The Fires of Tartarus

by Emma V. Leech

  I looked back at him and smiled in return. He nodded. “But before you make that choice, I must give you one last chance. You must understand what you are returning to, Jéhenne.”

  “OK,” I said, wondering what he meant. “Is this a Ghost of Christmas Past kind of thing?” I asked warily.

  His lips quirked and he chuckled. “I do like you, Jéhenne, and yes. Though I think we are more concerned with the present.” He paused. “There is something else to remember. Now Dis Pater is dead it falls to you and Hekatê to rule the Underworld. It is a great responsibility. One you will never be free of.”

  “I know that,” I said, my voice resigned. “I knew that would be the price to rid ourselves of him.” I felt the weight of that responsibility and knew he was giving me a grave warning, but there was little I could do about it. I couldn't risk another creature like Dis Pater becoming so powerful and even though I didn't trust my own mother either, better the devil you know.

  He took my hand as a light shimmered in front of us and drew me forward. My heart squeezed as I realised he had given me a window over my world, and the last moments of my life played out before me like a film in glorious technicolour.

  I saw the moment when I had driven the knife deep into Dis Pater's heart, the look of utter shock in his eyes while he fought with growing desperation for the knife as his power leaked out around the wound. I saw Corvus and Lucas trying desperately to push through the heat of his power, trying to get to me, to help me. I saw the moment when he snatched the knife from my hand and struck out, slicing through the delicate skin at my throat. The knife had exploded and no trace of Dis Pater was to be seen, while I had collapsed, bleeding out on the ground.

  Immediately the souls that were attacking the family raged out of control and renewed their efforts for no other reason than that they could. Neither I, Hekatê or Dis Pater had any control over them any more.

  I heard my brother scream my name, heard as it echoed all around the woodland as I felt the terrible tremor of shock and aching loss echo through the family. Lucas ran to me, screaming in turn for someone to help him.

  “Inés!” His voice was raw, but it wasn't his desperation that choked me - as heart-rending as it was. My attention was fixed as I watched Corvus. He, like all of us, was filthy, his clothes torn and covered in his own blood. Inés ran to me, pushing him aside as he stood stock still, as though in a stupor, and she immediately got to work staunching the flow of blood as my brother dragged himself to my side.

  I couldn't take my eyes from Corvus. He stood frozen, beyond comprehension as he looked down at me, his expression one of a man drowning.

  “She needs blood,” Inés screamed and Lucas didn't hesitate but cut into his own wrist, before he was thrust viciously aside as Corvus finally pushed past his shock.

  “She needs my blood,” Corvus snarled, his expression daring Lucas to disagree with him. In that moment I saw that Lucas truly did love me as he immediately stepped aside for Corvus to try and save me. He knew Corvus' blood was more powerful than his. He knew Corvus was my best chance.

  “Live, damn you.” Corvus swore, his words low and furious. “You brought me back; you cannot abandon me now!”

  I felt my heart ache in my chest as he held me against him, trying vainly to feed me his blood. “You can't leave me, Jéhenne.” He sounded bewildered and terrified in equal measure now, panic setting in as I failed to respond to his blood. “I can't let you,” he said in desperation. “I'm lost, and I know you are the only one who can bring me home.” An awful silence surrounded him as he stared at me, watching for the slightest flicker of life that did not come. I could see the anguish in his eyes, a depth of pain that he did not understand. He pressed a fervent kiss against my forehead, cradling my body against him. “I have the strangest feeling that ... that you are home,” he whispered.

  I sobbed and Sariel squeezed my hand harder.

  “Please, Jéhenne.” There was sheer terror in Corvus’ words now, his voice thick with emotion. “Please, I'm begging you. I don't know what is between us, but I'm begging you ... don't leave me alone. You brought me back for a reason ... don't let me go again.”

  I looked up through eyes blurred with tears to see Sariel watching me. “You're sure?” he asked. “You're badly hurt. There will be pain.”

  I shrugged and gave him a crooked smile. “I guess that means I'm alive then.”

  He returned the smile, though his eyes were sad, and he drew me into hug. “Good luck, Jéhenne. I will watch over you.”

