He wasn’t coming back from this.
Chapter 33
Keras was gone in a flash, disappeared before Enyo could reach him and stop him. She skidded to a halt where he had been, disturbing the ribbons of black smoke he had left behind, and dropped to her knees, scooped up the remains of his limiters and stared at them.
The ground trembled ominously and the hairs on the back of her neck rose as Keras’s power buffeted her and a cold wind scoured the battlefield.
She slowly lifted her eyes to the sky.
To the obsidian clouds gathering above her.
Crimson arcs of lightning chased across those clouds as they rapidly billowed outwards, their surface rolling like boiling liquid, and the power that pressed down on her grew stronger still as they descended towards her.
Enyo closed her fingers over the tattered bracelets, unable to shake the fear that gripped her—fear she had seen in his eyes too.
He wasn’t strong enough to go all out like this and retain control of himself.
In Tokyo, he had come dangerously close to losing himself to his darker side, and he had only broken one limiter then. Now he had removed both of them, had allowed the full force of his power to flood him, and his last words to her had been more than an apology.
They had been a goodbye.
She felt that deep in the heart that was breaking in her chest.
He knew that unleashing his full power would destroy him, changing him into someone else, something he wouldn’t come back from. He knew and he had done it anyway, sacrificing himself so he could protect his brothers and win this war.
Sacrificing himself to save his family.
To save her.
Daimon and Cass appeared near her. Daimon’s pale blue eyes lifted to the clouds that hung low above them, still descending towards them.
The witch came to her and crouched, touched the hand she clutched the bracelets in and said, “Tell me what you need.”
Enyo shut down her fear, cleared her mind and focused on the battle, because if they could help Keras, there was a chance she might be able to bring him back, as she had in Tokyo. She could reach him, but only if he wasn’t allowed to fight alone. He wanted that, but she wouldn’t allow it. She needed to be there with him, so he didn’t need to go all out, so he didn’t have to let the darkness completely consume him in order to win this war.
She looked at Daimon, and realised he wasn’t alone now. His brother Ares was there too, together with Marek and Caterina, and Valen. Esher stood a short distance away, his blue eyes gaining a crimson corona as they locked on one direction, the one she could sense Keras was in.
Battling the furie.
He had retained enough sense to target the most dangerous of their foes at least, remaining on mission.
“A barrier,” Enyo said as shadows began to spiral down from the clouds, scarlet lightning chasing around them and slamming into the earth when it was close enough to connect, shaking the ground beneath her. “I can cast one too. It will contain his power at least.”
“I can cast one that will contain everyone, stopping them from escaping, but I cannot guarantee how long I can keep it going. I will need to constantly repair it.” Cassandra glanced at Daimon.
“I’ll protect you while you maintain it.” He dragged his gaze away from the clouds. “If you need to tap me for strength, you do it.”
Valen stepped forwards. “I’ll help him.”
“What do you need from me?” Ares said, worry shining in his fiery eyes.
Enyo looked from him to Marek, Caterina and Esher. “I need you all to work together to take down as many of the enemy as possible. The less Keras has to deal with himself, the better. If you can take down Eris or one of her comrades, do it.”
“What are you going to do?” Marek looked her over, and she grew aware of her injuries, that she wasn’t in peak condition and had expended much of her strength.
“I’m going to try to bring him back.”
Esher looked over his shoulder at her, concern written in every line of his face. “I want to help you.”
“You will be. Help me by helping him, Esher. Work with your brothers. Stay in close formation. Do not get separated.”
Ares nodded and his handsome face grew sober as he looked down at her. “Bring him back.”
She stared up into his eyes, deeply aware of the responsibility he was placing on her shoulders, deeply aware of the hope all of Keras’s brothers were pinning on her and how devastated they would be if she failed.
Enyo dipped her chin.
