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Chapter 15
Ares
I hoped for a ceasefire or something that would give us a break at least. Zeus knew if anyone needed it, Elyse did. But there would be no rest for the weary. When X found her outside Hades’s home, intent on killing her, it had taken all three of us to stop him from going after Elyse and finishing her off once and for all. We three gods stood like a wall between her and X. He backed away fast because he was a pussy who only attacked Elyse when she was alone.
Following that incident, Heracles watched over her, but something inside her had changed, clicked a bit, as if she’d found solace somewhere. But she barely wanted to talk about anything when we tried to sit down with her. She seemed a world away, lost in thoughts, in fear, in dread, and everything else, I guessed.
And why not? I understood she struggled with the idea of being a failure. We all knew she wasn’t. The power lying dormant inside her, popping its head out every now and then, lingered, but we weren’t allowed to say anything about it.
Heracles had made me promise, and the idea of sitting back ate at my insides. I loathed these games Zeus played, letting Elyse work it out herself, and all that journey bullshit.
It was bullshit if you asked me. Why couldn’t we tell Elyse she had what it took to defeat X? I understood what Heracles meant, but it was ridiculous to think she could have this latent power inside of her, energy she knew nothing of, but she could still die if she didn’t figure it out before it was too late. My stomach hardened the more I thought about it.
All we wanted to do was help her before it became too late, rather than sit back and watch her like our performing monkey.
The past few days, I’d spent every second with her. We’d done everything together. I had to look after her, as did everyone else.
Secretly, I enjoyed spending this much time with her, playing house. I liked doing the mundane little things, keeping life run-of-the-mill for as long as everything remained calm and X didn’t try anything stupid.
It was great to get to know Elyse on this intimate level, seeing the real her, not just the strong fighter, and I loved the idea of being a significant other in her life, which was how it felt when we did things like this together.
“I forgot to get tomatoes,” she said when we arrived at the car, loading the bags of groceries in the back.
“Do you want to go back?” I asked.
She sighed. “How important is it? I can stop and get some tomorrow, right? I’m sick of the store.”
“Tomorrow is okay,” I replied, even if I craved a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, and it wasn’t the same without tomatoes. Compromise. That was what you did in relationships.
“What’s that?” Elyse asked, looking past me.
“What?” I turned toward the store but couldn’t hear or see anything. But then I realized the store wasn’t what Elyse was referring to. She wasn’t looking at anything but wasfeeling. And as soon as I tuned in to that side of me, picking up the magic all around us, the strands of power in the air that pricked my skin, I understood what she meant.
“He’s at it again,” Elyse said under her breath, her shoulders rising, her brow creasing.
“Don’t, Elyse.” I didn’t want her running into the fray again. Not after what had happened last time. “Even the two of us won’t stop him.”
“I can’t turn my back on it all and pretend it’s not happening,” she insisted, her voice deepening. She loaded the last of the groceries with a speed that told me exactly what she was planning to do.
“He’s getting stronger. You know that.”
“What’s the alternative?” she faced me, her eyes filled with energy, magic bristling on her skin. God, she was so fucking strong.
X grew tougher with every soul he consumed and lately he’d been on a rampage. Not even the gods could stand in his way and stop him. And Elyse was powerful, but without being able to tap into that energy fully, it meant nothing.
And X could finish her in no time if she didn’t know what she was doing, something we weren’t going to risk. But I also understood her agony at knowing more and more innocents lost their lives the longer X was out there, when her mission was to save them.
“Elyse!” I cried out when she closed the trunk of the car and ran. But she didn’t stop, and I cursed under my breath and set out after her.
Looking after the humans was her thing. She’d done so right after her brothers and dad died because she was born to follow this lineage. But with the current events, it was dangerous for her and since I’d fallen in love with her, especially lately with us playing happy family, I couldn’t lose her. Not now or ever.
She was faster than she’d been before. So fast, her movements were a blur and she was gone. I could disappear and reappear at will, and it was what I reverted to.
I moved through the air in a scramble of molecules, headed toward the darkness that seemed to consume everything else around it. I didn’t know where Elyse was, but I knew this was where she’d be headed. If she was going to insist on fighting X, if she wasn’t going to listen to me, then I’d battle with her. There was no other option. And while she drowned in all this shit, I couldn’t help but feel as if she were slipping from my grasp, and my chest tightened.
When I arrived, darkness surrounded me, and as I took form again, Elyse skidded to a halt in an alley. She barely fought for air, and sure, she was fit, but this was on a different level. It wasn’t only her power and her skill driving her, but a determination to see this through that would have been hella attractive if this didn’t potentially mean the end for her.
“I’m not going to ask you again,” she shouted to X.
