We Will Bleed

by Nicole Thorn

  My heart beat a little faster, a little harder. “Erebus, what are you talking about? The gods haven’t told us anything. They like to keep us in the dark.”

  “Of course, they do,” Erebus said. “It’s easier to get people to join your side, when they don’t know what they’re doing. You owe them a favor now, because they’ve made you seers into gods as well. They’re trying to accumulate debt with you, but they are doing it poorly. They need more people on their side or they will lose this war.”

  The word fell into the room like a heavy weight.

  “War?” I asked.

  Erebus nodded. “It’s been a long time since the gods went to war for anything, but they are building their army. It’s sitting on the horizon, waiting to come down on us.”

  Things started to make sense. All the creatures that had been around Seattle, Arachne, the reason that Argus wanted the golden fleece, to build his own army. We had been wondering about these things for months, but a war seemed so extreme, even for the gods. They hadn’t involved themselves in such things for thousands of years.

  “Shit,” Zander said, getting up, and walking away from Jasmine. “They were going to spring this on us, weren’t they? Our mothers would call us to help at some random point, without giving us the facts, so that we would join the war without knowing what’s happened.”

  Kezia looked up at Zander. “But all the gods knew. That includes Persephone and Hades.”

  Verin shook his head. “If my father didn’t tell me, that’s because he wanted to keep me out of it. Not because he wanted me to join. I think the same would go for Persephone. Maybe even Medusa.”

  “Medusa?” Juniper asked, looking up at him.

  Erebus answered. “If the gods and monsters are splitting into two sides, then it would only make sense that the strongest monsters are part of it all.”

  Like Argus, again.

  “Has this war started yet?” Jasmine asked.

  “We would know,” Kezia said. “If the gods start a fight, then the entire world will know about it.”

  Erebus patted his nose, looking at her. I watched him, though, because something about this felt off. Why would he be telling us this. It didn’t create any more chaos, and he didn’t get anything out of it.

  “Callie had said something about this,” Kezia said. “When she came by to say that she was glad you didn’t stay dead. She said something about this. I can’t remember what, but of course she heard something. The gods are probably always talking in her head, bothering her.”

  Erebus watched everyone in my family, never losing that amused expression on his face. He had said that he and two of his daughters considered joining this war. He sat at our table, which made me think his decision had been made. Which in turn made me wonder why he sat at our table at all.

  “We should call someone,” Zander said. “Verify this. Medusa is probably still nearby. She could be here in twenty minutes, to tell us if this all true or not. She’ll have an explanation for why she didn’t tell us, too.” He looked confused as he spoke.

  Kezia put her hands on the table. “Artemis gave us all those weapons, specially designed for us. I thought it had been a thank you for helping the gods out, but what if it hadn’t been? What if she was suiting us up, so that we could join into the war with the rest of the people who owed them a favor?”

  I could practically feel my family’s panic, but I didn’t have the same feeling. The war hadn’t started yet, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it, either. Yet, Erebus sat at our table, watching us go ‘round and ‘round.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, again. “Why are you telling us all of this, when it would be easier to let us flounder. That would even be entertaining, in a way. Panicking us wouldn’t give you any amusement.”

  A resigned look filled Erebus’ eyes as he stood up. “You’re right on that,” he said. “All of it. I wouldn’t be here just to tell you some secrets the gods wanted to keep hidden. I’m not convinced that the gods have taken up their power again. But I think they have been left unpunished for too long. That’s why I’m working against them.”

  I rose up from my seat as well. Kezia followed me, her eyes locked on the man before us.

  “You should choose your side soon, because right now, you’re a fresh target for everyone. Those that think the gods should’ve let your seers burn and those that think you’ll help them in taking back power they willingly gave us. You’re a big question mark, because no one knows what the seers can do anymore, either.”

  All six of us stood now, a line of people facing down a man that could kill us in seconds.

