Authors: Taylor Lavati
"Shut up!" Ollie backhands Apollo, and more blood pours from his lips.
"It would have been a new world order. It still can be. We can fix this, son. We can start over. I won't lie to you again."
"I don't believe you."
"Son!" Apollo screams as Ollie slashes him again, this time on the throat. Apollo coughs, and gurgles, liquid sloshing in his throat. He's not dead, but he slumps forward, only sitting because of Dimitri's hold.
"You ruined my entire existence." Ollie covers his face with his hands. I resist the urge to rush to his side. When he raises his head again, his eyes are bloodshot and livid.
Ollie takes the knife and cuts a thin line down Apollo's arms. Each of them is cut wide open. He then brings it to the top of Apollo's breastbone and cuts all the way down to his belly button. It's like he's gutting an animal. My stomach rolls, but I can't look away no matter how much I want to.
"Stop." Two arms encircle me, and then I'm transported away from the gruesome scene. When we land somewhere else, I look behind me and see Cristos, his lips in a grim straight line.
"They need us." He points behind me, and I turn my head. I then notice where I am. I'm on top of the highest hill in the canyon, overlooking the battle zone. Dead bodies litter the ground in heaps and hoards.
It's then that I see the second round of demons coming from behind the valley. Hades stands in front of them, instructing them on where to go. He points his finger in various directions, and the demons blindly follow.
It's in that moment that I know we have to run.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
saviors
Cristos lifts me into his arms again and transports us back to the center of the action. Immediately, I find Mikey and Lisa in a battle with four demons. I have to step in, and then I can tell them to get the hell out of here.
I sprint to their side and block an attacker. The demon has black hair that's cut short, straight to the skull. I kick him in the chest as he lunges for Lisa, and she nods at me before whipping a ball of air at the demon's face.
He's kicked back about ten feet, but the second he lands, he's back on his feet. Mikey teleports to the demon's side and grabs him right around the neck, pulling it forward and flipping him forward onto the ground. He's dead within a second, his head falling lifelessly.
But, behind Mikey, another demon descends. I sprint as fast as I can, but I don't make it there in time. Mikey is hit in the back of the head, and he falls straight forward, not even having time to recover and teleport away.
I get there before the demon can finish the job and punch him right on his temple. He shoots backwards, away from Mikey. I follow him and shove him against the ground. Lisa pounds him in the gut with a circle of air, and the man vomits all over himself.
I look away while Lisa finishes him off. I notice Mikey in the same location as before and run to him before another group of demons find us. I lift his head onto my lap. He's breathing and his heart is beating, but he's unconscious.
"Cristos!" I scream, hoping that he will find me. Within a second, he's right beside him. "Bring him to Kara. She can heal him." Cristos doesn't speak, just nods. He lifts Mikey effortlessly into his arms and then teleports away.
I run to Lisa and find her in another battle. But, together, we finish him fast. I hold the man under the armpits while Lisa lifts his legs. We both pull at the same time, using all of our strength, and his head detaches from his spine, his insides spilling onto the ground.
"We need to run. We're outnumbered and more are coming. Can you gather everyone?"
"We're not running." Lisa's firm in her words. She looks around for the first time, stopping to see the destruction, and I see the change in her. "How can we leave?"
"We just have to run for the portal. Hades can't get to Earth."
"I'll try to get as many people as I can." Lisa sprints in one direction, and I see Professor La and Elytis in a battle. I look around, but can't find Professor Orntean anywhere.
Lex and Linus are together, and I run to them. As I sprint past a group of demons, someone catches me in the side, and I fly, completely off guard. I hit a wall and fall to the ground, my back aching with each labored breath.
"Stupid bitch." The demon kicks me in the side, and I cough out a scream. I curl up into a ball, covering my head with my hands, and my stomach with my knees. But, he doesn't hit me again.
