Emblazed (26 page)

When we reached the banks of the Stygian Marsh, I led Brielle off the boat and towards
the Asphodel Meadows. Cerberus was at this usual post, tracking us with two of his
heads as the other monitored the shades that filed out of Charon’s ferry. He growled
lowly as he watched us, and my body tensed in preparation of an attack. It never came,
but I didn’t relax. I needed to be on alert at all times if I was going to heed Charon’s
warning.

If Hades had put a price on Brielle’s head, we had more to worry about than just him
and Morpheus. Thankfully, Hermes was out of the equation, but any of the Gods could
try to intercept us, depending on how big Hades’ price tag on Brie was.

I hoped that they didn’t care to get involved, and that maybe, just maybe, Zeus would
intervene if they chose to. Fat chance since he wasn’t allowed to “intervene in the
lives of mortals.”
Fucking Gods and their politics.

We reached the gate to the Asphodel Meadows, which looked brand new and securely reinforced.
Brielle stepped away from our group, holding her palms out. She summoned her Akasha
and sent it into the gate, which flew open with ease. I guessed they couldn’t find
anything that was impervious to Brielle’s power when they had reconstructed it.

We headed towards Hades’ castle, taking up a defensive formation around Brielle as
we walked. I kept her hand in mine, not wanting to let her go as I walked in the front
right position of our formation.

Once we reached the steps of the dark, looming castle, I had to stop myself from throwing
Brielle over my shoulder and turning back. I was walking her straight into danger,
most likely into a trap, at that. Everything in me screamed to take her away from
here, to run away and never look back.

I wanted to take her home and shut her away from this world, away from everything
involving Gods and Elementals, but she’d never allow it. My angel was a born fighter,
and would never hide away from anything when it really mattered. She was braver and
stronger than she gave herself credit for.

I stopped, frozen in place at the base of the stairs as I squeezed Brielle’s hand.
Everyone looked at me questioningly, wondering why I had halted our progress.

“Give Brie and I a minute,” I demanded, rather than asked, as I pulled Brielle away
from the stairs and put some distance between us and the group.

“I know what you’re thinking, baby, but I have to do this,” Brielle stated.

“
Mi amante
, I have a bad feeling about this. Everything in me is telling me to get us as far
away from here as possible. I can’t lose you, again,” I adamantly replied.

“Don’t do this, Jace. We are so close. Hades and my mom are right inside!”

“Please, Brie. I know you feel it, something bad is going to happen—I just know it.
We can’t go in there,” I pleaded.

I wasn’t a punk bitch who ran from a fight, but my love for Brielle was infinitely
stronger than my pride, as was my instinctive need to protect her.

“We agreed this was what needed to be done, Jace. Even if Hades wasn’t using my mother,
he’d find another way to try and get my soul and my power. He’ll never leave us alone.”

She was so fucking stubborn, but she had a point. I ran my hands through my hair in
frustration.
What if I can’t protect her? What if I lose her again? What if we die down here? What
if Hades takes her soul?

There was so much out of my control, and I could feel that I was close to losing myself
to a panic attack as Brielle cupped my face in her hands, “Breathe, baby, breathe.
Look at me, Jace. You need to calm down, baby.”

I put my hands over hers as we locked eyes. Her touch helped soothe my anxiety and
fear, but they continued to linger, even as I began to calm down. My breathing steadied,
my heartbeat slowed, and my sweat-coated skin cooled some as I pulled her into me.
I needed to hold her, needed to be touching her as much as possible to help regain
my control.

She wrapped her arms around me as she spoke in my mind.
I’m not going to let anything separate us, Jace. I can’t go through that again, either.
Just trust me, baby
.

Against my better judgment, I nodded. I didn’t really have a choice, anyway. Brielle
was determined, and I’d do anything for her. She’d hate me if I forced her to leave,
plus she was right about Hades never leaving us alone. We needed to rid ourselves
of him and the Underworld, once and for all. I never wanted to come back here once
we completed this mission.

Linking our hands together, she led me back to the group. Zane asked, “Is everything
okay, bro?”

“Yeah, it’s just hard for me to walk Brie straight into danger, but it has to be done.
We need to end this.”

Everyone nodded their agreement before I ordered, “Kimber and Zane, take up the front
positions. Kiera and I will cover the back.”

Kimber and Zane took up their positions before leading us up the stairs of the castle.
Once we reached the door, they slowly opened them, not wanting to draw attention to
our group. We stepped inside, walking lightly so not to make any noise as we went
down the hallway that would lead us to Hades’ throne room. None of Hades’ minions
had made an appearance, which made me more than a little suspicious.

Once we entered Hades’ throne room without incident, I knew something was horribly
wrong. It had to be some sort of setup. The room was empty, except for someone lounging
in one of the thrones.

He stood once he saw us. “Ah, you’ve arrived. I was beginning to think that you had
made the smart decision and stayed home, but humans can be so stupidly predictable.”

I didn’t recognize him, but he emanated Godly power. He had dark hair that was so
black, it looked blue. It hung in his pale face, almost covering his onyx eyes. He
was dressed in all black, including black lipstick and black nail polish, which made
him look more like an Emo teenager than a God. Looks could be deceiving, and it was
never wise to underestimate the Gods based on the human form they chose.

I asked quietly, so that only my group could hear, “Zane, do you know who that is?”

He nodded as he whispered his reply, “Morpheus.”

Shit.

“Where’s Hades?” Brielle demanded.

Morpheus laughed, “He is preoccupied at the moment. He asked me to entertain you for
your visit. Nice trick, by the way. I don’t think that’s ever happened in one of my
nightmares.”