  Erebus smiled, his eyes sparkling with malice. I had never seen that expression on his face before, and it had my stomach twisting around in worry. “You aren’t safe anymore, kids. It’s time for you to make a decision.”

  “No,” Zander said. “I’m not going to make a choice when the only facts I have, came from someone like you.”

  “Agreed,” Jasmine said, nodding emphatically.

  Erebus sighed, and looked around the house. “Then I’m sorry for this.”

  All the lights went out as one, and it seemed like the sun had been blotted from the sky. I grabbed Kezia immediately, so that I wouldn’t lose her. She gripped my arm as tightly as she could, and I felt the power in that grip. The desperation to not let go.

  The darkness felt heavy, oppressive. Like it had cocooned me, suffocated me.

  “Zander?” Jasmine called.

  “Right here,” Zander said. I heard my sister sigh in relief.

  “Juniper and I are over here,” Verin called. “Do you guys hear anything?”

  I heard plenty, actually. The sound of six hearts beating, our breathing accelerated. I could hear our feet shuffling along the ground. I could not hear Erebus, though. He had disappeared into the darkness.

  “Let’s try to get to the backyard,” Jasmine said. “Maybe it’ll be easier to see out there. Worse comes to worse, Nemo can maybe help us.”

  We started to move, Kezia leading me.

  Erebus’ voice sounded behind me, like a whisper. No one else reacted, so I had to assume that they couldn’t hear it. “I did like you, Jasper. You’re such a calm storm. I wanted to stick around, because one day, that storm will explode. I wanted to see you destroy something, because I know it will wreck you. A pity, really.”

  I opened my mouth to tell the others that Erebus was behind me. Something sliced through my stomach, making pain rush through me. I dropped Kezia’s hand, and she shouted my name. I felt my body trying to heal around the blade that had been stabbed through me. My skin kept ripping over and over again, trying to fix the damage.

  The blade tore fee, and my body healed immediately. Erebus’ hand came around my throat and slammed me against the wall. “This shouldn’t take more than a second,” he said. “Let me offer my apologies.”

  Searing cold sliced through my lips, and then down my throat. It seemed to tear my esophagus on the way down to my stomach, freezing my lungs. It didn’t kill me, but it felt like it should have.

  Blindly, I reached out, and grabbed Erebus. It felt like I had grip on his shirt. A poor one at that. I balled that shirt up, and yanked Erebus forward. His head slammed into the wall behind me, but the painful cold didn’t let up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

  Why Not Send All You’ve Got

  Kezia

  I FULLY BELIEVED that the only reason my brain could go at a million miles per hour, was because I had all that god like power in me. I could think about more than one thing at once, and I didn’t like it. For example, as I watched my new husband get pinned to a wall, I had entire thoughts of fury, and fear, as well as the beginnings of a plot to get him out of this. Erebus snapped on the drop of a dime, for any one of a million reasons. Entertainment, plans, attitude. I wouldn’t let him kill my husband because he was pissy that we wouldn’t pick sides.

  Jasper moved fast, and it took me a moment to remember how he could
do that. Erebus’ head hit the wall . . . and Jasper did that. Jasper, who used to be so weak and thin. Jasper, who I’d seen covered in clay almost more often than not. Jasper, who could be so soft and so warm. Jasper, who had become a god. I watched him hurt a primordial being, and it made me smile.

  Everything turned black, and I slipped into another version of me. I lost the human part and became more god than I let myself normally. My brain worked fast, figuring out how to calculate this. Seven heartbeats, so I listened out for the one that didn’t race. I blocked out all sound but that one steady beat, and I lunged. Physically, I was the weakest one in the room.

  I had my hand on his chest, holding the man to the ground. He could have had me flying across the room if he wanted, but he didn’t make a move.

  “This isn’t how you make friends,” I pointed out. “And stabbing my husband is a really bad wedding present.”

  When Erebus spoke, his voice didn’t stay in one place. It felt like wind, swirling around the air. It traveled around my ears, the volume changing as it got closer and farther. “It wouldn’t have killed him. That time.”