I peek up and see the demon who kicked me on fire on the ground. Martin is about five feet away, both of his hands up in front of him as he burns the demon alive. But, I know that it won't kill him.
I crawl forward and grab onto the back of the demon's head, twisting it fast to kill him before he can hurt me anymore. I nod at Martin and just as he smiles at me, I see Hades.
Within a second, Hades is behind Martin, and his hands are around his neck.
"No!" I scream as I watch Hades rip the life from Martin. His neck breaks, it cracks, and it falls limply to the side, the rest of his body following.
I crawl to my knees, and then struggle to stand.
"I warned you. I told you this would happen if you threatened me and my people. Now you, Eurydice, will pay the price for the remainder of your worthless life."
"You're wrong. I don't care if I die. I did the one thing I sought out to do. I tricked you. I played you. You're stuck down here in this barren wasteland. And now, I'll make sure you suffer."
"Pathetic," Hades snickers, his deep voice booming. A rock almost hits me in the head as it falls from the wall. "I was going to keep you around just to make you relive all your friends' deaths, but now I just want to kill you."
He lunges for me and I don't have enough time to react. I stumble backwards and land hard on my butt, a rock jutting into the side of my hip. I flip over and scramble to my feet.
I sprint towards him, wanting him dead. I catch him right in the gut, and we both tumble forward to the ground. I reach for him as he reaches for me, and it's a match to see who can get on top of the other.
He kicks me with an errant flick of his foot, and it hits me right where I hit the wall not too long ago. Shooting, fire-like pain spikes all along my spine. This gives him enough of an edge to knock me to the side and get the upper hand.
"You can't beat me. I'm an Original." He laughs, spit hitting my face, and I turn to the side. All I see are bodies piled on bodies. Mostly demons, but my eyes clash with Alexius'.
She's almost buried, four demon bodies laid atop of her. But, her dark hair fans out to the side, and her dark eyes remain open, staring into space, lifeless. Her beauty is drained from her body. She's just gone.
"Don't tell me you're sad." Hades pokes out his bottom lip in a frown, mocking me. "You did that. You brought these innocent people down here. Their death is all on you, dear Eurydice."
I turn my head, accepting defeat. I know I am going to die. Hades is going to kill me, and then what? So much of my life has been confusion, and now that I have clarity, I will die again. I guess it makes sense. I've found both guys that I thought were my soul mate, and I'm eighteen. I'm dying just like I always have.
A single tear falls from my eye. I'll never have a life with Ari. I'll never get to explore our relationship and know what it really means to have a soul mate. Hades is stripping me of all these things.
As a last ditch effort, I use all of my strength and push against his body. I flail my arms that he has locked with his hands, hoping to break free. I kick my legs, which are pinned by his knees. But I don't even budge him.
"I hate you!" I scream and kick and shake.
"Good." He slaps me across the face, my neck cracking with his force.
"I dare you to touch my daughter again."
Before I know it, Athena pulls Hades off of my body and throws him into a circle of people. I don't recognize any of them, but they fill the room with energy.
"Mom?" I look through my tear filled eyes and see her clearly. She bends down and pulls me into her arms, cradling me like a baby. I cling to her. I look her up and down, and she looks like she hasn't been injured at all. A deep scream pulls my attention from my mother.
"You can't blame me, can you?" Hades actually whimpers on the ground. Two of the people surrounding him, both male, lift him by the arms. Their hands hold him so hard that, from the elbow down, Hades arm turns purple.
"It's expected, we give you that," one of the men says.
"But, it's pathetic." My mother puts me down, and stands me up on my own two feet. I can barely hold myself, but Cristos appears beside me and holds me around the waist. My mom nods at him. "You're going to let these children go."
"No!" Hades wriggles in the hands of the men, but can't free himself.
"You are." My mother steps up to him and back hands him, her knuckles landing right at his jawline. He spits blood onto the ground and smiles, his teeth blood colored. "You want a fight? You have one. Let's go." My mother eggs him on, waving her hands.
