Esher’s blue eyes brightened dangerously. “I can do it.”
“No. I will close Tokyo.”
Those words leaving Keras’s lips had everyone gaping at him as if he had lost his mind. Ares’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, and it was still strange that Ares could touch him again. It felt like old times.
Really felt like it when Ares spoke.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”
Keras couldn’t remember the last time someone had dared to deny an order he had issued. It hadn’t happened since they had left the Underworld, that was for sure. He pulled together a convincing argument, attempting to make it watertight so Ares couldn’t argue against it.
“I could close Hong Kong,” Esher repeated.
Keras shook his head, and he wasn’t the only one. He didn’t want to send his brother off the deep end, not again. It was too risky. There was no way of telling which Esher would wake from the deep sleep closing a gate would put him in. If it was his other side that took the reins, there was a chance that he might go on a rampage, hunting for the enemy and lashing out at anyone who tried to get through to him.
Esher had killed hundreds of their father’s soldiers when he had swept through the Underworld, hunting for the wraith. If Esher flipped in this world, he would slaughter a hundred times that number, the presence of so many humans bound to trigger a violent response in him.
Aiko came to Esher and wrapped her arm around his right one, holding it tightly as she slipped her hand into his.
He looked down at her, his brow furrowing, sorrow washing across his noble features as his blue eyes sought hers. “I can do this. I’m strong enough now. We want to draw the enemy out and force them to act, and I’m stronger than Keras right now.”
Which was a bit of a kick in the balls.
Keras couldn’t recall the last time he had been viewed as the weakest member of the team. In fact, he was sure it had never happened before.
“If the Hong Kong gate is unstable because of Esher’s current condition, then Tokyo is just as unstable.” Daimon looked from Esher to Keras, and then at each of his brothers in turn. “We can’t place all the strain on Tokyo right now.”
“He has a point.” Marek scratched the light dusting of stubble that coated his jaw, a thoughtful edge to his earthy eyes. “It might be exactly what the enemy wants.”
Keras considered that, calculated all the angles and frowned when he realised that his brothers were right. His current condition was no doubt affecting the gate, and closing Hong Kong could very well make the Tokyo gate unstable enough that he would no longer be able to control it.
“We have to do something,” he bit out, shocked by the sharp edge to his tone and the burning need that swept through him on the heels of those words escaping him. He didn’t try to hold it back, just let it flood him and then rush out of him. “This inaction is driving me crazy. I need to fight.”
Enyo squeezed his hand, drawing his focus to her. Concern shone in her pale green eyes, and he shook his head, silently asking her not to side against him too.
Rather than doing that, she surprised him by saying, “I can spar with you. If you need some release, you can find it that way.”
“Release? Is that what the old folks call doing the dirty?” Valen nudged Cal and winked at him.
Cal grinned, and then frowned. “Damn it. I had something funny there on the tip of my tongue and it’s gone. Ah… crap. Something about sparring and swords and sheathes and things.”
Keras growled, “Enough!”
Cal immediately clammed up.
Valen had the audacity to poke his tongue out.
Which only made things worse.
Enyo stared at his brother’s tongue. “What is that?”
Valen ran the metal stud in the centre of his tongue across his upper teeth. “Pure titanium thrills, baby. Ask Keras to get one. You’ll thank me for it. Eva loves it. Squirms like a crazy thing when—”
“Stronzo,” Eva muttered as she shoved him in the side of his head, causing his neon violet hair to fall down over the other side of his face.
He swept it back and frowned at her.
A puzzled look flitted across Enyo’s face. “How does it make her squirm?”
“Oh gods,” Ares grumbled and palmed his face.
Keras grimaced. Might have blushed. He cleared his throat. But words failed him, and Valen jumped on the opening.
“When a man and a woman love each other very much, the birds and the bees get all frisky like and—” He jerked forwards and scowled at Eva again, his eyes narrowing on her raised hand where it lingered near the side of his head. “You’re going over my knee, missy.”
She squealed as he grabbed her, swept her up into his arms and kissed her. She sank into it, a moan escaping her as all of her fight left her.
Keras’s blush might have deepened.
Enyo made sure it did when she looked at him, all innocence. “I still do not understand. Does he mean squirming as she is now, when he is kissing her?”
“There is a sort of kissing involved,” Daimon murmured under his breath.
Enyo canted her head and frowned, her puzzled look bordering on adorable now. Keras would have thought it that, had the topic that was confusing her not been so damned embarrassing.
“Ask Keras to show you,” Esher mumbled into his palm.
Keras sighed. He expected this sort of behaviour from Valen, and perhaps Calistos.
He expected better from the rest of his brothers.
“Ah, lay off them.” Ares collared Esher and Daimon, and kicked Valen in the back of his knee.
It crumpled beneath him, sending him and Eva crashing to the floor.
Valen gave Ares a disgruntled look.
“I still wish to know what—” Enyo started.
“It’s a sexual thing,” Keras blurted.
Regretted it when her wide eyes landed on him.
