Sacrifice (28 page)

Evan stepped away and channeled his winds. He shifted into water and then into a tornado, splashing into the fiery coal beneath us. The water began to dissipate into his skin and he transformed back into human form. A wry smile emerged on his face and I knew he felt a bit more confident, although not entirely safe, as the ferocious barks rose above us. I looked up and noticed that the mountainous structure was a spiral of cliffs encased in crackling flames that neither radiated heat nor cold.

“Let’s not keep Hades waiting,” I said and walked through the fire edged archway into the realm of hell.

Evan fell into step beside me. Although the flames lunged at us, the dimness of the cave was overwhelming because the blue flames didn’t burn bright as regular flames. Suddenly, something massive with a putrid odor moved in my peripheral view. I felt the wetness and stickiness of its drool dripping from its fangs before it leapt onto me. I fell onto the scorching hot coal that only burned on impact. I used my power to cool instantly, thanking the gods that my power had returned.

Cerberus, Hades’ three headed, monstrous guard dog stood over me, barking, and growling. The grotesque looking hound of Hell had reptilian skin with tufts of mangy fur that grew sporadically over its muscular, bull-sized body. Its eyes were pools of fire and its nostrils flared violently. A serpent-like tail twice the length of my body whipped frantically back and forth. It nearly knocked Evan down as he tried to connect his fists with Cerberus’ heads. The beast pushed down on me, weighing in at no less than a two tons. The head in the center was the closest to my face as all three heads fought to bite my face off. Cerberus dripped acidic drool all over my face from all three of its jaws and it burned and had the most horrible odor, as most beastly creatures did.

My heat was stifling. The white lightning left my body and shot out from my eyes in long, jagged branches into Cerberus. Evan nailed several thunderous blows to all three heads in a matter of a second. I flipped the monster dog off me and catapulted it into the misty air.

Cerberus yelped as its body crackled and jolted while encased in a coat of lightning bolts. The lightning burst out of its charred body. I beckoned the current to my hand, where it disappeared into my skin. Cerberus dropped into the coal with a load thud. I stood over its stiff body. Evan kicked it a couple times but the nasty beast didn’t respond.

The smell of the drool nearly caused me to vomit as I remembered that it was smeared on my face. I tore off a layer of my gown and wiped the putrid slobber off my face. Evan poured water from his hand into a handkerchief that he yanked out from his tuxedo jacket and wiped my face. Then he did the sweetest thing. He brushed his lips against my cheeks and my heart fluttered.

“One down and many more monsters to go,” Evan said, chuckling.

“That creature was no match for us,” I said triumphantly, although it was probably a bit premature to do any celebratory mocking.

We continued further into the cave, which was dimly lit with blue flames that climbed its ashen stonewalls. Evan kept slapping away the flames that nipped at the sleeves of his tuxedo jacket. As we walked further into the realm, our shoes sunk deeper into the burning coal and melted away. Eventually, we stood bare-foot on the fiery coal. The heat didn’t have an effect on Evan and me, so we proceeded into the dungeon-like space. The jaws of the human skulls scattered throughout the coal snapped at our feet as if they wanted a taste of divinity. A skeletal arm grabbed my ankle. I screamed and snatched it off my leg and out of the coal. It loosened its grip and hung limply once it wasn’t in the coal. I flung it behind me and realized that the skeletons only where only living while in the coal.

Weepy cries and a low moaning sound began to rise above us. The wailing was a lot loader than the insistent, painful moans. Suddenly, the walls began cracking in veiny lines and crumbling all around us. Evan and I held onto each other as the stones slid and fell onto the coal, turning into ashes. The walls came crashing down and revealed numerous flaming pits, fire edged archways, and cracked stone columns.

We both jumped back when the ashes floated up from the burning coal, forming legs, torsos, arms, and finally, skeletal heads. The army of ash skeletons, still burning with blue flames, lined up in ranks in front of us. The platoon stood at least seven feet tall.

“I’ll take the first six, you take the second squad, and we’ll stomp them out like cigarette butts,” Evan whispered.

“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed and sized up our opponents.