"I'm not fighting my brothers and sisters."
"Oh, stop with the act, you coward." The woman who speaks has long tendrils of snake like hair. Her eyes are a shocking green: electric, yet subdued. Hades looks past her, his eyes roaming the battle zone. His demons have started to back off, but they remain on the outskirts of the courtyard.
"Attack!" Hades screams the word, his voice probably echoing to Earth, it is so loud. I flinch and cower into Cristos' body as rocks tumble from the walls. My mother look back at us and nods, her violet eyes stern and unrelenting. Cristos transports us to the entrance to the black castle.
"Where's Ari?" I look behind us, but don't see traces of anyone. Now all I can see in every direction is demons and more demons. There's another thousand of them embarking on the group of Originals in the center of the courtyard.
"I told Ari that I'd get you back to the school safe." Cristos doesn't sound happy, but at the same time, he seems relieved. "We'll wait for him there."
"We have to help." I glare at Cristos because there's no way he could agree to get us out of here. There are still so many of our friends still in danger. Suddenly, both of us are hit hard, and we fall against the castle wall.
My mother runs in front of us and leaps through the air, looking almost like she's flying. She soars over the hundreds of demons in the middle of the canyon and lands in front of me in a crouched position.
Three demons attack her all at once, but with the flick of her wrist, she shoves them back. It's like she's created a barrier in front of her that only she can see.
A white light shines like lightning and shoots through the air. I look and see Zeus throwing these dagger like beams of light. I follow one of the beams and watch as it cuts through a body like a javelin. He sprints to us and jabs them towards the attacking demons.
Each demon gets speared right in the head, the lightning going in the forehead and out the back of their heads. They fall to the ground, and blood squirts from them.
I'm grabbed around the waist. I don't react at first, thinking that it's Cristos trying to get me out of here. But it's not. It's Hades. He has me wrapped in his arms, and he tugs me through the crowd of demons that reach for me like I am a parcel of food.
"You think you can win this? You're wrong. You've ruined everything." Hades jostles me around, and my head whips against his chest. He's carrying me like I'm a prized possession.
"Mom!" I catch her gaze behind me, and her eyes widen with disgust. She taps on Zeus's shoulder, and they both jump over the bodies in front of them. Zeus hurls a bolt towards us, and it gets Hades right in the shoulder.
Hades swears under his breath and moves me onto his other arm. He turns and snarls at the two Originals that pursue him. I look behind us and notice that we're on top of the hill now.
I don't see a single one of my friends in the valley below. But the Originals are changing the fate of the war. More demons are now lying on the ground, dead, than before.
The Originals move faster than us Nephilim. They sprint through the air, leap over bodies, and use their immense strength to plow through Hades's worthless army.
Hades throws me to the ground, and my vision clouds with darkness. I flip over on my stomach and try to push up, but it's like my arms don't work correctly. I'm paralyzed, just lying here like a dead fish.
"You think I'm just like these worthless demons. I could break you in a second." With a flick of his fingers, I flip over in the air and land on my back. He didn't even have to touch me to move me.
"You'll never win this." I smile at him as I take what I think are my last breaths. "Look around. This is a losing battle, and your demons are going to die."
"Maybe so. But I have more. They only have one of you." He smiles, and suddenly my body is filled with sharp, excruciating pain. I scream out and writhe on the hard ground as it feels like my limbs are being ripped from my core.
"What a shame." He tilts his head to the side, and I cry in pain as the magnitude of my discomfort skyrockets. "You were just starting to grow on me, too." He starts to bring his fist towards my face when it suddenly freezes mid-air.
"Don't make us kill you." An Original with hair like Ariel from The Little Mermaid holds her hand up, palm out as she protects me. Hades pounds against the invisible forcefield, and I watch his face drop in defeat.
My mother finds me and lifts me into her arms. She places me on the ground behind her. She looks from side to side as the other woman holds the barrier in front of us.