulverized us into goo. Amelia’s single finger moved fast—faster than I could see, blocking each strike with what appeared to be little effort. The expression on her face was neutral, cold. Deadly. This was it—this focus of hers had to be what landed her in the circle of six elite death bags. Simon suddenly stopped the punches.
“I guess this is why the Drifter is running Sunset and not me,” he said, and then laughed. “But don’t think this little trick will intimidate him.” Amelia walked toward him at a pace that looked as if she had all the time in the world. “Shit, not good.” Simon burst into a run. Or at least he tried to, but found himself unable to move. I silently took back his Chuck Norris card.
“I will throw you back into Hell,” Amelia said, her tone edged with ice and venom.
“You will rue—” Simon’s words were cut off by another backhand. I looked at her friends. Smiles were on their faces. I sighed, not bothering to question them, and turned back to the fight. The goddess had her bow out. The moment Simon stood, she fired the arrow that pierced him, before I even saw it move. Then what happened next made me wonder just how fucked I’d be if Amelia wasn’t on my side. Simon literally exploded, his guts splattering everywhere but the goddess.
“And I thought I saw it all after escaping Hell,” I said.
Chapter Thirty-five
Amelia turned to us, still powered up, and stared for a few seconds before shifting her gaze to Sin.
“Are you good to go?” I said t
o her. She didn’t respond, that cold stare not leaving Sin. I looked at her friends. “Please tell me that state doesn’t take away her awareness.” They shot me a sad smile. “Sin, you may want to slowly get the fuck out of here.” My warning was too late. Amelia blurred to him. He managed to jump away from her knife hand just in time. “Amelia, what the hell are you doing? Don’t attack allies.” She ignored me, her gaze following Sin.
“Epex, kindly tell your girlfriend not to kill me,” Sin said, his voice falling short of the humor he tried to put in it.
I heard Devante chant something fast, and before we knew it, Sin was gone.
“All right, snap her out of it,” he said.
“You’re a goddamn useful sorcerer,” I said.
“I try.” He laughed.
Amelia wasn’t amused as she turned to him. “Sorcerer…taking from nature without permission. You will be judged now. I sentence you to death.”
“Epex, are all divine douchey like this?” Devante said.
“Get out of here before she kills you too,” I snarled. He nodded, chanted something, and within a second, was out of here.
“You betray Paradise Realm to help denizens of Hell?” Amelia said. Before I could answer, she was there. And I felt the erupting pain of a backhand, along with the feeling of flying backward. I hit the ground back first, knocking the wind out of me. I was dazed for only a second before I stood up, only to be lifted by my throat.
“Lady Amelia, please don’t hurt him,” Jade said, her hands on the goddess’s arm. “Please have—”
“Follower, you who has my favor, I command you to return to your home,” Amelia said. “I value the kindness you show even to those who don’t deserve it. However, he let two of the dark, escape. This shall not be overlooked.”
The others chimed in. “Amelia, snap—”
“Go!” The command rang with power behind it. The eyes of the women glazed over as they walked away. Amelia turned to me with an alien-look in her eyes. Ice, venom, unrecognition. I…felt a huge sense of loss.
Fuck that, I couldn’t let this go on any longer.
I felt the familiar warmth of heavenly-light surround me as I aimed a hand at the goddess. I force-bashed her away, not far, but there was enough jolt in the power to get me back on my feet. There was no way I could face Amelia—not in a fair fight. I finished charging the power in my back, jumping into ascension a second before Amelia’s fist could collide with my face. I knew she’d follow me, though, so I appeared in the city and blended into the crowd.
Of course, I had to calm down so that my heavenly-light could collapse in on itself. Else, they’d give my visible location away, staring at the glowing guy. Oh, if only it was easy to escape, to stay in the crowd and to devise a way to snap Amelia out of her death-giving state. I happened to take one look up at the sky and my mouth went agape.
What the humans probably thought was a bright star was actually the goddess, following my every move. Fuck. I needed to dive deep, to come up with a way to end this shit. She’d come down eventually. Her state made no sense. What could be driving it? Faith never set heavenly-beings on a rampage. The power boost given to Amelia by her friends seemed as if it turned on some kind of ancient warrior-goddess instinct. But like any ON switch, there was an OFF setting. At least I hoped there was.
In other words, I’d have to knock Wonder Woman up there out cold.
Easier said than done.
Then the idea hit me. Emotion.
I’d have to get into killing range of her again, but the same ability she taught me could be used to turn her back to normal. Now, the hard part: ascend, survive the assault, and change her back. Yeah… I know, insanity. Still, I needed my goddess back. I charged emotion first, then charged power into my back.
Amelia probably sensed the ascension, and prepared to follow. Of course, she would. I only had one shot at this. I unsheathed Ruin as I ascended back to the college campus, to the area of Simon’s gut fest. She appeared just as quickly, and I shoved the blade into the ground.
A truckload of force smashed into me before I had the chance to unleash the wave of emotion.