  ***

  I flinched as the wave of noise rushed over me. Screams and wails and cries of misery. The family were fighting for their existence against the souls whose savagery had increased, and their will to continue was draining away as they believed their Master was dead. I really, really needed to let them know I wasn't. I heard them shouting my name, over and over, their pleas for me to live desperate and full of pain. I had never truly realised how much they loved me, and the knowledge warmed me, gave me the strength to accept the pain that awaited me and open my eyes.

  That pain was blinding, lightning in my bones, broken glass in my veins, and for a moment my determination wavered. It was too much. But then I focused on a pair of terrified blue eyes.

  “Jéhenne,” he whispered.

  I hauled in a breath, my throat and lungs full of razor blades. I fought past the pain, Corvus' arms around me giving me strength as I reached inwardly for my connection to the key. I felt Hekatê struggling to do the same, her grip almost as tenuous as mine as we fought for control. There was a lull in the noise overhead and then an ear-splitting sound as the screams of the dead followed their souls back down, blazing, deep into the soil and to the world beneath where they belonged.

  There was a hush over the landscape, and for a moment I registered the thick haze of smoke, the cloying scent of magic so overpowering it made my stomach roil, mixed as it was with blood and the stench of death and terror.

  I looked up at Corvus, clinging to that desperate look in his eyes. I was surrounded now, the family all pushing to get closer, to reassure themselves I was truly alive. I heard Inés alternately speaking to me in hushed tones and yelling like a banshee for everyone to back off and give me some space. I heard my brother's voice and Lucas, his words blurred by tears. But I held on to blue eyes. Though he was silent now. I could almost feel him pulling away from me, though he didn't move a muscle. Utterly still.

  He was afraid. The realisation wasn't shocking, just soul-destroying. He was afraid of the intensity of what he'd felt. He didn't want it. Didn't want a love that could consume him, overwhelm him, make him endure the depths of hell for all eternity. I could hardly blame him. I had been tempted to walk into that garden after all.

  I closed my eyes, too exhausted to deal with the aching disappointment and the hurt of knowing he would run from me after begging me to come home to him. It was too much. It was more pain than I could stand. I would take any physical pain over this heart ache. It was too much to bear. I allowed my body to succumb to exhaustion, let my mind drift away to a garden where it was peaceful and quiet. I imagined the beautiful place that I had left behind to come back to him and all the pain that awaited me still.

  Chapter 39

  I groaned a little as the red stain behind my eyelids told me it was morning. I swallowed, discovering my throat raw and unpleasantly dry. With a rush of memory, I fell swiftly down the rabbit hole into the horror of my last hours of consciousness. My breath hitched and I woke fully, looking around me in a panic, uncertain of where I was and half expecting to see meadow grasses and flowers surrounding my slumbering body. I felt the calloused grip of a rough hand firm on my arm, and I focused my eyes on the man beside me.

  “Cain,” I rasped, relief flooding through me. The last time I'd seen him he'd been in a bad way. He still looked terrible - his leg in a splint, unshaven, his eyes as empty and cold as ever, though his smile was warm and his grip on my arm reassuring.

  “Abo
ut bloody time you woke up, Nina,” he grumbled, but he didn't fool me. He'd been scared to death when Dis Pater had sliced the knife into my throat. I'd heard the anguish in his voice when he'd thought I was gone. Unwillingly my hand travelled to my throat to find it swathed in bandages, and he grinned and shook his head.

  “Don't look so panicked, there won't be a scar.” I let out a sigh of relief and he snorted. “Never knew you were so vain.”

  I glowered at him, as bedside manners went, his sucked. “Don't think they'd look as good on me as they do on you,” I grumbled.

  He chuckled and then to my surprise reached his hand out and cupped my face with his coarse hand. “You had me worried for a moment there, sis.”

  The familial endearment was a surprise. I must have seriously freaked him out. I forced a smile as I replied, deadpan. “I was bit concerned myself to be honest.”

  I held his gaze as he sat back, watching me, turning a small, deadly-looking knife in his fingers as he spoke. “So what happened? You were dead. I know you were.”