He had hoped it would make things better, but everything felt a million times worse as she stared at him in silence, unblinking, that pretty blush on her cheeks darkening towards crimson. His body got the wrong idea, twisted the thought of sparring with her to let off steam into a wicked scenario in his head, one that would turn fighting into something far more pleasurable.
Something he had been without for centuries.
His experience of carnal matters before meeting Enyo had been limited and after that he had only thought of her, had only been interested in her.
He hadn’t kissed a woman, hadn’t touched a woman, hadn’t wanted another woman, since the moment she had walked into his life.
Rocking his entire world off its axis.
His brothers fell deathly quiet. He tossed Ares a pleading look, asking for a lifeline, something to get him out of this mess.
Ares released Esher and Daimon. “I could blow off some steam myself. What if we lured the enemy out? No closing gates. Just some good old-fashioned baiting?”
Cal muttered to Marinda, “My two oldest brothers are suddenly acting reckless. I feel like I’ve fallen into an alternate reality. Am I meant to be one of the sensible ones now?”
Cass leaped on that one, her Russian accent adding bite to her words. “I am not sure you are capable of that feat.”
Daimon whispered, “Burn.”
Cal glared at both of them.
This sort of banter felt strangely good to Keras. He had never participated in it, had always been on the outside of it looking in, but he had always enjoyed the way his brothers would tease each other in the Underworld.
He had enjoyed it far less after they had been banished to this world and he had been forced to accept the responsibility of ensuring they survived and they succeeded in completing their mission.
He wanted to participate, to show his brothers that he could be one of the group too, that he had retained a sense of humour.
Only he couldn’t think of anything to say.
“We could draw the enemy to Ho
ng Kong.” Esher glanced at Daimon, clearly wanting his input. The two of them had always been close, shared a bond that had made Keras jealous a few times.
“I could go along with that.” Daimon’s pale blue eyes gained a serious edge as he added, “But we’re not closing the gate.”
Keras nodded. “Agreed. Both gates should remain open. As much as I do not want to admit it, I am not at my strongest right now.”
Ares came back to him and lightly tapped his arm, the sort of playful punch his brother had often done back in the Underworld. Their mother had always smiled whenever Ares had given him a ‘love tap’ as she had called it. It was his brother’s way of showing support, and it always made Keras feel as if he wasn’t alone.
As if he did have a deep bond with at least one of his brothers.
As if one of them understood him and the weight he carried on his shoulders.
“What if we add a little more incentive for the enemy?” Cass swept her long black hair over her shoulder, her aquamarine eyes bright with mischief that had Daimon sighing before she even announced her plan. “I should go with you. No doubt the enemy knows you both well and would expect Daimon to go with Esher, and in turn they would expect me to go with Daimon to support him.”
“So you don’t need to go.” Daimon glowered at her. “If they’re expecting you to be there on the basis that I’ll go with Esher, then you don’t need to go.”
She pouted, evidently displeased about the flaw in her plan.
“I agree, this is not a good idea.” Marek looked at Marinda and Calistos.
Marinda shook her head, her blue-green eyes edged with violet as her power rose, curling around Keras. “The enemy wants to get their hands on you, Cass. What happens if they manage that?”
Cass went to her and pulled her into a hug. “I swear, I will be safe, sweetie.”
“No.” Marinda yanked free of her. “If you go, then I’m going too.”
Cal reached for Marinda’s arm. “Hey now, let’s not all go crazy. The enemy wants you too. Let Cass go.”
Cass shot him daggers. “You want me to get witchnapped.”
He pulled an innocent face. “Me? Never. Whatever made you think that?”
Colourful light bathed her palms and the strange scent of magic filled the air.
Ares inserted himself between them and grumbled, “Now, now, kids.”
“I do not think it a wise idea.” Keras looked from Cass to Daimon. “My brother is right about that. The enemy wants your ability to raise the dead. We cannot afford to give them any opportunity to get their hands on you.”
Cass turned her glare on him. “So you think you can just bench me?”
The glow of magic coming from her hands grew brighter.
Enyo stepped between him and the witch. “Try it, and we shall see how well you can cast your little spells when you are buried six feet under. I doubt necromancy could bring you back from the sort of death I would deal.”
For a heartbeat, Cass looked as if she might take Enyo up on a brawl, and Keras swore the entire room was holding their breath as they waited to see what she would do.
Keras held his breath because the thought of watching Enyo go all out was strangely alluring.
Had those damned wicked images filling his head again.
He subtly placed his hands into the pockets of his black trousers, trying to conceal the effect they had on him. He wasn’t sure he had ever been so hard.
Cass pulled a face as she shrugged and the light in her palms faded as a smile slowly worked its way onto her lips. “I like this goddess. She has balls.”
The sorceress looked over her bare shoulder at Daimon.
“We should bring her to the gate too.”
Enyo shook her head. “The enemy seemed rather inclined to flee when they saw me in Tokyo.”
“A shame.” Cass hiked her shoulders again. “I would like to see you fight.”
Keras wanted to see it again too.
He shook that thought away and clawed together the tattered remains of his focus. “Daimon and Esher will go, and I will go with them, together with Ares.”
