The voice comes to me again.To your feet, my sister.
Hecate.
I brace myself against the wall with a bloody hand and straighten. Blood drips down my hair, coating my exposed breasts. My dress hangs in tatters around my waist.
“My mother was the epitome of bravery.” I advance toward him, holding the tip of my knife level with his windpipe in a steady hand. “My mother sacrificed herself so that I could avenge her and every other woman who suffers at the hands of pathetic creatures like you.”
“Your mother deserved it?—”
“My mother,” I boom, my voice filling the catacomb, shaking the earth around us, “was a fuckingchild. And Hades knew that.”
He barks out another horrible laugh. “You are a fucking bastard with no last name and no powers. Just like your mother, sweetheart. You are nothing.” He grabs hold of his sagging shoulder and shoves it back into its socket. “Fuck!” His shout rattles every bone in my body. Then, he drags up mucus from hislungs and hawks a glob of spit at my feet. “Especiallywhen you don’t have your pathetic dog to protect you.”
I let his spit hit me. I lift my knife, advancing at the same steady pace. “Mention Orfeo again. Idareyou.”
“An idiot. A fucking pathetic, enslaved idiot?—”
“He is devoted to me, and you can’t stand that! Fucking admit it, you lonely demon. He loves me, and I love him?—”
“He’s a desperate beast who can’t do anything for himself. Couldn’t even kill Paolo!” Alfo stumbles toward me, broken teeth bared and bloody fists raised. “You know he cried to me? Begged me with folded hands to kill his creator?!” His lips curl into a putrid, humorless smile. “I bet he didn’t tell you what he did in order to gain my favor, did he? Got on his fucking knees and sucked my?—”
“Enough.” I dive forward, arms held high. I knock Alfo to the ground, onto his back, and bring the silver knife down in a deep, penetrating X across his throat. “FUCK. YOU.”
More of that hot, tar-like blood pours from him. He chokes and gags and spits. He coats me in his only proof of life—thick, sticky, and foul. It spills over the sides of his neck, rolling in waves toward the altar. I jump to my feet and grab him by his hair, dragging him to the base of the altar. It begins to vibrate and hum as his blood soaks the stone. I press my foot into his chest. “From flesh to ash, from ash to dirt, from dirt to the center of the Earth.In nomine Hecate, take this dastardly creature and?—”
“Bitch,” Alfo spits. “You fucking?—”
I bring my foot to his wound and silence him. “That’s Miss Bitch to you.”
With two hands, I draw the knife back over my head. Then, I bring it down with a shout, falling to my knees, jamming the blade deep into his throat. I press with all my might—harder andharder until I hear his spine crack and pop like the seal on an oyster.
Blood shoots upward, soaking me and every inch of the altar. The wood beams overhead rattle and shake. Dirt begins cascading down from the ceiling, shaken loose. It clings to his foul blood. It coats my eyelids and my hands and the gaping wound across Alfo’s neck. His head hangs to the side at an inhuman angle.
I twist the knife again and begin the incantation.
“From flesh to ash, from ash to dirt, from dirt to the center of the Earth. In nomine Hecate. Goddess to goddess, I call out to thee. O Mother, O Maiden, O Blessed Crone. Take this dastardly creature, vanquish him. In nomine Hades, here is your foul servant. I send him back to you in my own name—Diantha, daughter of Hades, goddess of the Underworld. Break the bonds that shackle my mother, in the name of this sacrifice and the sacrifice of all your demons.”
Leo
Diantha and Alfoblink out of existence. In the middle of our battle in this claustrophobic hallway, they just…disappear.
It’s like a switch has been flipped. They disappear and, in their absence, two roaring columns of flames appear. Small, orange flames at first. They blast upward, knocking the last of us backward as we gasp for air. They catch on the carpet, the curtains, the wooden banister. Every surface.Engulfed.
Choking on smoke, I crawl and push through the demons, digging through their corpses until I find Orfeo’s limp, pale body. I throw the fucking Italian vampire over my shoulder.
“Run!” I shout at Sofia who manages to break free from Nisos’s grip. “Run now!”
I spin around and make for the double doors, tripping on the ankle-high flood of sticky demon blood. Misha grabs my hand and pulls me through the doors as the flames lick at my back.
Together, we run. Hand in hand, we take off into the trees.
In the basement of Hades House, we throw Orfeo’s lifeless body onto the hospital bed that had once held Kat.
Misha tears away his shirt, brings a knife to her own wrist, then his chest. She begins speaking rapidly in a series of ancient incantations while I pace and chew my thumbnail.
Where the fuck did they go?
Misha rips the sleeves from her dress and rips into her wrist again, sucking blood from herself and spitting it into his chest. She demands hot water and herbs. I rush around, clumsy and slow. I hunt for everything she needs.