  I nodded. “Sariel,” I said simply.

  He pursed his lips and crossed his arms, the knife clenched in one strong fist. “Figures. He'd have been in a world of shit if you hadn't taken on the job, oh, Lord of the Underworld,” he added with a sarcastic flourish. “Congratulations on the promotion.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, too exhausted to bicker.

  He looked down and traced the blade of the knife with a scarred finger. “You weren't ... tempted then? Not to come back?”

  I waited until he looked at me, seeing the longing in his eyes. It made my chest ache, knowing it was something he would never have and how terrified he must be of what awaited him instead.

  “Yes,” I said, wanting to give him the truth. “I was very tempted.”

  “But?”

  I shrugged, sucking in a breath at the pain in my shoulder and arm. “But,” I agreed. There was no need to spell it out. He knew me well enough.

  He gestured to my shoulder with the pointy end of the knife. “Inés had a hell of a job to do on you, so your shoulder and arm got treated last. Give it a few hours and you'll be good as new.”

  I nodded and gave him a weary smile, and he carried on. “You really scared the shit out of her, you know.” He hesitated, looking back down at the shiny blade before adding, “Out of all of us.”

  “I never knew you cared,” I teased, watching his discomfort with amusement.

  “Fuck off,” he replied without rancour.

  We were quiet for a while, sitting still with only the movement of the knife turning in his hands and the glint of the blade between us. The silence stretched out as we both avoided the inevitable, but I had questions I had to ask ... and he knew it. “How many?”

  My heart was a heavy weight lodged under my ribs as my lungs struggled for air.

  He hesitated and then let out a breath, running his hand through his hair and making it stick up in all directions. “The butcher's bill was pretty high, Jéhenne,” he said, his voice soft. “But considering how bad it could have been ...”

  I swallowed. I didn't want to hear it, but I knew I had to. “How many?” I demanded.

  In typical Cain fashion he didn't attempt to soften the blow. “Two hundred and forty seven.”

  I hauled in a breath, but my lungs refused to cooperate, and I gasped, choking as a swell of emotion burst through me. Two hundred and forty seven lives lost. It was beyond comprehension. I shook my head as tears streamed down my face. Cain watched me, impassive, but he reached out his hand and grasped mine.

  “I'm so sorry, Nina.”

  He sat silent while I cried and shook. So many dead in my name. How could I ever make that right? “Who ...” I knew I had to ask but I didn't know how to phrase it. Were there any among the dead that I loved? It wasn't that any of those I'd lost meant nothing to me. They were all my family, and I knew Lucas must be sheltering me from the pain of their deaths. I would feel that gaping hole in our bloodline soon enough. But Cain knew. He hesitated, his grip on my hand becoming tighter, and I knew he didn't want to be the one to tell me. I looked at him in trepidation, terrified to hear the name about to pass his lips.

  “Heloïse.”

  “Oh.” I covered my mouth with my hand. Cain didn't look at me, but I knew he must feel it too. He had been alone for so long, to find family had been something important to him. “Oh, poor Inés,” I mumbled between sobs. For all their bitching and fighting, they were sisters. They loved each other more than any passing anger could erase and Inés would feel the lack of her badly. I hadn't known my great aunt all that well, but she had been kind to me when I'd needed her, and I had hoped to know her better. I'd thought I'd get the chance.

  “She's not gone from you, Jéhenne.” It took me a moment to understand his meaning and he shook his head, smiling at me. “Lord of the Underworld ... remember?”

  I laughed, the sound tinged with hysteria, and suddenly I was laughing and crying in equal measure with my brother holding my hand and the debt of the lives sacrificed in my name weighing heavily on my heart.

  ***

  “You shouldn't be getting up yet!”