Each of Hades’ soldiers wielded weapons made up of bluish flames and of the dismembering kind – machetes, Siphons swords, and sickles. All it took was one cut with a fire blade and Hades’ would compromise our aura, and we’d be forced to submit to his control. The gray powdery soldiers inched toward us, crunching into the coal they originated from, and screeching as if actually alive. Instinctively, Evan and I stepped backward and fell into fighting positions, no need for weaponry.

The flaming blade of a sickle warmed my neck as I lurched back. Guessing from the arc, which cut through the mist still surrounding us, it was meant to decapitate me. I sped to the right and nearly careened with another solder’s machete. I couldn’t see Evan, with the vapors thickening, and hoped he was having as much luck as I was at dodging these creatures and their knives.

Another skeleton came at me, jaws chattering,  and I punched through its torso breaking through the fire within it and coming out of its back, all while avoiding being stabbed to death by its sword. Drops of water splashed against my face as a spiraling body of water spun in circles and doused the ash soldiers. A few soldiers simmered back into the coal, while the rest of the ashen carcasses, maybe fifteen or so, continued coming at Evan’s water form and me. As they whipped through Evan, they evaporated into the coal. Obviously, these creatures weren’t too smart or they’d have figured out that water was their true enemy.

After Evan shifted back into human form, we stopped our journey into the realm. I needed to get a better look at what surrounded us and noticed the flames that climbed the columns actually reached out like arms. The limbs nipped at my gown, burned holes into the fabric, and left charred smudges. Evan’s tuxedo also had spots where the fire had left it tattered and still smoking. He sprayed water as we inched deeper into the realm, not knowing what to expect next.             

“It’s a labyrinth. How do we know which direction to go in order to find him?” Evan asked.

Just as I was about to speak, a chorus of wicked giggles and chuckles reverberated around us like the wind. The sound of snapping and flapping wings filled the air. They couldn’t be any bigger than bees with black, feathered wings. The swarm of fairies fluttered around us and glittered like fireflies, lighting up the space in which Evan and I stood. I swatted at one that obviously thought it was hysterical to try to fly right into one of my nostrils. She back flipped in the air, laughing and holding her stomach while sprinkling charred dust everywhere.

They were Hades’ dark fairies – guides into his deathly realm, and they were growing in size by the second. Their growth spurt halted once they were about three feet tall. Although their faces appeared angelic in structure – heart shaped faces with flirty eyelashes, and pouty red lips, they didn’t possess an ounce kindness or an innocent nature. They were cruel-spirited, hence their place in the Underworld. They had been banished to the Underworld, by the gods, long ago for using their powers to persuade those without power to turn against the gods. They belonged here.

“We will guide you to father, if you wish,” one fairy said, with eyes that burned like the coal – blue edged with black.

“You smell delicious – like nectars. It is the pure scent of divinity. I want a little bite,” Another fairy said, sniffing and exposing long fangs.

“Yes, just a small taste,” another wicked pixie added.

She hovered over Evan’s head and snapped her jaws over, and over. Once she was within a few inches of his face, he grabbed her head. Her eyes bulged and turned a bright fluorescent yellow, her nostrils flared out hideously, and her mouth spread out into a gargoyle’s grin the moment he touched her. The fairy’s skin became scaled like a serpent and her feathered wings fanned out into webbed wings, which snapped louder as she flapped them. The rest of the fairies morphed into scaled reptiles as well. They hissed and flicked their slithering, red tongues, menacingly. They bobbed up and down in the air, lunged at our heads.

The blistering heat scorched my core and I ignited my bolt. The blinding currents coursed out of my body, lighting up the space, and penetrated the closest fairy in the chest. My lightning ripped through her body and it exploded, emitting a wet, dark green mist. Her sisters gasped and screeched loudly in shock. They went into full fairy attack mode, grabbing at both Evan and I with their claws. Their attempt at ripping us apart became futile the moment we decided to play a little game with them and disappear from their view.

Unfortunately, our power to be invisible only lasted for a brief moment since some of our powers didn’t work well in the realm. The wicked dark fairies left Evan and me no other choice but to be rid of them. I soared into the air and shot the blinding currents into the fairies until the last one begged to be spared. I thought to destroy her too, until Evan stopped me.