Enyo looked as if she wanted to voice an objection.
“I am going too.” Cass held her hand up, her palm facing Daimon and Marinda. “I will be safe.”
Milos came to her, purring loudly as he twined himself around her legs.
She looked down at him and cooed sweetly. “I know you will be there to protect me if I need you, my adorable baby boy.”
The ginger and white tomcat meowed and then glared at Daimon.
Keras could practically read the guardian deity’s mind. He had met a few in his years, but he had never seen one that was so fiercely possessive of its master. The cat had shown him time and time again that he didn’t like Daimon stealing her attention away from him.
“You’re not coming.” Daimon shook his head when she scowled at him. “Be mad at me all you want. I don’t want you playing bait to lure the enemy out.”
Esher went rigid.
“She doesn’t have to play bait.”
His blue eyes leaped to meet Keras’s and verged on black.
“The Hong Kong gate is opening.”
Chapter 17
Keras stepped the moment Esher announced that the Hong Kong gate was opening, darkness embracing him and the cool touch of the Underworld giving him strength as he prepared himself. The scent of dew and earth greeted him on the other side of his teleport, and he hunkered down in the shadowy night, peering across the rolling landscape of Lantau Island to where the gate was located.
Esher had been right.
Violet light glowed on the next hill, a spot that was growing brighter as he stared at it, willing his senses to sharpen.
Esher and Daimon appeared.
Right in the middle of the group of daemons who were forming a barrier around the gate.
Damn it.
Keras stepped again, because so much for getting the lay of the land before leaping into the fray. His brothers were going to need him.
The daemons weren’t the only ones at the gate.
Meadow, the furie belonging to the enemy and half-sister of Marinda, was there too. She stood with her hand outstretched, palm facing the central disc of the gate as it slowly expanded, confirming his suspicion that she had managed to get her hands on either his or one of his brothers’ blood during a previous battle and it was still potent enough for her to siphon the power to open the gate from it.
Her golden hair flowed around her shoulders as she lifted her other hand to hold both before her. It caressed skin turned milk white by the slender moonlight, a contrast to her black corset and leathers that blended with the night.
Keras landed near to her and immediately focused on the gate.
She bit out a curse as it began to close. Turned a glare on him. That glare became a look of concern as Enyo appeared close to him.
Gods, it felt good to have her at his back.
He wasn’t a fool. He knew he was in no condition to fight, that he wasn’t at peak strength, and it would be easy for the enemy to get the better of him. Not because he was physically weak, but because he was mentally weak right now. The darkness already writhed inside him, rising to steal control of him, and he couldn’t surrender to it, was bone-deep aware of the destruction he would cause if it overtook him, but he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to hold back the tide.
He slid a look at Enyo, silently asking her to do whatever it took to protect his brothers and this world from him if the darker side of him won.
She nodded and stroked her right hand over her left hip, her fingers caressing her black leather trousers. A blade materialised in her grip as she did so, as if she was drawing it from an invisible sheathe.
He wished he had come armed with his own sword. Normally, he fought with his shadows, using his power against the enemy, but doing so now was dangerous, would only provoke the darker side of his blood.
“For fuck’s sake,” Daimon b
it out, snagging his attention.
Cassandra stood just a few feet from him as he fought a wave of daemons. His brother drove them back from her and summoned a wall of ice between her and the enemy.
“I told you to stay put!” He growled as he swiftly raised his arm and five sharp shards of glittering ice shot up from the hill, impaling two daemons while the other three managed to evade the attack. “Go back!”
Her pale blue eyes widened and she threw her hands forwards, and turquoise light burst from her palms. A shimmering blue barrier swept across the air between Daimon and an enormous daemon.
The huge blade the male had swung at Daimon clanged harmlessly off the barrier and the daemon grunted and stumbled backwards, losing his grip on the weapon and clutching his arm.
Daimon blinked and looked at Cass. “I take it back. You can stay.”
Because if it hadn’t been for her barrier, the daemon would have skewered his brother.
Two more males lumbered forwards, coming to flank the one who had struck at Daimon.
Keras’s senses lit up. These daemons were old. Powerful. One of the rarer breeds.
They grew before his eyes, grunting and snarling, snapping fangs at each other as obsidian horns curled from their foreheads and huge onyx leathery wings ripped through their T-shirts. Their nails blackened and elongated, transforming into razor-sharp talons.
Their eyes glowed crimson.
“I have this,” Cassandra announced, voice dripping confidence that Keras seriously doubted until she smirked and tipped her head up and continued. “I have faced this kind before. I saved Calistos and Marinda from ones like them in London. They are no match for me.”
She shifted her arms to her sides, closed her eyes and mouthed words as Daimon built another wall of ice, this time between him, Esher and Cassandra, and the three demonic males.
Violet light spiralled down her arms to her palms and she grimaced as she hurled it at the daemons.
The males didn’t even attempt to evade the spell.
The reason became apparent when it struck them.
Glyphs shimmered over their bodies, etched into their skin.
Someone had made the furie some powerful bodyguards.
Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7 Page 18