  Both Cain and I sent Lucas an impatient look as I hobbled out of the bathroom. Even with Corvus' powerful blood, Inés' healing skills and my own abilities, my injuries had been so severe it was going to take a day or two before I felt ... well, human again. Currently I felt older than Corvus and in much worse shape. Though actually that was true. I was far older than Corvus. My head was alive, buzzing with memories as I tried to deal with everything I now knew about who I really was. I kept pushing them away, trying not to look at them too closely for now. I didn't like the person I had been before I'd become Jéhnina, and a good measure of guilt coloured my thoughts when I was forced to consider my past. Besides, I didn't have time. I may have defeated Dis Pater, though the truth of that was still hard to grasp; but my problems were by no means over.

  “It's disgusting,” I repeated, returning to the argument we'd been circling before I'd called time out for a shower. “The idea that we should throw some massive party when we've lost so many of the family. Who exactly feels like celebrating right now, Lucas?”

  In truth I felt bad laying this at his door when it was hardly his fault. The look on his face when he'd come in to see me was still lurking behind my eyelids. There had been so much love and relief in his expression. I just didn't know how to deal with it. Thankfully Cain's presence had prevented him from getting too mushy, and my own righteous indignation at the untenable situation now presented to me kept me angry enough to ignore it.

  “He's right.”

  I turned to glower at Cain, surprised he agreed. Parties were usually something he studiously avoided, like angels, babies and anything pink.

  He shrugged. “You've never dealt with this crap before, Nina, but a visit from Ambrogio is the equivalent of Henry the eighth arriving on your doorstep. He has a vast retinue to accompany him, and they will expect to be entertained and accommodated in the manner they are accustomed to. The entertainment you provide is an illustration of exactly who you are and what you can do. It's a power play.”

  I frowned. “And how far do we go?”

  Cain grinned. “It wouldn't be wise to show Ambrogio you are more powerful than he is, that's certain. If he can't control you, you become a threat, so it would be politic to keep the extent of your powers under wraps.”

  “Is that even possible?” I ran a frustrated hand through my hair only to get my fingers trapped in the tangles. “Won't they know what I just did?” I demanded, cursing as I tried to prise the knots apart.

  Cain glanced at Lucas who nodded. “We've checked out the village; the exterior wards were still in place when Dis Pater died. It was only the inner section that failed just as we planned it should to lead him into the traps we'd laid.” He scowled. “Pity he didn't hit all of them,” he added with frustration before carrying on. “The locals are of the opinion there was a ter
rible thunderstorm but there are no suggestions of anything abnormal.”

  “Those in the Underworld will know Dis Pater is dead,” Cain mused. “But how likely is it the news has spread yet?”

  “Oh come on.” I felt my eyebrows hit my hairline. “You think something like that isn't being talked about?”

  Cain shrugged. “There will be rumours, the word will get out of course, but the details ... who is there to tell them?” He sat back, readjusting the position of his leg with a grimace. “The souls of the dead he used will remember nothing. In that state they are thoughtless beings, and they'll have no idea of what they were involved in. Dis Pater can't tell tales as he burns in Tartarus.” He spared a moment to flash me a rather terrifying grin. “And I doubt he would have shouted about his plans in advance knowing how you've evaded him in the past. He wouldn't risk looking a fool again, not with Corvus free. He'd have wanted to crow about a done deal. Which leaves us, and Hekatê has been in no state to talk.”

  “I forbade anyone to speak of our intentions regarding anything to do with Dis Pater outside of the family, and that command will still hold,” Lucas added.

  I watched as Cain nodded. “They will undoubtedly know there has been some rift or power struggle in the Underworld. They may even know Dis Pater is dead. Who did it and who replaced him ... I doubt very much they know that.”

  “Sariel could tell us for sure,” I put in.

  A dark look crossed his face but he shrugged. “I guess so. He owes you, it would seem.”

  I sat down on the bed as a wave of exhaustion hit me like a cement truck. “Jéhenne, you need to rest,” Lucas said and looked at me with concern as Cain tutted.

  “Jéhenne, you need to get your arse out of bed; we have forty eight hours before Ambrogio arrives, and you need to be ready for all the shit that entails.”

  “She needs to be conscious,” Lucas yelled, pointing at me like exhibit A.

  I caught a glance of myself in the mirror on my dressing table and flinched. He might have a point, but Cain was right too, we didn't have time to waste.