“She could be useful,” he said. Evan was right. We still had no clue as to where Hades was hiding in this maze of flaming columns and archways.

“I can. I
will
be useful,” the dark fairy promised, as she transformed back to an attractive pixie. “I will take you to Hades.”

Could we really trust this serpent with wings?

“Should we trust her? She could lead us right into a trap,” I said, walking toward her.

“And you’ll blow her up the same way you did the rest of her sisters.” Evan snapped, glaring at the pixie as he held her by the neck against one of the charred columns.

“I suppose you’re right. If she tries to trick us, I’ll blast her,” I added and smiled, wickedly, at the dark fairy.

“Show us the way. And if you think you can fool us than think again, little fairy, you won’t live long enough to regret it,” Evan said, pushing her forward.

“My name is Moira,” the dark fairy said in a shaky voice. “Ouch! That burns!” she screamed after the tiny current blasted past her pointy little ear.

“Introductions are not necessary. Lead,” I said.

Moira pursed her lips, turned around, and walked toward the blazing archway to our immediate left. As her wings fluttered and snapped, a few wispy black feathers fell to the ground and turned into ashes, instantly. I said a silent prayer to the gods that I wouldn’t have to kill her.

Thirty-Two –Victor

Follow Your Heart

I dashed down the stairs but didn’t hear Delia, Evan, or what had looked to be her father, but clearly wasn’t. After fifty or so flights down, we ended up in front of a large door. I snatched it open and a bright light shot pain through my eyes. Finally, the light dimmed after a couple seconds.

I could only imagine what
he
was doing here. Hermes’ lips curled at the corners and then twisted up one side. His smug expression left a nasty taste in my mouth. Ares had warned me about him. Hermes was never to be trusted, not completely. He was known to speak only half-truths.

I was trailed by Nikolas, Bethany, Julius, Hedea, and my sister. They stood beside me with wide eyes and stared up at Hermes’ eight-foot frame.

“What are
you
doing here?” I asked, unable to disguise my annoyance.

“I’m here to offer my help, unless you would rather go to the Underworld on your own. I wish you the best of luck locating it,” Hermes said as he chortled.

I glanced at the other members and their eyes glowed in crimson. They were prepared to go. I didn’t think it was such a good idea that they come with me.

“Oh Gods! My brother and Delia have been taken to the Underworld?” Bethany screamed. Nikolas wrapped an arm around her waist and steadied her.

All I could think of was Delia. I saw her beautiful face surrounded by blue flames and I grabbed at my chest. I rubbed it, furiously. The pain was unbearable and crippling. It sprung from somewhere deep within my core and I knew that she needed me.

“Lord Victor, are you alright?” Hedea asked, peering at me.

“He’ll be fine, sis. He’s in love, that’s all.” Julius winked at me. I ignored them both.

“I thought Zeus wouldn’t allow any god to interfere in the business of mere demigods,” I said. 

“This has to do with the gods and you are not seeing the big picture. These are the evil doings of the almighty god of the dead. Hades is in rare form and has transformed the soul of a former emperor of deities into one of his violent creatures of the night.”

“Can Constantyn kill… Delia and Evan?” Lia asked, nervously.

“As an Apolluon vampire, Constantyn knows who you all are, but doesn’t remember who he used to be. He’ll destroy you. The Empress is the only demigod who has the power to stop him once she realizes that as a vampire, Constantyn is no longer her beloved father.”

I tried to disguise the growing pain in my gut.

The weight of Hermes words were credible, if only this one time. I believed him and we needed him, desperately. Delia should have annihilated Constantyn in that room. Nevertheless, I understood why she hadn’t killed him. I saw the love in her eyes for him, even as he put her in a chokehold. She wanted that beast to be her father.

I was doubled over as the searing pain flooded my gut. It felt like I’d been kicked in it. Everyone looked at me for a moment and I knew that they understood all too well what was happening to me. I was overwhelmed by Delia’s fear and pain and noticed that I wasn’t alone. Lia was also clenching her chest and trying to catch her breath.