A scarlet bolt of lightning struck the ground close to her and sent her flying. Debris bit into her legs as she sailed through the air. She landed hard and rolled, struggled to right herself and grunted as she finally stopped. She immediately pushed onto her feet and looked in all directions, trying to find where she had been.
Relief crashed over her as she spotted Marek helping Ares onto his feet and saw that everyone was all right.
Her senses sparked and she kicked off, narrowly avoiding another lightning strike. It hit a group of the enemy, decimating them.
Enyo ran until she found a clearing and focused, summoning her power. She swept her hands out, felt the wave of power explode from her, and looked up. She couldn’t see the barrier as it formed, but she could feel it. The clouds she had trapped inside it roiled, arcs of crimson chasing across them, spiralling down the shadowy tornadoes that tore across the land, sending people flying in all directions.
She shifted her focus away from the brothers, singling out Keras.
The clouds dropped lower, touching the ground in places, forming pockets of shadows that she avoided, aware that if she ran into one it would steal her sight, leaving her vulnerable. Screams came from inside several of the writhing masses of shadows.
She leaped as lightning struck off to her left and a fissure shot across her path, didn’t dare to look down into the abyss as she sailed over it. She stumbled as she landed on the other side, picked her way over boulders and around impact craters.
“He is going to destroy my entire realm!” Nyx screamed, her fury palpable as Enyo passed her.
She didn’t slow to help the goddess with Apate. Just kept running, narrowing the distance between her and Keras. She sprinted past Thanatos as he rushed to help his mother with the goddess of deceit. Wove her way through a battle between five of Hades’s soldiers and a group of Hellspawn.
Her heart shot into her throat as lightning struck them just as she cleared them, the percussion wave from it hitting her in the back and launching her forwards.
She slammed into Cal, took him with her as she tumbled across the ground, and landed on top of him.
“Sorry.” She pushed off him and twisted, her gaze seeking Keras, blood thundering as she searched for him.
A tiny orb of violet light hovered above the black ground a few metres from her. A gate.
Beyond it, Marinda fought like a wild thing, clawing and grappling with the other furie. Blood covered the side of her face and matted her golden hair. The enemy furie hadn’t fared much better. Her left arm dangled limp at her side as she threw a right hook at Marinda.
Something hit Meadow in the back, knocking her forwards.
A rock?
Enyo grimaced.
Not a rock.
A severed head.
Moros’s lifeless eyes stared at her.
Meadow turned to see what had hit her and her hand flew to her mouth, her skin paling as she spotted the head on the ground close to her.
Shadows swept around her and sent Marinda flying.
Cal disappeared in a swirl of black smoke, reappearing in Marinda’s path and catching her before he teleported again, appearing next to Enyo. He set Marinda down and looked at Enyo, his breaths sawing from his lips as his blue gaze demanded an explanation.
She didn’t need to give him one.
Meadow burst from the shadows, held aloft by Keras, her legs kicking wildly as she scratched at his
arm. His black claws sank into her throat as he lifted her higher, a twisted grin curling his lips to flash enormous fangs as he stared up at the furie.
Enyo grabbed Cal and Marinda when they both went to move, holding them back.
She stared at Keras and he slowly turned his head towards her, his eyes locking with hers.
Eyes that were black around his scarlet pupils.
Onyx tendrils spread across Meadow’s ashen skin, flowing from the points where Keras’s claws pierced her. He didn’t take his eyes off Enyo as the furie’s struggles slowed, as those shadows crept outwards and downwards, heading for her chest.
“Keras.” Enyo released Marinda and held her hand out to him, moving slowly, not wanting to startle him.
Marinda launched at him on a feral snarl, evaded the blow he aimed at her and seized his arm, desperately trying to pull it from the other furie’s throat.
“Mari!” Cal wrestled free of Enyo’s grip and lunged for her.
Whether he had intended to pull her away from Meadow or beyond the reach of Keras was something Enyo would never find out.
Keras backhanded Marinda.