  “I’m aware, and that isn’t the point.”

  “Have you the ability to understand how disappointing it is to want you to play for my team, and you keep being this stubborn?”

  I went to smack him, hoping it landed with something solid. I think I got him in the ear. “The seers are connected to the gods, moron. So is Callie, who you couldn’t get me to go against, no matter what you tried. My loyalties have nothing to do with the gods, and everything to do with the people I love.”

  “Bring your oracle then.”

  “Maybe you missed the part where I said she’s connected to the gods, like most of my family.”

  “That can be worked around.”

  And then everything around me changed. I couldn’t tell where I was, but I felt like my body had been pulled away from Erebus. I screamed, but I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t hear anything, come to think of it. When I moved my limbs, I didn’t feel the ground, or the walls, or anything I could grab onto. I’d been trapped in blackness, and I didn’t even know if I was standing.

  “This doesn’t end well for you if you pick wrong,” I heard from that swirling voice.

  “So, if I don’t play with you, then I don’t get to play at all? That’s how it is?”

  I heard him chuckle. “You make me sound infantile.”

  “You use tricks and throw fits when you don’t get what you want.”

  The voice came from in front of me then, steady, though I couldn’t see anyone. “I don’t want any of you to die, and I worry you’re picking the wrong side. It’s irritating to see people I like, letting the gods use them like tissues.”

  “We don’t do that,” I said through my teeth.

  “You do. You let your mother abandon you when you needed her most, and you loved her anyway. You think I don’t know what happened to you? I can see everything. I’m everywhere. I know what those humans did to you, and I know what your brother did in return. I feel the darkness in him, and what he feels about the choice he made. Foolish of him to punish himself for such an act of love. More than your mother ever did for you. Yet . . . you are only now starting to wake up to her true nature.”

  “It doesn’t change anything. I’m not picking a side, and neither is my family.”

  Erebus sighed. “What a shame. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to kill you all.”

  I felt like I landed on my feet then, and I still didn’t know where I was. When I stepped back, I felt my body touching something. Five other heartbeats sounded off in my ears again, and they raced. I turned, feeling for people.

  “Kizzy?” Zander said, edging on frantic.

  “Yeah, where the hell are we?”

  “Everything went black,” Juniper said from my side. “Then things got all twisty. I don’t know if we’re in the house anymore.”

  The ground didn’t feel like tile or grass. It didn’t feel like much of anything, actually, but I didn’t trust my own head. Erebus could do any number of things that I didn’t understand, so it was best to be prepared.

  “Are we all here?” I asked.

  I heard five yes answers, and a familiar hand wrapped around mine. Jasper’s scent surrounded me, and some of the fear went away with it. Three gods and three demigods. What couldn’t we face?

  I heard something growling around us, and I wanted to curse and punch Erebus at the same time. I had no weapons on me to defend myself, so I didn’t know how we could fight off . . . whatever this was.

  “Why are our days like this?” Jasmine complained. “Is it so much to ask to get to spend my time eating, then going and having sex with my boyfriend?”

  “Can you have mercy on me right now?” Jasper asked. “You can try to make me throw up later.”

  The blackness changed. It was kind of like my eyes started to adjust, but I still couldn’t see anything. Surely it couldn’t be a real abyss. Erebus just made our home look and feel like one. We were home. We had to be home.

  I looked around, trying hard to see. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but I saw a blur moving in the shadows. It launched forward, right at Jasmine. Zander shoved her aside, standing in her place. The thing pounced on him, and I heard flesh tearing as blood scented the air.

  I ran for him at the same time Jasmine did, intent on protecting my brother, even if I had to rip this thing apart with my bare hands. Zander punched at it, but still grunted in pain when the creature hurt him.

  “Claws off my boyfriend, fucker!” Jasmine shouted as she launched forward. Her body slammed into the thing, and they both went rolling. When I heard a hiss at the same time something roared, I figured out that Erebus sent a damn chimera after us.

