Wrath of Hades (20 page)

Followed by another.

And then another.

Each wave stronger than the last.

And unlike their predecessors, they were heavily armed with kniv
es and machetes, and axes. These zombies were also faster moving, more in control of their bodies.

Yelps and cries filled the night as the new zombies cut their way through the pack.

Raven stood stunned, unsure what to do to help the Hell Hounds.

‘
Raaa-veee-nnn!”

“
Raa-veeeee-nnnnn!”

“
Raavvvvvveeeeeennnnn!”

The horrible, grating sound the zombies made when they called out her name caused something to snap inside Raven’s head. She looked across the battlefield. The majority of the zombies were coming into the area through
the same alley she and the Hell Hounds had come through.

It had to be blocked to slow the influx of zombies.

Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Powers don’t fail me now.”  She pleaded as she closed her eyes.

Looking inside for the peaceful place Poseidon told her she needed,
Raven found a small glowing ember. It drew her to it. She reached out with her mind and grabbed it.

Opening her eyes, Raven looked at the zombies flowing out from between the two mausoleums. Not far away she spotted several stone statues.

Raven raised her right eyebrow as she stared at the statues.

Raising her right arm in front of her, she opened her hand. In her mind, she focused on the image of her wrapping her hand around the statue, picking it up, and wedging it in between the mausoleums. Raven closed her hand and moved her arm toward the mausoleum.

The stone statue flew throw the air and fell in the path of the zombies, crushing several as it landed.

Raven gasped for breath.

Fatigue threatened her but she pushed past it and focused on another statue and then the next one, until several minutes later, a wall of broken stone and marble statues filled the alley between the two mausoleums, blocking the majority of the zombies from entering the battle.

Exhaustion flowed through Raven. Her legs trembled, but she ignored it as best she could. She didn’t
have a choice. She and the Hell Hounds were still getting their tails kicked by the zombies.

Over the battle sounds, an unearthly howl rippled through the air.

Ethan suddenly shifted back to human. “Claire. I have to get to her!” He bolted and ran toward the largest mausoleum.

“Ethan, get back here!” Raven’s screams were lost in the sounds of the battle going on around her. She rolled her eyes and took off after Ethan. With a little luck, the zombi
es would quit fighting the Hell Hounds and follow her.

Ethan flung himself against the stone doors of the mausoleum. The old cracked stone shattered under his weight and sheer determination. He was up and inside the building before Raven got there.

“Ethan, get out of there!”

“Claire! Where are you! Claire!”

“Ethan! She’s not in there!” yelled Raven as she followed him inside.

“Claire!’

Frustrated, Raven picked up a chunk of the stone lying inside the mausoleum and threw it as hard as she could at Ethan. It hit him between the shoulder blades, effectively getting his attention.

Growling, he turned to face her.

“Ethan, Claire’s not here. You have to leave.”

“You’re lying. She’s here. I smell her!”

“Maybe she was here at one time, but she’s not here now. You have to go. It’s a trap.”

“Lies!”
Ethan snarled and lunged at Raven. Just before he hit her, out of nowhere, Cerberus stepped in front of Raven and took the brunt of the attack.

Raven pressed herself against the wall of the mausoleum and watched in disbelief as Cerberus pinned Ethan in a choke hold until he passed out. Slowly Cerberus put the now unconscious Ethan on the floor and turned to her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Raven saw something move in the shadows.

She held her breath, because she
realized they were not alone. The shadows of the mausoleum were filled with several shades.

One of the shades moved closer to her.

Raven kept her head turned toward Cerberus, who was slowly shortening the distance between them, but kept her eyes focused on the shade moving toward her.

“What have you done?” growled Cerberus.

Raven ignored Cerberus. She lunged into the shadows and grabbed the shade. Raven moved back into the light, struggling with the shade she was dragging with her.

“A shade.
How did you know?” asked Cerberus.

Raven ignored the question. She shook the shade. “You and I are going to become buddies,” she told the distorted shadow of what had once been a human.

It made a squealing noise and fought against her grip on its neck. It dug its crooked, claw-like limbs at her fingers trying to pry them away from it.

“I told you, you’re not going anywhere.” She squeezed a little harder. “Where is Hades?”

“Nnoottt hheerrrre.”

“No joke! Where is he?”

“HHHaadddesssss!”

“Where is Claire Westing?”

“HHHaadddessss!”

Raven shook the shade. “Where exactly are they?”

“It’s not going to tell you much more than what it already has,” said Cerberus. “I’m surprised it told you that much.”

Raven squeezed it harder. “Tell me!” she ordered it. The shade squirmed and changed its color. With a weird pop, it disappeared, leaving Raven holding nothing but air.

Sounds of the battle drifted into the mausoleum.

Raven looked at Cerberus.
“I need you to get all the Hell Hounds to safety. Get them as far away from this place as you can.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going after Claire Westing and I’m putting an end to this stupid power trip Hades is on.” She didn’t wait for Cerberus to answer. Raven envisioned Persephone’s bedroom and waved her hand in an arch across the shadows causing a doorway to open. She looked at Cerberus. “Get the Hell Hounds to safety and take care of them. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Before Cerberus could say anything else, Raven stepped through the shadow doorway.

Raven stepped out of the shadows and quickly closed the doorway.