She rocketed backwards, crashed into Cal and sent him flying with her. The two of them landed in the middle of the group that were battling behind Enyo.
Her gaze whipped back to Keras.
His shadows swept up from his feet, curled over his shoulders and rose into the air before they rushed downwards to spiral around him, covering both him and the furie.
Enyo kicked off, racing towards him as red lightning streaked from the black clouds, slamming into the earth all around the mass of shadows.
A mass that dissipated to reveal only the furie where she lay on the ground, cut to ribbons.
Dead.
Where had Keras gone?
Her head snapped to her right when an entire section of the thick wall that surrounded the palace exploded. The stones of it sprayed the elegant black building, shattering windows and blasting holes in the walls.
A feminine, pained cry reached her ears above the din of battle.
Enyo mustered her strength and teleported, appearing in the ruined garden of the palace, her eyes darting around as she sought Keras.
They landed on a hole in the wall of the palace.
She ran for it.
Threw herself into a slide across the flagstones as her senses blared a warning. She covered her head with her arms and curled inwards, shielding her vital organs as shadows tore through the air above her, snapping at her on their way past.
Enyo shifted onto her front and lurched to her feet as soon as she stopped sliding, heading back the way she had come.
Keras slammed Oizys into the perimeter wall, causing an impact crater fifteen feet wide and fracturing stones for at least twice that. Blood burst from the fair-haired female’s lips, a choked cry following it as Keras gripped something silver and twisted it, yanked it free and plunged it deep into her chest again.
An arrow.
He was brutal as he ripped the shattered Corinthian helmet from her hair and smashed it into her face, a low growl rumbling from him. She took three hard blows before she managed to block him.
Oizys’s blue eyes darkened as she seized the hand he held the arrow in, her face contorting as she wrestled with him, struggling to stop him from stabbing her again. Keras grunted and growled, leaned into her and drove forwards.
The goddess kneed him between the legs, causing him to loosen his grip on her. She was quick to twist the arrow from his grip and plunge it into his chest.
Enyo kicked off, shooting through the air in her direction, her blood blazing as she drew her sword and aimed it at the female.
Before she could land a blow, an arm broke through the shattered wall behind Oizys, wrapped around the front of her throat and dragged her backwards through it. The rest of the wall crumbled, stealing her from view, something that had Keras roaring.
He stepped.
Enyo leaped onto the fallen stones.
Below her, Thanatos twisted Oizys to face him, his fiery blue eyes glowing in the darkness. He grabbed the front of her breastplate and lifted her.
“You will pay for the shame you have brought upon your family.” Thanatos’s deep voice rolled over the battlefield.
He didn’t get the chance to mete out justice to his youngest sister.
Keras slammed into her, stealing her from him, disappearing in a swirl of black smoke.
When he reappeared a short distance away, barely a split-second later, Oizys hung limp from his left hand, the lower half of her body dragging along the ground as his black eyes scoured the fray.
He snarled, his gaze landing on Nyx where she stood over the body of Apate.
Threw Oizys at the goddess of night.
Nyx was quick to dodge. She turned murderous eyes on Keras.
Keras bared his fangs at her.
For a moment, he looked as if he would attack her too, but then his head whipped to his right, towards the palace.
His scarlet pupils narrowed.
Enyo knew who he had sensed.
Eris.
She tried to beat him to the raven-haired goddess, but the moment her golden eyes locked on Enyo, five Keres descended on her. Enyo grunted as she raised her arms and tried to block them, as fire lashed at her with each vicious slash of their claws over her exposed skin.
Thanatos hurried to her, managed to cut down one Ker with a mighty swipe of his black broadsword, giving her an opening to reach for her own weapon. She gave him her back, silently thanking him whenever he shielded her with his wings, taking a blow meant for her.
“You can reach him, I presume?” Thanatos growled. “We need Eris alive.”
“I know,” she bit out.
Hades would want someone to punish for all of this.
