Sacrifice (30 page)

Lia stared at Evan as her eyes changed from their usual crystal gray to bright crimson and back to gray again. She clutched at her chest as if she were wracked with pain or going into cardiac arrest, but she couldn’t take a step in his direction.

I knew what they all felt. It was as if my feet had become a part of the coal. I couldn’t find the strength to move forward. My breath was cut off and I gasped for air. I was unable to produce any heat no matter how hard I willed my inner flame to ignite. I struggled to alter my form, finding each attempt to be futile.

I was left with no other choice. I couldn’t fight the lure any longer. It was as if it was one and the same with my inner fire and, instinctively, I began borrowing energy from the blue blaze that beckoned to me. I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Lia had been right after all. Maybe giving thanks to the gods had been premature.

Thirty-Three
-
Cordelia

The Fire Within

My most powerful disciple’s faces froze when they saw me hanging in this fiery prison like a caged bird.

The flames rose higher as if anticipating their next move. My disciples didn’t realize it, but once they had passed the circle of fire, as Evan and I had, they had been rendered powerless. If they came any closer, they would probably be frozen as Evan was, or worse, burned to a crisp. Hades didn’t seem to have any use for them and didn’t seem to want to control them. He didn’t desire their souls. He just wanted mine.

Evan and I had followed Moira and crossed the encircled blaze once the skeletal remains of many materialized and linked, forming a makeshift bridge over the hole. The consequence of entering Hades’ lair wasn’t realized until after crossing the bridge. What really pissed me off was not having the chance to kill the dark fairy before she lured us into the trap.

The moment we entered the den, a sinister giggle erupted from her lips as the cage wrapped around me. Moira laughed so hard that she appeared to be convulsing. The moment Moira started laughing; Evan transformed into water in an attempt to extinguish the cage, but never got the chance. He reached out to me and the flames wrapped around him. I had thought that he was going to end up in a cage too, but I had been wrong. Once the flames touched him he froze into a block of ice. The tears flowed as sorrow filled my heart. The look on Evan’s face was a combination of shock and fear as he realized what was happening to him. That look would be engraved in my mind forever.

By then, Moira had disappeared. Her work was done.

As I looked at my devoted disciples, I knew why they had taken the deathly journey, but couldn’t understand how they had been able to follow us to the Underworld. I guess it was the reason my father had disappeared – to retrieve them. In all the time that I’d been hanging in this cage, which hasn’t been that long, I’d been thinking about a way to escape and save Evan. Now they were all here and it may be impossible to save them all. How could I leave any of them behind?

Suddenly, Victor looked upward at me and began walking forward.

“Victor, no! Please stay where you are. You’ll be frozen or burnt to ashes!” I yelled.

With every step he took, the pain in the pit of my stomach ping-ponged out of control. Victor made it within a foot of the cage, and then stopped, unexpectedly. The fire reached out to him as if it were an arm.

“No! Don’t!” I screamed, but he ignored me.

Without any hesitation or fear of being burned or frozen, he reached out to the fire and held onto the flames.

“No! He’ll control you! Victor!” I screamed, and almost grabbed hold of the blazing bars of the cage.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He channeled the blaze into his body. How could Victor be unaffected by Hades’ power?

“I’m… going… to… save… you,” He stammered in a deeper voice than usual.

Victor’s eyes were now a fiery blue edged in black. The fire that shot out of his mouth was the same as the blaze that surrounded us. I couldn’t stand the pain that rippled through me as I realized that Victor was being possessed by Hades. He thought he had control of his strengths, when in fact; Hades was absorbing what was left of Victor’s power.

A thick black cloud, spiraling out of control, leaving wispy vapors in its wake, emerged from behind my blazing cell. Within the misty vapors that had now formed into a flowing cape, were smoke hued skulls. Each skull hissed and snapped its jaw at me and Victor. The black mist under the hood of the cape had transformed into a human.

It was Hades.

His eyes were glowing sapphires, rimmed in black. He levitated in front of me, but faced Victor.

“Come to me, my child,” Hades demanded. His voice was deep and menacing.