Brielle’s eyes narrowed as she retorted, “Want me to show you how I did it? I’d be
happy to give you a personal demonstration.”

“Don’t tempt me, little girl. I’d have you on your knees, begging me to put you out
of your misery once you saw what I can do,” Morpheus threatened.

“Why are you helping them? What did I ever do to you?” Brielle angrily questioned.

“At first, I was just fulfilling a debt that I owed to Hermes. But once I got a taste
of your power through your subconscious, I couldn’t get enough. It’s an unbelievable
high to experience,” he answered.

“I’m not some drug for you to use. If you don’t stay out of my mind, I’ll have no
choice but to kill you.”

Her threat was met with laughter from Morpheus before he chortled, “You couldn’t kill
Hermes, so, what makes you think you can kill me? You haven’t unlocked the power to
do so yet.”

Brielle responded by throwing a bolt of her Akasha at Morpheus, who was still too
busy laughing to notice. It grazed his side as he attempted to get out of the way
at the last second. He snarled in rage as his body began to contort, growing larger
and sprouting huge, obsidian wings as he took on his Godly form.

Brielle didn’t wait for him to finish his transformation as she threw more blasts
of Akasha at him, but he batted most away as he roared angrily.

The rest of us joined in the attack, throwing our various Elements at the beast before
us. “Do the combo!” I yelled as I continued to attack.

The air began to distort, visibly pulsing around us and darkening. “Zane, what the
fuck is going on?”

“He’s using his power – don’t believe anything you see; it’s only an illusion!” Zane
yelled as he, Kimber, and Kiera attempted to recreate their attack from training.

Brielle charged towards Morpheus as two other black, winged demons entered the room,
growing in size once they passed through the doors. I assumed they were Morpheus’
brothers, but I didn’t have time to make sure.
Shit, we need to end this before they start creating illusions that fuck with our
minds.

“Two more! Watch your backs!” I yelled as I raced after Brielle. Wait … where did
she go? I frantically scanned the room, searching for Brielle, but not finding her.
Fuck!

“Brie! Baby, where are you?” I shouted.

“Help me!” Brielle screamed in response.

I jerked my head in the direction I had heard her voice, and immediately felt like
I had been punched in the gut; all my breath left me within seconds. Morpheus held
Brielle in one of his massive, clawed hands.

I could hear Jace screaming my name, but I couldn’t understand why there was so much
desperation in his voice. I turned to look at him, erecting a shield around me in
case Morpheus or one of the other demons tried to attack me while I wasn’t looking.
Jace was focused on Morpheus, and a look of horror was etched across his face.

“Jace! Baby, what’s wrong?” I shouted.

Jace didn’t acknowledge me, so I yelled louder, “Jace! Jace, look at me!”

No response. He looked like he was in a trance or something. I tried talking to him
in his mind, but it was as if it were blocked somehow.

Shit, I think Morpheus already got to him!
I ran back towards Jace as I called out to Zane, “Zane, they got Jace! We have to
snap him out of it!”

Zane, Kimber, and Kiera stopped what they were doing and took off towards Jace, who
was rooted in place and screaming my name at the top of his lungs. His emotions were
incredibly strong, a combination of fear, rage, and desperation so overwhelming that
it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t even imagine what he was seeing.

When we reached him, he was dripping with sweat and breathing erratically. His normally
vibrant, brown eyes looked dull and unfocused, the usual light in them gone.

I stood directly in front of him, trying to gain his attention, but his gaze was solely
fixed on Morpheus, who was closing in on us with the two other demons. I erected a
shield as I snapped my fingers in front of his face and shook him by the shoulders,
but to no avail.

Tears streamed down my face as I begged him, “Baby, please come back to me. I need
you. Please, baby, please.”

Nothing. I turned towards the others, looking for help, “What do we do?”

“We have to break the link Morpheus and his brothers have on him. Since we’re not
making any progress on Jace’s end, we have to do it on their end.”

“How?” I questioned impatiently as Morpheus and his brothers banged on my shield.

I could feel the force of their hits vibrate through me as they pounded against it,
something I had never felt while holding up a shield. Sweat began to coat my skin
as I fought to keep the barrier erect.

“You have to destroy them, Brie, or else Jace could go mad. They could trap him inside
whatever illusion they’ve created forever.”

“What?” I exclaimed angrily.
This can’t be happening
. I couldn’t lose Jace. Not now, not ever. I had to stop it, but I had no clue how.

The air began to distort around me, and my vision went in and out of focus. I shook
my head, trying to dispel the drowsy feeling coming over me. “Brie, fight it, they’re
trying to pull you in, too!” Zane yelled.

Fuck them. They were not fucking with me anymore. I had let Morpheus fuck with my
subconscious for long enough. They would all be sorry when I was through with them.

I only knew one thing that could possibly take all three of them out in one shot,
but I didn’t know if I had enough power to do it without Jace. I pulled from the energy
surrounding me, hoping it would suffice without him. Closing my eyes, I let the energy
build within me as I continued to infuse my aura.

My body pulsated with energy as I prepared to unleash my assault. The other times
I had done this, it had been uncontrolled and unstable. I had no idea if it would
even work. I adjusted my shield, keeping it around Jace and the others for protection
as I put myself on the outside.

I released my Akasha, dropping to my knees as the energy left my body. The blast spanned
the width of the room as it careened towards Morpheus and his brothers. They tried
to fly away, but my Akasha was too fast, even for their powerful wings.

When my Akasha hit them, they fell from the sky and landed with a huge crash that
caused the ground to shake, throwing me off my knees to sprawling on the floor. When
they didn’t move, I dropped the protective barrier around the others and slumped against
the ground, hoping that it had been enough.