Wrath of Hades (5 page)

“Ethan doesn’t want you dead.”

Raven snorted. “I don’t see Ethan standing here.” She looked around. “Do you?”

Ethan’s mom shook her head. “No but—”

“He’s not here, so he doesn’t have a say in any of this. So where are they?”

Silence filled the kitchen.

Raven rolled her eyes. “Fine, if I have to tear the house down in order to find them, then so be it.”

“Everyone’s gathered in Cerberus’ chambers—everyone except those of us who are human. We’re banned from the judgment.” Sadness filled the woman’s voice.

“He’s your son too. You have a right to be there.”

“Not according to pack law.”

“That law needs to be changed. Now, how do I get to the chambers?”

“The Fates have chosen well for Ethan.” The woman smiled. “Go through that door. Go down the stairs and follow the hall.”

“Fates had nothing to do with it, but thank you.”

“Heather. My name’s Heather. Please take care of Ethan.” The woman grabbed Raven and gave her a quick hug. “Be careful. Cerberus will be angry
and he’s dangerous when he’s angry.”

Raven nodded and walked over to the door. It opened easily when she twisted the door knob. “Typical. The door’s easy to open but the journey’s going to be difficult,” she said. Raven glanced over her shoulder. Heather, Ethan’s mom, was gone.

Shaking her head, Raven took her first step into the passage leading to Cerberus. She flew down the stairs and into a corridor lined with flaming torches. “This is a little too medieval for me.” Raven touched the wall. “Unreal. I’ve got stonewalls and a hidden tunnel lined with real flaming torches. All I need now is for a knight in shining armor to show up. Oh, wait. That’s me.”

She took off jogging. Five minutes later, she finally came to the end of the tunnel and to a darkened opening. Raven bent down and put her hands on her knees as she huffed and puffed. “I’ve really got to get into shape. No more avoiding gym class.”

Her breathing slowed and her heart beat slowed to a pace somewhat closer to normal. Slowly she stood up. Her eyes followed the sides of the dark opening until she came to the top of the arch. Just above the arch the stone had been polished until it gleamed in the firelight.

Beware! Only the loyal may enter and leave here.

“You’ve got to be kidding! If Ethan and the others weren’t in danger, I’d swear I was stuck in a really bad, below budget B movie,” Raven said after reading the message. “What’s next? Sentries with spears and axes? Maybe a dragon or two.”  She shook her head. A weird energy pulled at her.

It came from the dark opening. She took a couple steps closer. The stronger the energy field grew.

“This is supposed to scare me? Not!” Raven put her hand up to touch the darkness only to have the energy wrap around it. “That kind of tickles.” The corners of her lips turned up into a smile, but it vanished two seconds later and Raven stepped into the darkness.

The energy wrapped around her entire body like a glove and slowed her movement.

Raven pushed against it.

The energy band tightened its grip.

A trickle of panic raced through her.

The energy band squeezed a little tighter.

Raven forced herself to relax.

The energy band quit tightening around her.

Raven focused on getting the energy band away from her, and shoved as hard as she could against it.

It worked, at least a little bit, because the energy band loosened.

Trying to stay as relaxed as possible, she pushed harder.

The energy band slowly opened and finally Raven was free.

She stepped out of the darkness and straight into the middle of the Hell Hound meeting, and Raven suddenly found herself surrounded by hundreds of Hell Hounds.

The room fell silent.

All eyes were on her.

“Wow! I didn’t realize there were so many of you,” she said as she looked around the room. Ethan and the others were standing on the far side of the room. Several huge men with wickedly lethal loo
king swords stood around them—guards, obviously guarding the prisoners.

“I knew it! I just knew it! Every bad B movie has really big guys with wicked looking swords,” said Raven. “Now, I just need the evil wizard, and we’ll be all set.”

More men and women stood in small groups throughout the room. Some glanced at the prisoners while others stood with their backs to them. In the front of the room was a very huge man, who Raven figured was Cerberus because power rolled off of him in waves. Definitely the Alpha, thought Raven. The man towered over the others, and Hell Hounds were on the tall side anyway.

Everyone was staring at her. Slowly, Raven scanned the room, looking for anything she could use to her advantage. She let her eyes linger a few seconds longer on Ethan than she did anything or anyone else.

He shook his head at her. A really displeased look covered his face.

She shrugged her shoulders and winked.

“How dare you enter this place!” Huge waves of power rolled off of Cerberus, causing all the Hell Hounds to cringe. Some even let out painful whimpers.

“Okay, there’s my bad wizard.” Raven felt the power, but it didn’t bother her. It was more like having a pest buzzing around her ear. “Is that all you got? Cause it felt like an annoying mosquito. And you know
what? You just have to swat them.” Raven smiled at him. She slapped her hands together and twisted them like she was squishing something between them.

Cerberus sniffed the air. “You’re not human.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Tell me something I don’t know.” Raven heard several gasps from the Hell Hounds closest to her.

“What are you?” Cerberus asked after sniffing the air again.

“Not much on manners are you?” Raven rolled her eyes. “I was taught to be polite to my elders and to introduce myself, but it’s fine with me if you want to skip all of that.”

The gasps were more audible.

Cerberus growled.

“Lovely.” Raven crossed her arms. “Ethan and the others are not guilty of anything but trying to keep me safe so that I can keep the world safe.
You picked the wrong people to put on trial.” Raven jerked her thumb in Ethan’s direction. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take them and leave, with or without your permission.” Raven smiled at him again.