“Dear gods, please stop him!” I pleaded for Victor’s soul, although I believed it might be too late. Victor appeared to be in a trance. He walked toward Hades as if it was the safest thing in the world to do.

“That’s exactly what I would expect from you. Obedience,” Hades said, chuckling as the flames flickered, violently, as if laughing too. “You take my fire as if it’s your own. My Lykanos have done their job. With one bite, they transferred a bit of me into you and now… well, now you and I are forever connected.”

Oh gods, Victor! What have you done? That explains why he always carried a scent of cinders. It wasn’t his aura. He’d been poisoned by the werewolves.

“Yes, Uncle. We are one,” Victor said.

The pain seized me, gripping my core like a vice. I wanted to rip out my own gut if it would stop the worst agony I’d ever been put through.

“Good. Now you will kiss your betrothed and I will have Zeus’ lightning bolt as I should have always possessed it. Zeus used the bolt, which Cyclops created, to defeat the Titans, but he never deserved to keep it. It should and will be mine.”

“YOU’LL NEVER GET MY BOLT!” I screamed. “NEVER! DO YOU HERE ME? NEVER!” I grabbed onto two of the cage’s fiery bars and regretted it, immediately. My hands trembled and my palms blistered instantly. The pain was overwhelming.

“Victor, WAKE UP! Don’t let him control you. HE’LL DESTROY YOU!”

Victor seemed to rouse from the trance, for a split second, as he met my gaze, but turned away from me. Dear gods please help us, I prayed.

Meanwhile, my disciples stood paralyzed as the flames nipped hungrily at their tuxedo tails and ball gown hems. Although they didn’t possess the strength to move, they tried repeatedly to break out of Hades’ spell. I still held the power to read their minds and they begged the gods for help. I hope that their prayers would be answered, although mine were not. If I didn’t do something to save them soon, their souls will be stolen.

I sent a message to Victor, telepathically, as my cage slowly lowered into the burning coal. Hades flew in arcs. He circled Victor and me, chanting in ancient Greek, “TAKE HER. TAKE HER NOW!”

Victor opened my cage and held out his hand. I backed up, slamming into the flames. My back became engulfed. I felt the heat as it burned its way through the layers of my dress. The pain was intense and I would kill for it to stop.

“I’M BURNING, VICTOR!” I shrieked. “HELP ME. PLEASE!”

I had to get out of the cage or I’d burn to death. Once I was out of the cage, I dropped to my knees, and lay on my back. I smashed my body into the coal and smothered the flames. It worked, although I was still smoldering.

Hades zoomed around us one last time. Then he flew up into the canopy of flames and darted straight for Victor. He was going to smother him in the blaze!

No, I was wrong.

Hades entered Victor’s body and his muscular frame swelled, for a moment, as if his clothes were pumped with a huge burst of air. Suddenly, he was immersed in flames.

“No!” I screamed, and sprang up from the coal-laden ground, instantly. I thought to put them out, but the flames began to be consumed by Victor.

Hades took over Victor’s body and mind. Victor stepped up to me, still smoldering, with dancing flames in his eyes.

Suddenly, out of the blue flames that climbed up and around a column to my right, a figure appeared. At first the figure was made up of the flames, but quickly transformed into its human form. I recognized the goddess, immediately. Persephone held a bouquet of white roses. Although her eyes held the same blue flames, she was elegant in a flowing, white gown. She floated toward me and handed me the bouquet. The roses bloomed over, and over again, from buds to full open blossoms.

“I don’t want them. I won’t live out the same doom you are faced with for an eternity,” I said, apologetically, shaking my head.

“You must or he will destroy them all. This is the only way you can save your empire from being devoured. This is what will happen. Look.” Persephone lifted her right arm.

A mirage was displayed in the draped sleeve of her gown. I made out the image of the grand ballroom in the Plaza Hotel. The Apolluon vampires captured my disciples as they ran for the exits. They snatched their medallions violently, from their necks. By doing this, my disciples weren’t protected by silver and the Lykanos dragged them as they tried to shift. Devastatingly, they weren’t able to. The shock ran through my nerves like ice water as both my mother and father directed their enslaved werewolf packs to hold every member down and chain them up against the walls of the ballroom.