The last thing she needed was Ethan to regain consciousness and follow her through it. Chasing a crazy, Claire-obsessed Hell Hound all over Hades was the last thing she wanted to do.

Raven rolled her eyes at the very thought of having to chase down Ethan. Dear, old Uncle Hades would have a fit. She put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud, when an image of her and Ethan running crazily around the place flickered through her mind.

Carefully she looked around the room.

She was definitely in a bedroom—an extremely large and elaborate bedroom. A huge bed with a large canopy took up a huge portion of the room on Raven’s right. A large fireplace surrounded by chairs and a couch took up the opposite wall.

Raven shook her head.

All the furniture in the room was some sort of dark cherry color, and all the fabrics in the room were a deep, blood red color. The room really looked like something she had seen in a magazine.

“I really hope this is Persephone’s room. She and I need to have a long talk. I don’t like being lied to. And I don’t like traps.” Raven walked over to the dresser. Not even a hair brush or a comb was out. The entire top of the dresser had nothing on it. In fact, she didn’t see anything, anywhere that indicated whose bedroom she was in.

There were two doorways. Raven went to the first and put her ear to it. Not one sound came from the room. As quietly as she could, Raven opened the door and looked in to find a huge bathroom.

“Definitely not the way out,” she said as she closed the door.

Raven crossed the bedroom to the other door and put her ear to it. The dark wood was cold to her skin. Raven almost laughed out loud. “I’m in Hades. Shouldn’t everything be hot?” She put her ear back to the door and listened. It was hard to ignore the cold radiating from the door. Even the door to the bathroom wasn’t that cold.

She heard a couple of different voice, but couldn’t tell how they belonged to or even what they were saying. The voices grew louder, until Raven realized the owners of the voices were standing just on the other side of the door.

“You l
ied to me!” The female voice definitely belonged to Persephone, and she was angry.

“No, I didn’t. I just didn’t bother to tell you everything!” yelled the male voice.

“Oh, I see! I’m just good enough to have around when you want something pretty to play with, but I’m not good enough to know what your plans are.”

“Yeah, that’s about right.”

“I hate you!” screamed Persephone.

“And I just love it. You’re so much more fun when I keep things from you,” said the male voice.

Raven shook her head. She knew exactly who the male was. She didn’t need to see through the door. Hades was standing on the other side.

“But I’m your wife. You shouldn’t keep things from me.”

“Oh, so now you’re my wife. Very convenient, but it’s not going to work. I’m in charge here. What I say goes, and I say you don’t need to know everything.”

The door handled rattled.

Raven’s eyes widened. Her eyes darted around the room.

She had to hide.

Raven shook her head. For such a huge room, there wasn’t really any place she could hide. The shadows in the corner next to the door would have to do. Raven didn’t have time to find anything better.

The door swung open.

Raven pressed her body as far into the shadows as she could.

“Let go of me!” screamed Persephone. She tugged and pulled against the grip Hades had on her arm.

“As you wish,” said Hades. He let go of her arm.

Persephone went tumbling across the room and landed in a heap. For a co
uple of seconds, she was motionless, but slowly she moved first one arm then the next. “I hate you. You have no clue just how much I hate you.”

Hades threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t care if you hate me. You can hate me all you want. But remember this. You’re mine. You can’t leave. And no one’s going to rescue you.” He walked over to Persephone and grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Now, I know you’re lying to me.” An almost gleeful tone filled his voice. “And I like it when you lie to me because then I get to punish you.” Hades grabbed the bottom of her jaw and forced her to kiss him.

Suddenly he roared and threw Persephone away from him. “You stupid little witch!”

Persephone landed on her bottom and slid. “Don’t ever try forcing me to kiss you.” Blood dribbled down the side of her mouth. She spit and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Besides, quit acting like a baby. It’ll be healed before you leave this room.”

“You will regret doing this.” Hades ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “You will regret this,” he said again as he stepped backwards.

Raven held her breath, hoping he would leave the room.

Hades got to the door and reached out for the handle. He spun on his heel and grabbed Raven and yanked her out of the shadows. “Well. Well. Well. What do we have here?” He shook Raven. “I believe I’ve just caught the mighty Guardian everyone’s talking about.”

“You had better quit or you’ll regret it!” Raven managed to get the words out.

“Oh look! She’s threatening me. How cute. NOT!”

“Leave her alone. She’s just a child.”

“I’ll deal with you in just a few minutes.” He pointed a finger at Persephone. “But first, I believe she has something that belongs to me, and I want it back.”

“I don’t have anything that belongs to you.” Raven clawed at the hand wrapped around her arm. “Let go of me!”

“And what fun would that be. I’ve done everything to make sure you came here.” He laughed. “And it worked beautifully.”

“You used me?” Persephone sounded astonished.

“You’re so gullible. Of course I used you. I knew you stole her soul and returned it to her. I knew you would keep her informed about what I was doing. Now, everything’s mine!” He dragged Raven to the center of the room.

The door opened and several strange looking men entered the room. They were a cross between a shade and something a little more human. Raven realized these men were becoming shades.

“Take both of them down to my lab.”

The head shade nodded. Several other shades quickly surrounded Raven and Persephone.

“You won’t get away with this,” said Persephone.

“Oh, but my beautiful Persephone, I already have. Ther
e’s no one left to rescue you, and I’m going to make sure you never leave my side again.”

“Is he always this psycho?” asked Raven as she glared at Hades.