Raven saw Ethan take a step toward her but was immediately stopped by two of the sword wielding guys. Billy and another guy, after a short struggle, pulled him away from the guards. She saw Billy whispering something to him.

“You insignificant human.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “First, I’m not human, now I’m human. You really need to make up you
r mind. It can’t be both ways. Either I am human or I am not. We can’t switch back and forth. It’ll get too confusing.” Raven shook her head. “You really have no clue who I am. Do you?”

“It doesn’t matter who you are. You’re dead,” growled Cerberus.

“Whatever! Been there, done that. In fact, it’s kind of over-rated—dying I mean.” Raven uncrossed her arms and propped her fists on her hips. “I’m Raven Weir. You know, the person everyone calls the Guardian of Atlantis. And you’re Cerberus, the one standing between me and my friends, and that’s definitely not a good place to be.”

“You’re going to be the dead guardian.”

“Oh, like I haven’t heard that one before. You’re going to have to take a number and get in line because there are a lot of people in front of you who want me dead.”

Raven glanced at the wall behind Ethan and the others. If she could knock one of the torches down, it would give her a
huge shadowed area where she could create a doorway, at least, she hoped it would.

“You insignificant little human—”

“Now, we’re back to the insignificant human taunt. Personally, it’s not much of an insult. But does your mate know that you think humans are insignificant? And what about all the other humans who are mated to Hell Hounds? Aren’t most of the Hell Hound kids half human? So what is your issue with humans? Besides I thought you said I wasn’t human.”

Murm
urs rose from the gathered Hell Hounds.

“Make up your mind. It’s one or the other, not both.”

“Enough of your insolence!” roared Cerberus. “How dare you!”

Raven shrugged her shoulders. “Do you think I’m going to treat you any di
fferent than I do anyone else? That I’m going to bow down to the big mighty Cerberus. Sorry. If Zeus didn’t scare me, you’re definitely not going to scare me either.”

“Your arrogance is exactly what I expected from you, Raven Weir, and you’re giving us all an excellent demonstration of it.” Pure hatred filled his eyes when he looked at her. “You see what has ensnared and corrupted our children,” he said to the crowd.

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room.

“It is because of her my son is dead.” His voice carried over the crowd.

Cries of outrage roared from the group.

The bile rose up Raven’s throat forcing her to swallow several times. The repercussions of her actions were finally coming back to haunt her in full force. “It was self-defense.” Her voice sounded small. She glanced over at Ethan.

He stared at her. A smile slowly spread across his lips.

Raven felt the energy flowing from him. It wrapped around her like a warm hug on a cold night.

“And now she’s using my other child,” said Cerberus.

“Jay attacked me. He tried to kill me on several occasions, including hiding in my house until I came home.” Raven forced her voice to sound loud and strong. “That’s reall
y the sign of an honorable Hell Hound. Oh, and if you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic because Jay was nothing but a low life thug.”

The noise level suddenly dropped.

Raven felt all eyes on her again, making her skin crawl.

“Lies.
All lies,” roared Cerberus.

“Says the father of one of the biggest, meanest bullies I’ve ever met.” Raven stared at Cerberus. “Not to mention cowardly, dishonorable, a juvenile delinquent, and just plain stupid.”

“Jay wouldn’t attack unless provoked,” declared Cerberus.

“Are you trying to convince them or yourself?” Raven raised an eyebrow. “Jay was out of control.”

“I don’t have to convince anyone of anything when nothing but lies pour out of your mouth.”

A wave of angry energy struck Raven like a wall of bricks, knocking her back a couple of steps. “Please. You’ve got to have more than that.”

All around her Hell Hounds dropped to their knees and whimpered.

Cerberus said something, but with his growling, she couldn’t understand.

“So I’m lying about Jay hiding out in my house, waiting for me to come home?” Raven rolled her eyes. “Jay was dangerous, not only to me, but to the others too. If I hadn’t of done what I did, not only would he have killed me, Jay would have killed Ethan and the others.” Raven gestured toward the prisoners.

“Enough!” roared Cerberus.

“So you would have rather Jay to have lived and killed them? I realize Jay was your son too, but you had to have known just how unstable and dangerous he was. It wasn’t like he was hiding it from anyone. And if he had killed the others, how were you going to cover that up?”

“Jay would have killed my Pauline?” whispered a woman not far from Raven.

“Yes, and I couldn’t let him do that,” Raven said to the woman.

“Enough of your lies!”
Horrendous growls filled the air.

Raven looked up at about the same time Cerberus charged her. She didn’t have time to think. She just threw her hands up in front of her. About the same time, she heard someone yell her name but in the commotion, she couldn’t tell who was yelling.

A powerful wave of energy plowed into her, sending her flying through the Hell Hounds surrounding her. Growls and screams filled the room. Raven pushed her way out of the pile and crawled to her feet. Scanning the room, she saw Cerberus on the other side, doing the same thing.

“Raven.”

She turned toward the voice.

“Don’t
you ever do this again.” Ethan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.

“You know I can’t promis
e that.” Raven hugged him back.

A horrible roar filled the room, overpowering all the other noises. Everyone turned to look at Cerberus.

“Guardian!”

Ethan immediately pushed Raven
behind him. The other teen Hell Hounds suddenly appeared around them.

The muscles on the right side of Cerberus’s face twitched. Clenched hands hung at his sides as he stared at Raven and his son, seeing the protective stance Ethan had taken even though the girl was obviously powerful enough to protect herself.

Ethan stared at his father in the way only another powerful Alpha could do.

A surge of pride swept through Cerberus.