Fuck, so close.
I prepared to ascend again, despite my power-tank reaching dangerously low levels. The only reserve I had left was the emotion I had set aside to restore the goddess. Shit, shit, shit!
A rush of anger seeped into me as I leapt to my feet and engaged Amelia. I’d either die or fight back. And trust me, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
As I made the first punch, the warmth of heavenly-light surrounded me. Amelia blocked it with a finger and then tossed me onto my back with some judo move. I rolled out of the way of her punch, which created a ten-foot crater in the concrete.
I took that chance to tap what was left—sadly weak force-bashes, none of which budged her. Amelia shook her head and blurred right in front of me.
This was it. I’d be killed by the one who showed me how to…. Not hate?
A fitting end, right? Shit. That’s when a large purple sphere of energy shot from nowhere, smashed into Amelia, laying her out. I turned toward the direction to see Elly.
“I told you goddesses can’t be trusted,” she said and then winked. “You better fix her and fast. If she gets up in that state, we’re both dead. I won’t catch her off guard again.”
“Turn on any mental defenses,” I said as I bolted toward Ruin. I picked up the sword, stabbed it into the ground, and released enough emotion to even make three-hundred giant elephants blush.
A translucent-purple sphere surrounded Elly as the shockwave of love, covered anyone within a two-hundred-meter radius.
Amelia convulsed until finally her wings shrunk to their normal length, the light around her vanished, her hair changed back to its normal blonde and her eyes back to green. She collapsed into unconsciousness. I sighed in relief that the gamble I had taken didn’t get me killed, then looked at Elly.
“Thanks. You just saved my ass,” I said, weakly. She smiled.
“I expect that life debt to be paid in full,” Sse said. “Now enough with the sappy talk and scoop up your goddess. We’re done here. Let’s not be spotted by the cops when they show up.”
I told the others what happened when we arrived at the vehicles. Fortunately, Sin and Devante caught Amelia’s hypnotized friends and forced them into Amanda’s car then watched over them. I shook the women. It took some effort, but they snapped out of their zombie-states. I could drive but mind you, I was beat. I’d rather not experience what it would feel like to fall asleep behind the wheel.
Chapter Thirty-six
Someone nudged my arm, but I didn’t wake up. It was a goddamn off day. Why would I do anything that required me to get out of bed?
Nudge, nudge. Okay, whatever that was was beginning to piss me off. Then just like that, memories of the night before flooded into me. I sat up to see Amelia sitting beside me, a thoughtful look on her face. I felt none of the pain from last night—obvious healing courtesy of the goddess.
And damn, did it feel good to see warm green eyes and not cold gold ones. I think I may have surprised Amelia when I pulled her in for a kiss. Hot tears fell from her face, her guilt from last night manifesting in full and for a moment, I let her cry on my chest. She tried to apologize but I held up a hand. There was no fault here.
The next morning, I joined the others in the kitchen for a recovery breakfast. Keisha handed me a plate of waffles and bacon. Damn, did I love the days when it was her turn to cook. While she wasn’t as skilled as Amelia, she was the only one who succumbed to my puppy dog eyes—and thus prepared me the most unhealthy sides. Hence the bacon. None of the women ate much meat, but sometimes cooked it for my sake.
I had questions. A lot of them, but I’d hold my tongue for a while. After breakfast, I volunteered to clean up.
“All of you, take the day off,” I said. “Leave the chores and yard work to me.” Yard work was already my primary chore anyway, courtesy of Amanda’s philosophy.
You bet your ass I became a lawn-moving, trash-taking out expert. Responsibility is simply a part of my training, right? Forget I said that. It took a little convincing, but eventually I kicked all of the women out.
For the next two hours, I dominated the chores while listening to music. I couldn’t help but have a thing for rap and metal. Both genres gave me a sense of empowerment, made me feel like I could accomplish anything. There were a few bad eggs that snuck into the queue, like club rap, pop, and whiny country but other than that, the music felt awesome.
This became my routine as the days passed. I trained a lot, taking lessons from Amelia, and honing my craft. Then at night, I worked, though Amony halted all Sunset-related meetings until she could finish developing an infiltration strategy with some other team. After we’d told her everything from the night Simon attacked, she seemed to have a new insight on life, tripling recruiting and drowning herself in busy work. If she and Sin had a relationship going on, it was either stretched thin or tossed onto the backburner.
Amelia and others trained really hard after their classes finished. Amelia wanted to gain control of what she called the divine state.
I didn’t object to that. Couldn’t have her going Cujo on us again.
When payday rolled around, I decided it was just about that time to get myself an apartment. I had adjusted to the human world, this city, and its customs very well. At least I thought I hadd. I could live the mundane life…I turned off the computer and stared at the blank screen. The human life is in my grasp. An exciting job, a loved one, friends.
But…I’m Epex, seventh son of Conus. A fugitive.
Hell to Pay (Blood for Soul Book 1) Page 16