  “You okay, Zander?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer me, too busy trying to get up and keep Jasmine from wrestling with a snake tailed, lion and goat headed . . . thing. He went for her, and I went for him.

  I screamed when I felt snake teeth sink into my shoulder, and I screamed louder when it happened a second time. I tried to grab at it, but I couldn’t see well. The creature looked massive in the darkness, and even with six people on it, I worried for our odds.

  Jasmine kicked the thing, and it shrieked in pain over her. Verin tried for the goat horns, at least two feet long each. Those things were sharp, so he had to avoid getting stabbed in the chest with them. He also had to split his time with trying to keep Juniper back.

  When Jasmine got up, Zander took her by the arm, pulling her back. That might have worked if she hadn’t been stronger than him now, and if the moron didn’t try to be a hero and take the thing on himself. Claws cut across his middle, and he doubled over in pain.

  I saw Jasmine’s eyes go wide before she turned back to the monster. “Oh, well now you die in pain.”

  When it went for her, she went for it too. The snake struck at her, and she grabbed it by the neck. It looked like it surprised her, but she pulled hard. Jasmine screamed when it ripped the creature in half.

  “Oh, my gods!” Juniper shouted.

  Jasmine threw the snake head aside as the chimera cried out in pain. Part of me felt horrible, because it probably didn’t know what it was doing. On the other hand, it tried to kill my family, and I couldn’t feel all that sorry.

  Verin broke off a horn, and then shoved it in the heart of the creature. When he pulled it out, I heard blood hitting the ground, enough to make a damn sound. When its body collapsed, the ground shook a little.

  We all panted, and I winced as my wounds healed up. I had a hand on my shoulder as I went back to Jasper.

  “Is that it?” I breathed. The pain in my body started to ease, but it always took a bit to stop being sore. The gods probably had it much easier, but I had fought through worse. My bones had been on the outside of my body before, and probably would be again.

  “I really doubt that,” Zander said. “One monster and then we’re finished? Not a chance.”

&n
bsp; More noises started to surround us, and Jasper moved forward to the body. He broke off the other horn, and we all stood in a circle, facing out so that nothing could sneak attack us. We would see it coming, at least in the form of a blur.

  I listened out, trying to hear what could be waiting in the darkness. Erebus might come for us himself, wanting to make sure the job got done. He couldn’t have thought one beast would take us all down, but maybe he thought it would have caught at least one of us off guard. For all the conversations with Erebus, it hadn’t felt like he really wanted us dead. Funny how stabbing a person changed all that. If his goal had been to get us on his side, then this wasn’t the way to do it. It would only make us hate him. After the boys and I had to find the bodies of our people dead, we were obviously sensitive to this kind of thing.

  Footsteps approached, and Jasper handed me the broken horn. I would have given it back, but I doubted he’d take it. He would try and tell me that I needed it more, which was true. So, I kept it, intent on using the thing to keep him safe.

  “I don’t know what they are,” Verin said. “But I hear them. At least four things approaching.”

  “Great,” Juniper sniped. “What do we do? Break up?”

  “Groups of two,” Zander said. “I’ll take on the extra thing.”

  I could almost hear Jasmine glaring at him. “Shut up, you will not take on the extra. Let’s just kill these things really fast.”

  We went with the plan, each couple breaking away in the darkness. Whatever came our way, it crawled on four legs and looked huge. I hoped it wasn’t another chimera, since the snake bite freaked me out like nothing else. I had faced scarier things, but that didn’t matter.

  “Fuck me,” I sighed, seeing the paws of the thing coming at us. Another lion like creature, but one that would give me nightmares for the rest of my life. I had never seen a sphinx in person before, but even in the dark, it looked horrifying. While the lion body didn’t bother me, the human like head did. If it had been any lighter in here, I would’ve seen eyes that looked too much like ours.