Chains? What kind of chain could hold an Ischero?

“That’s enough.” Victor’s mouth moved, although I knew Hades’ had spoken. His bone chilling voice ended the mirage and Persephone lowered her arm.

The message was clear and the image of my disciples being slaughtered as directed by my parents – their former emperor and empress, both saddened and enraged me. No, they weren’t my parents anymore. My parents were dead, forever. The Mayor and his wife were servants of the god, no, beast who’s desire to possess my godly given gift could end my empire.

I had only one objective – one purpose. I had to sacrifice myself.

I snatched the bouquet from Persephone and gave her a severe look of disapproval, although I knew that Hades’ controlled her too. She was a pawn, and had no choice but to serve her abductor. I looked at into Victor’s eyes – Hades’ eyes, and tried to find Victor somewhere within them. All I could see was the purest evil, hatred, and anguish, surprisingly. Although I thought I understood what Hades’ intent was, I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him. Look what being tricked by his brother and discarded had done to him. He was once a respected god, a part of the Olympians, and was now loathed by all simply because of the lot he drew. His desire to destroy my empire stemmed from his consuming hatred for his brother. His plight was the same as Victor’s once was. He was cheated and wanted vengeance.

Could I blame him?

Indeed. Right now, none of that sibling rivalry mattered one bit. Right now, I couldn’t let Hades’ issues allow me lose focus. I had to save my empire, which meant that there was only one thing left to do. The only choice available to me, and I didn’t want to risk having that offer taken off the table.

Perhaps, someday, I could escape Hades’ realm. Someday I would outsmart him, but today I was his.

Thirty-Four
-
Cordelia

Sacrifice

I prayed to the gods, who seemed to have completely abandoned us. We were in desperate need of their help. Would they really continue to ignore us?

Victor was trapped in his own skin, which was also occupied by our tormentor. Hades’ wicked voice was all I heard and Victor’s gorgeous face was all I saw. I didn’t know if Victor heard me, but I had to try and figure out a way to connect with him.

“VICTOR, CAN YOU HEAR ME? COME OUT,” I screamed.

“You have something I need, and you will give it to me.” Hades bellowed, inching closer to me.

All the while, the columns and walls surrounding us started to crumble. Various clumps of rock, mixed with ash, fell from the burning ceiling and off the walls. The ground broke apart in several areas, and fire shot upward from the craters. This time some of the flames were red and orange. These flames were the flames that engulfed Tartarus. The overall hue of the blaze in some spots was a hazy purple.

“No!” I screamed when the ground opened a couple feet from the spot where Evan still stood – frozen. The flames twisted and turned like snakes in every direction.

Oh no, my disciples!

“Your brothers and sisters, of your forgotten empire, will be buried beneath my realm. Their souls will dwell in Tartarus with the Titans for eternity, unless you give me what I want.” Hades declared as he reached out to smooth my hair. I winced and stepped back.

The rocks continued to crumple from the walls and bounce onto the smoldering coal, creating more gaping holes. I peered past Victor’s body. My disciples stood motionless as more and more flames reached out for them.

“I’ll give you my lightning bolt,” I said, trembling all over.

“I never had a doubt,” Hades confirmed.

“Under one condition, you trade my disciples for it.”

Through Victor’s eyes, Hades’ eyes focused in on me. The cobalt blue pools grew darker until they were black as onyx. Then the strangest thing happened. Hades’ face actually appeared through Victor’s face as if Victor had shifted into Hades.

“Do you really wish to bargain with me when I can take your bolt and kill you and them as well?”

I spun around and stepped dangerously close to one of the openings in the ground. The flames leapt out at me as if they needed to be saved.

“I’ll jump in and my bolt will perish along with me,” I threatened. “You’ll only be left with my soul.”

“You wouldn’t dare test me,” Hades said and Victor’s body lunged for me. Hades was now within an inch or two of me and I ran to the opposite end of the hole, nearly losing my balance for a second.

“It’s my disciples or nothing. Do we have a deal?” I yelled, with one foot elevated. I was really prepared to jump and let the flames devour me.