If she failed in her mission to reach Keras and pull him back from the darkness, she feared she would be the one spending the rest of her days in Tartarus.
She sliced through the thigh of a Ker as it tried to move away from her, followed it with a thrust of her blade. Her sword plunged into the female’s side and Enyo tugged her forwards with it, seized hold of her arm and held her in place as she yanked her sword free. She shoved the Ker back and spun, bringing her sword up at the same time, cutting clean through her neck.
“That was the last of them.” Thanatos broke away from her, heading for the palace.
She kicked off in that direction too.
Eris’s twin daggers flashed brightly as she lashed out at Keras, driving him back, keeping some distance between them, her golden eyes wild and her desperation tainting the air.
It was no use.
Keras grinned and shadows lunged for the goddess. She swiped at them, managing to cut the pointed tips of several of them, but there were too many. She screamed as they plunged into her legs, as red arcs of lightning chased up them and coursed through her, and lost her grip on one of her daggers.
As the arcs faded, she weakly slashed at Keras with her one remaining blade, her actions sluggish as he advanced on her.
Eris’s face scrunched up and she grunted as she hurled the dagger at him.
“No.” Enyo’s heart shot into her mouth as it embedded in his chest, knocking him back several steps.
Keras looked down at it, his black eyes narrowing as he frowned. He lifted his hand with visible effort and fumbled with the blade, taking several attempts to pull it free of his armour.
It came out glistening red.
He turned a glare on Eris.
She screamed as his shadows ripped into her legs.
“Stop,” Thanatos barked and beat his wings, shot towards Keras and grabbed hold of him.
Keras roared and attacked him, using Eris’s blade against the god of death. He slashed at Thanatos’s bare chest, catching him across his left pectoral, leaving a deep diagonal groove that rapidly spilled crimson.
Thanatos swore.
Enyo cursed too as she felt her barrier go down. Sh
e didn’t have enough energy left to cast another one. She glanced at the horizon and loosed another curse when she saw that her barrier wasn’t the only one that had gone down.
Cassandra’s had too.
Eris clawed at the shadows, tears streaming down her face as she desperately tried to free herself. Keras continued to battle Thanatos, managed to land more blows on him with the dagger, cutting across his arm and his hip. Thanatos was pulling his punches.
A huge mistake.
“We need her alive,” Thanatos growled and dodged backwards as Keras swiped at him. Keras grinned as the god of death unwittingly backed into waiting shadows. They snaked around his legs and rapidly rose to seize hold of his wings too, pinning him in place. Thanatos twisted, trying to break free of them. “We must take Eris to Tartarus for your father, Keras.”
Enyo ran up behind Keras and grabbed him, hauling him backwards just as he lunged forwards with the blade, stopping him from stabbing Thanatos. “Keras, listen to me.”
She grunted as he elbowed her in the sternum, her breath seizing in her throat as it closed.
He easily broke free of her and thrust the dagger at Thanatos’s chest.
He meant to kill him.
A golden blade swept upwards, knocking the dagger from Keras’s grip and sending it flying into the air.
She couldn’t believe her eyes as her brother stepped between Keras and Thanatos, his blue eyes darker than she had ever seen them as his fair eyebrows pinched hard.
“Turning on your own side?” Ares spat and lowered his sword to his side. “Even I know that is beneath you.”
Keras bared fangs at him.
Her brother smiled slowly. “You wish to fight me. Nothing has changed then.”
Ares lifted his free hand, the light of the crimson bolts of electricity that struck the ground around them bouncing off the gold plate of his vambraces and his breastplate, and turning his heavy blue cloak a strange shade of purple.
He crooked a finger at Keras.
No.
She couldn’t let them fight. She couldn’t bear it.
“Brother,” she said, but he wasn’t listening, didn’t take his blue eyes off Keras as he spread his feet shoulder-width apart. She looked at Keras instead. “Keras. Please?”
Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7 Page 37